Daily Bliss Archives · Ashley Barnes

Daily Bliss – April 13

Daily Bliss

When I think back, it’s easy to see the breadcrumbs of how things came to be.

A little trail leading me, guiding me in the right direction, sometimes veering, but always gently steering.

I couldn’t see it then. But I can now.

And it’s because I took the steps in the first place.

No movement, no space created for anything to fall into place.

We have to keep moving, otherwise we stagnate. We grow numb, depressed.

Movement keeps us flowing, even if we don’t know where we’re going.

Yet.

Trust the dominoes to fall.

Where are creating a shift today with forward movement?

Daily Bliss – April 9

Daily Bliss

Fear is an inevitable part of life.

In many cases, it keeps us safe. And in others, it holds us back.

We become conditioned for safety and comfort over uncertainty and risk.

Yet when we are called to something, we still must reach out.

Because that dream, it doesn’t die if we stop reaching.

But when we stop reaching, it makes the darkness darker, and more lonely.

And deep down, we know we’re born for the light. Where can you reach out today, even if your hand shakes, even if you feel the fear?

How often we tell ourselves lies to keep ourselves in line with what we’ve been told is right.

How often we believe these lies until we become someone we’re not.

And how often we come to realize these are just lies and nothing more.

Not facts, not cemented, but changeable.

Deep down, we feel the true music guiding our souls to move in the direction of our truth.

And sometimes, it just takes a willingness to dance in order to make it happen.

How are you dancing into your truth today?

Daily Bliss – April 7

Daily Bliss

So many of us feel responsible for so much.

Other people, situations, happenings in the world at large.

We carry a weight that feels real and heavy, but doesn’t really belong to us.

Yes, we may be called to be healers, helpers, change makers, leaders.

Yet we don’t have to bear it all.

We can carry a sword called boundaries and use it to ensure that nothing stands in the way of our own self-care.

And to protect our own compassionate heart.

How are you wielding your sword for your own well-being today?

Daily Bliss – April 6

Daily Bliss

When I started health coaching school, we had a daily journal to complete. It was optional, but I’m a good student, so I did it.

One of the question prompts at the end of each day was “What did you do for fun?”

And on weekdays, I always had to leave that question blank.

All week, I carved out time for work, but I never carved out time for fun.

I suppose back then fun seemed frivolous.

I was raising small kids and that can be a lot of work. I was also newly remarried, and new relationships can be work too.

But, it’s all in how we look at it. And what we want from life.

I was also carrying a great deal of sadness that I didn’t recognize. Those unexplored feelings can rob of us the things that make us truly alive, like joy.

The kind of joy that comes from having a healthy balance of work and fun.

So often, we’re told we have to work hard to get ahead & that it’s acceptable – even expected – for that to come at the price of everything else.

But when I think back about the awareness from that old journal, or I think of all the time fretting over the work of raising kids and how they’re now practically adults, or when I ask myself, “What do you really want?” the answer is never hard work.

Yes, to achieve our goals we have work to do. But being a slave to the grind isn’t the only way to get there.

It mostly serves to keep us small and right there in the same place, year after precious year.

Where are you avoiding fun today in the name of hard work?

Daily Bliss – April 5

Daily Bliss

So many of us, especially women, are conditioned to tiptoe through life.

To be practically invisible.

And though the times are changing, and more people have access to the tools to be as visible as they want to be, that insidious message still remains in the back of our minds.

Who are you to show up as you are?

Except, who are you NOT to?

Why would any of us be given the gift of life only to tiptoe around the entire time we’re alive?

Maybe it’s the soul’s only way to have the courage to speak when needed, to feel, to stomp, to scream.

And also to walk softly and to access that peaceful middle ground where we can exist and belong.

Where are you tiptoeing today when maybe you should stomp?