As you know, I’m all about giving you tools to feel better, and truthfully, this one is a serious game changer!
It’s a Buddhist practice to help you cultivate compassion or loving kindness.
Loving kindness can be defined as feeling empathy, compassion, and kindness towards yourself and others.
Neuroscience research supports that these practices have tremendous benefits including to:
Last week I was at a summer party.
You know the kind, casual and filled with loads of people you don’t know personally, though you all share common friends. Naturally, I was introduced to a man, and once we’d figured out our mutual connections, we began to chat.
At one point he made a reference to politics, or managing current events, or something along those lines, and the strangest thing happened.
I began speaking to him -and at the same time that eloquent words were flowing from my mouth- I was simultaneously wondering, who is saying this? Because the ideas were spot on but were not something I’d previously even considered! Yet here they were, pouring out of me clear, concise, actionable.
The other day while I was gardening with a music playlist in the background, a Paul Simon song I had never heard came on. It’s called Learn How To Fall.
Do you know this one?
Essentially, he suggests that we must learn how to fall before we learn how to fly.
I literally stopped my weeding to think about that idea.
Why?
Because it made so much sense. If I were a bird and had the ability to fly, I’d definitely practice landing/falling until I was good at it. Then I might not be afraid to soar.
I bet you didn’t know that I’m the kind of person who has multiple projects going at the same time. Yes, it’s not typically how to be “successful”, but I crave variety and it’s a way to feed that part of me so that everything I do feels fresh and exciting.
Recently, I was at, not exactly a crossroads but more like a dead end on 2 of my projects! One an art project (sculpture) another writing.
I was eager to get back to my sculpture after taking off like 2 years (busy being a grandma and focusing on other things). I jumped into it thinking I knew where I was going, only as I started to build it up, it looked, well, how do I say it nicely… it looked TERRIBLE!
On the spiritual path, we’re often told that we are light, that we are love, that this light and love are always here and available to us. And yet often we don’t experience that!
In March of 2020, just as the entire world was going into lockdown because of Covid-19, I was getting ready to move in with Tom Carpenter and his wife Linda, who had been Course in Miracles teachers and mentors for decades. They needed support and my husband and I had volunteered.
Ready for the final installment about using gratitude to live the life you’ve come here to have?
Let’s do a quick review first.
First we covered exploring gratitude as a REACTION. In other words, cultivating gratitude for what you have in your life right now. Are you still doing your list every day?
Second, we dove into the idea of adopting a PHILOSOPHY of gratitude. The invitation being to experience life through the lens of gratitude.
Today we’re going to the deepest level, IDENTITY.
Last week we explored the basic definition of gratitude and how to cultivate an attitude of appreciation. Today let’s dive into what life might look like if you adopted a PHILOSOPHY of gratitude.
It isn’t just about a response to what you have in your life right now. It's taking gratitude to the next level and applying it directly to your life!
It’s choosing to be grateful that you are alive.
