Registration closes on May 9^th for the Weekend Retreat with May McCarthy, May 17 - 19, 2019. Learn to live your purpose, eliminate false beliefs, and achieve more of your desires sooner during this wonderful weekend retreat at the beautiful Art of Living Retreat Center in Boone, NC. To learn more, please visit this link.

Are you looking for deeper study options? Visit our web-store for up to 50% off most items.

____________________________________________________

Have you ever tried to grow a plant, care for a pet or other living being, or are you a parent or caregiver? If you answered YES, then you know that you have to provide PROACTIVE sustenance and attention in your role as a care giver to be successful. I hope that your efforts are providing you with meaning and satisfaction as you share your love, time, and resources.

What about your relationships with every other living creation in our world – those you know and those you don’t? Do you think about others who you don’t know living on your street, working in your company, living in another country? Do you make judgements about people who are reported on in the news? Do you react to information that you receive about people that you’ve never met personally? Are others influencing you to put your time and energy into caring about what they feel is important?

What if we choose to be PROACTIVE in all situations and tend a garden of relationships ourselves?

Growing up as the last of 10 children in my family was fun and chaotic.  We didn’t understand the value of listening to each other as children. In fact, we’d often talk over each other in order to tell our funny story, to share our love and support, and to reminisce about experiences of our past. Years later, we have learned to listen more and have gained some wisdom. As journalist Doug Larson points out, "Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you'd have preferred to talk."  

As I’ve matured, I’ve learned more about the value of listening as a tool for success and understanding. According to businessman, Bernard Baruch "Most of the successful people I've known are the ones who do more listening than talking." That’s been my experience and observation as well. The more we listen, the more we understand. The more we understand, the greater the opportunity that we’ll learn something about another person that will reveal a way for us to provide them with something valuable that satisfies a need.

Now that we’re in the midst of the Holiday Season, I can’t help but notice cards, banners, and advertisements all proclaiming a hopeful blessing of Peace on Earth. I stopped to think about what that means. One definition of Peace is “freedom from disturbance; quiet and tranquility.” I have to be honest – most of what I notice in the world appears busy and rushed rather than quiet and tranquil.  Every time I open my email, there are dozens of new messages. When I go onto social media, thousands of connections have posted stories, pictures, opinions and lots of lively activity. As I drove to a recent meeting, horns sounded while all of us crawled through city traffic. There wasn’t anything quiet and tranquil about that experience.

As I looked further for some metaphysical meaning on the concept of Peace, I realized that everything “out there” is simply a reflection of what is going on inside each of us. And, if I want to experience more Peace in my life, I have to choose to allow Peace to be present within me first and then share it with others.  Mother Theresa said “Peace begins with a smile.” I like that.