Every morning I commit to spending intimate time with myself. I devote my attention to being with myself entirely when I make my bed, do my makeup, brush my teeth, get dressed, cook and have breakfast etc.
This morning, after a deeply engaging session with myself while I did my eye makeup, the clock informed me that it was already time to leave. For a moment I allowed panic to enter and started rushing and could feel I was no longer with myself. So instead of putting on my lipstick, I just grabbed a lip colour to take with me, swung a sweater around my neck without putting it on, took the nearest pair of sunglasses on the dining table and headed out the door.
When I entered the elevator, everything felt wrong. I started to put my lipstick on (there was a mirror in the elevator), but the colour did not feel harmonious with the eye colour I was wearing. More accurately, the care that I had taken doing my eye makeup did not agree with the way the lip colour was now being applied. Not only was this felt in my body, but was also visibly seen on my lips. My body also felt cold, because I didn’t put the sweater on, and oops, the ‘sunnies’ had an electric blue lens that very obviously clashed with the neutral and sandy tones I was wearing.
What came to me at that moment was very clearly the message: “Walk with You.”
So, without worrying about time or if I would miss the bus, I immediately pressed the lift button to go back to my floor. Entering the house without delay, or thinking, but also without rushing, I took another lipstick to put on, checked the mirror and saw that it looked and felt harmonious. I took my backpack off, carefully slid the body-hugging sweater on and instantly felt warm and nurtured. Finally, I put on a different pair of sunglasses and the mirror reflection beamed back, “Boy oh boy, aren’t you cool?” I may have heard an entourage of heavenly applause and even had a moment to curtsy before stepping out the door again.
As I walked to the bus stop, every step was walked with me, and it was the safest and most solid feeling I have ever felt.
There were no thoughts of anything other than the walk. Even though I left the house later than usual that morning, as I chose to walk with myself in my every step, I came to the bus stop and the bus arrived at the same time that I did.
By Adele Leung, Fashion Stylist/Creative Director, Hong Kong
Further Reading:
A Delicious Breakfast Date With Myself
The Greatest Love is Within Me
Living religion: in every moment
685 Comments
Either I am ‘with me’ or I am not, there is no middle ground ever.
It is so awesome – “Even though I left the house later than usual that morning, as I chose to walk with myself in my every step, I came to the bus stop and the bus arrived at the same time that I did. – It just shows that nothing is random and everything is a reflection and we can read everything to support us in our rhythm and movements.
“Every morning I commit to spending intimate time with myself. I devote my attention to being with myself entirely when I make my bed, do my makeup, brush my teeth, get dressed, cook and have breakfast etc.” – This is conscious presence – so divine Adele, I am inspired to pay even more attention to my entire morning routine too, it can only but spill over into the rest of the day, so thank you.
I love this message “Walk with You” – so simple, very clear and it is awesome that you listened and did just that.
I love how when we are with ourselves and return to that natural quality of intimacy, everything actually constellates in our favour….I’ve had too many similar experiences just like this one, to doubt it. Never rush, never panic, nothing needs to be controlled when we simply allow ourselves to be fully present in each moment, completing as we go. I’ve also found that rushing actually causes delay!
When we choose to go into the energy of rush, our level of care drops and quality is then often compromised. Our body feels tense and hard, and we tend to forget things easily. Your blog Adele, beautifully reminds me to be more aware of this and to continuously check in with myself, do I choose to stay in connection with myself or do I want to choose to rush/disconnect?
A great reminder that when the ‘being’ comes before the ‘doing’ , everything thereafter organises itself that brings a harmonious flow. Noe there’s the reason we are called ‘human beings’… and perhaps our life lesson is to learn and live that…
This is so beautiful. I love feeling how we are worth being with as that beingness has the love of heaven with us and all is in harmony. A gorgeous reminder that quality and taking the space to be in that quality matters more than whatever is going on because in that quality we are supported, and in this we support others to come back to their amazingness too.
This is very sweet. A great example of how timeless self-care really is.
I love reading your blogs Adele! It’s awesome to hear about your life and the lessons you’re learning along the way
This exposes how our choices impact our day… to be aware of when we make an unwise choice, and that it is quite simple to make another choice – one of more self-loving harmony… and our day will continue to be what we have chosen.
I have had moments of experiencing what you share Adele, but i am imagining what it must be like to live with this amount of connection on a more consistent basis…truly beautiful. Something I am working on each day, to stay present with myself as much as possible.
An amazing reflection Adele… when we are harmonious within ourselves, the world around us reflects that same harmony. Gorgeous and so very inspiring.
Those times I do not feel harmonious within myself is a time to acknowledge that I am not. This allows are more honest choice to guide me next.
I love those moments where I catch myself doing something so unloving and then stopping and changing the program, choosing to do it another way and start again. It is so empowering rather than just putting up with something that you know so well just doesn’t sit right with you no matter what it is or how small or unimportant it may be to another.
So important to cherish and nourish yourself!
Yes, Rosie, those little moments of choice are super powerful, and joyful too when we clock what we are doing and feel we can change it.
Loved this Adele. Not only did it make me smile but reminded me of the power of choosing to nurture and honour yourself so deeply no matter what. A truly stunning way to start the day and a well deserved curtsy and applause.
Short, sweet and full of wisdom. Surrendering back to love when the rush comes over us can be really challenging. There is a great illusion that takes grip over our movements and we can feel that we have no time to stop or space for love. This is a encouraging blog leading the way and showing how gorgeous it feels if we bust through that illusion and come back to love. Thanks Adele
It is very familiar that moment of panic that drops in. Where does it come from? How can it change so quickly that one moment we are with our self and feeling amazing and the next second – it explodes? I’m wondering is its because we have a picture that appears at some point? A picture representing an external goal, there fore outside of ourselves. So when the picture (which is our creation) comes into the foreground we then (by choice) let go of our connection to ourselves to pick up on the image /picture that exists. Hence the sense of panic and feeling of things having just exploded with-in because we have just cut ourselves off from our true connection and imported an imposter.
Nature does not rush, nor do the natural rhythms of life around us. When I rush I feel out of kilter with the universe, with nature, and on those days my train is late, or I miss the bus or tube and I get later and more complication creeps in. our body knows exactly when to move, what time to leave, what it needs to prepare to leave for work and so on when we choose to listen. My body is always accurate when I do listen, down to nudging me early some days because it knows that Im going to need more time (e.g. because of problems with trains).
Adele, this is gorgeous to read, ‘As I walked to the bus stop, every step was walked with me, and it was the safest and most solid feeling I have ever felt.’ Wow, I have had this feeling before and it feels so powerful and solid. I love that you went back home and restarted your day and what a different day you would have had as a result – from my own experience rushing never works, it feels awful in the body.
Your blog really shows that it is not worth it to rush and get on time if it makes you feel less and stressed. Even if we get on time for the appointment the quality we came in will be felt in our bodies and make the experience of the whole day less.
To commit to ourselves with such depth of care is our commitment to expressing with and in love.
I used to use walking as my thinking time and I now know that meant my ‘checking out’ time, while I mulled over a previous event or planned something in the future. I would create images in my mind but these were nothing to do with what my body was doing at that time. Now I walk feeling my feet and I can tell as soon as I check out, get distracted by a cute dog or whatever. Like swimming, when I think, I breathe water. Life in motion is such a great reflection of how we were when we are moving.
I often let the clock dictate my mornings and under no circumstances would I be late in getting my son to the school bus. Last week I realised that as bus stop time came closer I would often lose my movements and they no longer became my own. I then realised so what if I am late? Life would go on and at least I would have been with me. Interestingly I have discovered a similar thing to you Adele – as yet I have never missed the bus.
When you have a solid rhythm it stands right out when we rush, even by a millimetre and it feels awful in the body. I have never been one to rush in the morning, but it’s been even more lovely to really allow the time to prepare and get ready for the day.
Beautiful sharing Adèle. Great reminder to deepen that quality with ourselves.
When you get to the level of commitment that you have for yourself Adele, anything less than that will feel totally wrong, so nipping it in the bud like you did certainly stopped your day spiralling out of control.
This is such a beautiful reminder of the true power of choice and the actual impact it is having on us – it’s in every moment.
A great story about what happens when we choose our quality over everything else.
Exactly! “choose our quality over everything else” guarantees the quality we bring and offer to the world and so it is lived in true energetic integrity. In my eyes, this is what the world needs the most.
Hear hear – short sharp and direct to the point, love it Elizabeth, choosing our quality over everything else first is the key.
Whilst I have worked on myself and have become much more self honouring and nurturing there is still a way for me to go to really put myself first above everything that I feel needs to get done. I really love this blog because it confirms that when we surrender in the moment everything is taken care of.
A beautiful reminder to put our quality of connection ahead of our doing as so often we do it the other way round!
Yes and that goes for all we do, connection first and checking in with ourselves as to the quality of connection we are in first, even that may need adjusting at times too – and when we can bring the true quality of our connection into our doing, by virtue of reflection others will be able to embrace their connection too.
Breaking the illusion of time with total style and sass… applauding you with Heaven Adele.
Oh I have to say everyones’ expression is just divine – I can feel the healing Adele’s blog has brought to many of us here, so awesome.
I know when people comment on what I’m wearing that it isn’t really about what I’m wearing so much as that they are feeling how much I love wearing it, how it feels to wear it and even how much I loved buying it. Without realising they are commenting on the quality of all of this and how I dressed myself that day.
This is great sharing Sandra – I truly love your realisation that ” … Without realising they are commenting on the quality of all of this and how I dressed myself that day.” This is something I shall take on board – I guess it means sorting out my wardrobe again 🙂
Especially in a world where we are estranged from the harmonious rhythms nature provides as a support and reminder of the inner harmonious rhythm that never leaves us we need to give our inner feeling and the sensations of the body more attention. The body is part of nature, we only need to listen to its sensations and wisdom to get a sense of the right harmonious rhythm in which to move and do things; the mind on the other hand, tends to dismiss the body and inner in favour of the outer stimulation our world is run by.
Beautiful and so simply said Adele. Yet how far do many of us go out into the world whilst all the time knowing something is not right? Your sharing is a powerful metaphor for our journey in life – it is never too late to return to our home (our heart) and choose harmony instead.
I love what you expressed here Joseph and you are so right, it is never too late to choose anew, in fact every second we can choose so it’s all in the realm of true possibility.
The way we get ready in the morning sets the tone for the whole day so it makes absolute sense to ensure we leave the house feeling harmonious.
Walking for me, is one of the stop moments (contradiction there somewhere!), but when I feel like I am rushing, or feeling a bit down I take myself for a walk around the house, or outside weather permitting, feeling my feet and my body along the way. It feels super supportive and takes me out of my head and back into my body. Thank you Adele, for sharing how important it is to take those little stop moments to bring ourselves back ourselves.
Thanks for this beautiful reflection – sharing the simplicity in which we can re-claim and re-connect to ourselves. It doesn’t have to be a big deal unless we make it one.
When we choose to walk with ourselves we synchronise with the universe and are in the flow. Great reminder at this time of year when so many around us are rushing even more than usual and if we are not vigilant it is easy to get caught up in this momentum.
Absolutely love this Adele, how beautifully we are able to support our glory when we listen and allow our inner voice.
The intimacy that you make with yourself each day consolidates a level of trust and knowing that will not settle for less than the Love you know you are.