Affirming...

I guess I'm using this as my to do list for now.  It's time for a new Zentangle affirmation project.  It's time for some self-care.  I have let it go for far too long and I have lost sight of my path I started several years ago.  So here is me whacking through some weeds to uncover that path again.

This is a project I started in 2012 and completed in 2013.  By June 2014, I had realized all of the affirmations represented by the various tangles and quotes (which eventually filled the blank spaces). So here I am again.  It's 2016 and I have been treading water.  Exhaustion, financial stress, weight gain, uncertainty... I have to make some positive changes.  So here we go:

• Obligations - I am able to meet all of my obligations with grace and ease.  I have enough of every resource to make this happen.

This isn't just about bills and having money although that is extremely important to me.  My obligations include being Emma to two precious boys and energy is a resource that has become depleted lately.  I remember when my kids were little and I had very little energy to go outside and play.  I always wanted to be different.  I grew up playing outside but it was solitary, fairly sedentary play.  I was alone a lot.  I want to be that energetic grandma who takes the kids to the park and plays tag.  Likewise  I have obligations as an employee, a wife, a mother, a friend - all of which require energy and a willingness to step outside of myself and engage.  Therefore, I am affirming that I have all of the resources - whether it's energy or money or time or desire - to meet all of my obligations with ease.

• Abundance - I find new sources of abundance around every corner.  I embrace them with excitement and expectation.  I see only opportunity. I am open and ready to receive.

Again, this is not necessarily about money...ok.  yes it is.  I am open to new sources of income.  My money increases exponentially.  Hey...I have those obligations to meet! Alright, it's also about recognizing, receiving, and accepting that I already have an abundance of everything I need at my fingertips - it's about embracing all I have and letting go of that feeling of lack.  I lack nothing I need.  I have everything I want.  My life is rich in ways immeasurable.

This affirmation also involves allowing new adventures blossom abundantly.  I have been contemplating - I have been drawn to - engaging in a private practice for several years.  I enjoy direct service with folks who have experienced trauma in their lives and helping them discover their own path of healing and wholeness.  There have been events of late that have affirmed that it's time to jump in.  My to do list is growing and I have an abundance of time, money, energy, and resources to accomplish this task.  Research has started. I am made abundantly aware of those who have already pursued a similar path successfully and I have access to them.

• Wellness - I am in love with me.  I love my body and I respect every aspect of it.  All is working as it should and how it is designed to function.  I have an abundance of energy at my disposal at all times.  I rest completely and peacefully.  My body is the exact size to support my well-being.

The biggest struggle of my life.  I am a beautiful work in progress and I am letting the scales be ad focusing on just loving all of me the way I am put together.  It's amazing to me how interconnected everything I want to affirm is - how synchronous it is.  Just after I started working on this post yesterday a sweet young friend posted a before/after pic of herself.  The before was from 7 years ago when she was at her heaviest.  The after is a recent picture showing her slimmed down self.  The thing is what she said was how she viewed both pics as beautiful for they both represented the beginning of her decision to let go of harsh self-judgment for life-affirming self-acceptance.  She began loving herself.  Over the next 7 years she began to make different, healthier choices and the result is obvious.  The things we learn from friends half our age.  Of course, I know all of this.  I've known and attempted to practice for years.  I had some medication changes a few months ago that resulted in my forgetting that I am the one who has control of my thoughts and feelings.  So today, I make the pledge to let go of the scale and to allow my higher consciousness to make good decisions about my health and well-being.  I am healthy.  I am happy.  I am whole.  I am exactly as I should be - physically, mentally, and emotionally.  I am supported by a Universe that wants me to be my authentic self and I honor the Universe by being nothing less than that.

• Time and Timing - everything comes to me in the exact right time.  I am open and ready to receive.

I am letting go of the belief that I am bound by the constructs of time.  It is easy for me to get to work and appointments on time and it is also easy for me to allow my life to flow in its natural rhythm without self-imposed limitations of time.  I don't need to set deadlines as my body, mind, and soul ebb and flow in ways optimum to my health and healing.

I deserve to be happy.  I deserve to be content with all of my resources and afford to live in the comfortable manner I desire.  I deserve to be successful and I embrace that success in ways that allows me to enjoy all aspects of my life as I desire.  My play and my work are in sync.  My activity and my relaxation are well-balanced.

So this is my new project.  I am beginning with a blank page.  It will be finished when it is finished. I will work on one affirmation at a time or all at once depending on what feels right in the moment.  I am living in each moment making choices that best support my highest needs and desires.  I will revisit these points here from time to time and post the progress of the "ZIA" as it unfolds.