The events leading up to the first show, and then finally the premiere of Living the best you! had arrived! This has and is quite the experience learning how to put together a show and doing it. I know that this would not have happened without everyone’s involvement. I appreciate everyone who called in with questions. Hope you keep that going, and everyone who listened in live or on podcast. If you missed the show, you can listen in now. This show discusses what the word empowerment means. Are you living the life you were meant to live? What is the difference between empowerment and living an empowering life? These are some of the questions that Janese Derrough will address on her show Living the Best you!
I hope you make it for this upcoming one on Wednesday. The topic is about turning a life of struggle and strife around.
I’m looking forward to hearing what you have to say on this topic, Janese…and from listeners as well. I think struggle is a matter of perspective. In our culture, though, we are entrained today to believe that what we want and “need” should come easily and instantly, and that wants and needs beyond what we have must be met. The grass is always greener, always, always. So the comparisons and the expectations are there, where acceptance and gratitude often are not. There’s a great scene in Slumdog Millionaire that I’m afraid I can’t quote, but it stuck with me nevertheless. A young boy struggling with his own poverty and the situations he finds himself in because of it, meets a young girl who has been blinded with a hot iron to her eyes. She sings and begs for money which is given to the keeper who blinded her for that purpose. When the boy comes upon her, he expresses sorrow over her lot in life, and she’s surprised. I think she asks why he’s sorry, and says something to the effect that her life is what it is. She has no judgements about it, as she has no expectations. And she is quite happy singing there in the street. I was so struck by this, because her situation was so dire, and yet her response was along the lines of what Byron Katie teaches in The Work. I, meanwhile, struggle with the fact that I struggle! 🙂 Mindfulness is a helpful practice, focusing on what is and the glory of every aspect of it. Eastern teachings about attachment and it’s pitfalls are also enlightening. It all takes practice…and support within the mainstream culture that pulls us in the other direction. Fortunately, there are a lot of people today looking at what true happiness is, exploring as I am, the alternatives to the way we typically approach that in western culture.