I am so grateful and appreciative of everyone following along with the Summer 2021 RESET process! Thank you for your kind notes!

Last week, we started the RESET off with indulging in Self-Care Rituals. If you missed it, or…missed putting some self-care in place, do check it out! Here’s the post: https://jilldianesaunders.com/reset-practice-1-self-care-rituals/ (Please note: The links in the post are showing up in a very light color, they are there, do click to find them!) Think of Self-Care Rituals as a way to prepare the soil and tend to you, creating a fertile place for all the intention seeds you will be planting. Loving yourself up is important work!

If you remember, the RESET process we are following has three themes to it:

• Silence the Noise
• Declare What’s Most Important
• Take Inspired, Imperfect, Messy Action

This week’s practice, Making Peace With What Is, is all about Silencing the Noise. I think you’d agree, when you have a challenge, or hardship, or difficult experience in life, whether it has happened in the past or whether it is happening right now, it can be really easy for it to consume us, and take over our mindset. These noisy disturbances rob us of our well-being, and pretty soon we can find ourselves trying to find comfort in more wine, eating just one more bowl of ice cream, or sharing our story just one more time in hopes that it will make it better. If the challenge or disturbance becomes the focus of our attention, it can cause feelings of overwhelm, sadness, life can feel hard. Disturbances create noise that make it difficult to feel and hear the nudges and guidance for how to create more of our heart’s desires.

Today I’d like to share a simple meditation/prayer to alchemize, or transform the hard stuff. To make peace with it, to partner with the Divinity, and plant the seeds for a clearer way forward. This meditation/prayer is an act of loving your self up. If you have some difficulties you need to make peace with, gently follow this meditation/prayer, for several days, and before long your heart will open again to you feeling empowered and inspired toward’s your deepest desires. The intent is that when we Make Peace With What Is, when we practice love and compassion, we create the space for miracles and solutions to unfold.

I know, I know you are saying right now “transform the hard stuff…she has no idea what I’m going through.” I hear you, and I’m not walking in your shoes, but I have had many life events that have brought me to my knees. (Job loss, divorce, significant health issues, being a single parent, being single, a miscarriage). I’ve learned some beautiful practices that have allowed me to make peace with what is, then move forward divinely inspired, guided, and open hearted. I’d also like to note that this meditation/prayer doesn’t need to be just for the really hard stuff, it can be about a difficult conversation at work, tension with a neighbor, or any problem that’s creating noise.

Here it is, an overview of the process to Make Peace With What Is…do checkout this worksheet for the detailed meditation/prayer steps (The link is in a very light color, do click to find the worksheet!): https://jilldianesaunders.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Making-Peace-With-What-Is-MeditationPrayer.pdf I tried not to leave any detail out of the worksheet!

1. Identify and Name the Disturbance. What is it? What is the disturbance in your life that is creating noise? What is causing you to overthink, weighing you down, causing feelings of discouragement or despair? What is it that is robbing you of your joy and happiness? Name the disturbance(s) and notice it. What do you want to make peace with? This is important, what are you giving your attention to that may be hard or difficult? Take a few deep breaths.
2. Acknowledge Your Feelings. After you name the difficulty or challenge, notice how it makes you feel. How does it feel? Where do you feel it? What kind of mood does it create? Just notice it, and notice any feelings it may stir up. Let’s not ignore them. Let’s be honest we are feeling them.
3. Open Your Heart. When you are ready, get ready to open your heart and begin to alchemize this difficulty. Here’s what I know. Our heart is a powerful source of love and self-compassion. It has a great capacity to love us and melt away the difficult feelings and emotions. So, let’s practice opening up your heart, and activating a feeling of love and gratitude, heart feelings that are immense and transformative. Opening our heart’s connect us with our Inner Divinity. In the worksheet, I outline the steps to help you activate these core heart feelings of gratitude and love. Please do check out the worksheet for the step by step process. You will ask your heart to open, you will let go of the sad or hard feelings, breathe in and out of your heart area, feel gratitude and love. More juicy details on all these steps to activate your heart in the worksheet. Do check it out here (It’s a really lightly colored link, do click on it!): https://jilldianesaunders.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Making-Peace-With-What-Is-MeditationPrayer.pdf
4. Accept What Is. This is where the alchemy takes place. With your heart open, and I suggest with your hands over your heart, say to yourself, “I accept (the difficulty or disturbance).” Repeat this several times, “I accept ___________,” “I accept _____________.” What you are doing is accepting the difficulty or disturbance into your wise and knowing heart, you are stopping the resistance, the fighting with it, you are making peace with it by accepting it. You are saying enough of the overwhelm, enough of the exhaustion. You do have the inner strength to accept this. Your Inner Divinity is ready to accept it. Repeat “I accept ____________,” “I accept __________.” Through the practice of acceptance, you claim that you aren’t fighting or resisting it, you are making peace with it.
5. Affirm You Are Your Own Hero. I love this step. This step is really powerful. Often times when life throws us a challenge or hardship, we may fall into the mindset of “why is this happening to me?”, “life isn’t working out for me…,” “life is hard…,” “I can’t win…” Sound familiar? It’s easy to do when the hard stuff comes at us. If we aren’t careful, we can assume the role of a victim, and believe that life is happening TO you in some way, or that life isn’t on your side. This step is powerful because it declares you aren’t the victim, that you are your own Hero! Here you continue the alchemy by transforming this challenge or difficulty into a transformative life experience. With your hands over your heart, and breathing through your heart area, say this, “I am the Hero of my life by the way I am ____________,” “I am my own Hero because ______________,” “I am the Hero because of what I am learning about myself through this challenge _________.” You are acknowledging here all the heart and soul qualities you have developed because of this difficulty. Your strength, your wisdom, your courage, your insight, your bravery, your intellect. Continue to repeat this mantra, “I am the Hero of my life” until it settles into your heart and mindset that you truly are a Hero. It’s powerful to shift from a mindset of life happening TO you, and affirming your inner strength.
6. Say a Prayer or Wish for a Way Forward. I love this step too. What we are doing here is saying you don’t need to have it all figured out, you don’t need to start taking action immediately, you don’t need to figure this out on y our own. You are setting an intention, your prayer with the Divinity, Universe, God to co-conspire with you on a way forward. It could sound like this, “Thank you dear Divinity for wisdom, guidance, insight on a better way forward,” “Thank you God for guiding, directing, sustaining me,” “Thank you Universe for bringing forth that which I deeply desire.” Then you let it go with certainty that God will co-conspire with you on a way forward.
7. Then, Listen to Life’s Whispers. I’m going to write a blog on this topic (maybe even a video). The essence of this step is to be open, to listen, to pay attention to the nudge’s, guidance, whispers, clarity, ideas, messengers that come into your life on a way forward with this difficulty. You will be guided and directed. I find more magic and insight happens when you make peace with the challenges, and create the room for miracles to grow. Remember this…

Another tip…try to withhold from talking about the problem or difficulty over and over again. What happens when you continue to talk about the difficulty, or give your attention to the problem, it activates it again in your mindset and heart, and keeps it alive. Instead, practice affirming “I am the Hero of my journey” or “Thank you for guidance on a way forward”. Affirm with certainty there will be a better way forward. If you have a “set point” with someone where you relive your problem in conversation after conversation, consider shifting those conversations to “a better way forward for me is ___________________.”

Practice this simple meditation/prayer process, over and over again to help transform a difficulty that is consuming you into a heart opening solution. Remember, the heart has healing powers in its love, it’s capacity to love is immense. Through the heart we can connect to the Divinity within us and the Source of all that is. Open up your heart, accept what is, affirm your heroics, and ask for a way forward.

I’ve captured all the juicy details on this prayer/meditation process in this week’s worksheet “Making Peace With What Is…”. Check it out here: https://jilldianesaunders.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Making-Peace-With-What-Is-MeditationPrayer.pdf

In awe and admiration of your commitment to Make Peace With What Is. You are finding so much room in your heart and mind for the very important work that wants to be done through you.

With love,

Jill

p.s. Do let me know if you have any questions or run into a hard spot while working through the process. I’d be happy to private message you on any of your questions!