Inner Child + Self Love

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Shot By Corinna Lander

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The experience of self love completely eluded me for a large part of my life. That is until I found her, curled up inside my heart yearning to be held, to be loved, to be told that everything will be okay.

For the most part, my childhood was beautiful, I had long unkempt hair and dirty feet, I spent hours on end playing outside on the farm, singing my soul songs into the breeze.

On the other hand, I spent the rest of my time feeling angry and frustrated. Maybe it was because I wanted to be heard or all I really wanted was love and support, but I didn’t know how to ask for it or receive it.

As I grew up, I buried that child and with her, all of her anger and hurt, below layers of prescription and nonprescription “medication,” only to discover years later that wherever I was so was she.

She went on living there in my heart, just waiting to be acknowledged. When I found her there she was scared, and hurt, but holding on to the hope that one day I would return.

Now, as an adult I can let her shine in the ways she always wanted to. She is pure love and I can protect her now, I can give her all of the freedom that she desires. I can give her a voice. Instead of suppressing her, I now let her lead me.

It's her, the child who lives in my heart that brings me to my most profound experiences. She is the wise one, the strong one, and it is when I surrender that I come alive, in the most authentic ways. Daily I submit to her playfulness and vitality so that I may embody her grace and fluidity in every moment.

I am her mother, I am her protector and just like a momma bear and her cub, this love is ferocious because I never want to be disconnected from her again.

To know my inner child, to accept her is to love myself for the very first time.

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Shot by Corinna Lander

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Spirit Dancer

“Do you know what I've learned? That although ecstasy is the ability to stand outside yourself, dance is a way of rising up into space, of discovering new dimensions while still remaining in touch with your body. When you dance, the spiritual world and the real world manage to coexist quite happily. I think classical ballet dancers dance on pointe because they're simultaneously touching the earth and reaching up to the skies.”

―  Paulo Coelho, The Witch Of Portobello

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I am a dancer, I always have been.

Long before I had any proper training I was moving to an unheard rhythm, standing on my hands, shaking freely, spinning and spinning until I exhausted myself.

You too are a dancer, we all are, we are born that way.

There need be no music for this dance, it lives in the beat of our hearts, the in and out of our breath. The music is life, we just have to turn our attention inward to hear it.

This dance cannot be taught or learned, it can only be nurtured, coaxed and refined. It is our true nature but easily forgotten in the hurried pace of life.

Surrendering to the unique rhythm of our own internal pace and beat, we let ourselves be moved by a force beyond our comprehension.

Allowing this pulse of existence to come through, causing us to move to the music only we can hear. Vibrating up from the center of the earth, through the soles of our feet and into our spines, igniting the destiny that glows within each of us.

“Those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music”

- Friedrich Nietzsche

A celebration of life. An ecstatic dance with the unseen, the unknown. An act of giving thanks to these beautiful vessels.

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I close my eyes and allow the beat to take me, sway me, spin me…

I dance to the rhythm of nature, the ebb and flow, the waning and waxing, the creation and destruction. I navigate the cycle of birth and death in each moment. I let go and empty myself so that I may be filled up with what moves me and makes my spirit dance.

I am a dancer.

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Images shot on 35mm Film

8 Things to Consider as we Ring in The New Year: Clearing Space for 2015

boho daily-Tiny Devotions Blog

I love New Year’s! Not for the parties, the ball dropping, champagne, or the sparkly dresses, but because it marks a time of new beginnings. It is the perfect moment to pause, reflect, let go, and create.

Acknowledge all that transpired over the last year. Look how far you have come! Look at what you have accomplished, where you have struggled, succeeded, and failed. Now accept where you are in this moment and clear space to invite in a powerful future.

Here are 8 tips to create space in your life and welcome the new year…

1. Be still.
Listen. All that you seek is inside of you. Just sit. Let your mind slow down. focus on the body, focus on your breath. Tune in. Clear out the chaos. Return to this place again and again.

2. Forgive.
When we hold on to resentment and anger towards others, we become imprisoned there, held in a loop of doubt, fear, pain and sadness. When we forgive we release. When we release we set ourselves free and live to love on.

3. Let it go.

We tend to ruminate and dwell on the past. We get caught in a loop of recycled thoughts, and this creates a continuation of old patterns that do not serve us. This is a time to ceremoniously let it go!

Make a list of things in your life that are not serving, nourishing, or expanding you. This could include a relationship, an attitude about someone (including yourself), a job, or a way of being that has been keeping you stuck.  Write until you cannot write anymore, until everything pours out onto that piece of paper, then set it on fire. Burn it and release yourself from the confines of the past! The now is all we have.

4. Trust
What will be will be, whether or not we decide to trust. We cannot control much outside of ourselves, but we can control how we react to the mysterious ways of the universe. If we decide not to trust, we remain imprisoned by memories of pain and hurt. We must trust that what comes up, does so in order to deliver us to exactly where we are supposed to be at exactly the right time, and to teach us the lessons in this life that will ultimately set us free.

Surrender! Crack yourself open and relinquish the illusion of control in order to step into the chaos and offer yourself to the unknown.

“Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness. How do you know this is the experience you need? Because this is the experience you are having at the moment.”-Eckhart Tolle

5. Be joyful.
Gratitude is the pathway to contentment. It is all about being present to the abundance that exists in your life right now. It takes three positives to cancel out one negative.  Look at your day hour by hour, moment by moment, and appreciate the little joys that occur; the really simple things. Such as: a smile from a passerby, a really good cup of coffee in the morning, or a hug from a loved one. At the end of the day reflect on three things that you feel especially grateful for that happened that day. Write it down and repeat. What you focus on expands. Focus on beauty, light, and love. Recognize its abundance in our world.

6. Be open.
Be open to receive the magic and experience the synchronicity. The more we experience, both good and bad, the more we expand. The more we expand, the more we understand what this human experience really is.

“You are not IN the universe, you ARE theuniverse, an intrinsic part of it. Ultimately you are not a persons, but a focal point where the universe is becoming conscious of itself. What an amazing miracle.” -Eckhart Tolle

7. Be the creator.
Be willing to constantly recreate yourself. We choose our path and our destiny with our intentions, words, and actions. We have a choice in every moment. The more present we become, the more spontaneous our choices will be. We can then strip away layers of conditioning and stories about who and what we are, leaving us able to live each day and each moment fully.

What do you wish to create for yourself and the world? THINK BIG! Open your journal and write it down. Write until the ink runs out.

8. Choose love and breathe.
Yup, that simple. Choose to operate out of love. Keep on expanding with each and every breath.

Its time to transcend the illusory roadblocks that hold us back and to get ready for a powerful 2015!