Flo

“You only have 30 minutes”.  This is the message I tell myself as I walk onto the deck with my cup of tea, journal and book.  I’m still savoring every last word of “Eat Pray Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert, the same way you would eat every last crumb of my grandmother’s fresh apple cake.

As my day goes, 30 minutes sounds like alot of time, but it isn’t enough.  I feel a little “rushed” sensation at the base of my spine and it prickles up to my head.  I am listing phone calls I need to make today and sorting a meeting agenda.  There are many ways I’d like to spend this day and these “ways” have nothing to do with work.  I’d like to be sipping my tea in Italy, looking down from my patio at the sea. Or getting my toes wet in Belize or climbing to try the zip line in Costa Rica.  These are all things on my “TO DO” list - the list of things I want to do in my life.  You can see, it’s slightly different from the daily, mundane “to do” list that includes things like (1) grocery shop (2) pay bills (3) call my grandmother.

Even from the title of her book “Eating Mangoes Naked”, you get the impression SARK will be sharing something inspiring and fun.  Her focus throughout the entire book is on pleasure. At the beginning of the book she says:

It is our birthright to enjoy ourselves and find all the pleasure in our lives.  Pleasure loves company and delights in being discovered.

Early in the book she discusses the pleasure we get by giving to others and challenges us to explore this aspect of ourselves.  Here is her list of questions related to how we give in our lives (the questions make good journaling prompts):

Are you able to give without an “credit”?

Do you feel compelled to give in honor of certain occasions even if you don’t want to?

Do you search for ways and reasons to give?

Is giving easy for you?

In what ways to you feel satisfied or dissatisfied with how others give to you?

Ways in which you welcome and fully embrace gifts, or not?

Share a story of a favorite time you gave to someone.

What can you offer to the world with your giving?

I like the last question and wonder what I can offer the world with my giving.  Sometimes I think just the act of approaching my day with an open heart is the best I can do (and some days, even that is a little challenging).

Namaste’

Flo