Beauty is around us! Let’s enjoy it. Let’s surround ourselves with beauty, kindness and great spirit. I was reflecting upon a passage in the book “Mastery of Love” by Don Miguel Ruiz and I realized I can do more to protect myself from those things and people that cause me upset. We all have our moments when we are challenged by others but we choose to be in the presence of good and negative energy. Our choice is frankly simple. To remain healthy, we have to remove ourselves from negative situations and people that cause us stress. For example, if you are aggravated by foul language, saying to someone “I do not need to hear you cursing all the time. It’s not that I am better than you; it’s because I love beauty. I love to laugh; I love to have fun; I love to love.” When I read this paragraph in the book, I loved it! Isn’t this so true? I want to be surrounded by beauty and happiness and it is certainly fine to remove negative energy, people and words from our lives.
Another way to enjoy the beauty around us is to rid ourselves of any negative memories and thoughts we keep. As Don Miguel Ruiz suggests, “You must forgive those who hurt you, even if whatever they did to you is unforgivable in your mind. You will forgive them not because they deserve to be forgiven but because you don’t want to suffer and hurt yourself every time you remember what they did to you. It doesn’t matter what others did to you, you are going to forgive them because you don’t want to feel sick all the time. Forgiveness is for your own mental healing. You will forgive because you feel compassion for yourself. Forgiveness is an act of self love.”
We are challenged day to day with situations, experiences and others. However, what we do in these circumstances is up to us. This reminded of a quote I read that spoke to me… “Anger is just anger. It isn’t good. It isn’t bad. It just is. What you do with it is what matters. It’s like anything else. You can use it to build or to destroy. You just have to make the choice.” When we have a challenging moment, whether it is of anger or frustration, it is important to take a moment, feel our emotions, acknowledge them and then let them go and not allow them to control us. We are more than our fleeting emotion. And in fact, if you feel yourself become negative, think of something you are thankful for as our minds cannot hold negative energy and be thankful at the same time. And we do have much to be grateful for, especially this beautiful summer weather!
So enjoy these warm, clear days, your neighbors, the fresh air and anything that makes your heart soar!
Happy Summer!
CC DeGraff, Executive Director