Life's Leanings #30 Don't BE Swept Away

It is all too easy for me to lose myself and BE swept away.

In reaction.

In "self-defense" which is more correctly ego-defense.

I want NOT to react but inside, where you can't see it on the outside, I DO.

I am NOT very Zen sometimes.

I am edgy and sharp and tender.

I am so easily wounded though I canNOT "show" you How.

So I am simply aiming to NOT BE swept away.

To make room and space and NOT confine Life to my "rules."

I don't think this is going to BE graceful.

Still, it's going to BE.

Life's Leanings #29 Cherish Moments

The World is a pretty fast-paced place.

So much happens in a blink, and it seems, well, normal.

I grew up in this sea of Changing Pace, and I adapted with and to it.

Still, there are sometimes moments of just such sweetness.

These are NOT few and far BEtween moments either.

They are rather everyday and often even ordinary.

The person who answers your call after you have been on hold for awhile.

The cashier in the market who is curious about something you're buying.

It is these small blinks that often are the moments I remember.

Long after they happened.

And the speedy hurry-hurry times fade like a blur.

Although to reflect on all of this month it may seem I am up to a LOT...

Really, I am simply savouring the moments.

That's definitely DO-able.

Life's Leanings #28 DO The Right Thing

Sometimes I would say The NEXT Right Thing, but there I go digressing already!!!

I've noticed myself holding back, what sometimes looks like holding out.

It's silly, really, that I DO this.

I am NOT fooling anyone, least of all myself.

So this year I am trying something new to me.

I am DOing the Right Thing.

Even if I would rather react and get snarky, I am DOing the Right Thing.

And interestingly enough, the Right Thing is often BEing Kind.

Or BEing Quiet.

Or BEing someone who listens without judging. [or commenting]

DOing the Right Thing is an expression I am making tangible.

It's often NOT a big deal.

And that's fine.

No BIG DEALS required when DOing the Right Thing.

Life's Leanings #27 Follow Through

I've been a master at starting.

And at volunteering to DO this, that, or the other.

What I haven't really delved into so much is finishing.

Following through.

Commitments are good things.

Following through feels amazing.

Just showing up where I said I would and when dazzles me.

That is really NOT a huge thing I am discovering.

Following through.

And it is way better than all the excuses I ever made.

I'll BE leaning into my follow-through this year.

A LOT more.

Life's Leanings #26 Look For Similarities

There are many things that are difficult.

Times come for everyone that feel too enormous and heavy.

When something comes easily, it's often dismissed.

The challenges we rise to are more attention-grabbing.

But there is a problem in this logic and sequence.

The problem is that we think we alone are walking through things.

And we are.

But we also are NOT.

Every morning when I read others' sharing I am reminded of this.

Over and over and over again.

We are NOT so different, You & I, I think.

WOW!!! I often say in reply, conveying my Gratitude and utter amazement.

It can BE a habit to see our uniquenesses.

Our differentness.

Let it also BEcome a habit, I say, to Look For Similarities.

For the "me, too" moments that bind us BEautimously to one another.

I am leaning into this idea this year.

Life's Leanings #25 Understand

How hard is that, really?!

Understand.

Whether there is an explanation or any reason given.

Understand.

Just try that today.

Understand.

And even tomorrow, and the days after that.

Understand.

Life's Leanings #24 Respect Is To Give NOT Get

I'll BE honest, I did NOT always understand what Respect is. I mean I could define it. I suppose I could pay it, but it really flew under my radar undetected. For the most part.

I still understand it only a little. There is far more I don't know about it than what I DO know. But there is one thing I am sure of:

Respect is something I Give; it is NOT something I Get.

I think this is why I have misunderstood it so much. I was told someone or something deserved my respect, but that really didn't make much sense. I could say the right words and act the part of BEing respectful, but until I discovered what respect really feels like, deep in my bones, I couldn't wholly give it.

I canNOT BEgin to explain when and where and how I learned about respect BEcause, like my dreams, when I try to colour and paint it with words it all sort of disappears and turns to dust. Dust that doesn't stick. Like snow that has melted BEfore it touches the ground.

Recently I felt deeply disrespected. [I felt an inner urge to point it out and wag my finger in someone's face about it, too; understand my dilemma with this one?!]

The thing that "saved" me was realising that the respect I felt was lacking was my own. Respecting myself, giving myself respect, THAT was the missing link to this puzzler.

As I near the end of my annual two-month reflect and project process, I am leaning harder into the things that encourage, strengthen, and lift me. Life can BE a challenge. I need all the encouragement, strength, and lifting up I can find.

I am glad I am NOT afraid to shine some light in the darker places of myself. I am relieved, too, that sometimes just that willingness to shine my light there can make all the difference.