As we are nearing the end of the month of January, with the theme of New Beginnings, Openness to Receive and Beginner’s Mind, here is an inspiring sharing from Steve Mock, one of our 2017 Leadership Development Training participants, about a new beginning with his family. When Steve told me about this last week I, Britta, was so touched. I asked him to share it with all of you, as I believe most of us could benefit from having a beginner’s mind regarding our family!
Steve writes:
“As we are coming to the end of LDT, I’ve started focusing on integration and how I can make my LDT learnings an ongoing part of my life. One of my favorite lines of the 13th-century Persian mystical poet Rumi, a “regular” at the LDT, is: “The warehouse doors of life open, and I choose to fill it with gratitude.” I find this statement very powerful. I interpret it to mean we can choose how we will spend our next moment. We can choose to be disgruntled and self-pitying, angry and incensed, or, in Rumi’s case, full of gratitude.
I chose gratitude as well. I’ve started to look at ways I can spend more time in gratitude. One way that came to me was writing a gratitude letter to my dad’s girlfriend. They’ve never married, but have been together since I was 5 years old. She’s never had the formality of being my step-mom, but she has functioned in that capacity for over 40 years. I wrote her a letter reminiscing about the many, many good times we’ve had over the years, and how she’s been such a positive influence in my life.
I received a letter back from her. She shared how much my letter meant to her. She shared about how proud she’s been to have witnessed my life. She shared how much I’ve affected her life so positively. She shared about how much she loves me. I filled with gratitude again.
I then wrote another gratitude letter. This time to my 18-year old niece who just left home for college. I had great fun in writing it and filled with gratitude the whole time. I can’t wait until she receives it. I wonder what her response will be.”
Isn’t that just so simple, yet powerful and inspiring? Steve just had a beautiful new beginning with a family member, willing to see his unacknowledged step-mom with a beginners mind. He was open to receive first of all Rumi’s powerful message – from 800 years ago! – and secondly the gratitude that filled him when he wrote the letter.
What relationship, family or otherwise, could use a new beginning in your life? Is there someone waiting for a letter from you?
Share it with us here on FB.
Much love,
Steve and Britta
