I wanted to share this poem that I offered in my yoga classes this week. It’s a beautiful reminder of how we might move through the world, using mindfulness, to observe ourselves without a harsh and critical eye. It also ties in perfectly to one of my words for the year: Compassion.
My suggestion for some self-observation combined with some self-care: Read this poem, then lie on your back (like our final resting pose in yoga, Savasana) or any comfortable position, find stillness and take 10 deep breaths and offer yourself some deep love.
Self-Observation Without Judgment By: Danna Faulds
Release the harsh and pointed inner
voice. it’s just a throwback to the past,
and holds no truth about this moment.
Let go of self-judgment, the old,
learned ways of beating yourself up
for each imagined inadequacy.
Allow the dialogue within the mind
to grow friendlier, and quiet. Shift
out of inner criticism and life
suddenly looks very different.
i can say this only because I make
the choice a hundred times a day to release the voice that refuses to
acknowledge the real me.
What’s needed here isn’t more prodding toward perfection, but
intimacy – seeing clearly, and
embracing what I see.
Love, not judgment, sows the
seeds of tranquility and change.