31 results for tag: Humility
Bowing: An Energetic Transaction
On my first morning in South Korea in August of 2008, I entered a local “deli” to buy something quick to eat before my first day at work. I arrived from the USA and arrived at my room around 1:00 a.m. I did not get to sleep till nearly 3:30, with a wake-up time of 8:30 a.m. The “deli” is not what I would typically call a deli, as someone who grew up outside of New York City but does not know the correct name for it. The woman prepares several kinds of kimchi, pickled vegetables, and stews, which are hot and ready to go. I did not know what I was thinking when I walked in the door of her small business. She bowed and said a formal greeting I know now as “Annyeong-haseyo” = "Hello". Her bow is what stopped me in my tracks....
Do Something Good For Someone Else, and Don’t Get Caught – Kindness
Kindness. Many years ago, a friend looked me in the eye and said, "If you want humility, and you really need it, do something good for someone else and don't get caught". My immediate thought was to punch him in the mouth; fortunately, I chose to just shut up and be angry.
Do something good for someone else, and don't get caught. This phrase haunted me. I could not understand why you would want to do something good for somebody else and not get credit any for it. What was the point? What would I get out of it? How would they know I did it? The little I did not understand this spiritual truth.
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Spiritual Greed and Gluttony – Dark Night of The Soul
I remember about a dozen years ago, I was going through a particularly challenging time that felt like a hopeless period In my personal and spiritual development. Among other things, my mentor suggested that I read and meditate on Dark Night Of The Soul by St. John of The Cross. She suggested I pay close attention to the teachings on spiritual greed and gluttony. I immediately became furious at her but pretended as if I was okay. Of course, she knew better. Like any "good student" who wants to prove to his mentor just how good a student he is, I left her and directly went to buy a copy of the book.
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... Four Free Women – Courage In Action
I rarely post an entire article written by somebody else on my blog. It is equally rare to see such an amazing image of four free women like the photographs below. We know that they were old, but we do not know their true ages since, at that point, African Americans still did not have birth certificates. I hope you enjoy your experience of viewing the images of four free women and reading this article as much as I did!...
Blindness – A Spiritual Teaching in Seeing
As the weather in South Korea starts to turn, so do the leaves. I have looked forward to this more this year than in the past. I wanted to see what autumn looks like in South Korea. It has arrived. Red, burnt orange, orange, yellow, ochre, green, and light green fill the streets of Cheonan. Today, being a sometimes-sunny, sometimes-cloudy day, I wanted to get out on Tang San Mountain with my camera and hiking shoes to enjoy the day. I did not leave my room till about 3:30, which was fine. It is getting dark around 6:00 these days, so I would have plenty of time to explore and take pictures of the trees and whatever else caught my fancy. I got some great shots of the top of the white cement apartment buildings, foreshadowing all the mountains in the background that surround the city of Cheonan. I had not seen this view before; it was the first time I made it to this trail. This trail was more vigorous and inclined, with better-unobstructed views of the city....
Why You Don’t Need To Be Right All The Time
The need to be right can, at times, feel like a drug. Our culture often reinforces this need to be right all the time through the media, politics, and our education system. But what if you found out the reasons why you don't need to be right all the time? Is knowing the potential consequences of needing to be right all the time enough to create space for letting the rest of the 7 billion people who you share the planet with also be right sometimes?...
A Year Without Alcohol
A Year Without Alcohol is an awesome blog post by Kelly Fitzgerald about her year without alcohol. Kelly's experiences are fairly normal for someone making a choice to become sober and lead a sober lifestyle. I am including her story because it is important for people to read the experiences of those who may be going through something similar and know it can and will get better.
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