Brave Enough To Be Bliss

makes it easier to give the gift of compassion to others. Self-compassion is the key to the rest of my wishes for you to come true. Feel: Another wish for you is that you begin to allow yourself to feel all your feelings. I could be wrong but wonder if perhaps as a child you were told to stop expressing some of your feelings, so now your brain may just tell you to turn certain feelings off. When we don’t feel all our feelings, they get stored up inside of us and do damage mentally and/or physically. I pray that with this wish, you will be able to work through your grief since you mentioned that was a need. You will so laugh at this, but I still have to say it…as a former hater of country music, I think it would be good for you to force yourself to listen to it. The thing about country music is that it tells stories of life and love and loss. I think it would grow on you if you gave it a chance and if you listen to all the words, I think it could help you feel some big feelings. It’s hard to listen to country music and not find something that touches your heart. And there’s some crossover country now too that I think would be an easier transition. Call me crazy, doesn’t bother me at all, but I still think it would be a good thing to try. And I’m not joking, I hated country until Kylee was in high school or college and made me start listening to it. I love it now. Love: My wish for you is that this four-letter word becomes less of a big word and rather one that brings warmth and comfort. There are debates on how many forms of love there are, some say four, some say seven, etc. Regardless, feeling loved is a basic need for all humans. Perhaps losing your mom’s p hysical presence felt like losing the most constant love you had known your entire life. Not being able to feel her arms around you, hear her say she loves you, eat her delicious food, and give your love back…I can’t imagine how difficult that must be and can certainly understand why it’s been hard to work through it. It’s great progress that you can now acknowledge you need to work through those feelings. Doing so has a great chance of helping to open your heart to all kinds of love for you to fully embrace and experience for the rest of your life. As a mom who loves her child dearly like she made clear she did you, I know without a doubt that she would want nothing more than that for you. And one day you will see her in heaven, and she will welcome you into her loving arms once again. Joy: Happiness is great, but joy is so much better. Happiness is something that often lasts only as long as the experience or the people around us. We get clues if others are happy by the outward expression, but joy is something that I think one simply feels versus generally expresses. Joy is in the heart and soul, and I would argue visible through the eyes if others are really paying attention and tuned in enough to their humanity . That’s how I get to know people, through their eyes. The eyes are windows to the heart and soul. It’s very difficult to lie with your eyes. There is a darkness or light in a person’s eyes that can tell part of one’s story. Joy can be there even in the midst of hard times. When I think of joy, I think of it as a deep feeling that life has purpose and meaning and is worth every difficulty and pain. Peace: My final wish for you is that you can find ways to be at peace with yourself and your past, with others who may have hurt you or who you may have hurt, and with your life in general. When your mind is racing, I hope that through self-compassion, feeling all your feelings, opening your heart to love and joy, you will have found different tools to be able to slow it down and bring yourself back to the present moment. Whatever brings you peace and contentment in the present moment, I wish that for you.

“Isn’t it cool that the same God that created mountains and oceans and galaxies thought that the world needed one of you too? ” Unknown

I am sure glad He did! Happy birthday! Enjoy every minute!

Luke Combs - Beautiful Crazy (Lyrics) (youtube.com)

And as strange as it felt sometimes to have positive thoughts about myself, I really did believe someday my crazy would be beautiful to somebody.

“She is strong, but not in the ways most people think. She loves more than she’ll ever get back and she knows it. And yet, she loves anyway.” @jmstormquotes

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