Monday Mindfulness

Cultivating Strength, Joy, Calm & Resilience

Category Archives: coaching


by Leave a comment

Where there is grace

Swan (2)

Gliding across the still lake, the swan appears motionless…blending in, yet standing out.

There is an ease to the swan’s movements – small segments of being pieced together to produce strong, elegant, fluid motion…unfolding in a seemless, timeless, effortless evolution.

The swan goes not against the current, but blends into it, rides it, and collaborates with it to create a presence and ease that cannot help but draw the breath from me.

Attuning to the breath, I begin to realize the power and simplicity in the life force that moves so strong, elegantly, and fluidly through me.  With refinement of its movement, the breath becomes balanced and smooth. A fullness and simulaneous sense of roaring power and simple stillness come as each segment fully aligns.

In that very breath, I am the swan. In that very breath, I know grace.


by Leave a comment

Tiny Droplets loop

Quiet cradles my mind like a blanket of fog embracing the landscape, softening the angles and ridges of criticism, judgment, and doubt.
Pain and suffering become frozen silhouettes. Dark and light meet, their edges fading into one another as if inseparable.
It is in this space where I find freedom to explore the notion of existing without shame or blame. I don’t need explanations, answers, or stories. It is here that I realize there is only love.

In and around, all that exists is love when I allow the low-lying cloud of peace to settle in.


by Leave a comment

Living Gratitude

impatient

Thankful for the gifts of mistakes…poor choices…and illness.

Thankful for the lessons learned through the suffering of others as they have so generously lit the way to the path of something else.

Thankful for the eyes that see flawlessness in the presence of imperfections.

Thankful for every scar that contributes to this living road map.

Thankful for the loss that serves as a beacon of hope.

Thankful for quiet act of forgiveness.

Thankful for the essence of grace.

Thankful for the peace that rests at the core of existence.

Thankful for this life of privilege,

and that you and I can be just as we are.

Thankful we can be.

 


by Leave a comment

Hard work or heart work?

Are my decisions truly aligned with what is best for me?

Do I jump into action to make a big splash?

Are my actions tied to some sort of outside message board?

Can living just to feel happy be enough?

What if I chose empathy for myself instead of sympathy?

Or kindness and forgiveness instead of shame and blame?

Can I integrate my experiences, even the ones that result in mistakes, redirection or pain as essential parts of me?

Am I working to prove something?

Or am I living in these moments for my own higher good?

Could it be that by holding a space of peace and love for me I am holding it for you as well…

…and that is heart work.


by Leave a comment

Dive In

Whether crashing wildly in or softly lapping at the shore, the waves of life continually curl up at my feet.

Today, I choose to dive right in. Tomorrow may require a more easeful entry.

Either way, I feel the tug of the current. Either way, I am there to explore and flow and feel myself as something else, moving with the water as I know I cannot go against it.

Either way I get wet…which delightfully is the purpose in my dance with the waves.


by Leave a comment

Swinging on a Heart Thread

Working through the challenges of life is like swinging on the bars of a jungle gym. Each requires a certain amount of preparation, a great deal of follow through, and the ability to balance risk and excitement all for the sake of getting to the next rung.

Taking that leap…feeling that joy.


by 2 Comments

Witness Healing

My body is a part of me. It tells me when it needs nourishment and rest.

I can manifest the most horrific diseases by ignoring the signs in my body that are saying slow down, ease off, make a change.

There is no way my body can stop being ill until I care for it.

It is time for me to take responsibility for the way I feel. I do not need to be sick to care for myself. Sick is a reminder that I have neglected to care for me.

These are real symptoms – not of some outside force taking over, but a means of communication from the inside – me sending a message to me that something is out of alignment – the schedule, a relationship, nutrition, work…my connection with me.

Each of us has ignored signs that our bodies needed more care until we were really sick, feeling that powering through is a sign of strength. We don’t need to go there.

True strength lies in respecting myself enough to rest, eat well, choose to receive kindness and love from others and to forgive and let go of those who are in a position to diminish my sense of worthiness.

My body should be held and loved by me as a baby bird that has fallen from its nest. Given a chance to be seen, heard, and to heal.

When I carry my body as it carries me, my body allows me to witness the capacity I have for deep love and profound peace and healing.


by Leave a comment

Currently Connected

IMG_1032

We are connectors… the shifts and moves below the water’s surface that produce the current.

When we move with ease and grace, the currents meander and flow.

Tension, gripping, and resistance make the waters turbulent and difficult to maneuver.

We can choose the experience we give to those who swim in our waters…knowing that they are counting on us to usher them safely to the edge and leave them feeling nourished and refreshed from our connection.


by Leave a comment

less effort…more happy

IMG_0746

today I am just gonna be happy.

it takes too much effort to be anything else.


by Leave a comment

Evergreen

Trees loose their leaves. The moon falls to pieces. So often I take these happenings as signs that something is lost or missing.

I see someone else’s fullness as my empty. When I stand in their shadows, instead of relieved and protected, I feel smothered in darkness.

And yet the moon while it looks at times to be a fraction of itself remains whole. The shadows cast upon it by others are simply opportunities for it to buff up and then shine again. It’s light always returns, often even more brightly than before.

The tree that looses its leaves is storing energy to grow into something more, recognizing that it needs not retain its flamboyant exterior to maintain its grandiose stature.

And so the fractions, the pieces, the loss and the darkness are not thrust upon us as indicators of our own lacking or shortcomings, but as an opportunity to be something we have never been before.

Each of us ebbing and flowing with change at different times and paces to remind each other that we can be greater than we have ever been before if we lose our fear of someone else remaining evergreen or someone else shining a bit brighter today.