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Tuesday, January 21 2014

First Step

       Here’s something I recently wrote to a friend who is going through a rough patch.

       When I’m in pain or turmoil, overwhelmed by life, my first impulse is to fix me or my situation.  Self-acceptance and self-compassion are hard to come by in those moments.  And yet, I believe, they constitute – precisely - the first step that needs to be taken.

Posted by: AT 09:14 am   |  Permalink   |  Email
Sunday, January 12 2014

       This poem by Courtney Walsh arrived from my good friend Dan at a perfect time.  The inner judge was having a field day – harping on my imperfections, resurrecting old unworthiness stories.  It was a mercy and a healing to encounter this refreshing take on the human condition.  

Dear Human

Dear Human:  You’ve got it all wrong.

You didn’t come here to master unconditional love.

That is where you came from and where you’ll return.

You came here to learn personal love.

Universal love.  Messy love.  Sweaty love.

Crazy love.  Broken love.  Whole love.

Infused with divinity.  Lived through the grace of stumbling.

Demonstrated through the beauty of… messing up.  Often.

You didn’t come here to be perfect.  You already are.

You came here to be gorgeously human.  Flawed and fabulous.

And then to rise again into remembering.

But unconditional love?  Stop telling that story.

Love, in truth, doesn’t need ANY other adjectives.

It doesn’t require modifiers.

It doesn’t require the conditions of perfection.

It only asks that you show up.  And do your best.

That you stay present and feel fully.

That you shine and fly and laugh and cry

and hurt and heal and fall and get back up

and play and work and live and die as YOU.

It’s enough.  It’s Plenty.

             Courtney A. Walsh

Posted by: AT 08:34 pm   |  Permalink   |  Email
Saturday, January 04 2014

Trying Easy

        On Christmas Eve, my dear friend, Marika Blades, sent around this quote from Paul Boynton, author of Begin with Yes“The holidays are filled with so many expectations and we are tempted to put our energy into making a storybook happen for ourselves and people around us.  This year let’s not try so hard to make it happen.  Let’s relax, open our hearts and arms and quietly see what happens.” 

       Old habits of struggling and trying hard can be tenacious and energy draining.   As the new year begins, I wonder about a different path – the path of trying easy.  I wonder about moving gently with the flow of life within and around me.  I imagine greeting each moment with eyes and heart open – receiving it, responding to it, releasing it – relaxed and ready to greet what comes next.   

       After devoting years to the practice of trying hard, I’m ready to experiment with trying easy.

      P.S.  I had decided on “trying easy” as the title and theme for this new year’s posting several days before Marika’s email arrived.  Once again, I’m struck by life’s synchronicity – its offer to support us with its energy and propel us with its currents. 

       We are not alone, and we really don’t have to work so hard.

       Happy New Year!

Posted by: AT 06:34 pm   |  Permalink   |  Email

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