Tuning into the collective consciousness today, I feel a little dull and drained. It feels as though many have been working so hard to make their dreams come true – even just to survive. Today there is a sense of fatigue, even with a touch of sadness, frustration, and helplessness. Spirit shows the way to replenish your energy – through pleasure. Drop your duties for a little while. Forget about your responsibilities, and go play. Despite our societal programming about pleasure and play being unimportant next to our duties and obligations to employers and the pursuit of wealth, love, and happiness, pleasure is actually far more important than not. Why keep chasing after pleasure when you can simply feel and embrace it now? As long as you are seeking you cannot find. You already are everything you seek, and when you let yourself become it, you are finding and no longer seeking.
If you’ve been postponing your play time for the sake of your work commitments and responsibilities, today is a day to stop putting off your pleasure. It’s not selfish to take time to enjoy yourself, but rather the opposite. While you feel like a martyr who always has to take care of everyone else, and you never have time for yourself, you actually block your own energy flow – and that includes what you are capable of giving to others. You become resentful, angry, hostile, and resigned to feeling powerless when you don’t give your own Soul and Spirit what is needed: rejuvenation. And unless you take full pleasure in your work and responsibilities and find that to actually be your play time, you are draining your own energy reserves and letting others drain your energy as well. You’re giving your power away. To take your power back, make it a point to pamper yourself today, above all else. Say no to anything you don’t want to do and yes to everything you do. It may feel uncomfortable, as it goes against your programming to deny yourself your pleasures until your work is done, so rather than to get caught up in any self-imposed guilt you may feel over it, instead think of how much better your work will be once your energy is replenished and your Soul is revitalized. You need this!
It’s also important today to let yourself feel whatever comes up, and express whatever you feel without holding back and without judging or criticizing yourself. Suppressing and repressing your emotions also drains your energy. So if you have been feeling resentful over taking care of everyone else while denying yourself, then acknowledge that to yourself. If you find that you feel guilty over taking care of yourself or putting yourself first, acknowledge that you feel that way, and let it be OK. Sit with yourself and feel your emotions. Then show yourself some compassion as you realize that feeling the way you feel is not your fault. You were programmed for self denial. But it was just a program, a belief system – and now you are waking up. Give yourself permission to take care of yourself without guilt or shame, without believing yourself to be selfish for taking care of yourself. While you’ve been taking care of everybody else, who has been taking care of you? Is it really your job to take care of everyone else’s needs? If so, whose job is it to take care of yours? If you’re taking care of everyone else, do they take care of themselves? Do they take care of you? If you are to take care of yourself, isn’t everyone else also to take care of themselves? So why is putting their needs ahead of your own needs your job or responsibility? Asking yourself these questions and being honest with yourself regarding the answers is key to letting go of guilt over taking care of your own needs and allowing yourself to feel pleasure.
Art © Josephine Wall
