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Daily Question, December 30

What have you learned about yourself this past year?

  • Anisah

    I can’t hold grudges to save my life and it used to really annoy me because I couldn’t be rightfully angry at people without forgetting about it a couple days later and basically forgiving them. I’ve learnt to love that part of myself now, because it’s a way my mind protects itself, by letting go of whatever no longer serves me.

  • Debangana

    I am still trying to find myself. My passion. I am a sensitive person with a short temper. I care for people. Sometimes I care too much. I should stick to meditating and a healthy lifestyle.

  • Linda

    I have been much more content staying home most of the time than I ever thought I would be. The days flow, and I flow with them.

  • Malag

    That even though I have an introvert outlook and, from that perspective have appreciated the quiet of lockdown, I still need a certain amount of company

  • Cheryle

    I can change the way I think so that patterns that no longer serve me or those I interact with can be let go of to create space for more beneficial thoughts and actions to flourish.

  • Dusty Su
    I am neurodivergent, and it is my superpower. It was the relinquishment and not the adoption that made my life the challenge it has been. I can make peace with the past by facing it head on and forgiving it and myself. I can give up most of my possessions, home, lifestyle, meaningful work, and start out again with next to nothing but extreme grief. And yet it can be beautiful. I can love with an open heart and trust for an unknown future by working with whatever I have at hand in the pres...

    I am neurodivergent, and it is my superpower.

    It was the relinquishment and not the adoption that made my life the challenge it has been.

    I can make peace with the past by facing it head on and forgiving it and myself.

    I can give up most of my possessions, home, lifestyle, meaningful work, and start out again with next to nothing but extreme grief. And yet it can be beautiful.

    I can love with an open heart and trust for an unknown future by working with whatever I have at hand in the present.

    In short, I struggle, scream, kick, fight, survive, emerge, thrive, reframe, and create bridges of compassion to others.

    In this Facebook video clip https://www.facebook.com/559319041/videos/10159087350119042/ I am reminded of how in 2012 I took it* all to the river and let it go while holding onto what counted the most. This year there were rich treasures to hold on to, but only after I let go of what I could, or should, no longer carry.

    * photos and mementos (scanned and kept), and love letters from my ex-husband, filled with unfulfilled promises (not scanned or treasured.) All biodegradable material btw. A onetime event in a river that was important to leave such memories.

    Read More
  • Hot Sauce

    This past year, I have learned that, even though I still have some healing to do from my personal “stuff,” and even though I struggle with the rest of the world with what is happening right now, I also have a lot of resilience to get through it and find hope, even though I didn’t always see it before.

  • Elaine

    I delight in the God of small things.

    Plenitude
    by Jan Richardson

    At lunch today
    it was the purple of the olive pits
    against my cobalt plate
    that stunned me.
    At tea, the gold of peach
    bloodstained by its stone.
    I do not know
    where the greater part
    of the miracle lies:
    that I should pause
    to notice this,
    or that I,
    a woman of
    such great hungers,
    should be so well satisfied
    by such small things.
    May the God of small things delight you this day.

  • Ose
    It was a very intense year of multiple experiences and I have learned a lot which would have been impossible without the intense help of kindred people and dear friends and you all here. That engaging for the well being of others needs not only doing as good as possible but also being present and a visible “me”, allowing to show being vulnerable also. This opening up to others together with letting go of old fixed fears allows much smoother, joyful and warm connections with all. I am deeply ...

    It was a very intense year of multiple experiences and I have learned a lot which would have been impossible without the intense help of kindred people and dear friends and you all here. That engaging for the well being of others needs not only doing as good as possible but also being present and a visible “me”, allowing to show being vulnerable also. This opening up to others together with letting go of old fixed fears allows much smoother, joyful and warm connections with all. I am deeply grateful that faith and hope in Universal Love starts to unfold again, which reappeared and despite, or may be even because of overcoming many inner difficulties and sadness was strengthened and deepened “against all odds”.

    Read More
  • Zenith

    This will be my last post for 3 weeks. The library whose computer I use will be closed for 3 weeks. What have I learned about myself this year? That I am long suffering (I already knew that). Someone told me recently that I am dedicated to that which I commit myself to. What I have learned as I practice gratefulness and come to see how negative my thought patterns are, is this. I must always bring myself back to loving kindness toward myself and others. But it does take work.

    • Pollyanna Gladwell

      I echo Ose’s post, Zenith. Will miss your wonderful posts and hope your loving kindness will grow and you will prosper from the work.xx

    • Ose

      Dear Zenith, I am so with you and dearly hope for you that another computer will be available for your using it unexpectedly. If not, please know that you are with us nevertheless and that we joyfully expect your return! With love, blessings to you from Ose

  • GregC

    I lack self-gratefulness, self-compassion and self-forgiveness.

  • Don Jones

    That embodying loving kindness is a beautiful way to live each day.

  • Melissa

    Well like Joni Mitchell sang” You don’t know what you got until it is gone”. I was so grateful for what we had but never imagined a pandemic and being isolated. So now I read a line taped to my mirror and read it everyday. “What would love have me do today? “. This I have learned helps me move forward with comfort and purpose in this challenging time. I learned that everything changes and I must learn how to accept change and find a path full of love.

  • Cleverly
    This year I've learned that I had placed unachievable expectations on myself and others and never communicated them. This greatly impacted my relationships with family, friends, myself, and life. I did not show compassion to myself or others, furthering a negative view of life and the world. I've started letting go of expectations, living more fully in the moment, and accepting everyone, including myself, where they are and I just hope to that by doing so it brings a bit of peace to me and those...

    This year I’ve learned that I had placed unachievable expectations on myself and others and never communicated them. This greatly impacted my relationships with family, friends, myself, and life. I did not show compassion to myself or others, furthering a negative view of life and the world. I’ve started letting go of expectations, living more fully in the moment, and accepting everyone, including myself, where they are and I just hope to that by doing so it brings a bit of peace to me and those I impact.

    Read More
  • Antoinette

    I have learned that setting an intention each and everyday is a necessity.
    Now I want to try to be better at bookending each day with an intention and ending the day with reflection of what to be joyful of. Reflecting- did my intention flow through the day? Did I respond with compassion and love? This year the power of having a purpose/ intention really kept me grateful and grounded.
    I hope everyone has a lovely safe corona free New Years! Say hello to 2021! 🙏

    • Malag

      Something I’ve not really done, at least not in any conscious or consistent manner. I wonder, Antoinette, does one set an intention to have a particular mindset that day or set the intention of doing something actionable or perhaps both.

      • Antoinette

        Hi Malag ,
        Good question! I actually wake up with an intention to see all beings with the eyes of compassion and kindness. That each day I set an intention to do no harm but to ty to be of service. I they to practice kindness and love.

  • pkr

    What have I learned about myself this past year? Wow, so much, so many things. I have learned I can “accept & adjust”. I am patient, I am kind. I am RESILIENT. I am a work in progress. I need God in my life now more than ever. I am thriving. I will be ok. I am transformed. Love & Light to All…..❤️✨🌟

  • KC
    No human is an island. My first official meltdown during Covid was after several months watching yet another first class service offered by our exceptional leaders and faith community on Zoom. I ranted at the computer throughout, and walked away part way through the service in a fit of annoyance, anger and despair. I walked outside in tears. Our beautiful house mate sat down in front of me, relaxed and fully present. She listened to me rant, as if she had all the time in the world. The...

    No human is an island. My first official meltdown during Covid was after several months watching yet another first class service offered by our exceptional leaders and faith community on Zoom. I ranted at the computer throughout, and walked away part way through the service in a fit of annoyance, anger and despair. I walked outside in tears.

    Our beautiful house mate sat down in front of me, relaxed and fully present. She listened to me rant, as if she had all the time in the world. Then, with a big, broad smile she simply said – “sometimes people need people”.

    As a hard core introvert, finding a happy balance between inner and outer worlds and engagements is a daily invitation and work in progress. Perhaps the isolation, constraints and frustrations of Covid have highlighted this challenge, and necessity to keep showing up to face it, now more than ever. Who knew!?

    Read More
  • Lauryn

    I learned it’s ok to be an introvert. Maybe that’s because this was the 2020 reality. But in general I guess it meant becoming more comfortable with solo adventures and projects.

  • DeVonna

    Simply put, I need people.

    I had no idea how much I enjoy the company of like-minded companions until I was completely cut off from the same for a time. It has been a monumental struggle, and a time of great personal insight.

  • Pollyanna Gladwell

    That procrastination is a continuing character defect. I have to be willing to let that go. I’ll do it later maybe!

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