Author: valeriecameronmerritt

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.

Find a penny, pick it up. All day long, you’ll have good luck.

What can you do with with your pennies to bring joy into the lives of others?  I like to leave them here and there for people to find heads up.  If I see one on tails, I’ll flip it and pass the turning of luck to the next person who spots the omen.

If we look at currency as belonging to the whole of humanity, we can allow the exchange of pennies to become expressions from the heart while we share good wishes with other observant souls.

 

When in doubt – don’t.  Pause, when you need.  Give yourself time to know, when knowing is not immediate.  Stop to listen to your heart and follow the direction you find there.  You can’t go wrong when you’re able to balance being mindful of others with  being attuned to your own rhythms, passions, and internal promptings.

Our First Teacher is Our Own Heart    -Cheyenne Proverb

Carve out 10 minutes or more for yourself to enjoy the calm within.  Can you leave the electronic world behind, the news, and any worry you may be carrying for designated time to sit with yourself in quiet? Mindfulness about shutting off from the outside world incrementally may prove to make you a better focused and active participant there when you return!

dis·cern·ment
dəˈsərnmənt/
noun
1.
the ability to judge well.
2.
(in Christian contexts) perception in the absence of judgment with a view to obtaining spiritual direction and understanding.

Regarding a previous post on moving through life with a fresh perspective and not bringing judgements along for interaction, we can also consider discerning what we want to allow.  Judgements about the experiences we want to encounter are different than jumping to conclusions about a person,place, or thing that we cannot know without experiencing for ourselves and sometimes can still not know as change is ever present.  When choosing direction, it is helpful to be discerning.  The actions we take create our path in body (to a point – not to speak on illness or trauma in this post), in mind, and soul.  Of all the options, which way will you go today?

What you receive is in direct alignment with what you create in your thinking, in your offerings, and in what you allow.  The starting point in direction of what you receive lives in the mind.  Taking time to clean up your thinking is worth the return.  When thoughts arrive in your mind that do not line up with the feelings you wish to experience, practice letting those go.  You may not be able to stop the thoughts from presenting but you can dismiss them with little time spent lingering there. It’s prudent to be selective with what you allow in your head; it is part of your sacred space.  Practice being receptive to thoughts that feel best and notice how it changes your overall presence.  There’s a warm ray of sunshine hiding behind that cloud of thoughts, just waiting for you to let it in!