Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Last night, participants in the our Artist of Life Inspiration TeleCircle shared “wisdom” from various “sources”—books, teachers, classes—that has truly improved their happiness and satisfaction. Here’s a sample from the diversity we came up with:
- stay in wonder, joy and curiosity no matter what life hands you
- find joy in sharing a skill you love
- we make our own happiness
- when troubled, change your perspective
- let go of perfection
- be polite
- when the student is ready, the teacher appears
- act, don’t react
- be present
- learning and fun are compatible
- connect with the natural world
- meanness is rooted in fear and insecurity
In the introduction to his book, The Happiness Hypothesis, Jonathon Haidt suggests that all the world’s GREAT IDEAS address two basic questions:
How does the mind work?
How can our social lives be improved?
Think about the many teachers you’ve encountered in your life. What LASTING, PRACTICAL and TRANSFORMATIVE wisdom have they shared? Into which of the two categories does the wisdom fall? What can you do today to REMEMBER, IMPLEMENT and APPRECIATE that wisdom?
We tapped into our memories of wisdom during a guided imagery, attempting to let the intuitive mind rather than the rational mind serve up the information.
We simply asked ourselves to remember important teachers and their wisdom. We waited until thoughts appeared, without trying to force any memories. You might try your own version of that. Let your mind quiet and wait to see if an insight about an important truth you’ve heard floats into your conscious awareness.
I was surprised that I remembered something about anger from the book The Dance of Anger by Harriett Lerner. It was in that book that I first remember hearing the wisdom, “act, don’t react.” The notion that being in reaction gave away my personal power AND tended to have messy self-defeating consequences was life-changing for me. Interestingly, I had a reason to remember that wisdom today!!!! I’m glad the reminder was fresh—it certainly did improve my social life!
Posted by Linda Sandel Pettit on 01/18 at 04:50 PM in |
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