Speaker 1: Hello, my darlings,
this is actually my second
attempt at recording an episode
today, and you might get to hear
the episode that I've already
recorded another day.
But when I came to publish it
and do all the you know, the
podcast assets, as they're
called I just suddenly thought
oh, that's really not what I
want to be talking about.
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.