For The Brave and Brokenhearted

Happy TribeLife Tuesday. 

We have all been given this amazing gift of feeling. We get to feel lots of exhilarating emotions such as joy, happiness, love, gratitude, and more. At the same time, we must face the kryptonite to those emotions like sorrow, pain, grief, hurt, and disappointment.

Growing up, I certainly had no problem expressing my feelings, but once life started happening to me I began to reel my expression in a bit, and the more life happened the less I wanted to feel. The desire to feel was replaced by the longing to guard myself. So how do we balance the need to protect ourselves with our right to express our feelings?

It’s human nature to deflect pain; we do our best to avoid getting hurt. There is a place of safety we all wish we could stay in, sheltering ourselves from the shrapnel that life has a way of throwing at us. Unfortunately, authentic relationships cannot happen if we stay in that place. Truthfully, safety doesn’t always mean healthy. When we shield ourselves from pain we shield ourselves from joy.

At my core I want to do well with this life I’ve been given. I earnestly seek to do as much as I can to keep my heart and soul healthy. This is a continual pursuit for me and it’s often a struggle. It’s an unsteady bridge I must cross. On one side, the side I am on, is the kryptonite, on the other side is the antidote, and what’s in between is a rickety, crumbly, old bridge, and it’s the only option to get to freedom.

So here are some things to consider this week:

   When something great happens to me, what is my first response?     

   When something hard happens to me, what is my first response? 

   Who is the first person I call when I receive great news? Bad news?

   Do I have a deep, meaningful relationship with someone in my family? 

   Outside my family?

   Am I happy? If not, why?

Here is a beautiful manifesto that I keep with me. I invite you to partake: click here!

Thank you for reading. 

See you next Tuesday!