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.
Tossing and turning
to release the entanglements,
the incomplete exchanges,
the charges,
the depletions,
the crossings,
taking from,
or rejecting
others
and self.
Battling in the darkness
the shame
and judgment
of the weaknesses,
mistakes,
and stuckness.
Playing the game
of loathing,
disaappintment,
protection,
defeat,
revenge,
in my sleep.
All the while knowing that whatever happened yesterday does not decide today.
No matter the outcome of the dreams or circumstances of before,
I will awake to a whole new tomorrow,
another opportunity to play.
I stop to touch the tree trunk as I walk by.
My nose perceives the sweetness of bright white clusters of flowers on the horizon and the moistness of the ground beneath me.
I watch as stillness and movement come and go.
I sense the invisible currents of the air
that bring me sounds,
some familiar and many more curious.
This is the work of being on this earth.
Not leaving memories,
but making them.
When I peel away the stories,
When I release the plans I made,
When I drop into this very moment,
I see and feel so clearly
The peace,
The grace,
The love,
And the joy
At the core of my being.
I know this as the truth.
This mountain could not have been built of anything less.
This mountain I now climb provides the vantage point from which I launch into my unboundedness.
The gift of sight is precious.
And the gift of sight quite limiting.
Energy bent,
refracted,
contorted,
to fit the confines of the mind.
Even with eyes closed,
the mind is seeing.
All of it fabricated.
If the image banks once overflowing were purged,
all unseen,
what would remain?
The seer.
The knower behind and beyond the images.
The opportunity to reimagine,
as in dreams,
as in daydreams,
as in reality,
all for the sake of being seen.
Root my grounding cord deep into the earth.
Open my mind to the wisdom of the universe.
Flow endless love and joy through the river of my heart.
Fuel me with confidence and clarity.
Allow me to be a humble reservoir of harmony and balance,
in the space between earth and sky,
in this space of being human.
I fly out over the waves I call my home in search of nourishment.
In my seeking, I drift farther and farther from my nest.
Eventually, I am too tired to go on.
As I land, I find completely unfamiliar surroundings.
So unnerving, the experience of stepping out of the familiar, even when it’s for my own survival.
Do I retrace my steps and return to what was and where I came from, scavenging and settling for the scraps?
Do I settle into this new space and look ahead, embracing the unfamiliar and uncertain?
I can turn back or I can stand on these new shores.
I can forage and discover.
I pause and tuck under my wings where I find a consistent space of solace and reassurance,
to rest, to calm, and regain focus,
Here, I remember that to truly nourish myself,
I just may need to take flight and perch on new frontiers.
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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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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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Witnessing
the immediate state of
the breath,
the thoughts,
the body.
Melting
conditionality,
quality,
quantity,
purpose,
direction.
Recognizing
perceptions of
loss
challenge,
failure,
imperfection,
and resistance
as a readiness
to be
seen,
felt,
and expressed
otherwise.
The next moment,
a transition,
a transformation.
Loving
and cherishing
what shows up
rather than what comes next.
Monday Mindfulness 