I normally don’t make resolutions because I always break them midway through. Then I feel ashamed for lacking the tenacity and grit to finish the resolution strong. It’s really a negative process for me.

I did download though around a month ago that I could make a special altar in my home and each day add something new to celebrate me in all my humanness. This is a really big deal to me because my brain is anything but kind to me. Yes, despite all the work, despite all the memes telling me to be different, despite all the training I’ve gone through to “be better”, still it resists. My brain is my brain. It’s chemically imbalanced and remains strong against all my measures to soften it. Yet I do have hope that one day it will change so I can find rest in myself too. And that is a big part of why I choose to listen to the quiet whispers urging me to create something special now.

For the next thirty days, I will create a mandala, piece by piece. Each day I will add something new until at the end of the month, it will be a beautiful celebration of my life as I see it.

I’ve decided to add a new prayer to each day in this practice. I’ve also decided to share this work with all of you. If this is something that resonates with you, please join me by posting yours in the comments. We can be accountability buddies. Lord knows I’ll need one.

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So on this first day, I add a very special altar cloth. This altar cloth bears an animal helper very dear to my heart and the cloth itself was a gift by a close friend.

The candleholder was a precious item of my childhood, thoughtfully given to me by one of the families who took me in during my homelessness.

Both items celebrate the gift of kindness shown to me in my life. Kindness that most definitely saved my life from a very early age. And that for sure is a cause to celebrate.

My prayer for today: “May I rejoice in the sweetness of the human heart life has already offered me. And may I remain open to all that kindness that is ready to be mine still.”