The Work Can Be Light (S17E2)

That's really not what I want to be talking about , it's actually not what I want to be sharing . So we're going to talk about something else . Welcome to the Henny Flynn podcast , the space for deepening self-awareness with profound self-compassion .

I'm Henny , I write , coach and speak about how exploring our inner world can transform how we experience our outer world , all founded on a bedrock of self-love .

Settle in and listen and see where the episode takes you , and I'd like to base whatever happens for the rest of this episode on something that I wrote this morning sitting up in bed , and if we're connected on Instagram , you might have seen that I shared it already , but it seems to speak to something which I've been noticing , and

maybe you've been noticing it too , and really it's this call to hold things more lightly , and when I say things , I mean know us to hold ourselves lightly , and also , you know , in direct reference to the work that I do with people , to hold the work lightly . There's an awful lot going on in the world .

There is a lot of pain , a lot of suffering , a lot of change , and my reflection has been that maybe what we all need is a lighter touch , and that doesn't mean turning away from what we see , it doesn't mean not standing by our values , but maybe it means being willing to turn toward ourselves and continue to do this really important inner work without being

afraid that it's going to be . Oh , this heavy , hard , difficult thing . And , and I feel so strongly about this , I'm actually going to do some work on my website over the next few days just to to really feel into . You know , is that language really appropriate for what I'm feeling in the , the energy field that we're in right now ?

You know , I often talk about deep and lasting change and of course , that is the work . You know , that is what we're doing and and something can be deep without feeling heavy . So , and that thought is really what sparked this particular piece of writing , which I've shared as as a piece of everyday compassion .

Really , it's not one of those daily emails I send out , but it is a . It's very much connected to that . You know that kind of philosophy that I have around compassion is something that is present with us in all moments , or is available to us in all moments . So so this is what I wrote this morning . The work need not feel heavy .

Even though it may be deep , we do not need to feel broken to begin to understand ourselves . We can be grounded and light . This profound work of meeting ourselves with love simply needs us to listen to that still quiet voice within , the one that whispers the truths we have learnt to ignore in favour of harsher words .

The one that sends a smile through our body when we think of how kindness feels . The one that understands the pain and joy we hold within us . The one that loves us through it all . The one that holds us safe as we step toward the edges . The one that whispers now , my love .

It's funny , as I was reading it , it feels a little bit like my darling girl , feels like poetry in a way , and you know , I think , gosh , there's so much , there's so much truth in there , for me anyway , I don't know about whether that resonates with you .

This , oh , it's almost like a sort of lifting of the weight of having to , you know , sit with the sit with the deep , sit with the heaviness , sit with the heaviness , sit with the , you know , the huge , gigantic capital W of the inner work

. And remembering that we can go lightly . And going lightly doesn't mean , you know , not taking it seriously .

You know , not taking it seriously , it doesn't mean it not being valuable , it doesn't mean it not being , you know , really profound process , but what it does mean is that we don't need to be afraid of the work , just as we don't need to be afraid of the work , just as we don't need to be afraid of the dark .

Um , and and I'm really sort of I feel really cool to share this , actually that you know , if you've been feeling , oh gosh , there's something that I really want to work on . I'm feeling a block within me , I feel , uh , disturbance within me .

Oh dear , I think , you know , maybe I need to do , get some support , work with a guide , someone like me , or work with a , you know , a psychotherapist , you know , whatever , wherever you might be at , that it needn't be hard and we can set our own parameters , set our own boundaries around how we wish to navigate this beautiful inner work .

And maybe this speaks to a kind of zeitgeist , a kind of in my system I feel there might be a sort of zeitgeist into a lighter way of holding this work . When I think about my own journey , there's definitely been like , oh gosh , that's been , that's been big and that's been heavy , and I also recognize there's been an awful lot of laughter .

That's really good for us . Laughing is good for us and when the world feels heavy it can feel hard sometimes to find the laughter that is also here , and I suppose maybe part of this is allowing that . Acknowledging that , I feel really drawn to see what my darling girl has to say . Actually , I'm going to go to volume two . Well , here's one .

Let's try this one . I just opened it at random , so it's page 51 of my Darling Girl , volume two . Oh , the places you've been , the things you have seen , the joy you've convened when you gathered with love . Oh , the times you have had , the good and the glad , the joy through the sad , when you lived them with love .

Oh , the things you have felt , the cards you were dealt , making challenges melt when you saw them with love . I mean , it feels so perfect to me because it's really . You know , this is what I'm talking about , isn't it ? I think

you know that when we turn toward things with love , it makes them so much lighter , so much easier to carry . It makes challenges melt , and it really reminds me , actually , of the group that I'm working with right now in the Change with Compassion group coaching course that's running at the moment . And you know this , this , the subtlety to self-compassion .

There's a simplicity to it , and then there's this like subtle complexity to it , which is that we can , when we allow ourselves , really embrace every part of our experience with compassion . We can embrace every part of us with self-compassion when we allow ourselves to do that .

And and really fundamentally , that's the work that I do with people I I help them step into a space where they love themselves more deeply . Um , maybe that's something , um , I need to be more overt about , rather than talking about it being about making changes .

Really , it's about this , this inner change that happens within us , this softening and you know , my experience when I look around me is that is something that so many of us could benefit from .

When we are bombarded by news , by devastating news , by all the stuff on social media , I feel that something that can be of such deep benefit is being able to hold that space within us where we are safe , you know that inner sanctuary . And actually I shared a quote , a Rumi quote , with the group today and a really lovely meditation .

It felt really lovely to me anyway , um , and the quote to live out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right doing . I want to be able to stand in that field and hold it all with equanimity . And that doesn't mean condoning , um , you know , things that are incredibly challenging , but it was .

What it does mean is being able to move forward , um , with compassion and with love . Um , so I feel drawn just to see . Does she have anything else for us ? Um , let's see what there is . Oh , I think I've shared that one before , the one about settle to the morning , bring your soul home from its midnight flight . Oh , what else ?

Oh , you see , now I've started looking . It doesn't work . Then

I'm gonna get the first volume off the shelf and see what that says . Um , let's see . Um , does she have anything to share with us in here ? Oh , yes , okay , let's . Um , let's go with this one . I saw you move today . I saw you run into the sun . I saw you dance without a backward glance at who was following your lead .

I saw you step toward the mountaintop with a jump , skip hop . I saw you breathe to relieve . Today , tomorrow and yesterday . I saw you smile and it made my heart sing . I love that one . It makes me feel like a little girl , you know that free child of transactional analysis . So , yes , there we go . This is a call for lightness in the deep work .

The deep work , um , and an invitation to you .

Actually , if the work has been calling you but you've been afraid of what it might entail , which is completely understandable , particularly with everything you know that I've touched on earlier in this episode , you know if , if something's been kind of holding you back because you've been uncertain about whether it's really the right step for you right now , I invite

you to step forward , to allow yourself the freedom that comes with that . You know , this work is an adventure , this work is a joy , this work is a way of falling in love with yourself , and how can that not be a wonderful thing ?

So I open up my arms to you if you are ready to step forward and to do this beautiful work , all right , my darlings , I send you a hug and a wave , thank you .