Brave

​How brave you are for slowing down. For not finishing that to-do list.

How courageous you are for not crossing that finish line, because your body said “enough.” 

How fearless you are for choosing the quiet of your soul over those voices driving you always towards more.

How bold, how rebellious - 

you, out there, 

honoring your own natural rhythm, 

going against the culture’s breakneck speed.

We tend to make heroes of those hungry with ambition, relentlessly doing, producing always more. 

We applaud those who refuse to stop or rest. Who push themselves so hard in the name of achievement, that they sacrifice their body and soul and heart in the process. We celebrate those who are ill or aging but never show it, never slow down, never reveal a moment of vulnerability.

This drivenness can be heroic, at times. It can be necessary for our survival or the greater good.

But,

I want to make heroes of those who slow down.

I want to make heroes of those who listen to their bodies, who do not strive for more than what the soul truly needs.

I want to make heroes of those who do not force or push, but surrender to each moment as it opens.

I want to applaud those who may not be driven towards success as we know it, but instead are nurturing something deep and subtle and needed.

I want to celebrate those brave enough to cease all doing, even for a second, and sit with the ache in their hearts. A task many find harder than summiting the highest peak. 

I want to make heroes of those who honor their limitations. 

Who are unable to keep up with the busy-ness of our times, yet show up to each profound, necessary moment.

It is truly an act of courage and rebellion to do any such thing, in a world demanding you resist your own self, your own rhythm, your own soul.

And the paradox is, that often when we cease our incessant doing, even for a minute, and listen to that quiet voice within, we discover what it is we absolutely must do, and what instead can fall away. 

We finally hear the call towards what serves our soul, and what then will serve the world. Nothing more, nothing less.

A hero is simply someone brave. 

So come, be softly brave. 

Be a new, quieter kind of hero. 

Few may applaud, it’s true, but your soul certainly will ..

~ Leyla Aylin ~

My Mother’s Garden

​My mother kept a garden

A garden of the heart

She planted all the good things

That gave my life its start

She turned me to the sunshine

And encouraged me to dream

Fostering and nurturing

The seeds of self-esteem

And when the winds and rain came

She protected me enough

But not too much because she knew

I'd need to stand up strong and tough

Her constant good example

Always taught me right from wrong

Markers for my pathway

That will last a lifetime long

I am my mother's garden

I am her legacy

And I hope today she feels the love

Reflected back from me.

~ Vincent Tripolone III

​“Parents rarely let go of their children, so children let go of them. 

They move on. They move away. 

The moments that used to define them are covered by 

moments of their own accomplishments. 

It is not until much later, that 

children understand; 

their stories and all their accomplishments, sit atop the stories 

of their mothers and fathers, stones upon stones, 

beneath the water of their lives.” 

Paul Coelho

Women (International Women Day 2023)

Here’s to all the strong women out there

Who stand up for themselves and face the world with a heart of soldier.

Here’s to all the passionate women out there

Who won’t let the world stop them from achieving their dreams and doing the things they love.

Here’s to all the independent women out there

Who have been there for themselves and show that they can.

Here’s to all the unbreakable women out there!

Who have been knocked down for countless times but they find a way to rise and stand up again.

Here’s to all the women in this world

You are beautiful, you are worthy, and no one has the power to dim your light ..

~ Samiha Totanji ~ #internationalwomensday

Becoming

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Happiness

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Tiredness

​"Grandma, I'm tired. So tired of this life..."

"Take your tiredness, my child, and wrap it around yourself. Like a blanket in the cold winter months. Tiredness comes to make you a nest, to bring you to wear comfortable clothes, to make you sink into its warm embrace. I invite you to stay within yourself. Without strength, without thoughts, without actions. Like the snow that covers everything to soften the world, to make it muffled, to protect it from noise. Accept the flakes of your tiredness and let yourself be completely covered by them."

"I could die buried under there..."

"You will be reborn instead. Like the seed in the ground. Do not resist your weariness, do not reject it with a thousand actions, a thousand intentions, a thousand feelings of guilt. It just wants to take you by the hand and lead you to sink into the void. Right there, where the source of every inner strength lies. They taught us to be strong by resisting. But it is in surrendering that the true heroes emerge."

"I'm afraid, grandmother. What if fatigue will annihilate me?"

"My child, you are not afraid of tiredness but of losing control of yourself. The time has come for you to give yourself to life. And to generate together with it the most wonderful children: the fruits of your soul!"

Author: Elena Bernabè

Tiredness

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