Affirmations

I was at a friend's birthday party tonight. She lives in the country right near a small lake -- a rarity in this part of Illinois. Her cottage by the lake is a temporary home during this separation from her husband.

We sat near the water, skipped stones and shared stories. There's a small playground near the cottage. The five of us slid down the slide, bounced on the teeter-totter and spun around on the merry-go-round. We are adults who still know how to play like children.

Inside we drank hot cider, laughed, read to each other and shared from our hearts. At some point our camaraderie joined us together in a spontaneous zone of healing friendship -- another point of grace in a day that was already full of grace for me.

My friend has one of those calendars of daily affirmations sitting in her kitchen. Hers was made by a friend. The affirmations came to/through this friend and she wrote them down.

I used to laugh at these kinds of daily affirmations. They used to embarrass me because I thought I had the skills to deal with life’s challenges on my own and if I didn’t then I needed to hide my inadequacy because asking for help was a sign of weakness. Or I thought that affirmations were made my people who had little experience with pain.

Now I know that the people who write these daily affirmation books are poets who have transformed their own pain into something beautiful worth sharing.

Below are some of the affirmations I read tonight from the book, “Monkey Minders: Loving Thoughts To Still the Monkey in Your Mind,” by Margaret L. Clay.

Give people your truth.
Held in it becomes baggage.
Let go.
It frees you and everyone else.
Say what you need to say.
Give what you have to give.
Let all be done in love.
------

It’s OK to have feelings.
You can speak for yourself now.
Let love in.
Breathe in love.
You give more easily than receive.
Practice receiving.
Don’t push away.
Let love in, and know that it is safe to do so.
All is well.
-----

There’s a quickening I feel.
It’s the readiness time of the In-Between.
I can almost feel its edge, where I will meet my next chapter
And be surprised by the new life yet to experience.
----

Don’t push yourself onto anyone or into anything.
One step at a time.
Then pause to listen for your next clue.
Keep dancing.
Life is fluid.
Let it be so.
And so it is.
---

There is enough time and resources
To do that which is YOURS to do.
Peace. Be Still.
Be with the stillness and then you will watch time collapse
As healing dissolves all illusions.
Only be still so that you can know.
-----

When I think that I must choose either love or power
I experience a loveless power or a powerless love.
Yet when I remember that the root of real power is love,
I find a powerful love that knows no limits.