PhD in Being Me

Tag: spirituality

  • Different isn’t wrong

    It is very easy as a sensitive, empathic person to think that I am doing something wrong. It happens usually when someone does something differently than me. It is very sad that I automatically assume that I am doing something wrong. Thankfully, I have been learning to nurture myself so that I can embrace the little me who doubts herself and doesn’t think she’s good enough.

    I recently had an experience where I was excited to share something new I tried. One of the responses I received very quickly made me feel like I had done it wrong, even though it had turned out pretty well. The two photos below show how I felt at first (doubting myself, unsure, concerned), and then how I responded a few seconds later (loving and validating myself).

    Bradlee with a look on her face like, "the way I did it wasn't good enough"
    Bradlee with a loving look on her face with a caption saying "your way is very valid honey, it's just different."

    How do you feel when you do something that is different than others? Do you judge yourself? Second guess yourself? Wish you could disappear because you can’t seem to get it right? I am with you. I lived like that for so many years and it is still my default response. Thankfully, I can stop myself, know that I am valid just as I am, and continue on. I still get shaken and I still doubt myself sometimes, but I’m miles from where I once was.

    I learned how to love and compliment myself from Matt Kahn. If you haven’t checked him out, I encourage you to. He is so compassionate, caring, wise and loving. I learned that sensitive, empathic people really need to learn to give love to themselves, because they are generally very good at giving it to others. He teaches about giving yourself compliments and acknowledging the good you do each day. I started doing that in 2015 and it has been a very transformative process. It is very easy to berate and judge yourself, but giving yourself a compliment can be hard, but super, super rewarding.

    For example, I might say, “You know honey, there are lots of ways to do [insert task]. I loved how you tried something new and it turned out. Maybe you just invented a new way of doing things.” Or I might say, “Things are starting to feel hard this evening. You’ve done so well today, how about you take a rest?” Those are little ways I show up for myself now and it has created a buffer that helps me deal with negativity, judgement or different ways of doing things.

    You’re doing great. Even if you feel terrible or things are going terribly, you are still wonderful. You are so worthy of love, compliments, care and attention. I honor you and your uniqueness and you are so much more than your circumstances. No matter what, may you know that you are still valid, even if you do things differently than others. I send you big hugs!

    © Bradlee Zrudlo 2023. All Rights Reserved.

  • Being here

    Being here

    Introduction

    This poem is a follow up to a few of my recent posts (Choosing consciously, and Being while doing) about living more consciously and being aware of my life as I’m living it. This has been one of my goals for several years now and I seem to go through times where this is easy and times when I live in a fog. May this poem inspire you and call to your deepest self so you may be your own best companion and witness. May we all take a moment to love and nurture our hearts, bodies, minds, and souls. Big hugs!!

    Being here – a poem

    When my feet hit the ground, I want to be there.

    When my nose inhales the smell of spring, I want to be there.

    When my head turns to better hear and see the birds singing their joyous songs, I want to be there.

    When my hand holds my dog’s leash and I am taking her for a walk, I want to be there.

    When I look into my child’s eyes and see the beauty of their soul shining out, I want to be there.

    When my husband kisses me, I want to be there, in my lips and in my body, to feel his tenderness and his love for me.

    When my body aches, I want to be there.

    When the sun shines and it soothes my soul, I want to be there to feel it, breathe it in and be nourished by it.

    It is so easy to be outside of ourselves.  It is so easy to be lost in thoughts, swirling in a maze and whirlwind, right outside of our heads, lost in a vortex that never stops.

    I want to feel the vortex and let the majesty, beauty and pain within life pull me back to me.  I want to be an active participant in my life.  I want to be here no matter what is going on. 

    I want to be with my teeth as they chew my food.

    I want to be with my digestive system as it takes what it needs from the food and lets the rest pass through.

    I want to be with my nervous system as I navigate through life, one deep breath at a time.

    I want to be with my eyes as they witness both incredible cruelty and magnificent beauty. 

    I want to be with my ears as they hear songs of love and words of hatred.

    I want to be with my body as the desire to dance wells up from my belly and makes me get up.

    I want to be here, with myself, with each experience. 

    Always.  Now. Forever. 

    Being here. 

    Being there, wherever I am.

    ©️ Bradlee Zrudlo, 2023. All Rights Reserved

  • What about me?

    There is this little and sometimes quite loud voice inside me that whispers or yells, “What about me?”

    A short video to help explain the concepts in this post. May it help you connect with yourself in helpful ways ♥️

    I was listening to a super compassionate meditation on Insight Timer from the Biomedical Institute of Yoga and Meditation and I heard “What about me?” from inside me, quite loudly. For the rest of the day my body hurt and I was completely exhausted. This voice speaks for all the times I felt cast aside, abused, neglected, and forced. It represents so much unprocessed pain about certain aspects of my life. Part of getting a PhD in Being Me is learning to honor and care for yourself when feeling your worst. I felt so terribly, I was feeling more like I was in kindergarten compared to working on a PhD ❤️.

    A day later, I still felt that “What about me” presence. It felt heavy, painful and nearly frantic. To be honest, I can understand those feelings. Listening to that beautiful meditation triggered some of my most traumatic memories and helped me to understand how much pain they truly caused. I honor my “What about me” self. It has good reason to whisper and yell, and it is very justified in coming forward to affirm its presence and role in my life.

    Here I am, feeling so heavy, so unsure of how to hold myself while I acknowledge and feel the pain and anger and exhaustion this part of me has been carrying by herself. I slow down, take deep breaths and follow what my mind, heart and body are asking me to do. I write this post. I listen to beautiful music by Destined Dynamics. I cry and tell my husband about my fears and hurt. By doing these things, I create more space for this bruised, broken, hurt and victimized part of me.

    Going forward, I will hold her and me, until our breath and voices unite and we are together as one. I will look in the mirror and see my pain and my resilience and smile. I will feel the pain inside me. I will rise up because the root has showed me how to pull her out of that infertile garden and plant her in my heart, where I can nurture her with the sunlight and rains of my care and attention. I love you Miss What About Me. You matter and you are worthy. Thank you for revealing yourself to me, please teach me how best to care for you.

    If you are working through living with a chronic physical or mental health condition (I have chronic fatigue syndrome and anxiety), or are working through trauma of any kind, I see you and I am with you. You matter and I wish you so much ease, love, gentleness and care. Big hugs.

    ©️ Bradlee Zrudlo, 2023. All Rights Reserved

  • Choosing consciously

    5 stacked rocks on the shore of the ocean with a colorful sunset in the background.
    Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

    A note: This poem is a follow up to the post I published the other day about living with presence and bringing more of my care, attention and awareness to life. I have cycled through being more conscious and present in my life and I am coming alive to my life once again. No matter where you are on your journey of mindfulness and presence, I wish you well and may you show yourself compassion. Big hugs!

    Choosing consciously – a poem

    If I do something and

    feel like I don’t have a choice,

    I will be drained, hopeless and exhausted.

    If I do that same something

    but bring myself to the task

    and choose to do it

    because I want to,

    I am no longer choiceless.

    If I know that taking the garbage out

    and washing the pots are the last thing I want to do,

    but I do them anyway,

    I age, decay and slowly die inside.

    If I recognize that I don’t

    want to do those tasks and

    be gentle and caring with myself,

    instead of forcing my way on,

    I blossom, heal and nourish myself.

    It is a very subtle distinction,

    but I do believe it is

    the key to ending cycles of abuse,

    by using our free will even where

    it seems like we don’t have any.

    May we all find the little ways in which we can liberate

    ourselves from choicelessness of all forms,

    one conscious choice at a time.

  • That cynical edge

    Rough cliffs on the ocean, with dark clouds filling the sky.
    Photo by Stanislav Kondratiev on Pexels.com

    I wrote this poem in January 2019. I was going through a tough time with my mental and physical health, and there were several other challenges in my personal and professional life. I was learning so much about being an empath and how to thrive despite everything I was feeling. I definitely didn’t feel like I was thriving, but this poem showed my dedication to figuring it out, which makes my heart smile.

    Reading this poem reminds me how much more complex life is for people who feel deeply and who are empaths. It also reminds me how courageous the most sensitive of souls are each day, and it gives me hope for transforming our planet with light, love and sensitivity. Big hugs!

    That cynical edge

    I have been trying so hard not to become cynical.

    I have railed against the cynicism, doubts and anger that have filled my world and

    I have done my best to push it away.

    It has slowly crept up on me, climbing up my legs, and weaving itself

    around me, stealthily and purposefully and it has me around the neck.

    It is choking me and infecting my brain and soul.

    I no longer trust in the good of all.

    I no longer know what I trust in.

    I am a stupid leaf being blown by the wind and now I’ve once again

    landed in the cesspool of humanity’s pain.

    Why do I keep ending up here?

    I hate it here.

    I get it.

    We are suffering, we have suffered, it seems like we will keep suffering.

    How is it helping me to be a little leaf blowing from circumstance to circumstance?

    How it is that I am getting deeper and deeper into the cesspool when there is so much good in my life?

    What steps can I take to trust in the good once again?

    What do I need in order to trust in the good once again?

    How many hugs am I feeling like I missed out on?

    How many kind words am I longing to hear?

    How many times do I need to be acknowledged and witnessed until I can once again trust the good in all, including in myself?

    How is it that my self-worth is still tied up in receiving those things?

    What might I need to break all the cycles of abuse, within and without, so that trust and love may rise up again within me as the default operating system?

    What was that dream teaching me when I was a little girl?

    What was it teaching me to see Mother Mary alone in a big and empty hospital waiting room?  She was alone and scared and she was about to give birth to Jesus, but she was so alone.  I had that dream several times and I’ve never forgotten it.  How may I assist myself and our planet in healing, transforming and resolving the extreme loneliness that has led to the creation and deepening of the cesspool of humanity’s exceptionally exquisite pain that seems ready to burst in every aspect of our planet?

    How may I transition from being the pain and not trusting anything to being the one to bring light to the cesspool for the wellbeing of all?

    May the guidance come from within my great big heart and may it come quickly and effortlessly to help me with my mission.

    I know I’ll never drown in the cesspool, but it’s time to transform it.

    May it be transformed into the golden waters of Heaven where all may come to be nourished, healed, blessed and transformed instead of where people come to commiserate with others in the pain and darkness of their everyday existence.

    © Bradlee Zrudlo 2023. All Rights Reserved

  • Missing myself

    Hands holding up two halves of a broken paper heart.
    Photo by Monstera on Pexels.com

    I wrote this poem on February 14, 2019. I remember those days of missing myself, and I still sometimes feel that, although it has a different feeling lately. Like I’ve been missing only certain parts of me that I’m still reclaiming, like my power. I am sharing it with the hope that it inspires anyone else who is missing themselves. Big hugs!

    Missing myself – a poem

    I feel like I’ve been missing myself.

    Just this morning, I have been crying, aware that I have missed me.

    I have been so caught up trying to survive and make it through in the past few months that I have been missing myself.

    It is a good feeling in a way, because it means I’ve noticed and it is time to figure out how to spend more time with me, instead of rushing around all the time, trying to make things right outside of me and for other people.

    Imagine how weird that is…I am right here, but yet I have missed myself.

    There is a massive depth to me and when I am in survival mode, I am only living from the surface of me.

    My depths are crying out for me to return to them, to bring the depths up to the surface so that I may exist in a more whole and complete way and as a result, I may bring more blessings, health and abundance to myself and to all of those I interact with.

    Here I am, vulnerable and raw, sinking into the depths of me, while they rise to meet me.

    What a holy day.

    Interestingly enough, it is Valentine’s Day today.  May I be reunited with all that I am, in a true sacred union that needs no flowers, chocolates or cards.

    © Bradlee Zrudlo 2023. All Rights Reserved.

  • Lightning and thunder

    Lightning in the sky over a body of water.
    Photo by Johannes Plenio on Pexels.c

    Lightning and thunder – a poem

    These are new feelings for me

    Crackling and burning under the surface of my skin

    Anger and rage wanting to burst out through every aspect of my body

    Exhausted at myself for all the limiting ways I have been relating to life

    For all the power and strength that I buried deep within me

    Mistaking them for anger and aggression

    They are rising up

    Grabbing me by the soul and demanding to be released

    Demanding to be let out of the prison I accidentally created for them

    I thought the doors were open

    That I had flung them wide a few months ago

    But here they are, power and strength raging within me like a thunderstorm

    Deep breath

    Pause

    Take off my rain coat

    Put down the umbrella

    Open all the windows and doors and let the storm rage

    Let it come and cleanse me and release me from the shackles I unknowingly put on

    Deep within the prison cells of my mind, body and spirit

    Thank you thunder and lightning

    Thank you for reminding me of my strength and power

    Thank you for living under my skin and waking me up to the true power of my beingness

    I welcome you thunder and lightning

    Light up my skies

    Liberate me from my prison

    Help me bring healing to the world with your lessons, freedom and power

    © Bradlee Zrudlo 2023. All Rights Reserved.

  • Numb

    I remember it
    Walking through life empty
    A shell of myself
    With no hope for life to be any different

    I remember the terrible loneliness
    The sense that everyone else had it figured out but me
    The longing to have a purpose and an existence greater than the numbness
    But thinking that was reserved for others

    I have felt this numb emptiness many times in my life and it is back for a visit

    It reminds me of how hard everything can be
    And how hopeless
    I am an outsider in my own life and everyone is looking in and seeing me
    So desperately alone and lost
    But continuing their lives with full, happy hearts

    This numbness is like a little baby bird that fell out of the nest instead of launching itself into flight, ready for life

    This numbness reminds me that a part of me is in desperate need of being loved, witnessed and seen, just as it is.

    This numbness is calling to me asking me for validation instead of burying it deeper, while I focus on my to do list

    This numbness is my innocence crying out to me about how lost and shattered it is, asking me, begging me to stop, to breathe. To reach down tenderly and caress it and coddle it before bringing it to the cozy nest in my heart.

    Thank you dear precious numbness. Thank you for reminding me how long it’s been since we have connected. Thank you for reminding me how hard life is when you take the lead and I haven’t nurtured you to a loving, hand holding place by my side.

    Thank you numbness for reminding me that our world is rapidly changing, shattering and breaking down so we can all learn to walk hand in hand with our pain, numbness, innocence and vulnerability. Thank you precious numbness. I love you.

    Note from Bradlee: I felt so much better after writing this. One of my goals is to write about the things we don’t often talk about. There is a freedom in doing that and it is my honor to share so deeply about my experience of life. I think there are times when we all feel numb, worthless, scared, ashamed, etc., and I don’t think we can avoid those times. I believe it’s more about what we do when we feel like that. This writing is my way of comforting and acknowledging my numbness. May it lighten the load of numbness and pain for all. Thank you for reading.

    © Bradlee Zrudlo 2023. All Rights Reserved

  • Being motivated by guilt

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    Being motivated by guilt
    Being motivated by guilt....

  • To Be Human

    A photo of the blogger with straight black and white hair, wearing a black shirt.
    Here I am, feeling fabulous after getting my hair done in December 2023

    To be human.

    What is it really?

    Is it to be perfect, to have everything organized and controlled?

    Or it is about acknowledging that life gets messy and choosing gratitude anyway?

    Is it about having everything society tells me I should have?

    Or is it about making the best with what I’ve got and dreaming big anyway?

    Is it about doing what everyone else is doing and what they expect of me?

    Or it is about following my intuition and my heart’s song regardless of how others choose to live their lives?

    The older I get, the less I want to be any way other than exactly how I am.

    Even when I don’t always like how I am.

    I don’t always like having chronic fatigue syndrome and having to budget my energy and my time. I don’t like having to decline so many lovely invitations from people I care about.

    I don’t always like how sensitive and anxious I am, especially when I get tired, which is often.

    I don’t always like having to work because it uses so much of my energy and so little of my heart’s desires.

    But I do like everything these aspects of my life have taught me.

    To own who I am, from the inside out.

    To know that I have tremendous worth even if I am super tired most days. My fatigue has taught me how to love and accept myself in ways I never dreamed possible. It inspired the idea of getting a Phd in Being Me, and made me want to share everything I’ve learned and continue to learn with others.

    To know that I am worthy of love and nurturing when I am sensitive and anxious, instead of just wishing I was “stronger”. My sensitivity is my greatest gift and what allows me to write these posts and dream of becoming a motivational speaker and self-help author.

    To know that I can let my heart sing at a job I only like, not love, because its song is so beautiful and it nurtures me. My job and its environment have inspired to live my life as authentically as possible, and to rest and care for myself when my environment tries to stifle my heart’s song.

    To be human.

    A lovely, caring, intelligent, dedicated, compassionate, empathic, tired, anxious, sensitive, easily stressed human.

    I’ll take it and I’m choosing to make the best of my life. May we all be blessed with empowerment, inspiration, prosperity and abundance to live our best lives and inspire others as we do it, no matter how messy or imperfect our lives or we may be.

    With so much love,

    Bradlee

    A photo of the blogger. She has dark and white hair, with a turquoise shirt.
    Here I am, writing this post, on a super tired day! To be human, it’s the good, the bad and everything in between!

    © Bradlee Zrudlo 2023. All Rights Reserved