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What is a “great thing”?

Two days ago, I posted:

Do Great Things … With Heart

And I wrote:

Leadership is about taking the action that is needed in the moment, seeing what needs doing and making it happen. Such actions might be small – like listening to a friend who is suffering. Sometimes they are bigger – like taking responsibility to organize the community fundraiser.

Today I want a do-over, or at least a chance to clarify the words “small” and “bigger” from a new perspective. Who can say that “listening to a friend who is suffering” is small … or is smaller than the fundraiser responsibility? Not me.

First, we cannot ever fully know the impact of our actions. The love and compassion received by our friend may travel  far and wide through their actions, down through the generations in their family, through friends and colleagues and strangers who witness and receive of our friend’s expanded compassion. It may travel through our own expansion from having been part of a compassionate human exchange.

Second, what can possibly make compassion small? Humanity is starving for compassion, tenderness, love — for real. Giving and receiving the depth of emotion which is an integral part of the human condition is priceless. So, a single act of compassion … is both great and BIG.

What big, strong, loving, great act is yours to do today?

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Do great things … with heart

8_19_2010_Mother_Teresa_World_EWTN

“Don’t worry about doing great things…
just do little things with great heart.” Mother Teresa

I was reminded this week of how much fear and resistance I experienced during a leadership training program in 2010. There I was in the midst of learning about leadership, imagining our group creating “big things” in our world, and scared out of my mind when I thought about leading.

Since then, the fear of leading has shrunk tremendously.  And my definition of leadership has shifted.

Today I know that we are all meant to be leaders. And leadership isn’t about “doing great things” though some leaders do that. Leadership is about taking the action that is needed in the moment, seeing what needs doing and making it happen. Such actions might be small – like listening to a friend who is suffering. Sometimes they are bigger – like taking responsibility to organize the community fundraiser. Either one of these has the potential for great impact – especially when done with great heart. When we lead and act from heart, from passion, from a deep connection both to the purpose we feel inside and to the world in which we live, we bring much needed love and compassion into this world. We do great things.

What need in the world around you have you been neglecting?
What do you see that needs your heart-full touch?
What action is yours to take?

What will you do today with great heart?

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For what will you exchange your valuable life energy?

There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and be lost. Martha Graham

I woke after a restless night and part of me was ready to let that fact color my day. It didn’t take long before I realized that I had choice. I could go with tired, listless, frustrated and scared that I’ll never sleep well again.

Or I could remember that I have been given this day, one more series of moments (and I can’t know how many!) filled with life energy. It is up to me to choose how I will invest this very precious resource. No one else can do that for me. And the energy that is mine to invest in this now moment is forever gone once the moment has passed.

What choices will you make today?
For what will you exchange your valuable life energy?

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Generosity …

Reading from the book, Wherever You Go, There You Are, by Jon Kabat-Zinn:

WhereverYouGoThereYouAre

Such is the power of mindful, selfless generosity. At the deepest level, there is no giver, no gift, and no recipient … only the universe rearranging itself.

This quote struck me at my core. We – all of us – are part of the Universe, part of all that is in the cosmos. We are part of humankind, part of this amazing planet Earth that we call home, part of the evolution of consciousness and matter. We are part – among – connected. We arrived with nothing and we will leave behind all that we have used on the journey. And along the way, haven’t we simply been part of the Universe in constant motion: rearranging, creating, destroying, evolving, learning, growing, holding on, letting go?

What if, along the way in this journey of life, we practiced mindful, selfless generosity from an awareness that all is one? 

Might we approach today with:

How am I to support the Universe today?
What generous rearranging is mine to facilitate?
How am I to lend my life energy to the greater whole?

And since all is one, I must be aware that I am not alone and ask:

How is the Universe rearranging to support me?

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Just this …

Reading from the book, The Call, by Oriah Mountain Dreamer:
TheCall

… The task is to just pack the box or just type these words or just speak to the service person on the phone in this moment, all the while keeping one part of my attention on the spacious stillness within. …

Just this. No multitasking, trying to do three things at one. Yes, you know. You talk on the phone, fold laundry, and respond to the question from a family member that is being mouthed to you so as not to disturb your phone call. Really????

I’ve done it — many times. Yet when I practice single-tasking, just this, I am more open, connected, at ease. I feel the spacious stillness that Oriah wrote about. I am present and have so much more available to the task or the creation or the person who sits across from me.

Today, give yourself the gift of just this. Notice what tries to steal you away from the practice: thoughts, plans, fears, worries, unfinished business. Notice and set them aside – over and over and over as needed! Come back to just this.

What is the impact of just this?