Love songs

We're close. So when their song randomly came on the radio, I started to cry. Her divorce touches me deeply. And I realized that I'm mourning it, too. So I cried in the car that ugly cry that makes other drivers wonder about me. Then, commercials interrupted my sobbing and my sad flow. I dried my tears and kept driving suddenly noticing how beautiful the day's sunshine illumined everything and made me smile. But then, Phil Collins' Against All Odds came on and on came the water works again. So emotional.

By the time I arrived at my office, Sting's Fall Out was on the radio and I was ready to rock the day. The only sad thing remaining were my puffy eyes. What a moody drive. 

This drive reminds me of the fickle nature of feelings. I'm reminded how our thoughts influence our feelings as do what we listen to and focus on. Interruptions are necessary to calibrate our emotional state and our perspective. They help us not fall into loops of thought through which we make conclusions about life and our experience. We need to remember the passing nature of feelings so as to not affect our decisions with our mood of the moment. 

Today is a good day to find or create a pattern interrupt. Let's not allow emotions and feelings guide our decisions and outlook on life. Whether good or bad, feelings come and go and are easily affected by our environment and what we put our attention to. Let's notice something other than what is keeping us in our mood, especially when it doesn't make us feel good. Let's remember that, like love songs, feelings are not our reality, they can be changed, and they pass.

Image found at redbubble.com.

© Millicent Maldonado and www.soulcerer.com. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. All rights reserved.

Breakthrough

The first time she sat across from me she was distraught, overwhelmed, and despaired. It has been almost two years now since I started working with her. I had not seen her this healthy, this light, this hopeful in all this time. She broke through.

What she did was both remarkable and nothing at all. She stopped striving. For a woman who has employment, educational and economic disadvantages, this meant shifting her focus. She started by giving thanks for little things. Then she started making different choices, starting with what she chose to think. When she was tired, she thought of the wonderful reasons why she was tired. When her paycheck ran out, she became glad that she was able to pay her bills and buy food. When office politics turned into drama, she reminded herself of the temporary nature of her job and its role as a stepping stone to her goal of entrepreneurship. Nothing around her changed. She did. Her change is extraordinary. She is happy and is achieving her goals, all the while feeling good.

Today is a good day to break through ourselves. We can do this by acting in harmony with and not against ourselves, ignoring the histrionics, paying attention to our deepest desires and not the obstacles, focusing away from grievances and into gratitude. Breakthroughs happen when we break through this idea that we have built of ourselves out of other people’s ideas and expectations, when we make decisions bravely, honestly, and hopefully. We break through when we break away from the old thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors that have kept us stuck, bored, helpless, hopeless, down, dull, and mediocre. We can break through by being mindful and taking life with conscious awareness and responsibility. Breaking through is a shift that takes us from conflict and turmoil to joy and peace, and can make us feel good, happy, and fulfilled.

'Mandala Peacock - Bird of Hope' - Art Print found at spectronium.com.

© Millicent Maldonado and www.soulcerer.com. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. All rights reserved.

Fall

Fall. Not literally. But do take a moment to fall into that feeling, into that which you're avoiding to feel. Take a moment to see it, look at it, acknowledge it, greet it. Feel it. Fall into it. Breathe.

Take a moment to breathe slowly, deeply. Fall into what worries you, what is making you sad, what is making you anxious, what is exciting you, what you don't understand, what scares you. Fall slowly knowing that you're safe. Breathe very slowly into it. Exhale very, very slowly.

Breathe slowly into the feeling. Sit with it. Exhale. Breathe in and make no judgment. It is what it is. Exhale. You're safe.

Fallen into the feeling, breathe in and realize that it has not overcome you. You're holding it. Breathe out slowly. Realize that it is just a feeling.

Breathe in and breathe out as you normally would for a few moments, fallen, holding that feeling.

Now take a slow breath in. As you slowly exhale, let the feeling fall away from you. Feel yourself come back up, lighter. Take a couple more deep breaths in and out. As leaves of fall, what doesn't serve you falls away.

I hope this meditation serves you.

Image found at society6.com.

© Millicent Maldonado and www.soulcerer.com. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. All rights reserved.