This One Thing - Melani Marx

Be kind. Be gentle. Be loving. Be peaceful. Toward yourself today.

Know, dear one, that if you are like me your “to do” list probably has waaay more on it than you can comfortably, sanely or realistically do today – maybe even in a week. Possibly in a lifetime!

So what if you did this….

Look at your list(s) – mine are all strewn over the house – and ask yourself – What is the next small thing that will bring the most joy, relief and/or satisfaction in completing. It may not even be on any list!    DO. That. One. Thing.

Give yourself a gift – Enjoy it. Be present for it. Play with it. Fully show up for it. Let the moment inhabit you. Ask to be a channel of Divine Love as you do it. Or Joy. Or Blessing. Or whatever makes you calm and warm and smiley inside.

When that beautiful bit of handiwork is complete. Sit back for a moment and preen. Give yourself a smile. A wee congratulations. Way to go!

Let go of the tight and mean constraints of perfectionism today. You are loved, dear one exactly for who you are – foibles, quirks and “flaws” intact. They are after all what make you precious. One of a kind. Extraordinary.

Take one moment or five today and really look at what is around you.

Let your gaze wander to what is outside your window. At the reflections layered in the glass. At the way the light sparkles and shines.

Let your open and curious regard drop to your exquisitely crafted hands that so lovingly help you carry out an infinite multitude of tasks throughout a day.    They are almost never still. They caress. Hold. Dance on a keyboard or strings. Help splash paint on the page. Tear paper. Chop onions and garlic. Slice lemons. Peel oranges. They are an expression of your heart. Your hands bring your creative impulses into reality – transferring data from imagination into actuality.

Make a sacred and loving pact with yourself – just for today – to listen mindfully to the things you are telling yourself. Inside – where no one else can hear. Go back to that first thing…

Be kind. Be gentle. Be loving. Be peaceful toward yourself today. Most especially when you are not.

And those voices in your head? The mean and sometimes nasty ones that are telling you some version or variation of, “I can’t.” “I will never be able to do ______.”

The ever-expanding and not so clever catch all – “I’m too _______ awful, bad, cranky, demanding, eager, frank, good, hair-brained, ignorant, jealous, Krazy!_______” and that, dear one sadly isn’t even half the alphabet. Or that bottom of the barrel bad boy – “I will never, ever be good enough.”

As well as the not so delightful and insightful newscast voices giving you excruciating detail about everything single thing that is wrong or going to go wrong – ad nauseam.

Consider this – That these voices are simply unloved bits and pieces that have been floating around in mass consciousness for maybe as long as humans have been thinking thoughts.

That they are misguided attempts to keep you “safe.”

That these voices are aspects that have not been taken into the heart and loved. Accepted. Fully seen. Heard. And instructed with compassion and firmness that we just plain don’t use our words or energy that way anymore. This is habit, not reality. They speak smack. Not truth.

Just for today – Endeavor to NOT take those thoughts, those voices personally.

Just for today consider putting down the push and tussle of worry and concern for the future. Giving everything some space and room.    To allow new views. New perspectives. New possibilities to come in and quietly settle. To come into your awareness. To make room for flashes of genius to light up the sky of your being.

Perhaps for today adopt a new mantra –

“I do enough. I have enough. I am enough.

All is well. Life is good.

Done is better than perfect.

Everything I need to know arrives in the right moment.

Everything is always working out well for me – even if in THIS moment I have NO idea how.

I am a force for love and beauty in the world.

I am love. I am light. I am life.”