It was always your calling, you see,
to find a way to love yourself deeply,
to not beg for love, or seek it externally,
or wait for it, or try to hold on to it,
but to drench yourself with it, moment by precious moment.

Do not abandon yourself when you feel abandoned,
for there is a pain worse than abandonment:
The abandonment of self, the flight from where you are.
Running from yourself when you most need yourself.

No one is coming to rescue you.
No one is coming to make
the sea of your life
any less rough.

All storms and beauty and miles of water undone.

It is this way for each of us.
We all get swept away
tossed around
face in the sand
gasping for air.

Alive, almost gone, alive, alive, alive.

You will learn lessons.
You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called “life”. Each day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the lessons or hate the, but you have designed them as part of your curriculum.

“A wound not fully felt consumes from the inside. We must run very hard if we want to stay one step ahead of this pain. Exhausted, we try to bury it with drugs, alcohol, overwork, television, physical activity. We are a very creative species—we can use just about anything to anesthetize ourselves. But in doing so, we also remove ourselves from feeling the joy. Life becomes less, and if we are even slightly numb, it is hard for us to find the wisdom we need in our lives and our world.” - Oriah Mountain Dreamer, The Invitation

We are designed as relational beings. We need to be in all kinds of relationships in order to get any traction on this healing journey of self-discovery. Our friends, parents, children, lovers, ex’s, neighbors and everyone else under the sun are all our mirrors for the purpose of providing us reflection so we can better see and know our Self.

𝐁𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠. It's contagious. When we witness someone else transforming, evolving, maturing, it does something to us... we get the signal that it's okay, and even life-affirming to change. In watching others grow, we are given another model and road map to use in our own personal growth journey. ⁣⁣