the next 50 needs more calm, patience & (self) compassion
It's July, which is my birth month -- and this year is a big one, I'm turning 50! Because I swim in a gene pool shared by long livers (three of my grandparents lived past 95, and one lived until 102!), I figure I'm only halfway done. So to celebrate my birthday, I've decided that for every day for the first two weeks of this month, I'm going to share images and words representing what I hope the next 50 years will have more of. Time to say it and claim it, by gum. And maybe, if what I say resonates with you, you'll be inspired to get more of these things for your next 50 years, too.
I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures.
~ Lao Tzu
Of all my characteristics that I constantly have to find myself working on -- and the list is long -- my most persistent is my impatience. I wouldn't want to get rid of my impatience completely, because a lot of things that I've accomplished in my life has definitely happened because I didn't wait around to get things done; on the other hand, I wish my temper wasn't so quick. It would do me well to take a breath, occasionally.
A little over a year ago, I shared a self-compassion exercise that I learned from Kristen Neff, and when I remember to do it, it works shockingly well. So here's hoping that the next 50 years, I remember to take this break more often. Because self-compassion, I believe, is the key to curing impatience. And as far as I'm concerned, you can never have too much self-compassion.
Soundtrack: Try a little tenderness by Otis Redding
Also for my birthday, I thought I'd give a nice, deep discount to one of my most popular online courses, GLOW: a 21-day ecourse for claiming your light! So if you'd like to get more light in your life, enter coupon code WATCHMEGLOW for 30% off the course. It really is a great course: one participant said she was so happy to rediscover "how blessed I am in my life"; another said, "GLOW came into my life at the perfect time. It is slowly changing my mental state and I have been focusing on the positives for the first time in ages." So join me. It's the perfect self-care for the summer.