There’s the life everyone sees on the outside of things, and then there’s the life no one can see but you, and perhaps God. How do you tend to and nurture your inner life? Join the discussion thread below and we’ll create a bank of practices available to other readers.
What a powerful question. What comes up for me is that my newest practice is to let a person who has been asking to see me - to see those places that “no one sees” - to actually see them. It’s raw and vulnerable as I let her see EVERYTHING. Even when I don’t want her to see, I share that. I share the frustration I have her asking. All the things. And she just witnesses me. The practice though, is to let her see me. And in practice, she reflects back. In that reflection, I find a tenderness. This practice is one of allowing what I consider to be too intense to just ride.
I remember saying yesterday, my power has tripped the circuit breakers quite often in my life. Her response, I’m not those circuit breakers. You are welcome to lay into this over here.
Wow, Crystal. Thank you for sharing. I was actually processing something very similar with my therapist yesterday. We were talking about how vulnerable it is to be seen, but how necessary for connection and intimacy. It's interesting how being witnessed by another is in fact one way we can care for our inner worlds; letting people see us fully, imperfectly, in process is part of what self-tending looks like. As always, thank you for leaning in with me here. ❤️
What a powerful question. What comes up for me is that my newest practice is to let a person who has been asking to see me - to see those places that “no one sees” - to actually see them. It’s raw and vulnerable as I let her see EVERYTHING. Even when I don’t want her to see, I share that. I share the frustration I have her asking. All the things. And she just witnesses me. The practice though, is to let her see me. And in practice, she reflects back. In that reflection, I find a tenderness. This practice is one of allowing what I consider to be too intense to just ride.
I remember saying yesterday, my power has tripped the circuit breakers quite often in my life. Her response, I’m not those circuit breakers. You are welcome to lay into this over here.
My practice is to “lay into this over here”
Wow, Crystal. Thank you for sharing. I was actually processing something very similar with my therapist yesterday. We were talking about how vulnerable it is to be seen, but how necessary for connection and intimacy. It's interesting how being witnessed by another is in fact one way we can care for our inner worlds; letting people see us fully, imperfectly, in process is part of what self-tending looks like. As always, thank you for leaning in with me here. ❤️