Loving Your Beautiful Waking Self

Ashana playing crystal singing bowls

Loving Your Beautiful Waking Self

Dear One,

I’ve been using this time to study and grow (as I imagine many of you also are doing). One of my mentors shared a quote from a work by the poet & playwright, Christopher Fry, and when I read these words, my heart broke open:

“Where are you heading?
It takes so many thousand years to wake,
but will you wake,
for pity’s sake?”

-Christopher Fry.

It was like a laser beam of light, an intense call to action, straight from my soul.

What would my life look like if I were to treat every moment in this precious body, with the significance of a treasured, irreplaceable gift? What would it feel like to be relentlessly in love with myself, no exceptions? To be open, passionately open, to my soul and my soul’s love for me?

What is it like to stay awake, period? Awake inside all the forgetfulness and resistance. Awakein all the moments when I am craving sleep, drunk on distraction, and old habits of being.

But will you wake, for pity’s sake?

I know it isn’t easy. No one ever said that the razor’s edge was going to be a skip down the block. We get sideswiped by the unexpected. Pulled back into what’s comfortable and familiar. We feel tidal waves of anger, frustration, insecurity and apathy, boredom, depression, and anxiety. It’s like getting sucked down into the mud. Then we get to haul ourselves out, come back into the Now and

oh yeah … remember who we really are. Oops. I forgot.

If any of this sounds familiar, well, I hope you realize by now that I am right there with you. And this is what I have learned as I toodle along the way.

 Kindness is my best friend.
 Forgiveness is essential.
 Gentleness makes the challenging moments easier.
 Floating in a hot bath with essential oils helps make just about anything ok and the best of days even better.
 Having a sense of humor about the whole thing is absolutely necessary. Don’t leave home without it.

Wherever you are in this process of waking up, I pray that you be kind to yourself. Remember that we are here to love — ourselves and each other. This unfolding is happening in its own beautiful, merciful, and uniquely mysterious timing. And we get to decide consciously where we are heading and to stay true to our choice.

And that in itself is a gift.

If you feel like sharing your thoughts with me about this, you can write me here. As always, it warms my heart to hear from you.

With love to your beautiful, waking self.

ASHANA