That path has since taken me through several homes and jobs in four different countries and turned out to be rockier and more lonely than I could ever have imagined. I have many times berated myself for spending months on end in a state of seeming stasis, despite the continual changes that external realities (which I have chosen) have thrust upon me. For some years, I forgot all about this affirmation, but as I read it last night I realised that it has had a shape in my soul all this time, and has fuelled my continuing conviction through the greyest days that I am in fact journeying toward wholeness.
In preparing the affirmation for this post today, I realised that I no longer agreed with some aspects of what I had written. I smiled to myself as I edited it, realising that in so doing I was expressing one of my convictions about humans’ capacity to know anything—that our grasp of reality is limited, and whatever absolute truth may be, it is not in our power to define it absolutely. The wisest course is a blend of humility and hope. In this spirit, then, I’m sharing with you not an accurate description of the person you might encounter if you met me, but an image of the one I am aiming to become.
Feel free to use any parts of it to create an affirmation for yourself if something resonates with you, but seek to respect and live consistently with your own truth above all.
I love myself. I will not abandon myself. I celebrate my individuality. I appreciate my inner and external beauty. I delight in and am energised by natural and artificial beauty. My creativity makes a real, objective contribution to the world. I contemplate my creations with pleasure. What I do is good. I am patient with myself as I discover the best media to express my gifts. I seek and receive feedback from others and from my universe to help me on my journey.
I respect the otherness of everything and everyone. At the same time, I celebrate the connectedness of all. I am part of a larger whole. I reflect something true about everyone. I acknowledge all of life, the totality of existence. I allow the spiritual to be as real to me as the physical. I value my intuition. I take time to listen to my inner voices. I exercise reason and judgement along with intuitive discernment.
I accept social responsibility as part of the whole. I develop my skills and train my talents in order to keep my promises. I focus seriously, consistently and joyfully on my work in order to add to the world. I look for opportunities to seed or build or contribute to vibrant, nurturing communities.
I listen to others. I affirm their emotional honesty by being there with them. I identify with their struggles even as I celebrate each person’s uniqueness. I express my own feelings to invite connection. I differentiate between my self and my feelings, and between my feelings and those of others. I wait patiently for the resolution of feelings. I act positively toward others. I take responsibility for my actions and responses. I recognise and rejoice in reciprocity.
I understand that the discipline of self is part of my contribution to the whole, because I can only care for others as I care for myself. I evaluate my values in terms of my growing understanding of universal laws. I submit to my evolving conscience in matters of morality and ethics. I incarnate my principles and convictions by acting on them.
At the same time, I am gentle with myself. I laugh at the incongruities in my thoughts and actions, and the paradoxes of my animal-spiritual nature, because I understand that I am always learning. When I teach what I am in the process of learning, I am aware that my truth is only an approximation of reality. With this awareness, I dive wholeheartedly into the mystery of life.
Tia Azulay 1995-21Feb07
Copyright © 1995, 2007 Tia Azulay
You have an old spirit. As I read your piece I felt all the folding and pending that my life has endured to have the spirit I now have – I think it is both old and young. The age of a spirit reflects most clearly in patience and enduring life – life persist. I will continue to follow you and read more to learn if with all the “enduring” you also demonstrate the feature of the young spirit. The “Yes” of the child. The child that is innocence and forgetting, a new beginning, of games and self-propelling wheel the daring of the first move – a sacred “Yes”.
Thank you, oldude59! I laughed when I read your post because I had, at the last minute before posting decided to remove the following final sentence: “I am alert to joy.” I removed it because it doesn’t quite say what I feel – it’s still-incomplete expression of something like that childlike spirit that I sense beginning to move in me.
Bring it on!
I can connect particularly with the paragraph ‘I listen to others’ and all you say here. I see this very much in me, and also in you.
Liked what oldude59 had to say about the spirit. I am also interested in seeing how this unfolds in you. I heard it the other evening when we spoke and it was a joy. Keep digging deep to let your child genie out TiaTalk!
Why am I reluctant to comment on the blog itself? perhaps I don’t really know how to? Perhaps, as you suggest, I am unfamiliar with this environment? perhaps i feel i will not visit it sufficiently regularly to keep up with any conversation it may begin and – hey – I want to be part of my own conversation?
The poetry is wonderful – as always. The images evocative – but then my perspective is a somewhat unique one. You are touching memories which are perhaps harder to deal with at the beginning of a busy day when I traditionally do my electronic catching up. Although also easier than as the busy day takes over – but then I do not reflect sufficiently as I wish and need. Lazy? Sure1 Feraful? Coward? perhaps the first and i shun the second? Defensive? perhaps! i can acknowledge that.
I do wish that gave myself time to work through what this writing triggers! The images and memories and processes.
Enough for now – I will begin to ramble! but thank you for encouraging the sharing.
Hi Fran and Mark – thanks so much for your comments, yes, for the positive feedback they contain, but also for the sharing of your beautiful selves.
BTW, Mark, you can receive blogs as feeds – this makes browsing through the latest posts on blogs you’re interested in much quicker as they’re delivered in text form to you at timed intervals (which you can determine) and you don’t need to visit the actual blogs themselves unless you want to. You need to download a feedreader (there are lots of free ones) and then tell it which blogs or specific posts or comments on blogs to follow for you.