Reader,

May you be happy.

May you be free of suffering.

And may all your dreams be realized.

I sat in the dark room as faces flashed through a slideshow in my mind. I saw people I loved, people who hurt me, and I saw myself - all different shapes and ages and versions of humans who are all just doing their best.

I repeated those words again and again and again.

May you be happy.

May you be free of suffering.

And may all your dreams be realized.

​

May you be happy.

​

May you be free of suffering.

​

And may all your dreams be realized.

​

My breath slowed and my eyes squeezed tight and tears fell down my cheeks to the edge of my chin.

For a minute they hung there. They grasped at the pain and the hurt and all of the “why’s” and “what ifs”.

They tugged at all the doing that couldn’t be undone.

More came, and more clung, and more dropped to my palms below.

Faced up and cradled in my lap, they held the tears and the sweat that puddled into one.

They released. They accepted.

They let it all go and replaced it with love.

So did I.

​

That night, in the hot, dark, quiet sauna, a world apart from the Manhattan streets that held it, I opened my heart and saw so clearly, a bunch of people in need of a whole lot more love.

Of more compassion.

More grace.

And more forgiveness.

When the meditation stopped and the lights came back on, a few of us shared stories about growth and heartbreak and loss and about how we realized that we’re better off sending love to ourselves and to the people that hurt us and broke us and left us with a mess to clean up.

We felt lighter, we felt more healed.

At the end of class, one man shared a story about a feral cat he had adopted a year ago.

He said that people questioned him and doubted him and wondered why he would take in an animal that was dirty, scared, screeching & scratching.

He said to them now that the cat has grown - it lives with him in peace, it purrs, and it even allows pets.

And then he said to us — “In the end we’re all just feral cats, learning how to love and how to trust.”

Over the years, I've been the biggest critic of myself instead of my biggest supporter.

I've torn myself down when I should have been building myself up.

I did not give myself the same grace and compassion and forgiveness and kindness that I gave my loved ones. Instead, I felt shame and regret and frustration.

And I will tell you this --

My growth, my confidence, my self respect, self worth, and my happiness were born out of loving kindness toward myself. They weren't born out of resentment. They can't be.

Today I encourage you to spend five minutes visualizing your highest, best self. What does that version of you look like? How do they feel? Are they loved? What thoughts do they tell themselves? Do they give themselves grace and compassion and forgiveness and love?

And then I challenge you to tell yourself the following affirmation, and follow it up with actions in the coming days to reinforce those beliefs.

May you be happy.

May you be free of suffering.

And may all your dreams be realized.

Trust me, you can build strength, confidence, and happiness, and you can feel at peace with yourself. But you have to extend love and grace and compassion to yourself, too.

I'm rooting for you, Reader.

Until next week,

💕 Morgan