Wisdom Cookies for the Week Ahead

The dawn of a new week is a good time to set intentions for how we want to live our lives in the days ahead.

There’s a line in A Course in Miracles that says it’s not up to us what we learn, but only whether we learn through joy or through pain. As lovely as it would be if we became wise by just doing the right thing all the time, for me - and I sense for most people - most of what I’ve learned about doing anything right has come from first having done something wrong.

Photo: Davidf

Lessons can be hard won, yet the difficult ones are often the most precious. A few come up for me as we enter this new week, so I’ll pass them along in the hopes that they’ll help you too. Just gentle reminders; very simple, and really common sense. But still, I know how much difference they make when we actually apply them in our lives.

1) 90 per cent of the time, the best advice you can give yourself in any situation is to get over yourself. Not everything has to be about you.

2) Whatever it is you’re longing for, your life will be infinitely better if you give that thing to someone else. Other people are as sensitive and fragile as you, and yearn for love just as much as you do.

3) Observe and listen more, talk less.

4) Asking people about themselves is far more attractive than just telling them about yourself.

5) Whatever you do, don’t block love. Those defenses, attacks, reasons why things aren’t right, judgements about others, and grievances about circumstances serve no other purpose than to ruin your life.

I hope the cookies are helpful. Here’s to a glorious week ahead. These aren’t the easiest times to be alive, but everything we do to expand our capacity to love contributes to the miracles that then flow our way when we do.

L’Chaim!