I ran across a quote this week that I want to share with you It’s from Kent Nerburn, an Native American author who has been called “one of America’s Living Spiritual Teachers,” and I think the quote will show you why.
Before you read it, take a moment to breathe slowly a few times with your eyes closed, to relax and to open yourself to receive these words as a gift of wisdom.
“Remember to be gentle with yourself and others. We are all children of chance and none can say why some fields will blossom while others lay brown beneath the August sun.
“Care for those around you. Look past your differences. Their dreams are no less than yours, their choices no more easily made.
“And give, give in any way you can, of whatever you possess. To give is to love. To withhold is to wither.
“Care less for your harvest than for how it is shared and your life will have meaning and your heart will have peace.”
Let me invite you to dwell on those thoughts a bit, to let them settle in your heart. Then imagine how your world—our world—might be transformed if each of us let them be a guiding light for us as we went through our days.
If we truly look past our differences and recognize our shared humanity, if we could extend to each other the respect and kindness we want so deeply to receive, perhaps we would meet each other with a new gentleness, with compassion, with a willingness to let there be understanding between us.
It’s a long quote to remember. But you can remember the feeling it creates in you and take that with you into your world in the coming week. You can remember to give of whatever you possess—even if it’s no more than a smile, or a decision not to complain or blame. You can start your day with the conscious intention to be generous of spirit to others, even with those who push your buttons, or whose differences are outrageous and glaring.
Care for those around you. Ask, “What can I give here? What can I share?”
It’s a worthy experiment. And as Nerburn says, the rewards are a life of meaning and a heart at peace.
And that, my friend, is what I wish for you this week.
Warmly,
Susan
Image by Alana Jordan from Pixabay