For the past 35 years, I’ve been actively learning my share of dozens (out of readily available thousands) of self-help methods, tools, or techniques. I’ve become aware enough to recognize and self-appreciate how much I’d learned and grown with each lesson or emotional pain released.
Yet when each new year comes around I still hear a whisper of shaming myself for not being consistent with any one “practice” over the course of the past year.
Hmm. Really? Have I not been consistent with one thing? Have you?
Many esoteric texts and teachings can be distilled into one word, love.
I may not journal or exercise every day, but at least I love; I’m consistent with love. I love every day. Myself (mostly, kinda, I’m still learning.) My kids. My dog. My job. My pillow. My home.
There are a few other things that are repeated across cultures and genres as key ingredients to maintain an intentional, healthy & happy life while we’re here on Earth:
1. Humans definitely need a comfortable place to call home. It needs to be a calm, clean-ish safe space to cook, eat, play, learn, sleep, bathe, create, cry, gather, and to be alone.
2. Whatever the current economy identifies as money (read: cash in the pocket/account), it is merely an exchange of energy. It is needed to acquire things, plain and simple, and need not be difficult to earn. We all have a gift of doing something we are consistently good at and enjoy that other people find difficult.
What is that thing for you?
Barter is beautiful, but has its limits. The best and easiest way to find purpose and your means of exchange is to actively, confidently, and authentically share your unique skills with others who will pay for the value received. And pay others by recognizing the same intent.
3. We need consistent periods of time connecting with other people in our community for opportunities to develop empathy and love and to explore different perspectives about life’s happenings.
- known or unknown
- indoors and outdoors
- still or moving
- working or playing
- balancing silence and sound
Consider how often you visit others in a week or a month at:
- schools
- offices
- stores
- public spaces
- specialty events
- parks
- malls
- museums
Consistency does not strictly mean “daily” as I have consistently misunderstood. There is a regularity to it, for sure, but it means more about a ‘harmony of parts’ or to be without contradiction; steady continuity; conforming to character or belief or custom.
As it turns out, an organic byproduct of intentional connecting is that it increases confidence by providing opportunities for practice to connect and communicate.
Set out this season to meet people and make connections with increased confidence and consistency!