Asking for help
There is a humility in asking for help – it brings us home to a sense of our common humanity. The words humility and humanity have the same root as the Latin word ‘humus’, which means soil or ground. When we are grounded, we feel comfortable being part of the natural cycle of giving and receiving.
A soulful life
While the word ‘soul’ can have rather loaded meanings in our modern culture, most of us can probably relate to the idea of living a ‘soulful’ life. When we describe something as ‘soulless’, such as a building or a musical performance, there is a distinct sense of something vital which is missing.
Body-mind connection
What I also find fascinating is the body-mind connection – how the way we use our bodies can influence our mental state. We can get a sense of this with a very simple exercise – walk around the room twice, once with the head down and shoulders slumped forward, staring at the floor; the second time with the head high.
Warm-hearted attention
‘Attention without feeling, I began to learn, is only a report. An openness — an empathy — was necessary if the attention was to matter.’ Mary Oliver
Receptive spaciousness
‘Presence is the bare awareness of the receptive spaciousness of our mind.’ Daniel Siegel, The Mindful Brain
A well-tended life
A well-tended life is less a matter of ‘this is what you should do’, but more a question of ‘I wonder what might be needed today, given this time and place, and my particular circumstances?’