A particular lecture in college always stands out for me. I don’t remember what class it was or who was the teacher but we were talking about the bible. The presenter said: We all know that in the bible it says that every seventh day is a day of rest but what most people don’t know is that the passage continues after that. According to my teacher the bible went on to say: Every seventh week should be a week of rest. Every seventh month a month of rest and every seventh year a year of rest. Thus the “sabbatical”.

This always stayed with me. In a culture that values productivity and wears busyness like a badge of honor many of us were not taught to value rest and time to recharge.

Recently in my practice I saw a new client. A women with two young kids who works full time. She was attractive but had dark circles under her eyes. I could see she was chronically tired and depleted. As I was beginning her healing session she asked me what do most people come in for?

I paused and thought about this. Was it pain? Sleep issues? Hormonal balance? Stress? Immune boosting? General balancing and wellness? Of course, people come in for all these reasons but as I reflected deeper the answer that came out of my mouth at that moment anyway was: Most people that come in to see me need permission to rest. I went on to say: I often pretend I have a magic wand and then say to my clients: I grant you permission to rest. Usually there is a palpable feeling of relief in the room.

So many of us in our culture have been taught to be productive, be busy, be on the go. Which is valuable. But most of us missed the class on rest, the importance of rest, the need for rest.

In Chinese medicine it is all about the yin and the yang. We need to balance our activity with rest and rejuvenation. We need to balance our productivity with time to putter and just be. We need to balance our striving with allowing life to unfold in its own time.

And so, I don’t know who needs to hear this today but if I had a magic wand (and maybe I do!), I would hold it over you and say: I give you permission to rest. I give you permission to rest for as long as you need. I give you permission to rejuvenate. I give you permission to breath. I give you permission to be creative. I give your permission to take space and putter. I give you permission to simply be with no agenda.

Take time in your life to rest and to rejuvenate. Value rest. Value space. Value beingness. Value quiet. Value meditation. You may be surprised how much healing happens naturally when you listen to your body and give it the space it needs to heal.

For whatever power is vested in me: I give you permission to rest.

I was sitting in an auditorium waiting for my turn to receive my healing when suddenly I heard a voice in my head. The male voice said: “ You are overidentified with your sensitivity. Identify with your power instead.”

The words echoed in my mind and I saw it to be true. I was the sensitive. I was the empath. I feel everything. But what if instead of thinking of myself in these terms I remembered that I am powerful. What if I remembered that I have great power in me. That the god force is alive in me. What if I learned to identify with my power instead?

Fast forward twenty years.

I was giving an acupuncture session to a new client. She is telling me about all of her sensitivities. I am listening without judgement. She lays down on the table and talks about how she wants to be a healer but feels too sensitive. She asks me how do I do the work I do and keep from absorbing my client’s problems?

I stop and consider this. I’m not sure of how to answer her. I pause. I reflect. And then the memory of the event twenty years earlier when I heard the message: You over identify with your sensitivity. Learn to identify with your power instead.

I relay this story to my client and she gets the chills. I so needed to hear that today she says. I think that is the whole reason I came to see you today. For that one message. All I do is think about how sensitive I am. I think about it all day long.

Yes. I say. I used to do the same.

What would it be like to remember that you are more powerful than you know, that great power resides in you?

What if you saw yourself as powerful, as strong?
What if the divine lives in you?

What if you are spirit?
What if you are the God force in drag?

How might this awareness affect how you go through your day?

I wrote down some notes for my client and It went something like this:

Power:

You are over identified with your sensitivity.
Learn to identify with your power instead.

Affirm frequently:

I am powerful.
I am filled with the power of spirit.

The divine lives in me.
I am the God force.

I am powerful.
I am powerful.

I am filled with the power of spirit.
I am filled with the power of spirit.

Feel your power.
Embody your power.

What if you are far more powerful than you know?
What if you are infinite power?

Begin today to focus on the power with in you.
Activate the observer effect.

What you focus on you get more of.

Identify with your power.
You are more powerful than you can imagine.

Use your power in service to others.
Use your power to offer your contribution.

Affirm frequently:

I am powerful.
I am powerful.
I am powerful.

Do not over identify with your sensitive.

But instead:

Know that the God force lives in you and you are far more powerful than you realize.

Learn to identify with your power.
Step into that power now.

You are more powerful than you know.
Step into that power now.

I am powerful.
I am powerful.

The God force lives in me.

I am powerful.
I am powerful.
I am powerful.

~Hayley Mermelstein

I was in a somewhat meditative state, working with a client when suddenly an energy filled the room I paused for a moment and then heard the words inside of me: The universe loves you. The energy of love began to fill the room. And then the words: All is forgiven. All is forgiven.

And for a moment I stopped and took in the new vibration and words: The universe loves me. All is forgiven. The universe loves me and all is forgiven.

My body relaxed. What would it be like to let myself off the hook for everything? To forgive myself for my mistakes and allow myself to feel the love of the universe?

I’ve been working with this experience this week and thought I’d share it here in case reminding you that the universe loves you and you are forgiven might help you as well.

What might heal in your body if you let yourself off the hook?
What might heal in your life if you let yourself off the hook?

I wrote as affirmation to help me absorb the energy that was coming through this week and thought I’d share it, in case it might help you as well.

The universe loves me. I am forgiven.

The universe loves me.
The universe loves me.

I am loved.
I am loved.

All is forgiven.
All is forgiven.

Feel it.
Embody it.

Act as it.
Feel it as if It is here now.

What would it be like to allow yourself to be forgiven?
What would it be like to allow yourself to take in the love of the universe?

The universe loves you.
The universe loves you.

Feel it.
Receive it.

All is forgiven.
All is forgiven.

You are forgiven for not knowing what you didn’t know.
You are forgiven for not being perfect.

It is okay.
It is okay.

The earth is a school.
You have come for growth and learning.

This is why you are here.

Allow yourself to receive this:
Allow yourself to take it in.

The universe loves you.
The universe loves you.

You are forgiven.
You are forgiven.

Allow yourself to heal.
Allow yourself to receive.

Allow yourself to be at peace.
Allow yourself to be restored.

The universe loves you.
The universe loves you.

You are forgiven.
You are forgiven.

All is well.
All is well.

Out of this situation only good will come.
Out of this situation only good will come.

The universe loves you.
The universe loves you.

You are forgiven.
You are forgiven.
You are forgiven.

Allow the love of the universe to fill you.
Allow forgiveness to fill every cell of your body.

Know that you are loved.
Know that you are forgiven.

Be at peace.
Be at peace.

All is well.
All is well.
All is well.