Monday Mindfulness

Cultivating Strength, Joy, Calm & Resilience


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This heart’s message

You are safe and loved.

I support you.

I will protect you.

It’s okay to feel sad, scared, or anxious.

It’s okay to say no.

I love you the way you are.

You are kind, smart, and funny.

You are important.

I am happy you are here.


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Ripples of recovery

Pain provides an opportunity to turn towards lessons and lessening or to adopt as a wounded state as a part of identity.

For sure, the wave of wound on the heels of pain can feel logical and essential. It may perhaps be needed in order to make a choice. The wound from pain can be like a riptide that is easy to get caught in…that can provide great struggle and even the potential to drown.

However, to ride that current, perhaps even begin to understand it’s make up and direction and feel more fully into it just briefly, produces the wisdom to release the struggle and be propelled to its edges by its own force.

Without resistance, the riptide has nothing to hold onto and pushes away what it cannot drag down.

In due time, the churning and swirling when met with curiosity, tenderness, and patience has the capacity to deliver an object once more to calm and safe waters.

It is in returning to this calm space where wisdom is found…the pain lessened and the wound converted to a lesson.

While woundnedness perpetuates a perceived lack of safety imposed externally, wisdom reinforces the notion that safety is created in the choice to experience but not drown in the wound.

While ideally the sea of life hopes to offer smooth, calm, clear waters, it also aspires to shape future landscapes and to never remain the same, retaining unintentially in its purpose the potential for pain.

And in this way, there lie endless opportunities to ride or resist, to learn or succumb.


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Constant Source

Attract.

Repel.

Draw in.

Push back.

Play with gravity.

It is your choice how close or far away the energy they bring will orbit you.

Their rugged terrain, gaseous atmospheres, unruly conditions, or waterfalls, nirvana and bliss all belong to them.

See them,

Be grateful for them.

Allow them to be just as they are.

You are the sun.

The constant source of your own truth.

Capable of adjusting their orbits,

Cultivating trust and safety,

Assured in the joy and peace that comes from being at the center of your universe.


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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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Bound to Thrive

Boundaries add to the architecture of the landscape.

Boundaries provide protective edges.

Boundaries tame the wild nature in such a way as to contain but not limit.

Boundaries provide soft and gentle guidance to ensure safety and prevent harm.

Boundaries do not need to be solid, heavy walls, or impassible fortresses.

Optimal boundaries leave room to move and breathe and gaps through which opportunities can peek through.

Whether meticulously trimmed and groomed or allowed to fill and empty on their own, the edges of the boundaries remain clear.

Boundaries can always be created or dissolved, but their imprint lingers, forever a path of protection.

Well-built boundaries are exceptionally beautiful.


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For a Smoother Takeoff

“Prepare your doors for departure and cross check, please” said the pilot before departing the gate.

How often in our daily lives do we launch without proper preparation?

The brief pause to transition from one moment to the other – to conduct a cross check and prepare for what comes next – provides clarity, confidence, and confirmation that I am ready to move forward.

This cross check also eliminates potential danger and reduces the likelihood of unfortunate outcomes.

On the rhythm of every breath lies the opportunity to prepare for departure, to make wiser choices, and be ready for what lies ahead.

And, with that next exhale, looking keenly and calmly ahead, I softly whisper, “Cross check complete.”