There is a peace and beauty that comes with the icy cold stillness of winter, a space for slower breath and for watching.
The same space can be found in pain and suffering when we greet those moments with compassion and loving acceptance, knowing that this is simply where you are right now…and you are not alone.
The thaw of spring will come and with it a great renewal.
Happy is a frame of mind…Joy a state of being.
Compassion, peace, and calm cannot be forced. One cannot demand that someone be compassionate. One cannot command peace and calm. Rather, one must model it, live it, and know that the path to peace in ourselves and others is a steady process of balancing ego and replacing envy and judgment with love and inspiration. And that is the hard work that we must individually choose to do.
Spiraling upwards.
Energy lifting.
Feeling so blissful.
Finding my joy.
Sensing my balance.
Knowing my strength.
Freeing myself to be me.
In the stillness of my breath, the pain goes away, life’s challenges lie outside of me, and I know true peace. In every breath, I am me, the me that exists beyond time and space, the infinite, radiant me, the me that I sometimes forget until I rest in the cradle of my breath.
Contrast arises in our experiences as a guide. Like bread crumbs scattered on the path, contrast draws attention, redirecting us back to the path, pointing out the direction in which we should head so that we can find our way back to what nurtures and restores us.
When I am truly present, I feel each experience within my body. I receive it with my breath. I prod it with my thoughts and explore it with my feelings. Then, as I peel away these aspects of experience, these many layers of me, my inner wisdom welcomes that experience, absorbing it like a sponge, until that experience becomes me.
When the layers dissolve, all that I experience is me.
Can I open my mind without thoughts rushing in? Can I clear the path and feel expansive and light when all my thoughts and feelings seem so dense and heavy? I focus on my breath — its softness, its calm and gentle assertiveness as it moves through my body — and I begin to notice the light, to feel the freedom, to be the quiet…to know the peace of just being. On my breath, the fog lifts and I expand beyond.
The embers of the fire need tending to keep them bright and strong, to share their light, to give off their warmth. They are not intended to be smothered, but to be gently stoked and shared, to be given a safe space to fully express themselves. Nurture those burning embers and know the power and joy of that light within.
Awareness is like a lens that allows you to choose your perspective, to decide what part of the view is clear or fuzzy. The perspective you choose determines your story.
Photo by Jamie Bridson
