I enjoy how a lot of people choose one word for their year ahead. That’s never been my goal. I don’t want to feel limited to one word.
Because life is so fleeting and fluctuating, sometimes one thing is just not enough. I want to feel it all. That’s terrifying and exhilarating. Some feelings are incredible as others are incredibly difficult. But I do, I want to be present for it all, even when it hurts.
To be present simultaneously makes me sad as well as incredibly grateful. It makes me feel excited and extremely happy as much as fearful and concerned. You see, this past holiday season was a very difficult one for me. And, I am taking away a lot from it; the good and the bad.
AND!… This is how, after some self-contemplation, self-inquiry, moments of silence, moments of pure daydreaming, and much reading of “The Marginalian” publication by Maria Popova, I have arrived at a place of what I hope you will offer yourself this year.
*Read The Marginalian article I was reading HERE.
Truth be told, offer this to yourself this year and every year. This day and every day. This moment and every moment!
Offer yourself compassionate attention.
Mary Oliver said that “Attention without feeling…. Is only a report”. I feel this is true. Especially when I follow her quote with another one of hers that I have since memorized because it means so much to me:
“Attention is the beginning of devotion.”
– Mary Oliver.
So, for 2023, offer yourself compassionate attention!
Perhaps then, you will…
Amaze yourself.
Remember who you are.
Know what you’re made of.
See how cute you are.
Notice how sweet you are.
Discover something new about yourself.
Support yourself to take that risk that excites you!
Love yourself.
Let yourself cry deep and hard.
Watch yourself bloom.
Acknowledge how you have grown.
Look back on how far you’ve come.
Get excited about what’s to come!
Daydream with your inner child!
Run wild.
Make a mess, laugh, then clean it up; watch every part of the journey.
Observe your thoughts.
Listen to your heart.
Watch your breath.
And, ask who you are.
Get to know yourself for who you are now, not yesterday or tomorrow, but right now.
Who is that person, that whistler*(read poem below)?
Perhaps Mary Oliver was attributing this poem to her Love, but I invite you to read it to yourself. Who are you? Who is That Being within you that is whistling and surprising you in the most incredible ways? Have you paid compassionate attention lately? Start right now!
THE WHISTLER
By: Mary Oliver
“All of a sudden she began to whistle. By all of a sudden
I mean that for more than thirty years she had not
whistled. It was thrilling. At first I wondered, who was
in the house, what stranger? I was upstairs reading, and
she was downstairs. As from the throat of a wild and
cheerful bird, not caught but visiting, the sounds war-
bled and slid and doubled back and larked and soared.
Finally I said, Is that you? Is that you whistling? Yes, she
said. I used to whistle, a long time ago. Now I see I can
still whistle. And cadence after cadence she strolled
through the house, whistling.
I know her so well, I think. I thought. Elbow and ankle.
Mood and desire. Anguish and frolic. Anger too.
And the devotions. And for all that, do we even begin
to know each other? Who is this I’ve been living with
for thirty years?
This clear, dark, lovely whistler?”
If you would like more on this topic, here are a few more past blogs to read, inspire, reconnect you to YOU, and ground you in your self worth and heart:
*Mary Oliver quote, mudra, and embodiment practice in this lion heart of a blog! Read here
*Meeting the home of your heart. Read here.
*How Hanuman is symbolic of aspects of yourself. Read here.
*Surrender and Being in Life. Read here
All my love,
Shawna
Breathe and Believe.