Comfort Within, Comfort Without

Friends,

Welcome to episode 2 of the Liminality Journal Podcast!

In case you missed the first episode, you can catch the full 7ish minutes here. The episode was released on Indigenous Peoples Day, but it is simply a meditative practice about our relationship to Mother Earth, and you can (and should) use it any day of the year. Hope you like it!

Today’s episode is called Comfort Within, Comfort Without, and it’s a short practice to help us recognize how we find comfort in ourselves, in our own heart center, and how we find comfort outside of ourselves in the world around us. I hope it helps you identify comfort in a season that is supposedly all about comfort but is often exhausting and full of pressure.

Let’s release some of that pressure together and lean into the good, kind stuff as winter approaches.

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It is the season of comfort and joy—or so they tell us. It is also the season of outlandish ads for Black Friday, perfect Thanksgiving dinners with family, and over the top Christmas shopping.

It’s amazing, but it’s exhausting.

It’s comforting, but only in small doses.

And we have to claw our way back to the quiet magic of this season once consumerism and capitalism take over the holidays.

Do you feel it?

So let’s focus on what comfort really is, on where we find it within ourselves and without ourselves.

I’d like to start with a few questions from Choctaw writer and spiritual teacher Pixie Lighthorse. In her book Boundaries & Protection she writes:

These are big questions to consider, but they can be answered when we are clear about our expectations. Who doesn’t want to feel sacred? Is there something preventing you from believing that you, others, and every living thing are sacred? How would you like to be treated?

Or, we could ask, how should I treat myself, my own soul, in remembering that I am sacred?

Let’s start there, with our own soul’s sacredness.

How do you imagine your soul? Is it your heart? Is it an orb of light at the center of you? Is it a small child? Is it an outstretched hand? Take a moment to imagine.

(pause)

As we imagine our soul, either take your physical hands and place them right at the center of your stomach, below your sternum and above your belly, or imagine placing a warm hand there. Take 3 deep breaths as you honor your soul, your center.

breath 1

breath 2

breath 3

We can say to our soul, “You are sacred. You are loved. I will listen to what you have to say, and I will trust you. Thank you for comforting me when I’m scared or uneasy. Thank you for being my guide.”

Take three more deep breaths here, as you honor your own soul, as you imagine them.

breath 1

breath 2

breath 3

Now let’s move to the comfort without us. Where do we find comfort without ourselves, in the world around us?

Close your eyes for a moment, and say the word comfort out loud a few times. When you speak the word, who or what comes to mind? A partner, close friend? An animal teacher? Another aspect of Nature? A book or song? What brings you comfort?

Let’s pause and see who or what shows up.

(pause)

Now let’s invite that outside comfort to reside with us.

We say, “Thank you for being a comfort outside of my own soul. Thank you for feeding my soul with the way you care for me and love me. You are sacred. You are good. I invite you to reside with me today.”

Let’s take three more breaths now

breath 1

breath 2

breath 3

Set intentions for the coming season, whatever it brings, that you will honor comfort—the comfort within your own soul and the comfort without it—and what it gives to you each and every day.