The Daily Deskhenge: Applied Kindness

November 18, 2013 by musesdarling 2 Comments

The Daily Deskhenge, Monday 11/18/13

Good afternoon, my dears! I hope everything is great for you, and that you are all as bright and blessed as I hope you are. Today’s Daily Deskhenge is about engendering kindness. I’ve been a bit of a snarly mess lately, so perhaps it’s time to start actively creating kindness as much as possible to make things around myself more serene and loving not only for me, but for those who have to deal with me. Sometimes that’s the best thing to do when you’re feeling in the dark: create light from within yourself instead of waiting for someone else to come by and flip on the light switch. So let’s give that a try together and see what comes up.

The card on the left shows us what to do to find and hold kindness for ourselves. It’s the 5 of Coins/Pentacles. This card is often read as indicative of poverty consciousness, or that awareness we have that tells us we have less, or are less, than other people. It’s that warning against looking at things from the “I need…” point of view instead of looking at them from the “I’m grateful for ….” point of view. Our thoughts create our reality, so be very careful what you think about yourself today. For example, I’m often prone to thinking nasty thoughts about myself when I look in the mirror. I’m a large gal and I tend to get bitterly creative in my self-bashing invective (the 5 of Coins/Pentacles rears its ugly head), but instead of doing that, I’m going to express gratitude for all the beauty passed down to me from my ancestors that other people don’t have. My family may not have the best skin ever, but we do have beautiful eyes, strong bones, and piles and piles of pretty nice hair. Focus on the good. Focus on that which is a blessing for you, that came from your people. You have great beauty and goodness for which to be grateful, my friends, that you share with your blood relations both past and present. If I can see it, so can you. The man in the card is showing us a window in his heart. Go within and see the beauty that’s truly there, not the vision from without that you think is real.

The card on the right, The Hierophant, shows us where to generate and show kindness toward others today. The Hierophant is the Conductor of the Mysteries, the guardian of the High Priestess, the one without whom we cannot access tradition and community wisdom. The Hierophant is community spirituality, the religions of the world in both their good and bad aspects. Be kind to others in the same way that the Nazarene was kind even to those who were killing him. Hold in love and compassion those who don’t understand you, who hate you, who want your death or destruction. You don’t have to engage with those people (please don’t, actually), but hold them in loving compassion today. Have pity on them, and be kind to them in your thoughts. Don’t take it personally when you’re cut off on the freeway (I’m so talking to myself right now on this one). Don’t take snappishness, rudeness, bad behavior, or anything else unpleasant personally. You don’t know everything that other people are going through. You don’t know why that person is racing down the freeway: maybe that young man is late for a meeting that could save his job, or maybe that Mom is trying to get to her child’s school because the child is sick. Maybe that person is just a total 100% entitled douchebag tool who needs your prayers to find him or herself in a greater place of loving serenity. People in our society are sick, even the healthy ones. The society itself is sick, so naturally everybody in the society is going to be sick. Hating them for being sick isn’t going to help anybody. Being angry at them for being idiots or douchebags or racist jerks or whatever isn’t going to help anybody, but it will hurt you. That’s a guarantee you can take to the bank. But what are you supposed to do with all this upsetness? There isn’t an anti-angry-at-idiots pill you can take to get rid of the hurt, so you’ve got to get rid of it somehow. The Hierophant says, “Bring it to me.” Talk to somebody. That’s the worst part about our sick society: we think that talking to someone about our pain and anger makes us weak. It doesn’t. It liberates us, and it may liberate others. Find someone to talk to, a community leader or spiritual presence in your life who will just listen. Hell, you can just go into any church that leaves its doors open and sit down and talk to Spirit for awhile, if you can’t find anyone to talk to face-to-face. Unburden yourself of your feelings so that treating others with kindness will be easier. We’re heading into the season when shopping, spending, buying, and “feeling the spirit” have become some sort of competitive blood sport, and kindness is pretty much left sprawling in the dust. Be the bigger person when you find yourself in these situations. Slow down. Breathe. Give yourself the gift of time and loving compassion, and then pass that gift on to others.

Blessings…
K