Tag Archives: heart mission

Hold hands

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The birds went silent and the children at the Kindergarten downstairs started crying in unison. I knew then Donald Trump was elected for president…

And so I also knew this could be the beginning of a very dark, if not pitch black, period. My first reaction was this:

hold-hands-image1

But I also knew I have a choice – like all those Americans had a choice although something went horribly awry there… And there was my drive! My drive to not give in nor up. My drive to stay on the positive route and know that I, and we all, can make this world a better place, with or without Trump. After 30 minutes of freaking out, ranting and feeling like the world had gone under due to a massive nuclear attack, the light inside me took over again.

So from now on here’s a few things I’m gonna do. And they may sound silly and small and naive, but it’s about the drive remember.

1) after I’ve finished this piece, I will not mention Trump ever again, nor invest any energy in frustrating over the  – let’s face it – dumb-ass mistake the Americans made on November 8th 2016.
2) I will focus on all that is good, beautiful and positive in my life and in the world.
3) I will keep adding positive input into this world.
4) I will work hard on establishing my new, re-born start-up, Confetti In Your Face (more on that real soon!). My work as a happy-maker will continue and grow and I will make products and create stories that feed happiness and compassion even if it seems impossible.
5) I will keep on believing we have the power to make a U-turn for the positive – as long as we unite and join forces, no matter the distances between us, the language barriers, differences in religion, etcetera.

In fact I’ve never felt more strong about my mission to make this world a happy place full of compassion. So thank you Donald Trump, for lighting up that flame inside me: it’s a fire now! Another ‘thank you’ to Donald Trump, for creating the necessity for me and so many others to feel strong about our missions and the knowing that love is all we need.
Maybe in a next life you’ll understand this, too, Donald.

So how are you and me able to keep on moving forward and what can we learn from Trump? Well, if – like me – you want to change the world into a beautiful, sustainable and happy place, don’t distance yourself from society to hug trees. You’re not helping anyone with that. Best thing to do is continue to live your life the positive way. That way you’ll show how it can be done too, that way people may be inspired – affected even? – by it; remember that for some positivity, good will and compassion are just things they never learned. So keep acting out of compassion, keep recycling paper, glass and plastic, keep on believing. And so on. And as for the learning-from-Trump aspect: clearly, if you stand up for your believes and make yourself heard, you will reach people. Trump did… So instead of shying away from sharing your hopes and believes, make them known. Instead of shying away from showing your compassionate self, act out of compassion.

As long as we do so, as long as we hold each other’s hands, listen to our hearts and keep listening to each other, we can make that U-turn. What’s your next act of compassion?

I made this heart for all of you as part of my #aheartaday challenge. I hope it will help you find the bright side of life again and the will to continue to act out of goodness, love and compassion.

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A Heart A Day #16

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Today I did some scribbling and doodling and I spoke about self-comapssion with friends. It’s interesting to see that so many people struggle with self-compassion! Why, people? Why is this so? However, I guess it’s good to know I’m not the only one coming a long way.

When I say I’m working hard to get more compassionate towards myself, I don’t mean I sit and meditate all day. Simple things help me focus on self-compassion and self-love during the day. For example focussing on what I would love to add to this world. I would love to create “tools” that help people develope a positive picture of themselves, that help developing self-compassion; and no kidding, I’m working on a book on this specific matter! Other “tools” I’m creating are gestures that you can give to other people to show you care – my cards for example. Doing this makes my heart skip and puts a smile on my face the moment I think about it. I can be my authentic self and that feels good! I love that feeling and slowly my self-love grows. Baby steps, but day by day it gets stronger.

Whilst scribling and doodling today I created a heart with one of my favourite quotes. Be the change you want to see in the world. From Gandhi. Speaking of meditation, writing a quote about 20 times is meditative! I added a picture of planet earth, for the extra drama ;-)

What change do you want to see in the world? And what steps are you taking towards it?

With love,
Tess

PS: Have you created or spotted a heart this week? Share it with me! Use #aheartaday and social media may overflow with hearts…

16

[I love love and I love hearts! But oh, this world needs more visible love. So let’s change that, step by step. Away with pessimism. Away with hate. Let’s fill this world with love. And hearts! To show compassion towards each other, towards the planet, towards ourselves. It proves to be difficult for so many of us. But instead of judging it’s more meaningful to show love, to respond with love, to act out of love. Say it with hearts.
So I’m sharing A Heart A Day. Every day I will draw, stitch, paint or otherwise create a heart and post it on this blog. Will you help me make love and hearts spread like a contagious but healthy disease?]

 

A Heart A Day #13

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Day 13, it’s day 13! And to tell you the truth, I’m a wee bit proud of myself. I’m prone to lose focus quickly. This results in me not finishing things, ideas, the dishes – just some examples ;-)

But my hearts keep calling me – ideas for new ones keep popping up. Every day I look forward to creating a new heart for myself and whoever is reading these blogs. And I find that focussing on the subject (self)compassion, makes more compassionate; I almost automatically become more aware, ask myself questions, question my behavior. In the running-up to A Heart A Day, I’d collected so many reasons not to start, telling myself I’d fail, wouldn’t be able to create something beautiful, wouldn’t finish it, etc. The typical daily prayer. But after months of brewing, contemplating and creating some hearts I told myself I would start anyway, give it time and be kind to myself no matter what the outcome. And time is of the essence here: allowing yourself time to try your hand at new things, allowing yourself time to practise self-compassion. Most things don’t change overnight, you know! That’s how I always hope it will be, but reality proves different. So I’ve given myself time this time ’round and – as if by magic – I’v been posting a heart a day now for 13 days without complaining or thinking of quitting.

So yeah, today’s heart. It is a bit see-through, difficult to spot, as so is practise – in the beginning you might not notice results or change. Same for compassion. It needs practise. Warm-hearted practise. I’ve a fairly compassionate character, but I wanna up my standard especially on the self-compassion side of things. That needs repetition. And a lot of love! The hearts help me focus on my goals. Every day. And awaken my thoughts on compassion. Every day. Slowly. And that’s perfectly fine.

Take your time.

With love,
Tess

P.S: can you spot the second heart in the picture below?

13 (1)

[I love love and I love hearts! But oh, this world needs more visible love. So let’s change that, step by step. Away with pessimism. Away with hate. Let’s fill this world with love. And hearts! To show compassion towards each other, towards the planet, towards ourselves. It proves to be difficult for so many of us. But instead of judging it’s more meaningful to show love, to respond with love, to act out of love. Say it with hearts.
So I’m sharing A Heart A Day. Every day I will draw, stitch, paint or otherwise create a heart and post it on this blog. Will you help me make love and hearts spread like a contagious but healthy disease?]