I am capable of great kindness.

One of my Christmas gifts this year was a meditation bracelet of Mala Beads from V&S, made by AK Jewelry Designs, a friend of theirs who I have met a few times.  The tag indicates that the 27-bead bracelet is made of red aventurine, banded agate, pewter, sterling silver (for clarity) & silver plated copper (for energy), and the included cards that tell how to use malas for meditation, affirmations, prayer, centering, and mindfulness.

I was excited by the concept of prayer beads, but with no experience, I left them in their pretty felt pocket on my bedside table when I unpacked after the holidays.  This afternoon, I finally had some time to research, so I re-read the instruction card: "Repeat one mantra per bead until you reach 108.  Namaste." and "Use them to create something beautiful in your life."  I latched onto the word "mantra", and a quick Google search revealed a link to the Roots of She blog with which I had no previous experience.

I followed the link from the Google search because I liked the title: 51 Personal Mantras for Empowerment.  I skimmed the opening paragraphs, but was intrigued by the list of mantras a little further down.  I was reminded of a time a few years ago when I found myself unhappy in my work situation, and I generated a list of attributes which I hoped to embody.  This was a private list I kept on my phone so I could reference it when I felt myself begin to behave negatively or feel frustrated by my surroundings.  I've changed phones since then, but I kept the list, and it still holds true: Patience, Forgiveness, Gratitude, Grace, Balance, Strength, Beauty, Kindness, Integrity, Sincerity.

Some of these 51 personal mantras fit perfectly within the self-improvement sentiment that prompted me to generate the above list.  So I decided to start today to use my new mala beads and these 51 mantras, and I repeated "I am exactly where I need to be" 108 times.  I won't pretend that I will use them daily from now on, but if I were going to compose New Year's Resolutions, I might say I hope to use them regularly.

With any luck, by the end of the year, I will be more patient, forgiving, gracious, graceful, balanced, strong, beautiful, kind, sincere, and full of integrity.