Tender And Brave

In this meditation, we get real about how hard it can be to be a human sometimes. After settling in to pause and breathe, we realize that when we feel tender, it is because we are risking real things, and there's nothing braver than that. This track contains a little bit of explicit language.

Transcript

Welcome.

I just want to give you a fair warning.

This one's a little salty.

If you choose to still be here,

This is a moment to stop.

Really stop and pause and see that you've been breathing all along and can you now get curious about your breath?

What's the quality of it?

Is it short or jagged?

Uneven?

Maybe getting caught up in your throat?

Whatever your breath is like right now,

It's okay.

You are okay.

You are breathing.

You are pausing.

You are here.

But that's the thing.

Do you ever feel like you have no idea what the fuck you are doing here?

Do you feel lost or weird?

Do you feel like you are too little some days and too much so many others?

Stop.

Pause.

Breathe.

Right now.

It's okay.

And I know you might be thinking it's easy for me to say that it's okay,

But I'm gonna let you in on a little secret.

Most of the time I have no idea what the fuck I'm doing.

I feel lost,

Weird,

Too little,

Too much.

And we can choose to stop,

To pause,

To breathe right now.

To say,

Okay,

That's what I'm feeling.

And it is okay if it feels like you are wearing your insides on the outside.

If you feel so tender and uncertain,

Do your best not to attack you,

But rather to applaud you.

Because feeling like that means you are alive.

It means you are risking real things.

It means you are living with courage bravely from your heart.

And yeah,

Some days it might be too much.

I get it.

And then by all means,

Curl in.

Protect that tender self of yours.

Know that you've got your own back.

You are on your own side.

And when you do that,

Maybe you'll be able to hear the call of that still small voice inside.

The one calling you to satisfy your best hungers.

The hungers that lead you to your best self,

The real self,

The tender self,

The brave self,

Who shows up again and again to live and pause and breathe and move forward into this world that needs you with a wide and open heart.

Live like y'all.

Reviews

This is such a generous gift of a meditation. I heard it right when I needed to. Means alot, thank you.

Powerful stuff. I get so much from these short insights. Thanks!

I can relate to feeling too much and not enough. Thank you for being there and reminding me that I am not alone.

I love this! There are so many day that we go through life not knowing what the fuck we are doing, thank you for helping us feel normal and safe in this!

Always appreciate your realness Betsy 💜I too often wonder what the fuck I'm doing, what is my purpose. 🤔 After almost 68 years of being here, I try not to dwell on what shoulda, coulda and just do my best with each day that represents itself. Peace and Love 🩷 be with you. 🙏

Always waiting anxiously Betsy for your latest episode... Wishing you had a room/site where we could communicate in between..
Winter months are always tough for me, even though this has been a marvously good one.. I constantly put myself out there with texts/messages to family (dil) and then get peeved when they don't respond.. What the heck Nancy??

I’m here. I’m still breathing. I’m still moving. Thanks for the reminder! Always thankful for a bit of new salty Betsy in my notifications!! 💖

Morning Blessings to you! 👏🏻 not attack! Thank you!
My mantra for today.
Words we say to ourselves matter, let them be kind, supportive & compassionate!!! Ase 🧘‍♀️

Spot on as ever Betsy . Thank you so much for sharing your truth 🙏🏻💚

pearls of wisdom, as always. thank you. will be returning to this one a few times.

Sums up my last two days of multi tasking...so very opportune. Lost my first review :) insert salty word here :) I am sure I WAS breathing but jumping from one bureaucratic thing to another and listening to endless messages saying press 1 for this and 2 for that may well have been proof I was alive but I could have done without it ;)
Thank you for reminding us to breath and not be so hard on ourselves. Wishing you a happy Waitangi weekend from NZ ...Celebrating the Maori culture where whanau(family) and the land come before $'s at a time when profit comes before kindness and people more often than not. Aroha,❤️from NZ. BTW love your "salty" posts and keeping it real Betsy.

Nice reminder to just sit and breathe with what is.