monday meditation on the fruit of the spirit – gentleness

“Our greatest strength lies in the gentleness and tenderness of our heart.”

Rumi

Today I am focusing on gentleness and so I thought I would repost this sweet monday meditation on the fruit of the spirit – gentleness. Enjoy!

Bonjour! Welcome to my monday meditation on the fruit of the spirit – gentleness. Biblestudytools.com defines gentleness as “Sensitivity of disposition and kindness of behavior, founded on strength and prompted by love.” Isn’t that a beautiful definition? Just the word gentleness is lovely. You could just make that one word your mantra for a morning meditation and I’m sure it would bring peace to your day. Let’s meditation some more on gentleness.

Gentleness of spring
Warmth and care like summer breeze
Share it with people.

Gentleness by Beverly Dyer

Gentleness means having a humble heart and being kind to others. One way to be kind, or gentle, to others would be to put yourself in their shoes, to be empathetic. We all belong to this wonderful universe, we are all here together. A Boho Beautiful meditation was a perfect inspiration for today. The mantra was “Through empathy, I radiate kindness”. Exactly. I found several haiku’s about gentleness, the soft, simple nature of a haiku perfectly expresses gentleness.

Honeybees circle,
Girl sleeps beneath… soft breaths
They will not sting her

Gentleness by Andrew Fairchild

Gentleness also means taking care not to cause harm. It isn’t about being weak or wimpy, it means to chose not to be angry, aggressive or spiteful. Intentionally be compassionate and humble toward others, be patient, especially if you see they are struggling. “Oh! that gentleness! how far more potent is it than force!” ― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre. A gentle person attracts the trust of others.

gentleness caressed
as night’s still shadow ascends
restful transcendence

At Peace by Charlie Smith

A second meaning of gentleness is “softness of action or effect; lightness.” I think being mindful, being in the moment gives you this kind of gentleness. If you are paying attention to each action, each movement, being deliberate and looking around to see how it affects yourself and your surroundings, you will naturally be gentle. Remember to be gentle with yourself, not judgmental or unkind. It all starts with you, inside you. And this softness, lightness, gentleness will give you that inner beauty, which will radiate on the outside too.

I hope you enjoyed this little monday meditation on the fruit of the spirit – gentleness. Next Monday will be the last fruit of the spirit, a tough one for me, self control 😬. Join me Wednesday for September’s quoi de neuf, la Rentrée edition. And I almost forgot, the winner of Friday’s La Vie en Rose Giveaway? My #1 fan, Lady Rosie Boxingpaw 🌹 I hope you have a peaceful, restful, gentle evening. A bientôt!