Join Indrani for a meditation to help prepare you for the new year. This meditation will help you get grounded, then send peace and compassion to yourself. Once you are feeling at ease, you can then send the same peace and compassion to others.
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A poem by Samantha Reynolds of bentlily.com
Love is not fragile
Who taught you
to be sparing
with your love
as though your heart was a bank
as though love could dry up
nonsense
it is as if the ocean complained
it was too
wet
love is not fragile
it is as common as breath
it is play money
it is a race
to give more
go first
say it with impunity
you think you will ache
with vulnerability
but the strangest thing will happen
you will nearly drown
with peace.
As we prepare to join loved ones this holiday season, let us take just a few moments to sit in silence and speak softly the things that pop into our heads that we are thankful for.
For me, it always starts with the simplest things:
Some of the more significant events are:
What does your list look like?
Please let us know in the comment section below.
May you be at Peace.
Love and light,
Indrani
I had the very pleasant task a few weeks ago of having a meeting with some amazing people.
All of them believed in me and my dream of ending gender-based violence and they were all focused on how to help me.
I have known most of them for most of my life and a few of them not that long, but we all seemed to gel and the conversation was lively and productive.
No one got their feelings hurt or had a hissy fit or stormed out of the room.
It was as great as great could be.
We did not push our agenda; rather we were all looking at the big picture and how to get me to that point with my work.
One of the attendees really stood out.
His voice was soft and caring but packed a punch when he did choose to speak.
He had the unique ability to assimilate information and repurpose it in a calm and peaceful manner.
That being said, he was not afraid to be outspoken and call a “rhetorical” question, when he heard it.
The day after the meeting, I was replaying how the evening went and I realized something.
This person, who stood out, did so because he was extremely comfortable with his intellect. He was NOT afraid to say what he did not understand, to claim what he did and to cast aside want was not important to the conversation.
He never got caught up with the many side issues that were thrown out; rather he called them as unnecessary and brought the players back to the fore.
The way I began to think of his performance was like a warrior not needing to unsheathe his very sharp sword.
Everyone could see the sword, we all knew that he was a slayer of previous dragons and yet, he did not wield it about. Rather, he never even pointed to it. He allowed his calm and quiet to speak louder than the sword we all recognized.
He never made anyone feel like they had to defend their weapons or flash them around.
I was delighted that I got to see such skills in action.
We were all tired by the end of the night and yet, we all kept the respect for each other on our sleeves, in good public view.
Perhaps I can learn to keep my weapons sheathed so that my super powers don’t kill, even when they are only intended to help.
Let’s learn to sheath our swords called:
Sarcasm
Smarter than you
Racism/exclusion
Be the center of attention
Let’s unsheathed the swords called:
Joy
Bliss
Inclusion
US-ness
Cooperation
It simply takes being aware.
Love and light,
Indrani
What is your weapon of choice? Sarcasm, bitterness, coldness…maybe even anger? Sometimes it feels like you against the world, right? Oh I know….I wage my own battles.
My favorite shield and swords are stubbornness, detachment and narrow-mindedness. Yes these weapons keep my feelings, heart and my soul safe.
Hiding in foxholes is part of my warfare, arms at the ready waiting to lunge at my adversary. I stand guard to protect myself.
Are you a fearless warrior?
Fearless front-linesmen we can be, fighting for the safety of our hearts, the invisible war of words and feelings between foes and ourselves.
And as we pick and choose our battles, in the end we may have escaped fresh wounds of the heart and soul but we are callused with the scars from cuts and abrasions of past skirmishes.
We wear our scars like badges of courage.
We retreat back to our castles, the doors swing down allowing us to cross over the moat we have built to keep others out.
The cold stone walls run high….too high for the marauded invaders to scale.
Here we are safe. Here we can be at peace. But within our walls do we have comfort? Do we have warmth?
I ask myself if my castle walls have really turned into prison walls.
Am I now my own prisoner of war?
I am disconnected and isolated.
This world war is over.
And the bigger question now is do I have the courage to take the walls down?
Do I have the courage to drop my weapons of the crusade and walk out in peace?
Like the strength that kept me going in the heat of battle, can I find that strength to reach out and connect with the world around me?
Can I drop decorations of a brave soldier and strip off my chain mail suit and see myself naked in my authenticity, see my genuine needs and honor the needs and feelings now that there are no more dragons to slay?
I don’t know, but I will try. For if not, I remain behind the walls I have built.
I ask you to look the conflicts you have.
Can you lay down your weapons, walk out from behind the walls around you to step out and stand in your own truth?
How many of us now depend on devices that help us to navigate our way to a new destination?
The answer is lots of us.
How many of us refuse to tune into our inner GPS to find the way to Peace and Joy? The answer is LOTS of us.
While it is easy to just put an address into your device and get directions, you still must do a few things:
-You must keep the device charged so you can use it.
-You have to learn how to input the address and where to find the app that gives the directions.
-You have to have the presence of mind to closely follow the directions and make the turns that it suggests or you will not get to where you want to go.
This is also true of our internal GPS. Yes, we all have one.
The inner GPS is called intuition. Your intuition will give you hints of Yes and No when you are turning in a direction that is not aligned with the work you were sent here to do. Your work may or may not coincide with the job you have. If it does, you will feel joyful and fulfilled even if there are many struggles in your life. If, however, your job makes you depleted and sad, then your work that you are meant to do is far from what you do daily.
There is a quick fix for this. Yes, a quick fix.
Your intuition wants to steer you into the work you are meant to do and it can if you begin to feel grateful for all the things that you have, even the challenges. Being able to stay present in the midst of challenge and being grateful for the lesson in the challenge is the quickest way to JOY. I promise you, this really does work.
Every night before bed, I write at least 5 things that I am grateful for and I go to bed with gratitude in my head and heart. The “S” in the GPS is for self-care. That means that you put yourself at the TOP of each list you have, and you must be sure you do something for yourself each day. It can be as simple as allowing the answering machine to get the phone calls for a short time while you do a special something. It can be reading a good book, taking a bath, sitting in silence, listening to your favorite music, chatting with a treasured friend, etc. These snippets of self care do not have to look like taking a whole weekend off to go to the spa, although that’s good too!
Waiting for the “right” moment for self-care is a great way to put off self-care. It is a good way to fool yourself into thinking that you have made yourself a priority.
If you are a subscriber to my newsletter, you have received my 5 minutes to Happiness tool that allows you to quickly tap into your positive traits. If you are brave enough to align your behaviors with your positive traits you will have found a quick way to follow your inner GPS.
You can get 5 minutes to Happiness here.
Give this a try for 7 days. I would love to hear how it works for you!
Love and light
Indrani