This past weekend I had the chance to go away for a short weekend getaway with one of my good girlfriends. Her and I always get into very [below the surface] type of conversations which I LIVE FOR. For me, the whole range of emotions we feel as human beings is beautiful, raw, and meant to be experienced fully. I am grateful to come into contact with others who are just as emotionally raw, passionate, and wild in spirit. She happens to be one of them. It was also the first time I spent time both away from husband and daughter! I wasn’t far at all but I realized how just necessary it is. To carve out time for yourself is really powerful  for you in your day to day life. You arrive at each morning a little bit refreshed and able to conquer, with a little more strut in your step, and more strength..everywhere. Add that in there with time with a good girlfriend, and you’ve got yourself a pretty good deal.

The past weekend got me thinking a lot about relationships in general. To evaluate each experience and ask yourself if a relationship/experience serves you or not. How many relationships do we have in our lives that are built from obligation/history? and how many are there because we really feel truly connected, happy, and alive within it? That is not to say that it always has to be all or nothing. Not every person will be e v e r y t h i n g. People also play roles in your life and each comes with their own light + gifts, so that’s not what I mean. Deep down you know which spaces and places, which people, do not always serve your higher purpose, your higher good. Deep down we know the relationships that we are better saying goodbye to, the on the surface, sort of- shallow situations that often drain us, but we keep up with them anyway, because either our society or our culture or our insecurities beg of us to do so.

But regardless of how seducing some situations and people may be for us, there are questions we should ask ourselves when we are actively putting our energy into things. Energy is all that you have. It is the compass that sets you forward, lights the way when you feel lost. And it shouldn’t get clouded, foggy, disrupted. It should stay clear, bold, and translucent. There are questions to be asked and Nayyirah Waheed says it perfectly here:

“things that should be asked often. in every type. of relationship: how is your heart. is your breath happy. here. do you feel free?”

I hope you answer, yes. But I also hope you have the courage to rise up and away, if the answer is “no.”

Much love & light on this particular Monday,

L