Worry at Attention

I was in a leadership workshop over the weekend, and our speaker, Charles Eisenstein, spoke of giving our worries and our hurts and our anger and our bumps and our thorns some loving attention as they asked for it. Today consider that we've been trained to stuff those emotions away as if that part of the human experience is wrong or bad or negative. Consider that we are trained that we need to control our impulses when our bumps and thorns or even our desires speak. So our bumps and thorns grow and grow and grow until they can't be contained any more then they start poking our friends.

So today, make a list worries, hurts, angers as they come up for you--big or small all of these bumps and thorns are important today. Give them some loving attention and see what happens. If you are comfortable sharing your experience, please share.

Worries at Attention*

Stand up straight!

Be proud!

Show yourself!

Come out the deep dark recesses

Of my belly

Of my grey wrinkles

In the scar on my knee

Behind my ear

I see you hiding behind my littlest toe.

Don't be shy. Come out and play today!

All are welcome here

Stand by.

Atten-tion!

Get in line and file

Four-by-four

Even lines

You on the end

Come to the front.

Now cover.

Fear of Failure

Shuffle back.

You're out of line

Not Listening,

You're not listening!

Go to the front and

Bear the guide

Open ranks, march!

One-by-one

I'll give you

A hug

A squeeze

A tickle

Two-by-two

We'll cry

We'll sneeze

We'll giggle

Three-by-three

Salute

Be gone

Fall out

Rest before we reassemble

*Thank you to the U.S Air Force for teaching me how to march and giving me a command voice. I still have two left feet, and I still bounce.