Learning the effective communication skills is like finding a great dance groove

Finding Your Bliss in Gay Relationships

I have the word ANANDA written on my white board in the cube at work, and I put it there to remind me to be grateful and joyous no matter what may be going on around me. Since work tends to be the place where many folks are not grateful and/or joyous, I thought it was a fitting reminder for me.

A few days ago, one of my coworkers whose country of origin is India stopped by my cube when he saw that word. Apparently, ANANDA is a very popular name in India, and it opened a dialogue between us to help me better understand how the word/name is used and understood there.

I found the word in Eckhart Tolle’s book: A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose as I was reading it on a plane flight from Indianapolis to Tampa. You know how sometimes you’re reading something and a single word or concept will stick. Well, ANANDA was that word for me.

My coworker explained that the name Ananda is usually given to first-born girls, since the family is so joyous to have this new addition. Even though I have never had any children, I can see how the arrival of a beautiful baby in your life could create this “bliss of life” or Ananda. That becomes a very real thing to grasp as you understand this core concept of living in gay relationships.

However, it doesn’t depend on a new baby arriving for you to find it. There are so many ways to bring bliss into your life. Nature. Work. Mediation. Reading. And yes, even communicating in gay relationships can bring bliss. Next time someone who’s in need wants to talk, really take the time to listen. Take a deep breath, find “your center” and listen. You don’t need to solve their problems. You don’t have to offer solutions. When they pause, you may say: “yes, and then what?” to encourage them to continue. Listening can become a form of meditation. It can become a point of bliss, and it provides that deep connection to person who is talking. Your listening provides them affirmation, and you don’t even have to solve their problems. They are simply being heard, which in today’s society can be something that does not happen often.

So to you today, I wish you Ananda as you go about your life.

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