BEING KINDNESS

"Remember there's no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end." - Scott Adams

A dear friend posted this quote on her blog, Life Without Novacaine, recently. http://lifewithoutnovacaine.blogspot.com/2009/10/acts-of-kindness-random-i-think-not.html

Wow it has returned to me over and over again during the last few days. Haunting, in a positive way!

Sometimes in our busy-ness it takes the large acts to really get our attention. The little subtle details of our ordinary interactions, especially with those in our close inner circle, often get missed. But what about each of the little, subtle kindnesses that we extend to one another over a given day?

Slow down.

Scale back.

Create a cushion of space around us.

All of these encourage gratitude to blossom and nurture us and others to continue to let the kindness flow. No matter how small the trickle. These are the ways in which we begin to NOTICE kindness in its many forms.

Kindness breeds kindness, certainly. Showing our gratitude is the water that nourishes kindness.

Sometimes the act of kindness is in the BEING and not in the DOING.

Consistently offering yourself, simply with connection, love, understanding, reaching out on a regular basis or giving a hug. BEING consistently present for those we love and care about means creating a relationship that is based on our simple EVERYDAY presence. Not waiting until the birthdays, holidays, life's big events or when we need something to make ourselves known as friends. This can be a challenge in our filled-to-the-brim lifestyles!

Have you ever had an initial urge to help, reach out to someone, offer a hand, kindness in some form...but then something inside convinced you not to?

What was an occasion when a small act of kindness was all it took to make your day?

What are some of the ways we can BE kind to those we value, rather than DO?

JUST RIGHT

Remember we are each of us exactly where we need to be - complete, whole and enough, just as we are...

This was my daily FaceBook post a few days ago. I received such an overwhelmingly positive response, that I thought it worth revisiting.

How do we value ourselves? In today's culture how do we assess or personal worth?

It really does make such a difference when we slow down long enough to remind ourselves that we are enough, just as we are. Overflowing with divine abundance.

And just as we move with intention and clarity as we practice on our mats we are capable of choosing to move mindfully through our lives grounded in a place of love, faith and limitless abundance!

Each of us IS this!

Each of us deserves to feel safe in this sense of self-worth, no one more than the other for we are all one. All belonging to the greater whole, perfectly who and where we need to be in each moment.

FEARLESS AND SATISFYING

Imagine what it would feel like to make a commitment to yourself...from this moment on to take only full, deep, satisfying breathes and to approach each moment in the same way with open fearlessness.

What might happen?

WHOLE LIFE

"Her kiss was a question he wanted to spend his whole life answering." -from the History of Love

This resonated with me today. What a delicious image.

When we take inventory it's interesting to learn what's truly precious and important to us.

Who or what in our lives would we invest more time diving into and completely immersing ourselves in?

Are these people and things in your life receiving the best you have to offer?

How would your life look differently if you devoted your WHOLE LIFE to answering these questions? Mmmmm, now those are the rich details that make life worth living!

LOVE LETTERS

I sent a letter this afternoon. By post. Snail mail. I had honestly forgotten how much I enjoy the simplest little details. I adore old-fashioned letters.

Carefully penning my words without spell check or the opportunity to delete and re-write. Selecting a curling cursive or a clean, printed handwriting.

The smells of fresh ink and newly printed stationary.

The textures of smooth pen between fingers and slight roughness of paper under hand.

The act of sealing the envelope, licking the gluey strip (such a distinct taste) and affixing a stamp. The character of stamps can communicate so much!

I walked the letter out to my mailbox. Positioned it carefully in the outgoing holders.

Throughout the evening as I came and went through my front door I found such pleasure in seeing that bright missive resting beneath the mailbox. Off to share birthday wishes and love to a dearly beloved sister. Such joy in sending that out into the world. Knowing someone will receive it very soon.

Our neighborhood mailman will collect it tomorrow. Until then I am enjoying its presence. I wonder how many hands will touch it before it's final destination? So unlike our impersonal, electronic communications. Lacking so many of these precious and sensory details.

When was the last time you wrote a letter? Who will you write your next letter to? Do you recall the last letter you received?

KEEP MOVING

“Around here, however, we don’t look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things… and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”–Walt Disney

In yoga, and in Buddhism for that matter, we tend to spend a great deal of time focusing on staying put and learning to be still. This is a valuable tool, especially in our frenetic world. Even our yoga has gained in speed!

For me yoga is an opportunity to slow down and honor my own, individual, internal pace. What do I mean by this? I'm the girl next to you in Vinyasa class who is 1 pace behind everyone else.

It's not that I'm in my own world. I'm not feeling rebellious against the instructor. I enjoy being able to complete each of my inhales and exhales - completely. If we're honest, we spend much of our daily lives "keeping up." In yoga, this is unnecessary. The practice is for the individual and non-competitive. So I take my time...

Some would say that if I come to an organized group class, that it is respectful to stay with the pace and cueing of the instructor and the group. Otherwise, what's the point? It's a distraction to others that I'm not "keeping up." I would agree if we were describing a choreographed line dance. But we're not. This is yoga. It might look lovely to have everyone completely synchronized together. That's not the objective here.

How does it feel?

Personally, I ENJOY my yoga. I savour each pose. I taste each long, juicy breath. I truly feel the deep connection between body and breath in motion. The synchronization comes with the unification of my breath to my movement. Each movement begins with a breath and ends with the last of the breath. This creates a symbiotic, moving meditation, as individual and unique as each person in the room.

As an instructor it brings me great joy to watch someone flow on their own through class. Mind you, it's respectful to remain within the same series of poses and not off doing inversions while the rest of the class is in a standing balance series. I agree that can be disruptive and at times even unsafe.

We come together to practice to unite our energies and to honor our diversity and our uniqueness. Just as we know that each pose is uniquely our own. My warrior II (virabhadrasana II) is not a mirror image of anyone else's. So why would I expect my breath and timing to be? The opportunity is for each of us to find our own pace and our own pose.

Seasoned instructors act as guides, offering a thoughtful class sequence, a consistent cueing pace, a thoughtfully arranged play list and perhaps a few calculated, authentic assists that will all combine to immerse a yogi deep into their own practice. Only the yogi will be able to truly feel, listen to and guide their own body, breath and spirit where they need to go.

Are we getting to where we need to go?

I started this post with a quote that says, to summarize Walt Disney's words, "keep moving."

Our stillness, our personal pace, our preferences and our routine, can create a cocoon of comfort protecting us from the opportunity to evolve. The chance to experience delicious discomfort.

Fear is in the driver's seat.

For me this arrives in the form of inversions. I have my practiced few inverted poses that I feel I have mastered. I am confident in them. Comfortable. It's good to know what we're good at...but when I am faced with practicing the others I might choose to be the independent individual. Rather than experiment, maybe even fall, I will just do the poses I know. This is all about me for a change so that's my prerogative, right? Exactly. Tell myself a story so that it feels acceptable to stay put...but in this case, I need to keep moving.

Keep Moving!

I am encouraging myself to practice what feels uncomfortable. To perceive my world through a lens of non-attachment. I am becoming liberated from my habits and routines, explore the poses and paces and even instructors who are outside of my comfort zone. I am letting go of both my successes and my failures. I stay put and present long enough to know that I am capable. And then I will simply keep moving and keep growing. And, yes, I am enjoying myself along the way.

When in your life have you stay put when you could have kept moving? How do you know when it's time to get moving again?

LOVE!

It's absolutely true. LOVE! makes anything and everything possible...

What I've only just begun to realize is that LOVE! doesn't need to originate from someone or something else. LOVE! doesn't require an active recipient. LOVE! exists. Period.

And like the words and thoughts that reside within each of us, LOVE! lives on inside of us. Our most powerful form of LOVE! originates within ourselves and for ourselves.

Perhaps teetering upon the edge of this knowledge enabled me to take a leap of faith. To send my words out into the world in the form of a blog. For before I would have feared that perhaps no one else would LOVE! my words.

There is also a rumor that most blogs have an audience of ONE. But the simple fact that you or I LOVE! enough to write, paint, photograph or produce anything and put it out there into the world...THIS is enough.

Our LOVE! alone makes the act and the product valid. Our simple joy of creation. No recipient or reciprocation expected. Like sending radio waves far out into the heavens...uncertain they will ever cross paths with something or someone that may experience them (and would they have a form of the sense of hearing even if they did?!).

Merely a pleasant surprise if the act or product does in fact resonate with another. Create a connection. Open a door for a conversation. Or perhaps empower someone else with the knowledge that they too are capable of doing the same.

"Love sought is good, but given unsought is better." Twelfth Night, 3. 1

THANK YOU! I am so grateful for each of your comments. This Blog was just nominated for the LOVE! This Site Award on Divine Caroline!

Now YOU can VOTE for my blog. Click on the LOVE! This Site Award Badge. It's just to the right of this post and below my Profile picture. Then you can VOTE for this blog.

Or simply Click here to VOTE: http://www.divinecaroline.com/awards/Aug-09/2489

I am so grateful for your willingness to share in this journey with me, to read along, to comment when you feel it. And thank you for VOTING for what you LOVE!