I subscribe to Insight Timer since waaaaaaay back when it first came out and a smart phone had first been put Into my hand. Insight meditation is an eastern style of contemplation and I was and am very much intrigued by it. Needless to say, tech was all so new to me that for years I thought the only application Insight Timer had was a timer with a singing bowl. And maybe that IS how it began, but fast-forward to the 2023 version, there are now over hundreds of thousands of guided meditations and musical interludes and divinely inspired courses from all over the world and by a host of teachers, artists and light workers of every variety and approach.

A few months ago I listened to Jonathan Lehmann, a French Investment Lawyer who was so disillusioned with his preoccupation with material gain that he turned to the study of happiness and is now on Insight Timer and leads silent retreats, immerses himself in meditation and helps others. His seven affirmations spoke to me and I wrote them down for my personal use. Here they are:

7 (Seven) Affirmations by Jonathon Lehmann

1. I make plans but I remain flexible, open to the surprises that life has in store for me. I try to say “Yes” as often as possible.
2. I cultivate patience and by doing so I also cultivate self-confidence.
3. I welcome the opportunity to step outside my comfort zones and I do NOT let myself be guided by fear.
4. I love myself unconditionally because it’s essential to my happiness. I love the person that I am and I do not need other people’s approval to love myself fully.
5. I am going to drink water, eat fruits and vegetables, walk, take the stairs, exercise. Today, I’m going to love my body.
6. I give everywhere I go, even if only a smile, a compliment or my full attention. Listening is the best gift I can give those around me.
7. I try to be impeccable with my word and to speak only to spread positivity, it’s counterproductive to my happiness to speak against myself or against others

You delve full on if you’re all in. On a daily basis. Hourly, every minute your thoughts stray. At first and for a while or maybe every time a new challenge shows up, you have tons of doubts, questions and micro-resistances. And lots to learn. About how to behave from a place of rigorous honesty and radical integrity. This is your spiritual path. It mirrors with the yoga tenets of the Yamas and the Niyamas.

With time, it becomes a quest for self-approval, self-acceptance and self-care rather than looking outside yourself for validation.

And then, it is an exploration of how to give from a place of surplus. The abundance of love and fulfillment needed to supersede an ego-centered past life. You extend the repairing and maturing. You strive to become whole and complete, releasing trauma and not letting it define you or interfere with who you are today in the present moment. You connect the dots and realize it’s all been necessary. The journey becomes a continuous learning curve wherein your biggest leaps of understanding and wisdom come from a place of pain, suffering, confusion and ultimately surrender to what is. You ride the waves, enjoy the ride; swell, crest and crash and then serenity creeps back. Like the breath, it’s the in and out, the up and down, the RIDE that builds your character.

In essence, recovery is repairing your relationship with self and how you react to the world and taking responsibility for absolutely everything that you now do and did. You reframe your challenges and see where you were indeed the creator or reactor to circumstances. You are taught to love yourself no matter what, surrounded by strangers that love you for coming into the deep folds of healing. United and together, on misfit island, you share from the heart and are allowed to be vulnerable without judgment or comment. Common cultural barriers and mores are broken in order to love the newcomer with love they do not have for themselves yet. You might want to isolate but people reach out to you and you are in disbelief. Alone is not lonely any more. And you never have to suppress or hold onto negative thoughts anymore.

My rebellious nature is the addict in me, the one that chases pleasure which leads eventually to NO joy for me, only pain.

The wise, mindful quality, in me, pauses and chooses with kindness. That’s the Bodhisattva essence inside weighing and measuring her actions, thoughts and words with careful investigation and rigorous honesty.

Inquiry and right action with compassion lead me to freedom within the structure of my ethics, values, beliefs and vision I have for myself.

Whatever your interests, it brings you closer to your authentic self. I’m attracted to wildlife and nature; birds, horticulture, water. I’m also partial to the study of stars, the universe and all interpretations of it.

Life is lovely. Life is full. Life is Recovery of the Soul. Life is manifestation of Spirit inside body form. Life is mind over matter. Life is the thought train till the end of time.

Is there an end? On the one hand who wants their life as we know it to end? Perhaps the suffering. The alternative to full stop finite death is Eternity and isn’t that even scarier? No end? If infinity is real then so are endings of some sort or transitions, transformations and reincarnations via our minute cells of intelligence. This is why some of us can deliberately connect with trees, dogs and others on an almost telepathic level.

Synchronicity, Serendipity and Deja Vu are all time travel. Perhaps there are dimensions we are not even aware of as of yet. Whatever the theory and reality, I know in my heart that love is absolute and we are all connected.

Your interests will lead you into a sacred space where time stands still and you’re not sure where you were for a moment. The zone. Next time you find yourself coming out of this dreamy place, wonder and remember.

The anatomical fontanelle is the location of the crown chakra wherein light and messages can be received and transmitted from and to the angelic, heavenly realm or dimension as it were.

When the focus is no longer on ego and body/mind, and instead, you bring about spiritual awakening by seeking and pursuing and practicing placing your attention on the sacred, then… you look for the divine in all of your relationships with everything and everyone.

You start building upon your spiritual musculature and find the sacred in and with people you now know you are connected with, let go of items and toxicity that no longer serves you and clear the way for generosity, service and radical empathy.

Awakened by a pack of howling coyotes, I couldn’t get back to sleep. I don’t mind the sound of wildlife outside as long as I am inside (and so are my pets). I ended up drinking coffee at 6 am, awake since 5.

Maybe instead of doing today what I THINK I need to be doing, I just go with the flow. I still do the daily business like walk the dog, eat food and drink water but maybe JUST BE. No other plans or expectations. Maybe, relax and read and work on my puzzle and walk while listening to birdsong. Maybe, just be with self and meditate in silence, practice some gentle yoga stretching and show compassion for self in real ways.

The more I do self-care and intuit my agenda, the more enthusiastic I feel about life. Go figure. A rebel through and through. The more I indulge the more worthy I feel. Many years of structured, restricted and unhealthy habits, the more I need to loosen up.

It’s simple really but not easy.

To find self-esteem I must do esteemable acts. So I encourage myself to think inspirational thoughts and ingest and inhale only healthy brain and body food. This includes what I say to myself and what I do for myself.

I need to be my own success story.

In a group therapy meeting not too long ago, I got to lead the group and had to pick the topic. I decided to pick how to speak of the good side of the people in our lives that we came to fix or have better relationships with instead of the usual venting I was getting bored and frustrated with. I truly believe we can only change ourselves, remove ourselves or alter our perceptions – not others.

Yet, there IS a potent contender that can bring on change and is invisible. It’s called love and I include all its derivatives. Love changes us and “them” and therefore transforms relationships. This is the spiritual side of counseling and life that is sometimes bypassed, mishandled or just plain ignored.

Love filters and spreads and infects us all with empathy. It washes away resentments, forgives human frailty and allows compassion to soften our hearts. It can transform your belief system, release you from victimhood and heal all wounds.

We heal by loving ourselves. We can then see the light of all we are connected with and the spirit within where it is housed. Instead of flaws, we observe twists of fate. With love we open our minds as wide as a sky. Rather than seeing others as having relentless obsessions of the mind, we soothe their anxiety by becoming love, holding sacred space for them to unwind and process fear.