Listening That Heals

Each day I wake up and move through my morning routine. It’s incredibly valuable to me.

I sit on my meditation pillow, and something beautiful occurs. (My meditation generally isn't about quieting the mind - it's about honing it.) Often I sit there and settle into my body, cultivating love and joy for the parts of my body, heart, mind, and spirit…and a feeling or sensation will stand out to me - it's ready to be listened to.

Sometimes the listening goes quite deep and shows me something I’ve never seen before.

A week or so ago, that happened. So I listened to the young part of myself that showed up.

For hours afterward, I could still feel the achy rawness from it. 

And guess what? As I left my morning sanctuary still feeling it, I wanted it to go away. I wanted to hide from it. I wanted to distract myself from it!

Despite welcoming it in, despite inviting it up, despite cultivating authentic gratitude for it…I still wanted it to leave me alone once my timer went off.

That doesn’t support healing and wholeness. 

So I allowed it to be there. I gave it room. I spoke encouragingly to it:

"It’s okay, I’m here for you. I'm sorry for resisting you. I’ve got room for you. Come on in. Come on up. You’re safe with me. Take your time. As long as you want, you can hang here with me.”

I asked my mind to quiet down so I could really be with the experience within me. And it did. (The intellect has said nearly all there is to say about the unhealed parts of us. The best growth is when my spirit, my Self, is able to engage with it patiently and authentically.)

And I went about my day handling the tasks of the day while giving room to this part.

The whole experience was a gift to both this part of me and my Self. 

And, as usual, the discomfort faded, replaced by a deep sense of peace, joy, and love for all of it.

I invite you to give any of your own parts such comfort and room to relax within you today. In your relationship with this part, there’s nothing you need do, there’s nothing that needs to happen, there’s nothing you need to figure out, there’s nothing you need to fear, there’s nothing you need to fight.

There’s simply our experience of it and our willingness to give it space and compassionate attention - unconditional listening.

In the space of that gentle, loving, and unconditional listening, healing occurs.

Much Love. ❤️

(As always, human-written.)