The DAILY SPARK Blog

CLEAN UP THE MESS

Mushroom helping to "clean up" in the forest - mushrooms assist in decomposing.

It is the unacknowledged hurt that becomes a wound.  Our only recourse is to acknowledge what we’ve done and clean up the mess.  Even if our awareness comes years after delivering the hurt, the smallest word or gesture – owning what we’ve done – can reopen the heart.

The Book Of Awakening by Mark Nepo

REFLECTION:

  • Is there a wound or unacknowledged hurt you are carrying toward someone?
  • Is there a wound someone else has toward you?
  • Can you acknowledge what you have done … perhaps say you are sorry or some other gesture?
  • What can you do to reopen the heart… clean up the mess that exists in that  relationship?

TO DISARM

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial Washington DC

If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man’s life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, from The Complete Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

REFLECTION:

  • Everyone has a backstory that contributes to how they are behaving towards us.
  • Is there someone who has been disrespectful, perhaps argumentative or even attacking you personally?  Is there a backstory to their behavior?
  • Are they in need of compassion?
  • How can you approach them with empathy and compassion?  try it!

SEEDS YOU PLANT…

Seed emerging

Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.

Quote by Robert Lewis Stevenson

REFLECTION:

  • Do you focus on efforts and actions that produce immediate results/rewards?
  • How do you balance short term gratification for long term growth and progress?
  • Endurance and patience are needed for greater impact/results to materialize.  Are you willing to plant seeds (actions) that will yield a greater harvest in the future?
  • What seeds are you planting today for your tomorrow?