by Nancy Bragg
I move and stretch my body.
I replenish myself by making time for spiritual connection.
I integrate my inner life and my outer life.
I release control and welcome unknowingness. I accept and trust “what is.”
I slow down, prioritize, and pace myself to sustain my energy.
I am peaceful and at ease.
I let my life unfold. I live in my “more time” while dying.
I remain open and receptive to insights and other perspectives.
I allow myself to be angry, when something anger-worthy triggers me.
I respond from my heart and head, rather than react without reflection.
I claim my inherent worth and dignity. I respect the worth and dignity in others.
I grieve my loss of self-worth and self-love, when perfectionism sets me up for self-contempt.
I am loveable. I practice self-acceptance and self-love every day. I accept love from others. I love others and work to be in right relationship with all, including the Divine.
I let go of who people (including me) think I am supposed to be, and relax into who I am.
I notice what makes me come alive and do more of that.
I show up and am real. I am honest, down-to-earth, and let my true self be seen.
The sky is calling me again.
It’s an invitation of numinous sorts. The evening’s oranges blend with the pinkest pinks. While morning’s halos of grays serendipitously let me think.
Not ordinary, they seem to say. You’re okay being who you are.
Clearing space to be whatever it is that asks you to explore.
Such as essential truths, known from the beginning of time, punctuated with synchronistic incantations. To me, these feelings are reassuring as much as life’s stages mirror the seasons.
Winter swells below the sea. Spring lights lightly on lemon-green leaves. Summer’s sorcery fires her fiery veracity. Autumn channels foliage likened to a soul’s key.
And as if this isn’t enough there’s always more. The abundance of intricate interpersonal connections which stymie, invigorate, and titillate helping us to see how the facets of our totality are an epic holiness revealing our inner profundity.
Participants’ Reflections
Thank you. That was so rich. I loved the last line of the poem. I am going to look forward to rereading it. And I loved your affirmations. I think you should gather them together with your soul collage images and make a book out of them.
In order to write the affirmations, I told myself I’m just going to brainstorm. I put things down as they came. I started with easy things. I did the first two just coming here. Then the hard things, challenging things, important things started coming to me about priorities and commitments and aspirations. When I put them in the form of an affirmation, that I am affirming that I am acting as if it’s already true, it is amazingly profound. What came to me during the meditation is another one, that I allow myself to be imperfectly human. It’s so obvious in my process of doing this, that that’s an additional one.
Thank you. I absolutely loved the ending and the line about essential truths being punctuated with synchronistic incantations. If I could just live in that space all the time, then I would be in serenity. Today, I am living in such fear about a project I am working on which will occur tomorrow. I feel like the whole project is depending on me. I am feeling it will be absolute chaos and it will be my fault. I have such fear. I am grateful I was able to hear your sentence about acceptance. I accept and trust what is, that’s all it can be. The project will occur and I will be in that space and then it will be over and what ever happens, is just going to be. And it is. I am doing the best I can. Everyone who is helping is doing the best they can. I appreciate the reminder of the affirmation. From the blog the other day, it was said that it takes repetition. To really reprogram your brain and to really believe it and be in that space, it takes repetition. I accept myself and I am doing the best I can. Thank you for letting me share.
We enfold you with love and trust and affirmation of your skills and affirmation of a greater love that is working with you for your project. Our hearts love you and care about you. I offer another affirmation from Julian of Norwich, “All shall be well and all manner of things shall be well.” Whatever happens, this Earth will keep turning and we will all be connected. We are with you.
All shall be well. Thank you for your affirmations. I found, as I was listening to them, that I was reminded that I forget to do affirmations. I forget they are in my toolbox. I was a bit intimated by your affirmations. They seem so deep and challenging. I really appreciated your adding the one on the end. My affirmation was that ‘it’s okay that you are not that person.’ We are all at the place where we are. I am human, I am who I am and that’s okay. And all shall be well.
You wouldn’t believe what it’s like to be me. When I started as a teacher, I expected to be as good as a teachers who had taught for 30 years. It happens all the time. It’s just who I am, and it’s excruciating.
Thank you for sharing that. I know it’s ego, but it’s hard to let go of how other people perceive me and let go of that. Thank you.
This thing about ego and wanting to be acceptable to others and well-regarded. I’ve always strived towards that. I want to look respectable and behave respectable. I received a group message today and it felt like an arrow criticizing me. I’ve never received anything like that and I was offended. I went to my pendulum and asked whether I should respond or not. The pendulum said no, don’t respond. The affirmation that helped me with this is ‘I allow myself to be angry if it is an anger-worthy topic.’ I feel hurt and angry, and I can be angry to allow my emotions pass through. But in terms of giving it time and follow up and entanglement, if it is an anger-worthy topic. What an important phrase. You had another one ‘I am loveable.’ That was a nice island for me to go and own today. Another I heard that will help me stay in balance and regain it ‘I notice what gives me energy and do more of it.’ These are rich. Lastly, I could envision a large retreat space with a long road with messages. There’s a Buddhist retreat that does this with its tenets. I can picture these affirmations along the way helping a person regain inner stability. Thank you.
I find for myself when I’m feeling anger and I know it’s not appropriate to share it with the person because it’s not anger-worthy, I write it down for myself. The anger will stay there until I get rid of it somehow. The best way is to privately write it out in my journal, no matter how ridiculous and absurd it sounds. It lets the anger go through my body instead of hitting my body. Or take a salt bath.
It’s important to honor our emotions. Like my fear.
I know I don’t always have the emotional intelligence to choose the right way to say something that I want to get across. Because even in anger, it is possible I can present it in such as way that is instructive and not hurtful.
I find if I start a sentence “You are perfectly fine just the way you are, this is not about you. I’m experiencing this…’ It separates it so that I am not blaming the other person. It’s a great way to talk with someone about an emotion I’m feeling.
Sharing today was good for me and others. It’s amazing this process, this group. We could take each one of those affirmations and do a morning meditation on each one.
I never knew the definition of affirmation. I knew I liked them. Acting as if it’s already true. What a tool to use. Especially this morning when I got my feelings hurt.
Thank you all for joining us. Thank you for sharing such insights which triggered such reflections and emotions. Thank you all for being here today. I hope you all have a gentle, blessed day.
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