Start close in - taking a self-compassion break 💗

 
Start close in. Start with kindness.

“We waste so much energy trying to cover up who we are when beneath every attitude is the want to be loved and beneath every anger is a wound to be healed and beneath every sadness is the fear that there will not be enough time… Our challenge each day is not to get dressed to face the world but to unglove ourselves so that the doorknob feels cold and the car handle feels wet and the kiss goodbye feels like the lips of another being soft and unrepeatable.” - Mark Nepo, from The Book of Awakening

I’ve been spent the past 10 days on a silent meditation retreat (at home!) “ungloving” myself to feel what’s real and alive. To pause, listen inwardly, and be as kind and gentle as possible with whatever called for my attention underneath my protective coverings. With nothing to do but be, there was no shortage of tough stuff to explore (especially in these intense times!). The familiar stories of being deeply flawed, undeserving, unworthy of love and connection until I’m “perfect.”

I’ve realized anew how easy it is to forget the truth of who we are – our innate goodness and belonging. It’s truly a tragedy how much time we spend trying to cover up our insecurity and be what we think others want us to be. As Galway Kinnell writes, “sometimes it is necessary to reteach a thing its loveliness.”

I always find it helpful to remember our shared humanity: We all have messy lives and carry wounds of not feeling loved, accepted, seen, understood, and safe to varying degrees.

As someone who’s never felt that I fit neatly into any one community, I love this reminder by Sebene Selassie: “Weirdos. Will. Slay. Because not fitting in to any one community is a super power. But only if you choose to fit into yourself first.” (here’s a beautiful example of what that can look like )

Fitting into ourselves first takes self-acceptance and self-compassion. We start close in and bring awareness and kindness to our difficult emotions, experience, and hurt parts. We tend to ourselves first so we can better widen the circles of our compassion outward and support others.

One powerful way to cultivate self-compassion is through the practice of RAIN. It invites us to be with our emotions and actual lived experience with mindfulness and compassion. The acronym RAIN stands for:

  1. Recognize: Seeing clearly what's going on and how we are stuck inside an experience;

  2. Allow: Creating space to be with the experience just as it is;

  3. Investigate: Moving from the story and beliefs to getting in touch with the actual lived experience, with kindness; and

  4. Nurture: Offering kindness inwardly.

Here's a ~16 min guided RAIN practice.

I let it RAIN over and over again during the retreat and found more spaciousness, freedom, and a deep sense of love and belonging.

May you always remember your loveliness. And if you don't believe it, I'll believe it for you.

With love,

Sarah-Marie

 

What's the next best step you can take? 👣

 
Taking the next best step.jpg

Happy New Year! We’ve officially graduated from 2020. Maybe you’re feeling tired, relieved, sad, grateful, hopeful, or anything in between. I know 2020 has pushed me to my edge many times. So many of us have experienced loss and hurt this past year – I hope you’re creating space for what you need right now.

2020 was an extraordinary year: from the promise of starting a new decade, to the pandemic, to rapidly shifting how we live, work, and connect, to reflecting on and reckoning with systemic racism, to grappling with record-breaking natural disasters, to experiencing a divisive US election – with many big and small moments in between.

It has stripped us of our “normal” ways and unearthed so much that needed tending on an individual and collective level. It has broken us open to create new possibilities for how we live, work, and relate to each other and the planet. It has made some things simpler and others more complex. It has invited us to consider what truly matters.

Upon reflecting on 2020, I wanted to share four (of many) lessons and big questions I’ll be carrying into 2021 below. I welcome your thoughts, reflections, and living some of these questions alongside each other.

I’m deeply grateful for you and this community of wildly curious, purpose-driven, and kind people. Thank you for reading and your support. I hope 2021 brings more joy and ease than difficulty for you.

With love and gratitude,
Sarah-Marie

Turning the Page on 2020 with Four Lessons & Big Questions

1. Embrace our shared humanity.

While 2020 was the most physically isolating year of my life, it has also shown me how interconnected and interdependent we truly are. While I’ve intellectually known that we’re both separate and not, 2020 gave me an embodied sense of our shared humanity. We all experienced difficulty and hurt to some degree. We may have felt lonely and disconnected at times. And we all wanted safety, wellbeing, and connection for ourselves and loved ones. No matter what we go through, we are never alone in our experience. This knowing has given me comfort and allows me to access more kindness and compassion for myself and all beings.

How might compassion and kindness inform your actions in 2021?

2. We heal in relationship.

Most of us have our first experiences of hurt and trauma in relationship with others. And yet as social creatures, we also heal best in supportive relationship with others and ourselves. Our inner work and societal work are intertwined. We make up the communities and systems we’re a part of, and our actions matter and have ripple effects. 2020 has amplified a lot in our collective consciousness – from systemic racism, to polarization, to climate change, to collective trauma. We’ve got a lot to work with in 2021 and beyond.

To heal and address all that’s unjust and broken, we need to be in right relationship with ourselves, each other, and the earth. Reverend Jennifer Bailey said: “Relationships move at the speed of trust, but social change moves at the speed of relationships.” We need to recognize our shared humanity and meet each other across difference. May we remember that we’re all products of our conditioning and look for the goodness underneath. May we approach each other with respect and kindness in all of our interactions. May we honor and protect our planet.

What kind of context do you want to create for your relationships in 2021? What will most serve healing?

3. Give yourself permission to feel and be with. 

"'Free' is not free from feelings, but free to feel each one and let it move on, unafraid of the movement of life." - Jack Kornfield

2020 allowed me to experience the full range of difficult feelings. Fear visited often. As did Anxiety, Grief, Shame, Loneliness, and Anger. Maybe they came to see you as well. Whenever I resisted and turned away from the feeling, it just kept asking for my attention. It wanted to be seen and acknowledged for trying to protect me. Emotions have a beginning, middle, and end. Exhaustion happens when we get stuck in them - when we don’t complete the full cycle. When we fully allow what is to be here, we create space for our experience to change naturally.

For example, when we notice Fear (and associated negative thoughts), we can meet it with curiosity and explore our embodied experience of it. I often ask myself: What’s happening inside me right now? Can I be with this? Where do I experience Fear in the body? Then I try to stay with the changing sensations. I ask myself: What does the fearful part of me most need right now? And I extend kindness inwardly (and often place both hands on my heart to add a soothing touch). In this way, we can expand our capacity to be with more and more of life. We can be free to respond creatively instead of being reactive.

What do you need to give yourself permission to feel/be with in 2021?

4. Everything is workable.

2020 has humbled me. I’ve realized just how much is outside of my control. The year has changed plans for all of us and asked us to be creative and adaptable within new constraints. In my case, I tried settling in a new city while being physically isolated from others, adjusted to being in place after years of frequent travel and movement, adapted and moved all of my offerings online, …

I’ve realized that life becomes more workable when I don’t let the small, fear-based self run the show and make it all about myself. Every day, I affirmed my intention to let life use me well and be a contribution (inspired by my mindfulness meditation mentor). I've grown to trust that everything is an opportunity to grow and that we can pause and respond with intention no matter what happens.

We may not know the whole path, but life will always show us the next best step forward. We can trust in the self-generating mechanism of life. When in doubt, I’ve learned to go further in. Our body knows. We can take a moment to pause and sense how the whole of a life situation feels in us without judging or analyzing it. We can notice and cultivate our body’s innate “felt-sense” capacity—a subtle bodily sensation of a situation that lives somewhere between our conscious and unconscious mind. From this place, new awareness can emerge, and new perspectives and actions become possible.

What’s the next best step you can take in 2021?

 

Just before the dawn ⭐

 
Creating transformative change.jpg

Have things ever felt more uncertain? No-one knows how the coming week, month, and year will unfold. Amidst this uncertainty, I’ve been finding some solace and courage in a twelfth century Tibetan prophecy on the Shambhala Warrior as told by activist and scholar Joanna Macy (see video below).

The prophecy calls us to train in the tools of compassion and insight so we can dismantle the forces of division and destruction and bring about the more compassionate, equitable, and sustainable world we know is possible.

The darkest hour is right before the dawn.

I believe this moment calls for our moral imagination and sustained personal and collective action toward the kind of world we want to create – no matter what the coming week and months bring.

The first step of transformative change involves clearly seeing reality in this moment. If we resist the way things are, we cannot bring about positive change. Right now, we can let the grief, anger, anxiety move through and be aware of the thoughts and stories we hear and tell ourselves. What are you present to? What do you know to be true?

Second, grounded in reality, we can imagine a future of individual and collective wellbeing and the values we’d like to see in action. What do you stand for? How do you want to be? What kind of world do you want to pass on to future generations?

And third, we take micro-steps and collective action to move ourselves and others in the direction of that future. What's the next small step you can take? *Please vote if you can and haven’t already.*

It’s all a practice. We practice so we grow our capacity to meet whatever life brings with compassion and insight, with care and clarity. We practice so that we can imagine and create a more beautiful future, for all of life.

In this together for the long haul.

With love,

Sarah-Marie

Resources

Guided Meditations

 

Let's be human together 💗

 
Permission to be human

"'Free' is not free from feelings, but free to feel each one and let it move on, unafraid of the movement of life." - Jack Kornfield 

These are challenging and unsettling times in so many ways. You may feel like it’s all too much to be with at times. You may be done with 2020. You're not alone. 

And yet we’re alive in this moment right here. This moment is calling us to be with what is. Now is (still) worth showing up for.

The way out isn’t to run away or numb. What we resist persists.

Resistance is how we naturally protect ourselves against vulnerability. We cannot selectively numb though. When we block the grief, fear and anger, we also block the joy, love and our sense of aliveness. 

So give yourself permission to feel. Let the emotions move through you. They have a beginning, middle, and end. Exhaustion happens when we get stuck in them - when we don’t complete the cycle. 

May we let these times be a teacher of who we really are - of presence and love - and what matters most. Rumi wrote: “This turn toward what you deeply love saves you.”

What or who do you deeply love?

We’re all human. We’re all trying to figure it out. And we can’t do this alone. We all need spaces where we can be witnessed in our humanity. Where we can make room to be with the life that's here. 

What are these spaces for you? 

Below are a few resources that I hope might be supportive for you.

With love,

Sarah-Marie

Resources 

[PRACTICES] 

Thanking Your Emotions 

When you notice a difficult emotion arising as you go about your day, you can stop, take a conscious breath, and say "Thank you for trying to protect me. Thank you for trying to take care of me. I am OK for now."
 

RAIN of Self-Compassion

Through the practice of RAIN, we can bring mindfulness and compassion to difficult emotions and experience. It invites us to be with our emotions and actual lived experience with self-compassion. The acronym RAIN stands for:

  • Recognize: Seeing clearly what's going on and how we are stuck inside an experience;

  • Allow: Creating space to be with the experience just as it is; 

  • Investigate: Moving from the story and beliefs to getting in touch with the actual lived experience, with kindness; and 

  • Nurture: Offering kindness inwardly. 

Here's a ~16 min guided RAIN practice.  
 

[POEM] 

Excerpt from "Go to the Limits of Your Longing" by Rainer Maria Rilke
 
"Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.
Just keep going. No feeling is final.
Don’t let yourself lose me.

Nearby is the country they call life.
You will know it by its seriousness.

Give me your hand."

Guided Meditations 

 

Beware inner fake news 💭

 
Beware inner fake news.jpg

We live in such polarizing times. There's a saying that goes: "The world is divided into those who think they're right." And that's the whole saying. 
 
As I explored in last week’s letter, we all have an inner critic that focuses on what’s wrong with us, others, and our circumstances. I think of it as inner fake news.  
 
Believing “something is wrong with me” divides us against ourselves. Believing “something is wrong with you” divides us against each other. When we feel inferior or superior, we lose touch with the intrinsic worthiness of everyone. We are not connected to a deep sense of belonging to ourselves, each other, and nature.
 
In these divisive and challenging times, it’s so easy to fall into judgment. I catch myself every day.
 
Gandhi said: “Our beliefs create our thoughts. And our thoughts create our feelings. And the thoughts and feelings create our behavior. And our behavior creates our destiny.”

Our limiting and fear-based beliefs stem from our childhoods, generations past, and our culture. I grew up with a deeply held belief that once I become “perfect,” everything would be alright. I’d finally be worthy of love and belonging. I behaved in ways consistent with that belief (being in perfectionist mode) and ended up getting responses that reaffirmed it. So we get caught in a cycle – our beliefs lead to behaviors that strengthen them in turn.
 
The first step in freeing ourselves from limiting and fear-based beliefs is to become aware of them. When we notice we are getting caught in emotional reactivity, we can ask: What am I believing right now? And we can pause and bring awareness to what's actually going on in our lived experience.
 
We can realize that our limiting beliefs are real but not true. And we can find out who we really are underneath them. We can trust the goodness, love, and presence that is our being. 

Whatever we practice grows stronger. We can actively replace our inner critic and limiting beliefs with a kinder and wiser response. 
 
What would your life be like if you didn’t believe anything was wrong with you (and others)?

Below are a few resources that I hope might be supportive for you.

With love,

Sarah-Marie

Resources 

[PRACTICES] 

Self-Reflection: Investigating limiting beliefs  

The following questions, adapted from Byron Katie's work, can be helpful for investigating and loosening the grip of limiting beliefs: 

  1. What am I believing? 

  2. Is this really true? 

  3. What is it like to live with this belief? 

  4. What does the vulnerability (hurt/fear) under the belief need? 

  5. What stops me from letting go of this belief? 

  6. What would my life be like without this belief? 

  7. Who (or what) would I be if I no longer lived with this belief? 

Thanking Your Inner Critic

When you notice your inner critic as you go about your day, you can stop, take a conscious breath, and say "Thank you for trying to protect me. I've got this. I am OK for now." You can focus your attention on your breath, sound, or the sensations in your body to not get hijacked by the inner critic/judge and come back to the present moment.

Poem

Excerpt from “Peace is This Moment Without Judgment” by Dorothy Hunt 
“Peace is this moment without judgment.

That is all. This moment in the Heart-space

where everything that is is welcome.

Peace is this moment without thinking

that it should be some other way,

that you should feel some other thing,

that your life should unfold according to your plans. 
 
Peace is this moment without judgment,

this moment in the heart-space where

everything that is is welcome.”

Guided Meditations 

 

You already always belong 💗

 
You already always belong.jpg

“You only are free when you realize you belong no place — you belong every place — no place at all.” - Maya Angelou

So much feels separate and divided in these times. While our bodies may be physically distanced from each other, our hearts don't need to be. 

We already always belong to everyone and everything. Yet we experience ourselves as separate. It's a paradox we all navigate. 

Seeing ourselves as separate, our differences become distorted into othering and give rise to systems of domination and oppression. While we are not the same, we are not separate. The victim and the perpetrator are not separate. Liberals and conservatives are not separate. Our impacted ecosystems and we who contribute to our climate crisis are not separate. 

How do we step out of the fiction of separation? What if belonging is not a place outside of ourselves but a set of skills and practices we can cultivate? 

As someone who felt a conditional sense of belonging (following the "rules for fitting in") growing up and has lived in many places, much of my journey has been a quest to find true belonging. I realized it starts within and, as Maya Angelou said, is "no place at all."  

The practice of belonging starts with understanding our own history and where we come from. It involves working with our layers of conditioning, limiting beliefs, self-judgment, biases, etc. And it focuses on cultivating kindness and compassion for ourselves, each other, and all beings. 

An invitation that Toko-pa Turner makes in her beautiful book Belonging is to let our longing to belong guide us in actively creating belonging for ourselves and others. She writes:  

"Where you long for the friend who calls only to find out if you’re well, be that caller for another. ... Where you ache to be recognized, allow yourself to be seen. Where you long to be known, sit next to someone and listen for the apertures into what they love. Where you wish you felt necessary, give those gifts away."  

What does belonging mean to you? 

Who and/or what are you inviting into belonging with you? 

May you know that you already always belong and live from that place. 

Below are a few resources that I hope may be supportive for you.

In belonging,

Sarah-Marie

Resources 

[REFLECTION] 

On Belonging

  • What does belonging mean to me?

  • With whom or what have/haven't I felt belonging in my life?

  • How do I relate to the idea that we are not separate? 

  • How do I relate to the idea that we are not the same? 


[READING & LISTENING] 

Below are a few books and podcast episodes that I've found helpful in my own journey of practicing belonging. I hope some of them may be supportive for you as well.  

 

[Poem] 

From The House of Belonging by David Whyte  
This is the bright home
in which I live,
this is where
I ask
my friends
to come,
this is where I want
to love all the things
it has taken me so long
to learn to love.
This is the temple
of my adult aloneness
and I belong
to that aloneness
as I belong to my life.
There is no house
like the house of belonging.


[GUIDED MEDITATIONS] 

 

Start close in. Start with kindness. 💗

 
Start close in. Start with kindness.

If you would grow to your best self
Be patient, not demanding
Accepting, not condemning
Nurturing, not withholding
Self-marveling, not belittling
Gently guiding, not pushing and punishing
For you are more sensitive than you know
... accept, respect, and attend your sensitivity
A flower cannot be opened with a hammer.

From the poem "If You Would Grow - Shine the Light Of Loving Self-Care On Yourself" by Daniel F. Mead

For many years, I've had impossibly high expectations for myself and a relentless inner critic pointing out all the ways I was falling short. I believed being harsh with myself was the way to grow and become my best self. In a way, I was my own worst enemy without even realizing it. 

Learning to accept myself just as I am and treat myself with kindness has been a life-changing journey for me. I've realized that I can see the goodness and accept where I'm at while acknowledging all the ways I yet have to grow. For example, I can be kind with myself as I do the inner and outer work to contribute to dismantling systems of oppression. 

As Jack Kornfield said, "if your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete." We have to start close in. 

So how do we cultivate self-compassion and kindness? 

Self-compassion starts with mindfulness. It starts with turning toward and being with whatever difficult emotions or self-judgments we are present to in the moment. 

We then widen the lens to recognize our common humanity. We realize that all beings experience struggle and difficulty in their lives. We are never alone or isolated in our experience.

Out of a natural desire to alleviate suffering, we extend kindness inwardly. We treat ourselves with care, understanding, and support depending on what is most needed. 

If it feels difficult, it can be helpful to think of our inner child or how we would care for a child or a pet. To get in touch with compassion for our inner child, we may look at a picture of ourselves as a young child.

As we acknowledge and care for what’s happening inside of us, we can become - as research has shown - more motivated, more persistent, more resilient, and less self-focused. We also strengthen our capacity to be with and tend to the difficulty others are experiencing. 

What in your life calls for more self-compassion? 

Below are a few resources that I hope may be helpful for you. 

With love,

Sarah-Marie

Resources

[LISTENING, WATCHING & LEARNING] 

 

[PRACTICE]  

Guided Meditations 


Self-Compassion Break   

Adapted from Kristin Neff. 

Bring to mind a difficult situation in your life. Sense into the stress and discomfort of this situation and see if you can feel it in your body, heart, and mind. 

Step 1. Acknowledge the difficulty, stress, and/or pain of this moment. 
You may say to yourself: 

  • This hurts.

  • Ouch.

  • This is stress.

Step 2. Acknowledge that difficulty and pain/discomfort are a part of life. 
You may say to yourself: 

  • Other people feel this way.

  • I’m not alone.

  • We all struggle in our lives.

Now, put your hands over your heart and feel the warmth of your hands and the gentle touch of your hands on your chest. Or adopt the soothing touch you discovered felt right for you.

Step 3. Offer kindness to yourself. 
Ask yourself, “What do I need to hear right now to show kindness to myself?” 
You may say to yourself: 

  • It’s ok. 

  • May I learn to accept myself just as I am. 

  • May I forgive myself. 

  • May I be strong.

  • May I be patient. 

If you’re having difficulty finding the right words, imagine that a good friend or loved one is facing the same challenge as you. What would you say to this person? What simple message would you like to share with your friend? Now offer that message to yourself. 

You can listen to a 10-min adapted version here. 
 

Anchor Phrase  

Choose a word or phrase that helps you stay connected to your intention and can support you through difficulty. You can use it anytime throughout the day when you encounter a challenging moment.

Some examples are:

  • It’s okay.

  • I can be with this. 

  • This, too, shall pass.

  • Yes, this hurts. May I stay open.

  • Yes, this hurts. May I be kind to myself.

  • Yes, this hurts. May I meet this moment with an open heart.


Gently say the phrase to yourself in that moment. You may also try supportive touch such as placing one or two hands on your heart, putting a hand on your cheek, holding one hand in your other hand in your lap, or giving yourself a hug. 

 

Where does it hurt? 💔

 
Where does it hurt.jpg

i held an atlas in my lap
ran my fingers across the whole world
and whispered
where does it hurt?
it answered
everywhere
everywhere
everywhere.

from "What they did yesterday afternoon" by Warsan Shire

It's true that we all experience suffering in our lives. And it's true that our system of racism and oppression creates, what john powell calls, "surplus suffering." 

How do we keep our hearts open in the face of so much suffering? What's the work that needs doing?  

When our own needs are not met and we're stressed, our capacity for compassion is diminished. Others can appear to us as, what my mindfulness teacher Tara Brach calls, “unreal others.” They either become objects that we perceive as a threat or objects that we think can bring us more satisfaction. Or they appear as not relevant to us at all, and we barely notice them. Our othering of others is reinforced by our societal conditioning and implicit biases. 

How do we cultivate compassion and tend to the hurt? 

The first step is the intention to turn towards the suffering. To lean in. To create space to feel what we're feeling. To let ourselves be touched instead of turning away. We might inquire: Where does it hurt? What's it like for the other person? What does it feel like to feel like you don't belong, to feel unsafe, to feel violated, ...? We can cultivate the courage to open to what others are experiencing. 

The second step is to respond with care, in big and small ways. We can ask: What does this person / the world need right now? How can I contribute to that?

And compassion for others naturally needs to start with self-compassion. We need to honor and care for what’s happening inside of us to strengthen our capacity to be with the suffering of others.  

How are you responding to the call? What's yours to do?


Below are a few resources that I hope may be helpful for you. 

With love and solidarity, 
Sarah-Marie 

Resources

[LISTENING, WATCHING & LEARNING] 

[PRACTICE]  
Guided Meditations 

Practicing Daily Compassion   

You can practice compassion as you move through your day. As you come across others who are suffering, you can ask yourself: Where does it hurt? What's it like for the other person? And you can respond through a small or bigger act of care. For example, you could place a hand on your heart and send well wishes to the person.

 

We were made for these times

 

If ever there's been a time for us to explore ways we can deepen our presence and compassion and nourish our connection with each other, this is it. 

I often think of my late grandmother who raised me. She lived through WWII and told me stories of great uncertainty, loss, deprivation, and suffering. She also told me stories of rebuilding after the war had ended. I think of all of my ancestors who survived past epidemics, natural disasters, and wars. And I am reminded that we all are part of something greater, of generations of survivors across history. We carry their resilience inside of us. 

I know many of us are experiencing a range of emotions - fear, anxiety, sadness, grief, frustration, anger, ... It's all normal as we're seeking to find our way through this. We can stop, take a deep breath, and acknowledge and honor our fear with compassion. We might say, "Thank you for trying to protect me. I am OK for now." And we might open to the resilience that has been passed down to us from our ancestors. 

Who and how do you want to be in this crisis? What's your sincere intention or aspiration? Take a moment to connect with your heart and listen for an answer. Let it be your North Star. Let it remind you of what matters most whenever you need it.

We were made for these times. 

Below are a few resources to support you.

With love,

Sarah-Marie

Resources

[PRACTICE] Self-Compassion Break

Adapted from Kristin Neff. 

Bring to mind a difficult situation in your life. Sense into the stress and discomfort of this situation and see if you can feel it in your body, heart, and mind. 

Step 1. Acknowledge the difficulty, stress, and/or pain of this moment. 
You may say to yourself: 

  • This hurts.

  • Ouch.

  • This is stress.

Step 2. Acknowledge that difficulty and pain/discomfort are a part of life. 
You may say to yourself: 

  • Other people feel this way.

  • I’m not alone.

  • We all struggle in our lives.

Now, put your hands over your heart and feel the warmth of your hands and the gentle touch of your hands on your chest. Or adopt the soothing touch you discovered felt right for you.

Step 3. Offer kindness to yourself. 
Ask yourself, “What do I need to hear right now to show kindness to myself?” 
You may say to yourself: 

  • It’s ok. 

  • May I learn to accept myself just as I am. 

  • May I forgive myself. 

  • May I be strong.

  • May I be patient. 

If you’re having difficulty finding the right words, imagine that a good friend or loved one is facing the same challenge as you. What would you say to this person? What simple message would you like to share with your friend? Now offer that message to yourself. 


[PRACTICE] Acknowledging Our Fear 

We can stop, take a deep breath, and acknowledge and honor our fear with compassion. We might say, "Thank you for trying to protect me. I am OK for now." And we might open to the resilience that has been passed down to us from our ancestors who have survived crises in the past. 


[POEM]

Allow by Danna Faulds 
There is no controlling life.
Try corralling a lightning bolt,
containing a tornado. Dam a
stream, and it will create a new
channel. Resist, and the tide
will sweep you off your feet.
Allow, and grace will carry
you to higher ground. The only
safety lies in letting it all in –
the wild with the weak; fear,
fantasies, failures and success.
When loss rips off the doors of
the heart, or sadness veils your
vision with despair, practice
becomes simply bearing the truth.