A YEAR AGO
It has been a hellacious year for many reasons, with Covid being the most challenging and the lack of leadership at the top right behind it, actually contributing to the 564,000 deaths in the U.S. alone and 2.97 million world-wide. I wondered what I was thinking about a year ago, so reached back, and here it is, still valid IMNSHO.
MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
1 – GRACE Think of an elegant blessing, one that you may have received that you can bestow upon another. The gift of grace lifts us up so that we in turn may lift others.
2 – GRATITUDE Genuine thanksgiving for freedom of choice, for opportunities to give unselfishly and to exhibit behaviors that demonstrate recognition and appreciation.
3 – COMPASSION Going beyond sympathy to empathy and letting others know that you see them, you hear them and that you care about them. Specific acts of kindness.
4 – HELPING Finding ways to lift and share the burdens that others endure, often suffering quietly or alone.
5 – LISTENING Paying attention to peoples’ stories, the willingness to hear what they are saying, their need to communicate and connect.
6 – LEARNING Gathering new information from different sources, seeing how to help apply new solutions to old problems.
7 – LOVING Embracing both yourself and others with heartfelt expressions of acceptance. In the words of Fred Rogers, “I like you just the way you are.”
You can expand these to include your own definition and understanding. My intention is to help focus on some things that might add to strengthening ourselves and our communities in these trying times.