wonvoice creative

‘Tis fast approaching the season to be Jolly. For most, it’s a ridiculously manic approach to what is essentially a pause in the year. And it is a curious pause in the year. We catch up with friends, we have parties at work, we eat & drink way too much, we buy presents for people & some of us think of a small stable in Bethlehem. It’s an easy time to wax philosphical about the world we live in; any time where you stop is a time that lends itself easily to reflection.

I love the whole gift giving thing. I love taking time to consider who the gift is for & then contemplating what I could give them that would really suit their character & if possible, their needs. In a response to the phrase “random acts of violence” quite a few years back, someone coined the phrase “perform random acts of kindness & senseless deeds of beauty”. I first saw this on a bumper sticker in the 80’s I think. Right now, a local radio station is promoting a “love” day where part of there advertising has included slogans such as “because sometimes the greatest gift is something you do”.

Imagine a world gone mad with random acts of kindness. Imagine heading off to work & you can’t even get out of your driveway without witnessing a senseless deed of beauty. Imagine neighbourhoods that instead of building bigger houses, bigger fences & better security systems, spent their lives trying to out do each other with acts of kindness. I think that this level of giving is one of the greatest untapped resources in our communities. Every now & then we see something that stirs our hearts & draws a response out of individuals & groups. Was there ever a greater mobilisation of compassion after that terrible tsunami years ago?

In a book by Paul Scanlon, I read an amazing principle where he was espousing that if you want more generosity on your life, then you start by being more generous; if you want more friends in your life you start by being more friendly; if you want more kindness in your life, then you start by being more kind & so on. So, what has this got to do with “finding your soul”? Well, I believe that anyone who is struggling with an empty soul needs to seriously consider this as a founding principle upon which they build their character. I believe that building this as a daily practise/meditation/consideration is a ladder out of the well of despair that much of contemporary society finds itself in. For starters, it takes you heart of yourself & the beautiful irony is that while you practise this sort of selflessness, you receive a sense of self worth that you just can’t buy. And while we are on it, I’m not just talking about giving gifts; that can be part of the expression but it is deeper than that. It is also about giving time, about seeing opportunities just to be present to others, it is about acting on those nagging impulses where you think “I should have helped that person, I shouldn’t have got off the phone so quickly, I should have dropped in to see those people, I should have invited them to stay for dinner”.

Build these practises into yoru local community, to your town your street, your home, practise these things on a daily basis, and watch your life change, watch your soul fill up to overflowing.

For further Inspiration on this topic read Isaiah 54 or contemplate (google) the Prayer of ST Francis

Isaiah 54

 ”Woman, be happy, you who have had no children. Cry for joy, you who have never had the pains of having a child, for you will have many children. Yes, you will have more children than the one who has a husband,” says the Lord.