Tag: Self-Compassion
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the wisdom of midlife fatigue
“Lindsay, when you run, you FLY!” The memory of my father’s words to me, 35 years ago or more, makes me smile. It also seems a little laughable now to think that my young, fit dad would have complimented the athletic prowess of his least athletic child. Even now, while he is in his 70s,…
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this is why it hurts
on belonging, fragmentation, and integration: a pondering, a poem, & a practice “If contemplation is about penetrating illusion and touching reality, why do we commiserate with others when they tell us about an experience that’s ‘disillusioned’ them? ‘Oh, I’m so sorry,’ we’ll say. ‘Please, let me comfort you.’ Surely it would be better to say,…
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living the questions
“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot now be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the…
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how to sustain work rooted in love
For our work in the world to be grounded, sustainable, & rooted in love, we must continually attend to our inner work. Inner work includes healing from white supremacy, patriarchy, ableism, homophobia, etc (systems of oppression harm oppressed & oppressors in different ways). Examples of inner work:
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fear is (not) a liar
Fear is (not) a liarBy Lindsay L. O’ConnorI used to try to divorce myself from inconvenient feelingsthat seemed to:- stand in the way of my goals- threaten my connection with people I loved or depended on- make me uncomfortable.Those poor dears!They cowered in the dark, shoved down, covered up,sealed tight by shame, guilt, and anxiety.Do…
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feast: a promise full, filled.
feast: a promise full, filledby Lindsay L. O’ConnorYou put this hunger in my belly,then promised me a feast.Sometimes the hunger gnawsas though it might consume meand I wonder if I will ever be satisfied.Then, I have these moments when time slows downand suddenly I see the banquet table set before me.I hear You say,“Take. Eat.…
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unedited
What would you say if you stopped editing yourself? Not in a public forum, but just alone with your Self, and maybe even with God. Part of my deconstruction has been finding the safety to stop editing myself in what I share with God. I used to be so bound up in behaving correctly and…
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free play
Free PlayWhat would you do if you weren’t afraid? Those dear protectorsonly want to keep us safebut sometimes, they hem us in, behind and before, so our little world shrinkssmaller and smallerand we can’t see a way out anymore. Many times, what they want most in the world is to be heard, seen, acknowledged, validated.…
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spill
If you took off the lidthat was sealed so tightly,I wonder what would spill out?Would the contents burst forthlike a geyser shooting up,or would something tightly coiledfinally have the room to spring,air filling the long-compressed spacesso that at last it could take upall the space it was designed to occupy?Or would it be a slow…
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Enneagram Work + Contemplative Practices
The Enneagram describes 9 ways we deny reality.Enneagram work involves naming our patterned ways of denying reality, noticing them (with compassion) in action, & discovering how they keep us from fulfilling our core needs & desires. While Enneagram work helps name and observe the ways we deny reality, contemplative practices give us tools to practice…
Lindsay L. O'Connor 