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in these anecdotal,
sometimes inspiring, sometimes personal meanderings of the Heart's opening in the every-day-ness of life...

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Gobsmacked by Kindness and Generosity...


Within the last week I have been the recipient of unexpected kindness and generosity.  Don’t know why that surprised me, but it did.  And I am always grateful for the kind and generous comments that I receive here on a regular basis from all of you.  They are always most welcome and appreciated.  But these other acts of kindness and generosity were totally unexpected. 

I was surprised last Friday when returning home from errands by a package in the mail from a blogger friend.  It lifted my heart and brought joy.  And I realized that I have been withholding myself in that department, holding back from spontaneous acts of kindness and generosity.  Not reaching out to others in unexpected ways.  When I received the package I remembered how much fun it is to give unexpected joy – to brighten someone else’s life unexpectedly - as well as to receive it!  My heart was awakened by this most generous gift.

Then Monday we had a Chimney Sweep come to clean out our chimney and check for nests and potential problems.  He ended up doing some unexpected repairs to the chimney.  Later that day I noticed that the sagging soffit on the chimney side of the house had been repaired.  At first I couldn’t imagine who would have gone 30 feet up to screw it back in, then realized the chimney sweep was the only one here that had ladders that would go up that high.  So I called Mr. Chimney Sweep the next morning and asked if he had fixed it.  He reluctantly said – “yes.”  I gave him my most sincere appreciations. And then he said “this is going to sound crazy, but ‘the Lord’ told me to do it and not tell you.”  Now what to do with THAT!  Normally this kind of comment would have put me off.  Being a former fundamentalist Christian, I am attuned to those kinds of “spreading the gospel" tactics.   But in this case I didn’t care WHO told him to do it, I was just gobsmacked, and grateful, that he did!  So I thanked him again, and called him an angel.  And to tell you the truth, I was deeply touched by his act of generosity and kindness, no matter what his belief system. It’s all semantics anyway.  Who is ‘the Lord’ – it is many things to many people.  One could say, my Heart told me to do it.  One could say it was intuition.  Whatever it was – I am humbled and my heart was opened through his act of kindness and generosity.

The next day my Heart was still aglow from these unexpected delights. Driving down the road I broke into laughter and tears at the same time, realizing that life really is all about Love – touching the hearts of others, being a presence of Love.  Love makes itself known *through* the presence and actions of others, whether one calls it ‘the Lord” or Buddha, or Allah, or God, The Heart, or Intuition, or Friend.  All there is is the Universal Heart of Love reaching out to us, under many names and disguises, opening our hearts through acts of kindness through unsuspecting “lovers.”

It brings me to my knees and humbles me, because I realized that in all these years of searching for “the Truth”, the Sacred, the Divine, it never was about whether there’s a me, or no-me, or “enlightement” - 0r even Non-duality – but about opening the Heart, and letting love *in.*  Opening to the Reality that it’s the universal language of Love that is *felt*, not wrangling over Truth, or semantics.

Mr. Chimney Sweep is Love.  Blogger friends are Love.  We are all Love – underneath the messiness and pain of life…  When you go beyond the veils of duality, of light and darkness, right and wrong, of Truth and lie, there is only vast cosmic Love – everywhere…

Have you been gobsmacked lately? J


“We know what sparks the light inside.
It does not matter where it comes from.
What matters is that we look, and find,
and feel the deep presence.”

Ruth at Washed Stones



“We are because we are seen;
we are because we are loved.
The world is because it is beheld
and loved into being.”

Rainer Maria Rilke
Rilke’s Book of Hours




18 comments:

  1. Nice one, Christine! I'm coming to the same conclusion that it really is all about love, opening our heart-mind and letting it in and letting it out. The two fruits of practice, wisdom and compassion are both important. Wisdom lets us see how everything is interconnected and see what needs doing and hopefully see how not to cause too much damage. I think one of the really important results of wisdom is what you described, the realization of the extent that love/compassion enlivens everything. Compassion gives us courage to act when we'd rather not. It feels like all we have to do is just be sincere. Thanks for sharing your story - it made my heart smile :)

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    1. Thank you David! Yes, to what you say too! :) It does enliven... Yes, being authentic in our actions, then it comes from the Heart. Glad your heart smiled :)

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  2. yes, another smiling heart here! when it seems so easy to find stories of sadness, it does gladden the heart just to hear tales of generosity. It is contagious I think. Uplifting the heart, an important thing, I think. Thanks for that!

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    1. Yes, just seeing how spontaneously acting from the Heart has such an impact was uplifting too. Glad you heart is smiling :)

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  3. Dear Christine, this is such a heart-warming post thank you for sharing. Recently a long time blogging friend who is currently away and very busy arranging a Mexican Day of the Dead retreat for fellow bloggers just left me a little three word 'I love you' message out of the blue on facebook - means the world to me!!! I have never met her in person but she is so close, as are you! x

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    1. Goosebumps Sue! - I always get goosebumps when I hear about these little heartwarming messages that people send... Makes my heart smile too :) Isn't it wonderful how we all feel connected in some way through the internet, even though we've never met each other! I feel a warm heart connection to you as well... Heart Hugs...

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  4. LOVE to you, Christine! It's those little things that mean a lot. That phrase is so cliched now, but it is still very true--it is those small things, those unexpected delights that grace our days. Let us hold what we received tenderly and joyfully, and give back. :o) So glad you've been having such a good week! ((HUGS))

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    1. Thank you Tracy! So true indeed - the little things grace us, allow the Love in, and in return we want to give that Love back to the world - keeping the flow going. Heart Hugs :)

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  5. so nice to hear about your gobsmacked joy in little acts of human kindness. Yes, love and too being kind to one another. On a basic everyday level.

    these things give joy to others and joy to the giver. they make us feel connected whether we know the person in person or from afar. hugs, suki

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    1. Ha-ha- ha! My heart is still smiling dear "blogger friend." And I am grateful. Many Heart Hugs to you!

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  6. Amen Dear Christine...and what a perfect word -- 'Gobsmacked.' After years and years of pain, misery and forced separation even I am just now beginning to re-open to the vastness of Love. Now That is a downright Miracle. Humbled to death at the thought of God ever reaching me. And you have been one of the very sweetest stepping Stones...thank you SweetPeaHeart...xoxo
    -Leslie

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    1. I have goosebumps dear Leslie with your comment. Am soooo happy for you that you are once again "beginning" to experience the vastness of Love. Me too actually. It comes in little openings - like these that I wrote about. Oh yes, "God"/Love is ever-reaching out, waiting for us to open and receive. And you, dear heart, always touch my Heart and leave me with a smile :) Big Heart Hugs!

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  7. Hey! I frequently feel "gobsmacked" by reading your blog (and many of those who comment here)! Yes. . . overflowing joy and (as Oriah said in a recent entry) a continual, spiral "homecoming". . .

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    1. Thank you Chris :) It's reciprocal! I am nourished by this wonderful community of bloggers that come by here and leave there messages. Yes, a continual spiral of "homecoming." I like that! Heart Hugs :)

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  8. love it!

    i was gobsmacked by love last year. i went through one of my many soul-nights, and came out the other end utterly overwhelmed, over-flowing, with compassion for All. Yes, love.
    there's just nothing like those times when you're filled to the brim with it. opening up, i guess makes that more common than not.

    have a sweet weekend friend.

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    1. Thank you Monica :) And how easily we contract again I've noticed - into those "dark soul nights." But - always an "opening" seems to present itself - if only in glimpses - waiting for us to *see*. I have felt it as a deep compassion for All too - all consuming, all encompassing.

      May we always *feel* that all encompassing presence, no matter what our minds are doing :) Heart Hugs to you!

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  9. What lovely blessings to have fallen upon you, and that you recognized them for what they were-- acts of love. Free love: but not in the hippy way of the 60s!
    Lately, I've been practicing appreciation of the moment; consciously loving the world, I guess; bearing witness to its beauty, mostly when I'm out walking. Still working on the people part of the equation. But one has to start somewhere.
    I am happy to hear of your gobsmackedness.

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    1. I love that - "consciously loving the world" - starting with nature. That's when I notice it too, besides meditation - this undercurrent of Love/Life that is just there. And no, it's not hippy-dippy love.:) But an all-pervasive Presence that feels like a different kind of "Love" - if that's even the right word. It is also felt as a deep compassion for all existence at times. We can probably notice it more in nature because there's no emotional baggage with nature, as there are with people. It's just pure connection without the mind getting in the way. Thank you :)

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