Good morning my darlings,
Looking at my Facebook scroll, news feed and the like on any given day I’ll see tons of articles on abuse.
- “How to end abuse”
- “Rates of abuse globally”
- “The latest allegation of abuse”
Is it any wonder that often people think the world sucketh muchly and people are at their core cruel? This morning I woke up and as I was scrolling through and taking note of some of the messages – I also noticed another – much more dangerous subtext.
- “I suck”
- “I f*ck up”
- “I’m constantly wrecking my world”
Even at the event Richard and I attended as educators this past weekend there was a reoccurring theme of “sharing how much you’ve f*cked up” As I sat pondering these things I heard whispered into my heart
“How many nights will you do violence to your soul?”
It nearly brought me to tears. How often do we do violence to our SELVES? Often we speak ill of ourselves, handling ourselves roughly- without compassion, without love, without patience or gentleness.
And here’s the kicker… We usually KNOW that we are doing it.
We’ll even say it with a sort of pride “I’m harder on myself than anyone else” As if to be so is a badge of merit.
If we were speaking of treating anyone ELSE that way – we’d be horrified. Yet to do it to ourselves – our sense of Self – which is so sacred, so tender, and so utterly dependent on us for care. For us to feed our hearts and souls the poison of judgement and a cold critical eye – this is a celebrated and embraced abuse.
We do not show humility by our being “harsh” and “hardened” with ourselves. We do not teach the world, our children, or those we consider to be more vulnerable – how to overcome bad by turning it inward. In short, the world is not served by our claiming our mistakes, faux pas’ and learnings are “f*ck ups” and not offering in their retelling an inner hug and measure of compassion to ourselves.
Even in this note – my intention is not for you dear heart to begin to offer even more cruelty to your precious Self in condemning your treatment of your Soul, for cruelty is rarely undone through cruel methods.
No – what I would offer is that you might consider your Self – ALL of your Self – not only the “good” parts- but the difficult to love parts as well – as Sacred.
That you will wrap your imperfections in tenderness and fierce compassion.
That You will exercise a lavish and flamboyant self love.
That you will become enraptured by your broken places and barren spaces.
That you might fall in Love with wild abandon – with your precious and sacred Self… and watch how your experience of the world shifts is response.
Let us begin with this, “I love you”.
Live. Love. Lush and Fearless,