Month: October 2016

Encourage, Love, Uncategorized

Love each other.

Image | Posted on by Shari Swanson

degeneres

Recently Ellen DeGeneres won a People’s Choice Humanitarian Award for the tremendous work she has done across many areas of concern: bullying, natural disasters, gay rights, and so on. Underneath each of her generous gestures lies her empathetic heart and willingness to not look away, to offer her help. In her inspiring acceptance speech, Ellen wonders ‘What if there is no such thing as love, just proof of love.’ What would the world look like? What would our little corner of the world look like if it was filled with proof of love?

We may not all be able to give millions of dollars away, but each of us can approach people with kindness. We may not have a talk show, but we can each champion those without a voice. We can acknowledge the pain and suffering of others and do something to help. We can offer the encouraging word and understanding heart. We can show compassion. We can insist that, while we may not be able to stop hate, we certainly won’t spread it.

Celebrate your friendships.

Posted on by Shari Swanson

noonebutmyself

Do you remember that spark of commonality that started a friendship? What was the spark? A shared passion, shared interest, shared way of looking at things, shared love? Something joined the two of you together and made you realize you were not alone in this universe, but that there was someone like you out there. And then as that friendship blossomed, shared moments helped cement the bond. Mutual concern continues to uplift you both. Trust lets you relax into the friendship and blossom. Today, celebrate your friendships. Without friendships, where would any of us be?

Keep pushing forward.

Posted on by Shari Swanson

remakeourselves

In a difficult and challenging place and time, we are called to continue the fight for what is right and good, true and just, honorable and compassionate. We push forward– listening more, caring more, giving more. We can drown out the din and listen to our hearts which strive for peace and harmony, communion, reconciliation. We must hold fast to our principles and to hope as our anchor, especially now.

Push through your fears

Posted on by Shari Swanson

cavefearFear is a crippler.

Fear keeps us from trying, from stepping out, from baring our hearts. It makes us smaller than we are. When we fear heartbreak, we flee from love or offer only a superficial version of ourselves, practically guaranteeing the relationship will lack depth. When we fear failure, we don’t try, or try only halfheartedly, practically assuring a lack of success. When we fear others, we keep to those we perceive to be like ourselves, thereby ensuring that we will not enrich our relationships with diversity.

Fear tells us to cower, to not show up, to be less than we know we are.

We build our fears and then act in ways that reinforce them until they become self-fulfilling prophecies. Our fears become so much a part of our reality that we begin to accept them as ‘truth’. But when we analyze our fears critically, we can harness our inner strength and step through our limitations. So the antidote to fear may well be truth, cultivating it relentlessly, forcing ourselves to examine our fear with a microscope, and dissect it into harmless pieces.

In this powerful TED talk, Issac Lidsky explores how his fears that blindness would rob him of joy and meaning in his life fell aside when he critically examined them and chose to push through those fears to a full and rich life– lacking in sight, but abundant in vision. He urges us to push through our own fears, challenge our assumptions, and correct our misconceptions:

Hold yourself accountable for every moment, every thought, every detail. See beyond your fears.Recognize your assumptions. Harness your internal strength. Silence your internal critic. Correct your misconceptions about luck and about success. Accept your strengths and your weaknesses, and understand the difference. Open your hearts to your bountiful blessings.

Your fears, your critics, your heroes, your villains — they are your excuses, rationalizations, shortcuts,justifications, your surrender. They are fictions you perceive as reality. Choose to see through them.Choose to let them go. You are the creator of your reality. With that empowerment comes complete responsibility.

Today, consider what’s holding you back and challenge your assumptions.

One step at a time.

Posted on by Shari Swanson

firststep

Have you ever been overwhelmed before you even get out of bed in the morning? The problems of the day seem too big; you seem too small? At times like these, it is important to breathe deep, close your eyes and think of all the things and people you love, and then remember that you don’t have to solve all the problems now. You just have to do the next right thing. Step by step, piece by piece, showing up and moving forward.

Take the time to find a quiet place and remember whose you are and that each moment is a gift. To help, here is a lovely video that will start you with  a wonderful perspective with which to face the day.

Making sense of the dark.

Posted on by Shari Swanson

kingdomofnight

If anyone could speak to emerging from the kingdom of night, it would be Elie Wiesel. Taken with his parents and sisters to Auschwitz, Wiesel writes of horrors beyond comprehension endured in WWII concentration camps, including the shame he felt in overhearing his father being beaten but being unable to intervene. Orphaned there, he survived and went on to write of his experience and to advocate for the minority or mistreated. He spoke with the authority of the oppressed and illuminated the need for those who witness abuse to not stand silent, but to engage on behalf of that which is right and good:

“The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.”

For those reading about something as horrific as the Nazi treatment of Jews, we have trouble understanding. What makes people hate? How can a nation stand by and tolerate the mistreatment and extermination of its own people?

But as we search the darkness for answer, light emerges. While, yes, there are plenty of villains; there, too, are heroes. People like Wiesel rise up and urge us toward our better natures and give us courage to stand down evil.

As we go through our lives today, we can look for ways to rise up, to speak out against injustice and indifference, to value love over hate, and to hold ourselves accountable to those parts of our souls that are light and good.

 

 

Take heart.

Posted on by Shari Swanson

encouragement

Where do you find encouragement?

Literally, ‘encouragement’ means to  ‘make strong, hearten’ or ‘put in courage or heart’. Sometimes encouragement is easy to spot–a kind word, praise, a thumbs up, an acknowledgment that your work matters. But sometimes we have to seek encouragement by taking a long view.  Are relationships we are working on getting stronger? Are we making progress toward a goal? Do we feel a sense of peace in knowing we did our best?

To help give you a sense of encouragement today, take a moment to listen to this audio clip of 600 kids singing to God:

Spirit of God

Spirit of God
Fill up my life,
fill up my soul
With your power

And fill me, fill me, fill me

With your great presence
fill me, fill me
With your power
fill me, fill me
With all your truth

Take heart, friend.

Letting go

Posted on by Shari Swanson

lettinggo

Is there anyone you need to forgive? A grievance you need to move past? A stubbornness where maybe you could soften?

Holding on to these things weighs us down, consumes our thoughts, damages our health, and inhibits our ability to move forward and progress.

Maybe it is time to lay your burdens down.