I used to wait for other people to love me, and I didn’t even realize it but it totally stressed me out. It was like I needed an invitation to open my heart. Does he like me? Are we friends? What does she think of me? Who will be the first to say “I love you”? If I say it first and he just says “Thanks” I’ll feel so stupid and awkward. Continue reading “Go first.”
Category: making the world a better place
Feel everything.
Over the years I’ve explored a number of mindfulness practices. Each one reveals some clue or treat or tool. I’ve noticed lately that my baseline emotion has moved towards a more happy and uplifted place — a kind of internal upgrade.
Which is not to say that I don’t also experience sadness, disappointment, frustration, or jealousy. I still feel everything. I am becoming more sensitive, so am feeling more of everything. And I’m aware of my feelings in a slightly different way. They are more fluid. They move through me more easily and get stuck less often. They’re more vibrant than before. Less blinding, yet more intense. Continue reading “Feel everything.”
Boundless love.
This is another post in my series about TEDxStanford. I wrote just one note about Aleta Hayes in my program, and it was this:
Boundless love.
I don’t remember now why I wrote that. I know that I love to dance, and that Continue reading “Boundless love.”
Identity.
Continuing my series on TEDxStanford, here are my notes from Joel Stein:
You are the sum of your experiences.
Identity is not discovered in a black box. Continue reading “Identity.”
What love does.
More of my notes from TEDxStanford, the one where I arrived in a police car. I’m sharing some of what I wrote in my program during the event. It might be a quote from the speaker, or it might be a thought I had at the time.
My key take away from Dr. Sanjiv Sam Gambhir is simply this: Continue reading “What love does.”
Emerging.
In May I attended TEDxStanford. I arrived in a police car. I had parked on campus and got lost on my way to the event. I was there pretty early and there weren’t many people around, so I was relieved to find a campus police officer. I asked him if he knew where the TEDx event was. “Sure,” he said, “I can give you a ride if you want.”
How nice!
“You’ll have to sit in the back, though.”
Smile at children.
A few years ago I was on a first date with a guy I’d met at a wedding. We were in Mill Valley, sitting in the shade in the plaza after a long hike. There was a pause in the conversation and then he asked me: “So. . . how many kids do you want?”
Big question for a first date! I asked why he had asked me that.
“Because I’ve watched you all afternoon and you smile at every kid you see.”
It’s true. And it’s on purpose. Continue reading “Smile at children.”
Kim Nicol 