Where yesterday’s blog was long, today’s will be short.
BE: Gentle.
gentle:
having or showing a mild, kind, or tender temperament or character.
kind, tender, merciful, forgiving, considerate, understanding loving
moderate in action, effect, or degree; not harsh or severe.
Be gentle with others who are having challenging days.
Be gentle with yourself if you do not show up to your day, to another person, to an encounter, to your spiritual practice, to anything as you hoped you would.
Be gentle with your goals and expectations today.
Be gentle with your children, your animals, your family, your friends.
Be gentle with the world however you experience it.
When we remove all our outside duties and distractions, we get to take a good long hard look at our lives. For those of us who tend to push ourselves, we sometimes see all this open-ended time from the perspective of our inner taskmaster. We think that if we push ourselves harder, we will be “better”. That old lie of human perfectionism. But that usually backfires — and we end up feeling terrible for not accomplishing what we had hoped to. What we don’t realize is that we need to be gentler with ourselves and lean into Love instead. Then Love does the heavy lifting. Love eradicates fear. Love heals. Love balances. Love becomes our compass.
For those of us who tend to procrastinate, we can believe that if we berate ourselves that will kickstart whatever it is we aren’t getting done. Ultimately, we just end up procrastinating more — sometime to flip the bird at that inner tyrant. Again, being gentle with ourselves and turning our stuckness over to Love lets Love take the wheel. Love never procrastinates. We just need to lean in and let go and let Love drive.
For those of us who are both perfectionists AND procrastinators — and most of us usually are — being gentle is the only way out of this looping unhappy cycle. Because perfectionism and procrastination always lead to paralysis. That’s why there’s nothing better than getting out of Love’s way. But as anyone who has ever worked with an animal of any kind, pushing and shoving ain’t goanna get it done. So be gentle — and Love will be strong. Love will break every cycle if we invite it in.
A friend of mine shared her daily agenda during this time.
Learn one thing.
Do one house project.
Get exercise.
Do something soul connected.
Have one good conversation.
And then she said the most important thing I needed to hear: But if I don’t get all of them done, I’m gentle with myself.
Aaaaah, I thought. Gentle. I should try that.
I’ve been pushing myself for as long as I can remember. So today I am going to be gentle with myself, with Allie, with anyone I speak with on the phone, with the world. I’ll lean in and let Love do what Love does. Let Love heal.
Somewhere along the line we got the idea that we were human doings not human beings. This month is all about the practice of BEing. Being is NOT doing. Love does, when we “be”.
Today I am going to Be: Gentle. Will you join me?