Mercy:

"compassion or forgiveness shown towards someone whom it is within one's power to punish or harm."
This is today's theme, mercy directed at me, showing compassion and forgiveness towards myself, letting go of the prickly exterior, embracing myself, showing kindness towards myself.  Where do I begin, how do I fill my day coming from a place of mercy, what would my day look like.  Connecting to nature in all its forms, walking, breathing slowly taking each moment without judgement, without the need to make it meaningful, without the need to be recognized, without the need to seek gratification.  So often I find myself putting myself down, if only I was more caring, more attentive, more this, more that when all I need to do is breathe and reassure myself that in each moment of the breath I am ok.  Loving oneself first is much easier to say, to talk about than it is to do, I have been taught that putting myself first is selfish, yet until I fully embrace myself I feel that I embody more and more of a prickly exterior.  I don't like the prickles it keeps people distant, by doing this they cannot hurt me, as I have had many disappoints in my expectations.  Loving kindness to myself today might look like, taking myself to some galleries along the coast, taking tea at the apothecary in Pt Elliot, I love that name apothecary, it fills my mind with magical thoughts of ancient healing herbs, cooling tinctures and a little bit of magic.  Magic in the form of loving kindness, the person running the shop is filled with kindness towards herself as she allowed herself to follow her dream and has now completed her herbalist, nephropathy, homeopathy course and runs her own tea shop from an industrial shed in Pt Elliot.  Yesterday I walked past the health shop in Mt Barker, breathing in the fragrance, my stress eases away  and I am reminded how important it is to take time out.