What did I learn today? Lessons on the Journey to Unconditional Self Love

  Catching the sunrise is grace - Garlene Hicks Seeing the sun rise, especially over water - excites me yet calms me at the same time. I feel a sense of renewal when I witness it. The process says to me - here is a new day and its started beautifully. What are you going to do? I - sunshine- just set the tone, will you follow or will you not? Sunrises also taught me about consistency, about the power of silence. There is no fanfare, the sun rises daily, usually around a similar time and just shines. No awards, no huge announcement - the sun just shines. Sunrises teach me to show up daily, no matter what! Peace and Blessings Akosua's Books Nyabo (Madam) Why Are You Here? Now What? The Flipside What Did I Learn Today? Lessons on the Journey to Unconditional Self Love

 if we don’t continually outgrow ourselves, if we don’t wince a little at our former ideas,  and beliefs, we ossify and perish .  Maria Popova Yesterday I was having a conversation on healing -  mainly inner healing. Confessions on the Journey - I want to heal super fast-  I run from uncomfortable feelings and being vulnerable . With healing, there is no way around it, one must go through.  With healing - we must sit in it. Whatever comes up, we have to sit with it, invite in in, get curious and simply deal with it. Healing requires patience. The patience here where how we go through can be more critical that the time.  Healing requires forgiveness, including forgiveness of self..  According to Maria Popova, forgiveness is the alchemy by which the shame transforms into the honor and privilege of being invited into another’s darkness and having them witness your own with the undimmed light of love, of sympathy, of nonjudgmental understanding. Heali...

  Don’t place limitations on yourself when you think about your next chapter. Let your mind reach far and allow your sight to be oriented by your deepest aspirations. Yung Pueblo   The end of 2023 is almost upon us, I started a ritual a few years ago where I would take time at the end of the year to go within, reflect and envision how I would want my life to look and feel for the next journey. I was thinking about how much I limit myself in the dreams and visions of how I want to live when I reflect. So when I saw the quote from Yung Pueblo which talked about placing limitations on ourselves, it resonated. On the journey to unconditional self love I have seen how impactful and powerful our thoughts are, how much our words and actions stem from the thoughts we think.  I am making a commitment to myself today to think without limits, to focus my thoughts on the fact that whatever comes my way I am able to handle it, to flow with the flow and to come through it on the o...

  H ere are my top 3 tips to stay engaged even when life is lifing: Give your peeps a heads up when you'll be hard to reach so they don't worry. Set reminders to check in if you're prone to disappearing. When overwhelmed, say that - don't just go silent. People understand. Stacey Hererra  I was chatting with a friend today, she said something that made me sit up and pay attention.  She said "Self Isolation can become unhealthy."  Why did that resonate with me? I spend  A LOT of time alone. even more so when I am going through life's challenges, the ups and downs of what we called lifing. I had to ask myself when she said it, am I self isolating in a healthy or unhealthy way? What do you mean by that? She said its all in the intention. Are you running or are you healing? There are times I would go somewhere for a few days, no phone! sometimes to get away from it all and sometimes to go inside myself to be centered. Having that conversation brought me to the...

  When we can’t forgive ourselves, we remain imprisoned and separate from our world. Tara Brach On this Journey of mine to love myself unconditionally, a recurring theme from all the books, guru's people I have met and spiritual coaches is about forgiving ourselves first. Before any attempt is made to do, to be, to fix- forgive self first! I always wondered about that because in my mind, well what did I do wrong that requires me to forgive myself? My ego was screaming to me that there is nothing you have done that requires you to forgive yourself. I feel for it. I fell for the ego trip and truth be told that had me stuck! I kept the focus on others, wanting them to say sorry, wanting to show them that they were wrong, out of order, they did a number on me. That energy kept me in a space of blaming, victim hood and ego tripping. What I have learnt since changing my perspective is forgiveness goes beyond someone saying sorry and acknowledging that they did something to hur...

  T oo many of us attempt to connect with our power in all the wrong places: in complaining, gossiping, whining, doubt, or fear… the list goes on. Our feelings are part of what contributes to our power; the connection to our feelings is what influences our outcomes . Carolyn Myss There is power in the words that we use. There is power in the thoughts that we think. There is power in the choices that we make. Where do you place your power?  I started paying attention to this more and more, starting with the little things. When I go out for a run or for a hike, I pay attention to what I am telling myself. When I tell myself "You can do this" or "I can do hard things" even though I am sometimes in a tight situation, or suffering through it I find something extra in the tank to move on, to finish the course. When I complain and moan, the energy levels I have are depleted. It becomes a self prophecy  and a detour into fear. Imagine taking that level of power of our thou...

  Like the light of dawn, clarity that appears suddenly has been arriving all along . Maxie McCoy Whatever decision we make, even it if appears as if its instant and out of the blue, has been happening  incrementally. We would have been thinking about it, getting signs to take a particular course of action, being divinely guided in some way - asking ourselves some questions even. The clarity comes when we take a firm decision and what I have learnt is that it is always right on time.  There is no rush, you cannot lose and it happens when we have made a firm decision and is ready. Peace and Blessings Akosua's Books Nyabo (Madam) Why Are You Here? Now What? The Flipside What Did I Learn Today? Lessons on the Journey to Unconditional Self Love

  You gotta resurrect the deep pain within you and give it a place to live that’s not within your body. Let it live in art. Let it live in writing. Let it live in music. Let it be devoured by building brighter connections. Your body is not a coffin for pain to be buried in. Put it somewhere else.~ Ehimeora One of my favourite lessons is "Do not waste your pain"  I cannot remember where I heard it or who shared it with me. It resonated in a deep way.  Life does not exempt us from its lessons nor its challenges. It does however provide us with tools, guidance and lessons. Our responsibility is to be present and pay attention. Our feelings and our gifts becomes the guides. When we are in pain, we feel, when we are in joy, we feel. Our gifts guide us back to ourselves. So many of our songs, visual art, sculptures come from wanting to express ourselves after we feel pain, sometimes joy and inspiration too, but mostly pain. Pain is saying to us, hey, I need you to pay atte...

  You think you know what tomorrow will bring. You believe that you have the answers to where you're going. The illusion that your life is within your control shatters in an instant, and like a tidal wave, a new life overtakes you. You quickly learn to swim . Alicia Rodriguez   Maybe the goal is not external validation. Maybe the goal is your own growth. Maybe the goal is to believe in you  Maybe the goal is not acquiring material possessions only to prove that we have made it. Maybe the goal is believing in abundance and acting from that space. Maybe the goal is not to fight for control all the time but to leave room for the unimaginable and for The Universe to surprise you. Maybe the goal is to seek out why being in control is so important to you. Maybe the goal is not to win. Maybe the goal is to learn. Maybe the goal is not to be perfect. Maybe the goal is to accept what is. Maybe the goal is to remember Remember that you are worthy Remember who you are Remember ...