Monday Mindfulness

Cultivating Strength, Joy, Calm & Resilience


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I Believe

When I let go of trying to make things happen,

when I stop holding onto the belief that I need to make all the decisions and have all the answers,

I no longer feel an urgency to advance,

to be someone or something in particular.

When I let the work do itself,

methodically and gently applying curiosity and trust,

asking what’s next

without immediately seeking an answer,

allowing options to arise,

instead of predetermining the way,

believing in myself versus holding onto worn out beliefs,

success flows more quickly, smoothly, and freely.

When I take the pressure off myself and those around me to fit into my limiting perspective and beliefs,

I step more fully into my true potential…and they into theirs.

When I stop making myself small through my thoughts and feelings,

when I stop looking to you for answers,

it is clear that I don’t need the answers at all,

merely to hold onto the knowledge that I am doing the work

just by being here.


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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.

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Assured

In this moment,

I set down expectations and any sense that I am not already successful.

I am comfortable, confident, clear.

I replace striving with thriving.

I feel a flood of grace, ease, and acceptance.

Assuredness steps in to remind me that I don’t need to overcome.

I simply need to become.

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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.

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Hmmmmm…

This moment offers goodness,

a natural and positive power to know ease.

Selecting and sorting in order to fully digest and release the lessons of yesterday,

Turning tomorrow’s worries and challenges into nourishment,

Releasing the need for familiar patterns of action and behavior,

Staying curious, playful, and willing to feel good, happy, and harmonious,

no longer resisting,

no longer malnourished and waiting to be fed,

greeting each obstacle, each decision, each encounter as a tasty morsel fueling growth and expansion.

Engaging a soft “huhn” or “hmmm” as all is processed without categorization or interpretation,

all a source of nourishment.

An unconscious smile cannot help but form as the gas moves through the abdomen, bringing curious sensations,

prodding the goodness to surface.

With the sometimes temporary pain and discomfort of digestion

comes clearing, sorting, dissipation, and integration,

as the work of being is done by the experiences themselves,

turning each encounter into a delicious and complete meal.


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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.


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Eyes open, heart full

There is such magic in this world.

In the way my body carries me.

The movement of the wind as it caresses my cheek.

The coolness of the tears that release my tension and heaviness and fall as readily with joy as sorrow.

In the songs of the birds and insects busy with their work.

The smile of a loved one.

The deep knowing in the eyes of a child.

The way the earth holds onto me.

The playful dance of the ocean under the moon.

The squish of sand…mud…and grass between my toes.

The twinkle of the sun peeking through the forest leaves.

The wiggle and prance of unconditional love in a dog’s greeting.

The soul connection of a cat’s purr.

The goodness in the food I eat.

The nourishment and brain power in a sip of water.

The laughter of my children.

The echoes of love that I feel as unborn babies prepare to create more magic in this world.

The gifts are endless, seamless, and there for me even when I forget, become distracted, or look away.

The magic remains and returns again and again.

All I have to do is be still and it appears so clearly before and within me.

It’s really not magic at all.

What a beautiful thing to let love guide me and choose to see the good in the world today.


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Oohh, so very powerful!

Not coy,

confident.

Not tethered,

anchored.

Not drifting,

opening.

Rooted in the earth.

Expanding the mind,

not with thought derived from past experiences but with ideas inspired by the unknown.

Capable.

Clear.

Strong.

Assured not in the direction in which I will head but in the magnificence of who and where I am right now.

For when the stillness and quiet fade,

I will continue to embody grace and power.

I will not forget that I am

omnipotent.


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Bare Roots

The rest of the trees in the woods seem to stand so confident, so steady.

The storms have not hindered their ability to carry on.

And there I lay right next to them…toppled to the ground,

Root exposed.

So vulnerable and feeling like such a failure.

No longer am I the source of shade, fresh air, and refuge for the birds.

How could I be so weak?

How could I let so many down?

As I lay across the forest floor I feel the earth not just at my base but nestling in all along my spine, roots to branches.

I feel the soft mud, leaves of seasons past, and creatures that inhabit the ground delighting in my arrival.

New spaces to be cradled, to play in, and explore.

I am no longer giving nourishment through my leaves and breath but I am feeding the forest now with my whole being.

I am no longer drawing from the source of nourishment at my roots but I am the source itself.

With roots exposed, like bearing the deepest corners of my heart, I have nothing to protect and everything to give.

Fallen and seemingly over my prime, I am just now realizing that my purpose was not to stand tall but to fall into an even more grand state of being.


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Indelible

Step softly, so that the heart of the earth feels the massage of your gentle touch and yet you leave no visible marks on her outer edges.

Speak confidently with love so that your words are heard clearly without hurting.

Experience wide open spaces without taking up residency or ownership.

Follow the rising sun as the rippling wake of warmth washing over the landscape.

Offer cool crevices like the moon without swallowing up the light.

Be your most wild, magnificent, vibrant self, touching the world lightly and leaving an indelible mark.