Babystepping My Way to Glory

(Originally published 26 February 2011)

That phrase, “babystepping my way to Glory,” came to me while speed walking yesterday on my afternoon break, as I gazed towards a golden sun in a sparkling blue sky that was reflecting off the still white patches from our last snowfall. I had been doing my Louise Hay affirmations* and my lovingkindness meditation phrases* and my heart was full of gratitude, joy, and hope; I was delighted with the beauty of the moment and pleased with myself and the progress I'm making.

This was a much different and better place than when I wrote my Bad Days blog less than 48 hours earlier. Yet while I could feel the power and energy flowing through me so freely, I did not fall into the trap of thinking this is how will always feel or should always feel, or it's going to be easy from now on, or I'm always going to get as much accomplished as I had that day. I won't automatically earn as many nutrition and fitness points or get as much decluttering done. And that's OK.

I designed and posted a sign in my cubicle that reads "Seasons Change/~the Wheel of the Year turns~/This, too, shall pass" to remind me that good days and bad days pass into night and then into new days. Feelings, whether joyful or despairing, will pass away, as will beautiful, ugly or mundane thoughts. I don't need to get caught up in what is right now and think it will last forever or get sidetracked from working my program.

I'm going to keep taking one babystep after another in all the areas of my life that I want to improve. I am making progress and I will continue to do so. Some days I can take more steps, faster steps, bigger steps, and some days I can just manage a few teeny, tiny scuffs and shuffles. And I just keep babystepping along on this journey to greater health, greater happiness, greater purpose, greater peace, greater connection: to Glory.

Blessed Be, Amanda

* Louise Hay affirmations from You Can Heal Your Life (gift edition) —ISBN 1-56170-628-0

* lovingkindness meditation from Sharon Salzberg's Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation—ISBN 978-0-7611-5925-4 

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