Ease in movement
Confidence in heart
Peace in spirit
Clarity in thought
Patience in receiving
Kindness in expression
Assurance in being
Joy in doing
Stillness in action
Flourishing intuition
Thriving in grace
Abundant in gratitude
Living in love
On the other side of the door
Is a bright spacious light
Guiding me into confidence,
Inviting my voice to be heard,
My gifts to be shared.
I replace worry with curiosity,
Hunger with satiation,
Hope with appreciation,
And old patterns and beliefs
With the great, beautiful unknown.
Flashes of doubt and distractions hold me back, producing a veiled illusion that I’m not ready.
I was born ready.
I am here to be curious.
I am here to expand,
To learn
To grow
To create again and again,
To step more and more into me.
The hinges are well-greased,
There are no locks.
Softly I focus my gaze,
Clear my throat,
Open my heart,
And turn the knob.
Don’t wait for them to see the richness and uniqueness – see it yourself…
Unwind your tangled perception of you…
Enjoy the where you are and the where you will be, each full of challenges and delights…
Please love yourself just a little more…you are harder on yourself than anyone else ever could be…
Do all things because they feel good and nurture you not because they are “right” or provide a shield from the deep dark thoughts and feelings that face you…
Fearlessly take the hands of hurt and pain and walk with them for a bit, let them guide you out of the darkness until together you find the space to release each other…
Take your time in the process of caring for you above all else…slow down and tend to each and every element of you as if massaging a baby tenderly with the balm of divine love…
Feel grateful for the ease and healing in every breathe…
Move your body with the joy and freedom it was designed for…
You, my friend, are made of love and all those with truest loving eyes will see that and that is all that matters…
Turn your truest loving eyes towards your own heart and hold it sweetly, love it dearly, and this will be enough.
Photo compliments of Pauline Campbell.
Jealousy points towards unmet desires.
Disappointment implies that joys and successes rely on others.
Anger signals the breaching of important boundaries.
Fear rises from insecurity and a false sense of incompleteness or inability.
These are not bad or broken parts surfacing to limit and constrict.
These are powerful markers built into me that arise over and over again not to point out my weakness, lack, or flaws but to strengthen my knowing and clarity.
My power lies in being not formed by them but informed by them.
Once there was an old belief that said,
“I am afraid…afraid of hurting others because I feel their hurt as if my own…hurting others jeopardizes my relationships and in that I run the risk of feeling their anger or worse, their scorn and disappointment. It is better to deny my joy than risk upsetting theirs.”
For a long, long time that belief walked confidently along its path unhindered. One day, it stumbled on that well worn path upon a rock of joy. It tripped over pebbles of power, and fell upon a bolder of truthfulness. As the belief lost its balance, it fell into a net of beautiful jewels all connected by a golden thread of love, of creativity, kindness, and great joy.
The belief grasped at the edges of the path, grappled with the sensation of free falling, longing for the predictable order of its existence. In the blinding beauty of the sparkling jewels, the belief had no choice but to release its fear, to drop into the wide and open net, to be held by a greater force in the space of free will and joy.
Gradually, the belief allowed itself to let go of the path and discovered its power to attract truthfulness and joy. It found that in that vibration there was no room for fear, hurt, or loneliness…only love.
When I am afraid, I just need to pause.
When I am tired, I just need to soften.
When in doubt, I open my hands and stretch my fingers to let go of the burdens I am carrying.
It’s time to release the bags full of insecurity, judgment, and uncertainty,
to relieve that heavy weight off my shoulders,
unlock my hips, knees and feet
and walk confidently into the less than clear,
the less than perfect,
the unknown.
I will be patient with myself and with others.
In that patience I will grow confidence.
I will seek compassionate words that promote truth to foster ease, healing, and happiness in myself and others.
I will not need approval,
and in fact,
I will revel in my stumbling.
I will cultivate pauses to inquire,
and to see the unknown
not as daunting,
but as freeing.
The only thing I will hold onto
is the hand of the little child within me.
Seeking love and assurance from within,
I will open my hands, spread my fingers and let everything else go.
I will no longer grasp limitations that hinder my ability to see and be grateful,
that mask the abundance before me,
the joy within me,
my capacity for unconditional peace and love,
and my ability to know in the unknown.
We are wired for connection…to thrive these connections must be established, mended, and maintained.
To Establish requires the courage to welcome something new and possibly quite uncomfortable.
To Mend calls upon our capacity to heal hurts and embrace the pains of growing.
To Maintain is the essence of flexibility and fortitude.
We watch and encourage the healing of the wounded body – its powerful transformation and rebirth, over and over again, ever celebrating its capacity to establish, mend, and maintain.
If only the heart and mind were afforded such a generous space of repair and connection.
Why is it when I step out of my suffering, I am uncomfortable with the suffering of others?
Guilt arises at the feeling that I am free of pain somehow at their expense.
It is difficult to exercise compassion for the suffering of another when I hold no compassion for myself and the value of feeling pain free.
Compassion wrapped in guilt results in creating a false story in order to take on someone else’s.
True empathy is understanding suffering, holding a space of great strength and courage – enough for both of us – rising from my own pain and rising even higher from my own joy and knowing that by maintaining my balance, finesse, and freedom I offer more room for healing than by falsely taking on the suffering of others.
Compassion without guilt provides a clear path to alleviate suffering.
Compassion filled with joy brings independence, hope and healing.
Compassion is powerful.
Guilt smothering.
Empathy delicately empowering.
I didn’t listen to myself.
I didn’t present myself clearly.
My primary goal to avoid conflict,
I jeopardized my safety to ensure my survival.
And just like that I feel devalued.
My experience is in direct contrast with my values.
I chose inner conflict rather than anger.
Oh, I get angry, but I turn it all on me,
Suppressing outward expression out of fear,
For the sake of compliance.
Meeting the needs of others supplants
My capacity to meet my own needs.
Sacrificing my internal sense of security for connection
Causes an internal disconnection between my own heart and mind.
My body bristles at the assault and becomes a harbor for my anger
Disappointment surfaces as dis-ease and lingers
In my consciousness and beyond.
Suddenly, the sweet voice within that I so defiantly ignored
Grabs my full attention as it says,
“You did your best…
And they did too.”
“You are capable of keeping yourself safe now.
Be strong, consistent, and clear.
Make choices that preserve your freedom and safety.
Love yourself above all else
And you will never have to sacrifice your values for security.”
A new state of being immerges
Free of disappointment
Free of feeling wronged, hurt, and weak.
Free of resentment.
Free to be grateful.
Free to forgive.
Free of burdens
and unconditionally loved.
Today I awoke feeling like a snake shedding its skin.
Soft, vulnerable, sensitive, expanding, growing, free.
Ripping through the layers of being that have protected, carried, and framed who I am, I thank those parts of me that no longer fit.
Purifying tears accompany the molting, helping to dilute any doubt.
Courage thrusts me onward – there is no halfway point in change.
The last pieces falling away, I barely recognize me.
For an instant I long for that familiar container.
In the very next instant it is clear I cannot squeeze back into that way of being.
I am destined to be soft, vulnerable, and sensitive
and for now that is what I am.
Monday Mindfulness 