The Journey Inward

For the month of June, I am flipping through Clarity and Connection, by Yung Pueblo daily and randomly stopping at a page and reading. I am using the entry to delve into my thoughts and feelings, find what resonates, and see what answers it might hold for me. It is an exercise in building my Intuition, making space for creativity, and journeying inward so that I might know myself and others better. Today’s reading was on page 15.

"essentials to remember on tough days:

practice patience
accept what you feel
do not punish yourself
make sure you get good rest
give yourself ample kindness
accomplish smaller goals that day
do things that will calm your mind
a bad moment does not equal a bad life
struggle can be a space for deep growth
this current discomfort is not permanent"

I'm not sure there is much to say here except YES!  I am way more patient than I've ever been, with myself, others, injuries, aging.  I accept what I feel and no longer feel shame for those feelings.  I do not punish myself like I used to, but can still be hard on myself.  I give myself grace by saying, "It's not surprising that you feel ___ given that you experienced ____."  I am terrible at getting rest.  I sleep at most 6.5 hours, mostly less, though I'm getting better at sleeping later on weekends.  I give myself a good amount of kindness, more than ever, not quite ample.  I am a recovering goal setter, so I've got the smaller goals thing down.  I know all too well that a bad moment does not equal a bad life.  Some bad moments were unnecessary to teach me that. Struggle has always gotten me deeper and promoted my growth.  Again, I could have down with less struggle and been a bit more shallow.  Ha!  Discomfort does indeed feel like it will last.  Grief, for instance, can be overwhelming.  But I do know that the pain doesn't go away, but it does get more manageable.

Photo:  My New Sneaks!  Flemington, NJ.  6.4.23 by LAC