Hugs, Love, and Interfaith
The pressure of my job situation coupled with work I was doing toward my creative endeavors left me drained of the energy I would need to devote to any kind of a spiritual life...now that I sort of know what my job situation is going to be for a while, and the Stone Soup fundraiser is over, I hope to be able to devote more time to the learning I'd wanted to do.
First, I'll post the link to the Interfaith Center of New York. I first heard of them a few years ago (my boss does pro bono PR work for them), and have always admired their work - their whole mission is to find ways for people of different faiths to come together, as well as to teach about different faiths. I intend to pay them a visit very soon.
And through them, and the work on their annual Awards Gala I'm doing, I've learned about Amma. She's this spiritual leader from India who has basically goes around the world hugging people! :) She goes on these tours around the world and spends hours at a time hugging and blessing people. She's hugged 23 million people (as many as 50,000 a day - sometimes for 20+ hours straight) in her 50-odd year crusade for love and peace. I've been looking at her website, and reading this booklet about what she does, and it's really inspiring! She has her roots in Hinduism...but she pretty much all about doing everything you can with love and compassion. That if everything you do stems from love, that you can't really be wrong. She doesn't believe that there is one religion that's right for everyone, but that the one thing that we should all be doing is serving others. I really like that idea...As you know, I've been thinking about ways I can give more of myself to serve others and be more charitable. There are tons of humanitarian activities that she's got going on that I can easily take part in. I'll be paying her center in NYC a visit sometime soon, too. I'll be working the Interfaith Awards Gala in May, and she's going to be there, so I might get to meet her. I might even get a hug! :)
I'm so enamored of the idea of the hug as a tool for making the world a better place. I think I might try this, if just as an experiment....hugging people hello and goodbye if I've met them more than once. First time I meet you, handshake, and a hug every time after that....this is not to say I'm going to hug the guy at the deli or the guy who comes to pick up the garbage at my office (though it would be nice if at some stage things progressed to the point where that was possible), but....aw, hell. People will probably think I'm crazy. :) I'll try it for, like, a day and see how it goes.
Lastly, I've prayed exactly three times in the past two months. Twice before bed as it occurred to me (just to say thank you and to pray for my loved ones), and once at work after reading a prayer request from a girl on the LJCatholics community who's father has just passed away...(I will be friending her soon, as we've faced similar parental illness situations) On the one hand, I'm proud that I've prayed. On the other hand, I'm a little disappointed in the fact that I can count the times I've prayed recently on one hand.
First, I'll post the link to the Interfaith Center of New York. I first heard of them a few years ago (my boss does pro bono PR work for them), and have always admired their work - their whole mission is to find ways for people of different faiths to come together, as well as to teach about different faiths. I intend to pay them a visit very soon.
And through them, and the work on their annual Awards Gala I'm doing, I've learned about Amma. She's this spiritual leader from India who has basically goes around the world hugging people! :) She goes on these tours around the world and spends hours at a time hugging and blessing people. She's hugged 23 million people (as many as 50,000 a day - sometimes for 20+ hours straight) in her 50-odd year crusade for love and peace. I've been looking at her website, and reading this booklet about what she does, and it's really inspiring! She has her roots in Hinduism...but she pretty much all about doing everything you can with love and compassion. That if everything you do stems from love, that you can't really be wrong. She doesn't believe that there is one religion that's right for everyone, but that the one thing that we should all be doing is serving others. I really like that idea...As you know, I've been thinking about ways I can give more of myself to serve others and be more charitable. There are tons of humanitarian activities that she's got going on that I can easily take part in. I'll be paying her center in NYC a visit sometime soon, too. I'll be working the Interfaith Awards Gala in May, and she's going to be there, so I might get to meet her. I might even get a hug! :)
I'm so enamored of the idea of the hug as a tool for making the world a better place. I think I might try this, if just as an experiment....hugging people hello and goodbye if I've met them more than once. First time I meet you, handshake, and a hug every time after that....this is not to say I'm going to hug the guy at the deli or the guy who comes to pick up the garbage at my office (though it would be nice if at some stage things progressed to the point where that was possible), but....aw, hell. People will probably think I'm crazy. :) I'll try it for, like, a day and see how it goes.
Lastly, I've prayed exactly three times in the past two months. Twice before bed as it occurred to me (just to say thank you and to pray for my loved ones), and once at work after reading a prayer request from a girl on the LJCatholics community who's father has just passed away...(I will be friending her soon, as we've faced similar parental illness situations) On the one hand, I'm proud that I've prayed. On the other hand, I'm a little disappointed in the fact that I can count the times I've prayed recently on one hand.
posted by Teresa | 4:53 PM
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