Have we limited tenderness to the quality of meat or something expressed between lovers, or parents and their children? It seems to me that tenderness is much bigger than this and that it starts with how we treat ourselves in a million small ways throughout the day.
With a little awareness and focus we can soon become masters of tenderness, enriching our lives (and those we share it with) in remarkable ways.
Have you experienced a tender moment?
A tender touch?
A tender thought?
Have you beheld a tender act?
Just asking these questions returns me to the tenderness I have felt – it seems to be something that is alive in me and when I reconnect with it, it melts me, and whatever I’m doing, I can’t help but be tender with.
Tenderness flows from within me and through me. Tenderness can be felt in my voice, my touch, my thoughts, my ears and my eyes. It may sound funny, but even my taste becomes tender when I allow it.
There are things that I notice when I allow myself be tender:
- My body lets go. I notice how I’ve been holding my shoulders tight or my forearms hard… the tension drops away.
- When I take my time, with no rush or force, suddenly I have a sense of having plenty of time.
- I feel with my whole body, and thinking from here leads the way.
- Tenderness is definite and delicate all at once, with purpose, not wishy-washy at all.
- I have focus with no indecisiveness (or indecision) in what to do, everything is clear and simple.
- The choice to allow tenderness feels powerful, deliberate and not half-hearted.
- I am more playful, not rough or imposing, but light, open and full.
- I am super-present – in the moment, not before or beyond it, or even thinking of anything else.
- I enjoy the fullness of love, accepting the joy and letting it out and in.
These exquisite elements of tenderness are medicine to the body and being, available whenever the choice is made and applicable well beyond special moments with a select few. Tender washing up, tender typing, tender brushing hair – it melts away the hardness I can bring to get through the day and creates a deep sense of wellbeing that makes such a difference to everything.
Tenderness is like the warmth of the sun – it is there for everyone, has no off button, no dimmer and does not reserve itself for a select few.
It is there for us all equally, naturally, easily whenever we choose to let its remarkable ways unfold as we go about our day to day lives, all the richer with it.
Inspired by the work of Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon.
By Adrienne Hutchins, Brisbane, Australia
839 Comments
It is amazing but just reading your blog again Adrienne I could feel a flow of tenderness wash over me. So my question has to be why do I only allow this tenderness in my body while reading a blog about it? Why is it that we do not allow tenderness to be our everyday bodily experience but instead have replace it with hardness?
A beautifully clear explanation of how it feels to be connected to Soul.
Have you beheld a tender act?
Yes, I was on a plane and I noticed a couple as I walked around and the woman was stroking the back of her husband’s hand while he slept with such delicateness and sweet tenderness. It is a moment that I will cherish always that there can be such a loving connect between two people devoid of any emotion.
Thank you. Just reading this article brings a flow of tenderness through my body
Sometimes I can feel how much I resist tenderness, I just don’t want to go there, of course I lose out when this happens and so do those around me.
It’s like being served a meal you know has been cooked with love, we all do feel and appreciate the love and tenderness others can care for us with.
Thanks Adrienne, it’s so inspiring to read this again and look at my relationship with my own tenderness. I know growing up tenderness was seen as insipid and wishy-washy, something that was relegated to caring for babies and for romance, but it is actually an innate quality that we all equally have. Feeling inspired to bring more tenderness to myself and others!
Reading this reminded me of how I can connect to tenderness whenever.
As you say Adrienne ‘it seems to be something that is alive in me and when I reconnect with it, it melts me, and whatever I’m doing’ – when we connect to the all embracing feeling of tenderness we know we have come back home to our essence. Why would we be any other way?
Thank you for this blog. I had allowed myself to get anxious and stressed and my whole body had started to shrivel and get tense. My decision to take break and read some blogs has been so supportive and this one in particular is allowing me the space to come back to a me that is spacious and tender….very lovely.
I have lived being very hard on myself for a long time, tenderness does absolutely melt the hardness so I have been cultivating more and more tenderness in my life and the hardness is melting.
Thank you for sharing your exquisite elements of tenderness and how healing they are to the body, it is simply our choice to bring them into our everyday lives.
Tenderness is very lovely to feel in the body, ‘My body lets go. I notice how I’ve been holding my shoulders tight or my forearms hard… the tension drops away.’