Being polished

Read this quote and decided that I will post only this here today. Because it is so powerful! Some questions are enough in and of themselves: they hit us with such force that they are worth more than a thousand books. Thus, I leave you with the force of this quote:

"If you are bothered by every rub, how will you ever be polished?" (Rumi)

Are you letting yourself be bothered by every rub?

How can you appreciate the rubs and think of the polish instead?

In love and gratitude,

There

As I wrote yesterday's post, I was feeling happy and upbeat. Today I feel drained for I think I may have forgotten what I myself wrote in that blog – practice. It is hard to practice when people offend us, or rather, when we let them offend us, when we take it personally, when we forget that whatever  they do or say to us, is not about us, but about them (Don Miguel Ruiz – the 4 agreements). And today, my Higher Self, kindly  rescues me and picks me up and hold me gently in her hands and sends me this beautiful, amazing and inspiring post in the blog lifebyme.com

http://www.lifebyme.com/sophie-chiche-deep/

This post makes me feel good because I, like the author, like deep conversations. Hate small talk, that is why I feel shy in parties, because you kind of “have to” (?) do small talk. I like big talks. Like she said:

“What scares me is coming to the end of my day – or my life – without having done all I could to go as deep as I could. I’m not sure there’s anything that excites me more than exploring the depths.

In any conversation, I ask myself: How close to what really and truly matters can this conversation go? How transformational can it be? For me? For them? I’ve found common threads that run through every conversation: We all want to love and be loved. We want to be seen. We want to feel like we make a difference. And we all have fears and dreams. I want to know what those are”

I couldn’t agree more with “We all want to love and be loved”. So many people run around searching for so many things, when all they need is love, a little love, or big love, but love after all. Just plain love.

And the final quote she writes there by Rumi, makes me feel in unison with the universe and reminds me of this space inside all of us:

“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right doing, there is a field. I will meet you there.”

So today, as I become conscious to practice, to practice love and self-love, I am reminded of just being in silence and think on these words and these thoughts. We can all meet each other there. We can all meet our multitudes there. That is what I wish for you today. That is what my Higher Self is reminding me of today: Love, go deep, meet me there – no wrongdoing, no right doing. Just there.

Practice

I am a big fan of Jason Mraz, the composer and singer, who sings wonderful songs. I followed his blog for a long time (he closed it now) and found many messages there that were comforting and which helped me find joy and peace many, many times. I love the way he sings, composes and writes.  Love his songs and words and love that he “walks his talk”.

Last week, I got this wonderful piece he wrote in the blog Lifebyme:

http://www.lifebyme.com/jason-mraz-practice/

In this piece, Jason asks how he can bring himself back to joy and share it so someone else can experience it too. So he gives some useful advice:

1)    In whatever difficult situation you´re in, you can always say: “ I choose X”. The example he gave was “I choose traffic”. He says that when he says this, he experiences freedom.

2)   Gratitude:  he suggests that it is useful to remind ourselves of what we can experience. So, if you hear a disturbing noise you can say: “I´m grateful for my hearing”.

And I love what he said in the end: “These tools I learn get me back faster to that place of peace and joy. It’s definitely a practice. We practice something because it isn’t easy mastered.”

I agree with him. We need to practice joy, acceptance, self-compassion. Jason´s post reminds me of acceptance, of being present, of making the best we can in every moment of our lives. As he says, we “get” to experience things. It all depends on how we choose to look at things. It is a great reminder for joy today and everyday! Thanks Jason. 

What do  you do to practice joy everyday?

Success

I saw this quote today (I already knew it but it was good to get it again) and it reminded me of what really matters in life. This quote is an inspiration for me today, so I am posting it here, hoping it will inspire you as well.

“To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and to endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded."

Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882