Monday Mindfulness

Cultivating Strength, Joy, Calm & Resilience


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Eyes open, heart full

There is such magic in this world.

In the way my body carries me.

The movement of the wind as it caresses my cheek.

The coolness of the tears that release my tension and heaviness and fall as readily with joy as sorrow.

In the songs of the birds and insects busy with their work.

The smile of a loved one.

The deep knowing in the eyes of a child.

The way the earth holds onto me.

The playful dance of the ocean under the moon.

The squish of sand…mud…and grass between my toes.

The twinkle of the sun peeking through the forest leaves.

The wiggle and prance of unconditional love in a dog’s greeting.

The soul connection of a cat’s purr.

The goodness in the food I eat.

The nourishment and brain power in a sip of water.

The laughter of my children.

The echoes of love that I feel as unborn babies prepare to create more magic in this world.

The gifts are endless, seamless, and there for me even when I forget, become distracted, or look away.

The magic remains and returns again and again.

All I have to do is be still and it appears so clearly before and within me.

It’s really not magic at all.

What a beautiful thing to let love guide me and choose to see the good in the world today.


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Weeping

How can something weeping be so beautiful?

Branches sinking towards the ground,

heavy with the promise of spring.

Blossoms like tears,

dripping from overflowing eyes.

Swaying soulfully in the wind, the blossoms sing a song not of loss but of rebirth.

These branches remind us to remain soft,

to bend and hang low,

to let life flow.

See the beauty and freshness that comes with letting go.

With the same courage that the tree has in these uncertain temperatures and conditions to bravely unfurl its blossoms,

weeping thoroughly,

signs of growth,

remind us of the beauty in letting our tears flow

for behind them comes a richness of life and growth

the likes of which have never been seen or felt before.


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Unhindered

Open your wings, my heart said.

Trust your senses to guide you, my intuition said.

The air currents are too complex and the terrain too rough for you to navigate said my mind…

Are you sure you can find your way?

It’s too risky said my body to go out on your own and ride the sky.

It takes confidence and a release of all fear.

Against the advice of familiar patterns, out-purposed behaviors, and nagging beliefs, I spread my wings.

I launch and take flight unsure of where I will go, unsure of what nourishment I may or may not find, what challenges I may or may not face, and what gifts I may or may not discover.

As my feet lift off the ground, euphoria fills me knowing that my destiny is in the flight itself, not what it brings or where it goes but in the unbridled courage and curiosity that soar with me, reminding me who I really am.


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Discomfort by Design

I am not cold.

I am feeling.

I am not sad.

I am informing.

I am not striving.

I am opening.

I am not ignorant.

I am growing.

I am not disappointing.

I am redefining.

I am not disconnecting.

I am transforming.

In this discomfort

I find my greatest knowing

And the courage

to share it with you.


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Whole Harmony

Life force

breath

heals

softens

opens

the body

relaxes

the mind

promotes

courage

offers

ease

and

fuels

my

power.

Still

grateful

gentle

kind

accepting

breathing

I am

a great

force

of energy.

Feeling

healthy

and

strong

in the

soft

and

caring

rest

slowness

and

power

in my

every

breath.


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Dearest One

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.


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Repair

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.


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Making My Way

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.


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Budding Joy

Challenge can breed fear.

Fear fosters insecurity.

Insecurity inhibits growth.

Growth is a fundamental quality of living.

With growth we can overcome fear.

With every little bit of fear we face

We grow and that growth produces wider bands of safety

Making the next challenge a little easier to face,

Until more and more often the challenges yield directly to growth over fear,

And growth becomes the natural next step closer to joy.


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Manifesting

Like begets like.

Peace leads to peace.

Kindness breeds kindness.

Suffering can lead to ease.

Mistakes become opportunities for growth.

Loss makes room for freedom.

Fear dissolves in faith.

Whatever I cultivate as my experience, I have the ultimate power to accept or shift the paradigm. Every experience serves me even when on the surface it may look grim. When I align an experience with the goal of knowing love, the love that is there always – not between people but that creates people – everything comes into balance, harmony prevails.

I no longer need to label my experiences as good or bad when I know that all experiences unfold before me so that I can explore what it is like to be my best self.

This is the process of trust.