Today I woke up and two of my favourite mantras greeted me. As if my mind already knew today was one of those days I will need my affirmations. The voice of my consciousness softly whispers:

 "The will of God will never take me where the grace of God will not sustain me; Thus if He brings me to it, He will bring me through it".  

This particular one always makes me feel like I can do anything. It encourages me. It cheers me on as I keep moving through whatever my day throws at me, softly repeating, "Never give up. Keep moving. You will get there". And I am grateful. I am grateful that no matter what is going on, a moment to call myself and to repeat this mantra is usually enough to get me back on track, running like my life depends; Well it kinda does. But that's a story for another day.

And yet, it is precisely because of the first awesome mantra that I needed a second one. This one calms me. It makes it easier to rise after what seems like a knock out the likes of which are only seen in heavyweight boxing. It makes it easy to rise when circumstances force you to question your sanity. When you can no longer define what constitutes reality because what you think is real and true, simply does not exist any more. This morning right after whispering my first mantra, my spirit reminded me of the second. My pick me up prayer.

 "God give me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference".

In a way my heart knew this message before I ever heard it being put so eloquently. You see, without the ability to know when to walk away, to let it go and to just stop, all we're doing is drawing closer to insanity. It's not giving up and I am not encouraging giving up. I am encouraging balance. I say this prayer because I need to each day be able to look at the things in my life and decide what to let go of, before its toxicity kills me. I need to figure out what I can change with just a little bit more effort and I need to tell myself that nothing is worth more than my sanity and integrity and so I refuse to pursue something that only subtracts from me. I pursue balance. Again, some days I am so centered I can hear my spirit sing. And I revel in its song. Yet I do have those days that I fill with mindless nothings. With any noise I can find because I dare not listen to my own mind and spirit. I cannot face me. I refuse to listen to my consciousness.

I am glad today was more the former than the latter. I am at peace. I am centered and it is the best feeling in the world. Because I remind myself exactly why I stay on the path I have chosen and my reason is enough to keep me on the path. I pursue balance between moving like a bullet train without a break or a bend in its track and a content old man who strolls on a warm sunny day with the contentment and peace of a life well lived. I seek balance and because of this I know whether I have a good day or a bad day, I am blessed!!!!! I cannot say this enough because even when I have nothing, I have life and if I have life, I can change my narrative. I can write a new story. 

I pray that whoever you are, whatever your story and whatever your day looks like, you will seek balance and remember that you are blessed!!! And because you have tomorrow, you can change your narrative.

And with a bit of love, kindness and compassion, we can change the world.

Selah, 

Mira

May grace and blessings never be far from you. And may love, kindness and compassion be the language with which we speak to each other.