This Week's Intention: A Precious Human Life

On a trip to Thailand last winter for our honeymoon, my husband and I found ourselves on a small, sleepy island called Koh Chang for the first few days of the New Year. I am a big believer that wherever you are and whatever you are doing over the days following January 1 has the ability to shape your entire year. 

Much like Mondays. I believe that however you enter your Monday has the ability to shape your entire week. Which is why I am so deeply connected to this beautiful passage by the Dalai Lama - which I discovered for the first time laying discreetly on a dusty shelf in a spa in Koh Chang, Thailand. Just the first two lines stopped me in my tracks and spoke to my heart: I am fortunate to have woken up. Amen! I had found it! Right then and there - my intentions for 2012 had been set: gratitude, perspective, motivation and service.

So often we get caught up in the stress of Mondays that we forget to remember the precious delicacy of life. This Monday, July 9, I am re-dedicating myself to those intentions I set seven months ago. I invite you to join me in taking a few minutes this Monday to make space for these intentions and set yourself up for a beautiful, gratitude-filled new week and second half of the new year.

A Precious Human Life

by his Holiness the Dalai Lama

"Every day, think as you wake up: Today I am fortunate to have woken up. I am alive, I have a precious human life. I am not going to waste it. I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others, to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings.

I am going to have kind thoughts towards others. I am not going to get angry, or think badly about others. I am going to benefit others as much as I can."