Welcome to this short practice on daring to bloom.
I love the notion that we bloom as humans,
Like flowers bloom.
It seems such a gorgeous way of approaching the spiritual journey.
For sure,
There are times we need to do our work,
To look diligently,
To practice,
And to seek ever more skilful ways.
And yet I also wonder about the transformation that happens when we let ourselves bud,
And blossom,
And bloom.
When we deeply trust in the goodness that is unfurling within us.
So for this short session,
Get comfortable.
Open the palms of your hands.
Open the area around your heart and let these words in.
Let them open you.
Let sweetness call you forth.
You do not have to push in your practice.
Let grace and goodness unfurl you.
I think that as humans we can be called forth.
We're each meant to blossom,
To flower,
To give our gifts,
To show our individual scent to the world.
We're most in our goodness when we open up and really share ourselves.
And the metaphor of the flower seems so important here.
I don't know a single flower that opens up by being forced,
Or pushed,
Or prodded.
I think what helps is we give ourselves the right conditions.
We turn towards the light.
We seek to root deeply into the darkness and to move up out of it.
We seek to open,
To drink in what is good in life,
And to take that and make an offering of it,
To bloom out of it.
As you sit here today,
Don't seek to improve yourself,
But to let the goodness in a little.
Let the world around you touch you,
To drink in the nutrients that are all around you.
We can choose to be resourced.
We can choose to see what is supporting us and how it helps us open.
At times we need our own practice,
But also I think we can let life open us up.
Soften the area around your heart,
Like your heart could unfold and unfurl and let some of its sweet scent out.
Soften the back of your body and this notion that you have to do it all alone.
Rise up from the webs of life underneath you,
From the connections all around us.
Feel yourself here as part of this place.
Feel the spaciousness of the sky above you,
Even if you're inside.
And see if that helps you feel a little more spacious inside of you.
Turn towards what is good and let it open you.
And as these things happen,
Notice the good that's unfurling within you.
Notice the parts of you that are budding,
The new qualities that are coming,
The compassion,
The care,
The clear seeing,
The witnessing,
The wonder that might be opening up within you.
Notice what reaching for spaciousness brings.
More presence,
More calm,
And that you do not have to do this or find it or force it.
You are naturally unfolding just as you sit and let yourself be,
As you care for yourself,
As you become present with yourself.
I have a hunch that the world needs us to give our gifts now,
To offer our sweetness to each other,
To bring beauty to this place,
To lift each other up,
To dare to show ourselves the beautiful flowers that we each are.
It's a corny metaphor,
But a profound one too.
We are needed here.
So let your heart open and let yourself blossom and share your light and share your goodness and drink deeply from the webs around you and let that be an offering to the world.
Let your resourcedness bring resilience.
Dare to let yourself be opened,
To trust in your own process that you don't have to force it.
That we unfold and flower in our own time.
Sometimes that takes seasons,
But we're all getting there.
So as we finish up today,
I want to throw down a dare to you to let yourself flower,
To be open,
To let it be good,
To let yourself be seen in life,
To bud and to blossom and to bloom and to go forth and give your gifts.
Thank you for being here with me for this short practice session.
Sometimes less is so much more.
Sometimes not trying so hard takes us so much further.
So drink deeply of these moments of stillness and then go forth and live and shine and bloom.
