Empowered, Not "In Control"

It's Sunday, loves! Mars goes into retrograde this week, there are wildfires, and every time I check the news for something positive, I'm left with a fearful feeling deep in the pit of my stomach. Thank goodness for cute animals . . . I don't know what we'd do without the inspiration and encouragement that comes from stories like these:

"Squirrel Keeps Visiting Her Human Mom After Her Release" 

(The Dodo Soulmates)

"Elephant Mom Crying for Help Leads Rescuers 

to Her Trapped Baby" (The Dodo)

And here's the tarantula that Nicole Kidman rescued from a swimming pool:

I hope these little animal news updates brought some sunshine to you today. We're so often caught up in what's going on in the human world that we tend to forget about the nature that's happening all around us, but whenever we take a step out of our own lives and remember Mother Earth and her creatures, breathing becomes just a bit easier. I know I can't speak for everyone, but for me, remembering that I'm just one person on a pale blue sphere in the middle of an ever-expanding universe is comforting. It makes the worries and intrusive thoughts less powerful.

Taking power away from our anxieties and preoccupations is the best way to fuel a positive, proactive power within ourselves. At times it may seem that having control over everything is the key to comfort and confidence, but control isn't sustainable. I mean, think about it: we live in this massive universe, and it's still getting bigger, yet we've become convinced that we can control what happens in it.

From NASA

Us: "We can control everything! We need to predict and control everything in order to be safe!"
The Universe: "LOL."

Releasing our worried obsessiveness over control is way more empowering than a false sense of control ever will be. In the same way, making love-based choices is way more empowering than making fear-based choices. 

A friend of mine recently shared her story of finding the joy of meditation, a practice that she used to despise. "My mind raced so quickly that I thought meditation was a waste of time," she told me, "but then when I started slowing down on purpose, I realized that I felt so much better than I did when I was pushing myself to go faster." She found that calmness was more empowering than aggression, and she realized that if she could learn to love meditation, she could learn to love herself, too.

When we make love-based choices, we're nourishing ourselves, giving back, holding space, and living a life that's colorful and compassionate. When we make fear-based choices, we're starving, holding our breath, running away, and living in a box. 

BOXES! Great for shipping. Not for living.

<3 <3 <3