Luminous Muse Healing
  • Home
  • Events
  • Healing Circle
  • Private Programs
  • About Me
  • Blog

Lessons In Tending Ourselves

3/30/2016

0 Comments

 
I've been getting instructions on my own tending from my dreamtime.  Every once in awhile I have a dream that is so completely different in feeling and character, that I know it's a message that I need to understand. Last night I had one of those dreams.

I dreamed that I was in a physical education class (never my best subject, though I do love moving my body) and I was doing the convoluted and strange exercises I was being asked to do.  I just moved slowly through them.  My PE teacher in the dream kept telling me how I wasn't doing it right, even though I was doing what she asked.  And she kept telling me it wasn't fast enough... in effect... she kept up a stream of messages about how I wasn't good enough.

I wanted so much for her to see that her story about me... that I couldn't do it... was wrong.  I wanted her to admit that I did something... anything... right.  But she would not.

On waking, I realized that the PE teacher was really the younger me.  I spent years with an internal voice that constantly told me I wasn't good enough.  And here I was now, telling the PE teacher (or my younger self) that I wasn't motivated by being torn down, held as not good enough.  Instead, that leaves me feeling depleted and unmotivated.

Picture
So, today, I'm recommitting to a practice I learned from a friend a few years ago.  I learned the art of self-appreciation.  It's crazy hard most of the time, because we're told that it leads to a big head, or thinking too much of ourselves, thinking we're better than others.  But I don't think so.  

I offer you the possibility that we don't think enough of ourselves.  That we don't think highly enough of our abilities, our strengths, and our gifts.  We don't claim what we're really truly good at... or the things we accomplished during the day.


So, here's my commitment... for at least one week, I'm going to begin my morning with one appreciation related to how I approach each new opportunity.  And at night, I'm going to appreciate something that I did that day.  I'm going to post on Facebook... you can follow me there if you want to join in... or let me know here what you're committing to do in the name of your own tending!
0 Comments

The Art of Tending Ourselves

3/17/2016

0 Comments

 
I knew when I signed up for YoniVerse that I was going to dig deep with a story that had been with me for 27 years.  I knew that it was going to tap into old grief and loneliness.

I did not know that I would find in it what I’d been wishing had been there for so long… love.  I did not know that I would find triumph and fortitude.
 
It’s been a five-month journey into one of my defining stories.  I figure I have spent about 80% of my energy in the last 27 years fighting, contradicting, or otherwise doing hand-to-hand combat with this story. 
 
We have two more performances.  And then I’m done.  I have mined and found the gold, I have spent time in the grief and transformed some of it, I have cleared the shame and much of the fear… I am done.
 
My story will be with me always.  It is part of who I am.  It has left a legacy… but now that legacy is made of strength and love instead of shame and fear.
 
It has been very healing for me that audiences receive my story with compassion, they see in me the strength and triumph.  Many people have talked to me after the performance, but the one who stands out… is the 20-something guy who told me that he was leaving with more compassion than he came with.  THAT, my friends, is the power of story.
​
Picture
I now find myself with a huge energy surplus (not the doing kind… I’m still exhausted!)… but the creative, living-life, being-present kind of energy.  What shall I do with it?  I don’t know yet. 
 
Sure, my monkey mind has a list of all kinds of things I could do with this attention-energy.  I have more stories I could delve into, I have work I could do, websites to remake, etc. 
 
But I have decided to sit in this beginning space and drink it in.  I’m not sure what will come from here.  I have lots of dreams I’d love to start working on… but there’s a sacred quiet here.  It’s a little like being in the womb.  I don’t know, and in the not knowing, there is nothing to do.  
​

Picture
And yet, there’s a tending going on.  It doesn’t look like much at face value… but it’s like singing over the seeds.  It’s a prayer and an honoring.
 
Sure, I’m over here judging myself like mad… shoulds flying like confetti… but a wise part of me knows that even though I can’t capture it with words… something is happening.  The tending.

Are you tending something?  How are you sitting with it?  Really… I’m curious to know.  I’ve been noticing a lot about the “tending” as I think it will relate to upcoming Virtual Retreats.  So, I really am interested in your experience.  

0 Comments

    Jill Clifton

    I'm an explorer of inner realms, a pattern observer, and an invitation maker.  I believe that healing the world starts within.

    If you organize your blog conversations through Bloglovin' you can follow me there...
    Follow
    Or if you would prefer for this blog to appear magically in your inbox...
    Follow

    Archives

    September 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013

    Categories

    All
    Ancestral Healing
    Body Wisdom
    Body Wisdom Healing Circle
    Cellular Vitality
    Daily Practice
    Divine
    Elements
    Events
    Foundation
    Grounding
    Healing
    Heart Healing
    Info You Can Use
    Inner Truth
    Inner Truth
    Intention
    Mindset
    Nature Messages
    Notes From The Muse
    Prolapse
    Quotes
    Resilience Course
    Ritual
    Sacred Feminine
    Symptoms Of Menopause
    Ted Talks
    Word Of The Year
    Working With The Body
    Writing
    Yoniverse

    RSS Feed

Contact Me

jill.d.clifton@gmail.com
831.600.6638

What others say about my work :

Jill's particular genius is to process each emotion as savory and precious.  She inspires the best of personal will for you to generate possibility, openness & ultimately lasting transformation.  
~ Maya, Sacramento CA

It is clear to me that Jill cares deeply about her clients.  She has worked with all of the members of our family to reclaim the wholeness and health of our bodies.
~ Laura, San Jose CA
  • Home
  • Events
  • Healing Circle
  • Private Programs
  • About Me
  • Blog