by Tina Thrussell
“Celebrate the Present” is the third tenet of the Shin Dao. When Neil first presented this tenet to me several years ago, I felt a little lost.
You see, to me celebration was throwing a party for somebody’s birthday or retirement. I really had no idea what “Celebrate the Present” meant. I don’t recall celebrating anything in everyday life as I was growing up… or at least identifying anything within our day-to-day life as celebration.
At one point, we came across a piece of writing entitled “Benefits of Celebrating” and this writing helped me to gain a clearer understanding of what Celebrating the Present might mean:
Benefits of Celebrating:
• Celebration helps us stay in the present where our power is.
By celebrating the completion of every small step we take, we leverage the powerful energies of gratitude and momentum. The inventor, Thomas Edison, apparently made many attempts before successfully inventing the light bulb. He is often quoted, “”I have not failed. I’ve just found ten thousand ways that won’t work.” Mr. Edison taught us that even each mistake along the way is cause for celebration. Life is all about the journey. That means that every step along the way is as much a part of our journey as reaching our destination. Celebrating at every juncture is recognition of a life well lived and well worked.
• Celebration builds self-respect.
Others treat us according to how we treat ourselves. It’s important to hold yourself in high regard. Perhaps your early caregivers did not celebrate your presence and special glow, and you don’t think as highly of yourself as you could. Celebration overwrites this limited conditioning and tips the balance of your internal programming so that it’s more natural to think well of yourself.
• Celebration feeds our basic human need for self-love and self-acceptance.
Celebration is emotional nourishment. Sometimes we simply don’t feel like celebrating because we’ve fallen into the habit of harshly judging ourselves. When this happens, there is a negative feeling remaining in our bodies from a challenging event in our past. Clearing that negative energy can free us to feel like celebrating once again. (Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) is one of several powerful tools that can remove the negative feeling.)
• Celebration is positive magnification.
What we focus on expands. When we downplay or skip celebration, we are telling ourselves that we haven’t done enough to be proud of ourselves – so our self-doubt is what expands. The proliferation of productivity blogs on the web tells us that lots of folks don’t follow-through frequently enough to feel good about what they do. If you want to complete more projects with less procrastination and guilt, celebrate more often. Honor your completions, both big and small, in celebration so that you expand more of what you want in your life.
Neil and I would love to hear the ways in which you celebrate You, and your life. You may call us 403-285-5266 or write to us at info@shindao.com
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