I met up with a girlfriend recently who was still in the process of recovering not only from her father’s passing but also the end of a long term relationship she had been in; both happening almost simultaneously. Sigh.  Deep breath. Wrecking.  We’re surrounded by stories of each other’s pain and umimaginables.

Ugh there is so much that can go sideways in life; there really is little within our control.  From unimaginable seasons of unexpected loss and grief to small surprise level one earthquakes; you never know what’s coming.   Loss, pain, grief, sadness, disappointment…it’s like a condition of life.  To be human is to experience suffering; none of us get a pass.

When my 17 year old niece was visiting this summer, one thing I really wanted to impress upon her – the one thing I needed her to really recognize and plant somewhere deep down into her subconscious to revisit whenever she should need; is the truth that “everything passes”.  Big things become small, small things become big, highs are amazing, lows suck…but none of it lasts; “everything passes”…THAT might be the only predictability of life, the constant motion and continuity of it.  Everything passes and nothing stays the same…even when the days feel long or hard, we know the years fly by.  And eventually we can look back and see the peaks and valleys we’ve come through barely able to recognize where one started and the next began.

So we will suffer, but the saving grace is; we are equipped.  Maybe we might be victims of chance, fate, choice, or circumstance; but the good news is, we are equipped.

In seasons of suffering, we might not be able to control the what, but we have a choice in the how, the way we work through it; how we brace, keep and care for ourselves through our experiences. We can choose how we show up for ourselves in the thick of it. That’s our Grace, our power to choose for ourselves.

When life goes sideways, dear one, let it. Feel it, invite it, let it.  Don’t run, don’t resist it.

Don’t be afraid; it will hurt, but not forever. Let yourself feel for as long as you need.

But no matter how long you sit with it, don’t forget, you are equipped.  When you are ready to, shift from your heart to your head. What is the pain teaching you?  What is it wanting you to learn? Where will you choose to go from here? How will you rise again?  Because trust me dear One, you will rise again.

You will rise again.

Like a Phoenix from the ashes,

you will rise again.

Stronger. Wiser. More Powerful

Don’t be afraid of this time, it will serve you if you believe in your own capacity to overcome.

The pain can be a gift when we learn to receive it.

Face it.  Let it in, let it all the way in.

Had your soul called this forth?

Did your heart intuitively know it was time?

Even when you can’t see two steps in front of you, trust that life is happening for you, not against you.

Your soul’s wisdom far outweighs the lies of this world.

Let go of those quiet whispers of not being good enough or not being able to withstand it.

Fuck those fears that feel more real than imagined. They are just illusions.

Smash those old paradigms that use to fit, but feel like cages now.

You are not who you were, experiences change us and you have been transforming your whole life,

You deserve freedom and peace, and you deserve to create those on your own terms.

Your story isn’t finished. The rest is still to be written; and you will write it.

Like a Phoenix from the ashes, you will rise again.

Stop believing the lies that pain tricks us into believing.

Stop allowing your limited beliefs to dictate your destiny any longer.

If you tell yourself any stories, let it be of your victorious comeback.

When you are ready, unleash your dragon and burn those old cities down.

Let it cinder the boxes of cardboard masks you use to wear.

Cut the chord between duty and dreams, before your dragon sets it all ablaze.

           You only owe it to youself.  

Know yourself by name, and feel yourself by heart.

You’ve got yourself.

You will fight for yourself.

If all else crumbles, you won’t let yourself down.

Like a warrior stand firm before your being.

Protect yourself at all costs.

Fight tooth and nail to preserve the sacredness of your own heart.

You will get through this stronger. Wiser.  More Powerful

We will remember.

When the chips were down, you got up again.

From those ashes, you rose again <3