From Here to Here

Posted on by Healing Creations PNW

This point in time is important. Right here, right now. We look and search for ways to know about the future. We hold onto things, take pictures, and try to hold onto the past (and anything that takes us back there). Why is it that we have so much trouble being here, in the present? Why must we feel all this disarray about an unknown tomorrow?

We make plans. We get upset when those plans change, or we can get upset about having any plans at all. What is it about the security of knowing what to expect in the next days, weeks, months, and so on? We can’t even, really, expect to know what will happen a couple minutes from now.

One day, I noticed something. I noticed that my head was constantly full. It was full of worries, doubts, fears, plans, worries of being late to appointments, of being fired, becoming homeless, dying and leaving my kids without me. All of these things cluttered up my headspace for so long. Not even JUST those things. There was more.

Why does any of this matter? Why are we even here? To worry? I don’t think so… To make plans? Probably not… To think about bills, constantly? Yeah, that’s the best one, probably that. We are surely here, on this beautiful planet, so we can spend our time worrying and thinking about bills. What are bills? Choices we made. Decisions we felt were right for us. Each choice we make, whether it is a new bill, a thought, a step forward, we choose these actions or thought motions. What if we chose to lighten things up?

What is it that keeps you swimming in the same spot? Comfort? Fear? Could you possibly get tired of staying in that warm water? Why not choose to feel a different sensation? Maybe change scares you, too much. We tend to hold onto fears that we first experienced in childhood. We re-live experiences in our mind, a lot. It can certainly make a person have trouble with moving out of their comfort zone. Yet, that is the only way to allow ourselves to become more open to so much more beauty in life. We forget how invigorating it can be to feel that fresh, cool water.

When you focus more on the present moment, lessen your need to control the future or hold onto the past, you can experience a release of fear. When you realize that you are allowing peace, by letting go of the constant mental clutter, you allow joy to fill you up. Space is never empty. It is full of energy. You choose the energy that fills your space. If it is going to be beneficial, it should make you feel like you are being challenged (in a healthy way) or it should be an elated feeling, that comes from it. You can also experience the sensation of “nothingness”. Which is literally this feeling like nothing. You feel light, like you could be lifted up by how air-headed you feel, because you have let everything leave your mind!

Close your eyes, or focus your eyes on something. Breathe in through your nose, then out through your mouth. When you bring yourself into the moment like that, you let go of a whole lot of extra mental weight that you do not need. All we ever really have is this present moment. From here, to here, and then to here. It is all the present moment. Remember what is important, what is not helping you, and what is a constant. You can weed-whack on your own, to rid yourself of all the mental seaweed that is plugging up your mental flow. All we can do is be right here, growing, learning, loving and experiencing this beautiful life. Hopefully you (and I) can learn to let go more, to allow the here and now to be more abundant and more pleasant. May the peace of nothingness be with you.

Thank you for being here.

-M.

Contact Monica Tenneson

Future Self, What Can I Expect?

Posted on by Healing Creations PNW

Sometimes I think I should find a way to talk to my future self. It’s too bad time travel doesn’t really exist. I would have trouble staying in the present time. It is just so much more exciting to think and dream about the future. What is the hear and now, aside from pain and challenges?

Is it hard for you to get out of bed? As I get older, I find it to be more of a struggle. My body hurts, in all the “getting old” body places. Early signs of arthritis are keeping me aware of most of my joints. You know how they say that you, at some point, just age overnight?” I think that happens in your mid-thirties, with intensity. Gravity also just shows up. Followed by many groupings of grey hairs and some skin creases. It seems like everything cracks and aches. They should probable allow retirement to be lowered to the age of 40. Though, with all of that, life is still beautiful. It is worth getting out of bed each morning, to discover new things to appreciate about this life.

Life is not something to complain about. We grow so much, throughout our life. We get to have many life experiences that are very beautiful. Sometimes we get a chance to have some really amazing experiences, that leave us feeling the happiness days later, or when we think back to that day or moment. We can have a day full of so much good, then we can have days filled with one headache after another.

What would it look like if we only had good days? Is that really something to wish for? I have learned that we need the tough days. Those challenges keep us growing. Sometimes they really help us learn what we need to work on inside of ourselves.

If I were to talk to my future self, maybe I might not want to know what I have to look forward to. Maybe I would want to stay in the dark about challenges and roadblocks. If we know what’s coming then we can’t practice going with the flow. We can’t experience the blood rushing panic or the elated joyfulness, quite as much. The blood rushing panic may sound unsatisfactory, but it is part of life. Being elated and joyful are just as important to experience.

The knowing can be great, but the unknowing can be greater. Just as we are in this age of needing to be constantly busy, we should also remember to appreciate the present moment, without needing to be distracted. When you are constantly distracted, you forget the your current self needs to be acknowledged more. Find your breath and follow it. The flow comes much easier when you can be in the present. You future self would tell you the same thing. Be here, and know that tomorrow will bring no more than you are capable of handling. Tomorrow will bring something else, that today cannot. Today will always be the best place to be, no matter where you are. Practice letting go of fear or expectations of tomorrow. Today and tomorrow will have plenty enough to fill up your time.

Be here. Be grateful. Or be ungrateful. Just be you, in the present moment.

-M.

Always Thinking Always Love

Posted on by Healing Creations PNW

What is love? What is self-love? Why do we put so much value into what others might think about us? Why do we, instead, lower our own self-value to meet others standards of us? Why not allow ourselves to go beyond the limits of the possible standards that we think others are setting for us, and realize that there are no limits? Why can’t we just see our own light? Why can’t we just love ourselves, easily and give ourselves as much grace and kindness as we give others?

< always thinking >

Maybe we should take some baby steps each day and practice being more grateful for being unique.

As I am up late, again, I am thinking about all the things I have been trying to do to make sure I am taking care of my needs. Then the days come, that are busy, and my day gets flipped all around. On those days, it’s important to just be grateful that you know what it is that you value most.

You know what it takes to get back into your self-care routines. You know what you need to do, when a day gets busy, you prioritize. Maybe the bed has to wait to get made. Maybe a meditation has to be in the evening. It’s okay. We do what we need to do. Life goes on. Still, you find your way “back home” to yourself.

You learn more each day, about what you need to be happier. To feel more whole. To be a giver of love, you must be able to fill yourself up as well. To be a human being, you must learn to take time to recharge and care for yourself. As we are taught to “be busy” we must learn to stop and “be still”. Allow silence. Allow space. Allow some time to stop being so busy. 🤍

I hope that whomever reads this can feel filled with love. I hope you can find simple things to do each day that make you feel good about yourself. I hope you find peace. You are worthy of all the good there is in this life.

– M