Gaman

Image from @candicekumai

“The contrast from barely paying rent to where I am now is incredible. And I just want to tell you guys that I am living proof that you can do anything in your life, but you will have to work for it.

And when I am running those races, I always hate the last 3/4 lap. That is the one that you have to get through, and I feel like I am there right now, in my life. Like, I feel like I am at the 3/4 lap, where I just want to give up and tell everybody: This has not been a fun career. This has been a painful career, and the one thing that I know how to do better than anyone is endure.”

Wabi Sabi, Ep. 02, Gaman, How to Survive With One Simple Strategy (podcast available on iTunes)

“The one thing that I know how to do better than anyone is endure”

What do you see?

By: Gabriela Yareliz

I was sitting in court when a court staff member sat beside me. He asked me how my weekend had gone, and told me that now that I am young, I should make sure each weekend is the best weekend I ever had. I smiled politely, taking a break from my New Yorker reading, which was my entertainment as I waited to be called.

He then said, “Open your hand, and look at your palm.”

I did and gave him a skeptical glance. If this guy was expecting me to read my own palm, I was not having it.

“What do you see?” he asked.

I stared blankly into the flushed palm of my hand that had some ink stains on the side.

“Nothing,” I said, choosing to ignore the ink smudges.

“Look again.”

I did.

“You don’t see it, but the rest of us do. You have the world in your hands. Seize it. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t.”

I smiled. The world. In my hand.

Open your hand. What do you see?

Great Spirits

“Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. The mediocre mind is incapable of understanding the man who refuses to bow blindly to conventional prejudices and chooses instead to express his opinions courageously and honestly.” –Albert Einstein

By: Gabriela Yareliz

Honesty will often cost you. People often lie to protect themselves or more specifically, their status, and more often than not, to protect the image they hold in front of others. However, our characters and hearts are too expensive a sacrifice. When we lie, what we aim to have protect us becomes the greatest weapon against us.

Don’t cheapen yourself. Be a great soul. If honesty costs you, let it cost you. At least that is a price worth paying.

Love Goggles

Let us seek wholeness. Let’s look at each other through love goggles. Let’s not list that which makes us or others imperfect. We don’t need someone to tell us, each of us knows our flaws.

Here is the key: It’s only love that helps us grow.

“Sometimes, it’s the smallest things that lead to the most profound change.” Goop Podcast, “How To Move On From Your Imperfect Childhood,” May 10, 2018 (available on iTunes)

Grace and Healing

It is my prayer to grow in grace for myself and others. Sometimes, we allow our past or baggage to weigh us down. Things trigger us as humans, and we are left standing there, feeling as we did in the past. For some, that means: rejected, controlled, abandoned, laughed at, ostracized, unseen, betrayed– no one makes it out of life unscathed.

But when will we learn? When will we see that the future is ours. That healing comes when we let go of who we think we are and reframe who we are through God’s eyes and love. I fully believe that the narrative we allow ourselves to hear can either heal us or destroy us.

Here is to more grace and healing. Be kind to yourself, and then, you will probably be kinder to others.

Clarity

Excerpt from The Clarity Cleanse, by Dr. Habib Sadeghi:

“The more we reach for clarity, the more space we create in our consciousness. The more space we create, the more room there is inside of us for love to expand and grow.

Love is a natural state of being, the divine state of being. When we empty ourselves of all the clutter and muck we have been needlessly carrying around with us from experience to experience, love naturally grows in the space we have created. As it says in the Bible (I John 4:8 NIV), ‘Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.'”

“Too often people resign themselves to living lives that aren’t worthy of them because they don’t think they can have something better. I believe every one of us can have more, can be more. There are numerous statements in the Bible that assure us God is willing to give us more if we only ask for it, such as, ‘Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.’ (Matthew 7:7 NIV).

[…]

Too many of us lose out on a great relationship, fulfilling job, a beautiful experience, a full and wonderful life because we don’t ask for it. We don’t ask because we don’t believe we can have it. There are no shortcuts to living the life you’ve always wanted to live, to be the person you’ve always wanted to be. You have to believe, you have to ask, and you have to do the work– […] There’s a difference between asking for tea with your cup held tightly to your breast so that it’s difficult for the pourer to reach it and asking with your arm outstretched, holding your empty cup out in an open gesture of receiving.” Dr. Habib Sadeghi, 239-240, The Clarity Cleanse

“There’s a difference between asking for tea with your cup held tightly to your breast so that it’s difficult for the pourer to reach it and asking with your arm outstretched, holding your empty cup out in an open gesture of receiving.”

That Kind of Love

It’s amazing to find that love that makes you feel safe.

You know– that love where you know everything will be okay because you have this incredible force of love and strength in your life.

A love that is enduring through time, where years later, while you just sit there and talk, you can smile at each other and just know.

A love that binds two completely different people into something strong and unbreakable, for which no words exist.

A love where you can be so honest. A love you don’t let go of. A love you are crazy about.

A love that makes your heart swell. A love of silent understandings. A love that accepts your quirks, and who finds your nerdy weirdness endearing.

A love that starts in friendship and expands because you know you have found most amazing person you have ever met.

A love that can’t be escaped. A love that is there to rescue you and help you fix whatever needs fixing.

A love that laughs at your wacky dance. A love that helps you see the stars you never noticed.

A love that carries you when you are in pain. A love that keeps your little notes and drawings; a love that believes in your dreams more than you. A love that makes your life a garden.

A love you believe in without question. A love you never want to see a day without. A love that can block out life’s loudest noise and helps you find rest.

A love that is a home. A love that makes you better because you know that person deserves the best.

A love that changes your life. A love unmatched. A love that imparts life.