Have Mercy!

Have mercy! This is the catch cry of Uncle Jesse (the seemingly ageless John Stamos) in Full House. Gotta love comedy catchphrases. Cut. It. Out. Come on now. TBH, DJ was my hero back in the day.  But, as I often do, I’m linking this piece of pop culture to something self-helpY. Liz Gilbert, warm and wonderful writer and an example of living deeply, said on Oprah’s Soul Sunday that mercy, for yourself and others, is one of the most powerful lessons you can learn, “mercy above all”.

Liz: As a perfectionist there was a quality of mercy that I had to learn. Towards myself and others.  Lay a foundation for yourself of radical mercy for the situations you are in. Yes, I ended up in the wrong relationship or job but instead of going into shame and being paralysed by it, I’m going to give myself mercy.

I love this. How can you have mercy for yourself?

• Think about your biggest fear. For many of us, including me and Liz, it’s a fear of not being a good person.
• Understand that you came here not to become the best person ever but to accept yourself totally for the way you are.
• You are not perfect. No one is. You don’t need to punish yourself or prove anything just accept you are human and …have mercy and then acceptance and compassion and change can follow.

Liz: (talking about her late partner Rayya) She understood people’s bad behaviour and saw that there was a good person inside. She had behaved badly in her life as an addict too and said that she could never withhold mercy from anyone after the forgiveness she was shown.

Aha! How can you have mercy for others?

• See the best in people. Instead of simply saying, “how rude!”
• Understand that their bad behaviour isn’t who they are.
• Have mercy on them and acceptance, compassion and forgiveness can follow.

So join me reader in exploring how you can bring this quality of mercy to your life and to those around you.

Love and light and…let’s hug it out! Xxx Yvette

 

“Full House” Catchphrases: https://youtu.be/dPOTYE-l5rE

Exert of Liz Gilbert on Oprah’s Soul Sunday. Bestselling author Elizabeth Gilbert lost her partner, Rayya Elias, to pancreatic and liver cancer. Here, Elizabeth shares the deeply profound lessons she has learned from Rayya about grief, mercy and letting go:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWwNVW7VvbE 

Full Soul Sunday interview: https://www.facebook.com/oprahwinfrey/videos/elizabeth-gilbert/722870231464354/