BLUE SKY VINE
SOFTLY


I talked with someone the other day while I was in the midst of an uncomfortable situation that my mind would not let go of. I was not angry, exactly, but I was characterizing myself as someone not as kind or understanding as I wanted to be. The person suggested that I approach ’myself’ SOFTLY, as though I were talking to a child who had spilled her milk. There was no need for a scolding or a reprimand for such an easy mistake.  

I immediately saw myself as that little girl who had spilled her milk (quite by accident) and with the SOFT words coming my way, I immediately relaxed and felt the ‘accident’ as just that . . .an accident. No need for guilt, cruelty, pressure or anything other than UNDERSTANDING about what it was . . .an accident.

Somehow in my years of growing up, I ‘took on’ accidents or mistakes as being my fault and it left me with a feeling of failure, clumsiness, or something where I felt shame. I see how there are times I repeat that pattern and feel . . . ugh.

These feelings and experiences are extremely hard to re-direct unless we know we can feel COMPASSION and UNDERSTANDING for ourselves. These situations are because we are HUMAN and down through the ages we are wanting only to please others but to do a really good job of ‘it.’ It truly is like learning a foreign language, especially a language that has more than one meaning for each word.

As she spoke to me about ‘SOFTLY’, I could actually feel a golden warmth flood my body in a sort of bath for my soul in light and loving kindness. It was indeed palpable. It seemed that my whole life passed before me in all the ways I misunderstood people and situations and addressed myself quite harshly. Name calling particularly comes to mind. From that moment of great incite and relief I have watched myself very carefully how I speak to myself and about others.

When someone is ill, hurt or confused it is needed to be kind, compassionate, understanding (even if we don’t completely) and RESPOND to ourselves or another SOFTLY. Think of how you’d respond if a baby kitten or puppy or pet got hurt or abused. We can think of ourselves as that fragile pet that deserves the SOFT approach. It matters not if we are angry at the time, we can still respond SOFTLY if we take 10 seconds to breathe and ‘become’ that injured person or pet.

This may take some practice but isn’t this the way you’d want someone to respond to you? I certainly would. The person injured is YOU on one level because we are all the same HUMAN-WISE. Living here at the VILLAGE brings that home to me every single day! I’m ever so grateful every single day that I can do what I do and I APPRECIATE the effort that so many of us make just to go to a meal.


SOFTLY, SOFTLY
THE BREEZE BLOWS
THE RAIN FALLS
THE HAND REACHING
OUT TO US
TO HELP US ON OUR
WAY.



BLESSINGS

Comments

  1. patrice939October 1, 2018 at 7:20 AM

    Thank you Julanne! That was so helpful. Love, Patrice

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
PLEASURES BLEEDING HEART When I look around the VILLAGE, I find more and more scenes, activities, support and people that give me PLEASURE. It’s so easy for me to experience new aspects of my life at the Village. So much is available here and I’m open to more adventures everyday. There are several activities I want to try. One PLEASURE I have done is watercolor painting and I intend to do more of that. The activities I enjoy every week are exercise classes, swimming, gardening, meeting new people, writing my blog, teaching classes, my garden and generally enjoying each day to see what comes up. Every night when I get into bed at night I give thanks for a most rewarding and surprising day!  Remember, you can rotate activities, or stagger them and you can rest whenever you want to! I love this new attitude I have adopted because I no longer fret and plan each day to the fullest. I derive much more satisfaction from being free and spontaneous a great deal of the ti...
Read more
Image
Easter Lily RISING We all know the feeling of RISING; An uplift, an awakening, an experience of   a breakthrough and the opening of the heart. Even thinking about the sun RISING can be an uplift. It is also the Phoenix RISING out of the ashes. That is such a powerful image for me. I have just experienced a RISING, a huge avalanche of experiences that have been profound. My daughter and her fiancé visited me that was wonderful. It was a sort of mission that we were all on that was truly amazing.   I also sold my car to a very lovely woman that appreciates it and it was so effortless! As I was about to leave an appointment Friday, the power went out from the storm. I could not access the Village to come get me, nor Uber. I met a woman who was so wonderfully friendly and kind and offered me a ride back to the Village. I was stunned. We talked like we had known each other for years. We had lunch and have become friends. Again effortless. Somewhere in the mi...
Read more
Image
SUNSET ENDINGS GREETINGS EVERYONE! It feels like an age since I wrote my blog, two weeks, to be exact! I could not get on the internet, finally woke up and called ATT & got new password, who knew? I did write a blog last week. It was PRESENTS. When we give PRESENTS, give our PRESENCE too. I have been in a quiet mood during the holidays, thinking about this year, many other things. NOTICING how everything CHANGES new experiences, LETTING GO of old DESIRES, ATTITUDES, HABITS and THINGS. My, but it does feel good. I’m very AWARE how different my life is here at the VILLAGE. Life is much easier without the responsibilities I had before ( and I wasn’t even working)! So many services here to make all our lives easier and more pleasant.   I have let go of are my herb garden. After hurting my leg last October, I just lost the interest, besides the dreadful heat. It was easy, actually, to LET IT GO. I was surprised. It shows me that when something is over it is o...
Read more