|
The Constellation Learning Newsletter
January 2008
 I
was a traveling fool over the holidays, eschewing airports
for my grey-blue four-wheeled stallion, which carried me through
an east-coast blizzard with aplomb. And this, on the very
first day of a two week trip—great practice for maintaining
my sense of humour.
Opportunities for developing those
parts of ourselves that could use practice abound over the
holidays, whether you’re with others or alone.
As 2008 begins I wish you continued health, hope, and
happiness—and opportunities to demonstrate your current
level of self-mastery. Happy New Year!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~
Monthly Message ~
“Wandering
re-establishes the original harmony which once existed between
man and the universe.”
-- Anatole
France --
“A
good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.”
-- Lao
Tzu --
I wandered over the holidays.
I wandered for two whole weeks. I wondered and pondered. It
was wonderful. All I did as I drove from to Toronto to Connecticut
and then to Baltimore and on the Easton, Maryland was ponder
all the blessings in my life. And though I was relegated to
a couch some evenings, I could find nothing about which to
feel anxious or disappointed; there wasn’t enough space
in my heart for those visitors to enter.
This was a very different holiday for me. I
decided to simply be in service wherever and whenever I could.
I hemmed a king size bed-skirt for my sister-in-law in West
Hartford while watching her children for four days, put up
ceiling tiles for two days in Baltimore with my sons at their
new townhouse, and rearranged my sister’s home office
at her request, definitely a two-person job.
Back in the “real world” beginning
a new year—one, I believe, that carries tremendous influence
in the future of this planet and all who sleep on her “couches”—try
as I might, I find I have nothing profound to share this month
except for this: be grateful.
Be grateful for anything and everything.
Be grateful for the fact you can read this.
Be grateful for your ears, hands, eyes, feet.
Be grateful that you can think and speak and
smile and walk.
Be grateful for the credit card bills that reflect
your ability to make purchases for those you love over the
holidays. There were those who went without any gifts. This
year save prior and pay in cash.
Be grateful for the inevitable family tensions,
whatever they may be. There are those who have no family left.
This year vow to remember the gift in family, no matter how
much they may rankle you sometimes.
Be grateful for the people you find bothersome
on the job or in your neighborhood. They are perfect mirrors
reflecting relationship muscles still to be developed. This
year commit to a work-out plan for your emotional as well
as your physical strength.
Be grateful for your perceived short-comings.
This year, pretend you chose them all—not because it’s
the truth, but because it enables you to exercise different
choices, and choice is empowering.
Be grateful for those who believe differently
than you; without diversity, the world would be a dull place
indeed.
Be grateful for verbal disagreements; they open
the door to increased clarity and closeness.
Be grateful for all the things and people who’ve
hurt you; they are angels offering you opportunities to grow
more secure in yourself, to grow into yourself.
Finally, be grateful to have awakened this morning.
There are those who did not.
Here is my only profundity for this edition
of my monthly commentaries: If you practice being grateful
for everything, all the time, no matter what it is, then when
that morning arrives when you don’t awaken,
you will have created the life for which you long right now—perfect
and free and weightless.
And everyone who knows you will say you lived
the kind of life, despite the circumstances, that brightened
theirs.
So be grateful in 2008.
Not a bad resolution for a new year.
(For
back issues please click here.)
“Travel
and change of place impart new vigor to the mind.”
-- Seneca
--
__________________________________________
See
our Newsletter Archives
|
