O is for Open Hand

We are over halfway there on the A-Z Blog, letters of gratitude. I’m grateful you’re here, too. Did I say that before?

Open hand. When we think about it, and open hand is an invitation. A calling to take someone’s hand and walk. A chance to receive a gift. An indication we are open and not closed to the other. Opening ourselves up to our compelling future.

What an open hand is not is a fist. Fists hold things tightly. Like the monkeys they catch by putting holes in trees or pumpkins and filling it with treats. The money won’t let go and then can’t get his little hand through the hole that would give him freedom. If only he would let go and open his hand. He would be free.

Fists are also used to defend ourselves. When our stomach and psyche is balled up in a fist it is cold and hard as a lump of coal. We protect, and therefore become smaller, focused on defense rather than logic, rather than receiving. We stave off blows with a fist.

Don’t get me wrong, there is a time and place for battle. I have the scars to prove it. I have the stories. There are those that are trained to battle for us, so we don’t have to. So we can live a “normal” life without having to worry about our safety.

But I find most my own personal growth has come when I receive, rather than fight off. When I listen and not speak. When I think before I act.

What is the next right action? That’s where life is. That’s where the growth is. Where happiness is. Connection. Abundance. That’s where the really good stories are…

Are you open for business in your life?