It was a little risky to dare to understand tenderness. It meant first knowing the opposite. It meant knowing bitter coldness and disconnect, the only way out being back through painful layers of healing as each healed layer began to let in a little more light of hope and courage to continue on. Aiming to get to a future place or remaining stuck in past stories became courage to drop more deeply into the present. It was an extreme path — the result being the capacity to hold and love the most traumatized parts of the human experience. There was accumulated trauma from painful attempts to heal the original trauma, and there was a love and compassion nothing could ever touch or take away.
Tag: Compassion
All That Was Unhealed
Healing deeply was a little different than I had first expected it to be. I had to learn to hold and let go of all the pieces of my heart.
I learned to reach for my own inner healer — listening beyond stories and thought — holding space for all that was unhealed in me — respecting the tenderness, authentic beauty, compassion and peace I found there that couldn’t have been taught.
I began to notice all the ways I had tried to reach this place that had actually taken me in the opposite direction. Instead of trying so hard to work out the stories in my mind, I learned to be in my heart — where unresolved pieces turned into pieces of art and honored wisdom. Whatever was needed began to unfold a little more gracefully from there.
Without Words
After a while,
I learned to listen
to the quiet prayer within.
It began as a whisper
without words,
but its presence was enough
to light my path
when I felt most challenged.
It reminded me of
the all that was miraculous
and led to a place
of compassion for myself
and others here at this time
as souls in human form.
In Compassion
I learned to move
in compassion.
I chose to notice
subtle insights
and find clarity.
I chose to know
myself more deeply
as both body
and spirit,
in this body for
a purpose I didn’t always
understand.
I chose to experience
negative emotions
and challenges
in new ways
and allow myself to be
drawn to new experiences
I didn’t know existed.
These new experiences
showed themselves
to me
as one continuous
quiet prayer.
And so I honored
this journey
in myself and
others.
Gently
It began as
a hint of self-love,
a quiet prayer
passed gently
by one or two
who dared
to risk dwelling
in unexplored places
within the heart.
It continued on
as compassion —
carried carefully
by those who had
discovered,
in their own way,
the pain
and beauty
in holding
a separate perspective
and set of original
experiences
that couldn’t be
shared,
not really —
and the tenderness
in reaching
from this place.
Gentle Loving Strength
Thank you
for the ability
to be gentle and loving
and the strength
to go against
what we must —
to follow
our own hearts.
Remind us of the beauty
that comes out of
living from a place
of true compassion.
Give us courage
to find our own
inner space
and to honor
this space in others —
to keep returning
and living
from here —
that we may
truly love.
Amen
Bittersweet
There was a tenderness
in returning
to the quiet place
in our hearts,
a bittersweet
vow to honor
and release
all that had been
denied
and pushed down
or covered up —
when what had
been seen as
so obvious
in the heart
could not be communicated
on the surface,
not directly,
and my own deepest pain
became triggered.
And so the challenge
became holding
all I knew
to be sacred,
no matter how
it appeared on
the surface —
reaching and joining
with others
who longed to find
a way to continue
to stand
in our hearts
and in a healing world —
holding a space
of compassion
beyond understanding
and finding a gentler way
for us all.
A Gentler Way
Help us to allow
all that is pure
and true
to flow out
in art and actions
and quiet prayers.
Let us search
our own wounded places
for compassion
beyond understanding.
Create sacred space
where there is none.
Help us to find
a gentler way.
Amen
From a Quiet Prayer
I found
compassion came
out of a
quiet prayer,
the empty space
that once held
only fixed ideas
of how this life
should be
and kept reaching
until it remembered
how to hold
all of it.
Lightly
Let us remember
the natural way
all things appear,
transform,
and fade.
Remind us to
hold each other
lightly —
that we may remember
the gentle way
of our own hearts.
Amen
Laurie's Notes 