I’m combining the updates for weeks #15 and #16.
Week #15 was about openheartedness. It was a really heart-centered week given the value in focus. What I particularly liked about this value was that it’s a combination of honesty and kindness. I was able to practice being open while also being loving and empathetic.
One of the biggest results of donning the lens of openheartedness for a week was that I resolved an interpersonal communication issue with someone I care about in a way that was a win-win. It gave me the confidence that I didn’t need to choose between being honest and kind. There was a way to have the cake and eat it too.
Week #16 was about ease. Last month, I experienced a week of intensity. I now felt ready to experience some ease, especially since I’d recently recovered from a series of infections. The week was a success in more ways than I had envisioned. Apart from allowing me to have a relatively easy week, it also helped me learn to drop or change things that made me feel stressed. This also meant that I became aware of the things that brought up stress for me which was valuable.
Value for week #17
I picked the value for week #17 as compersion which means sympathetic or vicarious joy. This word actually doesn’t exist in the dictionary (yet). It does exist in Sanskrit, though, and is called mudita. It’s basically the opposite of jealousy – you feel joy at another person’s joy or success. While compersion is something I experience from time to time, it’s not yet become second nature. Jealousy has long been something I’ve experienced and it’s only over the last couple of years or so that I’ve started feeling true compersion.
This is probably the one value I most want to make a part of my core value system. I sense the infinite power it holds to transform relationships and the world itself. I’d like to be known as someone who feels genuine, deep compersion for others. I feel amazing when someone feels happy for me; I’d like others to feel that way in my presence too. I feel giddy thinking about how much happiness I can create for myself and others by just increasing the amount of compersion I feel. If I see humanity as a collective consciousness, it’s actually easy to think that someone else’s happiness is my happiness too.
Every day, I’d like to practice this value at least once. It could be actively expressing to someone the joy I feel for them at their happiness or success. Or, I could take a few minutes to just feel the joy for another person quietly by myself. Every night, I’ll journal about how I practiced the value that day.