Lean Forward into Your Life: Begin each day as if it were on purpose…
This is the title of a wonderful book that can be encouragement for any bright, sensitive, and intense person. Sometimes our sensitivity or intensity makes us hold back, or even hold on tightly, so that we convince ourselves we will remain safe. The author of this book, Mary Anne Radmacher, adds her beautiful calligraphy to her life-coaching inspirations. I think this book would be a great book to read with a friend or young adult child.
So what aspects of this book had the greatest impact on me?
- The subtitle of the book encourages us to “begin each day as if it were on purpose.” I believe that sensitive people have to work hard to not to ruminate about negative experiences or feel fearful about the future. Learning to begin each day as a fresh start helps us live in the “now.”
- Radmacher encourages us to “be specifically grateful.” When our daughter was a teenager, Rick, Rachel, and I used to share a gratitude journal. We would take turns writing our gratitudes each evening, and then we would put the journal on each other’s pillows. It was wonderful to end the evening focusing on gratitude, and it was also wonderful to be able to see what made each one of us grateful.
- Going back to my last blog entry on finding your strengths, Radmacher suggests that the reader “do what you love.” I find that the more I can get into “flow” by engaging in activities that bring me joy, the less sensitive and intense I feel. It is being forced into uncomfortable situations that increases what my husband calls “intensitivity.”
So, lean forward into your life, and find all the little ways you can celebrate your sensitivity while nourishing your uniqueness.
