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Daily Question, December 24

What would others say are your greatest gifts? What can you learn from this?

  • Cheryle

    Quite a few people have said I am generous and caring. What I can learn from this is that giving others joy brings me joy too.

  • TofuLove
    I've heard close friends and family describe me as selfless which I don't actually feel I am. My cousin described me as the most genuinely kind person she knew which again feels totally not fitting as I can be pretty bitchy haha. I don't perceive myself as especially kind and in fact feel at times I can be grating and difficult. But yeah, the overarching descriptive used by others is kind and selfless, sometimes to the point people find me too much so haha. I've always found it weird when people...

    I’ve heard close friends and family describe me as selfless which I don’t actually feel I am. My cousin described me as the most genuinely kind person she knew which again feels totally not fitting as I can be pretty bitchy haha. I don’t perceive myself as especially kind and in fact feel at times I can be grating and difficult. But yeah, the overarching descriptive used by others is kind and selfless, sometimes to the point people find me too much so haha. I’ve always found it weird when people describe me that way as I don’t perceive myself as especially so those things.

    I would say I have a lot of empathy for people, the hardships because I know what it is to be scared, lonely, hurt, in pain, like I really know those experiences so I care about other people experiencing those things. I’m extremely passionate about helping marginalized people, especially those that society would deem as somehow not having value.

    I think people are partly the representation of the value that they’ve been afforded and treated with which is why I feel so much compassion for groups that are viewed negatively and don’t receive a lot of positive regard and kindness. I really think people can turn dark from being treated with hatred, unkindness, suspicion etc and so I really try to offset that by doing whatever I can to bring kindness to those who most need it.

    I just feel a deep commitment to making life better for others and it’s kind of always been there. I don’t think I learn anything from that other than it’s just really important to me and is the source of my bravery, my strength, it’s the special sauce that has helped me throughout life. I don’t function well when I live a more self oriented life, my happiest moments are bringing others happiness and security and comfort. I feel happier making others feel happiness, it really just actually feels very good to me and like I’m living how I think I’m meant to live, than I do searching out happiness to feel on my own which might be a bit odd.

    Read More
  • Melissa

    I am not sure what others would say about me or what gifts I have. Amy your last job and what your boss and coworkers did is a super idea. Kind of like a mandala of your personality traits that others are grateful for. I will do that for some of my friends. A great project for this time for me to be inspired by. One step at a time.

  • Don Jones

    Others say I am a good listener and a generous spirit. What I learn from it is that service to others flows best when self is put aside.

  • Amy
    When I left my last job, my boss had all of my coworkers write down on three slips of paper one word that describes me. She then put them on a piece of our letterhead in random orders and framed it and presented it to me. There were a couple of words that were repeated and one in particular, resilience. She put one of those "resilience"s dead center. Whenever times are tough like when I was looking for a new position or when teaching has gotten particularly tough, I look back at that framed piec...

    When I left my last job, my boss had all of my coworkers write down on three slips of paper one word that describes me. She then put them on a piece of our letterhead in random orders and framed it and presented it to me. There were a couple of words that were repeated and one in particular, resilience. She put one of those “resilience”s dead center. Whenever times are tough like when I was looking for a new position or when teaching has gotten particularly tough, I look back at that framed piece to remind myself that I AM resilient because certainly my coworkers thought this. It helps when I don’t feel this way. Compassion and faithfulness were other words that got repeated, too.

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    • Pollyanna Gladwell

      Dear Amy:
      What a thoughtful gift your former boss devised and you must have been a great employee to inspire it.

      A visible reminder of the traits that others appreciate must be very encouraging on days of self-doubt and I am going to adopt this practice if there is ever another birthday party to go to. So much more meaningful than the trite greeting card phrase ‘You’re special’ or its ilk.
      Love, peace and joy!

      Pollyanna xx

  • Vincent-Edward Ciliberti

    With humbleness i would say that I know not of any gifts I might have, though I do recognise the many gifts other people have, like sincerity, thoughtfulness,, gratefulness too, and most of all love towards others.

  • Linda

    Fun sense of humor. Kindness. Openness.
    These are the things I bring to the world.

  • Christine

    I really wasn’t sure what “others” might say so I asked my husband. He said my greatest gift was management. That I take care of everything. I’m glad he thinks that’s a gift. I sometimes think the flip side of that is control. I like to be sure everything is “taken care of.” 😏

  • Mica

    I’ve read that others often regard our greatest gifts and greatest flaws as pretty much the same – e.g., ‘good organizer’ and ‘bossy.’ I’ll not search my calm brain to seek what adjectives might describe me.

  • Papilio

    My friends say that I’m insightful and intuitive. I know these gifts come from my attentive listening to others and heightened awareness. I’ll keep using them for others who ask me for advice. I’m grateful for the friendship these gifts brought to me.

  • Ed Schulte
    THE "OTHERS" who are technically as close to me as my next breath and heartbeat often remind me ....when ever I don't listen to them very well ......is that my "greatest gift"...is LIFE....and I must respect/ aka grateful for/ Life and IT, otherwise my awareness of LIFE will be greatly diminished! "IT" being the body and the intelligence which maintain IT. This "IT" is an enormous intelligent consciousness, one which as Dusty Su pointed out recently, ...we can enter and exist as we wish bec...

    THE “OTHERS” who are technically as close to me as my next breath and heartbeat often remind me ….when ever I don’t listen to them very well ……is that my “greatest gift”…is LIFE….and I must respect/ aka grateful for/ Life and IT, otherwise my awareness of LIFE will be greatly diminished!

    “IT” being the body and the intelligence which maintain IT. This “IT” is an enormous intelligent consciousness, one which as Dusty Su pointed out recently, …we can enter and exist as we wish because we have free will to do so. And Tis the Season to renew that “respect / grateful for” -ness.

    This has been said many times by amazing ones such a RUMI. These words of his version truly came to light for me the morning.

    The Body is Like Mary

    The body is like Mary, and each of us has a Jesus inside.
    Who is not in labour, holy labour? Every creature is.

    See the value of true art, when the earth or a soul is in
    the mood to create beauty;

    for the witness might then for a moment know, beyond
    any doubt, God is really there within,

    so innocently drawing life from us with Her umbilical
    universe – infinite existence …

    though also needing to be born. Yes, God also needs
    to be born!

    Birth from a hand’s loving touch. Birth from a song,
    from a dance, breathing life into this world.

    The body is like Mary, and each of us, each of us has
    a Christ within.

    Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi

    “”Merry Christ ***NOUS***!

    (( ***NOUS*** is awareness of “Christ within”

    Read More
    • Carol
      When I read the poem by Rumi that you posted, I knew I wanted to share a quote from Meister Eckhart with you. I believe that we are all called to be Mary. We are all called to “Let it be done unto us.” My sister did not have a place to set up her beautiful Nativity scene this year and she brought it to me and I have it displayed in my living room. I often stand and gaze at it and the word that comes to me is “vulnerability.” Vulnerability is very challenging but vital to spiritual growth...

      When I read the poem by Rumi that you posted, I knew I wanted to share a quote from Meister Eckhart with you. I believe that we are all called to be Mary. We are all called to “Let it be done unto us.” My sister did not have a place to set up her beautiful Nativity scene this year and she brought it to me and I have it displayed in my living room. I often stand and gaze at it and the word that comes to me is “vulnerability.” Vulnerability is very challenging but vital to spiritual growth. Here’s the quote:“What good is it to me if this eternal birth of a divine Son takes place unceasingly and does not take place in me? And what good is it to me if Mary is full of grace and I am not also full of grace? What good is it to me for the Creator to give birth to his Son if I do not also give birth to him in my time and in my culture? This then is the fullness of time when the Son of God is begotten in us”. Breakthrough and Birth by Meister Eckhart

      Read More
      • Ed Schulte
        Dear Carol Thank You! so very every much for this sharing of Meister Eckhart…he who had his mortal bones dug up and cast over the churchyard fence by the ‘prison guards’ of church authorities! But as it has been said, (and now about to be proven) “The prison guards WILL become the prisoners”.C-19 has given myself and others the time and place to research and solidify the importance Mary has in the returning of correct understanding, or at least appreciation of, the event Dec 25th actu...

        Dear Carol

        Thank You! so very every much for this sharing of Meister Eckhart…he who had his mortal bones dug up and cast over the churchyard fence by the ‘prison guards’ of church authorities! But as it has been said, (and now about to be proven) “The prison guards WILL become the prisoners”.C-19 has given myself and others the time and place to research and solidify the importance Mary has in the returning of correct understanding, or at least appreciation of, the event Dec 25th actually represents. Enough from me on that ….the 2020 and that term also implies 20/20 vision and that is happening right under everyones noses. Trained or untrained.

        Instead I want to applaud your vision here “I often stand and gaze at it and the word that comes to me is “vulnerability.”Vulnerability is very challenging but vital to spiritual growth.” Very Intuitive ! You must have a very direct connection to Mary. I come from a Catholic background so the nativity scene was alway a part of the event…in the home and in the church…..but somewhat “off to the side”…after a year of investigating the “forbidden” gospels found in the Nag Hammadi library , yes, challenge after challenge was something the early Christians were in for ….because we ALL are here in the three dimensional world called “mortality” to “get our lessons”. Her son called it the “bitter cup” and asked for the future “vulnerabilities to mankind” …be removed. Enough said 20/20 vision is here to stay.To You and Your, have Joy-filled and SAFE Christ-Nous !

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    • Pollyanna Gladwell

      And you have brought these words to light for me today, Ed. They will be in my Christ-nous emails. Thank you.

      • Ed Schulte

        Oh!’ and Yie! someone is getting into the Irish Christmas rhythms!

        So here is a link you may want to tuck away for the New Year

        www.dailyom.com/cgi-bin/display/librarydisplay.cgi?lid=398

        and to voice agreement to your ‘people here’…posted below ….a quick quote

        “Drunks fear the police,
        but the police are drunk too.

        People in this town love them both
        like different chess pieces. ”

        RUMI

        • Mica

          dailyom.com – what a cool site – thanks, Ed! and thanks for the delightful Rumi poem, different from the other Rumi poems I have known. A Turkish woman grad student in a physics lab introduced me to Rumi, before my years as a ‘yogi.’

          • Ed Schulte
            Mica, you are welcome but now I will reply again in a more Ancient tradition " Thank US"! ( because all we truly have is each other ) Re: your observation of "different". Yes Daniel Ladinsky trained in the ancient tradition "Amusta Kebzeh before he began translating Rumi So did I so I can say that pre-Sufism t ( Sufism is after all just a name given to it...it never have a name before that ....it was a way of communal living ) training gave him very expansive perspective. As an Essene I c...

            Mica, you are welcome but now I will reply again in a more Ancient tradition ” Thank US”! ( because all we truly have is each other )

            Re: your observation of “different”. Yes Daniel Ladinsky trained in the ancient tradition “Amusta Kebzeh before he began translating Rumi So did I so I can say that pre-Sufism t ( Sufism is after all just a name given to it…it never have a name before that ….it was a way of communal living ) training gave him very expansive perspective. As an Essene I can say his respect for Mary ( An Archangel from the order of ‘Principalities’ ) is very Appropriate and accurate.

            “Be Well Be Present and Merry Christ-nous” !

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        • sparrow

          🙂

        • Pollyanna Gladwell

          I’m not very practiced at delayed gratification, so I must confess I already took a peek at your suggestion for New Year, Ed! Wow! I particularly like:

          There is a community of the spirit.
          Join it, and feel the delight
          of walking in the noisy street,
          and being the noise.

          Many tanxxx!

          • Ed Schulte

            ! ….and yes to “noise streets” I quote this every day!“Drink all your passion and be a disgrace………. open your hands ( wings) if you want to be held ….sit down in this circle”….into every expanding spheres of BE-ing”

  • Pollyanna Gladwell
    Oh my goodness! What a difficult question. I have so many! But here goes… with the most important one first. Gift 1. After that tongue-in-cheek introduction, you’ll be surprised that I start with…Ta-Dah!... Being modest – with much to be modest about! The witty Winston Churchill said this about a political opponent and I’m sure many would say this about me. A high school Latin teacher with a very acerbic tongue put it well after I had declined a word incorrectly: “You...

    Oh my goodness! What a difficult question. I have so many!

    But here goes… with the most important one first.

    Gift 1. After that tongue-in-cheek introduction, you’ll be surprised that I start with…Ta-Dah!… Being modest – with much to be modest about!

    The witty Winston Churchill said this about a political opponent and I’m sure many would say this about me. A high school Latin teacher with a very acerbic tongue put it well after I had declined a word incorrectly: “You’re a nice girl. You’re pleasant – but a fool!” One of my classmates said afterwards that it would be a good epitaph for my tombstone, and, if I ever have one of those, I just might use it. But hopefully I’ll be remembered more for being pleasant (which, I have learned, costs nothing) than for being foolish (which, I have learned, has been VERY expensive at times.)

    Gift 2. Curiosity. This gift has led me down some ill-considered paths but has given me a life of contrasts and experiences that have broadened my perspectives and made me more empathetic, and with a wide range of knowledge that makes me popular for pub quiz teams! (I also like to WIN!)

    Gift 3. Humorous. Before the decimation of a social life this year, I had ample opportunities to interact and try to cheer others up with a laugh. Much more difficult when alone, but I picked up a HUGE book of humorous quotes in a charity shop recently and I read a few every day to have a laugh. Hopefully I can recycle some!

    Gift 4. Looking my best to feel my best. I have learned that good grooming, cared-for teeth (for all the smiling), and walking tall will attract those people who want it to my 12-step way of life. This is my responsibility, and if I looked like an alcoholic, I doubt many would want the sobriety I have.

    My recycled quote for today:
    Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go.
    Oscar Wilde

    I’m not a gambler, but I’d lay money that all the wonderful people on this site belong in the former category.

    Blessings on you all in this season of Light.

    Read More
  • Trish

    People recognize my ability to see the glimmer of hope in situations. I’m not a “rose-colored glasses” girl. I see lots of ugliness & I also see beauty in everything. This helps me to foster compassion in myself & the world. It generates kindness in my entire being. Such a gift⭐️

  • sunnypatti

    My fiance thinks I am the most grounded, calm person he has ever known, and that is quite the compliment. I’ve worked really hard to be a grounded person, to be able to maintain my peace of mind and serenity no matter what is happening. I have coworkers who thank me for my kindness and positive attitude, which shows me that the inner work I’ve put my heart into is reflecting outward, effecting those around me. That makes me feel full and happy 🙂

  • Michele

    I don’t know what others would say my greatest gifts are. This, to me, seems like a self reflection question because I would never ask that to anyone, lol. I feel I am very thoughtful and a caring woman. I learn from others on this site as many other people I come across throughout my life. Happy Christmas Eve.

  • Antoinette

    My strength of resilience is my greatest gift. I hope I can share whatever I have which to help others be free and happy.
    Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all of you ! Peace and joy to you all. May you be well and May you be happy. 🙏

    • pkr

      Merry Christmas to you too Antoinette. Wishing you a peaceful & joy filled holiday. 🎄🙏❤️

  • devy
    Others say that I am kind, helpful, considerate. They say that I am talented with my musical abilities, That I have a good heart even though at times I am frustrated and upset with some people. They say that I am a good person with good intentions. What I learn from this is that by writing down this facts that often I sell myself short, feel unlovable or not wanted. I am often hard on myself and treat myself worse than others. This is an issue that I need to address more, to stop being self crit...

    Others say that I am kind, helpful, considerate. They say that I am talented with my musical abilities, That I have a good heart even though at times I am frustrated and upset with some people. They say that I am a good person with good intentions. What I learn from this is that by writing down this facts that often I sell myself short, feel unlovable or not wanted. I am often hard on myself and treat myself worse than others. This is an issue that I need to address more, to stop being self critical and to love and be supportive of me.

    Read More
  • EJP

    Patience and a giving spirit are my greatest gifts which I have learned to use wisely.

  • Pilgrim

    Listening with compassion. Asking good questions, as a situation may indicate, so that a person may find their way in a storm. Affirming the journey. During these strange times, I could learn, or remember, to do the same for myself.

  • Malag

    It’s not the gifts I have. That’s just a detail. It’s what I can do with them. And it’s to acknowledge that they are gifts. They don’t make me special. Too often have I fallen into the trap that I am deserving of merit merely because I played the hand I was given. This question reminds me to appreciate the gifts given.

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