Tag: Self-Compassion
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when you begin to feel again
when you begin to feel again when you begin to feel againWhen life is overwhelming,our wise bodies sometimes takean overdue breakand our obedient hearts and mindsfollow suit.Maybe it feels like fatigueor illnessor depressionor apathy.Everythingjustshutsdown.It all felt like too much,and it was.You were never meantto carry so much alone.And then, some time,there’s a little crack.Maybe it…
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unfiltered: dropping the inner commentary
“Above all, trust in the slow work of God. We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay. We should like to skip the intermediate stages. We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new. …Only God could say what this new spirit gradually forming within you…
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the invitation of our overwhelm: empathetic witnessing
a reflection, a poem, and a practice “Trauma is not what happens to us, but what we hold inside in the absence of an empathetic witness.” ―Peter A. Levine Content warning: depression, pregnancy loss, anxiety, grief For much of my life, my sensitivity has felt like moving through an ultra-bright, sunlit world without sunglasses. When…
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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.…