Strength
Is to own
who I am,
what I like,
what I did,
what I do and
what I don't want to.
Strength
is to own
both the
truth and the
dreams and
sit quietly
with these
without apology
or need
for validation.
I am mixing it up a little this month and would like to give a warm welcome to my guest blogger Dalyce from December Studio who I asked to share her thoughts on what it is to nurture strength.
“You are the sky. Everything else—it’s just the weather.” —Pena Chodron
Growing up, the world taught me that emotions are a sign of weakness and inherently shameful. In adulthood I’ve grown to understand that emotions are the language of the human trifecta—mind.body.spirit. Emotions are energetic guides, the messengers of navigating life, and they must be acknowledged, looked at, cared for and then let go of. If we ignore, repress or judge our feelings we hold the energy in limbo and it becomes poison for our whole selves. Strength and resilience comes from working with your emotions instead of against them.
Self care is a hot topic these days and is promoted as treating yourself to that sweet coffee drink or glass of wine or new outfit. I think this is definitely ok sometimes, but true, sustainable self-care is not about contriving a temporary sense of ease + feel good vibes. It’s about digging deep into what feels tricky in order to sustain a core of ease and live in the flow of high vibrations regularly.
In my art practice, my internal self doubt gremlins surface on the regular. At the beginning of my journey these little fiends were nasty. They caused me to want to give up every day. My love for creativity, however, drove me forward and through that dedication I began to look my nasty gremlins in the eye and ask what they were trying to show me. They were just the relics of past conditioning wanting to be brought to light. When they’d show up I would counterbalance them with words of encouragement and love until eventually they weakened and shrunk. I began a system of emotional self care.
Very recently I started a focused meditation practice whereby I talk kindly to my body, my heart, by mind and my soul. I thank each of them for what they’ve given me to get through this life. I also visualize my family and envision sending them clear blue light energy to surround and support them. I send them gratitude for the love and support they show to me and others in life. It’s my form of prayer and has proven to be a very helpful way to soften my emotional responses toward myself and my loved ones during the hard times of life. By starting everyday in gratitude for these gifts, my well for grace grows deeper and fuller and my ability to navigate through difficult emotions gets stronger.
By embracing our emotions, owning our quirks, accepting what we love for what it is, allowing mistakes and creating healthy boundaries—we build emotional strength and resilience. Gratitude for what life brings forward guides us into courage, confidence, and personal power. It also allows us to accept others more easily which diminishes judgement and fear-based thinking—and, side benefit, helps us accept ourselves more fully too.
Emotions are not the enemy, but the key to understanding who we are, what we want and how we intend to live our lives. They are like the weather: changing, growing,building, diminishing. They come, they go and they help us to grow.
What ways do you build emotional strength and resilience?