compassion and karma

I have been thinking alot lately about people in general. It seems that there are so many people who are dissatisfied with their lives, their looks, their everything. This dissatisfcation is everywhere, it has seeped into my friends lives, into the students I see...everywhere. I'm not talking about the people who are heartbreakingly depressed or anything. I just mean the regular people who just...aren't happy. Sure, everyone's got drama in their lives, but some people 'bounce' with it better than others. Others seem to just inwardly collapse into a steaming pile of disgruntlement. I won't lie, I've been there...it's a craptastic place to be.

The thing is though, we can do something about it. We can count the ways that we are beautiful, the ways our lives are blessed. Rather than remembering every single thing that's bad, start remembering the good. Rather than obsessing about why our lives aren't going the way they're supposed to, we can be thankful that we have a life to live the best we can. It's making a concious decision to be happy. That's the only thing that will clean up that steaming pile of disgruntlement that you may have fallen into. Drinks won't fix it, church won't fix it,your friends can't fix it, the gym won't fix it. Unless you change your internal behavior , the way you think...you're going to be stuck. Don't get me wrong, those things can help...especially friends and church, but you can listen to your friends and the Bible all day and if it doesn't sink in, if you don't change, you'll walk out the doors the same person.

I think one of the most important things is to learn kindness and compassion. When your life is low...start trying to be kind to others, find ways to show compassion for people and you'll find that you are lifted up. Find ways to be kind to yourself and show some compassion for yourself and what you're feeling and you feel better. One of the bloggers I stalk just had a quote posted that I love. This is the full text of it :

For Attractive lips, speak words of kindness, For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people, For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry, For Beautiful hair, let a child run their fingers through it once a day, For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone. People, more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed. Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you will find one at the end of each of your arms. As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself and the other for helping others." — audrey hepburn

I did not used to be so happy with my life. I changed. Learning to be kind, learning to show compassion for others, learning to stop obsessing over what I thought my life should look like helped. Learning to look at what my life was really like and what it could have been like really helped. Learning that Life doesn't just happen to you, that you can be an active participant in its course really helped. I love my life now. At nearly 31, I have found that I finally feel like I am where I'm supposed to be and it is not where I thought I would be when I was 21. But, I belong here, with my friends, my husband, my family.


So rather than posting 3 blessings today, i'm going to post 3 challenges for you...

1. take 5 minutes to day to look around at all of the simple things in your life that you may usually take for granted.
2. find a way to be kind to someone else today
3. make a concious decision not to worry about something that's on your mind for at least an hour. stick to it, and practice thinking of something else.