My Heart Hurts

"I feel fragile and sad. What shall I do?"  Responses vary but many people have a natural response of putting the hurt behind them, looking for the positive way forward, and getting on with life. That's a great capacity and skill to have. There are times when parking our current feelings and getting on with life is crucial. However, anything overused can be problematic. An alternative, and one not so commonly espoused, is to take some time and be a friend to the part of you that is hurting, or angry, or confused, or whatever it is, and love that part. Ask that part of you what it needs, what it is afraid of, and as a loving friend deeply listen. Loving yourself in those moments of distress and intimately connecting with your feelings and needs, can have potent and lasting healing power, and is a fabulous means to building a meaningful relationship with yourself. It has an integrative benefit where the often shamed and isolated part(s) of you learn to trust, connect and be with the rest of you. Resilience and power can develop more fully in that environment.

This blog site is being replaced by http://www.appreciatethefog.com/wordpress1/

Stepping Into New Places

Every time you step into something new there are potential threats and opportunities. There is the unknown that may stir up fears within you, and also there are the hopes of something worthwhile, else you would be unlikely to venture forward. Stepping into a new space is a new birth and carries vulnerability, the uncertainty and the ignorance of what exists beyond the place you’re at. There can be a significant sense of aloneness and fragility like a butterfly emerging from its’ cocoon. At such times it is great to be companioned by true friends, those who you trust and who offer a degree of safety and prior experience as you learn to grow and expand in the new world. And when you cannot find someone to trust, then is a truly good time to feel a strong connection with your own self, and be open to trusting your capacity to cope with whatever may come your way, even if you have little reason to know how you will manage.

Want Authenticity? Be Authentic

In this crazy rat race we live in it can all too often feel superficial and divorced from reality. You might find yourself alone and adrift when surrounded by many people clamouring to ‘connect’ with you. Where is the real connection? Where is authenticity? What and who can you trust? Start with yourself. Forget your personality and all the learned baggage and protection you have developed over your lifetime. Build and strengthen the relationship you have with yourself, and allow others to see and experience the real you. That can be a scary and highly rewarding journey. Once initiated life and expansion becomes increasingly available, rather than contraction and effort of maintaining a façade. As you become more willing and able to present yourself authentically then you’ll find you draw into your life more people who are authentic with you.

Going Live With My New Site

If you have ever wanted to experience fog, try installing a new application as part of the process. It has largely gone well, with the installation of WordPress running smoothly, settings seemingly going well, and then I imported blog posts from my previous blog site. They all show up in the list of pages. Then I go to the site to view as a visitor might…

The fog is building. All I get is error messages for every link I select. The titles of imported posts are showing, but they all produce errors when clicked. Hmm. Frustration. Anxious because of other matters to deal with imposing time constraints, and and sense of spaciousness amidst all that because no one will find this blog or its errors as I have not told anyone it exists.

Finding a way of relaxing and reducing pressure is a great way of reducing the intensity of self-imposed fog, something I remind myself of when I am wise enough to check in with the part of me that knows. Time to post this and then calmly, spaciously do some problem solving. Finding my way out of this fog will be a pleasure, and I will be a step closer to a fully functioning web site.

My new site is www.appreciatethefog.com.