|
Today's
Quotation:
We
all have within us a deep sense of what we need, and what is
right
and true for us. To access this we need to pay
attention to our feelings
and our intuition. We need to
learn to listen deeply to ourselves
and to trust what we hear.
And we need to risk acting on what we feel
to be true.
Even if we make mistakes, we must do this in order to learn
and grow.
Shakti
Gawain
|
|
Today's
Meditation:
You
and I have a lot in common. But what is "right
and true" for you isn't necessarily right and true for
me, even though when I hear what's right and true for you,
there's something inside of me that tells me that it should
be the same for me. Does that make sense?
I
know many people who feel that everyone somehow has the same
wants and needs, and that when people try to fulfill their
individual needs, they're somehow being anti-social or
selfish. These people generally are very insecure, and
if they can convince other people to have the same needs,
they somehow validate their own feelings (unfortunately,
many of these people make their livings in organized
religions).
Isn't
it ironic that in places where individualism and uniqueness
are celebrated and considered to be of primary importance,
we tend to lead our lives looking for conformity and
"fitting in"? I can't tell you how many
times I hear students tell me "I can't do that because
society says I can't." And not once has any of
these people been able to tell me just who
"society" is, and just who says they can't.
The
truth is, we're much more afraid of what we think
"society" will say than what other people actually
will say. We tend to repress our own wants and needs
because we fear that others will see us as selfish or
self-absorbed. But when am I more effective in helping
other people? It's when my needs are being met, and
I'm taking care of myself. It's when I listen to my
inner self and actually heed its message, taking time for
myself or reading what I need to read or not overwhelming
myself with obligations.
We're
taught to listen to our parents, to our elders, to our
teachers, to our bosses, to our leaders, but we're rarely taught to listen to ourselves. It's time that we learn
that lesson ourselves, for it's a very important one,
whether it's taught widely or not.
|
