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MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING

Mindful dialogue invites true listening and true listening expands our ways of knowing and understanding.  Ultimately, it elevates discourse and makes it more likely that we will gradually LEARN AND GROW from understanding one another’s perspectives rather than just fortifying our positions and stereotyping all those who disagree with us.

From: ARRIVING AT YOUR OWN DOOR:  108 Lessons in Mindfulness by Jon Kabat-Zinn

REFLECTION:

  • How can you engage in mindful dialogue?
  • Are you willing to learn and grow from another perspective?  
  • If yes, identify one person you disagree with and explore their perspective.
  • If no, is there something you can do to expand your understanding of another perspective  – listen to a podcast or read an article that offers another viewpoint.  

I AM MY OWN PAINTING

Hope by Michele Wahlder

I was a picture frame.

My interchangeable painting

differed for each person.

Hollowed out, I allowed everyone to see

what brought them pleasure.

 

Different artists painted my canvas.

Heavy-handed brushstrokes of 

unnatural hues concealed my true colors.

 

No longer willing to hide myself,

I break into the gallery,

grab my original art,

recover what is mine.

 

I dip my rags in turpentine,

scrub my canvas clean

till my knuckles bleed.

 

My canvas knows it is home,

back in my loving hands.

I paint with bold colors,

splashes of my life.

Poem by Michele Wahlder from her book WALKING BY STARLIGHT – A HEALING JOURNEY THROUGH CANCER

To buy Michele’s Poetry book, click here:

https://www.lifepossibilities.com/products/walking-by-starlight

 

REFLECTION:

  • What does your canvas look like?  Stepping back to view it, what do you like about it?
  • Is it a canvas you painted? 
  • Have different artists painted your canvas? 
  • How can you take back your canvas and paint your colors on it? 

UNSORTED BAGGAGE TOO HEAVY TO CARRY

All I do know is as we age, the weight of our unsorted baggage becomes heavier… much heavier.  With each passing year, the price of our refusal to do that sorting rises higher and higher.  Long ago, the defenses I built to withstand the stress of my childhood, to save what I had of myself, outlived their usefulness, and I’ve become an abuser of their once lifesaving powers.  I relied on them wrongly to isolate myself, seal my alienation, cut me off from life, control others and contain my emotions to a damaging degree.  Now the bill collector is knocking and his payment will be in tears. 

Quote from Bruce Springsteen in an interview by Michael Hainey for Esquire Magazine on November 27, 2018.

For the full article:  https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/a25133821/bruce-springsteen-interview-netflix-broadway-2018/

REFLECTION:

  • Reflect on these thoughts shared by Bruce Springsteen.
  • Do you have unsorted baggage that has outlived its usefulness? 
  • What do you need to let go of to be more fully alive?