Monday Mindfulness

Cultivating Strength, Joy, Calm & Resilience

Tag Archives: pain


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Both

Feeling goodness.

Recognizing capacity for love and joy…

and pain and sorrow…

and confusion and disappointment…

Offering laughter and playfulness…

tears and aching.

Ever grateful.

Still longing.

Inviting.

Learning to receive.

Faith,

not hope,

guides discovery.

Recurring smiles

share space with unsettled emptiness,

offering glimpses of spaciousness.

Trust becomes the compass point,

as surrender calls.

Not giving up,

but diving in.

Relinquishing the tight reins of control

to allow the fullness of life to unfold on its own.

Turning towards the depths of the oceans of stability within,

to exist within it all.

Grateful for this artwork generously created and shared by Matt Buncik.


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Catching dreams

Looking into the web of life,

relationships and experiences overlapping.

Sorting.

Parting.

Finding

gaps and angles

through which to feel,

through which to see,

through which to move.

The veil of consciousness pulls back,

revealing that this filter isn’t to keep the negative, dark or painful elements out,

but to feel the self as

forever capable of  

great joy,

ease,

and love,

regardless of all else.

Catching the truth.

Removing doubt

that this life

is here for any other

reason than to notice

and remember 

what is

beautiful.


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Multiple Truths

My capacity is larger than my hurt.

The tear rolls down my cheek, 

just a fraction of the bigger me.

Full and brimming and yet still quite small.

I feel both at the same time,

my tear

and my breath,

my breath

and my heart,

my heart

and my strength.

I can hold grief and gratitude.

Love and disappointment.

Compassion and boundaries.

Sadness and peace.


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At the root of it all

I can no more be in or out of love 

than I can be in or out of my body,

or my breath.

Love is not something temporary,

to be chased,

or clung to.

Love is the essence of freedom,

self expression, and connection.

Love is a state of being

that allows all else to exist.


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And

Where does it end,

the light from the sun 

the light of the moon, 

the dark of the shadows

the vastness of the sky,

cold of winter,

unfurling of spring?

Where is the line 

that separates joy 

from sorrow,

excitement 

from fear?

What fills the space between earth and sky?

Is it my heart?

My body?

My breath?

In my mind I struggle 

to find a separation,

an either or,

a division,

a moment,

where one exists without the other.

I cannot 

and therefore 

I cannot regret.

I cannot long.

I cannot judge,

right or wrong.

I cannot reject sorrow 

or long for joy.

I cannot suffer in darkness or immerse myself fully in light.

I am made of it all.

It is all in me.

Or is none of it?

I am the space that fills 

the space between.

I am the end of light,

the beginning of dark.

I am all of the joy and filled with sorrow.

I am the convergence of earth and sky. 

I am the meeting place for it all.

I am the “and.”


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Cradled in Grief

Johann Hari once said, “We grieve because we have loved. We grieve because the person we have lost mattered to us.”

Grief is not a linear process.

It is an ebb and flow of emotions

and choices that we navigate,

between holding on and letting go.

Like this water,

tears move,

ever changing in shape and patterns.

The flowers that bloom and subsequently fade away

help us find our way back

to a place in our hearts,

to remember

the beauty,

the joy,

and the love,

to soften for just a moment

the pain,

the aloneness,

the fear of having to live beyond this very moment.

Set it all down,

come into this moment.

Let it hold you.

Let it nurture you,

stroking your cheek,

embracing you with softness and sweetness.

For the next few moments,

let everything else go.

You are loved,

and held,

more than you will ever know.


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Conviction

If our morals and beliefs suggest that we should all

love,

support,

and guide one another,

then wouldn’t true,

authentic

moral conviction

show up in the form of

grace

and forgiveness,

not shackles?

A calling back of the misguided to the embrace of

patience and gentleness,

not humiliation

and chastisement.

The invitation

to not be isolated,

but to come closer.

To take accountability.

To grieve in communion

for the loss

of others wounded by their actions

and

for their own internal suffering.

To wail in the arms of

a community

that shoulders mistakes,

missteps,

and misdeeds,

with understanding and humility,

no matter how egregious

on the surface.

To shed tears together to cleanse,

not punish,

embrace,

not discard,

teach,

not convict.


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Chosen

Dark and heavy clouds fill the sky.

There is a moist, chilling feel in the air.

Worry, doubt, and greed swirl on the wind.

At the center of it all,

like an eye opening timidly from a long slumber,

a small space opens.

Unleashed absent effort,

unconditional,

unassuming,

extending unrestrainably outward,

an ancient healing balm,

a penetrating and permiating force,

stirs and

rises up.

It moves and shifts,

overcoming,

discerning,

dissolving,

and shifting.

Without seeking,

or striving,

it appears,

almost effervescently,

greeting all of the

anguish,

pain,

and

suffering

with gentle kindness,

patience,

humility,

and peace.

Love moves from within,

chosen

to be

seen,

felt,

and heard.

.


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Healing Salve

I hold your broken heart,

recognizing the worn and chipped pieces

of injury, loss, humiliation, and dejection

and the pains of long ago never repaired or attended to,

grown over with patchwork scars and gaping cracks and holes.

I am sorry for picking at and reopening those wounds.

I am sorry for creating new fissures and further weakening your heart’s integrity and your ability to feel whole.

I only ever meant to hold your heart gently and sweetly,

but at times my fear of losing it made me grip so hard

and cling so forcefully

that I only added to its brokenness.

I never lost sight of its beauty and worth.

I never lost touch with its essence.

But as I began to doubt the essence of my own heart, I chipped away at yours.

I only hope now to heal my heart

and send ripples of unconditional love across the void of brokenness,

applying a healing salve and restoring integrity.

With the deepest love of my heart, I render this prayer for forgiveness.


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Dear tears…

Dear Tears,

The pain is so intense, at times, taking the breath away.

Your arrival is a sign of hope,

and a forceful reminder to surrender.

You cleanse and clear the way for a new perspective.

Diving in so deeply and fully, consuming the moment,

you somehow soften the pain and bring breath back into the body.

This dance of flowing, heaving, melting, twisting and turning kneads the suffering into softness.

Every droplet contains an ocean of loving tenderness.

So beautifully pulling back the curtain,

allowing the light in,

transcending time,

washing out all bridges of reality,

exposing the space between,

bringing us home for healing.