Valentine's Day is next week, 2/14/24.
It's one of our favorite occasions here at the Sanctuary. Why? We love to love & Valentine's Day is a reminder of why we are here. Taking care of our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual self is an act of self-love that keeps on giving. From our own self-love, all other love grows. In fact, the ability to nourish ourselves first, enables us to effectively (aka without resentment) nourish others. Here are 3 ways to plug into Sanctuary Love: 1. Treat Yourself to a Sanctuary Service Enjoy the familiar or try something new! >>>View Services 2. Attend Stephanie's Yummy Yin Class on Saturday, 2/10/24 @3pm in Bronxville Enjoy connection, deep stretching & meditation in a salt candle lit, warm room. >>>Reserve Your Spot 3.Give Sanctuary Love with a Gift Certificate >>>Purchase Gift Certificate Last week I talked about how I came to find my purpose. I shared how the discomfort of loss caused me to question life.
When we are uncomfortable long enough, many of us eventually decide to try something else. Maybe we become more willing to open ourselves, ask questions, and allow guidance to come through. I was reminded of this yesterday. The question asked was, "what is the simplest way to receive guidance?". The answer: discomfort. Why discomfort? As humans, most of us don't like discomfort. We will do almost anything to avoid it. And yet, by avoiding it, we perpetuate it. We also lose connection to wisdom and ultimately healing when we ignore discomfort. What to do? When discomfort shows up, we can welcome it as a source of guidance. We can connect to it instead of avoid it. How? We can connect to discomfort by asking questions. For a simple example, if we are uncomfortable because we are tired, we can ask things such as: Why am I tired? Am I always tired? Does something need to change? Maybe the guidance is telling us to rest. Or perhaps we are being guided to make some other changes in our life. For a more complex example, if we are uncomfortable because our love partner isn't showing up in the relationship, we can ask things such as: How long has this been happening? What is going on with them? Do I need to get support? Maybe the guidance is telling us to speak up, ask, advocate. In short, to take action. Energy healing and meditation are 2 practical tools to help us navigate discomfort and tap into the guidance awaiting us. After all, if we weren't uncomfortable, nothing would change. The more we practice self love, the more love (and patience, compassion, joy) we have to give others.
What is self love? It's many things. Examples include speaking kindly to ourself, listening to our needs and taking action on them, being patient with all that is unresolved in our heart.. I don't know about you, for me when I am truly loving myself, I am happiest. Why? Loving myself fills me up and I have SO much more to give to others. When I am giving to others I am happy. Especially during busy and trying times, one of the greatest tools we have is the ability to love ourself and extend that love to others. It's really one of the only things we can control. To support you I am sharing my 12-minute guided meditation below. In it I guide you on a journey of love to both clear your energy & cultivate gratitude for your life. Enjoy & share! >>>Listen Now "You need not leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. You need not even listen, simply wait. You need not even wait, just learn to become quiet, and still, and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked. It has no choice; it will roll in ecstasy at your feet." -Franz Kafka
Some of the happiest people I know take time daily to be still. It's simply part of their self care habit. How do we become still? A few ways: 1. Disconnecting from all tech including book reading, listening to music, watching TV 2. Walking in Nature 3. Practicing Non Judgement to quiet the noisy labeling, analytical mind 4. Silent Meditation ... one of our favorites >>>Meditation Benefits “Daily Rituals...Making Everyday Sacred”
In life I have found it helpful to have beliefs. I have also found it helpful to be willing to allow those beliefs to evolve as I grow in wisdom. Having said this, some beliefs are long standing, life sustaining, and act as pillars for me. One of those beliefs is this: everyday is sacred. Knowing everyday is sacred, my intention is to focus energy on daily rituals and practices that celebrate the sacred. Doing so helps me remember it throughout my day. It’s so easy to forget with all the noisy distractions of the world!! My belief energizes my commitment to having daily rituals and practices. While daily meditation and energy clearing practices are my anchors, many days I also find myself writing, drumming, chanting, and engaging in various other uplifting practices that nourish my spirit (cooking, exercising, and playing with with my cats and dog ). When I start my day with these nourishing practices, it reconnects me to our essential nature which is unconditional love. Feeling this pure love reminds me of my divine nature. This love washes away any doubt that there is anything more important than bringing love into the world. My spirit is nourished. Ahhh, yes! I am spirit. We are all spirit. And I am human too. As the day rolls on, perhaps I encounter someone being unkind or hateful. These are the moments my daily rituals bolster me. They remind me that everything is sacred. Yes, everything, even the less desirable attributes of humanity. In fact, perhaps we learn the most from these challenging moments? My studies of the Bhagavad Gita have taught me that nothing is wasted. I mentioned this last week in my blog about death awakens us. The pain and suffering we experience is useful, if we choose to see it that way. How so? These experiences help us awaken. The harder moments of life teach us where our limits to love and forgiveness reside. They teach us where we are still growing. Exhale. They teach us to have compassion. They teach us that all of life is sacred. My daily rituals help me stay on the path of awakening to life. Why is awakening important? Well, another one of my beliefs is that in order to fulfill my purpose on Earth (to joyfully serve), I must be awake. Meaning, I must be aware, alert, and of the mind set that everything that happens is for me to learn and grow. I often say, “let’s burn our pain and use it as fuel for the journey”. Coming back to my belief that everything is sacred translates to everyday, every moment, every breath... is sacred. My daily rituals help me remember this sacredness so I may live into it. Living as such is a powerful and humbling practice. It’s an endless practice really. A practice, not a perfect. At this stage of my sacred Earth journey, I don’t know any other way I would want to live. >>>What daily rituals do you have or will you commit to NOW? Blessings and love to you on your sacred journey. I support you! Stephanie |
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