Midlife Shaman: Maria da Silva
Kindness and gratitude go a long way in the realm of improving our lives.
Gratitude change my attitude. This saying is, of course, not original to me, but apropos to my 30 day experiment of sending a thank you note to someone I was truly grateful for.
When I first started this 30 day trial, I imagined myself writing to old friends, colleagues or neighbors, and looking up their addresses in old school handwritten address books. I have three.
However, what I unexpectedly found was that every day there was someone who did something extra, whether it was the guy at the garage who took the nail out of my tire and didn’t charge me. Or my cousin who sent me an unexpected gift for no reason at all. Or the chiropractic office that called to get me in on their one and only open day before Thanksgiving.
“I learned that kindness happens daily and in the present tense.”
Kindness Happens Daily:
I did not reach back into the past but wrote my notes daily to those who touched my life by doing something extra or unexpected – or were just plain kind. I wrote one note each and every day, but could have written more!
I learned that kindness happens daily and in the present tense. Of course there are many, many people I could thank from my past. But maybe I already have.
Better now, I believe, to focus on what is happening currently. To stay grounded in the present moment. To thank the door opener. Or the driver that let me go ahead of them. Or the employee who picked up what I dropped in the aisle. Or the tech savvy colleague who helped me improve my website.
“Better now, I believe, to focus on what is happening currently.”
Kindness Breeds Kindness:
And guess what? Kindness breeds more kindness. We all know the feeling when someone is kind to us unexpectedly, and suddenly we want to pass it on. We actively want to pay it forward. Even something as simple as a smile.
This could create a new habit for me. I may continue with these thank you notes well past the thirty days, as they instilled in me a recognition for the kind moments. For the simple gestures. For the things we do for each other all day long that are not required but just feel good.
I learned that by cultivating gratitude I have more appreciation for who and what is already there. The world is filled with good, decent people who will go out of their way to help others.
I want to be one of them – always – but I learned I also want to be someone that recognizes the thoughtfulness in others. The small and large kindnesses surrounding me like the trees we sometimes stop seeing in the forest. They were always there all along.
And I am super grateful.
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About the Author:
Maria da Silva is a practicing shaman, writer and traveler who lives in Plymouth, Massachusetts and travels frequently to her home islands of the Azores. The founder of Wise Shaman Within, she is bringing peace, healing, and light to the world one client and one workshop at a time. Maria provides individual client sessions and also facilitates workshops in both the USA and Portugal. Visit her website: Wise Shaman Within.
