Reflections

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  1. Robin Ann
    Robin Ann
    9 months ago

    I have let go of limiting stories along time ago! Happy St Patrick’s day all!! Went to listen to some Irish music for a little bit
    and then my friend had cornbeef and cabbage cooking in his crockpot and made Irish soda bread . We are talking about another trip to Ireland.
    It’s been a rough year for many of my friends and loved ones. It certainly makes you realize that life is very precious & need to not put off things that we love if possible! I will be celebrating 10 years with my company & new for 2024 is a anniversary Bonus which I am very fortunate to receive this year. 10 years in $1000!!

    1. Michele
      Michele
      9 months ago

      Congrats on your work anniversary Robin Ann:)

      1. Robin Ann
        Robin Ann
        9 months ago

        Thank you Michele!

  2. Dolores Kazanjian
    Dolores Kazanjian
    9 months ago

    As I grow old, I find it far easier to let go of the stories. The main one I have had to let go of is “my mother was an alcoholic.” Sure, the lack of nurturing left its scars. But I have come to realize that she also gave me many gifts. Even the lack of nurturing gave me a resilience that I would likely never have. When I was very little, I looked around and said “ain’t nobody here to take care of me, so I better do it myself.” And so I have.

  3. Carol Ann Conner
    Carol
    9 months ago

    This does not directly address today’s question but it does express the need to nurture life-giving rather than life-limiting stories about oneself. Happy St. Patrick’s Day! I share an Irish Blessing and a reflection I wrote about what it means to me:
    ” May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be ever at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields. And until we meet again, May God hold you in the hollow of his hand.” – Irish Blessing

    ” May the road rise to meet you”
    What a beautiful phrase. I cannot tell you how many times I have found myself sitting in the middle of the road! Not a good idea but sometimes when I am not resorting to fighting or fleeing, I more or less freeze. I call that sitting in the middle of the road.

    “May the wind be ever at your back”
    Wind is a powerful image for the movement of the spirit, the “yes” of an evolutionary Universe. May that spirit moving wind be ever at your back.

    “May the sun shine warm upon your face”
    The sun can warm you but it can burn you. It can comfort you and give you light but its heat can be intense. We all need shade. Darkness is not always our enemy.

    “May the rain fall softly on your fields”
    I love to walk in a soft rain or an early morning mist that clings to my skin and refreshes it. Sometimes the tears must fall. I hope you have been fortunate enough to experience a good cry. Rain is only destructive when comes too often and lasts too long. Floods do not cleanse. They destroy.

    “And until we meet again, May God hold you in the hollow of his hand.”

    God/Life will hold you but you have to trust…you have to be openhearted and willing. Desist instead of resist. Be still, know the “Isness” of God/Life. Before you do anything, stop and allow yourself to feel and embrace the Present Moment. It offers all the strength you need not to create a life-limiting story.

    Blessings, Carol

    1. Joseph
      Joseph McCann
      9 months ago

      Thank you Carol.

  4. Linda72766
    Linda
    9 months ago

    Since I was a child, I always thought I was “too big.” Not fat, but just big. All my friends were short and small compared to me.

    Over the years I have learned to accept myself and be grateful for the strong body I was given. It still can hit me when I least expect it, but now I remember to let it go and be happy for my good health and the ability to walk and do the things I love to do. It also helps that my husband thinks I’m beautiful. 🙂

  5. Avril
    Avril
    9 months ago

    I spend a lot of time working on this. I feel that I am progressing towards letting go of most feelings of inadequacy—remnants resurface… I talk to the fears and compassionately escort them out of my consciousness. This is a daily practice. This is why I am here.

  6. Charlie T
    Charlie T
    9 months ago

    You mean the stories like “ I’m not
    smart enough, I’m not strong enough,
    I’m not lucky enough?”
    If it was only as easy as just “letting go”
    of these stories.
    I’ve spent the first 12-15 years of my life
    being told these stories, and spent the
    last 40 years internalizing these stories.
    I’ve only been truly trying to unwind
    these stories for the past 4 years.
    Trying to see things as they are, also
    applies to myself.

  7. Michele
    Michele
    9 months ago

    I do not know how to answer today’s question… ‘limiting’ is throwing me off.
    I want to wish everyone a Happy St. Patrick’s Day. I am cooking/baking – made Irish Soda bread, Irish potato candies, corn beef, green beans and I will be making for the first time my step-mom, Pat’s, Irish Colcannon recipe. Last weekend I made Shepherd’s Pie and soda bread, was sooo delicious.
    When my kids were little I used to put green dye in the toilet and say, Oh look, a leprechaun peed in our toilet, hahahahahaha and they always had green milk with dinner💚☘🍀

    1. Joseph
      Joseph McCann
      9 months ago

      Green dye in the toilet…. that is some good sense of humor you possess Michele!

      1. Michele
        Michele
        9 months ago

        I definitely have a sense of humor. 😂

    2. Barb C
      Barb C
      9 months ago

      I had to look up Irish potato candies; found this https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/16520/irish-potato-candy/ and you may have a better recipe. I was born in Idaho and have some Irish ancestry so potatoes are life.

      1. Michele
        Michele
        9 months ago

        Mine is almost the same, I use 8oz cream cheese. My best friend switches the vanilla out for Baileys, need to try that next year. They are sooo good!

  8. Josie
    Josie
    9 months ago

    From a young age, I was deeply scarred by an innocent event for which I received the message that what I did was wrong. It carries over in feeling that
    “I am wrong.” This wound continues to manifest in ways that tell me that I need deeper healing. I am grateful for this awareness which I continue to turn over to my Higher Power for healing.

  9. EJP
    EJP
    9 months ago

    The stories that I need to let go of are the tales of being unworthy, self-doubt and disrespect.

  10. Joseph
    Joseph McCann
    9 months ago

    I met an addiction therapist two years and two days ago. A tall black man with a booming and commanding voice. He became an addiction therapist after his own recovery. Alfred was his name. It was his last day at Sandstone Care, Alfred was retiring. It was also my last day at Sandstone. He told the group one thing that helped him was to leave all the addicted baggage behind. Letting go of my historical self, as I have read Eckhart Tolle describe the baggage, is something I have worked on letting go and continue to let go of. No judgement of my historical self or dwelling with it. I need also to not future trip with my psychological self. The future continuously becomes the present which immediately becomes the past. Staying present in the now helps me let go of the baggage.

    1. Yram
      Yram
      9 months ago

      Great insight. Thanks for sharing.

    2. Josie
      Josie
      9 months ago

      Very helpful to me today, Joseph. Thanks.

  11. Journey
    Journey
    9 months ago

    I can let go of all the negative self talk.

    1. Michele
      Michele
      9 months ago

      Good one, thank you:)

  12. Don
    Don Jones
    9 months ago

    The picture that my senses stitch together is the whole story. Clearly it is not. As I have quietly sat and studied and contemplated the ancient wisdom literature, it is clear that it is but a single patch in a much larger patchwork quilt.

    1. Barb C
      Barb C
      9 months ago

      We think we are a drop when we are the ocean.

  13. Antoinette88615
    Antoinette
    9 months ago

    Great question! All of the stories must be let go of I am a self who collects and hold onto pictures in my mind world and I think they’re real just like everybody else! Letting go of the self is letting go of all of the things that I hold on in my mind world. So the quick answer is letting them all go, all of my discernment, judgements, ideas, are all false. What is true, is the universe what is false as myself and my mind world! Thank you for this beautiful reminder! Happy Saint Patrick’s Day, y’all!

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