Practice
Acceptance.
Cherish
Everything.
Pace Yourself... the quality of your life will increase exponentially.
The Blessing that Transforms
As summer begins to wane, we stare at the sun in dismay as she recedes into the horizon. Habits of mourning override the potential of welcoming the stillness and contemplation that live within the constellation of stars meant only for this night.
We mortal beings, just shy of understanding our true greatness, are mentored by the seasons through an exquisite and mysterious display of light and dark and the opportunity to reflect and unfold in real time.
As darkness reigns free, our steps become tentative, our reaching hesitant. Creatures lurk behind closed doors, monsters hide under the bed; memories of those not forgiven and the forgiven yet not quite forgotten, loom large in our limited field of vision.
Can we forgive their inability? Can we forgive our own? While we don’t relish the harsher realities of raw and muddy entanglements, we are called to surrender to their wisdom by embracing the places where we feel broken – we invite the dark night of the soul into the deepest chambers of our spiritual heart.
It’s easy to abhor the darkness when we have not made peace with, nor mastered, the well-lit inner path. As a disciple of the Unseen, darkness has the skill set to rescue us from false prophets by showing us how to see the beauty in all things, to endure and withstand, not for the win in the world, rather for the win within because that is where truth resides, honest and illuminated.
Unfinished business we’ve deftly swept under the rug of our consciousness is cleansed, freeing us from the debris of hubris we’ve clung to. We’re corralled into making peace with the qualities of both balance and the extremes, where we face clear and present wrestling matches between desire and what is - too much digging and we forget to live, too much sparkle and we bypass the glaring reflection of our humanness.
We are reminded that perfection doesn’t come from the order we attempt to create in the world; the perfection comes from the love we share with the world. We are asked to slow down, to breathe a bit, to PACE ourselves by Practicing Acceptance and Cherishing Everything.
In the marvelous words of Og Mandino: I will love the light for it shows me the way; yet I will love the darkness for it shows me the stars. I will welcome happiness as it enlarges my heart; yet I will endure sadness for it opens my soul.
There is an amazing kind of magic nestled in the night that gives way to constancy and majesty as we learn to embrace our spirit. The dance of light and dark twirls us about like whirling dervishes, asking us to awaken ever deeper and higher, more grounded and buoyant, to find our gratitude, to see everything as a blessing, to see ourselves as the blessing… beyond the constraints of time, from our ancestral heritage, to the gift of now, and into the future.
There is such richness and complexity to the darkest night of the year, to darkness itself. As human beings we are asked to unite the opposites, to reconcile the polarities that life shares with us; to discover the myriad of ways that darkness supports the work of the light through the inhalation and exhalation of our aliveness. Whatever we cannot fully reconcile in the here and now will be handled in spirit.
As we exhale, the cycle of replenishment is simultaneously sourced at the highest level. God inhales deeply, pulling us from the shadows that surround us, our brilliance and essence drawn toward the stars of the night - we are returned to hope, spiritually cradled by the divine tenants of compassion, love and forgiveness. And in that moment, we become the breath, the sound, and the spark. We become the blessing that transforms.
In love and light.
Pace Yourself
Promote,
Allow and
Create
Ease
why make it difficult?
Practice
Awareness
Consider
Everyone
best and highest good for all concerned
Purposeful
Action
Creates
Enthusiasm,
because enthusiasm knows no bounds. It simply enjoys saying YES every single time.
Release Yourself from the habit of struggle!
There will always be a moment when the flowers come in handy, surprising you with their ease of use and how gently they lift the discord within. You can surrender the monkey mind, the worry, the need to control and the fear hanging out underneath! Awaken more life inside of you!
ⓒ Dr. Lauren Nappen Please share these words of wisdom with the author included.
Always live in the direction of your joy,
Dr. Lauren Nappen
Office: 215.794.0606
Text: 215.815.2729