On coming back to presence

“Some of us think holding on makes us strong, but sometimes it is letting it go”

— Herman Hesse

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Last week I talked about stress and how we get caught up in the cycles of over doing and over controlling as a way to avoid and skip not feeling something more deep underneath, avoiding the fear of feeling criticized and judged by others and especially ourselves and avoiding the guilt of not doing enough.

So today, I wanted to share this poem with you, to remind you about presence, about coming back to this moment when you feel your heart is beating fast, your jaw is crunching, your mind is racing. You can always drop in and surrender for a little while.

"as you are" says the universe.

"after..." you answer.

"as you are" says the universe.

"before..." you answer.

"as you are..." says the universe.

"how..." you answer.

"as you are." says the universe.

"why..." you answer.

"because"

you are happening now.

right now.

right at this moment

and

your happening

is beautiful.

the thing that both keeps me alive

and

brings me to my knees.

you don't even know how breathtaking you

are.

as you are." says the universe through tears.

- as you are

Nayyirah Waheed

I wish you find moments of pause, moments of stillness within you despite everything else going around you, moments of space to come back to your presence. Place your hand over your heart, take a few deep breaths and slowly exhale. You can say to yourself “It’s okay, I’m right here, I’m enough”. Have a great weekend!