"The other side of any problem, no matter how big or small, is the opportunity to ally with it as a vehicle for your own evolution.

~ Robin Rose Bennett

When we are in fear, our attention is pulled out of the present moment. We react out of past experience and terrifying fantasies of the future. Bring awareness and attention back to the breath and focus on only what is, not what has been, nor what might be. Allow this moment to have its own life.

Heart-closing stories are stories that separate us, stories that split world into "them" and "us" (or create an inner split from aspects of self we find unacceptable.)... Asking - Is the story reflected in my choices heart-opening or heart-closing? - and allowing the answer to arise in our bodies, plants our discernment in the ground of compassion.

~ Excerpted from an Oriah Mountain Dreamer post

"beneath the small daily trials are harder paradoxes, things the mind cannot reconcile but the heart must hold if we are to live fully"

~ Oriah Mountain Dreamer post

"...and the heart can host more than is imaginable and we are more resilient then we ever believed"

"They MADE me feel like this. They MADE me do this." takes root in the fertile ground of our own acceptance of the perception held by whoever 'they' are.

"You can only find truth if you seek it for yourself, for the truths of history are the truths of others. But truth is like a mirage in the desert. For us, the task is not to chase truth but to create it. Truth is a stance, an act of power that you bring to all your actions. Truth is what the person of knowledge brings to every moment."

~ From Dance of the Four Winds by Alberto Villoldo

When we take care of everyone around us to the neglect of ourselves, when we subsume ourselves in order to fit someone else's desire, we are not being of service, we are not being truly loving. When we are not our authentic, wondrous, messy, and beautiful selves, it is a loss to the world not a gain. We are depriving the world, our loved ones, ourselves, of our true service, our unique medicine.

"The other side of any problem, no matter how big or small, is the opportunity to ally with it as a vehicle for your own evolution."

~ Robin Rose Bennett

Do you have the ability and courage to allow another's truth to exist right next to your own, without seeing it as diminishing your own truth? Perhaps more than allow it, have the desire to comprehend with curiosity and compassion what they see, feel, desire, and think. Or do you build a barrier and feel better about yourself by diminishing their truth so that you may be right or win?

"Fear is excitement without the Breath. They have the same physiological responses from the body & to move from fear to excitement it takes adding in the Breath."

~ Dr. Fritz Perls, MD

"Violence is what happens when we don't know what else to do with our suffering. That applies on every level of life. When individuals don't know what to do with their suffering, they do violence to others or themselves ..."

~ Parker Palmer

"When we feel pain we need to allow ourselves the right to feel. Being hurt or confused is just as important to our emotional stability as feeling elated and clear headed."

~ Tara

"Healing is the unification of all our forces -- the powers of being, feeling, knowing, and seeing."

~ Gabrielle Roth

"For what are you grateful?"

Being vulnerable does not mean being flayed open, ravaged to the core, or wholly at someone's mercy. Being vulnerable means willingness to risk being authentic, loving fully, expressing your deep and tender feelings AND having healthy boundaries in place that say "No" to what is not in the best interest of your vibrant, authentic self. Being vulnerable says that is NOT mine ... but, this is and I will care for it. It is knowing connection is not the same thing as being enmeshed and losing yourself in the other.