Real Life with Jennifer Till

As I hope you know, the reason I do Real Life is to help we women with the ongoing challenge of finding balance in our lives, making sure that we’re in alignment with our values and what is most important for us, and experiencing joy. I believe that by increasing our capacity for compassion– first for ourselves, then for those close to us, and ultimately expanding out to those we may not even know personally–as well as being in service to those who need support, love, and caring, our ability to experience joy increases.

At times, events happen in the world that are so large, and unfortunately in this case, so catastrophic, that they simply cannot be excluded from our conversation. I know that many of you want to do something to help the thousands, and now it’s sounding like millions, of people who are so utterly decimated and suffering physically, emotionally and spiritually. I found myself feeling very emotional during my interview with Louise Finger and Kelly Eplee. Perhaps you hear it in my voice…

The immensity of suffering that the devastation in Haiti has unleashed also waters the seed of what it is to be human. As Rumi, the thirteenth century Persian poet wrote,  “Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”

My experience informs me that our divine job description is: To Be Love enfleshed.To breathe Love. Live Love. Hear with the ears of Love. See with the eyes of Love. And it gets hard. Really hard. Earthquakes destroy life as we know it. Our children stumble. Our parents’ health fails. Not enough money to pay this month’s bills. “It just shouldn’t be this way.” Our challenges, mundane and catastrophic, can, if we allow, serve as the windows through which we can see our barriers. Our resistance to what is happening in this moment is one of our greatest sources of suffering.

I again invite you to take a breath. A single breath. This breath. And as you exhale, send Love and Compassion inward to yourself. And now, with this breath and this exhalation, Love and Compassion to those who are dear to you. And now with this breath, Love and Compassion to those who challenge you. And with this breath, Love and Compassion to those who are terrified and suffering in Haiti.

And thank you for doing such great work with your job description!

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: Small sparks exist inside all of us should we be brave enough to acknowledge them and patient enough to let them bloom. –Cherry Kwunyeun

One of the things I like best about Real Life with Jennifer Till is how often what I get from the show is so different from what I expect to get.

Before the interview with Cherry Kwunyeun I would have said that this show was about social entrepreneurship and it was, but it was much, much more - about encouraging each of us to find our unique spark and the courage to let it grow bright, illuminating not only our path but the paths of others as well.  It is always affirming to me to hear the echoes of my beliefs in the success stories of others.

It would be easy to discount that success by looking at Cherry’s advantages, her father a physician, her mother an educator, a loving family, connections with the Thai government  and so on. But to do so would be to discount her journey and her goals. She was the child of immigrants, driven by a desire to create and to marry that with her desire to do good for others. Putting her career on hold to care for a mother with cancer, seeking and finding wisdom in the guidance of others, being willing to rethink and reshape her goals while never losing sight of her sense of self and her vision for her life; all of these are the hallmarks of a most remarkable woman and I for one am better by having met her and hearing her story.

I hope you feel the same.

TIP OF THE WEEK: Give yourself permission to bloom! www.blumpari.com

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST: http://www.wina.com/play_window.php?audioType=Episode&audioId=3806711

Listen to the broadcast of the first Real Life with Jennifer Till on 1070 WINA.

Real Life with Jennifer Till April 25 2009

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST: http://www.wina.com/play_window.php?audioType=Episode&audioId=3671937