First off – happy May Day! I truly adore spring and christen it my official favorite season. The trees are in bloom, the weather is near perfect and it just makes one glad to be alive.
Second, here’s the challenge: read the passage below that comes from the Daily OM. It speaks about finding your own magnificence. That resonated with me because in my weekly work with Regina, one of the “seed thought” cards I chose was (ta-da!) “magnificence”. I was to ruminate upon the word for the week and see what it meant in my daily life. It was hard for me because I wasn’t feeling my own magnificence at all. Yet, going back over the week with Regina, I was able to see several examples where I did really cool stuff (Relay for Life trip for one) and was able to sort of stand in my own “niftiness” (if you will).
So, here’s my challenge to you all out there with your own blogs or to you even if you don’t have a blog (the HORROR!!):
Each day for this first week of May, list five things that you find magnificent about YOUR OWN SELF. I promise to do the same. Leave a comment in here so we can go check out your lists and give you lots of props (or pups, as the case may be). Or just write it on a piece of paper and save it in your own special box of love. You know, or not. :)
My five for May 1st are below the fold.
Listing Magnificence
Five Things I Like About MyselfOur primary relationship in life is with our selves. No one else goes
through every experience in life with us. We are our one permanent
companion, yet we are often our worst critic. To remind ourselves of
our magnificence, we can do this exercise: “Five Things I Like About
Myself.”Begin by writing down at least five things that you like about
yourself. This is not the time to be modest. If you are having trouble
coming up with a total of five items, you know that this exercise can
really benefit you. Be sure to include more than your physical
attributes on your list, since our bodies are only part of who we are.
If you are still struggling with what to include on your list, think
of what you like about your favorite people, because these traits are
probably qualities that you possess too. Another way to complete your
list is to think of five things you don’t like about yourself and find
something about these traits that you can like.Continue this process for a week, thinking of five new things you like
about yourself everyday. At the end of the week, read the list aloud
to yourself while standing in front of a mirror. Instead of looking
for flaws to fix, allow the mirror to reflect your magnificence. You
may feel silly about standing in front of a mirror and reading aloud a
list of your admirable attributes, but it might just bring a smile to
your face and change the way you see yourself. Remember, it is when
you feel the most resistant that this exercise can benefit you the
most. Because we are constantly looking at the world, instead of
looking at ourselves, we don’t often see what’s magnificent about
ourselves that others do. When we take the time to experience
ourselves the way we would experience someone we love and admire, we
become our best companion and supporter on life’s journey.
Standing in Magnificence – Day numero uno
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1. My goofy yet witty sense of humor.
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2. Most animals dig me, especially doggies. (Haven’t yet checked out the diggyness of all species, yet)
- 3. My unquenchable desire to keep learning.
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4. I’m very generous.
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5. I know how to follow my instincts.
Ok, now it’s your turn! Go be magnificent!!
Ok I will try it!
This is brilliant, I’m going to put this on my blog and do this process in parallel with you. So, later this afternoon or evening, I’ll write the instructions and write my list of 5. Then, for each day, I will do another 5 — at the end of the week, I’ll have 35 magnificent things about myself! I think it’s especially interesting what the instructions say about our own “resistance” to this process. I think I might be one of those people. I’ve been raised to see the goodness in others, but only to see the faults in myself. Partly being a woman and partly cultural — my parents and people in my culture used to think it might “spoil” children to tell them good things about themselves. My mom told me that she was told that when raising us — only to point out what needed to be corrected, not reinforce what was being done well. “Spare the rod, spoil the child.” I never really knew what I was doing well, only what I was clearly doing wrong. Learning to see the magnificence in myself — and enyoying it — without arrogance but with joy — has been an adult process for me. Not until my late twenties and early thirties did I really start to think about this idea at all.
BTW, I agree with your list of 5.