It sounds trite: “What the World Needs Now is Love.” But what does that actually mean? What does love actually DO for the world? As I see it, loving others unconditionally means I see them as they are and accept them as they are and love them as they are.
How dramatically different would the world be if we loved each other intensely and unconditionally? If teachers really saw and accepted their students? If police officers really saw those they arrested without preconceived ideas? If politicians really saw their constituents and their needs? If nations really saw their counterparts and their people? If corporations and governments really saw the people they are supposed to serve?
Today I commit to loving EVERYONE intensely, passionately, unconditionally, without judgment or preconceptions. And maybe, that is what the world needs.
Photo credit: Image by <a href="https://pixabay.com/users/ben_kerckx-69781/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=700141">
There is a Zen proverb that goes something like this: “If you don’t have time to meditate for an hour everyday, you should meditate for two hours.” It sounds counterproductive but it is SO true!
I don’t meditate for an hour, but I try to sit for 15 minutes every morning, and I schedule little ‘mini-meditation minutes’ throughout the day: I have alarms set on my phone to go off every few hours. If I’m not in a meeting or teaching , I just close my eyes (if possible) for a minute, breathe slowly and deliberately, and center. At the risk of seeming overdramatic, meditation has saved my life!
I’ve only been consistently ‘sitting’ for a couple of years, and found that this practice works for me. When I tried to make myself do longer sessions in the morning, they often would get pushed aside by an early morning appointment. After much experimentation, I discovered a 15-minute session is the perfect blend of doable and productive.
AND, I have learned something miraculous. When I wake up stressed about upcoming tasks or trying to fit everything into the day that needs to happen, if I extend my session from 15 minutes to a half hour, even though it took more time out of an already packed schedule, my day went much more smoothly. I moved more easily from task to task, with less fretting in between, and with more focus and motivation to approach the undertaking with a fuller heart.
With the schedule I have right now (yes, I’m looking at you hard, retirement!), trying to meditate an hour would just be setting myself up to fail. But I CAN do 15 (and when necessary, 30) minutes in the morning and 1 minute several times a day.
And I don’t have to set up my chanting CD, or find a special cushion, or light a candle.
I can quiet down and breathe in my car, waiting in line in the supermarket, and even while my students are getting out their assignments or moving into discussion groups. Those moments have effects long past the one minute I’ve allotted to the exercise.
And they add up, maybe not to an hour, but they add up.
Would you like to enhance your mental clarity, reduce stress, and increase your sense of well-being?
I am offering a free online zoom event on Monday in which I will be sharing the ways to deepen (or develop) your meditation practice!
Come and be still, breathe, and center. You can learn more HERE.
As a girl and young woman, there were rules that gave me guidance in pretty much any situation I confronted.
Smile. Be obedient. Don’t talk back. My lessons when I was a child, in my teens, in my twenties.
“You can’t tell me what to do.” “No!” “My face isn’t here to provide you ease or entertainment or aesthetic enjoyment.” My angry, rather militant backlash in my thirties and forties.
In both cases, I was reacting to societal messages, whether accepting or rejecting them.
It is only in the past ten years or so that I began to wonder if there was a third way. What if I could choose? Neither accept those early messages wholesale nor throw the baby out with the bathwater?
What if, instead of negotiating the spoken or tacit rules with which society tends to burden women, I had another way to judge what is appropriate for me? What if had a compass that I trust to steer me in every set of circumstances?
I had such a compass—my intuition—but I hadn’t listened to it in decades. When I was young, I was frightened of its demands that I sing or dance when the world wanted me quiet. I quelled its push to speak my truth when a little white lie might smooth over the situation. Later, I scorned its moderation when I wanted to come out swinging at every injustice I or others might suffer. I thought it wanted to soften me when I needed to be firm and strong.
Now, I know that my intuition was just trying to get me to be me.
Sometimes, that meant I needed to speak up and other times it meant I could serve myself (and others) best by calming the waters, to allow all of the voices present to be heard.
And I have to admit I listened so little to that part of myself that I felt it had shriveled, ignored, huddled in a dark corner of my soul.
It took many years for me to learn to listen to, hear, and trust my intuition. I’ve practiced meditation, counseling, coaching, hypnosis, etc., for several years now. And, to be honest, it is only in the past couple of years that I have felt comfortable making my choices without recourse to talking to every single one of my girlfriends, combing through conversations, sitting up journaling late at night.
But this burgeoning trust, sprouting in my spirit like a fresh, green shoot, is miraculous to me. I find myself wanting to nurture it, delighting in the freedom of knowing that I know: what is right for me, how to react, what I want.
So what does that mean? A lot of things, actually, but to just take one of the first lessons I learned. I learned pretty early on that when I smile, I could diffuse a situation, I could put other people at ease, I could soften something that might be unpleasant, and I could make myself less threatening.
That was then.
Now, I don’t smile because I want to set someone at ease or I think they will like me better. I smile because I am thinking joyous thoughts or because I just like how my face glows when I smile. It was difficult divorcing my physical settings from another person’s beliefs, needs, or reactions. But for the most part, I have done it.
I trust myself. And that makes me smile.
If you liked this post, you will love my Facebook Community, where we share tips and techniques for living a better life. Click the link HERE and learn how to grow and transform into the best ‘you’ possible!
“I’m happy, I’m strong, I’m cool and I’m ready for school.” ~Cocomelon
School has begun. I’m teaching a ‘hybrid’ course, which means that students elect whether they are taking the course remotely or in the classroom. I have modified my syllabus, lectures, and discussion topics to be adequately handled in this new era of teaching.
I have to say that my university was way ahead of the curve in installing hard and software that would allow students to be both safely distanced in class AND if they so chose, to be able to participate in class from miles away.
So I’ve just completed my first full week of classes, and I have to admit that it wasn’t bad. The new class upgrades worked so much better than I expected most of the time. Other times, it would glitch or I’d learn that certain things I wanted from it wasn’t possible in its current configuration. But still, not so bad…
I think that I will do an adequate job, and maybe even a good one(?) sharing my knowledge and love of music, history, and film.
While I know my topic inside-out, my confidence in being able to teach well in the era of COVID stems from two integral elements of my life that I will draw upon heavily as I teach this semester:
to be mindful throughout the experience and to rely upon my essential oils.
Before I begin each class, I take a moment before leaving my office to set a quick intention for that class.
Sometimes I apply a drop a Young Living blend like Peace and Calming or Stress Away on my pulse points, take a deep breath, and allow its constituents to spread through my body.
When I want to up my immune system as well, apply my Healthy MBS Recipe (for the recipe—see below).
With any of the blends, I can just feel my level of patience, adaptability and wellness increase. A smile slips onto my face and I know I can do whatever it takes!
But the groundwork is actually laid in advance of my actual class. While I create my syllabi or lectures, I diffuse one of several Young Living blends like Brain Power, Envision, or some of their incredibly powerful single oils. Embodying the regenerating, oxygenating, and immune-strengthening properties of their plants, they create an environment that helps me to focus, quickly access details from memory, and move easily from point to point.
I’ve been doing this for ages in other parts of my life—and duh—it finally occurred to me that such powerful techniques could improve my ability to reach my students.
Now, I’m ready for school!!!
What about you? Are YOU ready for what life has in store for you?
Want My Healthy Mind*Body*Spirit (MBS) Recipe? Get my Guide: 3 Ways Being “Connected” Can Change Your Life
I am a pretty ‘woo-woo’ person. I love my tarot and crystals, I meditate regularly, and I can trance out playing my drum for hours. All of these practices have helped me to learn much about myself.
Up until recently, however, I ‘never had time’ to really delve into my ‘woo.’ I had to squeeze it in between grading, prepping for classes, feeding and walking the dog, keeping the few plants I own from dying, juggling time with friends and family, trying to get in some reading, music and crafting.
Whew! I got exhausted just typing that all out. It was a lot, and being a ‘responsible’ person, I often prioritized on my obligations to my groups, religious organizations, and friends over my own needs and desires. I mean, I can’t let them down, can I?
Enter COVID. Initially, life was a hot mess of trying to get myself, my course materials, and my brain online. However, once I figured out what had to be done, I got it done, and didn’t worry about dropping balls. Come on—it was a pandemic, so what if I didn’t get a memo done?
And let’s face it, there was very little else to do. Restaurants, gyms, and parks were closed, I couldn’t see friends, all of my clubs and groups had severely curtailed their schedules, and what little was left was on Zoom.
All of a sudden I had … time…
It was such a strange feeling. I had never had time to do what I wanted! I had barely had time to do meet my obligations!!
Usually during spring or summer vacations, when I had a much-needed break from classes, meetings, and grading, I usually traveled or scheduled a number of visits to catch up with friends. I was just as busy as during the school year, just with other stuff. It was all fun, but it was still a jam-packed schedule, only crammed with fun things.
But 2020 was radically different. I had … time…
And I used it to reacquaint myself with my ‘woo’!
I drummed and chanted. I sat on my back patio and just gazed at the birds and squirrels and lizards and clouds. I sat on my patio with my tarot cards until it was too dark to see. I started doing some personal development using astrological tools to provide guidance.
I refocused on eating mindfully. I spent time in the kitchen cooking in an intentional way and I rejoiced in the sacred act of blessing my body with delicious food.
I had always made time to walk a couple of miles every morning with my dog, Sno. That didn’t change, but my attitude did. Instead of just powering up the road, getting in my steps in the quickest way possible, I started to go through the neighborhood more, smiling and saying good morning to all my neighbors. I waved at every car I passed and was so surprised to see how many people waved back!
School begins in a couple of weeks. The fall semester is always my most difficult, with two writing intensive classes. I’m also trying a hybrid model of teaching, with both in-class and online components, for the first time. It’s scary and making it work will take a lot of time.
However, it will not take the half day every week (either Saturday or Sunday), that I am dedicating to my ‘woo.’ I am putting this out to the world in this venue. I am stating it plainly so that I can be called out if I don’t do it.
I commit to holding onto a little piece of the peace I have lived the past few months!
What about you?
Like this info? Get my Guide: 3 Ways Being “Connected” Can Change Your Life
