Heart treasures: heart-shaped rock, seeds, red jasper, seashell.

These images represent a commitment to myself that has emerged out of the healing process I have been engaged in for the past several months. As I have written about before, an illness that goes as deep as persistent Lyme Disease ends up entangled with old patterns that I have found I need to address in order to heal completely.

During the past year while doing my utmost best to work at a complex job while in pain and very fatigued I found myself repeating the old patterns of treating myself harshly. I allowed my fears of not doing things well enough and of disappointing others to surface into self-criticism at a time when I really needed to be gentle and supportive of myself and honor the inner strength and determination that was carrying me through. During this time of struggle I visited a shamanic healer who helped me to see how these patterns were blocking my physical healing. Through this session I could see the possibility of new, more constructive patterns that I could choose to grow into. And so, I continue on a journey of working to:

• see challenges as an opportunity
• see my own inner strength
• acknowledge that I am good enough just the way I am
• practice just being in the world

My “heart treasures” are my visual reminder of my commitment to myself. A heart-shaped rock symbolizes following my heart, the seeds represent new seeds planted or new opportunities, red jasper is a dream stone with properties of endurance and protection against negativity and the whole collection represent my connection to nature.

Poetry in sunlight. My writing tablet and some Mary Oliver and Rumi to read.

The books of poetry in the sunlight reflect my desire to continue to write more as I have with this blog which connects to doing and reading things that feed my heart.