Friday, November 11, 2011

11/11/11: For Oneself

I'm not going to lie, I was a little bit worried that my karma diaries had died off and that everyone forgot about them.  But, then I got an amazing e-mail from Amy.

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“Kindness can easily get lost,” as James said — but especially kindness to oneself. As someone who is consistently dedicated to walking out of the door with a smile, sometimes the smile in my mirrored reflection at home can get lost. I still imagine all the ways I live privileged because others don’t, how when I eat too much, others must eat less. I’ve always seen myself so intricately connected to everyone and everything, like we are all trying to stay in balance in life’s game of tug of war. It was only until later in university where I realized how this is true on such a larger, economical scale, that when I buy cheap clothes, it’s because people in another country are providing cheap labor in conditions unfathomable to my suburban-grown mind. I know, I know, it all seems so cliché, to come from so much and dedicate your life to trying to help others in far away lands, it’s so easy to fetishize and idealize helping like that and forget those around you as well as yourself. But what I’ve come to realize the last couple years is that, yes, it is important to keep a larger, global picture in mind, but there is just as much needed on a local level. And even more than that, on a personal level. If one lives a life stressed, angry, out of balance, I truthfully believe it effects the entire world. It’s like the butterfly effect or a landslide, and it’s every moment in everything you do. Everything I do. So, today, when I woke up feeling that pit in my stomach where I just can’t face getting out of bed because of all the things that need to be done, all the people that are relying on me, all those pressures, all those moments in which I feel are speeding faster than that quick cusp of a moment where the sun dives beneath the skyline, I realized that this morning, I need to do something kind for myself. I woke up today, I made myself a beautiful breakfast full of vegetables and whole foods, I went to yoga, I came home and here I am: infinitely more centered and more connected to myself. And for me, that is my act of kindness that is most important act in my universe this moment.

To love others starts with loving oneself, to help others, starts with helping oneself. To be kind to the world is to treat oneself first with the same patience and kindness. We are all connect, kindness travels, it travels fast. I love you.

PS — creating three mores of these notebooks and will pass them on. Love ya, James!

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I am so impressed with Amy's action of self-kindness.  Too often we stress about things that are trivial.  Take Amy's advice: take a moment for yourself and smile.