My friend, how are you doing? How is your heart today? I know we are all carrying so much emotion within our bodies these days. Some good, but a lot of it heavy. And if that is you this morning....if heavy emotions are competing for your attention, I want to share some comfort with you today. Get yourself and coffee or tea, and settle in for 5 minutes of mindfulness to infuse your day with some intention ♥︎.
Last night, Ryan and I were sitting on our deck. The kids were all in bed, the sun still high in the sky. It had finally been a truly warm day, causing the snow pack to melt and trickle all around us ... a welcome release of winter's stubborn grip.
It had the makings of a beautiful and light hearted moment, and yet my heart was nothing of the sort. A combination of random data over the weekend, strange rhythms and new realizations had my head feeling foggy and my heart heavy.
But something heavier than just sadness was trying to take hold.
Allow me to explain how I navigated this moment.
Ryan is the calmest person I know. And as I spoke to him about the things that were weighing heavy on my heart, his composed and compassionate demeanour reminded me of the quote I shared with you all on IGTV this week.
"To bear trials with a calm mind robs misfortune of its strength and burden."
Seneca
This quote always stops me in my tracks, but especially during times like these. Calm is what I needed last night and calm is what I reached for.
So you know what I did? I slowed my mind riiiiiiiiight down.
I took inventory of what my interpretation of the data was making me feel:
sadness
disbelief
confusion.
I met those feelings head on, with calm and compassionate observation:
" Hello sadness, hello disbelief and hello confusion. You are uncomfortable feelings but I am capable of feeling hard feelings for as long as I need to. These are strange times and as always, I will allow myself the mental space to feel feelings like this in waves, as they come."
I sat with them and friend, it only took a few moments. Just like clockwork, sitting with them calmly caused their grip to loosen, not strengthen.
The sadness that was trying to become dread, just stayed sadness.
The disbelief that was trying to become frantic, just became acceptance of what is.
The confusion that was trying to become a story about my worthiness, transformed into acceptance of a steep learning curve and grace for my efforts.
My calm mind robbed those misfortunes of their strength and burden.
I endured a few moments of feeling hard feelings but nothing more.
And when it was done and the moment passed, more than anything. I just felt profound gratitude for the practice of mindfulness, which is so obviously a gift at all times, but especially in the ones we find ourselves in.
Because of it, I felt so much lighter and was able to go on with enjoying my evening and visit with Ryan, conscious and unburdened.
This is the practice of mindfulness my friend. Being the compassionate observer of our thoughts. Giving ourselves space to feel normal human emotions, but also the awareness to know when discomfort is escalating to unnecessary emotional suffering because of the thoughts we are choosing to think.
If you would like to learn about more some specific ways to access calm in your day, be sure to click the button below to watch this week's IGTV 'Anxiety is Natural | Calm is Evolved & Essential', where I share some practical mindfulness techniques and more on this topic.
And to keep you grounded in the truth of this empowering quote from Seneca, I have also created a wallpaper for your phone home screen. Just tap and hold to save this photo to your camera roll. I hope it reminds you, as it does me, that in every moment we have the mindful choice to reach for calm and benefit tremendously for doing so ♥︎.
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