Monday Mindfulness

Cultivating Strength, Joy, Calm & Resilience


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A pebble in my shoe.

Here I am, walking along, awareness softly tuned to my surroundings.

Without any warning, the easy state of awareness suddenly funnels with precision into the soul of my foot.

A slew of messages instantly travels light lightening through my body alerting me to intense sensation.

There is a pebble in my shoe.

With each step now, I have a choice.

Do I immediately freeze, paralyzed by this unanticipated happening, shutting down, urgently driven to remove the discomfort?

Do I pause, taking notice, receiving the sensations with curiosity and kindness, quietly ascertaining my next step?

Or do I continue walking, noticing, and finding unique learning in every step, even through the unsettledness and unease?

Can I cultivate gratitude for the ability to feel, to move, and motivate, to decide with every step?

Whatever I do, it should be with care, not reacting but receiving, even when unexpected and uncomfortable, a constant reminder of my free will.


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Holding on too tight

Control creates the illusion of safety.

The more I seek control, the more insecure I become.

The more I allow myself to trust the not-knowing to result in wisdom, the uncertainty to to inspire clarity, and the gift of others’ feedback to grow my confidence, the less I approach life as a field of potential failures and instead find a river of opportunities.

The less I grapple with control, the more I understand how much there is to learn and realize how much I already know.


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Relief

The deadline was met.

The difficulty has passed.

The challenge is complete.

Is there a way to just feel rest instead of collapsing into this state of completion?

Must dread and arduousness accompany the work?

Why have I created this belief that I need struggle in order to be worthy of the prize of rest?

Could I move instead from a place of ease in such a way that the work is joyful, the learning graceful?

Could challenge instead be reframed as delightful growth?

Yes, if I choose to make it that way.


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Unfolding Into Me

It’s so hard to come out of this cocoon,

Perfectly fitting around me,

The barrier I need to dampen sensations and dull the sharp contrast of the outer world and what’s going on inside of me.

I arrive at the precipice of transformation, the seal broken on my familiar encasing,

The time now ripe for my evolution.

Thinking the hard part is past me,

The formation of this new way of being is here.

And yet as the cocoon slices open, there is no longer a sense of security, of the familiar, or predictability.

These new wings are wet and heavy, my footing unsure.

My nourishment and direction are uncertain.

Yet, I find the courage to spread my wings, scattering the newly applied and still wet coating that will ultimately protect me.

Now settling into this new being,

I look out at the vast horizon.

Vibrant colors, textures and shapes seem distantly familiar,

Invigorating my curiosity,

Reminding me vaguely of what I once was and what I now will be.

It is time.

I flutter my wings.

I am free.


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Ready to Receive

The more connected I am to you in compassion the more I realize my capacity to give and receive love.

It is in the receiving that I find connection to my higher knowing of my strengths and goodness, of my value and purpose, of harmony and grace.

Love me, but above all may I be capable of receiving that love.

For the love in me becomes the roots and branches of all that I am.


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Loss, Not Lost

Grief…it’s not about the loss as much as creating and being able to access a little warm place in your heart where you hold that connection forever.

I used to think that grief was the act of severing ties and throwing away something special because it was lost.

But now I know that grief is a process of storing the memories of the specialness of every experience regardless of its labels, conditions, and how it came to be or not be.

Grief is experiencing the loss without getting lost.


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Dream on!

Your dreams are never out of reach.

Because they are yours to touch, change, create or release at any time.

They can never be bigger, scarier, or beyond you because they are an extension of you,

Here to serve you,

Linked to your greatest potential,

Always with the intention of informing your highest good.


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Soaring

Taking flight,

balanced in the nature of giving and receiving,

knowing that leaning too heavily into one force or the other will take me off course,

Cause me to tumble.

In order to give, I must receive.

To receive requires generosity.

When I balance these complementary forces I experience the grace and ease that can only be realized when I move from the center of my being,

Wings extended,

Heart open.

Souring on the currents of life.


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At the Starting Line

Today I begin again…not as a punishment or starting over but launching from a new starting line.

To begin again is to feel into an experience in a new way and invite…and then allow… an unexpected outcome.

To joyously and curiously invite variety, spontaneity, and change in such a way as to begin again and begin again, freely cultivating an openness to the unknown while at the same time feeling stable, connected, confident, and grounded.

To begin again is to be fully present, wildly open, and happy in every moment.


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Contrails

Every morning through my window I watch the airplanes carve a path through the sky, a seemingly straight line built of swirling vortices.

The pilots consider themselves on a steadfast course, honed to the coordinates entered.

But as I watch the swath cover the sky, I see that one path dissipates into a thousand threads of opportunity to go in a different direction.

What one perceives as the path another sees as the starting point. A straight line swirls and morphs into a cloud.

There is nothing wrong with the trajectory on which I ride, but I find it quite fun to imagine where else I might go.