Be Gentle

It is that time of year...July...almost August. I am so excited for Michfest I can barely focus on anything else. I love Michfest because it is women only. There is just something about female energy that is soothing and healing to the soul...but there is something about female ONLY energy that is magic. Hard to describe.

One of the things I crave about fest is the gentleness. I'm not trying to make a correlation between male energy and violence, I'm simply saying...at fest we have an intentional community. Meaning we all agree with the intention of the festival. (This is not about the trans inclusion intention)

The intention of festival is to create a community built by women for women to share like experiences, learn from each other and heal from the day to day stress of living in a world ruled by male energy.

Whether you believe in that or not, not the point here...

The point is, part of our deliberate intention is to be gentle. To the earth, to each other, to the world around us.

This comes to mind more frequently for me in the months of June and July because I am not the most gentle person on the planet...by far. I am a tiger most of the time. Well meaning, but not gentle.

At fest, I get to be gentle, to others around me. To myself. I get to allow myself the breakdown that inevitably comes and not be ashamed of my tears or my pain or my happiness for that matter.

My life has not been gentle. I don't know what gentle looks like...except at fest. I've never felt gentle hugs of reassurance, gentle strokes of loving kindness, gentle words of encouragement. Except at fest.

I walk through July on the brink of tears and cry at the drop of a hat it drives me crazy...mostly because I am preparing for the journey home, to my magic place of Michigan Music where I can sit and cry and still stand strong.

So today, again..life was not gentle and I was faced with something I really am not prepared for and have no idea how to fix or if it can be fixed or if I even want to fix it. Someone was not gentle to me and I didn't want to reply with gentleness but then I think...I have to be a model of what I expect from others.

So tonight...Be Gentle. Give gentle hugs, gentle strokes, gentle words. Hopefully you can receive the same back.

If not, be gentle anyway. Most of all, be gentle to yourself. It is through your love of yourself that you will show others how to love you.