Don’t Want to Do It? Do It Anyway

In follow up to my last blog about our constant opportunity to express our best selves, I’d like to share my all time favorite poem with you. These beautiful sentiments from Mother Theresa perfectly illustrate the notion that we are never in competition with others or at the mercy of anyone.
 
Anyway
People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered; forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some enemies; succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous; be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough; give the world the best you’ve got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and (your Truth) or God; it was never between you and them anyway.

Written by Mother Theresa (engraved on the wall of her home for children in Calcutta)

I strongly suggest that you print out this poem and keep it close by to remind you that you can always be a little nicer and a little kinder. (Please leave your email address on the comments section and I can email you a pretty version of the poem.) In service of your own peace and growth. Remember it’s not about the other character in your momentary drama. It’s about the everlasting you.

KINDNESS KREATION: If someone angers or anyone annoys you today and you feel rage bubbling force or you immediately judge them, use all of your inner strength to pause and not react. Reach deep within your heart and send them love and compassion. Yes it is in there even if you can’t find it in that moment. Or reach in your pocket to take out your copy of dear Mother Theresa’s poem. You will be utterly amazed at how your painful feelings dissipate (maybe quickly, maybe slowly) and you are once again in touch with your own humanity. Certainly feels a whole lot better than getting lost in the animalistic urges within.
 
Let me know how your anger experiment goes.

Sending you love and light,
Amber

Long Live Katharine Hepburn

A dear friend of mine lent me a set of Spencer Tracy & Katharine Hepburn's old movies and one day I was watching Pat & Mike as I did my daily exercise. At one point I was so struck by one of Katharine Hepburn’s insightful lines that I had to pause my workout to write it down. This is what she said to a dim-witted boxer who had become very angry at the manager whose orders he blindly obeyed:

“It’s never you against the whole world, it’s just you against yourself.”

When I heard this quote I imagined two versions of myself at opposite sides of a boxing ring. One was seething mad and beaten bloody while the other was calmly bouncing around her side of the ring open to whatever came her way.

This wise nugget really resonated with me as most of my life I looked outside of myself for direction and comfort and felt angry and blamed those around me for not being able to eliminate my never-ending unhappiness. I was always in a battle with "them."

Gratefully I stopped my stubborn streak and adopted a new way of interacting with the people around me. The principle I now choose to use as the foundation of my life says I always have a choice about how I respond to anything I encounter. 

Am I going to give in to my unexamined emotions or am I going to take a breath and create a monetary pause so that I can choose the highest expression of myself in that moment? Am I going to blame another for my anger or am I going to acknowledge that another touched a sensitive area that already existed within me? Am I going to lie so that I don’t look bad or am I going to be honest about who I am? 

In the long run it comes down to your willingness to do whatever it takes to heal those places within you so that they are not so tender and prone to injury. When you have healed those broken places there is little room for insult and injury to fit in the cracks. You will be whole and complete and disinterested in engaging in high drama.

My deepest wish for you is that you empower yourself to respond to people, places and things in a way that you can be proud of. In such a way that you look at yourself in the mirror and genuinely love the person who is reflected back. A person who has no shame or secrets, one who would never hurry across the street for fear of seeing “that” person. May you find peace in embracing the loving and kind spirit that you are. This Divine spark is within you whether you have never seen, heard or even imagined this beautiful being. It is possible to live from that space most of the time. It’s a conscious choice. Are you willing to make it?

Wishing you loving choices,

Amber

I Resolve To...

Happy New Year. May you enjoy the birth of a new year and also know that you can resolve to make loving choices for your physical, emotional and spiritual growth in each moment you are alive. And to make grand gestures of loving kindness to all living beings. There is no need to wait for a specific date, you only need the impetus to know that your heart deeply desires to open more fully. That can happen after a seeming “negative experience” such as you yelling at someone you care about or after a “positive experience” where you felt loved and heard.

I’d like to share the resolutions I connect to each day so that I can infuse the spirit of love and light in all that I am and all that I do. These are not 2011 New Year’s Resolutions, these are lifetime commitments that require attention and persistence in each moment. I may steer off course regularly yet I know that I will always come back to these guiding principles. I trust that in time that I will naturally take fewer detours.

I resolve to:
• clear away anything that blocks the love and light inside of me
• love, accept and offer compassion to my fellow humans as I focus on the Divine within them
• treat all sentient beings and our glorious planet with love, care and respect
• have complete faith and trust that my God-given wisdom is always unfolding perfectly for my highest good
• live with integrity, accept myself unconditionally and honor all of my experiences
• embody the highest expression of myself in each moment
• be at peace within and with the world around me
• burn so brightly that I ignite others

My deepest wish for you is that you take an honest appraisal of who you want to be in the world and resolve to step forward in that image. Not just in January 2011 – throughout the year and beyond.

May 2011 be the year where you resolve to give more than you receive and in turn receive more love, joy, peace and abundance than you think your heart can hold.

Sending you love and light,
Amber