Sacred Work, Unexpected Beauty, and Honoring Yourself

A few mornings ago, I did something I feel I haven’t done enough of in my life: I cried because I was so overcome with beauty. It was likely no more than a minute of tears, but wow! I felt it to the very core of me. I was honoring what I so clearly needed.

For me, tears can come forward with so many different emotions. All the emotions, depending on the intensity of them, can bring me to tears. I process my feelings through my eyes. ;-) I cry when I’m sad. I cry when I’m angry. I cry when I’m overwhelmed. I cry when I’m scared. I cry when I’m lonely. I cry when I’m ALL THE THINGS AND ALL THE FEELINGS.

And, while I know there have been times where I have cried because I am happy or because I feel inspiration move through me or from deep gratitude and love, those times don’t seem to happen near as often for me.

It’s interesting because I feel happiness, inspiration, love, and gratitude every day, yet the intensity isn’t enough to make its way to my eyes. (Hmmmmm, something for me to ponder on.)

Honoring Gratitudes and Reflections

I am so grateful for that moment. I had no idea how much I needed it. No idea that as I set out on my normal morning routine that I would be touched by a moment that could have so easily passed, unseen.

Reflecting on it now — and giving myself space to write about how it came to be, and how I didn’t miss that moment of beauty — is incredibly helpful.

The day before I had held sacred space for two different communities that I am a part of. I led my grief circle for several hours earlier in the day and once that was complete I moved into preparing to host and lead a releasing ceremony for my women’s spiritual circle later that evening.

It takes a lot of energy to prepare for, host, and lead sacred ceremonies, as well as to hold just the right balance of energy, boundaries, openness, and flow for the time in community, and to process what occurs during them.

I’m an empath and a helper and intuitive, which for me means I must honor what my body, mind, heart, spirit, and soul need to prepare for and release after such important events.

Earlier on I discounted just how necessary this preparation is, and how critical it is to the act of holding sacred space.

I had a teacher tell me years ago that much of our work for ceremony happens before the ceremony itself actually begins. There is such truth and wisdom in that.

I believe that in preparing our full selves well that we show up to our sacred work (whatever that work may be) leveled up. For those who get and feel the vibrational, think of it as resonating at a higher vibration, which allows your best, sacred work to shine through.

Y’all, you can amaze even yourself with what you are able to create when you find your own way to do this “work before the work.”

What I appreciate so much is that in these preparations I attune to places and parts of myself that I attune to differently at other, perhaps more mundane, times in my life. And, that attunement stays with me, as I gratefully found when the tears came.

I have no doubt that it was because I had been doing my “pre-work,” work, and “post-work,” that I was able to witness and feel the beauty of the moment I had a few mornings ago.

Beauty Surrounds and Feeds Us

It was a crisp morning, the sun was just coming up in the east, the fountain in our backyard was flowing, birds were singing, and I was listening to a beautiful mantra chant as I soaked in our hot tub. The wind began to kick up just a bit.

There is a large tree that hangs over the gazebo that covers our hot tub and the tree is just at that season where it is dropping some of its leaves.

As I drifted, with eyes halfway open looking towards the beautiful tree in our neighbor’s yard to the west I noticed the leaves dancing on the wind while the sun shown through them making them appear translucent.

Words can never really do justice to an experience such as this, where the magic and mood and energy and feel and environment all conspire to show you just how much beauty surrounds you.

As I drifted and watched the leaves dance on the wind and the sun shine through, for just a moment I felt like one of those beautiful golden leaves — carried and warmed and jubilant as it moved on to its next phase. I felt like I was part of that dance honoring the seasons.

I didn’t know that morning, while in this space of awareness of the beauty around me, that I would be called on last minute by my best friend to help hold another sacred container for an ancestral honoring ceremony later that day.

I was able to show up for her and her grief and flow into holding and leading that ceremony because through all of this sacred space holding I was firstly honoring myself.

I was honoring my need for “pre-work” and preparation, my flowful and grounding and heart-expansive morning routine, and disruption- and distraction-free time with my beloved. Because I honored my deep, soul needs and know what nourishes me, I was able to — with a full heart of love and service — show up for my friend when she needed me.

Gifts of Beauty and Sacredness

Sharing this now is allowing me to notice that the unexpected beauty was even more of a gift than I realized in the moment. There are so many threads in this sharing and a lot of different paths we could explore another time. In the meantime, you might just sit with these different threads to see what shows up for you:

• Can you remember a moment of beauty that brought you to tears? Do you remember how that came to be? What was going on in your life? Were you giving yourself more time? More space? Were you doing “your work?” Were you more present and aware? Were you honoring the dance of the season of life you were in?

• Are you giving yourself the space you need to be with and process the important and sacred moments in your life? Have they been given time to be felt, heard, seen, witnessed, experienced, and loved in all their glory? They are a part of you and your story and your path.

• The importance of our “work before our work” and how it sets the stage for us to do an even higher level of our sacred and best work. How do you do that pre-work? Are you setting yourself up to amaze even yourself with what you have inside; with what is waiting to be seen in the light?

• Are you nourishing yourself in the ways that will allow you to do your sacred work, even if you are called upon to do it at unexpected times?

• Are you an empath or a helper or an intuitive? If so, are you honoring those integral and beautiful parts of yourself and what they need to be healthy and whole?

This was one of those times where I sat down to write about one thing and something else bubbled up and then other things wanted to be witnessed and spoken to at the same time, so I guess what that means for you, dear reader, is there are seeds of many different awarenesses and ideas coming together here, which might blossom into their own ideas in the future.

But I leave you with this today: Beauty is all around us and within us. The spaces we inhabit are sacred, as are we, and as is our work. How might you like to honor the sacred beauty within and around you?