Stay Soft you are loved

I see why a lot of people get hard in this world & lose their kindness. I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve been called not enough, not beautiful & average. It saddens me we live in a world that productivity & helping another is done with fear & hate. I believe true strength is kindness & staying soft in this world. This week I felt really unworthy someone reminded me of my lacking because they couldn’t see me, only how I was failing them. It made me feel like a disappointment, small & not enough. I share this because I’m sure I’m not alone, we’ve all felt it.  One of the reasons I do yoga is to create space in my mind to let go of things like this & what might bring me back to darkness or so the hurt I feel from others doesn’t make me forget who I am. I know life is hard & im sorry if you are having a rough time or people are using fear & hatred to move through this world & it hits you. I just wanted to remind you, you are not alone & I feel you. I also wanted to remind you you are strong & amazing staying kind & soft.  You are flexible, organic, adaptable, self-healing, & dynamic.    Even your bones are not rigid. They respond to their environment & shift or flex based on what the body needs.  Every tissue inside of you is breathing & moving in a way that supports your whole being. This softness is strength. Through it you can hold & receive experiences instead of having them bounce off of you like you’re a brick wall.   By being receptive we allow ourselves the space to move out of reactivity & into heartfelt response. We open ourselves to new opportunities for growth, healing, love, & joy & we leave behind judgment, defensiveness, & the myth that we’re separate from everything else.  When my health journey first began, the goal was all about mental wellness. I learned to feel strong in my mind, through my practices of living yoga.   A daily asana (physical poses) practice, with meditation, mantra and pranayama (breathing tools) changed my life.  As time went on, I found myself immersed in a yogic way of life, building my strength as a result.  I have found strength – physical, mental, emotional and all of the rest – but this strength has not come from having defined muscles or a disciplined mind. I found this strength through surrender. Strength, for me, has come through softness.  Compassion.  Gentle wisdom. True strength is not brittle I see that strength, in some forms, can be breakable.  Like discipline without joy, it is not long-lasting and burns out.  I read in sword making, carbon steel is added to give the metal enough hardness, more strength.  Add too much carbon & the blade flexibility will decrease, making it brittle and more likely to break.  I believe that strength needs to be derived from softness.  Like water, fluidity can help us to bend so that we don’t break. If we try to control every aspect of our life, we become brittle we must learn to flow with it and be receptive so we don’t move with hate/fear.