Not coy,
confident.
Not tethered,
anchored.
Not drifting,
opening.
Rooted in the earth.
Expanding the mind,
not with thought derived from past experiences but with ideas inspired by the unknown.
Capable.
Clear.
Strong.
Assured not in the direction in which I will head but in the magnificence of who and where I am right now.
For when the stillness and quiet fade,
I will continue to embody grace and power.
I will not forget that I am
omnipotent.
For just a moment,
I breathe.
Stories begin to evaporate.
Expectations
Fear
Doubt
Dissipate
Ceasing to exist without the stories.
Spreading my fingers, I release the hold,
Unbridle the mind
Widen the heart
Let it all go.
Clearing spaces
I grow lighter
Longer
Looser
Expanding
Into lightness
I deepen my capacity
I feel into my power.
My power is
Joyful
Assured
Easy
Bright
Clear
Not taking on a particular form, shifting fluidly between states and forms as they serve me.
Diving into limitless potentiality
Alive with creativity
I can be
or do
anything
Or nothing.
Feeling into my greatness
There lies freedom to choose.
Growing
Into my capacity.
I am powerful
Whatever shape I choose.
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.
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.
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.
I wonder if our paths as humans are designed not to run in a straight line but to zigzag like the paths of butterflies in flight.
Zigzagging might not be an obstacle, but may just give greater freedom to go wherever we are inspired to go and break free from the predictable.
Perhaps the path is intentionally zigzag so that when we’re not sure where we are going, we end up exactly where we are supposed to be.
Hope you stay open today to all the world out there has to offer you.
There are no wrong choices…even if you choose to be the object of pain or discomfort for yourself or someone else. There is a lesson in it all… a forward momentum.
Sense when to watch and when to leap. Don’t be afraid to feel – all of it. Know that it is all there for you to experiment with and none of it bigger than you…because it is there as a part of you.
Seek adventure curiously and joyfully…in your heart, in your mind, and in every action or inaction. Take on all that is out there in whatever way will grow and inspire you best.
Lift the blinds. Open the window.
Breathe it all in.
Now go live in it.
So many times I have wished for a window into the future, into the consequences of my choices.
Seeking certainty in my decisions, weighing my intuition against the feedback in my environment, just to be sure I am getting the best deal, walking the right path, doing the proper thing.
All along I have sought clarity to fuel my certainty. I thought that clarity would provide assurance as if my choices could ever be right or wrong.
The day I chose acceptance over assurance is the day I began to realize there are no good and bad choices, no right or wrong.
When I seek assurance in my choices, I am doubting my capacity to be flexible, creative, and resilient.
When I seek to accept my choices I engage compassion for myself and confidence that I will be ok no matter what choice I make.
Taking away someone’s freedom is the ultimate infringement on being.
When I impose my ideas, my values, and my beliefs on you, I limit your freedom.
When I think that any part of your mind, body, or spirit needs changing, I build barriers to your freedom.
When I create obstacles that exist from my assumptions and preconceptions and believe I do not have the power to change the way we co-exist, you cannot be free.
When I say I am powerless to impact your sense of freedom and that it is totally up to you, I am shirking my obligation to give you space to be free.
It is not just you that controls your ability to be free. If I lose sight of the light of love that shines in every one of us – in you and me – the light that has a right to shine – we cannot be free.
Today I vow to do my best to cultivate your liberation, your resilience and your fortitude, to be free.
Monday Mindfulness 