Let your mind be quiet, realizing the beauty of the world, and the immense, the boundless treasures that it holds in store. Be open to change.
Change is one of the most difficult things for the majority of humans to accept and yet often one of the things most longed for and needed. To handle change requires the ability to bend, to remain open minded, to hold on to your convictions, and to be able to self nurture one's self through life's white water rapids.
For those who follow this blog and know me well, change has been a major factor in my life and most of it difficult. Yet, I seem to survive although up until recently, I have come to understand I have not lived... just survived. For the longest time, in truth for the first 50 years of my life, I was afraid, unskilled, and felt totally unworthy of nurturing myself. I was capable of taking care of others, but NOT me. Does this sound familiar to any of you? Ever asked yourself why?
Aside from a definite lack of my own self worth -- which for 50 years revolved solely around people pleasing and taking care of others, I also think I feared my own creative success. One thing, no two things, that brought me to this epiphany were the extreme family conflict ongoing right now and the publication of my second book : Shadows of Love. The first "thing" somehow managed to reignite the creativity that had been lying dormant within me for well over 9 years and helped it to blossom like a plant moving toward the light.
My embattled soul has forced me to make changes in my life -- even ones I did not want or like to make, to get me out of my familiar rut which was so comforting if even in an insidious fashion.
Throughout these past difficult and sad 7 months (which have hit me harder than cancers and the loss of my husband) I have learned that small changes eventually lead to great leaps and although self nurturing is still difficult for me, I have learned that if I want my life to come together, I have to start treating ME better. No one else will do it for me; no one else can do it for YOU.
Today, I am going to make a list of at least ten things I could do or want to do for myself and then I will pick just one and do it. I hope you will join me in this exercise of self nurturing. Take an honest look at how you treat yourself. Do you get enough sleep? (Cancer has forced this issue with me but I still only manage a maximum of 5 hours a night at most). Are you getting enough exercise? Do your schedule time for meditation or to simply shut out the outside world and really relax? (Turn off the T.V, the Radio, The Computer, The I pad, and the cell phones and listen to the real world... and honestly hear it for just a day). How about pursuing things that bring YOU pleasure? Ask yourself when was the last time you REALLY laughed? How often do you day dream or wish upon a star?
The fact of the matter is you and I have NOTHING to lose by experimenting with these types of self nurturing behaviors and everything to gain. Once we refill our own reservoir with life affirming, self nurturing, waters, more people will be able to draw from the well and we will have that much more to share and give.
Time for me to walk the dogs under a star filled sky. Time to make a wish!
Blessed be.
"We delight in the beauty of a butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has had to go through to achieve that beauty" ~Maya Angelou~
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