Author: valeriecameronmerritt

Depression and Spiritual Awakening

Ted Talk with Lisa Miller

 

Any pace is a good pace. Be gentle with your soul and steady your heart.

 Trust your process.

When you are outside in the coming days, in your garden or on a city street, practice a feeling of appreciation for all that you observe.  To the plant: you are my favorite plant.  To the bird:  you are my favorite bird.  To the car passing:  you are my favorite car even though you are rattling or blowing smoke, you are still my favorite car.  To the crack in the sidewalk: you are my favorite winding crack in the cement. To the cloud: you are my favorite fluffy cloud in the sky.

This practice will assist in uplifting you and you will in turn be better able to uplift others.

 

Placing a smile on your face, even when you may not feel like smiling can be the fastest path in spiraling upwards.  Lift yourself and others with a smile!

In loving, we offer trust and space.  Letting go of control and practicing patience are acts of love.

A short meditation for love felt as space:

I breath in, and with this breath loving space fills my lungs.

I breath out, and this loving breath spreads into the space around my body.

-repeated until there is a quiet loving presence surrounding you and occupying the space of your body.

 

Reflect on the way you speak to yourself.  Does the internal conversation you have with yourself offer the same kindness you would give to a friend?

I used to speak to myself in an incredibly critical way, but have found that it’s much more productive to talk to myself as I would talk to a friend.  If I need to take time before I’m ready for something, instead of, “what’s wrong with me – why am I not ready to take an action here”  I’ll now say, “that’s OK, take as much time as you need and movement will come when you’re ready”.  Another example lives in picking apart interactions with others. I might have specifically focused on worry over how something I did or said may have been interpreted. The difference between how I feel speaking to myself as I would speak to a friend is worlds away from the analytical and anxiety ridden past.

Why not be your own friend?  Speak kindly to yourself.  Whatever it is that’s going on, isn’t worth beating yourself up over or letting an unfortunate pattern get the better of you.

Photo by Rachael King

Make a list of everything big and small that is a blessing to you…   It’s worth the time and reflection to recognize the joy surrounding you everyday.  See the beautiful blooms opening around you, inhale the crisp morning air, thank your body for allowing you the experience of existence, and anything else that comes to mind!

People are at various points in their understanding of others and situations.  We cannot force others to change; we can only meet people where they are. Challenging people may be a less effective tactic than offering words of wisdom that have come from your own experience. Observation and time are excellent teachers.  Words do not teach.  Experience teaches.  Yet, here I am offering words that I hope will be applied to experience and felt later for their worth.

In general, people respond to gentle allowance with acceptance.  A porous path gives way for a natural immersion of what is and what is coming.   Likening yourself to this kind of stone feature we use to designate spaces and possibly direction, is a note in letting yourself and letting others.  Hold your space and allow for that of others.

What will you be for the interlacing of experience and truth?  Can you allow yourself to tolerate others at whatever place they are in a given situation or perception?

Post by Jessica:

In a conversation, we listen. When we listen with empathy, interest and no personal agenda we ‘hold space’. If you have ever had someone hold space for you, you may instantly realize how good it feels to be witnessed in such a way.

We can hold space for ourselves while we are alone as well as hold space for ourselves within a group.

Notice your tendency within a group. I have recently started practicing not sharing every opinion or thought that comes my way. I chose to sit and let those thoughts be inspired and leave. Within a group if you are always quiet, is it possible to say something important to you the moment the inspiration hits? Could this be an experiment?
If you are always sharing and processing out loud could you keep those pieces inside? What does what feel like? How is it different for you?

These experiments are a part of being present and aware within a group. The act of challenging your nature for an experiment brings you to that moment and then the next with arrest awareness, engagement, and empathy.
See how you feel when you choose the other way, and if that way feels ok for you too.