Set in Gentleness
This piece marks the shift from self-conflict to self-compassion. It started chaotic and softened into a synergy of body, mind and nervous system. Not an answer but a gentle beginning.
Brought to you by *the things that happen when you come home after a long day and declare that you are going to do NOTHING tonight*. I even joked with friends about what might happen. So ... anyway.
I had this painting (bottom) that was super chaotic and that I really didn’t like. I knew the moment I stopped that this was not the end result.
Tonight, pieces started falling into place. I had been thinking about how wrong we approach making changes in our lives. How we’re working against us instead of collaborating.
Easy example – losing weight. A topic many can relate to. How do you think your body feels when it hears that you want to get rid of some of it? Basically, killing parts of it off.
Probably not great. Do we agree on that?
I think a better and gentler approach is to try and understand our body and what it needs. To understand the relationship between body, mind and nervous system. And to work with all three of them.
This goes for any change we want to make as all three are equally involved.
We may not understand everything because some parts remain unknown, but we can begin by being gentle with what we don’t yet understand. By being curious about why we pick up our phone yet again even though we promised ourselves this time we wouldn’t.
Are we bored?
Do we need a quick dopamine hit?
Are we procrastinating?
Are we trying to distract ourselves from feelings we don’t want to have?
Is it actually calming us down if we put the phone away after 5 minutes?
Is there a cut-off when we start feeling bad about being on our phone yet again?
Questions like that. No judgement, just an understanding that there can be many factors. A gentler approach where there’s balance instead of chaos. A deep understanding that synergy is where the key lies.
Time to find out what we can do for our body, mind and nervous system to work well together. Time to stop the negative self-talk and start collaborating with ourselves. Because when have self-blame and inner conflict ever gotten us anywhere?
Here’s to a gentler approach – a new start. One that is Set in Gentleness.
This is perfect for me today. I am reevaluating everything and trying to be more gentle with myself. I love the painting, and I can really identify with trying to make a change by approaching it from a different angle. Thank you, and I'm sorry I've been absent from Wed/Sat.