Allow Yourself Some Slack, My Friend

Allow, honor….two of my favorite words these days, living into this moment-to-moment awareness of life in new ways.

Watching and listening to the things I say and choices I make is completely different than the way I used to operate, which was more reactive, leading to this aftermath — I’d often beat myself up about what I’d said earlier.

Not fun.

These new patterns allowing myself to more honor my feelings and needs lead to some interesting places.

What about you?

Does this introduction speak to you?

Have I confused you?  (I didn’t mean to.)

Are you good at honoring your feelings?

Do you treat yourself with warmth, caring, and kindness?

Are you a good friend to yourself?

Or are you in a different place, maybe riddled with negative self talk?

Ouch.

I understand.

That used to be me.

My transformation started years ago, offering myself some of the same kindness I extended to others.

Over time, I was able to laugh when I made a mistake.  Totally sweet!

It sure beats up the alternative…blaming and re-blaming myself for a mishap, misstep, or foot in the mouth.

I wish this for you.  That you can allow yourself slack, treat yourself with increasing kindness, and enjoy all the moments you can.

Here’s a recent example of honoring my feelings that made this morning feel like Christmas.

When Ben and I moved into this shared home in June, our landlord noted there was a washer here and not a dryer, inviting us to get one when we were ready.

He also noted the narrow doorway, suggesting it could be a challenge.

Well, it was summer, we had lots to do here, plus my aging parents needed extra support, inviting me to schedule lots of trips to assist them.

I smiled hanging laundry on a clothesline outside, and rainy days I hung laundry in our patio.

The energy saved felt great, since I don’t like to waste resources.

It felt rather counter-cultural not to have a dryer, which gave me a kick.

And I enjoyed it…

…until one December morning when I found myself hanging cold, wet laundry in our patio’s frosty air, yet again.

That’s when I decided to figure out how to fit a dryer into the laundry room.

I realized I was very ready to embrace this typical convenience, adding a degree of ease to my life.

So today when I woke up, I had that excited feeling about something wonderful happening, like Christmas morning, or anticipating a long-time friend’s imminent arrival.

Today my landlord and Ben are going to install our new dryer!

And…hooray…my calculations turned out to be spot on.

Bob just needed to remove one side of the door’s trim, and the laundry room door, to slip the dryer in.

When he left, I threw in a load of wash, using the dryer a little bit.

Then I hung laundry on the line.

I know, I know…but the sun was peeking out, and there was a breeze.

May you awaken ever more to allowing your feelings!