Presence - Exploration Opportunity Card

“Daughter, allow what you are experiencing to settle within you. It is enough to simply experience what you are experiencing. Be present with what is here and allow it to be.”

— The Akashic Records

The past couple of weeks have been a lot.

There has been a funeral, time with family, conversations, memories, laughter, sadness, and love. And now that I am home and life is returning to something that looks a little more normal, I realize I am tired.

Not just physically tired. I feel tired in a way that is harder to name.

My first instinct was to wonder what I needed to do about it. Did I need to rest — to hibernate? Did I need to clear the emotions and pain I am feeling? Would Reiki help? Should I spend some time with my Records, asking what I needed to understand or what would help me move through what I was feeling?

And then I received the words above.

It made me realize how quickly we can move from experiencing something to trying to do something about the experience.

We want to understand what we are feeling. We want to feel better. We want to get ourselves back to normal. If something feels heavy, we think we need to clear it. If we are sad, we think we need to work through it. If something significant happens, we think there is a lesson we are supposed to find in it.

But what if we don't need to do any of that — at least not yet?

What if we simply allow ourselves to experience what we are experiencing?

There has been sadness these past couple of weeks, but there has also been so much love. There have been tears and there has been laughter. There have been memories shared, stories told, hugs given, and time spent with people I don't see nearly often enough. None of those experiences needs to become something other than what it was. I don't need to make anything of them now.

I can let this all settle.

I think there are times when our desire to understand ourselves can actually pull us away from simply being with ourselves. We become observers of our feelings instead of allowing ourselves to feel them. We start asking, “Why am I feeling this? What do I need? What am I supposed to learn?” when perhaps the only thing being asked of us is to be present.

That doesn't mean we won't eventually want to understand something, release something, or make a change. Our practices and tools are there when we need them.

But they don't have to rush us past the experience itself.

Today I don't need to clear what I am feeling. I don't need to understand it. I don't need to turn it into a lesson.

I can simply let these past couple of weeks settle within me and allow myself to feel whatever I feel.

And that is enough.

Affirmation

I allow myself to be present with what I am experiencing. I do not need to understand it, change it, or move through it before I am ready.

Journaling Prompts

1. What am I experiencing right now if I simply allow myself to name it without trying to change it?

2. Where am I feeling pressure—from myself or others—to feel differently than I do?

3. What am I trying to understand, fix, clear, or move through that I could simply allow to be for now?

4. What would it look like to give this experience time to settle within me?

5. What do I need in order to be present with myself today—not to feel better, but simply to be with what is here?

From My Journey

This week, I am taking my own advice. I don't have a plan for what I need to do with everything I am feeling. I'm giving myself permission to be tired when I'm tired, to laugh when something makes me laugh, and to feel sad when sadness comes.

I'm not trying to get anywhere with it.

I'm letting it settle.