Weekly: When life is tough
Today, I want to share one of my favorite poems with you, by Thich Nhat Hanh.
They don’t publish
the good news.
The good news is published
by us.
We have a special edition every moment,
and we need you to read it.
The good news is that you are alive,
and the linden tree is still there,
standing firm in the harsh Winter.
The good news is that you have wonderful eyes
to touch the blue sky.
The good news is that your child is there before you,
and your arms are available:
hugging is possible.
They only print what is wrong.
Look at each of our special editions.
We always offer the things that are not wrong.
We want you to benefit from them
and help protect them.
The dandelion is there by the sidewalk,
smiling its wondrous smile,
singing the song of eternity.
Listen! You have ears that can hear it.
Bow your head.
Listen to it.
Leave behind the world of sorrow
and preoccupation
and get free.
The latest good news
is that you can do it.
With love,
Stephanie Harrison, founder of The New Happy
This Week
Old Happy: “I need to be perfect to be worthy of love.
New Happy: “All of me is worthy of love."
Today, I'd like to remind you of something: you are worthy of love.
When I say you, I mean all of you. Every single part of you. Especially the parts of you that are struggling.
There are some parts of yourself that you might find easier to accept and love. They are probably the parts that meet a specific standard that your family, community or society set for you. We have all been told stories that dictate what is required to be worthy.
Then, there are other parts of you that you feel that you have to change, deny, overextend, or suppress. They’re the parts of you that feel hurt, ignored, lost, ashamed, confused, overwhelmed, angry, and scared. And they, too, are worthy — and they are yearning to receive love from you.
Today, try to see what it would feel like to accept all parts of you. Ask yourself, "Where am I struggling right now?" How could you extend love to that part of you? When you're going through a hard time, that's when you most need your own love. Don't deny it to yourself—give it to yourself.
Tips and Tools
1. Avoiding it — This week's animation.
2. Let them shine — Ask them questions.
3. If you knew — You'd behave differently.
4. Trying something new — Remember this.
5. Talk about it — Let your feelings out.
More from TNH
Book — Preorder New Happy today and discover the real secrets of happiness.
Podcast — Get a daily morning pep talk — in five minutes or less
Speaking — Book us to speak to your team about well-being, resilience, and productivity.
Articles — Read more articles on our website.
Community
What are you struggling with lately?
"I’m really struggling to find the motivation to start my business. I feel like I don’t really care about anything." "Still struggling with being a mom, wife, student and an employee. These are all full time and it’s breaking me to the point I don’t want to get out of bed."
"I couldn’t sleep last night. One of my junior team members made a mistake and today I need to own that mistake and manage an unhappy senior stakeholder. I’m really anxious and I don’t like disappointing people."
"Being satisfied with the amount of work I’ve done in a day."
"Saving more money."
"I'm really struggling with being an autonomous thinker with ambitions within a non-autonomous business model/design. My position just got moved to a a new boss, which I'm transitioning too just fine, but I fully understand the undertones as to why it was done." "This week I am struggling with the unexpected loss of close friend. I'm feeling overwhelming sadness. Not an hour goes by that I don't say her name out loud. I walked by the card section at the grocery store and it made me crying knowing I could never send her another card again. We sent each other a card or post-card every other week, I even received one in the mail two days after she passed. Such an enormous hole has been left in my heart."
Inspiration
1. How we met (Guardian) — I love this column at the Guardian about how friendships are formed, and this one, about a Norwegian man who welcomes a Ukrainian refugee into his home, is lovely.
2. A tribute to Paul Alexander (NYT) — This man's extraordinary resilience left me in awe.
3. A man wanted to see Dune 2 before he died (Washington Post) — ...so the director sent his laptop. What an act of kindness.
Before You Go
No spam, just joy.
