It takes courage to show up (in work, sports, relationships, other commitments) when you are feeling sad, withdrawn, less than capable, when you are judging yourself, or feeling small. Today, acknowledge and honor your courage. For today, showing up is enough.
In her book Daring Greatly, Brene Brown writes, "Sometimes the bravest and most important thing you can do is just show up."
It takes courage to show up (in work, sports, relationships, other commitments) when you are feeling sad, withdrawn, less than capable, when you are judging yourself, or feeling small. Today, acknowledge and honor your courage. For today, showing up is enough.
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In Elizabeth Gilbert's new book Big Magic, she quotes the poet Jack Gilbert.
"We must risk delight. We must have the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless furnace of this world." Today, accept your gladness, without guilt or fear that you are not empathetic or serious enough. The world needs joy. Tips on public speaking paraphrased from Michael Port, author of Steal the Show, interviewed in the podcast Get-It-Done-Guy's Quick and Dirty Tips. He defines public speaking as any arena in which you have to perform (teaching, job interviews, even first dates).
1. Focus on results, not approval. 2. Performance is not about entertaining, but about connecting. 3. When you are well-prepared, that gives you the confidence and flexibility to be in the present moment. Today, notice when you are modifying your behavior to please or appease and instead stay true to what you are trying to accomplish. Instead of trying to entertain, focus on genuine connection. If you are worried about a performance, prepare more until you own the material, and then enjoy the moment. Today, know that we are all, at our center, vulnerable children. (We want love, approval, acceptance, and belonging. We are easily frightened. We don't understand the big picture. We need comfort and a sense of safety.) So today treat yourself and others with the deep tenderness and empathy befitting that child.
From Brene Brown's Daring Greatly:
"We are a culture of people who've bought into the idea that if we stay busy enough, the truth of our lives won't catch up with us." "Shame enters for those of us who experience anxiety because not only are we feeling fearful, out of control, and incapable of managing our increasingly demanding lives, but eventually our anxiety is compounded and made unbearable by our belief that if we were just smarter, stronger, or better, we'd be able to handle everything." Today, recognize that fear may be driving your busyness. Slow down and know that you will be be able to handle whatever emotions or awareness your stillness reveals. Today, let go of comparing yourself to others; let go of the belief that if you could only change yourself, you could do everything perfectly. Maybe it's the expectations, not you, that need changing. In an interview with Terry Gross on the radio show Fresh Air, wild and wonderful Lutheran minister Nadia Bolz-Weber shares her mission: to "remind people that they are absolutely loved and their identity is based in something other than the categories of late stage capitalism . . . that they are named and claimed by God and that this identity is more foundational than any other. They are completely forgiven and all of their mess ups are not more powerful than God's mercy and God's ability to redeem us and to bring good out of bad."
http://www.npr.org/2015/09/17/441139500/lutheran-minister-preaches-a-gospel-of-love-to-junkies-drag-queens-and-outsiders The book of Isaiah includes this line: “For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."
Today, know that Love is present, watering your life. Love's word (thoughts and actions as one) move in your life, fulfilling Love's purposes, bringing you a sense of fullness, purpose, and effectiveness. Excerpts from Jeannie Ferber's article "Shaped By God, Not Society."
"Loving who we are is vitally important because it comes of knowing ourselves as God made us to be. If God is good and holy, by simple logic that which He creates must be good and holy." "More and more, society is demanding that a material body be worshipped and legitimized as our identity. This obsession has driven untold numbers of people to disparage, rather than love, themselves." "Every question about our identity must be seen as an invitation to understand and love more the God who made us—and to love ourselves as we have been spiritually made to be." "Our spiritual individuality isn’t optional, changeable, or questionable. It’s beautiful, it’s purposeful, it’s from God, and it’s eternally ours. We cannot lose what God has made us to be, and we cannot be less than what God has made us to be . . ." In her column in O magazine, Martha Beck gives advice on how to be present for someone who is suffering:
"You may think it is disloyal to be happy when others are sad, healthy when they are ailing, or loved when they are lonely. And the more sympathetic you are, the more likely you'll feel as bad as the person you are trying to help. Unfortunately, that's like seeing an accident victim bleed out, then grabbing knife and opening your own veins. There's a passage by Persian mystic Hafiz that reads, 'Troubled?/Then stay with me, for I'm not." The best thing you can do for any troubled person is to become untroubled yourself. If I come to you with a broken heart and you feel sad for me, your job is not to stop my pain, but to return to happiness in yourself. Instead of trying to feel better by fixing me, just feel better. This will give me the environment I need to solve my own problems. Everyone in distress just wants to walk beside still waters." Today, know yourself as the very center of Love's attention. You are adored, attended to, seen, and deeply loved. When you know and feel that you are the center of Love's awareness, that stills your fear of lack, of abandonment, of not belonging, of being invisible - and gives you the fullness and peace and wisdom to see everyone else as also in Love's center. God is big enough to have many centers, each fully and consciously attended.
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AuthorTarn Wilson is the author of the memoir The Slow Farm and numerous essays. You may read more of her work at tarnwilson.com. Archives
September 2020
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