Apology Is An Act Of Love

I enjoyed reading this passage, Taking A Seat At Life's Kitchen Table authored by Rachel Naomi Remen is not just a way of passing time. In fact, this writing is very helpful not only to me, but also to my family members, my clients, and my friends. I consider it a gift from the author of this article. Reading this article is very illuminating. As I am growing agewise I have made quite a number of small and big mistakes. Formerly I used to hide my mistakes, suppress or repress my mistakes. I know denying my own mistakes is not the wholesome and wise way for dealing with them. Not knowing how to deal with my mistakes continued draining my physical, mental, and emotional energy. I distinctly remeber an experience when I was teaching a high school class in India. I have always believed that yelling is never the way to guide a child or young adult. One student was continually disrupting the class, and in a moment of frustration, I yelled at that student. After reflection, I realized that the student was still indeed a child and in their mind was not doing anything wrong. I should have empathized more and gently guided rather than yelled. I apologized to that student, and to give a genuine apology I put myself in their shoes and let go of my own ego. In order to learn and cherish something new we need to take bold steps but also learn to recognize other perspectives. This is the way I have learned how to relate to new and difficult situations. Face life courageously, compassionately, and creatively. This is my life story. It is not a straght line. I have learnt how to live my life. And I am very grateful to the folks holding my hands when I have gone through thicks and thins in my life. To me, life is a blessing, not a curse. And I am grateful to my parents, friends, teachers, neighbors and other members of my family for holdng my hands whenever I needed their help. I am also very happy to offer my help whenever I can. It is by giving we receive. It is a two -way street. Sometimes it may become a two-way street. I follow my Dharma. Hold the hand of a person unconditionally who needs your help. I am very happy for doing it. Namaste. Jagdish P Dave PhD, PsyD. Hide full comment

Embodying Emergence Listening from the land, Waters, our bodies I find myself thinking about all of this from my own ordinary neighborhood in Albany. It isn’t an intentional community. And yet, sometimes it feels like one. Our backyards touch. Gardens spill toward one another. We share food and meals, stories and worries, plants and possibilities. We sit together and sometimes enter the deeper conversations—the ones where listening matters more than having an answer. Perhaps this is where I am learning something about accountability and love: in the ordinary practice of living alongside one another. We affect one another. And underneath our human relationships is another relationship I am learning to listen to more carefully: the land itself. What happens when we begin listening not only to one another, but from the watershed? From the watersheds of our own bodies—the blood, breath, tears, nervous systems and histories flowing through us—and from the actual watershed beneath our feet? Nothing happens in isolation. Our actions travel. Our histories travel. Our care travels too. For me, Listening from the Land is becoming less an idea than an ordinary practice: backyard gardens, shared meals, deep dialogue, bodies, water, soil, neighbors. Maybe accountability and love meet here—not in perfection, but in learning to listen closely enough to notice our impact, repair what we can, and change how we live together. Perhaps liberation begins in very ordinary places. In the body. In the backyard. In the watershed. In staying in relationship. Hide full comment