My Turf

Some nice thoughts from Olive’s blog. Finally got permission to repost it here.

The blogging technology is such an amazing gift–it’s a wonderful tool that allows people to learn, inspire and be inspired by one another’s stories.

‘Nuff said. Read on, y’all.

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Moving On…With Gratitude in My Heart

Today July 30, 2006 I want to thank the Lord for giving me the grace and building in me a strong and unshakeable faith that enabled me to cultivate my sense of self so that I will be able to remember to go back to it when I feel lost, overwhelmed or simply confused. 

Sometimes, when we encounter a situation that we don’t know how to handle we get disoriented and we feel that we’re drowning, grasping for clues. It’s important to remember that even though you may think you’re weak, you are actually strong because you have acknowledged that you are weak, temporarily.

This is I think the most important lesson I’ve learned so far: that your feelings and your happiness is your own responsibility.  Other people cannot make you feel happy if you don’t allow them to, and that goes the same for anger or loneliness or sadness. It may be hard to understand sometimes but other people are just mirrors.

Whatever we feel at the moment is happening outside of us, and our reactions to them are based on how we perceive and interpret them.  So, it only means that the situations that we are put into will just show us whether we are emotionally healthy or not, our inner state of health.  If you’re feeling insecure, inadequate and empty then whatever your partner does will just be perceived as an affront or a manifestation of his insensitivity to your needs, or worse an insult or another pinch of salt to an already gaping wound. (emphasis supplied)

But if you already feel secure, adequate and capable; if you think that you are whole and that in fact, you have so much love in you to the point where it’s overflowing then you will see the people around you with more kindness and compassion, that they are trying their best but sometimes they’re also striving from daily worries just like we all are. Then, you will see that everything indeed is a miracle, every blessing, every pain, every seemingly trivial situation because you are operating from an attitude of awe and gratefulness towards the universe.

There are no accidents, and the people we meet and the situations we encounter are meant to teach us to be kinder, more generous and compassionate towards all sentient beings.  If you let yourself become hardened instead of being softened by the blows then you will consciously build walls around you, making life more miserable and feeling more and more isolated.  Whereas if you see that every encounter is an opportunity to polish you in order to become the gem that you are meant to be, you will continue to sparkle and perhaps someday you will realize that you’ve become so luminous and radiant; that you’ are indeed a prism – something that lets light shine through to illuminate everyone in your midst.

So, the least we can do is to remember not stand against one another’s light.