December 15 We’ll Become What We Accumulate
Be authentic and feel it… then dance and sing and laugh. It will give you perspective.
Cultivating Laughter, Song, and Dance
BRENÉ'S INTENTION
I call this the almost-didn't-make-it guidepost because at the beginning I wasn't sure a guidepost on singing and dancing should be part of this book. But here's the truth: As much as I didn't want to believe it, laughter, song and dance emerged in the data as important and vital to our wholeheartedness.
The hard part for a lot of us when it comes to embracing laughter, song and dance is that straightjacket of cool. When I was young, I had a loud laugh, and that was cute and great until about middle school. Then, all of the sudden, when I was criticized for being uncool, I got smaller. And by smaller, I mean quieter and more self-conscious, with more fear about how boldly I could really express myself. Cool had become my straightjacket, and I had to learn the hard way how to take it off. It was so worth it, because when we laugh, dance and sing together, we form community in a way that nothing else can. Laughter, song and dance are so powerful because they are how we communicate to each other that we're not alone.
This Lesson's Intention
"Cool is an emotional straightjacket. I am going to take it off."
Rachel Platten
This is my Fight Song
In the decades, I was a lawyer, I had the chance to see a few new, optimistic, eager lawyers, turn a little sour. I think I know why. I have learned we become what we accumulate the most. These young guys thought they needed to argue with everyone like it was what made them valuable. They somehow believed if they got in enough disputes, they would be good enough advocates, and make all their hard work worthwhile. Actually, the opposite is true. What they had done over ttime is accumulate a boatload of people with hurt feelings and a sour attitude. They were, or had been the cause of a lot of pain; and bitterness had begun to consume them.
But the people who gather love throughout their lives, become kinder, more gracious, more hospitable, and full of whimsy. The more love they gather, the more their loads lighten. Their response to the failures of others is always grace, because the seeds of forgiveness they planted when they were young have grown with time.
The people we become are cultivated by small choices we make along the way. Plant forgiveness and grace, like you will never run out of seeds, and you will never run out of love.
What are you sowing this month?
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