Blog · Page 3 of 331 · Ashley Barnes

Daily Bliss – May 2

Daily Bliss

When she opens

All the world enters

To fill her very soul

And she filters through

The noise and clears

What isn’t poised to bring

Her joy, and then releases all

Back to the waiting world

She is healing

And so are we all

©Ashley Castle Barnes

When we first start open ourselves to healing work, it feels raw and vulnerable. Anything that gets in just makes it feel worse.

Because that rawness and vulnerability usually stems from unhealthy energetic boundaries, which results in us taking on so much that isn’t really ours.

And that’s heavy. Chaotic. Painful.

Over time, we learn that being open is not the same as taking on everything as our responsibility.

That we don’t have to carry the weight of the world to have an impact.

And we learn that we can set clear boundaries without closing ourselves off to others.

And that when we heal, others heal with us.

Through our shifts, others shift.

Through our own work, we inspire and uplift others.

Whether we intend to or not.

How are you opening to healing today?

Daily Bliss – April 29

Daily Bliss

Boldness calls

Will she listen

Or continue to ignore

The screaming of her heart

Beating its way out

In words and song and art

Beating until it becomes a part

Of her existence

Her truth

Her start

©Ashley Castle Barnes

Do you feel it too?

Do you feel the boldness calling? Do you feel it rising up to greet you and inviting you to something new? Something more?

I feel it. Maybe I feel it more because I’ve avoided it for so long.

As a bold and passionate child, I was often talkative and excitable, which usually translated into “too much”, “too loud”, and “too sensitive”.

All those “too” messages served to calm and quiet me down on the outside, which was great for environments that required conformity and appropriateness.

But inside, the boldness, passion, and sensitivity never went away. It just went quiet.

At a certain point, though, we get a push to not be quiet anymore.

To not be appropriate. Or conforming.

I envy those who never got the message to be any other way.

Or who got the message and said f*ck it, I’m doing it my way anyway.

But, better late than never, right?

Do you feel it too?

Daily Bliss – April 28

Daily Bliss

Let it all out

Write it all out

Make room

In your heart

Your soul

Your mind

For all that wants

To carry you into

Your next waking dream

Let the dream flow

©Ashley Castle Barnes

It’s funny how life sends messages in a variety of ways, and not always in ways we want to hear.

I find that I’ve been getting the same message, over and over recently.

From people at work. From songs. From “coincidental” posts or articles that show up when I’m not looking. Through my own inner guidance when I’m writing.

Some of those I haven’t listened to because they were delivered in a way that was off-putting or offensive.

But it’s hard to ignore even off-putting messages when they come from more than one source.

Especially the inner source. Ugh.

When something is important, it finds a way of getting to us.

Even if that means slapping us in the face (literally or metaphorically).

Some of us just learn the hard way I guess.

(It’s me. I’m the one that learns the hard way!)

What messages are showing up over and over for you lately?

Daily Bliss – April 27

Daily Bliss

All these years spent sleeping

In the safety of her cave

Her energy too much

For a world hell bent on normal

What will happen

When she’s unleashed

©Ashley Castle Barnes

Working with women, I’m seeing this energy rising.

And it’s not simply a pandemic trend.

The energy of women playing it safe and small is dissolving, while the energy of women re-engaging with the inner girl who was told she was too much or not enough or some other bullsh*t is expanding.

The world isn’t shifting to allow this for women.

Women are demanding this for themselves.

We are creating the energy shift.

We are healing the too much/not enough wound.

We are defying “normal”.

Individually and collectively.

And as women do this work, bridges are created for others to feel safe(r) to do the same.

Are you feeling the shift? And what will happen when you, too, are unleashed?

Daily Bliss – April 26

Daily Bliss

Some things take time

She hears

As the world moves fast

Around her

Speeding past

You have nothing but time

She hears

Her mouth in slow motion

Opening to protest

Grow with time

She hears

Sometimes it feels like I’m standing still, while everything passes by around me at the speed of light.

I got off that speeding train years ago, but occasionally I still feel like I’m missing out as everything whizzes past.

My body is much more content moving at a slower pace.

My brain, not so much.

It wants to go-go-go!

It’s always going actually.

New ideas, plans, visions, thoughts, lines for poems or posts or articles.

I love it and also I feel a little like the passengers on the Willy Wonka boat ride.

Where is this boat taking me and when will it stop??

And when it’s over, I want to get back on again!

Then sometimes when I’m still and usually writing, I’m reminded that all things grow with time.

Even me.

How are you allowing things to grow in their own time today?

Daily Bliss – April 25

Daily Bliss

Words become her refuge

A healing balm

From the storm within

She is writing

Her freedom song

One letter at a time

Today, I’m reflecting on the cycles of healing.

How we can do so much work and feel relieved to have put that behind us, only to discover that there’s more.

Is healing ever finished? I don’t think so.

It changes shape and intensity. But there always seems to be another layer to uncover.

I though I had put too much focus on healing away everything I perceived to be wrong.

I was so relieved after a decade of beautiful healing work to find that some things are just how I’m wired, that they don’t need to be healed.

That I really am enough, just as I am.

And yet, there is a grief that comes with learning that things you tried to heal away, things that the world told you were wrong with you, were just part of who you are.

But because I’ve gone down this path before, I have tools.

I write my poetic healing words. I do energy work. I get energy work. I gather with supportive friends. I write some more.

This too shall pass.

And I will be all the freer for it.

How are you finding healing today?