IT ALL COMES BACK TO YOU

And me!

E V E R Y T H I N G.

Everything comes down to each one of us, individually. How we perceive the circumstances in our lives, the thoughts we think, the feelings they conjure, the action those feelings motivate and the results we get is each of our OWN responsibility.

The deeper I get into the practice of mindfulness, the more weight and promise this realization brings with it.

Weight - because it is a tremendous responsibility and can feel overwhelming at times. Instead of pointing a finger outward and blaming circumstances, the onus must always come back to me and how I plan to manage my thoughts about something. It is the highest call to personal responsibility.

Promise - because WOW! I have control. I have options! I have the ability to direct the course of my life. I feel emboldened at the very thought. If anything I could ever dream of achieving or experiencing is on the other side of learning to manage my mind to create that outcome, then BRING IT ON. I want to! And I love that nothing outside of myself stands in my way. Because the only real obstacles are the thoughts I avoid changing if I allow discomfort to get the best of me.

Byron Katie sums this invitation to take responsibility up best....

“Since the beginning of time, people have been trying to change the world so that they can be happy. This hasn’t ever worked, because it approaches the problem backward. What The Work gives us is a way to change the projector—mind—rather than the projected. It’s like when there’s a piece of lint on a projector’s lens. We think there’s a flaw on the screen, and we try to change this person and that person, whomever the flaw appears on next. But it’s futile to try to change the projected images. Once we realize where the lint is, we can clear the lens itself. This is the end of suffering, and the beginning of a little joy in paradise.”

Quote from Byron Katie's book Loving What Is

[The Work: Katie's process for taking responsibility for the thoughts we think and questioning, then rewriting, any that cause us pain or suffering]

My friend, mindfulness is about identifying that lint and clearing it off of the lenses of our lives.

our lint(s) can be:

- perfectionism

- feelings of unworthiness

- indulging in feeling too busy, chaotic, stressed, overwhelmed, guilty, sorry for ourselves, etc.

- identifying with victimhood

- reliving trauma (thereby expecting it in new manifestations continuously)

- fear of failure, of not belonging, of being unlovable,

- and countless other, non-serving thinking patterns.

Taking total responsibility for the thoughts we are thinking, particularly the thoughts that cause us pain and suffering, is the great work of our lives. The more we do it, the more we can savour, dream, create &​​​​ achieve.

This is the basis for so much of what I write to you each week. It is an explanation of why I find these mindfulness practices I share with you each Monday to be so liberating and empowering!

I hope my sharing them, and this concept today, lights a motivating fire within you to continue crafting your ultimate life of intention: one with more of what you love and less of what needn't cause you pain or suffering.

With so much love, I wish you a beautiful week ♥︎