Aloha

The concept of empathy is widespread and I could say taken to heart.

I was raised with the sentence that was supposed to be graceful: If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also, and not questioning it came to bother me.

Nobody taught me self-empathy so I learned how to put my needs aside over somebody else’s. I recently became aware of how I was imposing empathy in this manner on my 9-year-old niece telling her to be considerate towards others. I was firm on how she should behave towards her peers and lose when it was the other way around. Similar to how I was quick to judge my behaviour towards others and explanatory of others’ behaviour towards me. I didn’t tell her about the supporting power of self-empathy and grace, I had to learn it by myself first.

Self-empathy as to sense and get to know yourself, fully embracing that. Grace as to surround yourself with unbiased love and regenerative understanding, making this your security shield.

Self-empathy and grace are also important when it comes to fear. I don’t think that they resolve fear but rather that fear dissolves in self-empathy accompanied by grace. I experienced this at the time I resigned from my notary duty when it wasn’t the reality I wanted to commit to any more, to a future I couldn’t foresee. Unlike any time of change before. To be alerted for the self and dive into the uncertain I must have been scared. Nevertheless, I decided to stay open and have trust, in this case towards strangers to me aka Cocoon-Pro.

I don’t like the word compassion — it reminds me of death, which in some way was, and I don’t like the word kindness — it sounds superficial to me. But the name Cocoon is not just by a coincidence, it surely stands for a protective and comforting coating in a way, and these people are not just polite, they are genuinely nice. I found myself in a place where things are simple and easy rather than complicated and hard and I found out that the Hawaiian word for grace is aloha, like the greeting, so aloha to the new chapters and forward projects.

Now I reframe my favourite Great Gatsby sentence into: So we beat on boats against the current borne back occasionally into the past. Let’s challenge ourselves further and rise up to possibilities! Gently.