home.social

#lettinggo — Public Fediverse posts

Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #lettinggo, aggregated by home.social.

  1. Expressive Writing for Addiction: How Journaling Heals the Brain

    When we think about addiction recovery, standard tools come to mind: therapy, support groups, and perhaps medication. However, one of the most effective, accessible, and scientifically backed methods for healing the addicted brain is often overlooked—expressive writing. ​ Our brains are remarkably plastic. Continued substance use alters the pathways responsible for reward, stress, and impulse control. Healing this physical damage requires active engagement, and journaling provides […]

    notestonowhere6.wordpress.com/

  2. QUIETLY, KEEP WALKING 💎

    At seventy, I sometimes wonder what I would want an elder to have told me when I was young.

    Probably this:

    Don’t take anything too seriously. You will not solve every dilemma you encounter anyway. Try new things. Try new ideas. Try different ways of living. Meet lots of different people. Travel and have different experiences in unknown places. When something stops working, move on.

    QUIETLY.

    There's no great drama you ever need to contain. No need to prove that you were right or that the other person was wrong. No need to turn every ending into a battle, or even some of them.

    I spent a lot of my life believing certain things were so terribly important; they weren't, but I defended them anyway. I argued endlessly for them. Above all else, I wanted to be right. I wasted a lot of time on meaningless details. Now I can’t even remember half of what they were about. That tells me something. Perhaps life isn’t about getting it right.

    Perhaps it’s about fully experiencing life and knowing when it’s time to let something go and keep walking.

    @3goodthings@DigitalCoup@meditation@economics_that_works@disability@pwd@joinin

    #Life #LettingGo #Perspective #Wisdom #KeepWalking

  3. QUIETLY, KEEP WALKING 💎

    At seventy, I sometimes wonder what I would want an elder to have told me when I was young.

    Probably this:

    Don’t take anything too seriously. You will not solve every dilemma you encounter anyway. Try new things. Try new ideas. Try different ways of living. Meet lots of different people. Travel and have different experiences in unknown places. When something stops working, move on.

    QUIETLY.

    There's no great drama you ever need to contain. No need to prove that you were right or that the other person was wrong. No need to turn every ending into a battle, or even some of them.

    I spent a lot of my life believing certain things were so terribly important; they weren't, but I defended them anyway. I argued endlessly for them. Above all else, I wanted to be right. I wasted a lot of time on meaningless details. Now I can’t even remember half of what they were about. That tells me something. Perhaps life isn’t about getting it right.

    Perhaps it’s about fully experiencing life and knowing when it’s time to let something go and keep walking.

    @3goodthings@DigitalCoup@meditation@economics_that_works@disability@pwd@joinin

    #Life #LettingGo #Perspective #Wisdom #KeepWalking

  4. QUIETLY, KEEP WALKING 💎

    At seventy, I sometimes wonder what I would want an elder to have told me when I was young.

    Probably this:

    Don’t take anything too seriously. You will not solve every dilemma you encounter anyway. Try new things. Try new ideas. Try different ways of living. Meet lots of different people. Travel and have different experiences in unknown places. When something stops working, move on.

    QUIETLY.

    There's no great drama you ever need to contain. No need to prove that you were right or that the other person was wrong. No need to turn every ending into a battle, or even some of them.

    I spent a lot of my life believing certain things were so terribly important; they weren't, but I defended them anyway. I argued endlessly for them. Above all else, I wanted to be right. I wasted a lot of time on meaningless details. Now I can’t even remember half of what they were about. That tells me something. Perhaps life isn’t about getting it right.

    Perhaps it’s about fully experiencing life and knowing when it’s time to let something go and keep walking.

    @3goodthings@DigitalCoup@meditation@economics_that_works@disability@pwd@joinin

    #Life #LettingGo #Perspective #Wisdom #KeepWalking

  5. QUIETLY, KEEP WALKING 💎

    At seventy, I sometimes wonder what I would want an elder to have told me when I was young.

    Probably this:

    Don’t take anything too seriously. You will not solve every dilemma you encounter anyway. Try new things. Try new ideas. Try different ways of living. Meet lots of different people. Travel and have different experiences in unknown places. When something stops working, move on.

    QUIETLY.

    There's no great drama you ever need to contain. No need to prove that you were right or that the other person was wrong. No need to turn every ending into a battle, or even some of them.

    I spent a lot of my life believing certain things were so terribly important; they weren't, but I defended them anyway. I argued endlessly for them. Above all else, I wanted to be right. I wasted a lot of time on meaningless details. Now I can’t even remember half of what they were about. That tells me something. Perhaps life isn’t about getting it right.

    Perhaps it’s about fully experiencing life and knowing when it’s time to let something go and keep walking.

    @3goodthings@DigitalCoup@meditation@economics_that_works@disability@pwd@joinin

    #Life #LettingGo #Perspective #Wisdom #KeepWalking

  6. QUIETLY, KEEP WALKING 💎

    At seventy, I sometimes wonder what I would want an elder to have told me when I was young.

    Probably this:

    Don’t take anything too seriously. You will not solve every dilemma you encounter anyway. Try new things. Try new ideas. Try different ways of living. Meet lots of different people. Travel and have different experiences in unknown places. When something stops working, move on.

    QUIETLY.

    There's no great drama you ever need to contain. No need to prove that you were right or that the other person was wrong. No need to turn every ending into a battle, or even some of them.

    I spent a lot of my life believing certain things were so terribly important; they weren't, but I defended them anyway. I argued endlessly for them. Above all else, I wanted to be right. I wasted a lot of time on meaningless details. Now I can’t even remember half of what they were about. That tells me something. Perhaps life isn’t about getting it right.

    Perhaps it’s about fully experiencing life and knowing when it’s time to let something go and keep walking.

    @3goodthings@DigitalCoup@meditation@economics_that_works@disability@pwd@joinin

    #Life #LettingGo #Perspective #Wisdom #KeepWalking

  7. The Beauty of Broken Things

    I almost stepped over it.

    It was just a piece of broken shell lying in the dirt, surrounded by pine needles, stones, and the debris that accumulates wherever nature is left to itself.

    But then I saw the color.

    That impossible blue against the earth.

    And I stopped.

    I wondered how many beautiful things we miss because we have already decided that broken means ruined.

    There’s something almost absurdly beautiful about the broken turquoise shell lying in dirt and pine needles. It’s not beautiful despite being broken. The brokenness is what makes it visually arresting. The jagged edges, the pieces scattered around it, the contrast between that almost luminous blue and the ordinary earth.

    And then there are those little intact forms beside it—whole, quiet, almost egg-like things. So you have this natural juxtaposition of whole and broken, becoming and becoming-undone.

    We like the unbroken bowl.
    The finished painting.
    The relationship that works.
    The body that doesn’t betray us.
    The life that follows the plan.

    We tend to look at the broken thing and immediately think:

    This needs to be fixed.

    But what if brokenness isn’t always a failure of the thing?

    What if sometimes the breaking is part of what reveals it?

    A shell has to break for something to emerge from it. A seed has to split open. A fallen branch becomes habitat. A decaying thing feeds something else. Even the pieces of something that can no longer be made whole become part of the landscape.

    And maybe people aren’t so different.

    Perhaps we spend too much of our lives trying to return ourselves to a version of whole that never really existed.

    A version only held in memory.

    Maybe this is true of our memories, too.

    A fragment here. A face there. The feeling of sunlight through a particular window. The sound of someone’s voice. A sentence we can’t quite remember but somehow remember how it made us feel.

    We take these fragments and build a story around them.

    And sometimes, without realizing it, we mistake the story for the thing itself.

    We remember childhood as a place we could once return to. A relationship as something that was once whole. A version of ourselves we imagine we might somehow find again.

    But perhaps what we’re remembering was never quite as whole as we believe.

    What happens when we stop trying to put the memories back together?

    Because maybe the fragments don’t need to reconstruct the whole.

    Maybe a broken memory can simply be a piece of what was—valuable without being complete, beautiful without being entirely accurate.

    The turquoise eggshell isn’t beautiful because you can reconstruct the object it once belonged to.

    It’s beautiful as a fragment.

    Some things don’t need to be made whole to be worthy of being held.

    #awareness #beauty #experience #lettingGo #memoiries #memory #mindfulness #moments #nature #reflection #theBeautyOfBrokenThings
  8. The Beauty of Broken Things

    I almost stepped over it.

    It was just a piece of broken shell lying in the dirt, surrounded by pine needles, stones, and the debris that accumulates wherever nature is left to itself.

    But then I saw the color.

    That impossible blue against the earth.

    And I stopped.

    I wondered how many beautiful things we miss because we have already decided that broken means ruined.

    There’s something almost absurdly beautiful about the broken turquoise shell lying in dirt and pine needles. It’s not beautiful despite being broken. The brokenness is what makes it visually arresting. The jagged edges, the pieces scattered around it, the contrast between that almost luminous blue and the ordinary earth.

    And then there are those little intact forms beside it—whole, quiet, almost egg-like things. So you have this natural juxtaposition of whole and broken, becoming and becoming-undone.

    We like the unbroken bowl.
    The finished painting.
    The relationship that works.
    The body that doesn’t betray us.
    The life that follows the plan.

    We tend to look at the broken thing and immediately think:

    This needs to be fixed.

    But what if brokenness isn’t always a failure of the thing?

    What if sometimes the breaking is part of what reveals it?

    A shell has to break for something to emerge from it. A seed has to split open. A fallen branch becomes habitat. A decaying thing feeds something else. Even the pieces of something that can no longer be made whole become part of the landscape.

    And maybe people aren’t so different.

    Perhaps we spend too much of our lives trying to return ourselves to a version of whole that never really existed.

    A version only held in memory.

    Maybe this is true of our memories, too.

    A fragment here. A face there. The feeling of sunlight through a particular window. The sound of someone’s voice. A sentence we can’t quite remember but somehow remember how it made us feel.

    We take these fragments and build a story around them.

    And sometimes, without realizing it, we mistake the story for the thing itself.

    We remember childhood as a place we could once return to. A relationship as something that was once whole. A version of ourselves we imagine we might somehow find again.

    But perhaps what we’re remembering was never quite as whole as we believe.

    What happens when we stop trying to put the memories back together?

    Because maybe the fragments don’t need to reconstruct the whole.

    Maybe a broken memory can simply be a piece of what was—valuable without being complete, beautiful without being entirely accurate.

    The turquoise eggshell isn’t beautiful because you can reconstruct the object it once belonged to.

    It’s beautiful as a fragment.

    Some things don’t need to be made whole to be worthy of being held.

    #awareness #beauty #experience #lettingGo #memoiries #memory #mindfulness #moments #nature #reflection #theBeautyOfBrokenThings
  9. Finding Your Higher Power: Trusting When God Removes People From Your Life

    “Don't be worried about the people God removed from your life. He heard conversations you didn't. He saw actions you couldn't. So He made moves you wouldn't Losing someone can feel like losing part of yourself. We may ask why they left, what we did wrong, or why God allowed it. But sometimes, what feels like loss is actually protection. Learning to Trust Finding your Higher Power means trusting even when you don't understand. In recovery and life, surrender is difficult because we want […]

    notestonowhere6.wordpress.com/

  10. Finding Your Higher Power: Trusting When God Removes People From Your Life

    “Don't be worried about the people God removed from your life. He heard conversations you didn't. He saw actions you couldn't. So He made moves you wouldn't Losing someone can feel like losing part of yourself. We may ask why they left, what we did wrong, or why God allowed it. But sometimes, what feels like loss is actually protection. Learning to Trust Finding your Higher Power means trusting even when you don't understand. In recovery and life, surrender is difficult because we want […]

    notestonowhere6.wordpress.com/

  11. Finding Your Higher Power: Trusting When God Removes People From Your Life

    “Don't be worried about the people God removed from your life. He heard conversations you didn't. He saw actions you couldn't. So He made moves you wouldn't Losing someone can feel like losing part of yourself. We may ask why they left, what we did wrong, or why God allowed it. But sometimes, what feels like loss is actually protection. Learning to Trust Finding your Higher Power means trusting even when you don't understand. In recovery and life, surrender is difficult because we want […]

    notestonowhere6.wordpress.com/

  12. Finding Your Higher Power: Trusting When God Removes People From Your Life

    “Don't be worried about the people God removed from your life. He heard conversations you didn't. He saw actions you couldn't. So He made moves you wouldn't Losing someone can feel like losing part of yourself. We may ask why they left, what we did wrong, or why God allowed it. But sometimes, what feels like loss is actually protection. Learning to Trust Finding your Higher Power means trusting even when you don't understand. In recovery and life, surrender is difficult because we want […]

    notestonowhere6.wordpress.com/

  13. Finding Your Higher Power: Trusting When God Removes People From Your Life

    “Don't be worried about the people God removed from your life. He heard conversations you didn't. He saw actions you couldn't. So He made moves you wouldn't Losing someone can feel like losing part of yourself. We may ask why they left, what we did wrong, or why God allowed it. But sometimes, what feels like loss is actually protection. Learning to Trust Finding your Higher Power means trusting even when you don't understand. In recovery and life, surrender is difficult because we want […]

    notestonowhere6.wordpress.com/

  14. Time to tidy up my hoardings! To danshari (断捨離)! I’ve decided to get rid of at least one unnecessary item every day. Wish me luck! It’s harder than it sounds. 😅😆

    Today, I recycled some pretty wallpaper with which my friend wrapped a gift to me. I was gonna repurpose it, but I’ve got no idea. So off it goes!

    #断捨離 #lettingGo #BabySteps

  15. ✮ Talking to a Stone ✮

    Subscribe to keep reading

    Become a paid subscriber to get access to the rest of this post and other exclusive content.

    Subscribe #Air #Baggage #BewitchedWithRegret #BoardingPass #BoundToGrowCold #BrushItOff #CemeteryRituals #CherishMoments #Compassion #ContemporaryPoetry #conversations #ConversationsWithAir #Craft #DanglingFlames #Death #DonTSeeEyeToEye #Dying #EmotionalDepth #EmotionalHealing #EmotionalImprints #EnduringLove #Erwinism #EtchedOnStone #Etching #ExistentialPoetry #Farewell #FlickeringFlame #flowers #Forgiveness #FreeVerse #FYP #GatesOpenedInPeace #GriefAndRemembrance #GriefProcessing #Heartfelt #HeartfeltVerse #Hope #HopeAndSoaring #Horizon #HorizonOutline #HumanConnection #Impermanence #InfusedWithPrayers #Inspiration #IntrospectiveWriting #JaggedEdges #JourneyMetaphor #LastingImpact #Learning #leather #LeavingDaysBehind #LeftUndone #Legacy #LettingGo #Life #LifeAndDeath #LightingCandles #Love #LoveAndLoss #LyricalPoetry #ManicuredGrass #MeditativePoetry #MemorialPractices #MemorialStones #Memory #MemoryAndLegacy #ModernPoetry #MortalityAndAcceptance #Motivation #MutedBreath #Nature #NatureImagery #NoExcessBaggage #NoLongerSquabble #NoLongerYearn #OfferingFlowers #PaintingStones #Peace #PeopleOnceWere #PhilosophicalReflection #PhysicalMemorials #Poem #PoeticProse #Poetry #PresenceAndAbsence #Progress #Reconciliation #Reflection #Regret #RememberedAndHonored #ReminisceDaysGoneBy #Reminiscence #RestfulNight #retro #RumpledBlankets #Seared #SearedIntoHeart #SharedHumanity #SkyBlushedPink #Solitude #SomberOrange #Songs #SongsFromHeart #SpiritualReflection #StayBehind #SteadfastLink #Stone #StonesLeftBehind #SunWilting #Sunrise #Sunset #SunsetImagery #SwayingInWind #TalkingToAStone #Togetherness #TransientLife #TravelMetaphor #UnbrokenBond #UnsungStories #vintage #Vulnerability #Warmth #WarmthOfCompany #WingedMetaphor #Writing #YellowingPillows
  16. ✮ Talking to a Stone ✮

    Subscribe to keep reading

    Become a paid subscriber to get access to the rest of this post and other exclusive content.

    Subscribe #Air #Baggage #BewitchedWithRegret #BoardingPass #BoundToGrowCold #BrushItOff #CemeteryRituals #CherishMoments #Compassion #ContemporaryPoetry #conversations #ConversationsWithAir #Craft #DanglingFlames #Death #DonTSeeEyeToEye #Dying #EmotionalDepth #EmotionalHealing #EmotionalImprints #EnduringLove #Erwinism #EtchedOnStone #Etching #ExistentialPoetry #Farewell #FlickeringFlame #flowers #Forgiveness #FreeVerse #FYP #GatesOpenedInPeace #GriefAndRemembrance #GriefProcessing #Heartfelt #HeartfeltVerse #Hope #HopeAndSoaring #Horizon #HorizonOutline #HumanConnection #Impermanence #InfusedWithPrayers #Inspiration #IntrospectiveWriting #JaggedEdges #JourneyMetaphor #LastingImpact #Learning #leather #LeavingDaysBehind #LeftUndone #Legacy #LettingGo #Life #LifeAndDeath #LightingCandles #Love #LoveAndLoss #LyricalPoetry #ManicuredGrass #MeditativePoetry #MemorialPractices #MemorialStones #Memory #MemoryAndLegacy #ModernPoetry #MortalityAndAcceptance #Motivation #MutedBreath #Nature #NatureImagery #NoExcessBaggage #NoLongerSquabble #NoLongerYearn #OfferingFlowers #PaintingStones #Peace #PeopleOnceWere #PhilosophicalReflection #PhysicalMemorials #Poem #PoeticProse #Poetry #PresenceAndAbsence #Progress #Reconciliation #Reflection #Regret #RememberedAndHonored #ReminisceDaysGoneBy #Reminiscence #RestfulNight #retro #RumpledBlankets #Seared #SearedIntoHeart #SharedHumanity #SkyBlushedPink #Solitude #SomberOrange #Songs #SongsFromHeart #SpiritualReflection #StayBehind #SteadfastLink #Stone #StonesLeftBehind #SunWilting #Sunrise #Sunset #SunsetImagery #SwayingInWind #TalkingToAStone #Togetherness #TransientLife #TravelMetaphor #UnbrokenBond #UnsungStories #vintage #Vulnerability #Warmth #WarmthOfCompany #WingedMetaphor #Writing #YellowingPillows
  17. ✮ Talking to a Stone ✮

    Subscribe to keep reading

    Become a paid subscriber to get access to the rest of this post and other exclusive content.

    Subscribe #Air #Baggage #BewitchedWithRegret #BoardingPass #BoundToGrowCold #BrushItOff #CemeteryRituals #CherishMoments #Compassion #ContemporaryPoetry #conversations #ConversationsWithAir #Craft #DanglingFlames #Death #DonTSeeEyeToEye #Dying #EmotionalDepth #EmotionalHealing #EmotionalImprints #EnduringLove #Erwinism #EtchedOnStone #Etching #ExistentialPoetry #Farewell #FlickeringFlame #flowers #Forgiveness #FreeVerse #FYP #GatesOpenedInPeace #GriefAndRemembrance #GriefProcessing #Heartfelt #HeartfeltVerse #Hope #HopeAndSoaring #Horizon #HorizonOutline #HumanConnection #Impermanence #InfusedWithPrayers #Inspiration #IntrospectiveWriting #JaggedEdges #JourneyMetaphor #LastingImpact #Learning #leather #LeavingDaysBehind #LeftUndone #Legacy #LettingGo #Life #LifeAndDeath #LightingCandles #Love #LoveAndLoss #LyricalPoetry #ManicuredGrass #MeditativePoetry #MemorialPractices #MemorialStones #Memory #MemoryAndLegacy #ModernPoetry #MortalityAndAcceptance #Motivation #MutedBreath #Nature #NatureImagery #NoExcessBaggage #NoLongerSquabble #NoLongerYearn #OfferingFlowers #PaintingStones #Peace #PeopleOnceWere #PhilosophicalReflection #PhysicalMemorials #Poem #PoeticProse #Poetry #PresenceAndAbsence #Progress #Reconciliation #Reflection #Regret #RememberedAndHonored #ReminisceDaysGoneBy #Reminiscence #RestfulNight #retro #RumpledBlankets #Seared #SearedIntoHeart #SharedHumanity #SkyBlushedPink #Solitude #SomberOrange #Songs #SongsFromHeart #SpiritualReflection #StayBehind #SteadfastLink #Stone #StonesLeftBehind #SunWilting #Sunrise #Sunset #SunsetImagery #SwayingInWind #TalkingToAStone #Togetherness #TransientLife #TravelMetaphor #UnbrokenBond #UnsungStories #vintage #Vulnerability #Warmth #WarmthOfCompany #WingedMetaphor #Writing #YellowingPillows
  18. What Is My Sequel?

    We live in the age of the sequel.

    Nothing ends anymore.

    The hero survives the explosion. The villain’s hand rises from the rubble. The supposedly final chapter contains a scene after the credits. A character who died twenty years ago returns through cloning, memory, the multiverse, a prequel, a reboot, artificial intelligence, or some creative loophole in the mythology.

    Perhaps we have become suspicious of endings – whether they are happy or sad.

    Or perhaps endings are just bad for business.

    If a story succeeds, we do not allow it to finish. We stretch it. Repeat it. Repackage it.

    Volume follows volume.

    Season follows season.

    Universe follows universe.

    And somewhere along the way, a single story becomes a franchise.

    I wonder whether we sometimes do the same thing with our lives.

    We discover a role that works, and then we keep writing sequels to it.

    The successful person must remain successful.

    The pastor must continue being the pastor.

    The artist must keep producing.

    The parent must remain necessary.

    The activist must always be preparing for the next protest.

    The wounded person must keep telling of the trauma.

    The admired person must maintain their image.

    Even our identities can become franchises.

    We keep returning to the same personas because we’ve worn them so long.

    People recognize them.

    Perhaps we recognize them too.

    But eventually a dangerous question arrives:

    What if that story is finished?

    Not my life.

    That story.

    That version of me.

    That particular adventure.

    Maybe one of the great spiritual disciplines is learning to recognize when the credits are supposed to roll.

    When “The End” flashes on the screen and the only sound is the film flapping around and around on the take-up reel.

    Jesus spent much of his life telling people that something was ending.

    An age.

    A way of measuring power.

    A way of imagining God.

    A way of dividing the righteous from the unrighteous, the insider from the outsider, the important from the insignificant.

    And Christianity makes an astonishing claim about the apparent ending of Jesus himself.

    He dies.

    There is no heroic escape.

    No secret tunnel underneath the cross.

    No last-minute rescue by ninja disciples.

    Jesus is dead.

    Period.

    His body is put in a tomb, and the tomb is sealed.

    For a brief terrible moment, the story is allowed to end.

    And then comes resurrection.

    But resurrection is not quite a sequel.

    That may be important.

    The risen Christ is continuous with Jesus—wounds, memory, voice, love—and yet strangely different. People who knew him sometimes fail to recognize him. He appears unexpectedly. He passes through locked doors. He eats breakfast and then disappears.

    This is not Jesus II: The Empire Strikes Back.

    It is something stranger.

    Resurrection does not merely continue the old plot.

    It transforms what a story can be.

    Which makes me wonder about my own life.

    Perhaps I have spent years assuming that the future must be a sequel to the past.

    Another project.

    Another accomplishment.

    Another book.

    Another song.

    Another role.

    Another version of something or someone I have already been.

    We ask children, What do you want to be when you grow up?

    Later we ask adults, What are you doing next?

    Almost nobody asks:

    What part of you is complete?

    What could you lovingly allow to end?

    What character no longer needs to return for another season?

    What war does not require another battle?

    What identity has carried you faithfully to this point but does not need to follow you into the next chapter?

    What part of you needs to die?

    I find myself wondering:

    What will be my sequel?

    And then an even more unsettling question:

    Do I have one?

    At first that sounds frightening.

    We have been trained to believe that there must always be something next.

    But perhaps the absence of a sequel does not mean the absence of a future.

    A seed has no sequel.

    It becomes a tree.

    A caterpillar has no sequel.

    It becomes something that would have been nearly unimaginable from inside the chrysalis.

    Autumn does not produce Summer II.

    It becomes winter.

    And winter, somehow, becomes spring.

    Maybe what comes next in a human life need not be the continuation of what came before.

    Maybe I am not waiting for another installment.

    Maybe I am waiting for transformation.

    That changes the question.

    Instead of asking,

    How do I keep this story going?

    I can ask,

    What is this story becoming?

    There may even come a point when the greatest act of faith is to stop demanding another season.

    To leave some characters behind.

    To let go of unresolved subplots.

    To accept that certain doors will never reopen.

    To stop resurrecting things that are meant to remain buried.

    And then to stand before the unknown without insisting that it resemble anything that has already happened.

    The culture says:

    Coming soon: more of the same.

    The spiritual life whispers:

    Behold, I make all things new.

    So perhaps I do not want a sequel.

    Perhaps I want resurrection.

    And if resurrection is real, then the most interesting part of my story may not be what happens next.

    It may be what I become when the old story finally has the courage to end.

    #Aging #becoming #beginnings #Change #endings #Faith #Growth #Hope #Identity #Legacy #LettingGo #life #lifeTransitions #Mortality #newCreation #originality #Purpose #renewal #resurrection #resurrectionLife #sequels #spiritualLife #SpiritualReflection #Transformation #whatComesNext
  19. Migraine, Perception, and Creative Flow

    Living Inside A Migraine

    When pain, perception, and medication reshape daily life

    I’ve been dealing with a migraine for nine days. This isn’t just a headache—it comes with aura, Alice in Wonderland syndrome, and persistent vertigo with nausea. My perception gets distorted, my thinking slows down, and basic tasks become difficult. The medication helps with the pain, but it brings its own side effects, and overall, it’s been hard to function.

    In the middle of this, something unexpected happened.

    A Brief Shift in State

    Unexpected focus and creative flow during disruption

    While I was heavily medicated, I had a period of intense creative focus. For a few hours, I was able to paint with a level of freedom that I don’t usually reach. It felt like my usual mental filters were lowered. I wasn’t second‑guessing decisions or holding back. I just worked.

    The result was different from my normal work—more direct, less controlled, but also more expressive.

    This raised a question for me: what actually changed in that moment?

    Changes in Perception

    How migraine and medication alter access, not ability

    Triptans, the medication I use for acute migraine attacks, act on serotonin receptors. They’re not psychedelics, but they do affect how the brain processes signals. Combined with the migraine itself—especially aura, which already alters perception—the overall effect is a shift in how I experience space, color, and thought.

    That shift isn’t comfortable. Most of it is disorienting and unpleasant. But within it, there was a brief window where my usual patterns loosened. And in that space, creative work felt easier.

    Access, Not Creation

    The work was already there—the conditions just changed

    It’s important to be clear: the migraine didn’t “create” anything. The creativity was already there. What changed was how accessible it felt. The conditions removed some of the internal constraints I usually work within—habits, expectations, and self‑editing.

    That’s not something I want to rely on. The cost is too high. But it does point to something useful.

    If a change in mental state can affect how I access creativity, then there may be other ways to reach similar openness without the physical toll. It suggests that part of my creative process is limited not by ability, but by structure—how tightly I control the outcome, how much I filter while working.

    There’s also a broader connection here. Decades ago, I had experiences with psychedelics that shifted how I saw the world and myself. Those experiences helped me let go of a lot of fear and rigidity. I don’t return to them now, but the perspective they opened up has stayed with me.

    That perspective has been important in dealing with chronic migraine. The pain itself isn’t optional, but my response to it isn’t fixed. Over time, I’ve learned to manage the mental side of it—how much resistance I bring to it, how I interpret it, and how I move through it. That doesn’t eliminate suffering, but it changes its intensity and impact.

    The recent experience fits into that same pattern. Even in a difficult state, there was a moment where something shifted—not into relief exactly, but into clarity of a different kind.

    For me, the takeaway isn’t about the medication or the migraine. It’s about access.

    The kind of creative flow I felt isn’t something external that I need to recreate through extreme conditions. It’s something internal that I was briefly able to reach under unusual circumstances.

    Openness and Letting Go

    When the boundary between experience and experiencer softens

    There’s also a quality in that state that’s familiar from meditation. It’s a kind of openness where the usual sense of separation starts to fade. Instead of feeling like an observer acting on an experience, there’s just the experience itself—no clear boundary between the one perceiving and what’s being perceived. In that space, the need to control or interpret loosens, and the work unfolds more directly, without the usual distance between intention and action.

    Working with Pain

    Perspective, resistance, and what can shift

    Another layer to this is perspective. The difference between being overwhelmed by the experience and moving through it often comes down to how it’s held. I wrote previously about the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path as a framework for navigating chronic pain from migraine and lupus. What stands out to me now is how practical that framework is—not as philosophy, but as a way of adjusting perspective in real time.

    When The Pain Takes Over

    A reminder that practice isn’t always accessible

    Pain is present. That part isn’t optional. But the added weight—resistance, fear, frustration—can shift depending on how tightly I hold the experience. That said, this isn’t always accessible. There are moments when the pain takes over completely. Last night was one of those times. I woke up in the middle of the night in severe pain after my first medication didn’t work. I couldn’t find my stronger medication, didn’t have my glasses, and ended up searching through cabinets, drawers, and bags in a panic. I knew that without it, I might end up in the ER—where the treatment helps, but comes with hours of discomfort and side effects. I was overwhelmed, in tears, and scared.

    In moments like that, there isn’t much space for perspective or practice. But experiences like this also make something clear to me: without meditation, without the framework I’ve built from Buddhist practice, I would likely be living in that state of panic much more often. My commotion woke up my husband, who came in—calm, steady, not caught in the panic I was in. He found the medication, and he cleaned up the mess I had made searching as I went back to bed. That contrast stood out. It reminded me that while I can’t always access those tools in the moment, they still shape how I move through these experiences over time.

    Returning to Openness

    Creative flow, meditation, and another way of relating to experience

    It’s not easy to stay open in the middle of persistent pain. In those moments, it’s hard to remember that the pain will pass—that it isn’t permanent. Pain forces attention into the present, but not calmly or intentionally. It can narrow everything down to urgency and survival. At the same time, it can act as a kind of teacher. It shows where resistance builds, where fear takes hold, and how quickly the mind tries to escape what’s happening. When I’m able to step back, even slightly, I can see it less as something to fight and more as something that reveals how I relate to experience.

    What I keep coming back to is this: the experience changes depending on how I meet it. Not completely, not all at once, but enough to matter. And in those moments of openness, there is less separation—and a little more space for things to be as they are.

    I painted this over six hours while medicated for a migraine, drifting in and out of focus. The haze loosened my usual self‑judgment, and the work shifted into something more fluid and intuitive. It’s not complete, but the evolution itself tells the story.

    #acceptance #alteredStates #artisticFlow #awareness #BuddhistPhilosophy #chronicIllness #chronicPain #consciousness #creativeExpression #creativeProcess #creativity #eightfoldPath #flowState #fourNobleTruths #innerLandscape #innerWork #intuitiveArt #lettingGo #livedExperience #lupus #meditation #migraine #migraineAura #mindfulness #nondualAwareness #openness #painting #perception #personalEssay #perspectiveShift #presence #resilience #transformation
  20. Cultivating Calm with Sunday Softening Practices

    Last year’s unpredictability led my focus to waver; my essays, meditations, and Instagram feed transitioned from careful curation to something more spontaneous and less intentional. Despite the time constraints that challenged my efforts, my desire to maintain a presence remains strong, as I aim to share creations that, in turn, provide others with glimpses of the peace I have discovered through various mindfulness practices.

    Finding Stillness

    I am shifting back towards more deliberate, niche-centered posts that enable not only myself, but readers and viewers as well, to find that still point amidst the unpredictability of life. Although this unpredictability remains unchanged, my experiences over the past year have taught me patience and provided the wisdom to accept life’s inherent uncertainty.

    Allowing Flow

    We often hold assumptions and expectations without justification, which can cloud our judgment and hinder personal growth. This journey leads us to realize the significance of flow—not just as a concept but as a transformative experience that allows us to engage deeply with the present moment.

    Reflection

    It is a topic I’ve explored extensively in my essay, Open Awareness: The Gift of Gracious Acceptance, where I delve into the nuances of being open to life’s unpredictable nature. Embracing this mindset can lead to profound insights and inner peace. To complement these reflections, I invite you to explore the meditation below, which serves as a practical guide to cultivating this sense of flow and serenity in your daily life.

    Gentle Reminders

    I often revisit my own writings and meditations as life becomes overwhelming, making it difficult to maintain a sense of peace. We need gentle reminders and practices that we can slip into during hectic moments. Over the past few weeks, I’ve actively engaged with the basics of meditation, yoga, and lymphatic flow movement, aligning my mind, body, and spirit energetically to a state of calm amid the chaos. From this still point, I aim for my work to feel deeper, more genuine, and authentic.

    Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com

    Work Week Flow

    I am on an inviting journey that embraces the comforting essence of Sunday softening. For many, including me, Sunday is that cherished interlude before the hustle of the workweek kicks in. It’s a day infused with serenity and anticipation. While meditation and writing ignite my creative spirit, I work full-time as a professional in chemistry and geology. This unique mix allows me to relish my Sundays as the slow day before diving back into a more technical workflow. This path not only enriches my experience but also offers you a touch of softness and warmth as you prepare to face the new week ahead.

    Sunday Softening

    Sunday softening invites you to take a moment to feel your breath and your body, actively noticing tension and where emotions reside in your body, and allowing for a gentle release. As you breathe in deeply, envision the air filling your lungs and nurturing your spirit, while you exhale, let go of the burdens of the week behind you. It serves as a small reminder of who you are beneath the labels, revealing the essence of your true self, which gets overlooked in the busyness of life. In this sacred time, allow yourself to reconnect with your inner being, appreciating the stillness and presence that is always available to you. Recognize that you can return to this mindful space at any moment, embracing the peace and grounding it offers, cultivating a sense of calm that can guide you through the challenges ahead.

    These posts will be shared each Sunday on Instagram, Facebook, and right here. I warmly invite you to share your word in the comments, and together, we can create a safe space to hold those thoughts.

    View this post on Instagram

    A post shared by 𝖪. 𝖬. 𝖲𝖨𝖬𝖮𝖭𝖣𝖲 – Meditation Teacher || Reiki Master (@dandelion.doorways)

    #bodyAwareness #bodyScanMeditation #breathwork #cultivatingCalm #dailyMeditation #dailyMindfulness #digitalDetox #embracingUncertainty #emotionalFlow #emotionalRelease #feltSense #findingStillness #gentleReminders #goWithTheFlow #graceAndAcceptance #graciousAcceptance #grounding #healing #holisticWellness #innerPeace #innerStillness #intentionalLiving #intentionalRest #lettingGo #meditation #meditationTeacher #mentalReset #mentalWellBeing #MindfulLiving #mindfulMoments #mindfulness #morningMindfulness #nervousSystemRegulation #nonAttachment #openAwareness #peaceOfMind #presenceOverProductivity #reikiMaster #releaseTension #selfCare #slowDown #slowLiving #slowLivingMovement #slowSunday #slowSundays #somaticBreathwork #somaticExperiencing #somaticGrounding #somaticHealing #somaticMindfulness #somaticPractice #stressManagement #stressRelief #sundaySoftening #weekendReset
  21. This theme is such a good one for KpopMonday. So many beautiful, sad breakup songs. I'm going to have to come back later and enjoy these when I have more time. I'll leave you with one more, "Tears Falling" by AOA.

    youtu.be/LdbwDisTOFQ?si=On3C-2

    #KpopMonday
    #LettingGo
    #AOA
    #KPop

  22. Thursday February 1, 2024

    Today the Moon 🌖 goes from themes of balance in Libra ♎,

    to a deep dive into inner truths in Scorpio. ♏

    The Moon's square to Pluto also brings a symbolic death and rebirth process. 🦋

    Intense themes could come up... 😳

    that are inviting you to release what no longer serves you, 🍃

    and deepen your trust in yourself and the process. 💖

    More in this video! youtu.be/RY6BVlVtfJw

    #Astrology #AstrologyHeals #Scorpio #ScorpioMoon #Zodiac #InnerTruth #Rebirth #LettingGo