Monday Mindfulness

Cultivating Strength, Joy, Calm & Resilience

Category Archives: self-care


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Boldly Going Nowhere

Frenetically charging ahead.

Pushing to make something happen.

Squandering the gift time has given of ponderance.

Moving and changing is exhilarating.

The powerful rush of adrenaline

on the grand loops and dips of the roller coaster.

Is that sustainable?

Movement for the sake of movement can release and even bring progress.

Advancing into action

can relieve pain and fear.

It can also bring injury and dis-ease.

There is great potential for harm with repetitive movement absent proper supports and conditioning.

Every decision is filled with regret or acceptance.

Every decision is likely being made in response to fear.

It may be the greatest fear we have is remaining where we are.

Every decision can be empowering.

It may not require striving,

movement

or big changes

to demonstrate prowess,

intellect,

and power.

It may be adventurous.

It may untangle the bonds of current conditions.

Or, it may be escapism,

grandiosity,

avoidance.

It may be a means of hiding

or running away

from the lessons available right where we are.

Just being,

in the stillness,

in the simplicity,

in the temporarily perceived lack

and stagnation

could be just what is needed

to truly free the heart,

open the mind,

and honestly and gratefully embrace one’s spirit.

To boldly go where no one has gone before

may be an invitation

to stay right where we are.


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Peace of the Heart

In the space of silence and stillness,

there is an enormous void,

fabulous,

wide open,

freeing.

Or hollow,

isolating,

lonely?

It is one space.

In encountering this space,

there is a choice made instantly.

Inquiry,

assessment,

judgment

all rush in to

analyze,

identify,

interpret.

The recoiling in the stark emptiness is natural –

that moment when the stillness startles and unnerves as it presses against the constricting familiar.

And, each and every time,

that space can be met with

curiosity or fear,

acceptance or resistance.

It is the potentiality that resides in the peace of the heart.

It is a choice to receive it

as a gift

or a challenge

when feeling so fully

and completely

into ourselves.


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Apart or whole

Gnarled or free flowing.

Grasping or outstretched.

From its center point,

form expands in two directions,

mirrored in the spread of itself confidently into the earth

and it’s expansion courageously into the air.

Nourishment flowing.

Survival impossible without the reflections

of grounding,

of stretching,

of growth,

of change.

One feeding the other,

feeding the other.

Separate in apparent function.

Symbiotic existence as one.


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Point of Reference

Oh, the wisdom and the entanglement of memories that accompany me

along the path of rising over resistance.

Cutting through the cords of debris from the past.

Mired in the mud of judgment and unmet expectations.

Stuck in the quagmire of fear.

The truth, like a sword, clears the rumination,

making way for the realization that

I can choose growth over stagnation,

healing over habits,

and triumph with awareness and agility,

as I change and make good,

drawing with power on my past.


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Full court press

Curled up in a tiny ball,

breath pressing against muscles and bones heavy with the weight of not knowing.

The voice trying to find its footing,

wanting so desperately to be guided to its answers by the outside,

knowing it must dig deep and mine its own direction authentically from within.

In between each sigh,

a tear drops to the floor,

the only sign of motion

in this otherwise still

and down thrown body.

The simultaneous fullness

and emptiness

pulling at its core.

To be all

and

nothing.

Not afraid

to be afraid.


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Dear charioteer

Be firm in your direction of travel,

humbled confidence as your guide.

With peace, kindness, and assuredness,

go forth.

Fulfill your dreams.

Don your most regal robes of passion and creativity.

Harness the flames of focus and determination.

Let the earth quake and rumble,

the skies fill with darkness,

and ride not into conflict and challenge as a battle,

but as an opportunity to demonstrate your

strength,

intelligence,

and fortitude.


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Walking in the light

Feet to the earth,

Surrounded by air.

Sounds of rustling leaves, branches, and brush accompany every step.

The whispers and shadows of the forest

offer glimpses of light and dark,

solemn quiet and crashing thunder,

scents of decay and signs of new birth.

Never alone, the choice always exists.

To walk with the

doubting self,

the fearful heart,

the closed mind.

Or to soften into

the grace,

the power,

the love,

and

the joy

of choosing

to walk alone

through these woods.


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Standing At The Gate

Loss and grief are proof that you have loved.

Love is the gateway to joy,

joy to peace.

You have loved and

known the essence of being loved.

Let the suffering move through you.

Rip yourself open with this grief.

Purify yourself with tears.

Beat your fists on the ground.

Pound your aching heart.

Take and give every punch with gratitude.

Shatter the barrier to feeling it all.

In the shallows of this darkness that accompany the pain,

Let every pain pour out.

Drop for a moment into the stillness,

this vast emptiness your refuge.

And, just as suddenly as the suffering began, a small space,

cleansed by your tears,

and broken open through your courage,

will begin to fill with sweetness, softness, kindness.

A slow, gradual unfolding will take place

as joy reveals itself

shyly,

purely,

authentically,

and more richly

than ever before,

because you have loved

and are willing to love and be loved again.


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Under the Moon

What would happen if I unleashed my wild self?
The parts of me that move freely, wisely, and instinctively.

If I tore off the garments of social norms and constraints that subconsciously influence my thought patterns and actions?

What if I could be in control and uninhibited?

Harness my passions and balance discipline with fearlessness.

Could I harmoniously exist between the light of rationality and the darkness where my wild, latent parts reside?

Can I embrace and express the dual aspects within me of passion and wisdom, freedom and structure, consciousness and instinct?

In honing my adaptability, I find the courage to assert the authenticity of my multifaceted self,

To roam freely yet wisely under the moon,

To unleash the inner beast and utilize knowledge and intuition to fully experience life,

and for life to fully experience me.


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Flourishing

Are the flowers each their own?

Are their petals each their own?

To whom do the seeds and leaves belong?

Do they come together to complete the plant?

Is the plant completing them?

Are the flowers extensions of the plant?

Could one survive without the other?

Each part grows uniquely,

in its own special way,

and still, they all contribute to something bigger.

Each part is invited to do their own work,

and to serve one another.

Each part seems separate

and yet only together

do they truly flourish.