Harnessing The Power Of Reflection

Using Past Me To Inspire New Thoughts & Ideas!

This voiceover is an audio version of my Slow Sunday Letter below. It is unedited, so may have some stutters, imperfections, and background noise. I hope you enjoy listening to it anyway!

Welcome to Generosity of Spirit, a space to share my slow and gentle living philosophy. Please do subscribe to join me on this gentle journey of discovery and receive my Slow Sunday Letter straight into your inbox.

Welcome back to another Slow Sunday Letter! I hope you have had a slow and gentle week.

This week’s Slow Sunday Letter is a little different. I found a random note on my phone, and it consisted of four words …

I have no memory of writing these words, or why I did… but it has got me thinking. What do these words mean to me? What can I learn from them?

Harnessing the power of reflection, I thought we could work through this together… So, grab a cuppa, get cosy and let’s see what we learn along the way.

CONTENTMENT

‘True contentment is not having everything, but in being satisfied with everything you have.’ Oscar Wilde

I believe being content with your life is empowering. How many of us can truly achieve this? How many of us can say we want nothing in our lives to be different? It is not easy to view your life this way. If you spent some time thinking about it, you could probably think of many situations past, present and maybe projections for the future that you wish could look different- happened differently or never happened at all. How do you truly accept and find contentment among this beautiful mess of a life?

Finding a way to love your life fully, and accept that every experience, every success, failure, your sorrow and heartache as well as joy and happiness, all have meaning. Accepting that together they weave the fabric of your unique life. Each thread as individually important as the next. Intertwined to create a life rich in experiences of all colours, moods, and feelings.

To accept this as yours, and not wish it to be any different or look like anyone else’s. This is true contentment. I find this whole notion magnetic.

In this moment – right now, do you feel content?

I think it is something we can easily recognise, and is obvious when we don’t have it. Contentment is inner peace regardless of specific circumstances, gain or bargaining. It comes from within. It is the love of just being. Being, often overlooked through it’s sheer simplicity, is incredibly empowering and acknowledging this, and loving it is uplifting. Our unique being, our personal miracle of being.

To be content is finding peace and acceptance with what has been, what is, and what is yet to come and embracing that this perfectly imperfect life is yours and you are in control. It is such a freeing concept, and for me I feel like understanding contentment may be a more worth while goal that the commonly held, pursuit of happiness.

If you can achieve an inner peace that is unshakeable despite being rocked by circumstance – it becomes a backbone you can rely on.

LEVEL

‘Find something that works for you, and that provides you a level of freedom that allows you to enjoy your life’ Greg Adams

I do not remember, why I wrote this word and I honestly- I don’t remember where I was going with it.

There are so many uses for the word level – it is one of those amazing words in the English language that suits and fits so many different scenarios and definitions.

It could have meant ‘leveling with someone’ – being direct or honest. It could mean ‘to level or flatten’ something or someone. You could keep your voice ‘level’ and calm. You could ‘level’ a score which would mean mirroring, or meeting at the same number or goal. You could ‘draw level’ with someone or something, getting closer to them/it. If something were at a particular ‘level’ like ‘eye level’ we would be referencing a particular measure. You could ‘level’ something off to make it even and perfect. You could ‘level up or down’ signifying some movement through success or failure. I could go on and on…

With fresh eyes, what do I think when I see the word – level. I am drawn to the idea of reaching or finding a level which offers honesty and stability, rather than a ‘level up’ mindset.

If you say that someone or something is on the level, you mean that they are sincere or honest, and are not attempting to deceive people.

Collins Dictionary : find one's level (in American English) or find its level

to reach one's (or its) proper or natural place according to one's (or its) qualities, capacity, etc.

To reach your level – a place that feels true, reflective of who you are, and what you want. A place of stability, realism, and sincerity.

GENTLE

‘be gentle first with yourself’ anon

Living a gentle life is very important to me. I often talk about slow and gentle living because I believe they go hand in hand. Learning to live gently has been just as important to me as living slowly.

In living gently, you make a conscious decision every day to live in a way that feels good, nourishing and kind to your soul. From there you can open your heart to the flow and rhythm of life – to embrace your values and passions and give yourself the grace to truly discover and explore.

Being gentle with myself, has wrapped me up in loving arms, which has given me the confidence to be myself and push myself to try new things, move outside my comfort zone, accept myself fully and move with the ebb and flow of life in a more gentle and peaceful way.

I have spoken before about how much I value peace and calm, and living gently is my key to that. As such it is one of my most cherished values. Living gently, suits my pace of life as well as my spirit. I need it… so I spend a lot of time harnessing it and protecting it.

Read more about gentle self compassion here ...

SAFE

‘this is a safe place to be who you are’ anon

I don’t always feel comfortable. I live with anxiety, so my head can be a very difficult place to be. I am unsure of myself... a lot. Anxiety feeds on fear and worry, and so my soothing blanket over all these tumultuous thoughts is to find places and ways to feel safe.

I have small rituals, that are designed to give my brain messages that it is safe, and it can relax- like lighting a candle, listening to music or taking some mindful moments (deep breathing, meditation, grounding work).

My ultimate safe place is at home. Home is so important and something I will never take for granted. A place to feel truly safe, relaxed, happy, calm, and content. As well as my physical safe place at home, I have also been working on creating a mental safe place, which I can take with me wherever I go, providing comfort in challenging situations.

My mental safe place combines thinking of a happy place or visualising somewhere calm and peaceful, with self-compassion and kindness. Accepting that it is okay not to be perfect, or make mistakes, or react in a way that I did not want, has helped me so much. I always have a small journal with me which can also help channel my thoughts and feelings. I have also relied on grounding techniques and breath work for when overwhelm really sets in, and this is something I can do throughout the day as necessary.

If you would like more guidance on how to create a safe place at home that is reflective of you, have a read of There's No Place Like Home …

I really enjoyed writing this and letting past me guide and inspire these thoughts. Harnessing reflection to help guide you in the present, is such an enriching practice and one of the great benefits of journaling or noting down your random thoughts.

I still don’t remember why I wrote those four words down, but having gone through them one by one I can see how important each of them is to me.

A first step that really helped me when I started embracing slow living, was taking the time to think about and notice my values and passions- and then allowing them to take up more space and guide me through my days.

I wasn’t planning on revisiting this now, but maybe I was being called to.

Thank you for joining me as we explored this together. I would love to know your thoughts, and if any of this resonated with you. If you feel able, please do share in the comments below.

And, speaking of sharing – If you enjoyed this or any of my past Slow Sunday Letters, please consider sharing/restacking this (or any of my letters!). I would be so grateful as I would love to share slow and gentle living with as many people as possible.

Thank you for being here,

With Light & Love

Emily xxx

If you enjoyed this post, found it useful or want to help me spread the word about how enriching Slow & Gentle Living can be, please do like/leave a comment or share/restack to help others discover Generosity of Spirit. Thank you for reading!

---