For years, I have
spent the month of November writing and posting about gratitude. This November,
I have found myself also writing a lot about kindness.
They are obviously
related: offering a kindness sometimes elicits a thankful response from
whomever benefits from it; feeling grateful sometimes leads us to gentle acts
on behalf of others, or, kind acts we do help us feel grateful.
Kindness and
gratitude are about love, tenderness, gentleness, softness.
The pale ribbons of
silky pink across the sky that are arriving with each sunrise and sunset this
week are nature’s outer equivalent to the inner place I’m writing about here.
The holiday season
is upon us. No matter what or how or even if
you celebrate, consider entering this time with a grateful and kind heart.
Many individuals from
around the globe have privately shared with me in recent weeks that they have
not gotten what they wanted; that structures and rights crucial to our and
others’ wellbeing and survival are at risk; that they might lose something we
hold precious and dear – including their life; that they have been offended, or
justified, or outraged, or pacified, or despairing, or utterly terrified, or (in
a few cases) - hopeful regardless of circumstances, prognoses, expected
outcomes.
There is something powerful, inexplicable even, when we
allow the deepest love of our inner landscapes to touch the grossest offense in
the outer landscape of circumstances. So take comfort in and love your families
and friends, yes! And, don't forget to reach out to strangers or people you
view as totally different from you, too…
Isn’t this the
precise moment to journey our way back to our biggest selves: the lush place in our
inner landscapes that incites us to great, heartfelt acts of kindness; to deep forests of gratitude; to gardens thriving with hope and openheartedness; to sunrises of faith (in the
divine, in well-established systems, in the inherent – even if stifled-seeming
– potential for goodness in all humans)?
Isn’t it a ripe and
ready opportunity to allow all the fear or vulnerability or weakness to be
there AND to still stand up tall and rooted in compassion?
Isn’t this the
season to share with others – those who seem similar to us as well as those who
seem different from us – that which is most shiningly gorgeous in our inner
places?
Isn’t it timely to
reach across perceived barriers as an expression of our shared humanity?
Isn’t right now a
good enough time to simply love?
In this spirit, TEALarbor
stories - in collaboration with and through the generous support of the Charter for Compassion - is offering to the international community a free video conference
call on Dec 8th, 2016 from 9 – 10:30 AM Pacific Time. To learn more and to register, go to: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/f313ea655b832a97c5b9141539e44ee6
All blog images created & photographed by Jennifer J. Wilhoit unless otherwise noted. Please circulate images with photo credit: "©2016 JenniferJWilhoit/TEALarbor stories. AllRightsReserved."
