How do you care for the seeds that have been planted in your being?

How

did the rose

ever open its heart

and give to this world all of its beauty?

It felt the encouragement of light against its being,

otherwise we all remain too frightened.

-- Hafiz

In today's audio, we're exploring how you can soften the drive to 'force' or demand growth, and instead, how you can trust that the growth is happening.

When we demand growth for ourselves, or when our growth is filled with a lot of impatience, we can cause ourselves to shrink, to shrivel, to move away from the light that is encouraging us to open, and unfold.

Like the Hafiz poem, we can close up, because we remain too frightened.

What encourages us to open to our beauty - the beauty of the fullness of who we are - is the warmth against our being.

This warmth comes in many forms - kindness, compassion, patience, listening, and companionship.

And warmth can come in the kind of encouragement we offer ourselves. Do we shout at ourselves or do we sing to ourselves? Do we offer our company, or demand coercion? Do we visit with ourselves, or do we ignore our hearts? Do we recriminate ourselves about what we've always done, or do we tell a new story about ourselves?

This is what we'll be exploring today - and through the poignancy of a beloved children's story.

Today I invite you to explore - how do you care for the seeds of your growth? How can you pause and honor them as the sacred beings that they are?

How can you bend low to the seeds that are sprouting, to bring yourself down to these young beings, and whisper and encourage their unfoldment?