Anam Nostos House Blog

I don't believe love is easy for anyone, despite what they may say otherwise. I think love is a complex emotion for most everyone. You either know it in your soul as a given, or you are on the other side where all of your life you fought to understand and accept it having it not come easy to you in any form. I am on the latter side. Allowing love sounds easy enough, but if you were raised in this world with an understanding that it had to be earned or value the easy nature is non-existent. How has your experience of love been on your journey? I encourage you to share your thoughts with a close person in your life. Opening the window into these emotions and experiences is part of a healing journey. Someone who has love come naturally could so easily help the person who struggles to understand acceptance of love freely.  We are here to walk together hand in hand in order to live this life fully.

So, narcissism is a strong word, I know. But I have noticed a theme across social media of self-confidence, passion and embracing one's voice to be a disguise in the worst way of in fact narcissism. I am not saying by any means that everyone is a narcissist. I think everyone does have a little narcissism in them, however. It is human. But the key is how you use it. I am the first person to tell you to find your voice. But the pleas I have seen of late to 'go find less' are not exactly fair. Here is the thing; you can be passionate about life, but you have to be aware of the people around you. If your passion is hurting someone then that is not you being just 'more' that is you being narcissistic in a bad way. We can be passionate human beings going after our dreams, but we must remember the people in our path. If you are disregarding people, their feelings, and in many areas decisions that need more than one person's input on a situation be it with children or relationships, then there is a problem. Just something to think about. Go be more but be kind and compassionate along the way.

I saw this awhile back and have come back to the depth of its meaning more than once. Think about it. How many times have you just immersed yourself in anger allowing it to really infect your life without even considering the true emotion behind it? When I stopped to look at this situation in my own life recently with a different emotion came through strong, grief. It wasn't so much anger, but sadness and grief for the loss I experienced around the situation. While anger was true for me, it wasn't fair to put all the energy into that one emotion. I decided to sit with that grief for some time before I was able to let go. It was the freedom I needed and appreciated at that moment. Now, I ask the deeper questions around these emotions, to not get caught up again. Try it.

"The one who plants trees knowing that he or she will never sit in their shade, has at least started to understand the meaning of life." -R.T.

The meaning behind this quote has been taken in many ways. It is personal to you. What will you consider when reading it?

To me planting trees is to look at the world outside of yourself.

What do you want to leave behind when you leave this earth?
What will it say about you, that which you are leaving?

I try to live my life in a way that exudes the gratitude I feel for being given the opportunity to breathe the air around me. How are you doing this?

We have but one chance, one life.

Will you take it for granted?
Or will you plant trees in someone else's shade?

You can be the difference in someone's life whom you don't even know. You may never see the rewards from that which you are planting, but knowing you left this earth better than you when you arrived says everything about a person.

Consider it.

How often are we rushing around in our lives, and we simply brush people off? We are all guilty of a lack of empathy or compassion in our hurried world. We brush off these times of situations for it is too time consuming or difficult to deal with. I am reminded so often that more people than not are facing these feelings on a daily basis. Our world is a very anxious place to live these days. There are those who deal with anxiety in a chronic manner and then those who have situational anxiety as they walk through different situations in their lives. The bottom line is pause, listen, embrace and be present to those people around you. A little kindness goes a long way for anyone feeling these big feelings daily.