Belonging starts with self-acceptance. Your level of belonging, in fact, can never be greater than your level of self-acceptance, because believing that you're enough is what gives you the courage to be authentic, vulnerable and imperfect - Brene Brown

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I aim to create a space that welcomes and accepts you as you are, so you feel seen, heard and received with whatever you bring.

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Full acceptance of self is not at all easy for most of us, especially when we are carrying the ghosts of traumas past, whose critical voices can hold us in the grip of unworthiness. In fact, it seems like a radical concept in these difficult times. When we struggle to be kind to ourselves, we need loving acceptance to be reflected back to us by another person, and if this is repeated enough, then we can internalise this message and be our own loving presence to our inner wounds. This co-regulation and connection with another is essential to our sense of belonging.

 

We exist in a society that rewards us for self-betrayal and reinforces the idea that our value is dependant on how perfect we can be and what we can offer, rather than believing we are inherently worthy, simply by existing, that we are inherently Love.

 

Self-acceptance isn’t about doing things ‘right’, on the contrary – self-acceptance throws arms open to all that is there. By embracing and welcoming the mess, the pain, the things that cause us to feel shame and perceive as imperfect, we create space for self-compassion and self-forgiveness. This radical approach seeks to challenge the binary capitalist idea of perfectionism and toxic positivity which robs us of our humanity.

 

We do not need to be fixed, we only need to be welcomed, received and accepted for who we are, as we are. 

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When we develop awareness of our heart centre, we learn to feel when the heart is opened or closed. We develop understanding of what opens and softens the heart, and what closes and protects the heart - and we accept both these states as valid, with kindness and compassion. 

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Rose as a love song

Rose is a foundational plant I work with and has a particular affinity with the heart, supporting more conscious perception of what the heart feels. Rose offers gentle loving holding while you explore that depths of your inner landscape. I believe plants, and Nature in general - the soft velvet of Rose’s petal, the sweet honey of blackbird’s song, the soothing waves on the seashore - are love songs, speaking in a language that only the soul can hear.