Monday Mindfulness

Cultivating Strength, Joy, Calm & Resilience

Category Archives: coaching


by Leave a comment

Struck

The current flows through me like a lightening bolt.

Jaggedly it rips at my center.

The burning wake of hollowness almost crumbles me to the ground.

As the charge hits the earth,

it dissipates,

diffuses,

extinguished in a flash.

Breath and smoldering flesh hang on.

Roots cling to the soil,

unhinged by the destruction.

The sky still dark,

the air now still,

droplets descend from the clouds as a small peace offering and attempt to soothe.

Shhhh….

calls out the rain.

You will prevail.

Forever changed, yes.

Wearing the beautiful mark

of challenge overcome,

and your willingness to be a conduit

for the powerful energy of

change.


by Leave a comment

Conviction

If our morals and beliefs suggest that we should all

love,

support,

and guide one another,

then wouldn’t true,

authentic

moral conviction

show up in the form of

grace

and forgiveness,

not shackles?

A calling back of the misguided to the embrace of

patience and gentleness,

not humiliation

and chastisement.

The invitation

to not be isolated,

but to come closer.

To take accountability.

To grieve in communion

for the loss

of others wounded by their actions

and

for their own internal suffering.

To wail in the arms of

a community

that shoulders mistakes,

missteps,

and misdeeds,

with understanding and humility,

no matter how egregious

on the surface.

To shed tears together to cleanse,

not punish,

embrace,

not discard,

teach,

not convict.


by Leave a comment

Apart or whole

Gnarled or free flowing.

Grasping or outstretched.

From its center point,

form expands in two directions,

mirrored in the spread of itself confidently into the earth

and it’s expansion courageously into the air.

Nourishment flowing.

Survival impossible without the reflections

of grounding,

of stretching,

of growth,

of change.

One feeding the other,

feeding the other.

Separate in apparent function.

Symbiotic existence as one.


by Leave a comment

Tidal Flow

Fresh water mixes with salt.

The gateway brackish,

murky,

churning.

Swimming against the angry currents of

struggle,

despair,

and loss.

Riding the tides with

flexibility

and fortitude,

trust

and patience.

Constantly changing conditions stir hope and determination.

Survival requires adaptability.

Leaving the familiar marshes of the small, quiet stream

to swim in the wide open playground of the ocean.

This choice

a devotion.

This river of tears

leads to an ocean of joy.


by Leave a comment

Showing up

I can.

I will.

I am.

Because someone needs it.

My voice,

my intellect,

my pulchritude,

my courage,

my strength,

my kindness,

my grace,

deserve to be

seen,

heard,

felt,

held.

I will make a big, beautiful, bold, magnificent mark on the world…

Because I already have.

Flock to my greatness.

Celebrate me.

Show me pure,

authentic,

loyal,

sweet,

daring,

unconditional love,

the same way I am showing up for you in this world.


by Leave a comment

Battle fatigue

The field is bloodied.

Swords scattered and strewn.

In the distance, flowers bloom and a river runs cool and deep.

Who are the victors and what have they gained?

What have the defeated truly lost?

Conflict is inevitable but the results are a choice.

To be a victor without gloating.

To be defeated without wallowing.

To receive and face all that comes without fear.

Each day I have the potential to find strength,

balance,

and humility,

regardless of which end of the sword I face.


by Leave a comment

Regal Seagull

I fly out over the waves I call my home in search of nourishment.

In my seeking, I drift farther and farther from my nest.

Eventually, I am too tired to go on.

As I land, I find completely unfamiliar surroundings.

So unnerving, the experience of stepping out of the familiar, even when it’s for my own survival.

Do I retrace my steps and return to what was and where I came from, scavenging and settling for the scraps?

Do I settle into this new space and look ahead, embracing the unfamiliar and uncertain?

I can turn back or I can stand on these new shores.

I can forage and discover.

I pause and tuck under my wings where I find a consistent space of solace and reassurance,

to rest, to calm, and regain focus,

Here, I remember that to truly nourish myself,

I just may need to take flight and perch on new frontiers.


by Leave a comment

Interpretations

The wind determines what I hear.

My eyes inform what I see.

The body interprets what I sense.

Thoughts form from what I hear, see, and feel as an experience.

Beliefs cling to these thoughts and this experience as truth,

setting emotions into action and reaction.

In reality, if there is such a thing, it is all just a choice, interpretation best when it comes not from my beliefs but in what I choose to believe.


by Leave a comment

Little sips of ease

There is not one giant awakening.

There is no detachment from pain.

There is not one moment of clarity that instantly falls upon the eyes or mind. There is not one instant one experiences freedom.

It happens bit by bit.

Awakening in the darkness,

in the suffering,

in the discomfort,

and in the dis-ease.

We begin to know it, like a dear and cherished friend.

There is a gradual unclogging, unfogging, and unraveling – that is the mystery of change.

That is the beauty of opening oneself to the potentiality of growing into something different.

Bit by bit, moment by moment, like pieces of a puzzle, thoughts and feeling, sensation and experiences, twist and turn and gradually find their way to fit together.

In that coming together, there is a sense of harmony and ease, perhaps even joy, that surfaces on the horizon,

not in overcoming the obstacles,

not in seeing the finished product,

but in feeling the creative process and drinking it all in.


by Leave a comment

Acceptance

Witnessing

the immediate state of

the breath,

the thoughts,

the body.

Melting

conditionality,

quality,

quantity,

purpose,

direction.

Recognizing

perceptions of

loss

challenge,

failure,

imperfection,

and resistance

as a readiness

to be

seen,

felt,

and expressed

otherwise.

The next moment,

a transition,

a transformation.

Loving

and cherishing

what shows up

rather than what comes next.