Connecting to our truth

 

If we pretend things don't matter that really do, we are neglecting our emotional needs. After years of swallowing our feelings, it is apt to have a negative effect on our physical body. We become more prone and vulnerable to illness/disease. 

 

As a child, I was sensitive. As a way to cope, I often ignored how I felt...pretending I didn't care. I didn't know the value of my feelings then.

 

Today I can still fall in the old trap...the trap of suppressing/swallowing fear, loneliness, hurt, disappointment... It's not intentional! I fool myself! It's an old habit...an automatic behavior.

 

My body often knows there's an emotional issue before my mind does. I begin to feel achy, uncomfortable... It signals me...letting me know there are feelings I haven't yet acknowledged.  

Do you catch yourself saying "it doesn't matter" or "I don't care"? Pay close attention. You may be surprised often it really does matter and you too, have swallowed your feelings.
 

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 The most common way people give up their power
is by thinking they don't have any.

~ Alice Walker ~
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A good life

Picture yourself as woman

who has weeded out self-defeating behaviors

such as co-dependency, self-loathing, guilt....

She offers herself the same kind of love and respect

that she extends to others.

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Not a day goes by that I don't still need to remind myself

that my life is not just what's handed to me,

nor is it my list of obligations,

my accomplishments or failures...

but rather it is what I choose,

day in and day out, to make of it all.

When I am able simply to be with things as they are,

able to accept the day's challenges without judging...

I feel as if I am...

coming a step closer to being myself.

It's when I get lost in the day's details,

or so caught up in worries about what might be,

that I miss the beauty of what is.”

― Katrina Kenison

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New beginnings

 

Picture yourself as a woman

 

who has released old negative stories about herself. 

 

She has rewritten the pages of her life,

 

weaving it with kindness and compassion.

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“...there is no such thing as a charmed life,
not for any of us,
no matter where we live or how mindfully
we attend to the tasks at hand.
But there are charmed moments,
all the time,
in every life and in every day,
if we are only awake enough
to experience them when they come
and wise enough to appreciate them.” 
 
― Katrina Kenison

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Some simple truths

Picture yourself as a woman

 

who sees her lessons as flawless

 

even when it takes great effort

 

for her to remain upright.

 

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“Now I see that the journey was never meant
to lead to some new and improved version of me;
that it has always been about coming home
to who I already am.”

― Katrina Kenison

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Quiet determination

 

Picture yourself as woman

 

who is as fierce as she is humble.

 

Through perseverance,

she achieves small things with

a wide heart.

 

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“A balanced life has a rhythm...
 I'm learning that if I don't take the time
to tune in to my own more deliberate pace...
the speed of events around me setting a tempo...
leaves me feeling scattered and out of touch with myself...
A close relationship with myself requires slowness...
A thoughtful life is not rushed.”  

Katrina Kenison

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Full heart/empty hands

 

Picture yourself as a woman

 

who knew the world belonged to her,

 

yet she knew she owned nothing.

Everything was a gift on loan to her

for only a season.

 

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“The flower that blooms in adversity
is the rarest and most beautiful of all.”  
― Walt Disney

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We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.”  
― Maya Angelou

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The beauty of life

Picture yourself as woman

 

who lives beyond her five senses.

 

She sees every situation

 

as an expression of the purest love.

 

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The real voyage of discovery
consists not in seeing new landscapes,
but in having new eyes.

~ Marcel Proust ~
 

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Feeling connected

Picture yourself as woman

 

who's life may look unremarkable from the outside,

 

but inside, is a treasure to behold.

 

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You will learn a lot about yourself if you stretch in the direction of goodness, of bigness, of kindness,
of forgiveness, of emotional bravery...  
 ― Cheryl Strayed

Solitude

Picture yourself as woman

 

who has bloomed an affection

for the quiet.

 

*****

“I live in that solitude which is painful in youth,
but delicious in the years of maturity.”  
 ― Albert Einstein

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Letting go of the past

 

Picture yourself as woman

 

who has emptied her mind of the past,

 

releasing the old stories to the earth.

 

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“I didn't feel sad or happy.

I didn't feel proud or ashamed.

I only felt that in spite

of all the things I'd done wrong

in getting myself here,

I'd done right.”  

― Cheryl Strayed

 

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Life on life's terms

Nobody will protect you from your suffering. 

You can't cry it away or eat it away or starve it away

or walk it away or punch it away or even therapy it away. 

It's just there, and you have to survive it. 

You have to endure it. 

You have to live through it and love it

and move on and be better for it

and run as far as you can in the direction

of your best and happiest dreams across the bridge

that was built by your own desire to heal.”  

 

     Cheryl Strayed

 

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“Alone had always felt like an
actual place to me, as if it weren't
a state of being, but rather a room
where I could retreat to be
who I really was.”  
 

― C. Strayed

 

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Intimacy

Can the purpose of a relationship be to trigger our wounds?

In a way, yes, because that is how healing happens;

darkness must be exposed before it can be transformed.

The purpose of an intimate relationship is not
that it be a place where we can hide from our weaknesses,

but rather where we can safely let them go.

 It takes strength of character to truly delve into

the mystery of an intimate relationship,

because it takes the strength to endure a kind of psychic surgery,

an emotional and psychological and even spiritual initiation

into the higher Self..."

 

― Marianne Williamson

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Reaching higher

 

 

“You were born with potential.
You were born with goodness and trust.
You were born with ideals and dreams.
You were born with greatness.
You were born with wings.
You are not meant for crawling, so don't.
You have wings.
Learn to use them and fly.”  
 

― Rumi 

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A bit of wisdom

Pippi's nap time

I reflect on what is outlived in my life today. I've known for some time that holding on to anything ruins it, as does clinging to old ways, outdated ideas, worn-out relationships, and lifestyles that have run their course. As a culture, we seem to prize permanency. Certainly the familiar is comforting. But the way we were is not the way we are, and why would I want to still want to have those parts of my life that have lost their zest?

Joan Anderson

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There are the outlived events and relationships
that we must celebrate and then let go of,
 and there are the unlived experiences that we must search for, welcome, and live into.

J. Anderson

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Joyful determination

Most of us, halfway to hundred, confront a need for greater self-awareness. We reach a point when the power of youth is gone...the dreams of earlier times seem shallow and pointless...we find ourselves asking tough questions: What am I to do now? What really matters? Who am I?

For many years I had ignored these questions because I had too many responsibilities-too many lives to consider. But all of a sudden, there were no more excuses... I was standing at a crossroad with no clear path to follow. I only knew I needed a change. So I took a leap of faith; walked away from the mainstream of life, and dove headlong into the unknown.

Joan Anderson- The Second Journey

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Life, like the beach, is always rearranging itself. The trick is to welcome and then work with, not against, the changes... Knowing, acknowledging, and celebrating the phases all women go through-how we've risen above our angst, respecting our determination- that is the fodder needed to continue our independent journey. The goal is to come of age in the middle of life rather than live out our days lacking purpose and energy.

 

Joan Anderson

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