Health & Fitness
The Gentle Warmth of Love, Compassion & Kindness
"What the world needs now, is love, sweet love"... it starts within and in our families...
From my 35 years of working locally, nationally and internationally, I clearly see that all around the world, when people grow up in households without sweet love and appreciation for each other, they may end-up seeking money, status, luxury, power and control, and then ignore and reject the simplicity of love, compassion and kindness around them, because these sweet qualities don't lead to more money, status, luxury, power and control.
This lovelessness within, in the family, community, nation and in the world eventually leads to war...
Begin with Self-Love
The only way out of this "Cycle of Inter-generational Lovelessness" is taking the time to re-parent yourself with self-love, compassion and kindness, and then bringing them to your relationships and family in the present, day-by-day, one day at a time, making progress, not seeking perfection.
Family Love
Cycles of family dysfunction take time to heal.
Family members caught up in seeking money, status, luxury, power and control may continue to reject your new love, compassion and kindness, unless they consciously choose their own path of re-parenting themselves with love, compassion and kindness also.
In your re-parenting process, you need to learn to sustain your own inner-serenity, sweetness and kindness over time, even if family members keep rejecting your love, compassion and kindness. They say, “You can bring a horse to water, but you can't make them drink."
Family members may be familiar with feelings coldness and coolness. They may not be comfortable with your new warmth. If they are familiar with thoughts of competitiveness, they may not know how be collaborative with you. They may have patterns of thought of anger and resentment for things that happened in the past, or for other's "success," status, luxury, power and control.
Replacing negative thinking and feeling patterns take commitment, time, effort, persistence and resilience. You may face rejections and have emotional setbacks. After a difficulty, get right back on your program of re-parenting yourself with love, appreciation, inner-serenity, simple living, inner-sweetness, kindness, forgiveness for yourself, others and life for their difficulties, and kindness for yourself and others who are appreciative of you today.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) was a writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath, considered a supreme genius. His works span the fields of poetry, drama, prose, philosophy, and science and his "Faust" has been called the greatest long poem of modern European literature. He wrote "If you treat an individual as he is, he will remain how he is. But if you treat him as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what he ought to be and could be.” Yet, the change process doesn't occur quickly, so you will need the character trait of PATIENCE.
The quality of being patient is:
* the bearing of provocation, annoyance, misfortune, or pain, without complaint, loss of temper, irritation, or the like.
* an ability or willingness to suppress restlessness or annoyance when confronted with delay; to have patience with a slow learner.
* quiet, steady perseverance; even-tempered care; diligence: to work with patience.
So, with simplicity, serenity, patience, self-love and self-care, your life can gradually change for the better. Family members can learn this life pattern and find their way to a healthy, loving life as well.
World Love
I see love, compassion and kindness as the missing qualities for the transformation of the world. This transformation begins within, and works its way outward into our families, communities, with nature, and humanity as a whole. All the religious traditions have been trying to help people for thousands of years. It is time to step up the game, to help save the world. Saving the world begins with self-love and self-care, love and care for each other, and love and care for nature. Love begins within.
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Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881–1955) was a visionary French philosopher and Jesuit priest who was trained as a paleontologist and geologist. He wrote, “Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, [we] will have discovered fire."
May that fire of love be harnessed and turn into the gentle, healing warmth of compassion and kindness in our homes, communities and the world. Like the peace hymn, “Let there be peace on Earth, and let it begin with me….” … Let there be love in the world, and let it begin within me…
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I am meeting with people on Long Island who want me to do my workshops for their circles of friends in their home, houses of worship, libraries, schools and community organizations. I can be reached at sandyhinden@7keystolove.net or 516-815-4967.