Quotation:
“To make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.”
T.S. Eliot (American poet, 1888-1965)
click here for more T.S. Eliot quotes
Relationship reminder —
Relationships are living things — they begin, they grow or wither, sometimes they end. They are naturally a series of beginnings and ends. In your relationships, what should end so that there could be a new beginning?
if you’d like to read more about relationships, my book, How to Get and Give Love – Relationship Maps, is available online at all major booksellers, including Amazon.com
Mindfulness reminder —
Practicing mindfulness means practicing being able to observe, let go, detach. Think about what you need to let go of.
for more on Mindfulness, click here to visit Greater Good– The Science of a Meaningful Life
Recent Relationship Maps column (courtesy of The Capital):
A new year doesn’t need a new you
It’s a kind of social convention to make New Year’s resolutions. The idea has traditionally been to make a list of how you’re going to improve yourself in the coming year. The follow-up tradition is to break each resolution, typically before March and often before the end of January.
It has become for many, probably most, people an exercise in self-recrimination. Instead of being motivational, it becomes an opportunity to flog yourself for a list of failures.
I’d like to offer some alternatives to this way of starting the new year.
- Make a list of things you did in the PAST year that were good or valuable in some way. We’re not looking here for Nobel Peace Prize dimension deeds. This is more along the line of “did you floss regularly”
Did you help a neighbor in some way?
Support a local fundraiser?
Get your flu shot?
Learn to meditate? Learn to swim?
Finish a project at home or at work?
Did you call your mother/father/aunt regularly?
- Make a list of qualities you have that you value. Again, think small. Small doesn’t mean unimportant. We’re not looking for super powers. This is more along the line of “I’m reliable and show up for work even when I don’t want to.”
Are you persistent?
Kind to small children? to animals?
Do you never make fun of people who are different?
Are you clean, meaning bathe or shower regularly?
Hope you’ve enjoyed this newsletter. Let me know what you think.
Let me know too if you have any requests or suggestions for future newsletters.
Available now
How to Get and Give Love -- Relationship Maps
by Benna Z Sherman, PhD
