Daily Moment of Awareness [10.27.2019]

Moments of awareness shared with you

Life is the experience. Of course, our choices influence the experience. How we perceive it affects the experience. How we feel about our life experience is on each of us to explore.

People so often misunderstand and ultimately, become jaded, about how much YOU determine what your life experience will be. The work, meditation, praying, positive thinking, law of attraction. vibration, visualizing, etc. are all means to discover and move through the life experience.

The great majority of us will go through the the end of a relationship. And all of us will witness the loss of a loved one. It’s not about avoiding such happenings or pretending they do not evoke strong emotions within us. It’s all about the choices we make to accept, to learn from, and to move through them. Those are the times when we can, very much so, affect, influence, shift, our life experience.

Feeling pain? What are you doing to heal? Feeling stuck? What are you doing to grow?

Daily Moment of Awareness [10.24.2019]

Moments of awareness shared with you

You don’t heal by denying how you feel. You don’t heal by pretending you don’t feel what you feel. You don’t heal by forcing yourself to feel one way or another.

You heal by facing your hurt. By sitting with your pain. By grieving. By doing the work to honor what has happened and how you feel. By taking healthy steps in times of anguish and frustration. By accepting the ups, downs, and swirls of hurt. By reaching out and going within. By crying. Screaming. Sleeping. Breathing. Reflecting, Meditating or praying. Going to counseling, therapy, coaching. By doing whatever is necessary for you to engage, feel, and walk through the hurt. No timeline. Be patient.

You can feel and heal.

Daily Moment of Awareness [10.20.2019]

Moments of awareness shared with you

While we enjoy the majesty of this life, we will also experience pain. We all will. There is no avoiding it. In fact, a life spent trying to avoid pain leads to suffering.

Pain happens, whether unexpected (loss of a loved one, natural disaster, etc.) or as a result of our own doing (ruminating in resentment, allowing fear to influence our choices, etc.). The lesson is no matter the source of pain, it’s how (or if) we decide to face it that will shape us. Choosing not to embrace pain will lead to suffering. Facing pain in unhealthy ways (through numbing = drugs, sleep, pretending, etc.) will also lead to suffering. And it is suffering that gives pain power to manipulate you into believing you cannot heal.

Pain is another experience we must move through. Don’t get wrapped up in the pace of it. Do notice if you are stagnating.

Give action to pain. Ask for help (friend, family, counseling, etc.) Meditate. Pray. Journal. Engage in healthy activities (exercise, reading, walking, etc.). Other forms of action include: expressing your truth, acceptance, forgiveness, love.

Move through your pain so you can heal in love.

Daily Moment of Awareness [10.17.2019]

Moments of awareness shared with you

There is no blueprint for me.

There is no blueprint for you.

There is only acceptance of our truths.

Daily Moment of Awareness [10.14.2019]

Moments of awareness shared with you

Maybe it’s not work. Maybe it’s not grueling. Maybe it’s not exhausting.

Maybe….it’s necessary.

When you consider making change in your life, do you cast a negative shadow on the experience? Like, before you even take a step? Think about how you characterize what you need to do or what you are trying to achieve. The more you paint it in a negative light, the more mental blocks you create to get in the way. As if you needed any more excuses.

When you reflect on areas of your life that you believe to be unhealthy or in need of a healthy dose of change, it is helpful to think and speak about the change in a grounding and benefiting way. Ask for the effort and energy needed to move forward. Allow lessons along the way. Be patient with yourself. Say, “Thank you.” for the opportunity.

You affect the process of change by your attitude about change. See it as necessary and welcome it as part of your growth.

Daily Moment of Awareness [10.8.2019]

Moments of awareness shared with you

I am discovering what it means to feel all the feelings. Today, was non-stop with emotions. They took me all over the place. I found myself thinking not, “Why am I feeling this?” but instead, “What can I learn from this?”

This is big time progress for me. Rather than racing, full steam into the emotion, I felt it, named it, and asked what the lesson may be? I became more accepting of my choices in life - good, bad, happy, sad, doesn't matter. They are mine and mine to learn from.

I felt like I truly honored my whole being today.

Your Inner Journey

We ask for advice. We get judged. We look for signs. We take wrong turns. We heed others’ opinions. We ignore our own intuition.

Of course there are people in your life who can help you. That’s a beautiful thing. But that doesn’t mean you ignore what YOU can do for you. We are taught as children to heed, to obey, to get in line, to follow, to respect others. All of this leads to a dissolution of self. Is it any wonder why so many people don’t know much about themselves, even worse, scoff at the notion of going within to discover more about themselves AND life?

Your willingness and wonder about who you are can reveal your gifts, your talents, your passion, and yes, your strength. The journey within is lifelong. Along the way, we hit detours, obstacles, and even deadends. What do those things look like? Well, they could be family and friends, authority figures, failures, and traumatic experiences. However, as long as you have breath, the inner journey can continue.

If you’re looking for answers, for love, for direction, start within. What you discover inside of you will be YOUR truth rather than their suggestions.

words on image: Michael Barata / image: unknown

Empty Yourself

What are you holding onto? 

When you empty yourself of grudges, hidden pain, unsaid words, and suppressed fears, something happens. You free yourself of emotional weight. 

This requires you to be stripped down, incredibly vulnerable, and completely truthful with yourself and others. Why with others? Well, we often lose sight of who we are because we hide ourselves from others. 

To be seen is to empty ourselves of all conditioning, of all “should be’s”, of all fears, of all self-doubt, of all reservations about what others may think or say or do.  Relationship with ourselves is the starting point, but we need to overcome hiding that precious relationship when engaging in relationships with others. 

Emptying yourself creates space for truth, healing, love, and nurturing healthy, authentic relationships.

words on image: Michael Barata / image: Beata Ratusniak

Patience To Heal

Life is filled with joy and pain. And when we are joyous, we don’t want it to end. But when we are hurt, we lack patience for the healing process. We are closed off to recognizing that healing can take on many forms and be an experience of much diversity. Healing can be transformative and restorative. 

The not knowing is the challenge. When? How? 

Healing can be transformative in that your whole life changes AND your pain subsides. But healing can be restorative in that you gain a deeper understanding of the situation or person you feel hurt by. Your lessons help you  so that you can re-engage in a healthier, more grounded way. 

Pain doesn’t always lead to loss or end. Healing can reveal the pain is resulting from misunderstanding. From that lesson, healing can better equip you with compassion, empathy, patience to listen. 

Healing can lead to new beginnings. 

words on image: Michael Barata / image: Ümit Bulut

What Are You Telling Yourself?

Are you aware of the dialogue you spin in your head?

Are you rehashing a painful, past experience?

Are you doubting yourself?

Are you replaying somebody’s harsh judgment of you?

Are you what if’ing yourself into an oblivion?

Are you judging others?

Are you amplifying your fears and piggybacking them with anger?

Are you aware you can change all of that?

words + words on image: Michael Barata / image: Henry Be

Your Worth

You know what is special about you.

Go. Reconnect. As often as you forget.

all words + words on image: Michael Barata / image: Jessie Bowser

Your Inner Badass

Inside each of us is a badass. Our inner badass lives authentically. Loves boldly. Speaks confidently. 

To our inner badass, fear is something to overcome. Pain is the teacher and healing is the lesson. Vulnerability is an opportunity for growth. Our inner badass will only express our truth. 

What stops our inner badass? We do. We quiet it. We hide it. We ignore it. We deny it. We doubt it. 

No more. Give way to your inner badass.

words on image: Michael Barata / image: Mabel Amber

Heal From Within

We hurt. We endure painful experiences. We mourn. We resent. We express anger. We cry. We lament. We self-doubt. We feel exploited. We fear. 

Through all of those experiences, we can also heal. It may look and feel unattainable, but healing is the mindful, heartfelt, and soulful experience we can choose. That journey will be unique to YOU. 

Healing is an inner experience...and ever available to you. .

words on image: Michael Barata / image PhotoMIX Ltd

Begin With YOU

We can spend so much time and energy wondering what others are saying about us. If you’re not there, you’ll  never know the what, the intent, or even the sincerity. It’s ok to not know.

What you do have complete control over is your own self-dialogue and how you express yourself to the world. 

We tend to forget or hide ourselves in the curiosity of “the other.” Why? Because sometimes being you can be excruciatingly vulnerable and scary as hell. But it can also be magical, freeing, and healthy. Yes. It can be ALL of that and more if you choose it. 

Find yourself. Accept yourself. Love yourself. For all that is unique and beautiful about you. That all begins within you - not with the other.

words: Michael Barata / image: Leah Kelley

Where Do You Sit?

“It is important to expect nothing, to take every experience, including the negative ones, as merely steps on the path, and to proceed.” ~ Ram Das

We tend to experience life through our desires or expectations or emotions. This leads us to feeling anxious or frustrated or super elated. The thing is, life is life. Life, as complex as it may seem, simply happens. What we decide to label the experience as a result of our preconceptions or judgments is outside of what is. 

When we experience joy, we cling to it. When we experience hard times, we dwell on them. And yet, the moments happen(ed), whereas life happens. And life is only ever unfolding in the present. Your now is your life. 

Are you sitting in the past? Perhaps you pulled up a chair in the future. Maybe, just maybe, it's time have a seat, right here, right now, in the present moment.