What helps us heal? What is the magic that helps us transform? How do we awaken?
The Tao speaks of being vs. non-being --in other words, of the material world vs. emptiness (or presence)-- and it says that though we see and engage with the material, what really matters is the emptiness (the experience, our inner presence).
In order to awaken, to heal and transform...
I’ve always been easy to laugh. My Venezuelan cousins teased me as kids because they’d make up silly jokes that even they didn’t think were funny, and I thought they were hilarious.
It’s almost as if the child in me was tapped into the inherent joy of their silliness rather than getting caught up in what ends up being our adult, intellectualized funny/not-funny pre-requisite for allowing ourselves to laugh.
What if loving yourself first and foremost is NOT selfish?
What if the ONLY way in which you can truly love others is by loving yourself first?
I know this sounds counter to what many of us were taught. We've learned that it's selfish to put ourselves first, especially when you're a parent.
Many of us in the western world were raised hearing this Christian maxim:
You know what I mean. A chronic should-er sounds like this: "...I really should be exercising more...", "...I should fold that stack of laundry..."