Do you find it easy to celebrate yourself when you do something you are proud of?
Or really witness and acknowledge how hard something was?
If you do, do you feel the reaction from your body and your heart when they are truly seen? There is a jingle of happiness in the cells that they are being seen and carry the same truth that you do.
To notice when we have really done something significant is a gentle act of self care. You may have heard that “Self praise is no praise” yet the soul doesn’t understand that. It feels the event. The heart and soul have a knowing that we have entered into a new space, regardless of outside criteria of achievement comes from within.
On an emotional level, our hearts know and feel when we do something different or feel something different. It is the shimmer of excitement tinged with fear. To acknowledge this with our minds sends the message to our hearts and souls that they are right and we did really do that well and it was exciting. These internal conversations are momentary and can be experienced as a flicker of awareness but they are important for how we connect with ourselves and know ourselves well.
In holistic medicine, we are whole, and the heart and soul have a huge say over the rest of the body. The mind may circle but when a message comes from the soul, it is deep and clear. It creates clarity and connection within the body.
In our culture, praise for our children and celebration of their milestones is readily available but for adults it tails off and can become missing. When we don’t fully recognise or acknowledge ourselves, it sends a message to our bodies that we haven’t been seen or heard. Our souls feel it. We cycle round the same emotional cycles not moving forwards because there is some kind of question which might sound like: Did that really happen? Am I good enough? Is it worth listening to the flicker of my heart and soul. It leads to disconnection.
The same is true for the difficult times which are huge rites of passage in our lives like illness, accidents and grief. It really effects us and our hearts and souls feel it deeply. Despite of this, there is often an unwillingness or a practical need to carry on which prevents us from saying to ourselves “This is huge. I’m struggling” or “I don’t know who I am now”.
In shamanic healing, the use of ceremony is a message to the heart and soul to bear witness and connect all parts of us with the same truth. Often the confusion about why a breakdown has happened or exhaustion is the body’s voice speaking the unacknowledged huge events which our society doesn’t always have words. Yet the soul knows.
Ceremony brings an end to questioning or circling the same ideas and supports the initiation of a new phase in life. This can be anything such as celebrating the overcoming of addiction or ending the attachment to anything causing repeated pain. Often ceremonies can return soul essence parts or end patterns of co-dependence and the benefits ripple out on so many levels. I have witnessed this so many times.
By really speaking to the soul and acknowledging, we are clearer in our vision and our energy. We can know ourselves more fully when we acknowledge or achievements and difficulties. This isn’t pride or victimhood, it is basic soul tending.
What do you think of this?
Do you find it easy to fully acknowledge what is happening for you?