Nurturing Thursday – Through Their Eyes

“The practice of looking through the eyes of one who loves us can be a powerful and surprisingly direct way to remember our beauty and goodness.”

~ from the book
“Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life with the Heart of a Buddha”
by Tara Brach, PhD

Our animal companions provide us with unconditional love any time of the day … on every given day.  Question to ask:  What if we started to truly look at ourselves the way our animal companions look at us?

Suggested exercise:  Take a deep breath. With mindfulness, devote a few moments to view you as they do.  Visualize yourself wrapped in this type of unconditional love.  Observe how you feel with this blanket of acceptance.

How did you do?  How did it make you feel?  Try repeating this exercise as often as needed, until you look at yourself in an unconditional way as our sweet animal beings look at us.   ~~  Namaste

Additional Note:

Perusing some of my favorite blogs I discovered:

• Self Care Isn’t Selfish – Cauldrons and Cupcakes
• 10 Ways to Be Kind to Yourself – Cauldrons and Cupcakes
• 80+ Self Care Ideas – The Self-Compassion Project

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Frequent Contributors to
Nurturing Thursday:

Laurie’s Notes
Jacqueline King
Crowing Crone Joss
Inside the Mind of Isadora
Pocket Perspectives

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What is Nurturing Thursday, you ask?

In this amazingly competitive society of ours, how many of us truly feel good about ourselves? How often do we extend to ourselves … the same courtesies, considerations, nurturing, forgiveness and understanding we would a loved one, a friend, or even a stranger?

Our culture tells us we need to be special and above average to feel good about ourselves. Yet, it is not possible for all of us to be above average at the same time. Don’t we usually know of someone richer, more attractive, “more together” or successful than we are? Even if we discount the material aspects and consider the more spiritual facet, don’t we know of those who seem more at peace, more aware or living in the moment. Even when we do manage to feel a strong sense of self-esteem or self-confidence, we are not able to consistently hold on to it. For most, our sense of self-worth bounces around like a ping-pong ball, rising and falling strongly tied with our latest success or failure.

In an effort to eliminate labeling ourselves as “good” or “bad”, and clearly accept ourselves with an open heart … to treat ourselves with the same kindness, caring, and compassion we would show to a good friend … I would like to incorporate more self-compassion and self-kindess in my life.

To “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy” … I am dubbing Thursdays as Nurturing Thursday … a spin-off of the suspended Occupy Blogosphere started by Amy of SoulDipper.

If any of my readers are interested in joining the nurturing, I applaud and welcome you to do so … the more the merrier!!

 

 

For previous Nurturing Thursday posts: Nurturing Thursday

For previous Occupy Blogosphere posts: Blogospheres

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© rgb for “On Dragonfly Wings with Buttercup Tea”, 2011 – 2013