Force of Nature?!

What comes up for you when you think of a ‘force of nature’? What images, thoughts, people, feelings, sensations arise for you?

Do you think of yourself as a force of nature?

I do! You, me and each and every being on this planet is. Which means you are important, you matter, you make a difference. How you show up and what you do has an impact.

I didn’t always think this. In fact, my core wounds are that ‘I don’t matter’, ‘I am not important’ and ‘I am not wanted’. It has taken a lot of deep digging and hard work to overcome these deep-seated beliefs (and there’s still some work to do), especially since they come from not just my own childhood trauma but also from one of my legacy wounds. I inherited them from my Jewish roots. My grandmother spent 5 years in a concentration camp not sure if she would survive. I can’t even imagine what went through her mind. Understandably, she refused to talk about it. She suffered from chronic depression most of her life. So have I.

Some say that our core wounds become our greatest gifts. I think that can be true, if we do the work to undo who and what we think we are to discover who and what we truly are.

Most of us suffer from trauma on some level, either personally or inherited or both. We can let the trauma run our lives, dictate how we act and what we believe, or we can embrace the fact that we are a force of nature that can consciously choose how we live and what influence we have.

I have come to experience that the most powerful way to awaken to our truest nature is through radical self-love. Yes, the most lasting and profound healing happens in relationship with another, yet without the self-love to allow it in, it’s pointless or at best temporary. It won’t stick. We’ll find a way to negate or sabotage it. I’ve certainly done a lot of that over the years. ;-) How about you?

But maybe you’ve been told and come to believe, like I had, that self-love, self-care is selfish, self-serving. I even received an article from someone who cares about me, outlining how self-care is an indulgence that can’t be afforded.

“Self-care is never a selfish act-it is simply good stewardship of the only gift I have, the gift I was put on earth to offer to others.” ~Parker Palmer

I believe that self-love and self-care are a responsibility so that we can be a more ‘beneficial force’ in the world. If I am hating on myself, I get cranky and mean and I am of no good to anyone. In fact, it’s best if people got out of my way all together. Talk about a force of nature! LOL! Can you relate?

Just take a moment to get still, go inside, take some deep breaths and imagine what would life be like if you were radically loving yourself. What would be different? What would you change? How do you think it would affect your relationships?

Imagine my delight when I recently heard Brene Brown interview Sonya Renee Taylor who talked about The Power of Radical Self-Love and that it is actually political activism. With my heart breaking from social injustice, systemic racism, climate crisis, rising divisiveness and so much more, Taylor’s movement excited and fed that part of me that has been wanting to step more into activism, but not have to fight against something. I am a lover not a fighter, after all. I believe in the Hawaiian principle, ‘energy flows where attention goes.’

Wow! You mean I can continue to be all about love and have a global impact? Amazing, right?!

Sonya Renee Taylor in her book, The Body Is Not An Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love invites us to, “Foster a world of radical unapologetic self-love which translates to radical human action in the service of a more just and compassionate world.”

I have heard her call, which is also a calling from deep within in my own soul. This is the work I am here to do, within myself and with others.

Will you join us?...

Awaken the Sacred Healer Within