Alright y'all. One of the hottest trends/fads all over the internet lately are posting positive, encouraging words for your friends to read. It's my my favorite fad to date and I think it's a fabulous one. When we read, and reread quotes that inspire us, it naturally makes us feel better. Maybe even gives us some hope or at least gets us thinking. I want to suggest signing up for Elephant Journal. It's similar to Mind Body Green, and you get emails each day on yoga, spirituality, health, articles that will make you laugh, etc. Today I opened my email with Gandhi's Top 10 Fundamentals for Changing the World:
I read this over and over a few times and it really hit a chord with me. All 10 of them. SO, I'm going to blog about each one, relate it to my life in a way and then relate it to yours. I don't get around to doing this very frequently so who knows how long all 10 will take, but I'll try not to keep them too long.
Let's start with Change Yourself.
We are told from a young age that we can't change other people, only ourselves. While we go in and out of relationships, we tend to forget this, or at least I have. When we interact with our friends or people we work with, we also tend to forget this. I have caught myself in relationships/friendships in my life, feeling upset and confused when people didn't act or respond the way I wanted them to. Or the way I would expect them to, or even the way I would have acted myself. But over the last year or so, and with much prayer, I have become more patient and understanding when these situations arise. People are who they are. We never know what type of day someone is having or why a person chooses to act the way they do. We don't know if a family member has been hurt, or if a job has been lost, or if that person was just never really taught basic fundamentals in communicating, etc. There are so many reasons why people react the way they do, and all we can do is try to be understanding. We can choose to spend less time with those people, or if they are family members, or spouses, we love them anyway. We try not to get angry when they aren't responding the way we would. We can try to change our response and remember that is the ONLY thing we CAN change. This was the first thing that came to mind with this simple but complex statement. That's what I loved about all 10 of these, was that Gandhi chose 10 simple fundamentals for us to live by. And all of them are difficult but such an amazing goal to strive towards. To summarize, changing yourself for me, meant changing my expectations of others. But this could definitely mean changing from an old you to a new you. Someone that you see as "better or more positive, or more patient." It can mean anything, really. But try to remember you can only change yourself. Seek understanding in anyway that suits you. For me, I pray. I ask God to help me understand that everyone is different and has their own beautiful way of reacting and responding. That people will look at me and feel that I'm different and that's OK. That although one way may be different than mine, it is not weird or wrong, it is just that. Different. And that is A-OK.
To leave us tonight, here's a video that has absolutely nothing to do with what I've just posted. But I can barely contain my excitement with the new release of The Head and The Heart's new video!!!!! I love them so much! I discovered this band at last year's FREE Bluegrass Festival here in San Francisco. Now they are selling out all over the country, I'm stoked for them! Such talent... Enjoy!
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