Biting my tongue.

It all started with me biting my tongue the other day, it hurt so bad but I ignored it. It became sensitive and I kept doing it over and over again.  Today I started taking care of it. Maybe a few days late. It made me think of many aches I have had that sometimes I ignore and wait until they get awful. In life, pain is the best signal to pay attention. There’s normal life pain that we can’t control and it’s inevitable. Growing pains I guess. The ones we have to go through for a while and through life. We must learn to sit in discomfort while they pass. Ignoring them won’t make them go away. Feeling them might be freeing. But there are pains we can take care of with loving attention and kindness. We jump at the opportunity to show kindness to someone in pain. So why can’t we react the same way towards ourselves? It has taken me almost 50 years to prioritize myself in my empty nest era. My emotions, my heart, my dreams, my needs, my happiness, and my pain. I will listen carefully. 

Our body in pain is asking us to slow down and pay attention. It slows us down for a reason. If we pay attention to it, we start healing it. The same goes for our brain. Our thoughts and our emotions can become a lingering draining pit. We can keep ourselves extra busy and ignore them but they will try to resurface. We must pay attention, be brave, honor them, and kindly take care of them.

For me, it was so freeing to realize that I am fragile! I am not this superwoman who goes through the world without a pause! It was so freeing to know I can sit down, I can say not right now. I can take breaks, mentally and physically. I can prioritize my mental health and work on it, or not. I can. I can express in kinder or not, ways, what I need and how. I have the power to heal. I have the power to ask for what I give. To set boundaries to protect my peace. To keep filling that gorgeous champagne flute to the top with self-love! I promise myself I will pay more attention and show kindness to myself. If I take care of myself….. I can share the best version of myself with the world. I am striving to align with my highest self. I will honor that promise to the best ability. Remembering I can’t control everything and that is ok. For now, I will sit by my window enjoying the silence of the first snowfall. I am grateful for my body, and my brain. For the millions of miracles that occur inside and outside me. May you find time to sit down with yourself, for a few minutes and listen. All my love to you.