Poetic Revelations: When Life Hits us with a 2x4

Despair and Tulip Picking

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step."
— Chinese proverb

This is a weekly publication for heart-centered warriors, swimming through this thing called life. Because Human-ing is harder than Adulting.

Selected Poem:

• Today my Hope is Vertical, Jane Hirschfield

• Look Well to the Growing Edge, Howard Thurmann

Dear Embodied Hearts and Dancing Souls,

Today’s letter is about hitting Rock Bottom. And what opened up from the simple act of tulip picking. See the second page for news on a new course I am conjuring.

Rock Bottom. I am supporting someone I love through their Rock Bottom. I remember mine. The moment I couldn’t shield myself anymore and all the lack, loss, and failures in my life felt crushing. This morning I received a question, “How do I turn this around?” My fingers began typing. I share it because my own Rock Bottom felt so searingly alone. And perhaps this is something I wish someone could have said to me:

You are taking the first step. It always starts from this rock bottom place.

I want you to tell your hopes and dreams and desires that you want them to accompany you, not bludgeon you.

You will make a list of all the things you are noticing, the awarenesses rising from your Being.

You will ask your Higher Power…what are the most useful resources outthere to support me in rejoining to my Wholeness? Ask that Higher Power to Show You. The right teachers will show up. The right insights will show up.

Gently dislodge the deep seated criticisms. Be willing o hold them up to the light. You will gain new ways of relating to yourself.

Right now I notice that in our Rock Bottom moments Despair feels the most real. We feel the topography of our lows, every inch of it. What we don’t (can’t?) imagine are the possibilities — the New or Different or Better— that find us as soon as we are brave enough to make a different choice.

Tulip Picking. My husband and I found a new way to be together this weekend. We decided on the simple act of tulip picking. We merely thought we were going to see tulip fields at a nearby farm. We didn’t know that picking the tulips was included in the price of admission! Who knew how much fun could be had? We walked, we crouched, we snapped, we noticed the different shapes, colors, sizes. I got to swoon.

Common Ground. The gift of the tulips kept on giving. At least five of the stems were still attached to the bulb. My husband and I shared a quest in gleaning, guessing and finally learning the proper way to care for these plants to maximize both the flower and the bulb. We created a new flower bed together. Along the way, we made several small, shared agreements. (Where? How?) It was good practice. This is how we are learning. Digging in the dirt felt grounding. We plan on making another flower bed by this October. The root system liked the amended soil enough that the deadheaded stems are still upright. (ooh just caught another wave of this metaphor. you?)

Blind then Bespeckled. On Easter Sunday, I met someone I knew at my favorite nearby place of worship. We talked about the “2 by 4’s” each of our lives had recently thrown at us. What I notice is how we shared. Its not that Life’s 2 x 4s weren’t bringing anguish or pain. They WERE!! Yet here, the two of us shared what we were opening to as a result. Life’s 2 x 4s are a letting - they let out new truths, new realities that you have to face not matter what. Its what the new truths ask of us that matter most. This was the stuff of our sharing.

These episodes in life that crack open our hearts also open us to something deeper. Something in us that has been wanting to be known but remained in our blind spot. When we can be opened by it, rather than diminished, we become willing to realign with what is being asked of us from the situation. And this is how we re-direct our life course - from the inside out.

With bespeckled chagrin, I start seing that my highs and lows seem to rise and land from the same Source. The same place in my body where my mysterious Being is cradled.

Whether highs or lows, Life points me back in the direction of my True Self.

Over the past seven years, I have learned to see life differently. As I stepped into my co-creative powers, I wasn’t sure I believed in Hope or Healing. Now, as I witness, support and am supported in Anguish, I will say Hope and Healing are beautiful assistants on the path of our Human journey.

With so much Love for you, your journey and your unfolding.

Stay #heartwoke.

Monisha

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Announcing: Done with Overdoing It

I’ve been working on a new course (Yay!). I’m excited to tell you about it. I will have more information on how many weeks, where and when in the following weeks. For now, here is a brief heads up about the course design:

WHO: This course is for heart-centered warriors who always seem to Overdo it!

I’m creating a course for heart-centered warriors who find yourself (over and over) being the one having things handled, figuring things out, and taking the lion’s share of responsibility to get them done.

WHY: Its exhausting! It doesn’t feed our sense of self, it depletes it.

If you are a heart-centered warrior like me, you love substance and deeply care about lifting up others at work, home and your community. Yet, many times, I felt anticlimatic when the job was done. Or, I was surprised by feelings of resentment or anger that came up. The truth is, something about not taking on responsibility, or not failing, doesn’t feel safe.

By the time I was done with Overdoing It, I knew I wanted More.

I wanted Purpose and Ease. I wanted Fulfillment and Fun. I wanted to have my Strength and also my Softness. 

WHAT: I am creating this experiential learning course to help those like me who want to move more authentically and powerfully in the world with ease (and joy). In this course, you get room to return to your natural Wholeness and Vitality by:

• Welcoming your Tenderness

• Letting the Body Lead

• Befriending your Fear

• Reconnecting to your True Desires, and

• Moving from your unique Power center

Using Embodied Play, transformative journalling and guided activations, you create a three-part gesture ritual for acknowleging your tenderness, befriending your fear, and claiming what you truly want for yourself. Learn the unique movement patterns that sustain and resource your energy. You also play with others to discover a necessary boundary or two.

Are you interested? Please let know by sending me your name and email to my inbox.