Thanksgiving

“Nobody deserves your love more than yourself.” – Siddharta Gautama Buddha

 Although self-love is one of the concepts that Suzi Lula explains in the first chapter of her book entitled From self-sacrifice to self-care, it is still something that I propose to work on every day. Taking care of yourself, as Suzi Lula explains, goes beyond personal care or grooming. Suzi teaches us to work deeply and connect with our emotions, cultivating our state of “feeling” in order to “be” that love, that joy, and all those qualities that we wish to express.

Today, for example, on this Thanksgiving day I had the great fortune of living with my sisters and their families. I always enjoy spending time with my family. So, from early on, gladly, we were preparing everything for the afternoon celebration, with my attention constantly directed towards attending to “the others. Dinner was exquisite, and at the end the children were playing games. But, although I felt happy, by 9 at night all I wanted was to go to sleep.

 Be aware of my fatigue, and notice that, all day, I had done NOTHING to connect with my inner being. I took a few moments to go out to throw out the garbage and take the opportunity to give me a space to be alone. Reflecting, I realized that my day had been a series of tasks and chores that I carried out mechanically, bone, without thinking. Not that there is anything wrong with this. Only that I let myself be carried away by the inertia of “doing” the things I had to do, that I forget to make some space, even if it was small, to connect with myself.

  I apologized to myself for getting lost in the day’s activities. I asked myself what I wanted to do the most to make myself feel better. I immediately thought of the delicious feeling of running in the park near my house, surrounded by trees and nature. I felt my heart open and soften as I felt considered and listened to. I promised myself that the next morning, first thing in the morning, I would go to the park for a run. And that, during that hour, there would be nothing more important than to indulge myself.

Impressively, at that moment my fatigue became lighter, and I had enough energy to continue calm and pleasant until midnight.

 The next morning, even though everyone was sleeping, I got ready to go to the park. And for an hour, I walked and ran a few miles, took several deep breaths, and enjoyed the beautiful nature. I did a brief meditation and an affirmative prayer, as I always do in the morning, and I felt my spirit fill with so much vital energy that I even shed tears of joy and gratitude.

“Taking care of yourself creates a portal to inner peace, establishing the connection that our children seek in us.”

Suzi Lula