Where are you in your own life? What part are you playing because you have been hurt, taken advantage of or told you are not enough? What will it take to remind yourself that you do have choices, you do have the ability to think outside of the prison walls in your own mind? Whether you put up the walls because of hurt inflicted upon you or by choice, there’s a reason these walls exist. Exploration of why these walls were built is important, but so is knowing that these walls can be scaled, climbed or chipped away piece by piece because you have made the choice to do so. You start by deciding to be an active participant in your own life by noticing every choice you make. Picking up the rope and pic ax to break down what keeps you captive may feel excruciatingly difficult, but it’s where you start and starting is a choice. With every decision you make you are exercising your power and how you will bring about change in your own life. When someone has taken away a choice of yours, that doesn’t mean they’ve taken away all of you, all of your choices. It means that for a moment in time, a decision was made for you that you never agreed upon. That decision that someone made for you changed your life, but cannot take away your ability to choose how you move forward from that moment and how you choose to navigate the world around you. It can be hard to remember that when you are scared, pissed, frozen, regretful, anxiety-ridden, deeply sorrowful and in a heap of madness on the shower floor. It’s hard to feel that you have any choice and any power. But you chose to get up and get in the shower and that is how you start. You start by noticing and moving.

So where is your power, your balm and your healing? It’s in you. This trio of inner strength is made up of your body, your mind and your spirit. They are your people, your power and there to love you, help you heal and grow. That trio is always whispering to you when a whisper is all you can take. When you’re ready, the trio will shout at you sometimes too. Getting into the flow that your trio offers may be tough. It requires stepping up and out. The key is to not feel defeated by whatever the trio calls you to do before the event even begins. Your role is to flow down the river they set forth and believe that it will take you to a place where you will begin to feel safe again. The trio is asking you to surrender to your body’s reactions, your mind’s recall and the emotional release of all you are holding. They are asking you to trust in a process that hurts like hell, feels scary and out of control at a time in your life when it’s hard to trust in yourself and your own ability to breathe without pain. Believe, hold on and know this is part of your healing. Your body, mind and spirit knows that healing begins with trusting yourself first before you take the leap and trust others again. When you come out the other side of facing your pain and the emotional release that must ensue, you discover that you have the ability to heal by relying on your choices and the sacred temple that houses your mind and light. You have the power to heal and be healed even when the pain leads you to believe otherwise.

Healing a deep wound requires you make the choice to move and live your life no matter how messy and hard that can be. It’s ok to choose to stay behind your walls sometimes as long as it’s not the only thing you do. Your body, mind and spirit will support you in your healing, but the trio requires your choice to participate. It is a choice to believe, dive in, let go, trust, surrender, walk, run, shower and work towards healing. This may feel impossible, but that is the trio’s specialty – helping you do the unthinkable, the impossible and the unimaginable. Your body, mind and spirit will always guide you to notice your power, pain and the choices you have to deal with whatever you are carrying. Healing and re-birth is a miracle and you have the opportunity to be a witness to that in your own life. Breathe deeply and move so you can get back on stage and assume the main role in your life’s story. Your body, mind and spirit will love you, heal you and carry you if you listen to what it calls you to do. Try to marvel at all the wisdom contained in you. You have more choice, power and strength then you ever could have imagined. These are things that can never be taken from you. Ever.

Love is an act of will, a choice, a movement. True living is too. It’s no coincidence to me that sometimes when I intend on typing the word “love”, I accidentally hit the letter “i” instead of the letter “o” and end up with the word “live” in my writing. The letter “i” is right next to the letter “o” on our keyboards and I’m glad they’re neighbors. Live and love are kind of interchangeable. The word “live” and “love” are similar in nature in that both involve your active participation. If I choose to really live my life, it is an act of will, a choice, a movement just like love. Real living requires I try my best to make a conscious effort to do the things that really matter and that always involves love – love of others, the Divine, passions, self and nature as a start. Real living means I will have pain but it also means I will have more love. I have to believe in life and love to fully participate in the miracle of my own healing and to support others in their healing as well. I can courageously choose to rely on my body, mind and spirit as given to me by the Divine, to build a life from the ashes, start over and live again.

Live, breathe and keep it moving the best you can in a direction that will create more love and more self-compassion. Your world may have stopped, become painful and feel out of control. Life and love is here to remind you that is for now, not forever. Despite how broken we feel, we witness the sun coming up every morning as a reminder that it’s possible to begin again and that the darkness will eventually fade away. Moving upward into the sky takes some serious work, but you can become a miraculous living, loving sunrise too. You will shine again.

Questions/activities to ponder or good journal prompts!

1. Have you built walls as a form of self-protection? What are you hiding and/or protecting and why?
2. What are your thoughts about the trio inside you? (Body/Mind/Spirit) Do you rely on this trio day-to-day? Why/why not?
3. Rising from the ashes may feel impossible. Have you done so before? If yes, how? What gave you the strength to rebuild?
4. Take the time to think about all the choice you have versus the choices you did not or cannot choose. How does that affect your sense of power or the agency you have in your own life?
5. The word “live” and “love” are similar in nature in that both involve your active participation. Expand on this idea.