Delight for the Soul
  • Welcome
  • Book
    • Knowing Beautiful Retreats
  • About Amy
  • Programs
    • Corporate Programs
    • Custom Events
    • Retreats >
      • Retreat Themes
      • Frequently Asked Questions
      • Knowing Beautiful Retreats
      • Empty Nest Retreat: for Mothers of Seniors
      • Couples Retreat >
        • Couple's Retreat F.A.Q.
    • Schedule, Cost, Location
  • Speaking
  • Blog
  • What Participants Say
  • Contact

Untethered

10/26/2012

1 Comment

 
Picture
She is 97.  With a beautiful heart, failing legs, and a mind that some would say is failing too.

I see it a little differently.  I see a mind that has loosened its grip in a way we all desire.  Letting go of anxiety, to do lists, the need for comparison, planning for the future, regret.

She’s my grandmother and she has dementia.  It’s a condition caused by the gradual death of brain cells.

The space that has emerged is filled with humor, freedom, candidness, peace, pointed wisdom at times and an innate ability to be in the present.

There is also confusion, the sense of something not being quite right, and a loss of memories.  For those who love her, there's a sadness when they aren't recognized. Yet we always have an intimate visit with my grandmother’s inner soul.

And in her moments of clarity, her most authentic self steps forward loving and appreciating this world.   She now relaxes into daily gratitude. She trusts.  She feels.  She sleeps soundly.  She accepts.

At this point, dementia has removed layers of the mind in my grandmother that bury the soul in all of us.  Layers of thought, personality, memories that become our story, fear of the future.

It’s too early to say it’s a gift, but for sure it’s a lesson in what is pure . . . how beautiful an untethered heart and soul can be.  And, no matter the age, when a soul bares itself, we must hold and love it with the same compassion we hold a child.

Today, maybe we try loosening the grip of our own mind. Let’s relax into the present, allow our emotions to surface freely, let go of self judgement, and rest in a space of trust.
1 Comment

Grace of Space

9/2/2012

0 Comments

 
Picture
Once in a while you find yourself in a place where space transcends time.  Where minutes lose their grip and space breathes life into your soul.

This summer I was off the grid on a family vacation in Yellowstone.  We started in the town of Big Sky, Montana; a name that sounds redundant.  Aren’t all skies big?... Until you are there.

The expansive sky, prairies, and mountains invite you to feel the grace of space.  Grace . . .  as Webster's defines, the “unmerited divine assistance given to humans for their regeneration.”

Our souls aren’t linear.  They don’t ask for timelines.  They ask for the roundness of space.

It was our first attempt at a big family road trip.  And as predicted, we had a whining backseat with their own requests, “I just want to shop!”, “Geysers give me headaches!”, “When are we going to start having fun?”

Eventually the grace of space seeped in and they opened, softened and blossomed with energy.

Like a small child, our soul can’t put its needs into words. Instead it sometimes shuts down, leaving us with a nondescript heaviness or cries out, leaving us with an aching tightness.

My family experienced the healing that comes from the grace of space.  Now comes the classic post vacation question: How can we continue to create space to tend to our souls in our over-wound, time-based world?

I think it starts with mindfully clearing space in those moments that we do have.  Full attention, single tasking, consciously slowing down, and listening for quiet in the mind or the depth of our breath . . .  our internal space.

If that doesn’t work, take one moment to connect with grace.  Look up at the big sky, feel some grass, smell a flower, listen for a bird, find the roundness of your soul in tonight’s moon.
0 Comments

    Subscribe to Blog

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    RSS Feed

    Picture

    Amy Tirion
    About Me
    Advocate for Stillness, Seeker of Inspiration, Playful Mom, Lover of Creativity, Still Learning, Believer in Women,  Founder of Delight for the Soul

    Check Out My New Book Knowing Beautiful:
    A New Bedtime Story for Women

    Picture
    Becoming
    This blog is an invitation to stop.  Breathe.  And tap into the part of you that craves more space, inspiration, and nurturing.  It captures the writings from my Delight for the Soul Newsletter.  They are personal moments of reflection, inspiration, and questioning that focus on Being rather than Doing.  It's a direction we are all invited to go in, as we live deeply and do less.  The more we focus on being, the more delighted we become . . . and the more becoming we are.


    Categories

    All
    Abundance
    Admiration
    Aging
    Balance
    Beauty
    Becoming
    Buoyancy
    Calling
    Chakra
    Change
    Childhood
    Children
    Compassion
    Consciousness
    Courage
    Dance
    David Whyte
    Desire
    Disappointment
    Discomfort
    Dreaming
    Emotion
    Energy
    Enthusiasm
    Fear
    Flash Mob
    Friendship
    Full Moon
    Gender
    Girlfriends
    Giving
    Goal Setting
    Goal Setting
    Grace
    Graduation
    Gratitude
    Growing
    Harmony
    Heart
    Heart Opening
    Hope
    Indulgence
    Inspiration
    Intuition
    Jealousy
    Joy
    Kelly Mcgonigal
    Loss
    Love
    Magic
    Mary Oliver
    Mindfulness
    One Billion Rising
    Oneness
    Overwhelm
    Pace
    Parenting
    Peace
    Perimenopause
    Play
    Receiving
    Resilience
    School
    Self Care
    Self Perception
    Shasta Nelson
    Slowing Down
    Soul
    Support
    Time
    Travel
    Trust
    Truth
    Visioning
    Voice
    Vulnerability
    Wisdom
    Work
    World

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.