Tender, Loving Self-Care

I opened an email recently and was surprised to discover that it wasn’t the words that touched me the most.  Instead, it was the picture of a woman with her hand placed tenderly over her heart.  In fact, I spent several moments just gazing at it … soaking in the love.

And, for me, not seeing her face somehow felt very important.  It felt like a quiet affirmation of my journey of continuing to move down from my head and back into my body.  (An invitation I seem to be hearing "in stereo" these days.)

I had bone cancer as a teen and, feeling abandoned by my body at the time (and without fully realizing what I was doing), I moved out of my body and into my head.  Being a feeler much more than I thinker, I would dip down into my heart but that was about as far as I went.

In time, I’ve been able to gently stop, notice, and see that even after all that we’ve been thru physically, “we” are still here.  While my crutches are permanent companions, reminders, and teachers, I did survive the bone cancer of 36 years ago and over 30 surgeries.

I am thriving.

My heart aches this morning when I think about wanting to bring her with me as she has so graciously carried me thru my life. To be grace-full and mercy-full with her as she has quietly been with me.

Smiling softly because I started taking regular selfies about 6 months ago as a part of my self-care practice.  Actually taking time to *see* me has been incredibly healing for me.

So, as a small way to say yes to this continued. lifetime journey, I took this photo of me with my hand tenderly, lovingly placed over my heart.

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