Instead of only “taking stock” of our lives annually, with regard to the people, places, and things we are grateful for, (we can see, hear, smell, feel/touch, and taste…,) perhaps we can become more mindful and appreciative of them on a daily basis.
Can we want less, expect less, and waste less… in order to value one another, ourselves, Mother/Father Earth… more? How can we approach each new day, honoring the healthy boundaries of our own... while doing the same for others?
For me, it’s about BEing true to that which I am called to BE. Serving; but, not serving until my well is so depleted I cannot honor a spiritual call. It is not giving of oneself to the point of the destruction of everything you know your soul to BE. That is not serving any Divine call; but, man’s. Don’t be disillusioned, we can have various “calls,” throughout our lifetimes… none of them have to mean ministering, preaching, teaching, or counseling. There are an entire array of ways to serve a “calling.”
How often do we receive pleas on the heart for giving to organizations, for folks that we and said organizations would pass by in our daily living… were it not for the recognition or additional funds to maintain programs, buildings, etc. If we do not have compassion for those with whom we interact daily, can we truly expect the organizational offerings to magically turn lives around? Or, do we offer a hand up, (not a hand out,) teaching (skills) in giving moments or opportunity… which includes calling for accountability of those abusing individuals or groups of people, organizations, and systems. This includes calling out and standing up in opposition to elitists systems, embracing opportunities to build better foundations for equitable living wages within every home, without the need for one or all adults, or in some homes... even the children, needing to forego self-care in order to work 3 - 4 jobs to provide for the bare necessities, let alone be able to continue their or their children’s learning and growth opportunities, with any measure of success.
To those generations who bought into the DOing to HAVE… be mindful of exactly what it is you now have. I’ve met so many who have the mindset those who are no longer willing to be a party to the elistists’ “DO what we want you to do, to buy what we dictate you should want…” so many of you don’t even have the clarity to see the ways you belittle those, while bailing out your own children and family members to avoid familial scandals, humiliation of family names getting into the “news,” etc. In all of the doing to have, the creation of a boom in addictions of all kinds took place, even within you and I; yet, we fail to even be cognizant of it. Maybe some struggle with family get togethers; because, we fail to be thankful for the struggles we see others going through; because it reminds us of ways we fail, each day. To “heal the world,” we need to first face and admit our own failures… within our families and our friend circles. Instead of blaming or continuing with the empty promises of changing to be more helpful, we actually, truly, whole-heartedly BEcome the change… by first, dropping to our own knees.