Monday Mindfulness

Cultivating Strength, Joy, Calm & Resilience

Category Archives: Mindfulness


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Into the Ether

Within this great time of change, unsettledness, and loss, comes an urge for clarity, knowing, and security.

It becomes more and more elusive with grander and grander efforts to find a connection, a grounding, a holding on place.

Clawing furiously at the earth, desperate for a sense of being held, folding so close to its surface, the breath and body become lost, unable to find the satisfaction of security.

Perhaps the rooting down into connection is not what is needed.

Rather, the courage to rise up to it,

To release the bonds and tethers that built an illusion of having a home.

To become the ether,

The soft chord that aligns with the core of our being,

That has no home because it is our home,

That needs no latching on as its connection is found in the releasing, trusting, and cutting of cords.

The ether holds timeless wisdom in quietude,

A space where the walls of understanding, reason, and storytelling are replaced with wide expanses of clarity, simplicity, ease, and knowing.

Ethereal connections need no validation or roots but remind us of unity in the unknown.

It is time not to hunker down into the ordinary, the familiar, and the history, but to embark on a journey of discovery, exploration, and love within,

A greater belonging,

A time to take flight.

There in the ether exists

An absence of need,

A discovery of true essence,

And the freedom to truly be home.


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Unconditional

I am love and have the love and support of something greater within me.

I don’t need to settle on attachments that artificially promote my worth.

I was born worthy of placement in a world where I can be truthful, feel universal love, and never have to prove my value.

I am the embodiment of love and peace and joy.

I need not seek confirmation of that from anyone but me.

I can stand on my own.

I turn to my own heart for safety and reassurance.

I choose self-love over attachment.

I choose to love who I am more than anyone else ever should or can.

The deepest, truest love is the love I have for myself.

I remember. I choose.

No longer led by the illusion that I must earn love from others.

I turn to the unconditional love that I already am.


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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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Move the Rocks!

Along the creek’s edge,

water swiftly flowing,

slippery mud warns of the potential danger in crossing.

Yet here I am, knowing this is the way to go.

I watch as the current jets and swerves around the moss and algae covered rocks scattered in the creek.

I find the most narrow crossing and yet it seems like still an impassible ravine.

My body tightens with anxiety,

For a moment I choose fear in response to this opportunity to move in a new direction.

In the tightening, frozen, I am,

dreading staying where I am equally to where I know I must go.

Then the anxiety speaks more loudly.

My breath grabs at my chest.

Sweat speckles my skin.

I must make the crossing.

That is my destiny.

I step out onto one rock and

with breath unconvinced of my safety the path begins to unfold.

I pause.

Instead of dashing quickly across the precariously and wide spread rocks,

I reach out to the rock before me and test its steadiness.

In the past I might not have made a connection – I might have tried to move urgently, wobbly and unsure, holding my breath and perhaps even crashing in the cold rushing water…blaming the rocks.

Today, my anxiety informs me of my power to pause,

to narrow my attention, my body, and my focus.

I don’t need to take the path as it is.

I tense not with fear but with agency as I move my muscles into action.

I reach down and shift the unsteady rock before me.

It’s heavy and at first won’t move.

So I narrow and tighten more until I funnel the tightness into strength.

The rock moves…and so do the others beyond it…and so do I.

The rocks settle.

I settle.

My chest releases.

My breath deepens.

My body advances forward,

grounded and a bit more sure.

There are a few more stones to go but I now know I don’t need to take them as they are.

I can make the path my own as I find my way.


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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.


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Am I?

Am I’m the only one dancing?

The only one smiling for no particular reason at all?

Am I the only one pausing to catch the sparkle of light dodging in and out of the branches of the trees?

Is it my ears alone that hear the ripples and gurgling of the creek

And the silence of the snow?

Does only my heart jump and my belly jiggle with laughter as the squirrel tries to carry the nut too big for its mouth

And the duck rolls over in the pond with its rather ungraceful landing?

Am I the only in awe of the fullness of the warmth of the sun as it caresses my face?

Am I the only one that delights as raindrops dance across my head and body?

Am I the only one who feels the love of all creation wrap around me and hold me tight every time I pause to be still and rest?

Am I the only one brought to tears of joy in the beauty of it all?


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Unhindered

Open your wings, my heart said.

Trust your senses to guide you, my intuition said.

The air currents are too complex and the terrain too rough for you to navigate said my mind…

Are you sure you can find your way?

It’s too risky said my body to go out on your own and ride the sky.

It takes confidence and a release of all fear.

Against the advice of familiar patterns, out-purposed behaviors, and nagging beliefs, I spread my wings.

I launch and take flight unsure of where I will go, unsure of what nourishment I may or may not find, what challenges I may or may not face, and what gifts I may or may not discover.

As my feet lift off the ground, euphoria fills me knowing that my destiny is in the flight itself, not what it brings or where it goes but in the unbridled courage and curiosity that soar with me, reminding me who I really am.


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Rising from the Rubble

I had no idea that as I tore down the wall to rescue my abandoned self that I would nearly smother in the rubble.

Even when loss is experienced in a way that relieves abuse, abandonment and betrayal, the disruption it causes and the pain of breaking through the barriers to healing oneself are great.

And those who helped to build the wall, who reveled in the obstructing and ostracizing of that true self, walk away unphased by the devastation left behind. They go on to build thicker walls around themselves and others.

While their departure ensures the wall they left behind is not reinforced, it hurts that they do nothing to help remove the heavy stones, broken shards, and pieces of what they worked so relentlessly to build.

That burden rests on the shoulders of the self behind the wall. One by one the stones are slid aside. The dust settles. The light starts to shine through the piles and pieces as the opening grows wider and wider.

The power in seeing that self emerge, pale and weak at first – labored breathing, heavy and slow moving, still patiently and methodically forging ahead and finding its way – is so sweet to witness…even in its efforting.

That self digging out from the rubble need not feel animosity, anger, or resentment. No, that self is not needing to be rescued.

That self is triumphing in the freedom of self-acknowledgment, self-care, and self-worth.

Much of the power in healing comes from the self not needing to be rescued. The power is in putting aside the rubble and freeing oneself.