What’s it Going to Be?

Just finished sketching this a little while ago. Gloria gave me the frame. I painted the mat, and then decided to draw the hyacinth in the first slot. I’m going to learn some of the other flowers from the same YouTube channel and then put my favorites in the other two spaces…stay tuned. I am going to hang it somewhere in the apartment and leave it here. The color matches the walls. It makes me happy, and I will be happy to see it when (if) I come back. You never know.

I walked down to Lady’s Place today for a pedicure. Completely forgot two things: 1) my sandals and, 2) it’s a holiday. The sandals part is obvious to anyone who has had a pedicure. You cannot put socks and shoes over a fresh pedicure. The second part is important because, given that it is a holiday, it is difficult to get a taxi. The pedicurist was very sweet. She tried calling three taxis without luck. She gave me those foamy little slippers and then went outside and hailed a taxi for me. This is Panama after all. And…she just now sent me a rose emoticon on WhatsApp when I thanked her for her help. I love this place.

That is kindness. Obviously, it is customer service, but it goes above and beyond. People here are just kind. It is a good place for me to practice kindness.

Being kind is a challenge. I find it increasingly a challenge when I am here anew and have to navigate new relationships. I am working hard on making kindness my response reflex. It is an interesting process. My immediate/initial/knee-jerk response is irritation and defensive. I feel like have to be on guard and protect myself. I don’t want to be taken advantage of or pushed around. However, I am working on pausing, taking a breath, allow the irritation to pass through me as though I were invisible, and wait. Waiting is the hard part, but it pays off.

I have discovered that if I wait a bit before I respond (sometimes a few seconds – a day is better) the result is always rewarding. In the peak moment, just saying, “okay” works, and then I take time to think it through. I let the wolves fight it out in my head.

Do you know this story?

An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy.

“It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.” He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”

The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

So, I’m doing my best to feed the Wolf of Kindness. The Dalai Lama, when asked about this religion, said, “My religion is kindness.” I’ll take his word for it; it’s a good choice.

I understand that given all the exact circumstances of birth and conditioning, I would be saying/doing exactly the same thing as the other person. I am in THIS body; they are in THAT body, but we are all manifestations of the same source. In our ESSENCE we are the one.

I have no idea why I felt I had to write that, but there you go!

I received a $50 Amazon gift certificate today from GBInsight for writing a testimonial in regard to my genetic testing with them. First time I have ever been paid for writing something. Dan is so happy.