Monday Mindfulness

Cultivating Strength, Joy, Calm & Resilience

Category Archives: empathy


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Chosen

Dark and heavy clouds fill the sky.

There is a moist, chilling feel in the air.

Worry, doubt, and greed swirl on the wind.

At the center of it all,

like an eye opening timidly from a long slumber,

a small space opens.

Unleashed absent effort,

unconditional,

unassuming,

extending unrestrainably outward,

an ancient healing balm,

a penetrating and permiating force,

stirs and

rises up.

It moves and shifts,

overcoming,

discerning,

dissolving,

and shifting.

Without seeking,

or striving,

it appears,

almost effervescently,

greeting all of the

anguish,

pain,

and

suffering

with gentle kindness,

patience,

humility,

and peace.

Love moves from within,

chosen

to be

seen,

felt,

and heard.

.


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Healing Salve

I hold your broken heart,

recognizing the worn and chipped pieces

of injury, loss, humiliation, and dejection

and the pains of long ago never repaired or attended to,

grown over with patchwork scars and gaping cracks and holes.

I am sorry for picking at and reopening those wounds.

I am sorry for creating new fissures and further weakening your heart’s integrity and your ability to feel whole.

I only ever meant to hold your heart gently and sweetly,

but at times my fear of losing it made me grip so hard

and cling so forcefully

that I only added to its brokenness.

I never lost sight of its beauty and worth.

I never lost touch with its essence.

But as I began to doubt the essence of my own heart, I chipped away at yours.

I only hope now to heal my heart

and send ripples of unconditional love across the void of brokenness,

applying a healing salve and restoring integrity.

With the deepest love of my heart, I render this prayer for forgiveness.


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Havier’s Heart

I know not how

to befriend you.

There are no words or actions that I have learned

to guide me in this seemingly simple endeavor.

Yet I sense

it is crucial to my survival.

I long to connect

and belong.

It is not for a lack of love

or desire

that I appear

so unwilling or unable

to conduct myself as

a friend.

I simply do not know how.

I do know my capacity to love and the kind space that exists

within me

so ready to receive and serve you.

All I can do right now is

breathe in,

expanding and opening myself

just a little more,

building trust in my inner knowing

that I am part of the unseen bond that exists between us all,

and that your care and patience will help me find my way.

With each exhale, I extend myself

slowly and courageously

Into the edges and folds of you

in hopes that my melding

feels as gentle

and loving

as I intend it to be.


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This heart’s message

You are safe and loved.

I support you.

I will protect you.

It’s okay to feel sad, scared, or anxious.

It’s okay to say no.

I love you the way you are.

You are kind, smart, and funny.

You are important.

I am happy you are here.


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Ripples

May ripples of love and acceptance help you see all the good in others so that you can see it in you too.


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What does it take to forgive?

To forgive requires an understanding of worth,

a belief that we are all equal and deserving of freedom,

free from the risks of learning.

It takes purity of mission,

integrity of intention,

clarity of thoughts,

truthful words,

and a loving heart.

Purity is the essence of forgiveness,

wiping away our grudges,

removing hurtles,

clearing the slate.

There is a lightness and ease for both the forgiven and the forgiver when judgment and expectation are released and we are each allowed to experience learning and loving

purely,

gently,

freely.


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An antidote for loss

When you are suffering, my smile does not mean I don’t care. It may be that I am just opening my heart more in a time when yours may feel closed off.

I am holding a space of warmth and hope in which you can feel sad but not alone.

Allow my smile to soften your pain and be not a blinding light but a guiding light.

Feeling and noticing love and joy in others does not negate the loss. It just reminds us of our capacity to heal and honor loss without getting lost in it ourselves.


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Barefoot

When I feel burdened, I go outside

and feel the whispers of Mother Earth through my feet,

knowing I am held in the vast container of the Universe

where there is ample room for me

and all of my emotions,

thoughts,

and beingness.

There where the earth meets the sky, I can pour it all out

and let the knot at the center of this struggle

begin to unravel.

There I feel the freedom in knowing I am not alone.

I am, in fact, cradled lovingly,

always

in these arms,

my breath as full and free as the sky,

my spirit rooting down.

When I step outside,

I step into being all of me.


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Reflections on a Hero

My hero is not something or someone I aspire to be…a distant goal or vision. My hero is not outside of me. My hero is not a better version of me.

My hero is the frightened little girl in me who has time and again stood up to hurt and loss,

the me that puts aside shame when I make mistakes,

the me that apologizes,

the me that expresses my truth with kindness and care,

the me that forgives unconditionally,

and the me that every day knows that I am whole, worthy, and complete,

yet willing to put myself out there

to forget and remember again and again

that I am already my hero.

Finding the hero within today feels better than striving to be the hero tomorrow.


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Mine

What’s yours is mine and mine is yours — at least that’s what we learn as children, right?

But sometimes it’s hard to share, to let someone have something we treasure…a favorite object, a delicious treat, our time, or our work product.

It sometimes makes me want to stop creating, contributing, doing and having!

But we know that renunciation — refraining, withdrawing, doing without — or non-action does not eliminate the fears and attachments. In fact it may even make them grow as in the unknown still lurks the possibility – even in doing nothing – that I might have something to share.

Instead, I think I will listen more, align myself with actions that fulfill me as I do them, and find such joys in the doing, creating, and connecting that I can unconditionally share anything of mine knowing that I am satisfying the tenants of pure love and that in giving to you I give to me.