My Mother Always said 'Charity Begins at Home'

What the World Needs Now is Love, Sweet Love

What are your wishes for the world? Do you wish more love, trust, integrity, joy, peace, charity, generosity and kindness in your community and the world? Then live it~Be the change you want to see in the world. 

As my mother often said, 'Charity begins at home.' 

Are You Willing to Give with a Generous Heart?

We all hope someone 'out there' will do something about the injustices we see. But if anything is to be done to care for our fellow humans and the world at large we must be willing to start the charitable drive to make the world a better place from our own home base. We must be willing to do something to change the course of events. 

If we want a better world we must be willing to act in accordance with the change we want to see in the world.

Love Others AS YOU Love Yourself

'Charity begins at home' means first caring for yourself and those close to you so you have a strong base of love and support to share with the world, then reaching out to help others through acts of kindness and compassion. By first refreshing your own spirit you're better able to give to others. 

The Paradox of Caring for Others as you Care for Yourself 

But there is a paradox inherent in 'caring for others as you care for yourself'--you can't care for others without boosting your own spirits. Or as  the Dalai Lama said, 'If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.' 

Consciously engaging in simple concrete acts of caring daily is where it begins.

A Fully Engaged Life Begins Today

💚Where are you willing to be the change you want to see?

💚What will your first concrete act of caring be today? 

💚What is one action you'll take today to make the world a better place for one person?

Choose to live a fully engaged life in which you consciously care for and love others AS YOU care for and love yourself. It is the ultimate secret to a fulfilling and meaningful life.

'Most people spend their entire lives indefinitely preparing to live.'

Paul Tournier

'If you don't change your beliefs, 

your life will be like this forever. Is that good news?'

W. Somerset Maugham

'The call to adventure is the point in a person's life 

when they are first given notice that everything is going to change, 

whether they know it or not.'

Joseph Campbell

'What you are is what you have been; 

what you will be is what you do now.'

The Buddha

There are two good things in life--

freedom of thought and freedom of action.

W. Somerset Maugham

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For more than 35 years, Susan Meyerott has been helping people lighten up and step over invisible barriers to change one step at a time. She speaks to your heart, puts you at ease, and makes letting go and moving forward with life easier than ever before.

Do you know someone who could benefit from uplifting messages? Please share Lightarted Living with them. If you or someone you love is interested in learning more about closing the gap between where you are now and where you want to be, join the FREE Lightarted Living mailing list. 

From Me to You: 3 Affirmation Heart Cards for Valentine's Day

 Wishing you a Lightarted Year

filled with Lightarted experiences!

 Wishing you a Lightarted Year

filled with Love, Joy, Laughter, Strength and Courage!

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For more than 35 years, Susan Meyerott has been helping people lighten up and step over invisible barriers to change one step at a time. She speaks to your heart, puts you at ease, and makes letting go and moving forward with life easier than ever before.

Do you know someone who could benefit from uplifting messages? Please share Lightarted Living with them. If you or someone you love is interested in learning more about closing the gap between where you are now and where you want to be, join the FREE Lightarted Living mailing list. 

Sakyong Mipham: How to Plant Seeds Resulting in Happiness

“Karma moves in two directions. If we act virtuously, the seed we plant will result in happiness. If we act non-virtuously, suffering results.”

Sakyong Mipham 

“It is said that if our intention is to help others-even if we are unable to follow it through-we will never have any regret. Regret is a result of trying to make 'me' happy."

Sakyong Mipham 

“If we do not push ourselves enough, we do not grow, but if we push ourselves too much, we regress. What is enough will change, depending on where we are and what we are doing. In that sense, the present moment is always some kind of beginning.”

Sakyong Mipham

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For more than 35 years, Susan Meyerott has been helping people lighten up and step over invisible barriers to change one step at a time. She speaks to your heart, puts you at ease, and makes letting go and moving forward with life easier than ever before.

Do you know someone who could benefit from uplifting messages? Please share Lightarted Living with them. If you or someone you love is interested in learning more about closing the gap between where you are now and where you want to be, join the FREE Lightarted Living mailing list. 

Let It Be: Create Peace in Own Mind to Transform the World

Principles to Live By: Bravery and Insight

'In a speedy and aggressive culture, 

we need different principles to live by:

bravery and insight.' 

Sakyong Mipham

Build Trust in the Mind

'The first moment of bravery is 

building trust in the mind, 

which we do in meditation.' 

Sakyong Mipham

Transform the World

'When we know how to create 

peace in our own mind, 

we can transform the world.'

Sakyong Mipham

'If the mind is flexible, 

the world is flexible.'

Sakyong Mipham

Who Is Sakyong Mipham?

Sakyong Jamgon Mipham Rinpoche, Jampal Trinley Dradul (born Osel Rangdrol Mukpo in 1962) is the head of the Shambhala Buddhist lineage and Shambhala International, a worldwide network of urban Buddhist meditation centers, retreat centers, monasteries, a university, and other enterprises, founded by his father, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche is a high lama in the Nyingma lineage of Tibetan Buddhism.

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For more than 35 years, Susan Meyerott has been helping people lighten up and step over invisible barriers to change one step at a time. She speaks to your heart, puts you at ease, and makes letting go and moving forward with life easier than ever before.

Do you know someone who could benefit from uplifting messages? Please share Lightarted Living with them. If you or someone you love is interested in learning more about closing the gap between where you are now and where you want to be, join the FREE Lightarted Living mailing list. 

Dalai Lama on Compassion: Self-Centeredness Leads to Isolation and Loneliness

'When you practice gratefulness, 

there is a sense of respect toward others.'

Dalai Lama

'Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. 

Without them humanity cannot survive.'

Dalai Lama

'Compassion is the unfettered yearning 

that responds to the world 

with noble heart~

the understanding that others are just like us.' 

Sakyong Mipham

'Radiating from basic goodness like the sun, 

compassion lifts us above

self-involvement and brings us out of the Dark Age.

Just like the sun behind a cloud, 

it shines through our self-centeredness.'    

   

Sakyong Mipham

'Too much self-centered attitude, you see, 

brings, you see, isolation. 

Result: loneliness, fear, anger. 

The extreme self-centered attitude 

is the source of suffering.'

Dalai Lama

'If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. 

If you want to be happy, practice compassion.' 

Dalai Lama

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For more than 35 years, Susan Meyerott has been helping people lighten up and step over invisible barriers to change one step at a time. She speaks to your heart, puts you at ease, and makes letting go and moving forward with life easier than ever before.

Do you know someone who could benefit from uplifting messages? Please share Lightarted Living with them. If you or someone you love is interested in learning more about closing the gap between where you are now and where you want to be, join the FREE Lightarted Living mailing list. 

Let Yourself Go: You were Born to Sing, Dance and Laugh

We're the interpreters~

We're the ones who take words and thoughts 

and bring them to life~

We are born to sing and dance and laugh our lives~

Dance is the song of the soul.

Nobody cares if you can't dance well~

Just get up and dance

Dave Barry

Show Up! Every day is your Life debut! 

Sing! Dance! Laugh!

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For more than 35 years, Susan Meyerott has been helping people lighten up and step over invisible barriers to change one step at a time. She speaks to your heart, puts you at ease, and makes letting go and moving forward with life easier than ever before.

Do you know someone who could benefit from uplifting messages? Please share Lightarted Living with them. If you or someone you love is interested in learning more about closing the gap between where you are now and where you want to be, join the FREE Lightarted Living mailing list. 

Coming Out of Your Shell: Choosing to be Seen

Coming Out of My Shell, Lee Bryant

All Rights Reserved

'Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.' Khalil Gibran

The Fear of Disconnection Keeps Us Disconnected

What keeps you enclosed in your shell--distant and separate from others? Shame.

According to Brene Brown, author of 'The Gifts of Imperfection', shame is the fear of disconnection--we think there is something so shameful about us that if people really knew us they would reject us--so we keep our distance.

Unfortunately our negative thinking keeps us firmly ensconced in our shells keeping us from being seen, heard, and known by others. In other words we bring on the very thing we fear--a feeling of disconnection and distance from others as we remain in our shell of armor hidden from view.

'Most cynics are really crushed romantics: they've been hurt, they're sensitive, and their cynicism is a shell that's protecting this tiny, dear part in them that's still alive.'  Jeff Bridges

Choose to Be Seen, Choose to Connect

Choose to show the tiny, dear part of yourself. 

Practice finding your courage in moments of vulnerability and decide to show yourself instead of hiding. The more consciously you practice this, the better you'll get at stepping into the opportunities that are always present in your life.

I'm here to be seen. 

In 'Four Steps to Authentic Communication' Robert Holden shares a Zulu greeting so simple and direct it's worthy of practicing it in your head even if it unnerves you too much to say out loud. When you come into the presence of another person face one another, look directly into each other's eyes and say 'I'm here to be seen'. The other person replies, 'I see you'.

 

Choose to connect. Practice stepping out into your life, knowing you have value and wealth inside you worthy of sharing. Your vulnerability and imperfections are what make you lovable and human. Choose to use them to your advantage. 

Coming Out of My Shell: One Woman's Story

'Your blog post was so timely as I peck at my shell anticipating release....I just shared the Zulu greeting with a group of friends and requested we experiment with it with each other. I am soooooo grateful to you to continue to expose these tender parts we all share. Compassion for each other is the path.'

 

Imagine Your Own Coming Out....

Imagine what would happen if you practiced this greeting with your friends each and every time you met.

Imagine the thrill of knowing your 'tender parts' being compassionately welcomed when you lay them at the feet of your friends where they're taken up for safe-keeping like the chicks and eggs of Emperor Penguins. 

I see you--and I'm here to be seen.

We will always struggle with feeling exposed when we show our work or ourselves--both for revealing our 'nakedness' and also for 'fearing we aren't good enough. But how thrilling to discover acceptance from both ourselves and others when we put ourselves out there with all our blemishes and imperfections.

The present was an egg laid by the past that had the future inside its shell. Zora Neale Hurston

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For more than 35 years, Susan Meyerott has been helping people lighten up and step over invisible barriers to change one step at a time. She speaks to your heart, puts you at ease, and makes letting go and moving forward with life easier than ever before.

Do you know someone who could benefit from uplifting messages? Please share Lightarted Living with them. If you or someone you love is interested in learning more about closing the gap between where you are now and where you want to be, join the FREE Lightarted Living mailing list. 

Time to Flourish: Bloom Where You're Planted

Flourish, Lee Bryant

All rights reserved

'Why always 'not yet'? Do flowers in spring say 'not yet'?'

Norman Douglas

Nature is a work in progress~and so are you

Nature is unapologetic with its unfinished products emerging from the ground. A seed in dirt followed by a stick or blade of grass erupting doesn't look like much. Yet at first sight of emerging life why is it we wait with enthusiastic anticipation and imagine the full bloom or abundant harvest to follow? 

We accept the eventual fading and dying of plants and flowers, with their necessary return to darkness underground. We understand this is just part of the natural cycle nature travels on its quest for never-ending beginnings and renewed life.

Why then should we feel exposed when we show our own work or selves 'before we're perfected'? Why do we view our unfinished products or selves as blemished? Why do we tell ourselves, 'Not Yet' or mourn the dark gestation periods of our creations?

Nature is a beautiful work in progress~and so are you.

Bee Free, Lee Bryant 

All rights reserved 

To change one's life: Start immediately. 

Do it flamboyantly. No exceptions.

William James

Bloom Where You're Planted

Today is the day and now is the hour for you to flourish. Accept that as part of nature you have been commissioned to bloom where you're planted, you're perfect at every stage of life~and you're destined to succeed over and over again. All you're required to do is show up.....and bloom where you're planted.

'I held a moment in my hand, brilliant as a star, 

fragile as a flower, a tiny sliver of one hour. 

I dropped it carelessly, 

Ah! I didn't know, I held opportunity.'

Hazel Lee

'Gather ye rose-buds while ye may;

Old Time is still a-flying;

And this same flower that smiles today,

Tomorrow will be dying.'

Robert Herrick

'Fear not that life shall come to an end, 

but rather fear that it shall never have a beginning.'

John Henry Cardinal Newman

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For more than 35 years, Susan Meyerott has been helping people lighten up and step over invisible barriers to change one step at a time. She speaks to your heart, puts you at ease, and makes letting go and moving forward with life easier than ever before.

Do you know someone who could benefit from uplifting messages? Please share Lightarted Living with them. If you or someone you love is interested in learning more about closing the gap between where you are now and where you want to be, join the FREE Lightarted Living mailing list.