Gratitude. It doesn't cost us a thing and it can be given for everything. Whether the situation is labelled good or bad - we can find threads which deserve our gratitude if we’re willing to look. Sometimes we cannot find it in the thread in that moment. Yet, if in that moment we quiet the voices in our head that want to be heard and demand sometimes to be heard thus quieting our mind and connect to breath we can speak then from the heart and find gratitude. This isn't always easy as the moment might be one that is pushing us, rubbing our rough edges and making us smoother. However sometimes in the "getting smoother" we can't find the gratitude. We don't understand the "why" but want to know “why”. Sometimes there isn't an answer to the "why" because the journey is a lifetime and we might not ever have it answered. We have to trust the "no answer" and find gratitude in that space. Sometimes it cannot come in that moment. We are buried too deep in the "story" and cannot find the strength to stop the story and take a breath. We feel that if we stop to find breath, to find gratitude we will lose momentum of the story and the power it holds. This too is okay, as if it's where we are at there is a learning in it too.
There are times when we need to "sit in the stew" as I call it. When a lesson needs us to sit patiently as it unfolds. Too often we are quick to get up and "run" and say it's over and we've walked what we needed. Sometimes the gift is in the sitting in the stew. The staying and letting the emotions wash over us. Allowing ourselves to feel and to heal in order to truly learn the lesson and move on. There's times when we run away too soon. If that's the choice we make it's not the wrong one, it just means the lesson will probably return in a different form. The hope is when it returns we have the awareness to see it for what it is and perhaps choose to sit in the stew and not run. Yet, if we run again it is just that and we have other things to learn before we can complete the lesson. This may sound vague, or even fluffy, but I challenge you to sit quietly with your breath and think back on the past year. Were there moments that challenged you? Did you run? Did you ‘sit in the stew’? Were you able to listen to your gut tell you whether to "go or stay"? Can you see the spaces where you found gratitude? Where you found frustration? Where you were tired? Where you were energized? The beauty in reflection is that we can see our strengths and weaknesses and find gratitude for them. We can understand more about ourselves and as we return to the present moment we can see if we are making the same choices or different ones. Are we telling ourselves stories to help continue the suffering or are we creating new chapters, possibly even new books.
We are all here to walk our journey and experience life. We build our beliefs, habits, and our foundation. Over the years we shed our skins as we grow and change. Gifts in all of these moments and to allow ourselves the ability to find these gifts a gift itself.
This past weekend I was called to ‘sit in the stew’ as the New Moon/Solar Eclipse beckoned my soul to take a cathartic break. Earlier this month I did an energy healing where I uprooted many things that just didn’t serve me anymore. It was a powerful healing session and I am still feeling the ripples of the effects. Normally I would have found time to do many activities over the weekend. Yet I was called to just sit and so I did just that. I wanted to write this blog, yet my hands felt tied and so I honoured that gut/soul calling and just sat. Here I am finishing my writing the day after and smiling as I had written a chunk of this prior but didn’t read it all again until today. I felt that inner giggle and validation as I read the words written about gratitude and sitting in the stew. See, I’d forgotten that I’d written all of that and smiled as I read the words knowing that’s exactly what I did yesterday.
I trust that you will be able to take away something from this week’s post. The waters of the ocean seemed to gently calm themselves for me and I trust that you too have felt this. That you are able to close out the second month of this year and find some space for the things you are grateful for. I know I’m drifting along peacefully today as I silently thank myself for honouring me and ‘sitting in the stew’. A long exhale of breath as I look forward to what’s to come. Sending much love and aloha, and thank you for your time and for drifting along with me again this week. I’m honoured to be sharing space with each and every one of you. Blessings; Mahalo; Thank you, Thank you, Thank you (head bowed and hands in prayer- Namaste) xxoo Jodi