Contentment

Contentment invites you to be at peace with what is. It’s more subtle than happiness, more grounded than rapture, and accessible every moment. Contentment tells you that you have enough and you are enough and that it’s good. When you’re content, you rest in what is, instead of racing after what should be. When you find contentment, you still have dreams, but the difference is that they don’t have you. Right now, are you content? Do you feel present and complete with what this moment provides? Can you savor the apple in your hand, take delight in the child at your side and appreciate all that surrounds you – without wondering if there’s something better? Can you survey your world and feel the calm of contentment? Can you let yourself bask without reaching for more? Contentment never asks you to settle for less, simply to acknowledge there’s enough in what there is now.

www.rachelsnyder.wordpress.com

(Dear Reader, the poetry and words of Rachel Snyder resonate so deeply that I felt it important to include her on our site. This is another one of  “Cyma’s Picks.” Each week, we’ll read sample pages from her 2003 book, “365 Words of Wisdom for Women,” now out-of-print, with all rights reverted to the author, but still available in used copies on Amazon, etc. Here is the first of many meditations we will read together.)

Dare

Dare to do it differently! Dare to be the first mother to boycott standardized testing. Dare to be the last to give your okay to ear piercing. Dare to just say no to circumcision (Double dare if you’re Jewish!) Dare to say yes to nursing your three-year-old, no matter what anyone else says. Read all you can, ponder your decision long and hard, then dare to question the safety of childhood immunizations. When your mother recites her Ten Commandments of Child Discipline, dare to hug her and say, “Thanks, Mom, but I’d like to try out my own ideas.” Dare to look and feel and act ten years younger than your age. Dare to ask your grandfather to step outside with his cigar. Dare to tell the truth to first-time mothers and dare them to ignore you and rely on their own experience. Dare to create a model of mothering that you’ve never seen or heard of before. Then dare to ignore anybody who questions the rightness of that model for you.

http://rachelsnyder.wordpress.com