Dear [Quiet].

I've been in a private, quiet place the last many weeks. Feels good, grounding, and important. Lately, I've been thinking about all the ways I soldier through - even when there isn't any reason, even if in the most subtle of ways. Soldiering through a conversation, only to bookend  - definitely not good for relationship health. Soldiering through deadlines (alivelines), though chores, through the muck.

There is an underlying tone of suffering that comes with soldering through.

I'm doing the work to release. Which means I've been getting quiet. Ohhhh, the peace that lives inside the stillness, a new journal, an inspirational date, the messages,  the being present. You simply cannot soldier through and be present and quiet all at once. So this is the gift of my days lately. Thank you, quiet and stillness. You're healing my heart with your gentle ways.

I'm amazed at how the world works - how we know, deep inside, exactly what we want our lives to look like. We have to visualize it, give ourselves permission to ask for it, and align our lives and decision making with those visions/intentions. It's not easy and I know we can't just write ourselves a letter and have it all six months later. But undeniably there is magic and power in the practice, in the process, in the allowances that we give ourselves to dream. And to dream big.