Hello and Happy Sunday …
Today I recorded my audio for you as I was out walking.
While recording, I couldn’t remember a specific quote, so I shared it on the audio as best I could. But I want to send you the actual quote by Kurt Vonnegut. This is it: “And I urge you to please notice when you are happy — and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, ‘If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.”
May you anchor in the smallest of good feelings today by pausing to exclaim, murmur, or think how wonderful they are.
May you also allow yourself any heartache, disappointment, anger, or fear. Let these feelings pass through you, swiftly or slowly, like waves in the ocean when you stand steady as possible, swaying and slipping, but not drowned by the undertow.
Today, my LoveGram is about the change. It is about being on the cusp of a new chapter and allowing ourselves all the feelings. It is supporting ourselves in moving through the old and into the new with an intention of who we want to be and how we want to navigate this change.
(My son is moving out this week and my mama heart is going through every emotion on the books!)
Listen to today’s Audio LoveGram now!
After you click over to that page, just scroll down until you see the audio player. Click play. Voila!
As I was preparing today’s LoveGram, I happened to glance at a headline on the New York Times: “Idaho Town is Upended in Search for Missing Boy.”
There is a five-year-old who went missing last week and the town is frantic in their search for him. When I first read this and glanced at the story, I heard a scolding in my head. “There is so much heartache and grief in the world. How can you send out your LoveGram about being sad, simply because your son is moving out?”
And then, thankfully, I remembered a podcast I’d heard by Brené Brown in which she was talking about “comparative suffering.” I will have to listen again, but I recall a part of it being that we need to allow ourselves to feel our own pain and not cut it off because someone else is going through something way bigger, harder, or worse. By allowing ourselves to have our feelings, we are strengthening our empathy muscles and it allows us to open our hearts even wider to others.
I believe this is true.
Just as it is also true that when we open our hearts to what others are going through, it can put things into perspective for us. Not in a scolding or punishing way, but in a soft, gentle, reminding way.
That happened for me just now. It is the gift of letting the Sunday LoveGrams unfold as I go.
After you listen to today’s LoveGram, think about a change that is happening or about to happen in your own life. Can you allow yourself to get present, feel your feelings, consider how best to support yourself, and ask for help?
Can you navigate change in a way that allows you to be intentional and choose who you want to be?
I’ve been creating these Sunday LoveGrams since March of 2020. Having you here with me throughout this pandemic has been so important.
Being together in our experiences is truly a gift. It is one of the ways we support ourselves in navigating change.
Thank you!
Seek celebration — even in dark corners,
xo Sherry
P.S. Could you take a moment and send some loving energy to Brandi and Tyler , the parents of the missing five-year-old I referred to up above? Can you send huge truckloads of love to little Michael, wherever he is? I believe our energy carries in some form. I like to think that Michael might be able to feel a big dose of love coming from caring strangers whose hearts are with him. I like to think that our love travels. That it matters.