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: love
Never Again
The way of love
seemed so simple
at a certain point.
But that was because I had
taken other paths to the edge.
I had lived the opposite.
There was grief
And there was steadfast knowing
that somehow guaranteed
I would never again be tempted
by darkness —
not ever.
A Space of Love
The more I dared
to hold a space of love,
the closer I seemed to be
to a deeper part of me.
At a certain point it was
most natural to be this space
in my heart
and in the world.
This is where I found
my deepest comfort and peace.
Guided by Grace
May I be guided today by grace. May I have the patience to wait for higher thoughts. May I be moved by inspiration and love and creative flow — viewing each experience that crosses my path as an alternate route to tenderness. Amen
Reflections of Love
I wish to reflect
all that is soft,
to offer my love
to all that is not —
to remind us
of the sacredness
of the journey
and the beauty
in the transformation.
— Laurie, What’s Right Here
Hidden Safely Within
Again and again, I chose to find my way back to the silent spaces my mind once tried to escape. It was a gentle turning away from the constant inner chatter and outer struggles of mind — a sinking down into my heart — where mind, joined with heart, was able to reflect the quiet prayer of a love hidden safely within.
Whatever Remained
One day I realized the peace I felt had come out of the quiet moments, the insights that came that couldn’t be shared or explained. It had come out of whatever remained of the grief of being within a separate self and the grace of having found my way back to my whole heart.
It was the non-verbal kind of feeling my way through life that had saved me. It was the wisdom beyond stories and questions and answers I found in the silent spaces within that nothing else could reach.
It came out of the willingness to wait forever for words to form and outer forms to match the love I knew in my heart.
All That Was Tender
After a while I learned to be in my heart and in the world. I learned to extract all that was beautiful and all that was tender from each experience. I learned to stand with the part of me that was most healed and let go — holding the door of my heart for all that was not quite beautiful — daring to continue on with love.
With Love
Thank you for courage
to follow where my heart
would lead
and for resolve
to stand firmly
through challenges within
the creative flow
when it would be easier
to take a different path.
Bless all who dare
to continue to create
with love
and those who have not
yet begun.
Amen
In a Time of Uncertainty
There was peace within the complete surrender to my own offering in a time of uncertainty. It was understood that there were no guarantees of particular outcomes, but I had found those to be precisely the times when the purest love shines most brightly.
What mattered most was my resolve to show up and offer the highest thought I could in each experience. Every single negative experience was met with the intention to allow it to become something beautiful, not by trying too hard to analyze, but because of the resolve that grew organically out of necessity to transform darkness into light within and wherever it touched me — whatever the outcome.
Laurie's Notes 