When we were born, we were given three gifts.
One is the gift of life. We could breathe and feel and see and move and eventually think. Every day we are alive, and we celebrate this gift.
The second gift is the gift of a life. We were born somewhere, to specific parents. We were born male or female, American, Asian, or African. Our life had a setting like a diamond has a setting. And every day, we live this specific life we were given.
The third gift is the gift of YOU. This is you as you are, with all your growths and wonders. The point is that you are a gift yourself, all of you, not just the good parts but all the parts, and the ways all the parts add up to a whole.
Think of your life as a precious gift from God, from the Universe. And God gave you the gift of life for you to enjoy it. Having pleasure is one of the core reasons. Instead of feeling guilty, not accepting yourselves when you enjoy yourself, feel guilty about dishonoring the gift of life when you are not enjoying yourself. Even better, don’t feel guilty. Accept yourself. Just enjoy. Lots of people have trouble accepting themselves. Millions of men and women struggle with self-acceptance and never attain it. It’s regrettable. But occasionally, something big happens to wake them up. It gives them a chance to see that they need to accept themselves, showing them a way to do it. Wouldn’t it be helpful if something could happen in our own lives that would miraculously give us the gift of self-acceptance?
We are always talking to ourselves. But what tone of voice are we using? If we look and listen clearly to this internal voice, we may find that we are always giving ourselves a tough time. If Our mind wanders, we discipline ourselves. If we are sleepy or irritated, or angry, we blame ourselves. Each time, we notice the mind has wandered. Notice your voice when you find you have become distracted. Do you slap yourself down, or can you develop kindness to yourself, even a sense of humor? We have a situation where we can practice speaking kindly to ourselves and accepting our states of mind, whatever they are. If your mind is busy, it’s busy. If we are tired, we are tired. If we are irritated, we are irritated. We can let ourselves feel how we feel. Most of us are very hard on ourselves. We often have an internal voice that is critical and hard to please. If we are unforgiving to ourselves, we may find we are also hard on other people. Likewise, the more we can be kind to ourselves, the more genuine kindness we show to others.
We might think that kindness is a personality trait which we either have or don’t have. We all know people who seem to be naturally sweet and generous, and we may think that’s not me. We may even pride ourselves on being a bit spiky, a bit tough. But we all know there have been times when we have made ourselves and others unhappy by being irritable, angry in a situation where we could have been more generous and forgiving. We all have a distinctive capability for kindness; we just need to create the right conditions for it to flourish and flow. This is a lifelong process of opening up to ourselves and other people, as we are, with all our twists and imperfections. We are each the creators of our realities. Whether deliberately or unconsciously, who we are in ourselves is reflected in the equality of what we create in our lives. But Now, what we become is our Gift to God. Ask yourself, how have you spent your life? But don’t be sad if you have not lived up to your potential. You still have that potential there, perhaps concealing away deep in your soul. But it’s there however and is waiting for you to take it out and spend every bit of it in a way to become anything you want and choose to BE. So don’t distrust, hesitate, and delay any longer. Get out there and become your Ultimate Gift to God today!
(References: Everything Happens for a reason, by Mira Kirshenbaum, Mindfulness A Practical Guide, by Tessa Watt, James Pham, EnglishTea Cafe)
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