There've been loads of hours logged in laboratories and libraries (and probably a few pubs) to prove that if we pretend enough, we can talk our minds and bodies into believing all sorts of stuff. You know: smile and, eventually, you'll feel the corresponding happiness. Stand with big-ness and, eventually, you'll feel confidence.
We don't doubt it. We don't doubt it at all. It does, though, make us long (a little bit) for things we don't have to trick ourselves into.
It also reminds us of a woman we once met who had hours of complaints and criticisms (okay, maybe it was just minutes, but it felt like hours) and when someone gently suggested considering an alternative point of view, she snapped, 'I don't want to hear that. I only want positivity in my life.'
So. Here's our exercise for today. It's an exercise to find a small, real sensation of love.
Spend two minutes (5 if you have to and 10 if you can't resist being distracted by text messages.) Wait. Where were we? Ah. Two minutes recalling moments of sweet contentment. Small gestures of generosity. Seconds of connectedness.
Okay, those sounded like a bunch of words. How about this? Recall that moment when someone's face lit up when you arrived. When someone really listened to you, to your answer, to your request. When someone approached you at a party or event. When someone asked about an old episode you mentioned months ago.
And now? Consider offering that same, simple moment to someone else. Oh. That'd be TWO exercises, wouldn't it? Well. Follow your heart. :)
And that's it for today.
We don't doubt it. We don't doubt it at all. It does, though, make us long (a little bit) for things we don't have to trick ourselves into.
It also reminds us of a woman we once met who had hours of complaints and criticisms (okay, maybe it was just minutes, but it felt like hours) and when someone gently suggested considering an alternative point of view, she snapped, 'I don't want to hear that. I only want positivity in my life.'
So. Here's our exercise for today. It's an exercise to find a small, real sensation of love.
Spend two minutes (5 if you have to and 10 if you can't resist being distracted by text messages.) Wait. Where were we? Ah. Two minutes recalling moments of sweet contentment. Small gestures of generosity. Seconds of connectedness.
Okay, those sounded like a bunch of words. How about this? Recall that moment when someone's face lit up when you arrived. When someone really listened to you, to your answer, to your request. When someone approached you at a party or event. When someone asked about an old episode you mentioned months ago.
I want to be loved for who I am, she said, because being loved for who I'm not just stresses me out. -'Love Match' by Brian Andreas (from his new book 'Theories of Everything')Remember that feeling of someone seeing you, of counting you as one of us in this great big messy, fun world. That is a sensation of love.
And now? Consider offering that same, simple moment to someone else. Oh. That'd be TWO exercises, wouldn't it? Well. Follow your heart. :)
And that's it for today.
