McDermott | Grass Snake Molting | watercolor + pencil
Yes. You are perfect just the way you are
and there's always room for improvement.
It's a human contradiction. But it's true for all living structures on our pretty planet Earth.
If I were a snake and my skin had become too stretchy or laden with parasites bugging me, I'd shed my skin. Begone! It might take some effort but molting is probably not that big a deal to a snake. I read that it's more stressful than painful because the snake is vulnerable during the molt. Makes sense.
Being human, I have habits of mind and behavior that obstruct the way of my personal growth and happen to really bug me. Normal. What's also normal is that habits of mind and behavior (worth losing) can loom large and feel almost impossible to drop. I think that that belief of the impossible is as much a habit of mind as the habit of mind (or behavior) we might like to drop.
What if, in fact, habits of thought and behavior are as easy to drop as a piece of lint plucked off a sweater? What if we're just giving power to habits so that we can stay safe (in our learned little rut), or abdicate responsibility (for ourselves), or are so used to feeling powerless that any other way of feeling seems impossible?
and there's always room for improvement.
It's a human contradiction. But it's true for all living structures on our pretty planet Earth.
If I were a snake and my skin had become too stretchy or laden with parasites bugging me, I'd shed my skin. Begone! It might take some effort but molting is probably not that big a deal to a snake. I read that it's more stressful than painful because the snake is vulnerable during the molt. Makes sense.
Being human, I have habits of mind and behavior that obstruct the way of my personal growth and happen to really bug me. Normal. What's also normal is that habits of mind and behavior (worth losing) can loom large and feel almost impossible to drop. I think that that belief of the impossible is as much a habit of mind as the habit of mind (or behavior) we might like to drop.
What if, in fact, habits of thought and behavior are as easy to drop as a piece of lint plucked off a sweater? What if we're just giving power to habits so that we can stay safe (in our learned little rut), or abdicate responsibility (for ourselves), or are so used to feeling powerless that any other way of feeling seems impossible?
"Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself."
— Leo Tolstoy
There is a full moon tonight
in Virgo at 7:51pm ET. From what I understand, it's a perfect opportunity to drop what no longer serves us and accept the power to make structural changes in our lives that can allow us to alter the course of our path a bit and feel better. Everyone knows (don't they?) that if we feel better within ourselves, it naturally follows that we can help others feel better, too.
What if the greatest journey of your life has yet to begin? Some journeys are launched with just the tilt of a head. Add a little practice of looking at yourself differently, at life differently, put one foot in front of the other and wonder what new magic life holds in store.
My suggestion is that you mark this full moon by deciding what it is you're going to shed. It's not a bad idea to write out your musings on paper and then write down (with intention) what it is you decide to shed. Then let it go. Burn the paper if you have to.
In preparation, you can spend the day collecting items for the trash or give away. It's absolutely true that clearing out physical clutter leads to clearing psychic and emotional clutter.
Make like a snake and shed some skin. Figuratively, of course. It couldn't hurt.
in Virgo at 7:51pm ET. From what I understand, it's a perfect opportunity to drop what no longer serves us and accept the power to make structural changes in our lives that can allow us to alter the course of our path a bit and feel better. Everyone knows (don't they?) that if we feel better within ourselves, it naturally follows that we can help others feel better, too.
What if the greatest journey of your life has yet to begin? Some journeys are launched with just the tilt of a head. Add a little practice of looking at yourself differently, at life differently, put one foot in front of the other and wonder what new magic life holds in store.
My suggestion is that you mark this full moon by deciding what it is you're going to shed. It's not a bad idea to write out your musings on paper and then write down (with intention) what it is you decide to shed. Then let it go. Burn the paper if you have to.
In preparation, you can spend the day collecting items for the trash or give away. It's absolutely true that clearing out physical clutter leads to clearing psychic and emotional clutter.
Make like a snake and shed some skin. Figuratively, of course. It couldn't hurt.
