Nature – tiffany nicole fletcher

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Facing Challenge, Healing, Nature, Peace, Personal Growth, Resilience, Self-care, Spiritual Practice, Spirituality, Wellness

Rooted in the Source: Spiritual Connection and Resilience

One of the most important things you can do right now is to locate your true Source and keep drinking from that well. In “normal” (non-pandemic) times, we enter into our relationships and lean on each other to varying degrees, ebbing and flowing in that way based on who has energy to give, the dynamics of our relationships, how we manage stress, etc. But in these times, everyone is under intense, chronic stress in different ways. Everyone is a pot leaking water, and you are a pot leaking water, too – so if you need to truly be refilled and replenished like never before, you can’t look to another leaking pot. You have to go back to the water source.

Nature, Personal Growth, Rituals and Celebrations

Navigating Big Shifts: The Season of Letting Go

We are one week away from the official start of fall. Fall is my favorite season, but it does remind me of the times when changes sweep through our lives. One day I’ll feel like I’m wading through sauna-like heat and then the leaves are suddenly changing color and falling from the trees, chilly winds whisper of the coming winter, and the days are shortening, calling us in to warmth and rest.

It seems like most of us fear change or resist it somehow, even feeling fear and anxiety about change in other people’s lives. We harbor this secret wish that things would just stay the same, that our lives would be one endless summer.

But then we wouldn’t grow. Growth requires change—the whole cosmos is in on this being the way things work.

Sometimes, the changes involve letting go or leaving. Don’t we judge ourselves and others most harshly for those changes? Don’t we resist those the most? We all love to gain things, but to lose things, even by choice…we fight against it to the end. And yet, some things need to end; fall tells us this. Autumn is the season where nature unburdens herself—shouldn’t we allow ourselves to do the same?

Letting go is part of how we curate our lives

Letting go is part of how we curate our lives. Even with all of my creative outlets, I know that my life is the most important work of art I will ever create. Working with God, I get to design it; like an artist, I get to make decisions about what to leave in and what to take out or let go of.

Throughout the course of my life so far, I’ve needed to let go of far more than I’ve ever needed to acquire. I’ve learned that the thing that will make the true difference in my life is the person I am. That person, that character, has actually been shaped largely by what I’ve chosen to let go of, by what I’ve said “no” to so that I can say “yes” some other way of being.

The trees have to let go of their present leaves in order to get the fresh ones that will appear the following spring. To grow as a person, I’ve had to let go of many things: harmful or limiting beliefs, societal pressures, fear of what others think, unhealthy eating habits, fear of change and the unknown, unfulfilling or unhealthy connections, toxic environments, trusting in other things and people above my trust in God, specific expectations for what I thought my life would be like, and countless others.

These are big shifts, but I welcome them even if they involve struggle because I know that my life won’t be all that God and I intend for it to be unless I am willing to go through—and sometimes initiate—change at certain points. When I reflect on the fall season, I realize that there is beauty in all of the shifts. It’s as if God is saying through nature, “Let go and trust. Be willing to stand bare for awhile. Your spring will come, just as sure as the changing seasons! Trust me enough to let go now.”

Trust life enough to let go now.

Honoring your changes

We don’t have many rituals in our culture for celebrating and honoring choices to let go of things; we usually celebrate when people get things (like babies, spouses, homes, and jobs).

Imagine how affirming and encouraging it would be to honor and mark our choices to let go! Below I offer a ritual for celebrating the courageous choice to make a change or to let go when that is what you need to do. The ritual can be done alone or supported by others (see instructions). It’s so simple that you could take a few moments to say it with a friend while meeting over coffee (the candle lighting is optional). I would love to hear how you use it.

The bold words are for you, the person letting go. If you’re doing this ritual in community, the italicized words are to be recited by those who accompany you. If you’re comfortable with it, invite them to hold your hand or place their hand on you (or if you have a larger group of people they can surround you in a circle) as you recite these words:

optional: candle

A Simple Autumn Ritual for Letting Go

*Begin with a few moments of silence.

I celebrate my courage today. (*Light candle.)

I/We celebrate __(your name)___’s courage today.

Today, I am choosing to let go of _____(name the change you are making)_____.

Your leaves are changing color.

My leaves are changing color.

I am letting go of ___(say the change you are making)____

to gain ___(say what this change will make possible for you)_____.

My leaves are falling away.

Your leaves are falling away.

But God is with me in this change.

God is with you in this change.

I am supported in this change.

I/We support you as you make this change.

I can weather this season; I will grow new leaves before long.

The One who loves you is renewing your life daily.

All of my needs will be met.

Your needs are met.

Everyone: All is well.

(*Extinguish candle.)

Image Credits via Stocksnap (in order):
Jeffrey Betts
Agnieszka Bladzik
Heather Wilson Smith

Breathwork, Nature, Spiritual Practice, Spirituality

My Favorite Spiritual Practices: Part II

In my previous post, I shared some of my favorite spiritual practices. These are very specific to who I am and to what fosters my personal connection to God. In thinking about potential spiritual practices for yourself, it can help to think about who you are and what resonates with you.

What do you respond to most powerfully in your life: sound, smell, touch, sight? Reading, listening, talking, stillness? If you react powerfully and in a positive way to smell, you might incorporate aromatherapy into your spiritual practices. If you’ve felt most connected to God through sound, you might want to try regular music practice or have sound baths, which I describe below.

If you don’t know what would be best, pick something and try it. God is ever-present, and will meet you at your moment of seeking.

Here are the rest of my favorite spiritual practices:

Breathwork

I first learned about breathwork through yoga, where it is called pranayama, and then through singing, where you do breathing exercises as part of strengthening the muscles used to sing. Breathwork seems simple; after all, we’re breathing all the time. But it’s a very powerful, healing practice that can release tension, remove emotional baggage, relieve stress, and connect us to our inner-knowing. I haven’t done it as a regular spiritual practice, but I have a hunch that it would probably be life-changing if I did. Breathwork is a practice of surrender.

My favorite breathing exercise is alternate nostril breathing.

Sound baths

My personal “sound baths” are when I put my headphones on, lay down in a comfortable position, and play music that is soothing, nourishing, relaxing, and/or healing to me (sometimes it’s classical piano music, sometimes it’s gospel or worship music, sometimes it’s 90’s R&B!). I pick music for what I need in that moment and then relax and let the music wash over me. Music is truly healing.

Spending time in nature

Nature is a healer, and God is in her. Whenever I spend time under green trees, in wide open space, near mountains or sea, or outside with the sun warming my skin, I feel the divine presence and I leave renewed. It’s such a simple cure that I often forget it. With New York’s hot and muggy summers and frigid winters, it can sometimes be a challenge to spend significant amounts of time outside comfortably but when I do, the benefits are immediate and lasting.

Go outside. Find a patch of grass. Remove your shoes. Sink your bare feet into the grass. Enjoy. Repeat often!

Self-blessing

We don’t realize the power of our own words. We have the power to bless or curse ourselves by the words we speak and it is very healing to speak affirming, uplifting words about ourselves and our lives. Self-blessing is not about trying to speak words like a spell to achieve a specific outcome in your life—it’s about conspiring with God to surround yourself with love.

You can write the words you need for your specific situation. Or you can use a devotional book, the Psalms, or any other prayers or blessings you find that resonate with you. I’m currently using a book of devotions by Julia Cameron, Prayers to the Great Creator: Prayers and Declarations for a Meaningful Life. The first section is written like long affirmations—I randomly pick one each evening and say the words over myself with my hand on my heart. It feels so good, and keeps me believing in goodness regardless of whatever is going on in my life or in the world.

The World Needs Your Joy!

A holistic practitioner once encouraged me to sing regularly simply because of the joy it brings me. “You don’t need any other reason,” she told me. She talked about how powerful sound is and that if singing brings me joy, then I’m adding the vibration of my joy to the world just by engaging in it as a practice. “The world needs more joy!,” she said.

I couldn’t agree more. The world needs more joyful, peaceful, aware people who are connected with the One who loves them. Spiritual practices will connect us.