Please enter my impromptu Serenity Week Giveaway today!
Photo discovered at Mountain Mermaid
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I'm very excited to introduce Amber, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Professional Yoga Therapist Candidate, from Soulful-Healing. I've continued my new passion to seek out and meet kindred folks on Twitter and this week my "Mindfulness" search led me to Amber who's been kind enough to chime in on this week's topic!
Soulful Serenity
While driving to work today, I was trying to figure out how to start this guest blog and mulling over the concept of serenity. That’s when the Alabama song “I’m In a Hurry” came on the radio. “I’m in a hurry to get things done. Oh, I rush and rush until life’s no fun.” There was my inspiration! Although I wasn’t exactly driving mindfully, which is something I’ve been working on, this song was a soulful tap on the shoulder. So I followed my own advice by taking a breath and smiling at my surroundings.
When I think of serenity, I think of taking time to simply be. For me, serenity does not have to mean that our surroundings are peaceful and beautiful. Instead, I think it means that we learn to find the peaceful and the beautiful in whatever is happening right now. There can be beauty and peace in sadness, challenge, and the darker depths of our souls. No, we don’t want to stay in those places forever, but if we can find acceptance there, serenity isn’t far behind.
There seems to be an expectation in our culture that life should be exciting and wonderful all the time. But if you think about it, staying in the bright, shiny, ecstatic places too long is just as dangerous as getting stuck in the darkness. Constant happiness is not realistic... That is not how the natural world works. I believe serenity is found in balance, in the moments we might typically think of as mundane. It is found in cooking dinner, folding laundry, mowing the lawn, hearing crickets chirping outside, noticing a patch of bright blue sky peek through the clouds.
If we can accept that there are brilliantly great heights and frighteningly deep depths and so so so many moments in between, maybe we’ll stop clinging to our expectations and we can appreciate the gifts we are given every day. The gift of breath. The gift of emotion. The gift of opportunities to learn and grow and do things differently. This is, at least, my hope for myself. I see serenity in the un-expected spaces in between. And so, in the spirit of serenity, I welcome you to join me in slowing down and embracing the present moment, whatever it holds. Thanks for reading and be well!
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Thank you so much for your lovely contribution Amber!
Dear readers, I would also recommend you take a peek over on Amber's website for some other great insights. In the "Categories" section of her site there are various topics of interest to a Serenity seeker. I particularly like the "Mindfulness" category and the inspired post: The Mindful Way to Fidget.
Will you join us "in slowing down and embracing the present moment"?
Next Post - My Serenity project update!
Next Post - My Serenity project update!