Courage

/ Julia Aziz / Leave a comment

A shift is underway. It is tumultuous, real, and necessary. A new authority figure is not going to tell us how to fix things or what to do. The leader is in you, and in me, and she rises like a phoenix out of these ashes. She is the whole that is much greater than the sum of her parts.

What can we do? We can stand up. We can speak from our hearts. We can do that hard thing we’ve been avoiding. We can step aside to let some new voices be heard, the voices of the ones who have stayed quiet, the ones who have been stepped on and marginalized for long enough. We can use what we have. We can be uncomfortable for the sake of listening.

We each have our own part to play in this shift. Only you know what your part is. That’s not for me or anyone else to tell you. But I know your part was made just for you, as mine was made for me. When we show up for ourselves, we show up for our community. We show up on behalf of a greater love. 

The time has come for us to know our own strength. Not the strength to take over, but the strength to do what we came here to do. The power has been there inside us all along.

The time has come to support our fellow humans who also work out of love, service, integrity, and truth. They falter sometimes too, and we can all use a hand up now and then.

I have faith in us. I hear stories every day of people who face their traumas and their fears. We surface with hearts scarred but open. We fall down, and we will get back up again. We have been brave, and we can be even braver together. Love is still here for us.

Reach for the light

Photo by Nacho Juárez

With love,

Julia Aziz

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Beyond Self-Care

/ Julia Aziz / Leave a comment

Self-care isn’t just a yoga class you take twice a week or the beach vacation you plan with girlfriends. Those things are wonderful, perhaps essential. But do you ever deeply relax for a few days only to return to your previous state of tension within hours of resuming the regular routine?

We need more than just the pleasurable, nourishing activities we do to recharge. Beyond self-care is self-love. Self-love is the way you talk to yourself on your roughest days and the permission you give to feel your emotions in full color. It’s saying no when you don’t feel like saying yes, and it’s forgiving yourself when things don’t work out the way you intended. Shifting your self-talk is a bit trickier than scheduling a massage, but the effects can be profound.

When I’m struggling, one of the practices I find most useful is talking to myself. It’s pretty easy to do in public these days—I just put on a pair of headphones and pretend I’m talking on the phone. I’ll take a walk in the neighborhood and ask myself questions like:

“How are you feeling, love?”

“What do you need, sweetie?”

And then I let my inner wounded one speak. I tell the story as long as I feel I need to tell it, and then wait for a response. Sometimes it helps to ask the question:

“What does my heart say?”

And when I let my heart speak, she usually says things like,

“Yeah, that was really hard for you. Of course you’re feeling sad right now.” 

Or, “I love you, dear one. I am with you no matter what.”

It works. I know it sounds a little silly, but hey, what’s wrong with silly? We have conversations in our heads all day long. This is about purposefully choosing the conversation you want to have.

To hear more ideas about going beyond self-care, check out my recent podcast conversation with Erica Blocker.

MWD 127 Julia Aziz

If you’re not a mom (or if you are a mom but you just don’t have space to listen today) click here for a few free simple, easy acts of self-love you can do for yourself anywhere, anytime.

With you on the journey,

Julia Aziz

The Blog begins…

/ Julia Aziz / Leave a comment

I’ve been letting loose into a creative whirlwind these past couple weeks, with five different journals full of project ideas. There’s one for dreams and random inspirations, one for program development, one for calendaring, one for essay writing, and one for stream-of-consciousness processing and poetry. Oh yeah, and there’s also the little notepad I keep in my purse in case an idea pops in when I’m talking to somebody.

I promise you right now, many of these ideas won’t make it off the page. I have come to terms with the reality that my mind enjoys creating AND my human body can only do so much in one lifetime. I have to respect the process of creativity. It starts with this free-for-all chaotic purge of ideas. It’s the madman step Betty Flowers talks about in a short article that guided me through my entire book-writing process. To begin something new, we have to purge all the ideas in whatever messy form they come out in. Structure comes later.

What has emerged out of this mess so far is a little whisper that has turned into a nudge and now a push.

“Start a blog,” it keeps saying.

I have resisted this idea for months, maybe even years. Now I’m saying yes. I’m choosing to follow inspiration where it leads, even if I don’t know the final destination.

Thank you for accompanying me on this ride, dear reader. I am wishing you too some real space and time to dream up your own dreams and the courage to let them come true.

writings

Thanks for reading along,

Julia Aziz

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