Like everyone I’ve ever known, I’ve experienced some suffering in my life. It comes with life, but so do hope, compassion, and, yes, even love. I learned this vital lesson late in life.
I had starved love to the point where I had none and expected to die without ever having experienced it. For me, feeding love was believing in and being open to it. That was the hard part. Once I did, love appeared within days. I’ve always had good things, but I could not see them.
Nothing can survive without food, not even suffering, writes Thich Nhat Hanh. “For love to survive, we have to feed it. If we don’t feed it, or we feed it the wrong kind of nutrients, our love will die. In a short time, our love can turn into hate“.
I see the truth of that in the news.
I’m intrigued by the idea of feeding love, joy, beauty, and hope. All require attention and nourishment, just like a flower. I know what Hanh means. I often thought of my suffering, anger, grievances, and disappointment. I never thought of hope.
Today, I wake up in the practice of gratitude and appreciation. They are nutrients. I don’t think of what I don’t have, but what I do have, and despite my blindness, could always have had.
So, every morning, I feed love and compassion, count my blessings, and list the things I can be grateful for. The list always astonishes me, but the good stuff gets fed to keep it vital and alive. Feeding this makes a big difference. It sticks after a while.
The photo above shows what I see driving home on Route 68 in Vermont after buying T-shirts for the Mansion residents’ Fourth of July celebration at a Walmart. They plan to color them all red, white, and blue. Wal-Mart always makes me uncomfortable; it is overwhelming, confusing, and destroys countless small businesses.
But I got different-sized T-shirts for 35 residents in all the different sizes for $110.
I was concerned about spending a lot on T-shirts when so many people were hungry. Walmart made it okay for me; the cost was low.
That’s why Walmart had so many people in it, and I was grateful for the price. The residents are very excited about the festival. They deserve it.
“What you think about you bring about.” I came across that teaching many years ago, and while my brain got it, my heart and body did not. It wasn’t until after much counseling and healing that I was able to fully embody this belief. I still forget this on a daily basis, and it’s most apparent when I am bitching about something over which I have no control, which only ever makes it worse, for me and others around me. Sometimes I can stop myself, and sometimes someone else will point it out for me. Sigh.