Suze Muses
Happy Pride Month! I celebrate the vast differences within the human race and honor the right to be exactly who we are and how we are. I acknowledge that as human animals we all require love, compassion, connection and tolerance just as much as we require air, water, sustenance and shelter. Today I am asking of myself to look deep within and pull out any biases, revulsions and hatreds lurking inside me and smash them to smithereens. I am grateful for the diversity of my city and how I have grown exponentially by weaving myself into the multicolor tapestry of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexuality and language. This blanket of curiosity, complexity and caring has room for everyone – everyone!!! Alain de Botton in his book, “The School of Life” talks about emotional intelligence in this way,
The emotionally intelligent person knows that love is a skill, not a feeling, and will require trust, vulnerability, generosity, humor, sexual understanding, and selective resignation. The emotionally intelligent person awards themselves the time to determine what gives their working life meaning and has the confidence and tenacity to try to find an accommodation between their inner priorities and the demands of the world. The emotionally intelligent person knows how to hope and be grateful, while remaining steadfast before the essentially tragic structure of existence. The emotionally intelligent person knows that they will only ever be mentally healthy in a few areas and at certain moments, but is committed to fathoming their inadequacies and warning others of them in good time, with apology and charm. There are few catastrophes, in our own lives or in those of nations, that do not ultimately have their origins in emotional ignorance.
I think if we can develop this emotional intelligence, this love skill, we can open our arms to all the possible ways of being fully alive on this planet.
Gratitude Thursday Writing Prompt ~ How can you be more accepting and loving – more emotionally intelligent so you can be grateful for the many ways of being fully alive on the planet? What do you need to work on?