Monday Mindfulness

Cultivating Strength, Joy, Calm & Resilience


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Touchdown

Grounded in lightness.

Free to expand.

Confident in choice.

Clear in direction.

Comfort in stillness.

Peace in the quiet.

Steady in heart.

Content in this breath.


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Discarded

Alone, 

it rested 

below the fresh 

and blossoming 

bouquet, 

forgotten, 

dropped. 

As if it’s work was done,

the petal fell, 

tired, 

heavy, 

worn.

It left the collective

where it had so faithfully held on,

believing that its beauty lay

in its contribution.

It could hold on no more.

It had to drop away. 

It had to pull apart.

In its moment of letting go 

and seeming it was done,

that petal 

became 

its most beautiful 

version 

of itself.


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Step by step

Learning to step 

without overstepping,

or stepping back.

Learning to care

without caring

about results.

Learning to feel

with feeling

instead of thought.

Learning to differentiate

between true joy

and fleeting excitement.

Cultivating peace

over emptiness 

in the stillness.

Learning that love 

is a state of being.


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At the root of it all

I can no more be in or out of love 

than I can be in or out of my body,

or my breath.

Love is not something temporary,

to be chased,

or clung to.

Love is the essence of freedom,

self expression, and connection.

Love is a state of being

that allows all else to exist.


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Changing states

Reflecting your sparkle,

Your joy,

Your light.

Reflecting your goodness,

Grace,

Humility,

Kindness,

And love,

Until you cannot help

but to absorb

the characteristics you think you see in me

As what they really are,

Simply awakened parts of you.

Replacing reaction with reflection.


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Ready

Grounded in lightness.

Free to expand.

Confident in choice.

Clear in direction.

Comfort in stillness.

Peace in the quiet.

Steady in heart.

Safe in this breath.


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Gently Tuning

Replacing effort and trying 

with releasing and allowing.

Engaging discipline.

Acknowledging capacity.

Values aligned.

Curiously listening.

Intuitively informed.

Soft not weak.

Strong not righteous.

Clear and present.


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Obstacles

I’m not always going to get my way,

but I’m always going to get what’s right for me.

When I let go of forcing outcomes,

stop relying on others for my happiness,

and see obstacles not as a sign of my worth but of my courage and strength,

even what seems like a paralyzing blockage

can be an invitation to take a different path,

go a different way,

or sit right where I am for a moment 

and reflect 

on the beauty, 

awe, 

and opportunity 

that exists right here,

right now,

just the way things are.

Much gratitude to Shari Irby for contributing this photo.


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And

Where does it end,

the light from the sun 

the light of the moon, 

the dark of the shadows

the vastness of the sky,

cold of winter,

unfurling of spring?

Where is the line 

that separates joy 

from sorrow,

excitement 

from fear?

What fills the space between earth and sky?

Is it my heart?

My body?

My breath?

In my mind I struggle 

to find a separation,

an either or,

a division,

a moment,

where one exists without the other.

I cannot 

and therefore 

I cannot regret.

I cannot long.

I cannot judge,

right or wrong.

I cannot reject sorrow 

or long for joy.

I cannot suffer in darkness or immerse myself fully in light.

I am made of it all.

It is all in me.

Or is none of it?

I am the space that fills 

the space between.

I am the end of light,

the beginning of dark.

I am all of the joy and filled with sorrow.

I am the convergence of earth and sky. 

I am the meeting place for it all.

I am the “and.”


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Anticipation

Bursting with excitement.

Tempted by fear.

To hold back.

To bring less of my

intelligence,

beauty,

creativity,

power

so as not to overwhelm them.

But they feel it anyway.

They want it.

And there is a good chance they won’t be able to handle it.

But that shouldn’t stop me

from being all that I am.

My allness

is ready

to bloom,

in all

of

its

magnificence.