Multilayered Complex Hauntingly beautiful Full of grace If only one could capture, Secure it Hide it in plain sight Or perhaps lock away in a dungeon I hid her away for ages Fearful of desecration Resenting the worlds brutality In truth, she deserves all of the roses Molten-led whispers along her spine Sweet kisses, foot massages Divinity in the arch of every limb Basking in her sublime time As fine as well-aged wine Sipping from her lips, I find my peace Oh, this deeply-rooted woman Her cries are my anguish Her heart my salve Peaking into the heavens I capture her grace Teasing her light, balancing unconditional rapture on slick fingertips Then shoving fingertips down her throat She bursts into a symphony of luminous rays When they saw black and white She saw the world in color A special woman, the feminine, the anima, Yin The Great Mother Heaven! The root, so deeply rooted Attempting to siphon her light—she forever remains luminous She brings weakness to my knees; Clearing my minds eye Easing my soul The embodiment of heaven— Love without the illusion of control
You know the saying “with great power comes great responsibility”?
Each person is incarnated into this existence with an ego and a soul. The ego, operates in the form of “I”, which is important because it allows for us to have an experience of the world which is personable. In almost every religious and spiritual view, each person is fully liable and responsible for themselves. This means that each individual has personal accountability for acquiring each of their needs. The ego seeks to fulfill these needs through external means: validation, romantic love, money, fame, etc. This, as many people come to understand, is extremely problematic because external means are fluctuating, fleeting and conditional. For example, people give love at the capacity they are able to love themselves. In almost every instance, to give love to another human being is usually fully dependent on the individuals ability to find beauty, likeness, admiration and thriving “acceptable” traits in another person. This is the meaning of conditional love, which is fully dependent on the ability of the opposite person to fulfill one(or more) of the ego’s needs.
The soul, however, is believed to be derived from God/All That Is. In many Abrahamic religions, God has been said to have blown a piece of his Spirit into man and with that– completed His wonderful creation. Within this context, it is important to comprehend that the soul is whole on its own. It is timeless. It can love unconditionally because it is directly derived from a being whom is limitless and unconditional in His existence. Nevertheless, the only “need” the soul has is to be in connection with God. This need cannot be fulfilled by external means: it’s contentment is found in the acquisition, communion and connection to The One. And because God is everlasting, this wholeness is everlasting as well.
Why is this important? When attempting heal to core wounds, it’s important to fully comprehend their roots. For example, a person who’s experienced childhood abandonment often has a distorted view of fault vs. responsibility. Fault is the belief that you control others and the choices they make. Responsibility is the ability to take accountability independently of others. The ego of a young child experiencing abandonment has not yet matured enough to understand that the actions of others do not serve as reflections of their own worthiness. The ego takes fault and thinks to itself, “Their absence is a result of my doing. I must not be good enough” and experiences feelings of guilt, shame and fear, which confirm its self-imposed suffering. The person then grows up seeking validation from external means in order to prove its worthiness to themselves. But no matter how much validation they receive, it will not heal the core wound of unworthiness.
This story of lack in it itself is an illusion created by the ego. The fact is that no one thinks about you as much as you do. This means that other peoples actions are often self-serving and not a personal attack on another being. The journey of each person is to fight off mental attacks from the psyche and shatter the ego’s illusory perceptions. This takes time. If a person has been living in the ego’s illusions for years it will often take just as much time to unlearn their beliefs and rewrite their own reality. The wonderful thing about the human mind is that perception is individualistic to each being. While we are not responsible for the actions, ideals and perceptions of others we are responsible for ourselves. With this knowledge can come great relief; that our personal power is not dependable on another persons intrinsic reality—but our own.
If I was a day of the week, I would definitely be Sunday. Sundays, for many, are days spent in reflection on the past week, communion with God, enjoying time with loved ones or simply sitting in silence. For me, Sunday’s are my self-care days – a full day dedicated to listening and doing whatever it is that I want to do.
Packed with the knowledge that each person will have their own ideas of what self-care actually looks like, how do we define it? Self-care is simply the practice of taking action to improve or preserve one’s health. This can mean physically, mentally or spiritually. Ideally, self-care consists of a combination of all three- nurturing the mind, body, and soul to foster love, kindness, and compassion to oneself. However, self-care also includes more raw details such as holding space for oneself in the midst of stress, pain or grief. Basically, anything that entails leading to a better and healthier you fall under the scope of self-care.
I personally consider myself a self-care connoisseur. I love being relaxed, soothed and peaceful. For me, self-care is essential to my daily life. There are a numerous amount of ways that one can incorporate a self-care day or practice into their daily routine. It all depends on what you believe is best for you. A simple practice that I have been cultivating over the last year or so is simply sitting in silence or meditation at the beginning of my day and asking myself “Jannah, what do you need from me today?” Although it may sound a bit odd, this simple questions allows me to create a space in which I am completely in tune and listening to myself and my own needs. It is very often that we are consumed with doing what others want us to do or even doing things we don’t want to do – but feel we have to. How does our subconscious process this behavior? In the act of listening to others over ourselves, we reinforce this internal idea that we are not as important as the rest of the world. In reality, the world will continue spinning regardless if we take 5-10 minutes to take care of ourselves. Time will not stop. Life will continue to go on. As soon as we are finished, we can return to our tasks, duties, and obligations with our complete and total attention. If we don’t take care of ourselves than who will? In truth, the most important person in this world who is need of love, attentiveness, and care from yourself is YOU. You deserve love, kindness, and compassion. You are enough. Love, embrace and nurture everything that you are – because you deserve it just as much as anyone else. So in the name of self-care ask yourself this very question – “___________, what do you need from me today?” See what answer you come up with. You may just surprise yourself.
Genuinely Jannah 