Ah, sometimes the universe is so amazingly awesome in bringing you people and things when you need them most. Good morning, SuperForest. Early today, I was responding to an email from my best friend, who, for very good reasons, was feeling stressed. I, for different reasons, could relate but as it so often happens, it is in trying to help others that you can also begin to help yourself. As I was writing, I proceeded by telling this friend that what she was feeling was entirely normal. I mean, think about it, we’re about to make a full on transition out of college life and perform a full on head first dive into “adulthood”. Tension doesn’t even begin to describe the feeling. So I also told her how I, for one, feel wildly unprepared but upon further reflection, I realized this wasn’t true. Because if you think about it, your entire life has led up to this moment right here and of course we’re prepared for it, because throughout our lives we’ve been provided with incredible tools to help get us through it all: love, intelligence, support, and of all those things, one of the most precious is…
friendship.
In continuing to write the response, I then attempted the impossible in trying to communicate my immense feeling of gratitude toward all this friend has given me and for her endless support and advice. Like many times before, I felt a little stumped. But not long after, as if it were manna from the heavens, I came across this stunning poem shared in Mother Teresa’s A Simple Path (which, oddly enough, had been sitting in my bookshelf patiently without me ever paying attention to it until today). Here’s an excerpt of the poem:
…And the youth said “Speak to us of friendship”
And he answered saying,
“Your friend is your needs answered.
He’s your field which you sow with love
And reap with thanksgiving.
And he is your board and your fireside,
For you to come to with your hunger,
Seeking him for peace.”
Upon reading this I was absolutely floored. And honestly I still kinda am, because the discussions I had with dear friends shortly after sharing it in my response email only justified every word in that poem and filled me with a deep sense of awe and gratitude, Soon, this feeling was projected out towards all the wonderful friends in my life. You know who you are (yes, it’s you) and you deserve all the praise and acknowledgment in the world. Thank you! And a special thank you to SuperForest, for no matter how much I try to give, it always finds a way of giving back tenfold.
All of this made me think of getting the wheels turning on a project I thought of a few months back.
Here’s the idea: What if…you went through your list of email contacts or your Facebook friends, and chose at least one of them each day to send a sincere message of gratitude or acknowledgment.
I’m still determining of the starting date, or whether to label this as a SuperForest Street Team Mission that we could try out together, or whether to just try it out on my own and tell you guys how it went. I know you’re probably thinking “That’s a lot of people to thank and it will probably take a looong time.” But my thinking is, that at the very minimum, it would do two things. First it would give you a chance to reflect on your relationships with these people and really tell them how much they mean to you. And second, it’d probably make you feel pretty great to know that you are surrounded by such an insanely cool group of cats, too.
Curious to hear your thoughts! Do you think this is feasible? Are you interested in participating? Help me out.
With love and ever-increasing gratitude,
Carla
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