Monday Mindfulness

Cultivating Strength, Joy, Calm & Resilience


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Crystal Clear

My mind says the work shows my value.

My emotions say the work provides purpose.

But my body say the work is tiring.

When out of balance, my body knows suffering, strain and illness.

It goes along with the plan for quite some time until systems become so taxed that it begins to breakdown, accelerating the natural limitlessness of this container.

And still I push on, the ego shouting louder about value and emotions crying for purpose.

Desperate for ease and repair the body collapses.

Foolishly, I believe that this is the only way.

Until I start to listen.

I hear my body’s call for balance now long before exhaustion.

I put down the baton and slow the doing.

I rest.

And I rest.

And I rest.

Sometimes it’s hard to turn off the voices of the doing, the voices of the wanting.

But it is in the space of rest where the tiny voice inside of me reminds me that greater value and purpose is born of nurturing.

Of nurturing this body, this mind, this heart.

Not just feeding, but honoring and loving, all of these aspects of me equally.

In this space, the desire to do and be something blends with the peace and stillness and then it becomes crystal clear that I need nothing more.

It is in the quiet space of rest where I am most powerful, most beautiful, and undeniably most complete.


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By my side

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I keep joy by my bedside

Nestled in shells that sing the song of freedom

And the flickering light of grace in my heart

To remind me that I am love

To remind me that all is love.


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The Flurry

Snowflakes are gently falling, wet, heavy, cold. The air is still.  Yet, as if aligned with a predetermined path down, they fall, curling and dancing on invisible threads. How beautifully and carefully they weave the fabric of the newly formed blanket of white.

The landscape now changes. Familiar objects and colors fade as I grasp for their memories.  Each flake masking more and more of what I know, as more of my roots and my foundation fade.

They blur my vision as they spin and race to weave the blanket. They only create the illusion that what I know is no more.

For when I pause to breathe, I see. These dancing flakes inspire a new kind of looking, as if through a clouded window that needs to be cleared. My breath the cloth that wipes the window clean.

Faith reminds me that I know where I am, who I am, even as all I know disappears under the blanket.

And then, almost as quickly as the storm started, the flurry ends. Almost as quickly as they appeared the flakes melt away.

With this new moment, the sun shines. With this new moment, rays of light now dance on the same threads that wove the blanket.

Once more I am reunited with the familiar. Finding my roots and the landscape just as I had left it – once buried, never lost.


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Harmony

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When we all come together…

everything seems to come together.

That doesn’t mean we all have to be the same, but we all hear and see each other as the valuable contributions that complete our circle.


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The Verge

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I am on the verge,

the verge of wondrous things or perhaps tremendous calamity.

It really makes no difference.  The precipice is the same, the grander just the same.

There is beauty in it all,

Grace in it all,

Peace in it all,

Because all is love.

All is love.

 


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Coeur…age

Think with your heart. Have faith in your instincts. Place yourself in unfamiliar positions and you just might find you are more comfortable and happier than you ever imagined you could be.


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The Fortress

I do not need high walls, thick armies, or heavy artillery to protect me.

I need just listen to the quiet, gentle voice within to know the path to victory.

My greatest strength is my inner knowing.


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The spirit

May the littlest spirit of celebration inspire in you the greatest joy.


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A little bite will do

cake

A cake baked rich and full calls us to dive in.  Taste buds perk up, enzymes dance with anticipation, the whole body awakens to receive the treat.  In one bite everything else around fades away…thoughts, senses, feelings all tie into this moment.  There is a full sense of aliveness, of nourishment, of awareness and special connection in knowing that this bite can never be duplicated and would never need to be.  This bite fills the space of needing anything else.  At one in this moment with this sustenance, we know it is enough.  That is all we need to feel complete, full, satisfied.

Each moment in life is like that bite of cake, so rich, so filling, and completely satisfying when we are aware, when we allow ourselves to be fully consumed and to fully consume the deliciousness.


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Within

The cold and dark descend upon me like heavy clouds. My focus draws inwards. Folding into that stillness without resistance brings crispness and clarity. There I discover warm radiant light in the cool crisp darkness.