It’s Flourishing Friday! 💗 And it's still Valentine’s week, so we get to talk about love. Have you ever lost someone you adore, whether through death, distance, disconnection, or straight-up Monkey Business? Today's 5-min. practice is for us.
Follow along in the video above, featuring the potty-mouth ‘Holy Sh*t’ version of the Locket of Love, plus spontaneous semi-weird songs. OR jump down to the practice steps below.
Loving people is hard. Vulnerable. Especially when our Monkeys of Fear show up, full of expectations, unmet needs, desires, and pride. Very few of us were shown how to love fully and well. It’s courageous to open your heart and your Brave Voice, to share how you really feel. (Meanwhile, my sweetheart is coping with excruciating pain in his L1 spinal lumbar disc. So all my machinations are nothing, compared with that. Which is 1/100th of what people in Gaza are experiencing right now. Suffering is universal, but degree is not.)
Families can be an especially fiery cauldron of challenges. Do you wish yours would truly see you, love you, and support you unconditionally, just as you are? Sadly, we don’t always get what we want.
Life gave me a baby sister at a time when I didn’t feel enough love and support. The love in my house felt squeezed, overshadowed by anger, fear, resentment, and unfulfilled dreams. Too much shouting. Not enough snuggling. I wasn’t kind to her. I wasn’t the sister I wanted to be. Too much “No”-ing. Not enough Noticing. How sweet, how smart, how much fun she is to be with!
The one human that I want to reconnect with, and make it stick, is my sister. We love each other, and we break each other’s hearts. At least once a decade, one of us shuts the door, to protect our soft, gooey center from hard feelings. We keep our distance. To keep it simple and let time do its thing. It feels like time to heal this.
Today, the door of my heart is opening. 15 days into my Three Months to Live experiment, it’s vital to clear up old stuff. I’ll let you know how it goes with my sister.
Today’s 5-minute imagination game: The Locket of Love
Locket of Love: How can I reconnect with a beloved one?
BREATHE deeply, into your heart.
IMAGINE holding a locket. Feel its weight, notice its color, size, shape or design.
ENVISION opening the locket and finding an image of someone very dear to you.
FEEL your connection to that person. What are their qualities? What draws you to them?
IMAGINE showing them how you feel, with a hug, a kiss, words from your heart, or a gift.
REFLECT as you close the locket. “As I connect with you, I feel…”
Make it Real: Share the Love
EXPLORE: Tell someone or write about your person.
CREATE: Write a love letter or draw a Valentine for your person. Share it with them. If they're not close by, be creative.
MANIFEST: This week, surprise your person with something s/he enjoys. If they’re no longer in this world or are unavailable, share a story or photos of them, to keep them alive in your heart.
🎤 My heart loves your comments…
Did someone come to mind right away? How did you come to lose each other?
What do you love about them most?
What would be your first move to reconnect now? How would it feel?
Do you have a sister? How do you get along now?
Thanks for opening the doors to your heart. 💝 If you find this encouraging, please click like, comment, and share with someone who longs to reconnect with love. You’re helping more of us be brave in a world running on fear.
More to come,
As brave souls, we face the Monkeys of Fear when we share our voices. 🙉🙊🙈 I’m grateful to share this space with you so we can befriend our Monkeys together. My work has appeared in Time Magazine, feature films and television, newspapers, YA fantasy novels, on stages, and in therapy offices and bathrooms across the USA 💩 More at HeartsQuest.com. 💗
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