Enlightened by a cardboard.

I got up grumpy today and got hit in the head by a cardboard stacked on the cupboard. In the mania of a cry and a laugh that followed, a spontaneous, intense question came to my mind:

Those who love me and have given me so much, what would they want from me in return?

The only answer that was believable to me was simply "nothing". In the deepest place of my heart, I know they want my life to be filled with love and peace, period. I don't need to give them back anything, so with all the power, time, energy, and talents I have, the question they would want me to ask myself is:

How do I fill my life with love and peace?

If they saw me now, feeling so discouraged by my own desire for perfecting my crafts, linking my self-worth with productivity and skills, assuming inadequacy due to self-doubts and animosity thus getting hit by a cardboard so that I could finally cry, these are what would hurt their heart...

Giving is to be in service of others, and loving ourselves is to be in service of those who love us. Don't forget.