665 thoughts on “Mowing the Lawn – With Tenderness”

1. I agree with this statement, “that even when faced with doing difficult things, I can still choose my tenderness”. A great reminder that in anything, when we bring tenderness, then these difficult things aren’t difficult. It’s the mind that makes us believe that it is, but if we drop and connect to our bodies more then, it gives us what exactly is required.

   Thank you I needed to read this blog again as these movements are essential in every moment of our days.

2. When we look at things as being a mammoth task, then everything becomes tense, our thoughts, our bodies etc. When we treat everything with respect and honouring of how our bodies are feeling, then the support is given to us.

   This quality is in every moment of our lives, and the more often we do this, the more often we become sensitive to when it isn’t. Appreciate, appreciate, appreciate and more is revealed onto us.

   1. Our perception of things being mammoth are mind driven. The body has such universal intelligence, that it can surprise us, if we can call it a surprise to the human, the being isn’t.

3. Once I experience something in my body it stays with me, far longer than a memory and far more inspiring than any mentally rehearsed mantra to change any behaviours.

   1. The body is the marker of truth, so once we respond to it, it calls out to us more, we then cannot but respond to it, otherwise we are going against it. Against the flow of life that leaves us hard and exhausted and wondering why we feel the way we feel.

4. This makes me wonder how often we just override those moments when our body lets us know in its slightest movement calling for our attention. How different our day would feel if we could be more aware of and able to honour the truth our body is communicating.

5. “There is no perfection or any need to be the same as I was yesterday or any other day; there is simply a feeling and knowing that I am tender.” What a great line, sometimes I do feel pressure from myself to be like I was, but I can see the wisdom of letting this go and simply knowing who I am even if I can’t feel it.

6. A beautiful reflection that it is not what we do but how we are with ourselves with everything we do.

   1. We can choose to really enjoy what we are doing, ‘I also felt myself being very caring and loving of my body as I walked behind the mower, finding myself actually loving my lawn and loving what I was doing. Now this was rather remarkable as always before it has felt like a chore, something that I had to do, not something that I loved.’

7. “The moment I made that decision I felt my body tense up – it felt like it was preparing for an onslaught, an attack – like it had to harden to do this.” I know this feeling so well, it can come up in the most mundane situations like doing paperwork or housecleaning chores. It’s a feeling of having to throw ones self into it all akin to preparing for some kind of attack. And I agree, tenderness and love of oneself and our body is a much better way to be with our daily tasks!

   1. Our body is always communicating to us, if we listen, we then can honour the body’s wisdom, ‘This day though, when I felt my body tense up I acknowledged it and made the choice to be tender with my body as I prepared myself to mow. I honoured my feet and treated them with the utmost tenderness as I put on my socks and boots.’

8. I love the wisdom of the body and the more we allow ourselves to feel the truth on offer, the more we realise and can let go of the many layers of disregard, hardening and contraction that we have accepted as ‘normal’ that are in fact an abuse to who we are and our natural way of being. Thank you Leigh for offering the opportunity for us to reflect on how valuable it is to deepen our relationship with honouring the wisdom from our bodies so we are guided to live the truth and power of who we are.

   1. To treat ourselves with honour can take various forms. From the obvious attention to detail when dressing, to the less obvious thoughts of whether the better quality food, clothes and so on are worth it, whether we are worth it. The more we feel the worth of ourselves, the more wisdom we have access to.

      1. I have occasionally stopped, and rested, after cutting half my lawn, because my body was feeling very tired, ‘I mowed half of the lawn and as I had been doing previously, I felt to stop and do the remainder another time.’

9. There is a momentum in the way I treat my body, a momentum of being less tender than my body is communicating, a momentum of getting the job done. I have made steps, already huge steps towards living with more of the tenderness that is within but it feels as though I am asked to take the next step. Thank you for the inspiration to live with and in tenderness.

   1. Even if the task is a bit daunting, we can choose tenderness, ‘This whole experience was very poignant for it has shown me that even when faced with doing difficult things, I can still choose my tenderness. ‘

10. Simply yet powerfully said Brendan – thank you.

11. ‘As I continue to explore this feeling of tenderness each day, there is a joy and a lightness within me. ‘ I love the simplicity of what you share Leigh, bringing tenderness to everything we do is a game changer.

12. How powerful it is to have a deeply honest relationship with our bodies where we can feel subtleties of when we begin to contract, so we then can read what is going on, address it and free ourselves to deepen once again in our connection to love so we move in honor of the tender love we are in essence.

13. Before our next move, we prepare for it energetically, for good or bad.

14. What I love about the body is that when we are listening and willing to work to its rhythm with every next step it reveals us more we can let go of.

15. I can so relate to the body hardening up in anticipation of an event/action. It’s like the body’s auto-response kicks in as it recalls the past experiences, and registers what is coming as something that it needs to battle against. What I can feel from your sharing is that it is not about re-writing the body’s memory with a more palatable version, but allowing it to connect and express from and with what is innately true, by us getting out of its way.

16. I have always used a lot of push and drive to get through life especially with more physical tasks, what you share here Leigh is gold and reminds us of the quality in how we move makes a huge difference not only to how our bodies feel but the loving imprint we leave behind.

17. This is a great example Leigh of how breaking up what feels like an overwhelming job into smaller tasks supports the quality of the outcome.

    1. Yes, not getting overwhelmed by the over-all task but simply taking it one step at a time.

18. A great blog to read thank you Leigh for sharing how bringing tenderness into what we are doing brings so much joy and fun. My garden at the moment is quite neglected because I cannot working it in the old way of rushing and pushing my body until it reacts, as I learn to develop tenderness with myself i will be able to bring this to my garden with asking for the much needed help this is required for me to be more loving to me.

19. You will feel a spring in your step when you walk on the lawn when it is mown with such love.

    1. Yes, there is so much beauty in this, the imprint we leave behind is felt by everyone and all, and if it is done with love and care it is so very welcoming and beholding of us all.

20. When we feel something inside us that invites us to change our movements (that is to withdraw from where we were and from where it was natural to be), we have to say yes to it for it to be able to change our movements. Otherwise, it does not happen.

21. It feels great and is very supportive when we bring a different quality to what we are doing, how we are doing it and then clock the effect on our physical body and how we feel.

22. Gorgeous to return to this blog and feel the grace that we can live with when we move in connection to our bodies and be guided by the truth that resides therein. This is true power as the quality of tenderness reflects our true way of being.

23. Thank you Leigh for showing us what tenderness is when mowing the lawn and we can be with ourselves in a tender way!

24. Nothing beats the smell of freshly cut grass or the feel of a freshly mown lawn. I always loved feeling this as a kid and doing the lawns once a week just to keep it all in order. These simple pleasures are soon overlooked when we don’t take the care of ourselves in the process.

25. I love the look and smell of a freshly cut lawn but I don’t like mowing it myself. That aside the article is bringing us to feel what and how we need to be at any point, connected to how we are truly feeling. It doesn’t matter what we do but the quality we are when when do it is important. No matter how many times this is said there seems to be always another part or level to feel or see.

26. Tenderness is a lovely quality to bring to everything we do, and feels so much more exquisite for our body than how most of us function on a day to day basis.

    1. It sure is Lorraine – I agree, well said. When we move with tenderness there is a depth of realness that supersedes the mere functionality of how we generally move through our day.

27. What an amazing thing to see Leigh, that we can finish something because we are tired and can do no more or we can finish it because our body feels for now it is enough and to honour this. This is subtle but very different the first is pushing to the limits while the second is about being in quality with and honouring the body, a very important distinction.

28. This is a great reminder that there is nothing that we cannot bring the quality of tenderness to – for example – how we lift something, hang washing, move the lawn, wash dishes, make beds, approach the office desk, pick up a cup, drive our car – can be felt by everyone all of the time (even if seemingly unaware of it. What a gift for humanity and the world if we all chose to live this way.

29. What a lovely sharing and great reminder that we can choose tenderness in everything we do, ‘This whole experience was very poignant for it has shown me that even when faced with doing difficult things, I can still choose my tenderness.’

30. Quality is not a word we often think about in relation to how we do things, yet it is the absolute answer to the horrors of illness and disease we now experience in our world. Bringing a quality of love and tenderness to all of our actions changes how our body feels and functions, as well as placing into our world that there is a known quality, a steady, sure and absolute way of living, for all to feel.

31. What becomes very clear with your experience here is that it is not about either doing it or not doing it but that it is the quality we are in that not only changes how we feel but also the quality of the outcome.

32. Leigh I enjoyed reading your blog. It makes me consider all things I do on a regular basis and the expectation I have that because its the same task, I should automatically do it in the same way, but this is not the case. Each day and each time I come to do a task, everything is different and it’s great to stay open to doing it in the way that is needed in that moment.

    1. It never ceases to surprise me as to how, if we ask, there is another, more streamlined, easier or fun way to do a task. Yes absolutely, each time we come to a task, everything is different.

33. Something so simple and profound. There is another way to go about life, a way where we honour ourselves and allow ourselves to be the tender and delicate beings that we are.

34. Thank you Leigh. Ever since I read your blog the first time, I find myself reminding me to mow the lawn “with tenderness”. It makes a huge difference to just stop and respect my body.

35. Awesome blog Leigh as I wouldn’t have thought it was possible to mow a lawn with tenderness, but you have proven me wrong as anything we do in life can be done in tenderness if we remain connected to this quality and don’t harden up in anyway and the best part is we leave behind a beautiful imprint that is a blessing for all to feel.

36. Thankyou Leigh, I have not read this for a while, today I have been inspired to bring more awareness to how tender and loving I can be with my daily tasks. I have also found that Esoteric Yoga sessions naturally connect me to these qualities and support me to bring them into my daily living. It’s quite an amazing modality.

37. One thing I have noticed when doing something that would generally tire my body out is, it’s the disconnection from my body which is causing the most tiredness not the action itself.

    1. I have noticed that also Kim, my tiredness has a lot to do with the quality of energy I am moving in and whether or not I’m connected to me, my body and my essence. If I am checked out in my mind or rushing it has a big effect.

38. Beautiful how you created your own flow through bringing tenderness to your movement, and mowed the lawn in bite size pieces rather than having an expectation that you needed to do it all in order to get the job done, when we do things from feeling our own tenderness first, things like mowing the lawn don’t seem to be anywhere near as tiring because we move with our body, rather than pushing or driving our way through.

39. I really relate to how we can go into tension before launching into certain motion or activity, and I can feel how so long I have been overriding it, ignoring the built up that has become the residual hardness – which is contra to the natural, true quality of my make-up. My body is asking for forever more tenderness to be brought back in, and your sharing here is so timely and very inspiring for me.

40. This blogs show clearly that our body knows and is a clear marker for us to follow. When we wonder in our minds in what is best to do, we are not fully connected to our body and with that in disregard with it and perhaps in disregard with causing it to suffer pain and exhaustion.

41. To realize you can choose and hold onto doing things with tenderness regardless of how difficult they may seem is profound… for so many of us lose ourselves and harden in the face of a challenge but as you have shown it is sometimes the hardening that makes something a challenge.

42. “This whole experience was very poignant for it has shown me that even when faced with doing difficult things, I can still choose my tenderness” Beautiful Leigh. I have still found that i tend to ‘get things done’ believing I can be ‘tender’, ‘still’ etc when I have accomplished all I need to do – Crackers! Starting out with the quality of tenderness and then ‘doing’ changes everything.

43. When we lovingly prepare ourselves for any task the task is always attended with far more integrity and grace than whenever we rush to just tick that box off.

    1. Indeed Suse, there is a completely different agenda in the mind than there is in the body.

44. I love that not the mowing of the lawn has become the focus but the way you are with yourself. This is enormous and as it shows it is then not important what we do, as our body finds a way to do it that is according to its rhythm and movement, making every task at hand a joy for us to experience as we feel in sync with ourselves and moving with ourselves.

45. When we perform any task from a place of self love and gentleness, it is a whole different experience – as you prove from your mowing example. Pretty cool to know we can do this in any of our daily tasks.

46. Reading your blog again Leigh supports me to choose tenderness in everything I do as much as possible, without perfection but through listening to my body and connecting to this beautiful quality you are sharing-tenderness. I notice when I am gardening a similar tension appears in my body and I am learning to not use my body in this way by being more aware of how I am feeling and then adjust accordingly.

47. This shows that there is never a routine within a repetition of something as every moment counts and how we are with ourselves.

48. Through building a relationship with our bodies, we develop an awareness of how our bodies are feeling and as such we are presented the truth of when we are not being ourselves, when we feel tension, feel ourselves hardening or feel that we are bracing ourselves in protection. And through this awareness and honesty we are able to make a choice; to return to the being in the quality of our essence and move in honor of who we are with the very next step or not. What you have shared Leigh beautifully highlights how we can live in the graceful power of who we are, when we move in honor of our tenderness, and how natural this actually is for us.

49. This is a beautiful reminder for me to be tender with myself and honour what my body is communicating to me. I notice when I am gardening and pulling out weeds, I tend to go into hardness and want to get the job done. I can feel my body harden but often ignore it and carry on. By being aware of how my body feels is great, so if I choose to approach whatever I am doing with more tenderness and choose to be more gentle on my body, I would be less tired, less likely to hurt myself and be able to enjoy and love what I am doing. I am learning to not make gardening a chore but a loving way to nurture the plants and myself.

50. A beautiful example of the mower showing how we push ourselves when undertaking routine tasks that we perceive as a chore. When we chose to be tender with ourselves we are no longer fighting the task and pushing, it becomes part of the tender rhythm of whatever we are doing.

51. ‘I am beginning to realise that my rhythm of living is actually loving and tender.’ My downfall can still be to regard an activity as ‘hard’ rather than approaching it in the flow of my rhythm and allowing my tenderness to support me as I undertake whatever it is. The more I see my day or even life as a whole the less this happens but old habits can still creep in unnoticed when I am tired or have been taking less care of myself. A beautiful reminder that it is never about the activity but how we approach it.

52. So often I have avoided gardening (and then gone at it way too hard and too long) because I start to tense up with the thought that it is hard work and my lower back will hurt by then end of it so before I have even set foot in my garden I have pre-judged the activity. It is so lovely to read how you made different choices and the outcome was quite different – it is not about the activity it is how we are with ourselves and we always have the opportunity to start afresh. Thank you for the inspiration to bring tenderness to my mowing and gardening in general.

    1. I can so relate to your comment Helen. I do exactly the same. I live on 15 acres with lots of tress around our house. There is constantly leaf litter everywhere and I have been avoiding clearing it because I go into making the task seem like it’s too big in my head. Every time I go outside I have a little reminder to do a section at a time but I ignore this message. Really, I don’t have to go and clean out all of it at once but like what Leigh shared, I find very supportive, is to lovingly work on a section at a time and use this opportunity to connect with myself and with nature. This blog and your comment is inspiring me to do this today. To clear the leaves and put them in my veggie garden a bit at a time, doing it with tenderness, love and then the paths will feel amazing to walk on.

53. What you share is great, if we go about our day that we need to complete tasks then we creating them as chores and that already feels heavy and a burden, but when we go with the intention that we will honour our body while we go through our tasks it no longer feels like a burden.

54. It goes to show Leigh, if we change the quality that we do our tasks in it is quite possible that they will become simpler and often far more enjoyable to complete.

55. Just beautiful to read Leigh, thank you for expressing the tenderness of your living ways.

56. Beautiful Leigh, I can so relate to being and honoring my tenderness in not just the mowing of the lawn but in all that I do. Your story is a great reminder. Thank you.

57. It’s fascinating how, when we acknowledge the body, where it’s at, how it’s feeling and then match our actions, pace and gentleness to what it needs, then our tasks and issues seem to go way more easily. It’s a form of respect and honouring that then cuts both ways (and not just on a lawn!)

58. Leigh I appreciate your sharing, and have realised that we can be tender in whatever we are doing throughout the day. I mow the lawn too, and take it a little at a time, but to do so with tenderness is such as change from ” having” to do it and choosing a different attitude makes all the difference.

    1. This morning i went for walk and it was very cold here in Germany. I choose to feel my whole body and choose to feel my tenderness and walked in that quality. It was very beautiful to focus on the quality of tenderness and the cold did not matter any longer but me confirming with every step my tenderness – delicious!

59. This blog is very beautiful Leigh. It shows that if we start the day with an established quality, it serves as a foundation for the rest of the day and offers the space for greater and deeper learnings throughout our day. If you did not have that foundation you would not have connected so deeply to the power of mowing with tenderness and care.

    1. Dear Joshua, What you share is so important for it notes that we have the choice to establish the quality, i.e. choose our tenderness and live by it.

60. During the retreat in Vietnam we learned to connect to a quality through the gentle breath and feeling our fingertips and to choose this quality for whatever movement we are doing. And than to deepen this quality. For me it was about tenderness and delicateness and to allow this quality to be in everything I do and therefore confirm it in my body.

    1. As I read your comment Janina, I can feel the importance of being present and fully in and with our bodies, so that we can enjoy our tenderness and delicateness in our movements and in how we connect with those around us.

61. Now this was rather remarkable as always before it has felt like a chore, something that I had to do, not something that I loved.“
    Reading this i realized what a set up it is if we see chores like mowing the lawn or cleaning the house as something we have to do but not really like or enjoy doing. Because we set ourselves up to do it in way or quality which is in resistance and therefore harming ourselves.
    I often cleaned my house with frustration as i often waited until it was dirty and than i was frustrated about not taking care at earlier time and having to do it all together. But today i can also see it as take care of the place i choose to live in wanting to have it clean and tidy and beautiful.

62. “I can feel I am tender and the feeling of living this way is exquisite. There is no perfection or any need to be the same as I was yesterday or any other day; there is simply a feeling and knowing that I am tender.“ Life is changing once we allow to drop our hard shell and feel the tender sweetness within us.

63. This is a beautiful tender piece of writing Leigh and it shares how nothing is grander than the tenderness we hold within. Thank you.

    1. I deeply agree nothing is grander than tenderness Kelly.

64. Thanks Leigh for sharing your experience of mowing the lawn with tenderness, which is a great reminder for any task we do in life. I know when I go to clean the house I sometimes get into the busyness of it and my body tenses up, but when I choose to work with a certain quality and tenderness my body feels a lot lighter and the work becomes a joy not a chore.

    1. I am avoiding deepening the level of tenderness that i am in moving my body with not the care that is possible and often harden or push my body. Even there is already a lot of tenderness there which i can appreciate. Is it possible that in avoiding to live in a deeper quality of tenderness we avoid showing our sensitivity and fragility..

       1. I think it is not only possible that we avoid showing our sensitivity and fragility, but a reality. To allow ourselves to live from our sensitive, fragile, vulnerable selves, we have to break through the constructs of growing up that sees such rawness as weak and emotional. The more I surrender to my tenderness, yes the more sensitive I am, but at the same time the stronger I am in my body and myself. This supports me to continue to develop my tenderness, expanding it across as many aspects of my life as I can, knowing that even this is constantly expanding and changing.

    2. I agree Anna,
       The joy of being fully in my body as I move while cleaning my house has a profound affect. I no longer get the vacuum cleaner caught, I no longer bang and crash at things and I dance with the mop. Most of all when I am done I feel the tenderness in my house that I have worked in and this tenderness then supports me for the coming week. I love feeling my tenderness around me as I move through my home.

       1. This brings a new approach to activities like cleaning our house which many people don’t like doing. We have the choice to imprint our home in a quality which supports and nourishes us and others. Joyful to imagine you dancing with the mop Leigh 🙂

       2. Just hoovering my floor with tenderness and care! Walking on it feels amazing, Leigh, thank you for sharing you beauty and lived experience with us.

       3. That is gorgeous Janina, I love how my bare feet snuggle into my mats when I have cleaned in my tenderness.

       4. Just participating in a Chris James workshop (singing and expression). He invited us to sing very tenderly with no pushing. I realized much i avoid to feel the level of tenderness and fragility that i am. But i realized that i can give myself the permission to be tender and to show this to other people no longer wearing a mask or going into hardness to overplay my innate qualities.

       5. During the workshop with Chris James i also realized that i can feel very vulnerable in one moment and then switch into function mode, this is something i have trained myself in. It is in a way playing a role, doing what ever needs to be done but not staying in connection to feel myself or others. And this is not the way i want to continue living. Understanding that it is a strength to be tender and fragile.

65. It’s been quite a while since I last mowed the lawns, but I do recall what it was like and that generally speaking there was not a lot of tenderness and gentleness in doing this, and I can now feel that this came from wanting to get the job done and therefore often ‘pushing through’ regardless of feeling tired, hot or sore etc. This is a great reminder that we can bring in gentleness to whatever we are doing and how different it feels when we do..

    1. Agreed Angela,
       It is amazing how much more pleasurable a job becomes when we are tender with ourselves when we do it. Something else I have noticed is that in my tenderness I am focused and with what I am doing and often this means I am completing the job with such ease and awareness that it takes less time. An awesome phenomena that I continue to appreciate.

66. Pingback: “One Step At a Time – Anything Else is Just Too Tricky!” « The Truth about Serge Benhayon

67. Sometimes it is the mundane routine tasks that offer us the greatest lessons. We approach a task in a certain way because that is how we have always done it but it is lovely to stop and be gentle and the mundane can become very special and an opportunity for self-care and self-awareness.

68. Great Blog leigh, It presents clearly how the chosen quality of being affects what and how we do tasks like mowing the lawn.

69. What I really take away from your blog today Leigh is that we can choose the quality that we do things in. Hardening up to mow the lawn may have been normal for you but it was not a given, it was a choice, just as choosing tenderness that day. I am gradually bringing more attention to this and so to read your experience is really supportive, thank you.

70. Wonderful Leigh your blog is very inspirational for me so thank you so much for not holding back about your great experience with mowing. I love what your share: “This whole experience was very poignant for it has shown me that even when faced with doing difficult things, I can still choose my tenderness.” I could observe in me the same tendency to harden up if I am about to do a thing that seems to be a bit difficult for me. With what I have read and felt in your awesome blog I can now explore as well my other way of being with it – wunderbar.

71. This morning I turned a tap on in the garden using too much force, and my thumb immediately responded by forming a red lump and feeling sore. So I am re-reading your blog Leigh, as I get a lesson from my body now whenever I am not being gentle and tender. It is so much wiser to choose tenderness in the first place, thank you for sharing your experience with mowing the lawn.

72. Thank you Leigh for sharing this inspiring reminder. That regardless of whatever is task is needed to be done we can always choose to move with the tenderness of who we natural are.

73. How amazingly different things are when we do them with love and tenderness.

74. This is a great reminder for me to read today. As so often I would start off in my tenderness particularly when working on bigger jobs in the garden then little by little I would allow distraction in. Now I have started to ‘nip this in the bud’ as during those moments it is so easy to push my body physically to over stretching, over reaching and heavy lifting etc which in turn can result in pulled muscles and pain.(my body revealing the truth of my choices) So to keep tuning in and feeling that inner tenderness the job gets done with no pushing or pain – what a difference.

    1. That is beautiful Marion.
       What you say here is also how I am now working with my body and yes the difference is marked. I love my body dearly and am way more in tune since I made the choice to stay with it and to support it in very practical ways. As you say no more over stretching or over reaching. Simply positioning my body how it needs to be so that it is fully supported as I go about what I am doing. The honour I feel in doing this is very stilling.

75. i love how such an unlikely job as lawn mowing can be used to express tenderness. This is ground breaking, there is a way to be with ourselves no matter what we are doing. We cant blame the activity or our ‘lot’ in life, we always have choices.

76. I’ve always rushed mowing the lawns like it’s a total inconvenience and there are better things to do with my time. What those better things are I don’t know, as all it comes down to is a lack of responsibility for my lawns. I don’t even care for my lawn mower. When I’m finished I just turn it off and put it straight back into the shed, I don’t even bother hosing the grass off it. Wow I can really feel the energy of how I have been mowing my lawns in and it feels awful. Oh my gosh what other jobs around the house do I do in this irresponsible energy? Thank you so much Leigh for exposing the way I have been living, I’m going to go and get my mower serviced 🙂

    1. Dear Lindell,
       I so giggled at how you have been mowing the lawn. I too used to resent it and rush it.
       I have always cared for my mower, though the energy again was knowing I had to do it and as I was tired from pushing myself to get the whole lawn done in one go, it used to be with annoyance. So yep I giggled. Why ever do we treat ourselves this way, as I do still have to stay aware and observant, for this momentum still sometimes arises. Yet another opportunity for me to address it in another aspect of my life. Knowing tenderness and constantly choosing it, even on those days where my body feels battered, actually especially on these days is setting up a different momentum that I can now choose with much more ease.

       1. It’s all about learning and understanding who we are. Once we are aware that we no longer hold our stillness and we choose to reconnect – well it’s a learning curve isn’t it until in time we choose stillness permanently because to not be still would feel absolutely horrible in our bodies. It feels horrible now as I’m still learning but I am yet to understand why and what it is doing on a grander scale.

       2. Dear Lindell,
          Yes most definitely, it is a learning curve, everyday another something is felt and offered for me to bring stillness and acceptance to. As you say it is uncomfortable, but not listening and responding is even more hurtful in my body. What I love is that I am now understanding there is no perfection, just a growing and expanding love.

77. “need to be the same as I was yesterday”. This is a great comment Leigh. If I have a really good day, one where I’m really connected, I try to repeat yesterday to relive it in the new day and it never works and I wonder why I can’t recreate it. Thanks to your blog I now know to just stay connected to me as this connection has no days or nights, it just is.

78. Just coming back from an amazing retreat with Chris James about true expression with our voice and body. We were invited and reminded to reconnect to our innate tenderness and drop our protection and masks. Often during the week-end men and women were encouraged to face each other and sing from their hearts and without a masks. This was deeply healing to feel the equality between men and women and that i do not need to protect myself from men. That men and women in their essence equally sweet and tender. That is the way to let go of our hurts and to live love with our partners, friends, families.

79. “This whole experience was very poignant for it has shown me that even when faced with doing difficult things, I can still choose my tenderness.”
    This is huge Leigh what you express here in this blog. Really there are no reasons why we should not honor the delicate and tender essence that we are and not compromise it. This is something we need to learn and embrace once we allow to let go of hurts we have experienced and feel the love in our hearts and share that love with others reconnecting to the tender and sweetness we are.

80. So true Brendan,
    There are many jobs that simply need to be done and the way we do them is what counts. We can harden, push through to just get it done. Or we can prepare for the job at hand, hold our connection to ourselves and enjoy doing it in our day. The latter feels so beautiful that it has become the norm for me.

81. I enjoyed coming back to your blog Leigh; such a lovely tender reminder to be self tender and loving.

82. I recently gave a session to somebody and realized how instantly i became very caring and tender in the way i treated the person. Afterwards i was wondering why don’t I treat myself with the same love, care and tenderness. This was amazing to realize and this is something i will focusing on. Imagine what quality i can reflect and bring when i embody stronger a depth of self love and self care. Wow!

83. I love the way all along your blog, every choice you make is based on how your body feels, you constantly come back to your body, and what unfolds of that is very interesting. Just by paying attention and putting your focus on your body and how it feels, not only you have more and more awareness, but also the love increases enormously.

84. Yesterday I played the piano and caught myself just hitting it hard at times or and not with a conscious choosen quality. Then I reminded myself to play it tenderly. Later I went for a walk with my dog and placed my hand on my collar bones which felt so tender and delicate. With that quality I walked my walk.
    Before I went to bed I send a what app to a friend wishing him tender night. Which I never did before, I always wished good night. This had an impact on the way I went to bed. I prepared my bed with care and tenderness. I put myself to bed with care and enjoyed lying down with me. This is not how I usually feel when I go to bed. But what an inspiring experience to bring my the tenderness into my life in what ever I do. Wow!

    1. Wow. Is the word. It feels beautiful and magical when we live this way. Was beautiful to feel your joy Janina.

       1. Today in a meditation group and at some point was in my head, thinking. So i reconnected to my body in lifting my finger above my leg and very tenderly put them back on my leg. To feel my fingertips with tenderly had such a strong impact on my body suddenly feeling absolute and with me. I repeated it a few time. Amazing the Power of tenderness.

85. I made a similar experience like you Leigh. When I started to mow the lawn around our house, I actually allowed the mower to determine the pace I was mowing – it is a mower with a gas pedal. But pretty soon, I realized this doesn’t make sense. When I mow, I walk ME and I mow in this pace my body tells me.

    1. Alexander1207,
       It feels so simple when we work with our body. What I continue to notice, is how much easier the tasks I do are, my body holds a wealth of knowledge, with many ways of doing things that I had not thought of before.

86. Any manual task can be done with tenderness, do I do it all the time? No! but I am a far cry from the crash, bang and wallop person I was years ago thanks to living in a more gentle way in all areas of my life.

87. This is a great revelation for all, it is never what we do (mostly) but how we do it. I remember Curtis Benhayon showing me how to lift something heavy as I was telling him often I have to do that if I am travelling on my own or in the house on my own – some things practically just need to be done. He shared with me something along the lines of, first honour that you are a woman, that you have a physical and delicate body and from there approach what you have to lift and how you are going to lift it, and take your time.. we then lifted something together and it worked. I have never forgotten this and each time I remind myself that I am not designed to lift heavy things but that I am also capable of a lot as long as I take my time, don’t brace my body, and rest when needed.

    1. Thank you for sharing this terrianneconnors, it is great support, I am often in the same situation, where something just has to be done. It actually feels really powerful to honour myself as a woman first and to support the delicate body that I actually have as I go about lifting and moving heavy things.

    2. This is a great reminder terrianneconnors. I like Curtis Benhayon’s advice here. Honouring me as a woman first in my delicateness and physicality and then moving from this foundation rather than just avoiding lifting things… At times this may be the case, but just bringing it back to honouring me first.

    3. This is crucial terrieannconnors what you share here. If we harden up to carry something heavy than we actually hurt our body.

88. ‘It has shown me that even when faced with doing difficult things, I can still choose my tenderness.’ This is so true, I had to do a stock take at work recently which was quite hard work and tough on my body, and lifting a lot of heavy things and I kept going back and back to moving tenderly and the delicateness in my hands. It was tiring but I felt great after.

    1. Shirt, Nathalie and Meg
       This was probably the greatest realisation that I had with my experience in mowing my lawn tenderly. Knowing that I that I am worth being tender with has been instrumental in my being able to be still and choose my tenderness when faced with difficult situations.

       1. There is a deep honouring of yourself involved isn’t there? It feels lovely, and I could also feel at the same time in that honouring, I held everyone around me with a huge amount of tenderness and respect.

       2. That is exactly how it feels Meg, beautifully said.

89. So simple, yet so very powerful! Thank you for an inspirational blog, Leigh. This sentence is key for me, because it applies to everything we do, whether faced with difficult or easy things: “..even when faced with doing difficult things, I can still choose my tenderness.”

    1. I agree Nathaliesterk such an important reminder to honor us as tender and delicate women and men first-no matter what going on around us and “doing difficult things”.

90. “when faced with doing difficult things, I can still choose my tenderness”
    This is awesome Leigh, such a lovely example of being in our tenderness no matter what task we are doing.

91. Its not so very long ago that, if someone told me they tenderly mowed their lawn, I would have chuckled in disbelief, envisaging this taking an inordinate amount of time. Now, having experienced tenderness in my own body and knowing how the expression of that tenderness changes the quality in every part of life, I chuckle with joy and understanding. Thank you Leigh, our bodies are treasure troves of truth if we but open the lid, its all there.

92. Choosing to do your daily activities with tenderness is not only self-loving, but is beautiful for those around you to experience. Thanks Leigh

93. Isn’t it extraordinary what our body can reveal to us if only we stop to feel what it is offering and honour this – and it is always our choice.

    1. My body is becoming my best friend, the truth it offers to me is far greater than I could ever have imagined. Having the strength to listen and to respond to it is life changing.

       1. This is so true Leigh, our body is indeed our best friend with the absolute truth that it offers us in each and every moment. And as you have shared, as we deepen in our resolve to honouring and living the tenderness that we naturally are, the clarity of its communication becomes more and more refined. So beautiful – thank you.

94. Your written words capture your tender ways too Leigh, thank you for sharing.

95. I can feel the same thing when I know I have a lot to do at work, or if there is a hard task ahead, I find myself pushing through and then feeling exhausted by the end of it all.
    This is definitely something I will bring into practice more and more.
    Thank you.

96. Thank you Leigh for your sharing and showing that there is always another way or choice and your choice to be love and tender feels so right and enjoyable.

    1. It is Michaelpearson. The joy of feeling my tenderness and the simple fun of feeling the fluidity of that in my body is truly the best feeling – ever.

       1. I can know understand what you describe here Leigh. I had an experience today in a day workshop with Chris James about singing and expressing. He invited us to connect to our tenderness and sing with this quality. I have never felt so much tenderness in my body. It actually caressed the inside of my body. I did not care anymore if i was heard or singing loud enough but just to express with this exquisite feeling of tenderness which flow through my whole body.

       2. That is so beautiful Janina. I know what you mean when you say your tenderness caressed the inside of your body. To fully accept that my tenderness is the true me, that it is not something I choose occasionally or at special events is now highest in my mind. And I find that by choosing to be present and fully in my body, that I naturally feel tender, I naturally feel me.

97. A delight to read about the choices you made to honour how your body was feeling in relation to an everyday situation such as mowing the lawn. It really goes to show that it’s how we choose to be with ourselves in each and every moment and the degree to which we listen to our bodies that creates the foundation for how our next moment is going to be.

    1. So true Cathy, and the degree with which I listen deepens every day. Living honouring my tenderness has and continues to be a work in progress, one that I am enjoying in full, as I have never before felt such beauty and divinity.

98. Tenderness, being tender or choosing to be tender is one of the most needed qualities in our society, where most of the things are done the hard way. It changes totally the way of being with one’s body. Thank you for the reminder that we are able to be tender.

    1. I agree Kerstin. What i love so much about the pelvic floor exercises classes you give that you support the body to reconnect to it´s tenderness and that was so very healing and supportive for me.

99. When I have tended to my garden with care, patience and love it rewards me in so many beautiful ways, not to mention the fruit, flowers, birds and bees. When I have been in a percieved hurry with time pressures, it can almost look like its been under seige. Often the lawn is the last job and it has not always received the same level of care. Your article has presented another dimension to how I can be in my beloved garden. Thanks Leigh.

    1. I am the complete opposite to you Jennifer. My garden is often in dire need of tender loving care, yet I have found this difficult to commit to because I really don’t like the physical difficulty of removing weeds and some horrible take over grasses. I have often said to myself that I would love to garden if I didn’t have to deal with weeds. Just recently I bought myself some pots and have planted a few vegetables on my verandah (the weeds don’t seem to get into my plants that are on my verandah). It was really fun to do this, can’t wait to see how they produce now.

100. This is a good reminder for me as I mow lawns and do gardening for a living . All of my tasks can be done with tenderness if I am able to remain present. This is something I have been practicing for years but am still by no means an expert.

     1. Nor am I Kevin, but I am an expert at continuing to bring my tenderness into my life. It simply feels too yummy not to.

101. Being truly tender is the answer to health and wellbeing.

     1. Yes Kerstin, self care and being tender and gentle with ourselves is the antidote to much of our illness and disease and if not the full antidote, certainly the foundation for engaging any other necessary support to use in conduction with self care.

102. Thank you for this blog, it was a joy to read ❤

103. Leigh, whenever we do one thing in tenderness it lays a platform for doing the next thing in tenderness until tenderness becomes an integral part of our Livingness. As you say, “I can feel I am tender and the feeling of living this way is exquisite”. One way I remind myself to be tender with my body is to be more aware that my body comes from divinity so I constantly ask myself “how would God do this?”

     1. Great question Anne, mine has been to ask how would Jesus do this. It always stills me when I stop and ask this question.

        1. Thank you Anne and Leigh that is a beautiful reminder to use in stressful times at work “how would God do this or how would Jesus do this’. My work is still an area in my life that could use more tenderness, there is still the energy I have got to get the job done in time. The aspect time brings in the tension, no that is not true, the aspect donot want to let anyone down brings in the tension and makes me letting myself down. And thus anyone as it is always about energy. My tenderness is something to cherish even in stressful times I will take this into my day.

104. No matter what we do, if we begin with the first step in connection and a choice to feel our tenderness, we set ourselves up for the next step to be tender and in connection. And so the rhythm goes. This conscious effort soon becomes a normal choice and an amazing rhythm that fortifies our whole being.

105. Leigh I love your sharing. The more tenderness we are the more loving we are with everything. I know from personal experience that it is the most routine thing that brings me so much joy – but of course it’s not the thing itself it’s me feeling my own tenderness and beauty and whatever I touch or do then becomes so beautiful to do because I love feeling that quality of movement where I am so super tender and caring for myself. It’s a real joy to feel that and thanks to Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicince it deepens and deepens within.

     1. Fiona, it so is a joy to feel our tenderness as we go about our days. I love it!

     2. This is lovely Fiona, ‘from personal experience that it is the most routine thing that brings me so much joy – but of course it’s not the thing itself it’s me feeling my own tenderness and beauty’, i have noticed that since I have been living in a more gentle, loving way and feeling my own natural tenderness more and more that I now enjoy all the ‘chores’ I was telling someone that I work with yesterday how much i enjoy ironing, after reading your comment i now realise why I enjoy theses things so much more – because I am feeling my own tenderness and beauty, this makes sense to me, thank you.

106. The lawn never had it so good.

     1. Lol.. I’ve never had it so good neither Dean.

107. I love the title of this blog. It is such an anathema in ordinary speak yet I know that it is not only possible but do-able – I must admit I am still in the beginning years of my tenderness apprenticeship but it is amazing how my body appreciates the change and how much more I enjoy myself in the process.

108. I mowed the lawn over the weekend with this blog in mind. Plenty of times I caught myself pushing me as well as the mower and was reminded to be tender with me … a great lesson in gently as you go, thanks Leigh! I’m going to apply this to the vacuuming too.

     1. Beautiful Helen, the feeling of tenderness is so very infectious. I am finding that the more I bring it into my life, the more I want to apply it to everything I do. It truly is like nothing I have ever before experienced. I find myself smiling just because I feel so beautiful.

109. That’s inspiring! I myself learn more and more how to do things tenderly instead of hardening up – as I used to. The body has – as yours obviously had as well – something like a mind. A body mind. So when I choose to do things my body remembers how it was the last time I did it. And by sensing my physical reaction I can feel whether my body feels fine and have already re-imprinted the love into that certain action or if there is still tension of fear of what’s going to happen. Then I – as you share – have a chance to stop and surrender – and change the way I do the things. Sometimes it hurts to feel how much I have “used” my body to function in order for my brain wanted things to be.

     1. Christina, this has been my experience too. I smile every time I feel the love that I left last time. I even smile when I discover an area that I left without love, because (most times) I can feel why and it so amuses me, the reasons to not do things lovingly are many, but the feeling of doing things lovingly wins out in the end.

        1. True – that’s what keeps up the joy – that it can never be covered by the damage of unconscious left behinds. Love is always what lasts in the end…*

110. This reminds me of being an angry teenager and trying to force things. When things wouldn’t open or go my way, my father would say do it gently, and then with ease, for example the lid would come off and I could feel how putting the effort and exertion into being hard was really futile.

     1. I love your Dad Michelle I can feel the stillness and assuredness that he offered you. Absolutely beautiful. What a great teaching in the beginnings of your life.

111. Yes totally Brendan. I have for many years not had a problem with the doing but the years get harder and harder. Now my focus is on the quality in which I am doing what ever work I am doing. The quality really is the key in all areas of life.

112. Thanks Leigh, I have found the same thing whilst working – feeling resentful, rushing, being exhausted at the end and wondering why it took so long!! Then when I am more loving with my body, the easier the job is, I do it in less time and feel great afterwards, ha, is that a miracle?

     1. You are the miracle Mark Payne. I know the preasure that comes at me, pushing me to rush and to forgo my tenderness. It takes great commitment to ignore this push and to remain gentle. Making this choice is a miracle every time.

     2. This is my experience too. Go at it hard, and it is long and exhausting. Go at it gently, it is with ease and feels like a flow.

113. Thank you Leigh for sharing your experience of mowing the lawn with tenderness. I often mow my lawn and like yourself have not always considered it a pleasure, but from now on I’ll see it in a different light. There are also many other areas of my life that I too could bring tenderness to and I am sure I would feel so different and appreciative of the result.

114. I’ve been feeling a number of areas of my life where I resist doing things in the quality of tenderness and instead go into the tick box approach. I’ve found the choice to do one of those in tenderness then lays a platform for the next. Leigh your blog very much deepens my appreciation of this and the loving responsibility to bring this to all areas of my life.

115. Such a simple and practical sharing Leigh, yet so powerful. Thank you for sharing.

116. Thank you Leigh, I really understood that it is not only how you do what you do but also how you approach what you do. You can’t just not mow the lawn because it is a job that has to be done but to consider how you can mow the lawn not only honours how your body is feeling but also potentially brings a bit of playfullness in there.

117. I remembered this blog today as I mowed my very overgrown lawn. The strimmer was vibrating horribly up my arms and I just wanted to stop. But then I remembered how I could do it gently and in respect to my body. The garden looks lovely now and I know the quality it was cleared in, which feels great to sit and be in.

     1. So Beautiful Shami, I can see all the birds in the neighbourhood coming and enjoying your lawn and the love that you have mowed in to it.

     2. Shami this is a perfect example of another sharing how they care for themselves inspires/reminds another to do the same. Just gorgeous.

     3. Dear Shirley-Ann our bodies are certainly constantly asking us to be more tender. Every day it feels like my tenderness sinks every so delicately deeper into my body.

118. Beautiful Shirley-Ann,
     You showed that piece of metal it is no match for a woman in her tenderness.

119. Thank you Leigh for such a beautiful sharing of tenderness and how we do things . Showing how it is the energy we do things in that counts and really does make a difference to our bodies our health and vitality and the world.

120. “This whole experience was very poignant for it has shown me that even when faced with doing difficult things, I can still choose my tenderness” This is beautiful Leigh, I realise I come to some tasks with a heavy energy ‘of this is a chore’ (especially the washing up!) yet I am realising more and more it does not have to be this way and i can choose to be present and actually enjoy the experience. This is such different approach to the many years of putting things off as I thought them to be to hard work. Thank you for sharing Leigh.

     1. Dear samanthaengland, I have spent way too much of my life putting things off to another day.. This I now do less and less and the results are truly beautiful. To feel I am worth caring for has shown me that the jobs I need to do to support me are worth doing too.

121. There is nearly always another way to do something that when chosen doesn’t leave the body suffering afterwards.

     1. So true Mick. Rather than going in and getting something done without any thought of what happens next. It’s that gung-ho attitude or just jumping in blindly with things that causes problems, both physically and the effect on other people.

122. this is so beautiful Leigh. There is nothing that need compromise our tenderness. I love that.

123. A great observation Leigh, and to be applied everywhere , when we make a cup of tea, wash the dishes, put on make-up. . . no longer purely functional, but a movement of grace and beauty.

     1. I love that Jenny,
        No longer purely functional, but a movement of Grace and beauty. Grace holds us all with its power of love and understanding and to feel it in my movements is pure joy.

     2. I agree Jenny, it is beautiful when we choose quality over function.

124. I could feel also when you mowed the lawn you did it in absolute presence, feeling how you mowed last time to how it was different on the time that inspired you to write the blog. Thank you Leigh

125. Great reflection Leigh, showing us that whatever we need to do if done in tenderness, this will not leave us feeling exhausted, and we leave behind a blessing of love to be felt by everyone. How beauty-full.

126. This is such a great reminder of how the difficulty in anything that we do can be changed if we choose something different for ourselves. Doing the exact same task can have completely different outcomes, and leave us feeling in totally different ways all depending on how we choose to be in ourselves.

127. Thank you Leigh. I am inspired by your sharing of what I can no longer call a job. It reflects beautifully how what ever it is we may do on a regular basis (or for the first time), more tenderness and presence can always be bought and the joy of that choice multiplies.

128. I once viewed and did mowing the law as another chore on my to do list. It was a something I would do with no love in a singlet shorts and bare feet with the mower on full throttle. It was a chore that would often start with a lot of frustration and anger towards a mower and wippersnipper that frequently didn’t start without me cleaning the spark plug or air filter, lots of choke issues, always something especially when allocated a certain period of time to get it done before I got ready for work or to go out. If I did the mowing on the weekend I would reward myself with a cold beer afterwards. These days mowing the lawn is something I quite enjoy after buying a good reliable lawn mower that starts easily first pull, is light weight and easy to manoeuver. I now mow with care and love for my body, I wear protective clothing and am present in my body feeling every step I feel walking behind the mower as the mower does the work.

129. The message to just offer ourselves awareness of what we are feeling is an old one yet remains powerful as it applied to our chores as in this blog- i have felt how I harden a little in order to get jobs done. It is great to read about others reflections on this and developing a space so awareness can do its thing. I get the sense this is the true use of our will – choosing to be more aware in any and every aspect of our lives.

     1. What you say here Simon about the true choice of our will is to be more aware in every aspect of our lives is very true. For in my experience it is only when I have chosen to be aware and feel honestly what is being presented that I am then able to fully accept my part and know that I have a choice, I can either continue in this way or begin to very subtly and tenderly adjust my living way to be equal with the love and divinity that I feel within.

130. What a very practical sharing, taking a “chore” and turning it into a loving experience. Thank you Leigh I love how your choosing to listen to your body and be tender and loving with yourself before you started to mow came back to you through the love and joy you experienced while doing the mowing. This tells us a lot about how listening and being present with our bodies and treating ourselves with tenderness opens the way for us to feel the love that is always there in everything we do.

131. Hi Leigh, how you found your way back to tenderness even when faced with doing difficult things by taking a pause to feel what was needed to support you and follow through, such a simple choice that we often wont to listen to and then push our way through life with a hardness that numbs the body, which gets the job done! However I know what that is like and your choice to explore this feeling of tenderness is my choice too ..Bring on the joy !

132. Exquisite blog to read Leigh. I love how you carried out your task with such tenderness and love. I have noticed in the past few weeks how I am still using my body with tension and hardness and more so because my work load has increased at work. I am learning to cope with this pressure on my own for the first time. Your blog reminds me to be loving, tender and gentle with everything I do. Even down to how I put my shoes and socks on.

133. Thank you Leigh whilst reading your article I was reminded of my latest experience mowing the lawn on the sit on which takes quite some time. The ground was quite bumpy and I felt this on my body organs as very harsh and actually hurt, I had a familiar feeling to rush and get this task done as quickly as possible but instead I slowed down to turtle speed and actually enjoyed cutting sections at a time in between breaks, as well as continually feeling my body to be sure that I was lovingly taking care with it as well. Mowing the grass no longer seemed like a chore.

134. Oh wow Leigh I love this blog. I have never mown a lawn so it was great to hear how it is for you now mowing your lawn with more awareness.

135. Thank you Leigh, I can see how I have approached mowing the lawn as a chore and feel resentful when it comes to the warmer months that the grass grows and it is ‘another job’ to have ‘to do’. I can see now that it is this approach that is possibly tiring rather than the job itself. I feel inspired now to approach this activity differently, thank you.

     1. I can well relate to this jsnelgrove, the less I see things as a ‘task’ or a box that I have to tick, but as a part of my life, freetime and work become more and more the same and with that I bring more love and joy to everything that I do. How simple life can be.

136. It is a great sharing Leigh, although I can’t relate to the lawn mowing (I have never mowed a lawn) there are other jobs I have felt myself start to prepare for an onslaught with. There is so much in every moment to learn and explore. I recently decided to commit to having my mower man come on a regular cycle. Before I was reluctant to get him to come, aware of the extra cost, trying to stretch it out, thinking I might do it myself with a friends mower that I have in the shed but have never used and so on. It was such a surrender to decide just to pay this man who does a beautiful job and have him come regularly as it is needed in the different seasons. I can’t tell you how beautiful it is to come home and have the lawn mowed and cleared, it is worth every cent.

     1. I can so relate to that, there have been times where my husband has mowed while I was out and when I come home the lawn is all neat and tidy, feeling so clear. Beautiful.

137. For me, developing tenderness has been a never-ending story and one, which will never end. Once it is lived and felt in the body, it is necessary to teach others how to live the same and spread the word about just how incredible this is, this is what will eventually call a ceasefire in the unnecessary wars around the world, it is that powerful.

138. Just re-reading the first line of this blog and relating what I do on a daily basis with tenderness or without my tenderness. Realising often I gave myself such a hard time by putting pressure on to get things done in a certain time or if running late of which I could so easily allowed extra time, slowed down then gentleness and tenderness comes about so naturally. Lovely sharing Leigh thank you.

     1. Dear Marion, slowing down has been integral for me in relation to reconnecting to my tenderness along with paying attention to detail, so simple and practical. The paying attention to detail was the next step in the slowing down process for me. By choosing to pay attention to detail, I was forced to do things slower again. Yet what I have found in continuing to live this way is I am actually getting jobs done easier, with less complications, so essentially I am finding I have more time.

        1. It is a great thing for everyone to know that tenderness is a choice – thank you for sharing Leighstrack.

        2. aaah this in itself is a revelation and makes complete sense. To give yourself the space to do things properly with out going into nervous energy or anxiousness and in that you can choose to be Tender. This is something that I have started to take deeper and I have noticed that there is always room for that to go deeper and to keep choosing space to allow for the connection to build. Leaving that tenderness switch on and never turning it off, and my body has loved every second I have chosen this, not the hardness that I was living in.

139. “I also felt myself being very caring and loving of my body as I walked behind the mower, finding myself actually loving my lawn and loving what I was doing. Now this was rather remarkable as always before it has felt like a chore, something that I had to do, not something that I loved.” This is great Leigh – turning a have-to chore into a beautiful moment.

140. Leigh, I was particularly drawn to your comment that you are allowing yourself to feel your tenderness but that here are many ways you can feel this in your body. That it isn’t so much about feeling a certain way as it is about simply accepting that your tenderness is naturally there. Thank you!

     1. It so is gilesch, it is always within my body, and it so wants to be brought out into my day more and more. I am finding that my tenderness as depths to it I had previously not felt. In feeling this it is beginning to bring awareness to the possibilities of just how delicate I really am.

        1. Beautiful Leigh.

141. “This whole experience . . . has shown me that even when faced with doing difficult things, I can still choose my tenderness” is a great revelation to have embodied Leigh. It really is that simple – we have a choice in each and every moment no matter how difficult the task at hand.

     1. So true Anne – If I am seeing something as difficult I have the chance to stop and ask why it seems like that in the first place.

142. We can re-imprint things any time and with tenderness even something that seemed like a chore can be an enjoyable experience done with honouring your body. What beautiful practical sharing. Thank you Leigh.

     1. This has really supported me this morning Pinky. As I have woken up feeling tension in my body knowing that it is from how I have been with myself the day before. But the choice to re-imprint is always there I do not have to carry this with me through out my day. Thank you for the timely reminder.

143. Such a beautiful way to approach life: having a marker of loving what I do makes it impossible to action without love. And it’s not about leaving the things out that I don’t love, but about clearing my body to be prepared to do the daily tasks with love.

     1. I agree Felix, its not about avoiding the things we don’t like doing. I have found that the more I have connected to my body and appreciate how I move, then the easier it becomes to do a myriad of chores I previously struggled with, both emotionally and physically. Regular gentle exercise, supportive foods, proper rest and staying with my body while I work has brought huge changes to how my day flows.

     2. Awesome comment, it’s an inspiring reminder for me, as I am really noticing how I am still not choosing love in my every moment and every movement. I am grateful for all these amazing reminders.

144. Thank you Leigh this is a briliant reflection for doing any job and in fact just being with ourseves in every moment with tenderness ,gentleness and the love we truly are.Trying to get things done and force our way through life is definately not the way to live any more as all or illness and disease is showing us as we all know differently now thanks to `Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayon.

     1. Dear Tricianicholson,
        Yesterday I had an experience where I felt pressured to do something in a hurry, as someone else was being affected by how quickly or slowly I was moving. In the pressure, I tried to hurry, and instead took more time as what I was doing became more complicated. A truly divine marker for me, around how it is my choice to let the pressure push me or to feel it and remain in my own rhythm as I do what I am doing.

     2. I agree tricianicholson. I would like to express my love and appreciation to everyone who have inspired me to become more aware. From reading this blog, the amazing comments, Serge Benhayon, his family and Universal Medicine. I am very much in the process of learning to be loving and gentle on my body and to drop the energy to push and harden.

     3. Yesterday I had to take the car to the garage but got stuck in traffic and was horribly late for work. As soon as I knew this was going to happen I simply accepted the situation and continued to feel lovely. What was interesting about this was that when I walked into work 50 minutes late very calmly, was the reaction from some of my colleagues. They were expecting me to be all of a fluster and could hardly credit the quality I was in. We are so used to getting all het up that to feel something different in another is discomforting and strange. To reflect that there is another way is awesome, but it is taking some getting used to!

145. Leigh, I love how you describe your experience of working, mowing the lawn, with tenderness. I find this very inspiring; definitely something I want to explore and work with more deeply too.

146. This is a lovely sharing Leigh. By making the choice to move with love and not resignation, I can feel how every blade of grass beneath our feet is blessed with this quality. This is something I am also beginning to explore more and more in my daily movements.

     1. Ooh that word resignation! How to take the joy out of things in one fell swoop. Even the most mundane of tasks can be full of joy if I don’t resign myself to merely the function of it, thanks Liane

147. Leigh that is such a powerful article because what you have felt and shared is not only the intelligence that it inherently within love but also the fact that it is a state of being and not something that we direct towards a person or object.. By connecting to love first you were able to feel how to mow the lawn and as you mowed the lawn you were love. Extraordinary – thank you.

     1. Yes Alexis, what is explained here is what love actually is – a state of being that has a super intelligence. As Leigh’s article points out this love/intelligence comes from the body and to connect to that love you have to truly cherish and nurture the body, listen to it and honour it. When this is done there are no doubts that we are made of love as it emanates into what we do.

        1. Alexis and michelle819, the more I surrender to my body the more I feel the truth of what you have shared. So much so that it is truly beginning to rock me as to how in a split second I can make the choice to be in my body and to speak from my body, my love, or how I can harden and go into defense, which leaves me empty and hurt. To now become so much more aware of how this happens has supported me to choose to love my body more, to choose my tenderness and to live from it.

        2. So beautiful, the more we connect to the love within us, the more that love emanates out in our expressions and what we do.

        3. What I love about your comment, Michelle, is that you point out that there is no doubt about love when you feel it, and when you feel it for real there is no doubt that we are Love.

        4. Leighstrack, I can so relate to what you have shared here. The instant I choose to harden I am lost, but I am lost because the energy was there even before I made the choice, that’s why it is so instant! To keep making the choice to come back to my body with a rhythm and to go deeper is one that actually takes conscious effort. However the more I make that effort the more I feel how lovely it is to be there and the more I want to do it when I am out of rhythm, because being out of rhythm feels so horrible by comparison.

        5. The effort to keep bringing ourselves back to our body and tenderness is worth it, so worth it, for nothing compares to the beauty of feeling this in the way we live. And the hardness really really hurts.

        6. I can relate to the hardness hurting. It is something that I feel I have stubbornly held onto for what feels like eons. It is only recently that I was prepared to admit that actually even though it was dysfunctional and painful, there was a part of me that got a kick out of the individualism this generated and I had buried the real effects this hardness was having on my expression. To let this go and admit that this was not the way has taken a long, long time – but the day I allowed myself to feel it I could not stop smiling through the pain I felt in my body as I could feel through the honesty the absolute gorgeousness that is underneath.

        7. Thank you Michelle for what you have shared here. The depth of your awareness is great support for me just now, as I am being shown more and more areas where I have been dropping into my hardness, yet feeling myself choose to let this go quicker than ever before. I do feel to honestly feel why I have been choosing the yo yo effect instead of steadily holding on to my tenderness.

        8. Love this – super intelligence, super simple, what love is!

148. That is so cool Leigh – and it has made me reflect on the fact that when we are tired after completing certain activities, could it be that it is the energy of making it a ‘chore’ that makes us more tired than the ‘chore’ itself? ha ha – I love this – it is turning things around indeed. When my son drags his feet when asked to do a ‘chore’ at home, I remind him that he is making it harder than what it actually is to do – but in the same way I too can fine-tune where that energy sneaks into my day as well. Thanks for the awesome reminder of this tenderness that we can choose for ourselves no matter what we are doing.

     1. I can relate to your comment Henrietta. I say something very similar to my children too. I have to be more aware of what energy I am choosing to run on when I am working or doing stuff at home. I ask this question to my children but sometimes I forget to ask myself that. This blog is an awesome reminder to connect to my tenderness, stillness and love. Remembering to take a moment to stop and reconnect to that again.

     2. haha and we can avoid so many arguments, which actually take me effort.

     3. Yes I also notice this, that I just have to think about certain tasks and I exhaust myself. Knowing this I often choose to stay with myself and begin and find the task flows.

        Sometimes my reluctance and avoidance with a task is me not wanting to see how irresponsible I know I’ve been – eg checking my bank balance and paying bills. So with this I could use the same approach, connect with me, be honest about how I’ve been and discover responsibility is not the arduous chore I’ve made it out to be.

149. Leigh you’ve shown us that even tasks we feel are going to be hard can be done in a way that doesn’t hurt or exhaust our body. I’ve been experimenting at the gym and feeling how tenderly I can pick up light weights or use a piece of equipment and then noticing if any part of my body tenses up, and then to see if I can let that tension go by moving differently – it’s actually fun! I often walk out of the gym feeling really light and expansive in my body and I know it’s because of the way I am while I’m there.

150. The great thing about tenderness is that it never seems to stop. Every day, every month, every year I get to feel that tenderness is a never ending source of true strength and clarity, which continues to deepen the more I surrender.

     1. Yes Vicky, I am feeling this too. It is so important to understand that tenderness and love is forever expanding and deepening. I for one used to stop myself from
        going deeper each day by thinking that I had got to tendernes, so that’s it. But now from personal experience I know differently and so love feeling my tenderness develop to be deeper and more consistant each and every day.

151. Such a tenderly written blog too, Leigh! I could really resonate with your account of deeply connecting first before mowing and how the timing of it also affected the way you were with it. It astounds me how such subtle energetic shifts create the most profound of differences in quality and also in the execution of our tasks.

152. It is lovely to re-read your article Leigh, I can relate to what you have written and last night noticed how heavy my work bags are, i had the feeling that if I lift them I’m going to hurt myself, then all along my journey I was offered help with these bags and did not need to lift them, previously I had struggled with them, not being open to help, but feeling my tenderness and being in this quality what happened was that help came to me, very magical.

     1. Very magical Rebecca. So beautiful for you to share how connecting to your tenderness brought to you the tenderness from another.

153. To listen to the body and really feel how to do something in a tender way – which by far does not mean to do it slowly or imply a weakness – will make us realize to what depths we can go and how loving appreciation of our inner feelings will let us work with all our power, as there is no exhaustion and overworking anymore.

154. Touched by the tenderness you have shared, Leigh. Inspired by the impact of honesty, self-awareness and respect. Thank you

155. ‘I continue to explore this feeling of tenderness each day’ – I love what you say here Leigh, I too have found that there are always another level of tenderness we can go to, a forever unfolding understanding and a deeper and more precious connection with our own bodies.

     1. So true Eva. I am truly loving living this.

156. This is a great article Leigh. We all have our ‘lawn-mowing equivalents’ and no doubt can all stand to bring tenderness and love to them. I know it’s true for me!

     1. Indeed Victoria, it is just not getting distracted from the seeming weight or difficulty of a task and stay with us and our tenderness – then a solution will just unfold.

157. This blog has prompted me to look closely at the way I approach tasks – when I see things as a ‘chore’ to be tackled I notice that my whole body coordinates differently than when I see activity as an extension of myself. Thanks Leigh

     1. I read your comment this morning Helen and it has been a huge support for me today. ‘My body coordinates differently when I see activity as an extension of myself’. I applied this to my day and yes my body did coordinate differently. I felt a freedom and flowing, an ease in my body as I lived this way.

     2. A little bit blown away this morning by the impact of being honest with myself. The moment I afford myself the space to feel my approach to anything, I am offering myself a real choice: to stay mental and in ‘chore-mode’ or to surrender to the wisdom of my body’s dialogue. Thank you, Helen and Leigh

158. This blog stayed with me……to be honest when I read it yesterday it annoyed me. Then realising that I was annoyed at myself for not choosing to be tender with myself and others. Such a powerful piece of writing Leigh, well done.

     1. Beautiful Simone, honesty like this brings true change. Enjoy your our unique ever so special tenderness.

     2. Good call Simone, super honest!

     3. Inspiring to read your honesty here Simone. Thank you, this is a great one to remember, watch out for and honour whatever comes up, over dismissing 🙂

159. Leigh I love this – ‘There is a simple feeling and knowing that I am tender.’ – and it is so true that the next day you may feel different to what you did the day before. That honouring where you are at each moment is part of surrendering to our tenderness. I totally agree that it is exquisite.

     1. Hi Natalie,
        In your comment you hold the key, this being to surrender to our bodies, as the tenderness is naturally present within. It is never found until the choice is made to surrender.

160. Like love, tenderness has no rule and no end. It is different everyday and constantly evolving – there will always be an opportunity to go deeper and live more of it.

161. Wow, Leigh, I love the gift of tenderness you have shared with us.
     This is a great awareness:
     The moment I made that decision I felt my body tense up – it felt like it was preparing for an onslaught, an attack – like it had to harden to do this.”
     There are so many situations in life in which we are used to doing this – be they physical, like mowing the lawn or lifting something heavy, or emotional, like visiting family members we don’t always get on with, or mental, like doing our tax – and it is great to bring this awareness, and the fact that what makes us feel so tired is the tension in our bodies, rather than the action itself.

     1. Oh so true Anne, re tension being the thing that tires us. I know there’s a difference between when I feel a good, physical tiredness and when I feel wrung out and exhausted by tension.

        1. Thank you Anne and Victoria, it truly is a different feeling in the body when I am exhausted from holding myself tense and when I am physically tired from the day. The tension held days are way more taxing on my body and often take me a couple of days to get over.

162. I love the way in which you have honoured yourself here Leigh.
     Choosing tenderness in everything we do is so important for our self love, nurturing and evolution; thus for humanity.
     The example you give here is an inspiration and a timely reminder for me to choose tenderness; thank you.

     1. That’s a great expansion Shirl – it’s not just for us but for all. If I can mow the lawn with tenderness and just one person gets to see and feel that, well that’s a job doubly well done.

163. Mowing tenderly is not something I had considered before but it is so beautiful to read and feel the power and honouring that comes with it’s application.

     1. Yes… me neither. Imagine jack-hammering with tenderness! That too must be possible. What a lovely visual oxymoron.

        1. I don’ know about this one Victoria, it might be one of those activities that you do if needed and then return to your tenderness when done. I have watched my hubby use one and it looks very hard on his body.

164. Tenderness is a work in progress for me, I had made hardness my norm, but it has been beautiful to feel being tender, gentle and sensitive, as it allows me to connect to a deeper part in me.

165. ‘Even when faced with doing difficult things, I can still choose my tenderness’. Yes, Leigh, it is sometimes not easy to make that choice if we are focused on getting a job done rather than enjoying the process of doing, as you did when you mowed the lawn gently. Once I enjoy doing what I am doing I naturally become more tender, and the more I am in my senses the more tender I become as I feel the sensation in my fingertips, the ground under my feet, the wind on my face etc.

     1. Dear Sandra, it really is scary what we miss in our lives when we are on auto pilot. Because when in that mode we don’t feel the wind caressing our face or the inate tenderness of our finger tips. Yet in our pressence full of love and admiration for who we are, we cannot but feel the tenderness that is there to be felt as a leaf falls to the ground.

        1. Super-poetic Sandra and Leigh. What you’ve expressed feels like a gorgeous, living expression.

166. This blog really exemplifies the power of holding oneself in tenderness. I know when I get anxious or racy about doing something my body tenses and feels much sorer on finishing the exercise at hand.We all know this feeling but yet I know for quite a long time I did not give attention to the possibility I could do the opposite and approach activities with tenderness and the way this would effect the muscle aches I would normally get. It is so simple.

     1. It so is simple Tonisteenson, yet as simple as it is I am finding it needs great dedication to continue to choose to do things tenderly.

        1. Dedication is key, I agree Leigh. It’s easy to notice something and set an intent to change it but harder to be consistent with it.

        2. So true Victoria, yet so worth making the choice to live life in honor of our body. We should be taught at school how to do this, introducing true responsibility to every child

167. I remember one day I mowed the lawn in my sacredness listening to glorious music and boy did that feel different.

168. Leigh I love the tenderness in which you have written this blog. It was such a blessing to read, for the lawns can easily be translated to many other ‘chores’ that we don’t like to do or are a bit more physical. I know that feeling of tensing up and to feel you let that go and bring all of your tenderness to the task at hand feels simply joyful.

169. Thank you Leigh. I realise that I have also been doing certain chores, that I felt I could put off for another time, because they my body felt sore and very tired afterwards. I am going to re-look at how I am with my body when I next approach these chores, perhaps they won’t be chores at all, but the lovely experience that you so beautifully described.

     1. Please share Janneprice especially what happens when you approach those previously difficult chores with tenderness. All of us all will benefit from your experiences with your tenderness.

170. To feel our bodies ‘tense’ is a great moment to ‘stop’ feel and make a choice whether to continue an activity or not. In the past its taken pain to make me stop. As mentioned before going into each and every task approaching with awareness and in our tenderness will completely change the outcome. A great sharing Leigh thank you.

171. Leigh – this does show me too that tenderness is a rhythm we live each moment of the day. i can relate mowing to exercise, any my choice to be very gentle with it, or to see it as a task and let it feel a burden on my day. Its amazing how if we are more loving and aware of our bodies, no matter what we do we can do in tenderness so there is no ‘hard task’ or ‘easy task’ – it is all the same based on the rhythm we are living.

172. I absolutely love reading this blog Leigh. I can feel that my body tenses up 1000 times a day, especially before work. I can absolutely feel that the job is not the problem; it is the way I approach it that makes all the difference. You are powerfully tender Leigh and I am so grateful you chose to share your experience.

     1. Dear Leonne,
        Like you my body tenses up heaps of times through the day. What I am coming to realise though is that as I tense up my posture changes, I become more rounded in the shoulders, and I feel myself slump like I have to hold myself up. Yet the moment I realise that this is happening and I choose to surrender to my body, immediately my body changes, I feel open, less tense, my spine lengthens, and my shoulders naturally roll back. Learning to catch the things that I choose to become tense about and choosing to let them be as they are and not react is fore most in my mind these days.

173. “I am forever grateful that I chose to mow the lawn with tenderness that day”. Leigh it is beautiful how simple things when done with full awareness can teach us so much and reconnect us with our innate tenderness.

     1. It so is Patricia, for some time I have know that I can choose in every moment how I want to go about doing things, yet there has still been a tension in doing things how I want to. As I went about my day today I could feel that it didn’t matter what I felt around me or coming from another, I could very simply keep doing what had to be done how I wanted to do it and there was no tension, just the simplicity of holding myself with my love. And my tenderness was naturally there in everything I did.

174. Gorgeous Leigh – what you share about tenderness and care really applies to all of life. I can absolutely relate to the tension you describe feeling something has “rather difficult spots in it”. I am curious to hear how you enjoy being in your garden from here and also how it grows. Can’t help but feel it will flourish as you do also.

     1. Dear Joseph,
        My lawn certainly does feel more cared for and appreciated. Talking about my garden has bought something to mind that I realised recently. I have a few plants on my verandah and for some time I have not been consistant in my care of them, in fact I would only water them when I noticed they were wilting. Then a couple of weeks ago I stopped and realised that they need more care. Since then I have dedicated set days to watering them and already I can feel there is a ‘less stressed’ feeling about them and my verandah feels more still. It truly is amazing to observe the difference making this choice has made.

175. Leigh beautifully expressed, the fact that you highlight we can choose to be tender in everything we do is super powerful.

176. How gorgeous is that, Leigh, that your moment of awareness of your body allowed you to go into tenderness and transform the whole experience of mowing a lawn – which, as you say, is usually a chore. I love how you now simply claim that “I am tender” and allow everything to unfold from there.
     Revelation and transformation can truly emerge from the simplest of “chores” when we choose to honour our quality of tenderness. I find this deeply inspiring. Thank you, Leigh.

177. I love this article highlighting very clearly that we can be tender with ourselves in absolutely anything we need to be doing.

     1. I agree Sally, there have definitely been times when I felt that I had to protect my tenderness and by this I actually denied my ability to carry out tasks well, and in that I denied my strength and capability to handle what ever comes my way or is needed from me. Tender does not mean weak or incapable.

     2. This is such a great reminder Sally Scott and Leigh – we can be tender and loving in all that we do.

178. Great point Doug. When we choose to undertake any physical activity with tenderness, it completely transforms the whole experience and no longer feels like a chore. I too have been doing much more physical exercises lately and really feeling the benefit of supporting my body on a regular basis. Bringing awareness to every moment, ensuring to the best of our ability that we move with tenderness and grace can transform our whole day.

179. I love the smell of freshly mowed lawn, but always feel like my arms are vibrating like getting one of those cheap massages from those big arm chairs.

     1. Haha, very funny Jaime Foley.
        It sounds like Leigh has found a way to have a tender ‘arm massage’ while mowing…

        1. Great observation Kylie. Should we tell the Esoteric Practitioners Association about this new therapy ‘Esoteric Mowing Massage’? Perhaps it could be combined with ‘Walking Therapies’ if one uses a walk-behind mower!

        2. I Love that Anne. I did giggle.

180. That is really beautiful Leigh. Sometimes there are things that need to be done and doing them is the loving choice. How we do them is key as you have given such a fantastic description of. It blows so many beliefs out of the water. About a year ago I had a load of compost delivered that I had to spread over the garden. It was a big load. As I spread and moved the compost I was so aware of how my body was moving and feeling and I honoured it each step. I rested as needed and took care of myself for the rest of the evening. I was simply amazed that the next day I had not a single ache nor was I tired.

181. Leigh, this highlighted for me the importance of being tender in every task we do during the day- soooo.. loving for our bodies!

182. What’s great about your article is that it shows it is not about not doing something i.e. when you felt your body harden before mowing the lawn you could have decided not to mow it – but instead about how you approach what you do, the care we take with ourselves and our willingness to be tender. I really like this as it shows that its not what we do that is often the issue but how we do it that makes all the difference.

     1. It so is about how we do things David, not what we are doing. It is within us all to love ourselves deeply and from this live our life. I for one can truly say that has been the only reason that I can choose tenderness. As when I was not holding myself with love, it was very easy to become hard and to disregard what I was feeling in my body. This is something that I do still have to watch for, as the moment I stop loving me my way of being immediately goes into the trying to be tender. It really is a fine line between the two. Yet the feeing of living each way is worlds apart.

183. This is such a great reflection and reminder of the true honouring of doing things from our tenderness instead of hardening and bracing oneself to get through life really! A very poignant reminder. Thank you tenderly.

184. When we honour our feelings and do the same activity in a way that honours how we feel, it is a whole different experience altogether.

185. Tenderness is our innateness. Once we fully surrender to this exquisite quality in all that we do then much Joy and ease in life is experienced. I too have started connecting to this and the deeper I surrender the more exquisite it is.

     1. Yes Natalie, I have experienced this too. I love the feeing of surrender and how my body feels as a result. Life does become easier and more joyful. I am learning to take this deeper and develop a consistency with it.

     2. Dear Natalie, tenderness is definitely our innateness. Just tonight I had this realisation. I am always worried that what I do may hurt others. So often I find myself holding back all of me incase I do this. My realisation was that when I fully surrender to the innate love and tenderness that I am, it is impossible to harm another.

186. What a wonderful way to express the miraculous benefits of bringing tenderness to our activities – and to be aware how we harden to some chores in a drive to get it done. I enjoy exploring this continually – and feel how I am exhausting myself if I’m pushing through. I so appreciate that I am enjoying hanging out the washing, washing up – and as for mowing – I have been mowing since I was 10 years old and I always experienced, without realising then what it was, great stillness and connection as I cut up little sections and took such pride in this job in what I can now identify to be in absolute conscious presence. You have reminded me of the marker I have always had to bring to all areas of my life where I still tense up and push through.

187. Thank you Leigh, this is a great example of how easily and beautifully we can deepen the relationship with ourselves in any task or whatever else we need to do in our daily lives, rather than something that we just ‘have to do’.

     1. Dear Eva,
        I am truly beginning to appreciate the importance of being connected to our bodies before we do anything. Mine is, and I am guessing always was, speaking loudly now. What I am gaining from this is that if I am doing something that is not supporting it, it tells me and when I feel this I then have a choice to adjust what I am doing to support it in full again. Amazing really when I think back to how I used to live, with not even the thought that my body needed to be supported, let alone supporting it.

188. It’s such a joy Leigh to do as you describe and choose our tenderness when we go to do any one thing. Love your example here.

189. Great blog Leigh Strack. I can completely relate to what you are saying here. I have noticed that I tend to see daily tasks sometimes as a chore a bore and a duty. It is a bit like I rank order them in my head in terms of how enjoyable or worthy of my time I believe they are. For example going to the beach with my kids rates high and washing up rates low. But I can feel that when I resent or dread or just dislike doing something it causes my whole body to tense up and I feel more tired at the end of the day. Your blog was a timely reminder to see everything the same in my day and to treat them all as equally potentially beautiful tasks if I am tender with myself all day.

     1. andrewmooney26 I love what you have pointed out here – to look at whether we rank order our tasks rather than meeting them with the equal honour and openness, knowing that it is not about what we do but how we are with ourselves while we do it.

     2. This is so true Andrew, every task does become enjoyable when we are tender with ourselves first.

        1. A great reminder of how choosing to be tender with ourselves and therefore feeling the joy in our selves and then taking this to each task supports us.

     3. Lovely andrewmooney26, there is magic and beauty in every little thing we do, in every moment of the day, in every encounter we have with others. If we bring ourselves, the love we are, the tenderness and delicacy then life is truly truly magical all of the time.

        1. I love this comment katinkadelannoy…it’s true. Even when we think it’s not magical there is still magic going down, we are just not connecting to it.

     4. Awesome comment, Andrew I’m aware of the rank ordering system, too. Yet, as you say, all tasks can be transformed when we bring ourselves to them.That is so awesome: it really is all about us 🙂

     5. Great comment andrewmooney26. You have made me realise I also rank order my daily tasks and therefore pre-judge each one, so approach each one with a different attitude. Leigh’s blog and your comment have inspired me to approach my day differently, where I am focusing on being tender with myself first and staying open to whatever tasks I have to do.

190. This is a gorgeous suggestion “This whole experience was very poignant for it has shown me that even when faced with doing difficult things, I can still choose my tenderness.” So lovely to be reminded of how it can be deeply supportive to our well being, to stay tender despite what is occurring.

     1. So true Samantha and it is our conscious presence in all we do that allows that tenderness to naturally emerge when we are faced with the choices around ‘difficult things’. I love how there are so many aspects of our lives that we can review and bring our true awareness to.

191. I love mowing the lawn as I find it really helps me to be present with myself, bringing the awareness of being tender as I cut the lawn is something I will now explore. Thank you for sharing.

192. I love how you made the choice to be tender when you felt your body tense up. Awesome and Inspiring – thank you.

193. The world as we know it is not geared to tenderly mowing one’s lawn. You only need to look at the way lawn mowers are designed with those cords you have to yank to get it started. Back when I had a lawn to mow, I remember pulling that cord again and again, straining my shoulder to start my mower. You’ve shown that even though the world might be one way, we can always choose another way.

     1. Jinya, I know what you mean about those cords one has to yank. Mowing the lawn was the one thing that I never started to do, as a woman. I did many other things around the home when my husband was very busy, but I knew that once I learned how to pull that cord and start the thing, I would end up often the one expected to do it. I realise I sensed that was something that I, as a woman, need not and did not want to do to myself. I often saw my husband struggling with it. It is a bad design for man or woman.

        1. Beverley, Years ago when my ex-husband and I seperated I had to mow the lawn, it was a job that I loved. I would take the time to mow it very gently, enjoying the experience, then loving to look at it for days as it stayed looking so amazing. My husband now, mows the lawn, but I remembered the joy that I felt when I used to do it I also love what Leigh said.”but it is ALWAYS EXQUISITE, as the joy of being true to me is like nothing I have ever felt before.” Because when we make those choices that exquisiteness stays with you always.

     2. I agree Jinya – we decided to get an electric mower that starts at the push of a button – so much easier on the body.

194. Mowing the lawn is a great example of both a chore most people dislike doing and also something that can be quite a strenuous activity in your garden -a bit tricky. And yet you present the fact that it doesn’t matter, what matters is how you approach the task and the way you care for your body as you do it.

     1. Absolutely Rebecca I have let my garden get out of control because in the past I have gone at it and ended up with a bad back so have avoided starting which it only means it builds up and makes it worse in the end. I am feeling inspired today to approach my gardening with tenderness and feel when to stop.

        1. I agree, I have found that a balance between commitment to doing the jobs that need to be done, and a respect for when rest and enough is enough allows everything to get done

        2. For me too Helen – learning to ‘feel when to stop’ it has taken me a long while to get to that point. As the urge to get the chores done outside while the weather was fine I’d use that as an excuse to push on through the hurt/aches/pain. Now I’ve chosen to really feel and listen to my body – what a difference.

     2. So wise Rebecca Briant.

     3. What a change there is when we stop viewing tasks as ‘chores’ and approach them with tenderness. Even the tasks I have not liked to do become a celebration when I do them with a tender awareness of my body.

        1. I agree – I used to hate ironing, and now, although I seek opportunities to iron, I love doing it when I do. Its a great opportunity for precision and a moment of quite while I take time to make sure my clothes are tidy.

195. Despite the simple beauty of your sharing here Leigh, there is such depth and power in what you share with us. To honour and be in touch with our bodies so deeply is a game-changer – for me also (& ever-learning..) it’s changed the way my body feels, so lovely and exquisite, healthy and vital… and it’s changed how ‘I’ feel. There used to be so many ways of pushing through in a day, that I hadn’t even considered could be depleting me (in body and inner-joy), until coming to the work of Universal Medicine. Waking up to the fact that HOW we are with ourselves and our bodies, makes a world (or worlds..) of difference to how we meet each day and engage in life, has been absolutely life-changing.
     And so it is truly joyful to read your post. And joyful to celebrate how dedicating such awareness and a tender approach to our daily activities is key to living in a consistency of Joy – to a level I never could have previously imagined possible…

     1. Victoria, thank you. You are a shining example of the woman every woman can be. I too am making choices every day to live the woman I can feel myself to be inside. The journey of reconnecting and choosing this is not always easy, but it is ALWAYS EXQUISITE, as the joy of being true to me is like nothing I have ever felt before.

        1. That is so beautiful Leigh. The thing is, for all who are open and willing to see through the ways that haven’t truly supported us as women (and men), to claim the fact that we shine and equally so. Our very willingness to see, feel from our bodies, and let go of that which doesn’t honour who we are can be claimed in full – with no apology, nor any external measure or bar set (outside of ourselves) that we feel we need to live up to. There is no need to ‘wait’ before we state categorically, that “Yes, I shine. And I know I shine and so deserve to shine, for I have connected to me and the absolute amazingness that I am.”
           Deepening in this is then an ongoing, natural process – if we simply stay attuned to ourselves, and allow it to be so.
           What Joy – and all there for us now if we let it (us) in.

        2. Victoria,
           Your words are deeply healing for me this morning, divinity at play, and are rising a tear, the feeling of connectedness is so palpable and true, how have we lived for so long ignoring such a natural way of being?

        3. Hear, hear Leigh. And how we can keep ourselves so very close, and yet just ‘outside of it’, through not feeling we are enough. Time for that game to be well and truly over, I say. Let’s celebrate all that we now are, and our claiming of the way forward as being ‘the way’ – for it is most certainly ‘it’ in full!

     2. Being aware of my body and accepting what it is showing me or sharing with me does make the world of difference Victoria and has been life changing.

196. Lovely to read how you were able to honour your body and bring tenderness to the job you were doing.

     1. I agree Peter, Leigh’s blog is amazingly revealing and helpful. Our life gets transformed when we live what is written in this blog – being tender and present while we work.

        1. It so does Christoph. Any tension in the body absolutely melts when met with tenderness

197. Leigh, thanks you for sharing your experience of how different it was when you did a routine chore while still honouring your tenderness. There is no mowing on the agenda for me today, but I will be inspired by your words “that even when faced with doing difficult things, I can still choose my tenderness”.

198. When I read this Leigh I thought that you cannot have very close neighbours when doing lawn mowing in those early hours. I used to do a lot of mowing and I must say that I mostly liked doing it with the machines you sit on.

     1. Dear Matts,
        We do have a very old ride on, however I do not want to use it as it is a bit of a challenge to use, also takes a bit of effort to pull start. So when I mow it is the push mower. For most of our married life, the push mowers we had were second hand and very temperamental, hard to start and back throwers, with out a catcher. So you can imagine very horrible to use. About 5 years ago I moved back into the work force and my first purchase was a brand new mower, with a side thrower. Believe me it was and still is one of the best purchases I have ever made.

        1. I can imagine that, I’ve had my shares of lawn mowing with all the grass coming right at me. My shoes and socks were suddenly very brightly coloured green. We later, thank god, had one of those ride ons with an electronic starter which made the process of mowing a lot more easy.

199. Leigh I really love what you have shared here, even down to the tender way in which you wrote about your experience. It really shows how it is up to us to choose how we are in each moment with each task we are doing. I can feel that this choice to be tender and present with yourself allowed you to truly feel your body and therefore there was a flow and rhythm that reflected you and what was needed. What a beautiful reflection of how we can all choose to be.

200. Thanks Leigh, it looks like you have started a tenderness and grace revolution here! I loved your blog and the comments are just as supportive. I realised as I read that it is not the amount of work that I do that pushes my body over the limit, but the energy I am doing it in. Some areas of my work day seem to trigger quite a force, in the same way you mentioned – as if you feel you have to attack that activity (very apt). I feel my body is reacting to the energy I do things in more so than what I am doing, so I will now focus more on the tenderness and grace and offer my body that blessing whilst I work.

     1. Dear Melinda,
        So enjoy the grace of allowing yourself to make this choice and honour your self deeply as you integrate your very own tenderness into more aspects of your life.

201. Tenderness and presence makes such a difference in doing physical heavy things. When I feel connected to myself and then, for instance, open a heavy door, that just makes such a difference compared to trying to push hard.

202. Thanks Leigh, I work as a gardener and since becoming a student of Universal Medicine I have struggled to do my work quickly and yet gently. I don’t ignore my body or exhaust it like I used you but there is still a long way to go in being truly tender with all my gardening activities, your article has encouraged me to continue to take it deeper.

     1. How beautiful 1timrobinson. 😍

203. I can feel your love and tenderness in how you have written this article Leigh – thank you. It is great to have growing awareness of when we go into tension in our bodies and then be able to bring more love and tenderness to these areas and then bring it to other areas too. Great sharing!

204. Hi Leigh great blog and yes if we come to an understanding we are tender then tenderness it is in all our day and all that needs to be done, thank you.

205. I have recently started to mow my lawn again and my 1st attempt was done with so much disregard that I scraped skin off my knuckle on my hand. Ouch! It felt like a task I had to get done and fast as I was doing it in my pyjamas and didn’t want the neighbours to see me. This experience caused me to take a totally different approach the next time I mowed and the last few times have been done with gentleness and more regard for my body e.g. dressing in the appropriate clothes, resting when I needed to. I realise from reading your blog Leigh that preparation with tender loving care of oneself before hand supports the choice to choose the same tender loving care when mowing the lawn and in fact can be applied to anything we are doing. This has been a very powerful and inspiring blog.

206. Leigh, you have described here a very important development, bringing the quality of stillness attained in Esoteric yoga to daily chores and daily life. It is easy to get up off the yoga mat and leave that serene quality behind. If you can keep it while mowing the lawn, you can keep it everywhere you go.

     1. Still working on this Bernard, but now I know it is very possible to live tenderly in everything I do in life. Mowing the lawn as I did and have done since has been one of those life changing moments of understanding and realisation.

207. “The moment I made that decision I felt my body tense up – it felt like it was preparing for an onslaught, an attack..” In reference to the decision to mow the lawn, or be it, conducting any number of physically demanding tasks, I relate to this. My experience of late is that: 1. there is a way to stay myself and not harden to do most work (if I trust that I am able to do so and also, trust that when I require hydration or a rest or whatever comes up, that I listen to that impulse); and 2. if I don’t use thoughts of being elsewhere, or thinking about past events, I don’t use anywhere near the amount of energy – and most of all, I get to feel where I am at and catch myself before hardening-up, as was described above.

     1. Thank you Oliver,
        In reading your comment I could feel how I use my body hardening as my marker to look at what is in front of me. Yet you present that it is possible to catch myself before I harden, this is truly awesome. It has opened up to me the possibility of no longer ‘needing’ to harden to know what is going on, but in being present choosing instead to hold tenderly to my own self allowing my body to remain supple and flowing.

208. What a lovely blog…its a great reminder to all of us that we can do everything in our tenderness from who we naturally are.

209. I can certainly relate to ‘pushing through’ a task to complete it for the sake of completion rather than honouring that perhaps half way through was enough for one day. When I reflect on this it is as though the competitiveness we are taught to ascribe to from young, even runs this approach to be competitive within ourselves – pushing through how we feel simply for the sake of crossing a task off the list so that we might move onto the next ‘to do’ item.

     Being aware of how my body feels certainly helps expose this ‘programme’ running in the background giving it less opportunity to take charge of how I am living.

     1. Greg,
        You have just exposed the drive behind how we push ourselves to keep doing, even when our body clearly says enough is enough.

210. I love this blog and all the comments. I’m noticing how I tense up over an expectation that something requires a hardness, a defence, when really I can choose to be tender and notice when even my thoughts are hard on myself or others and not loving.

     This blog reminds me that actually I can explore being tender in every situation if I choose. I know when I do allow myself to be tender in situations I’ve always been hard in, I find that actually, being tender is not only possible but natural and I get to stay with me.

     1. Me too Karin, to completely let go and live this way is definitely how I want to live my life. So here’s to constantly exploring being tender where I have not been before. Brings a smile of joy to my face to even write these words.

211. Who would have thought mowing the lawn could be such a life changing event! It just goes to show that it is never about what we are doing but the quality we are doing it in.

212. A great reminder to meet life through my body first, and to honour how something feels instead of pushing and rushing to get certain tasks done that I have considered to be mundane in the past, as it can be done in joy and tenderness when in connection with my body. Thank you Leigh.

     1. Francisco,
        I love how you say to meet life through your body first. Thank you, a beautiful way to live life. I can feel such a steadiness and consistancy to choosing to live this way.

213. From reading your blog Leigh, I have become aware of how I consider some of my daily tasks as chores, I will now consider ways that I can be more supportive of myself when I do these tasks.

     1. Dear Mcannelizabeth,
        There are so many ways to support ourselves. I am replying to comments from the comfort of my bed, but just realised the position my body was in was strained, so I have moved and found another pillow to prop myself up more, I immediately felt a joy in addressing this.

214. It is great to be reminded not to do things by rote but instead to be present with ourselves when we do things because this actually supports the body.

     1. Yes Elizabeth it does support our body when we are present when doing tasks. Yesterday I found myself feeling uncomfortable while sitting in an office chair at work. This has prompted me to remember to take a cushion to work with me next time, to support my body more while in the chair. The simple things that make such a difference.

215. It’s great to hear someone taking good care of her body in the more physically demanding jobs. We have a lot of Occupational Health and Safety laws in Australia, but none of them cover how to avoid doing things in a rough manner – not that there should be a law against this, but it makes a huge positive difference to the body when we don’t push it too hard or beyond its limits – after all, our body needs to last us our whole life.

     1. Our bodies do need to last us our whole lives Dean, I for one never had this thought though until I began going to presentations by Serge Benhayon. It really is a crime how we are taught from an early age to override what we feel in our bodies and that it is deemed as normal to drink alcohol and even to smoke cigarettes. This is how I grew up, seeing adults doing both activities and seeing it as the way to live. Even though there is much literature that warns of the dangers of both of these activities. Just this awareness of our bodies needing to last as long as we live and simple guidance on how to learn to listen to what they require is something that could become a subject in our high schools.

        1. Thanks for saying that Leigh, it highlights how powerful and influencial role models are (both when we are growing up and now) as people tend to be very influenced by what they see other people doing around them… for the better or the worse.

        2. So true Dean, time for some role models that live lovingly with great care and understanding for our bodies and the wisdom they hold for all of us. Serge Benhayon and all the Universal Medicine Practitioners are these role models for us as we are role models for all of our families and friends. The world is certainly getting turned on its head.

     2. A lot of our health and safety regulations could be thrown out the window if there was more of a focus on being with ourselves and our bodies when performing a task. So while there shouldn’t be a law against doing things in a rough manner, it would null and void many other laws.

        1. Laws that have in mind supporting people to be themselves. Now that would be a wonderful approach.

216. Introducing tenderness into your life is like pouring water on a withering flower, the body will soak it up then blossom like never before. It has been a long time between drinks.

     1. Beautifully said Matthew, brought a smile to my face. The drinks are not so far apart now. 😊

     2. I love the analogy of introducing tenderness into life being like “watering withering flowers” and our body “blossoms like never before”. I was earlier considering how, as we develop consistency in bringing tenderness into everything, the quality becomes our normal way. What an abundance – gorgeous blossoms.

217. What an awesome reminder Leigh, that “…even when faced with doing difficult things, I can still choose my tenderness.”.

218. Beautiful to read Leigh, it goes to show that there are many things that can be done in a tender way if we take the time to approach it in this way.

219. I love how it was the time you took with yourself in the morning that enabled you to feel everything so clearly when you came to mow the lawn. You had a marker of tenderness in your body.

220. It is amazing how one moment can change everything. It was beautiful to read about your discovery and feel how you now know your tenderness without a doubt. It is great to know that it is possible to do heavier jobs, you just need to be aware of how you do it and know when to stop. Doing it with tenderness, in the way your body wants to move, seems like a great way to be.

221. I discovered that opening a bottle can be very easy when I don’t put pressure and make funny faces because of the force I am using but with patience and tenderness it will open willingly…..

     1. Delorme2013,
        I haven’t yet brought tenderness to a bottle that is hard to open.. Will certainly do so next time though.

222. I’m reminded here of lots of other chores that can easily be drudgery, but by bringing a very different approach those chores become something else entirely. Its particularly interesting to hear how you access this through how your body feels, and can maintain a feeling of exquisiteness throughout. I bet it makes quite a difference to the end result as well…

     1. Dear simonwilliams8,
        Yes it does make a difference. That day after doing my lawn I took a moment when I was finished to look over what I had done and it looked neat and cared for and felt more alive than I had felt my lawn before. I am now finding this same feeling in so many of the things I do each day and it is truly beautiful.

223. Beautiful way to mow the lawn and so simple too.

224. I really enjoyed what you have shared with us all Leigh. It reminded me of the many hours I have spent cutting grass, from the early age of 9 years old. By the time I was a busy mother and living on a farm, still fitting in grass cutting hours, it was extreme and by golly my body really suffered from constantly pushing myself to get it finished. I’d lost all sense of my tenderness; I was on a mission. I had muscles like an athlete in training! With the added exhaustion. Grass cutting completely stopped – just like that – a few years ago now. Why? I started to attend presentations by Serge Benhayon/Universal Medicine. The realisation of what I was doing became very apparent. Like you share with us, “I can choose my tenderness” and, you know what, it does feel AMAZING. Thank you Leigh. There is a PS: my husband and sons now do all the grass cutting.

     1. A lovely sharing Marion, I do share the lawn mowing with my husband, so I don’t have to do it every time. Sometimes I get an added bonus and he finishes the bit I leave for the next day. 😊

225. Thank you, Leigh. What I love about this blog is the strength of your livingness, which has enabled you to completely transform a challenging task into something enjoyable, simply because of your love and care in each moment.

     1. Thank you Janet,
        Sometimes we need to be reminded about how far we have come in living truly tenderly. Your comment has done this for me.😊

226. What a great reflection to read. There are many things I would consider a chore and mowing would be one of them, yet as you’ve shared by approaching this with tenderness it becomes something you loved instead of had to struggle through. Certainly a way I will approach my chores today.

     1. Me too David, my body is so very delicate and so deserves me being tender with it, and the daily tasks that support my living also deserve the same.

227. I love this Leigh, a real and tangible example of how living our tenderness supports us in our daily lives what ever the task may be. Thank you.

228. Mowing the lawn is something I have always passed on to someone else as it feels too arduous a task and I have two strong boys to do it .. but reading this has made me look at those jobs differently.. sometimes these jobs need to be done and it is the way we approach them that can either lead them to being arduous or very loving.

     1. I never had two strong boys.. But yes, it is how we approach anything we do that makes such a difference. And life even becomes joyful when I surrender to the truth of feeling and living with my body.

     2. I used to do the same when working as a cleaner. But I managed to train myself to bring increasing amounts of tenderness to my work and eventually I felt energised after a full day cleaning. If I got tired, it was a reflection of how I had cleaned.

        1. That is beautiful Nikkimckee, I used to work as a cleaner and never in 7 years enjoyed the task. I took the job on to boost our financial situation, and because where we live there are few jobs available, so even in the set up of taking on the job there was no care for me, it was all about the money. I have great respect for you bringing tenderness into a full day of cleaning.

        2. hi Nikki, yes i can relate to that, spending all day cooking in a cafe and yet at the end I can feel energised and go home and cook again for the family. If I am tired or fed up with it then I have to go back and look at how my day has been – it can tell me a lot!

     3. It’s a fine balance between allowing others to do certain jobs for us and knowing when we need to bring tenderness to the job at hand. I’m well versed in doing it all myself and I’m now practising both of these things.

229. Thank you Leigh. A simple reflection of how awesome it can be to do tasks with tenderness (:

230. Thank you Leigh, I just so enjoyed reading your blog again – it reminds me that we are all naturally tender ‘within’ – no matter what we are engaged in ‘with-out’ but I found it was a also a reminder to ‘claim’ that. How wonderful it is that we are all deepening our awareness about our innate qualities. For myself, I doubt that would have been the case if I had not made the choice to meet Serge Benhayon and commence attending the Universal Medicine presentations where I learned to not only open my eyes to true truth but to also open my heart to true love.

     1. Dear Roberta,
        It is so very important to claim our tenderness and grace, I have had this presented to me today and have been prompted to deepen my own claiming of my own innate qualities. And yes like you I am pretty sure that I would not even have known that I had such qualities if it had not been for Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine, and all of us that are now choosing to live from our own grace that is held within us all.

231. Thank you Leigh for a reminder to come back to the body–always honoring how it feels without judgement but super understanding and tenderness.

     1. Indeed Leigh and Adele. This approach with understanding and tenderness will at the same time show how much strength and power we have if we choose to apply them wisely.

        1. Michael and Adele,
           Yes it truly does make such a difference when we approach life with understanding and tenderness. It can be so easy to berate ourselves for our short comings, this I know only too well. Yet in doing this, we constantly repeat old patterns to keep having a reason to knock ourselves about. What is truly revealing itself to me is that with understanding and tenderness, I care more deeply for my body and find that these old patterns, discovered bit, by bit are actually a way of being that I no longer want to be doing, so in feeling this, it opens my awareness and naturally I begin to adjust how I am living.

232. Leigh this is a great blog showing me I can be tender in whatever I am doing. Recently I was asked to undo a zip that someone couldn’t do. I immediately thought, it’s stiff I have to put some real effort into it. I did this but it didn’t budge. Then when I relaxed it unzipped with ease. I was so surprised and learnt a real lesson, that often expectations that something needs force actually may just need grace.

     1. Karin, I have found the same experience too with many things! Like my dishwasher.. If I push the door too hard it won’t turn on, but if I close it with gentleness and a little tap, the automatic starter turns on beautifully. It is just showing me, as you say, It needs/I need a bit of grace.

     2. Gorgeous Karin. It would be amazing to see what would happen if you applied the same grace to ALL things in life… Could it be that usual day to day struggles would then ease as well?

        1. Let’s all give this a go Susie, and see how our lives are lived in grace.

     3. I smiled reading your comment, Karin. Our kitchen door has a ‘difficult’ handle, just a round brass knob that you turn clockwize to open the door. However, so many people are unable to open it. They try turning it both ways and then become very frustrated, I even saw one person trying to just push the door open with force! It is an obstinate door, if you’re not gentle and use too much force, it won’t open!!!

     4. Your words are very spot on for me tonight, for it is grace that I need to apply just now, thank you Karin.

     5. This is such a gorgeous observation Karin. Thank you for sharing it. I will remember this the next time something seems to require force to apply grace. I know my body will certainly thank me for it.

233. A fabulous blog Leigh. Such beautiful observations of your own body as you go about the routine of daily life. Who would of thought that you could feel tender while mowing the lawn, but what you have shared shows that we can. I love washing and cleaning the car and feeling my body move delicately as I do this. But really we can apply this to any of our everyday tasks.

     1. Exactly Jen, what I love about this article is that it offers a reminder that we can be connected and tender in all that we do – it is not something that can only be felt at set times such as meditation, yoga or exercise, but developed so that it is felt throughout the day.

     2. Beautiful Jennifer, ‘I love washing and cleaning the car and feeling my body move delicately as I do this’. Reading this blog and these comments has made me aware that often I am not doing things with tenderness and delicateness, it’s great to have this awareness.

234. Thank you Leigh for a great blog, I really loved your experience of tenderness , it will remind me of the effortlessness with which we can do those so called hard chores , in a very loving and tender way to become a real joy.

     1. Absolutely Jill, ‘it will remind me of the effortlessness with which we can do those so called hard chores , in a very loving and tender way to become a real joy.’ They do not need to be ‘chores’, I love ironing, folding clothes, making the bed when I’m doing it tenderly and not just trying to get it done, it feels beautiful and is very confirming of my tenderness and loveliness.

235. Thank you Leigh for sharing your experience. Next time I am doing any physical work such as lawn mowing I plan to do exactly what you expressed and do it with awareness and tenderness. Just thinking about it I feel it is a much more loving way to treat my body.

236. Great blog and sharing – it is enormous what you present. To truly surrender to your tenderness and take this and be this in all that you do really is living life in another way that I never new was possible. Even as you say in the most physical situations you can still hold this quality that our tenderness brings and it feels completely different. I love exploring this and see daily how much deeper I can take this.

237. I love your blog Leigh and totally agree that we need to do what ever task we decide to do in tenderness but I will leave mowing the lawns to a bloke.

     1. I love your statement that you always leave ‘mowing the lawns to a bloke” Mary Louise. It has taken me over 8 years to learn that one! I used to see mowing the lawn as a declaration that I can do anything a ‘bloke’ can, which made my body immensely tough. The more tender I have become, the more I have stepped away from the need to prove myself and found that some jobs are much better suited to men, and some jobs are much better suited to women (There are ‘blue jobs’ and ‘pink jobs’ a friend once said). These days I love doing the pink jobs and am very glad to let the men do the blue jobs and my body loves me for it.

        1. I know what you mean rowenakstewart I was the same. I was always trying to do what the blokes could do. I mowed the lawn for years. I even went in to a career as the first women police dog handler….. so I can relate. But I don’t feel I have to be that person anymore… the more I came back to my body and honour the tenderness in me. When I reflect back on where I used to be… compared to where I am now…wow what a difference.

        2. Leave some of the pink jobs for us please….I LOVE ‘pink’ jobs!!

        3. Beautiful Otto.

238. Yeah that is awesome Leigh that you could turn a very physical job that can be seen as hard or tough, into something that it extremely loving for your body and something you really enjoy. This has inspired me for all of the harder physical jobs that I need to do from time to time.

239. Hello Leigh, whether it’s the lawn or brushing your teeth what you are saying is that being honest with what you are feeling in the moment supports you. Not only supports in that moment but then goes on to support you to live differently. Many may not understand the word ‘tenderness’ and how you are using it, if you simply see it as a point to be honest and aware of what you are feeling then this maybe a start. So in a mundane chore, or doing something you have always done, or ‘just’ doing it like you always have etc bringing a consistent awareness to how it feels each time and in each moment supports you further and bring the focus away from just getting it done.

     1. Raymond as you say honesty and awareness can be brought to everything we do, including routine activities. After an arm injury, I changed the way I opened and closed my car door and boot. I went from being inattentive and moving with disregard, to connecting first to my body, gently touching the door handle and closing it with all my being, not just my arm. This transformed my relationship with my body and car.

     2. Thank you for bringing my words back to me, today I needed just this to remind me of the power I have to choose how I be in my body as I move into the busy day I have ahead.

     3. Raymond,
        Stopping and taking each moment as it is, feeling exactly what is to be felt and letting it be as it is. This is so powerful, it cuts all of the worry about what is ahead and let’s what was in the past be as it was and brings us to the present where I have every choice to choose how I will move my body as I go about the day.

240. What an awesome example of bringing tenderness and gentleness in all that we do. I work in the building maintenance trade and can feel that I tense up before doing work that is heavy physically, which actually is not needed and in fact makes the task harder.

     1. Thomas I can relate to what you say in that I too feel my body tense up when I have to lift or carry things that are heavy in my day to day life. There is a tendency for me to check out so I don’t have to feel what is really going on in my body. This blog is a lovely reminder that there is another way to do things, in a way that is gentle and tender.

241. This is such a cute blog. I love the way you have taken such a simple example to make such a massive point. This could apply to anything.

242. Great approach to a very physically challenging task Leigh.

243. A great reminder Leigh that no matter what chores we are doing we can always bring a new level of tenderness to it. I know I have being doing this with my house cleaning recently, being more present and tender with myself the work becomes much easier and more enjoyable.

244. That’s amazing Leigh that you can turn around a noisy boring chore
     by approaching it with love and tenderness.

245. As I have felt in Esoteric Yoga, it is about the quality of the movement and the permission we give ourselves to surrender to our deep tenderness.

     We move all the time, all day long- so the reality is – we can bring this quality to every movement in our day

     I love how you have brought your beautiful tender quality to mowing the lawn Leigh.

     1. I agree Johanna – movement is one of the things we do most, along with breathing and possibly sleeping. Considering and bringing consciousness to the way in which we move can change our whole day and our body.

246. Leigh, this is such a great sharing how tenderness can be applied in every situation and how it makes everything more harmonious.

     1. And a JOY to do, as I now work in a way that is super tender I find that my body can do long big days at work doing a very active job and still feel amazing after, which is a relation to true health, Universal Medicine has nailed this and are amazing for bring this to the world.

247. I love this realisation you’ve shared Leigh; ‘ I am beginning to realise that my rhythm of living is actually loving and tender.’ Wow time for appreciation Leigh!

248. I have noticed physical work can feel less strenuous when done in tenderness, not rushing and not with resentment/frustration, etc.

249. I love the way you weave tenderness into life Leigh. I haven’t mown a lawn in years but I can feel the loveliness with which you approached it, being gentle and staying with your body.

250. I can feel through your words and descriptions the “tenderness” you are living in. Now that is very inspiring. I too am so grateful to you for choosing to mow your lawn with tenderness. Thank you Leigh.

251. Leigh I love how you share your exploration of tenderness, that there is a way to approach the more physically demanding tasks, especially as a woman, and the positive effect being loving with your body and loving what you were doing had on your energy levels.

252. Before I heard about gentleness and later tenderness from Serge Benhayon, I don’t think I had any idea just how rough I was being with my body and my movements. Over the last few years I have been able to let go of more aggressive ways with my body, especially how I exercise, and this has made it more obvious when I move roughly or forcefully. Lately I have found that tenderness is a choice and a way to be with and move my body- from and when I don’t choose this it is really noticeable, whereas a few years ago I would not have noticed.

253. Lovely blog Leigh and a great testament to how, if we choose to do our ‘chores’ being totally present with ourselves, it doesn’t feel like a chore but a joyful experience.

254. Wow Leigh this is awesome. I had never considered before that a lawn could be mowed while honouring our tenderness. This is very inspiring!

     1. Yes Bianca. It makes me ponder the other areas and activities this quality could be brought to!

255. Leigh, I absolutely love when you say “I can feel I am tender and the feeling of living this way is exquisite. There is no perfection” – I can feel it clearly, and that is an inspiration, thank you.

256. This is great to read Leigh, my lawn mowing efforts in the past were always hard and tense and rather rapid to ‘try and get it done’. My body always suffered. I dont have a lawn now but you have made me want to try this.

     1. Hello Jeanette, it seems a deep connection to yourself supports you in these moments. So Leigh doing some gentle stretching and exercises (esoteric yoga) supported her with this deep connection that she was then held in while she mowed the lawn. The message for me in this is connection first and then do what ever comes next but it all starts with a connection.

     2. I too can relate to hardening my body to get through both physical tasks and difficult situations. But increasingly i can feel that this type of protection or ‘bracing’ in life impacts my body far more than if I had approached it with the tenderness you have described Leigh

        1. What you say is so true Jenny, it is not the job at hand or difficult situation we find ourself in that hurts us, it is the way we decide to deal with the job or situation that does.

257. Thank you for sharing Leigh. I recall mopping the floors once and feeling the absolute joy in my connection… Wow, to live that tenderness in all that we do – now that feeling is worth the care and nurturing of ourselves required to get there!

258. Beautiful, Leigh. “This whole experience was very poignant for it has shown me that even when faced with doing difficult things, I can still choose my tenderness”. You have shared how different it can be when we bring all of us to what we do, all the love that we are. It felt like it was a truly joyful experience for you. Very inspiring.

259. This is beautiful Doug, and can so be applied to everything in life, not just lifting. For me the ‘thing’ has been to not tense up when others react, so thank you as if you can remember to stay with yourself as you lift I can remember to stay with myself when others react.

260. What an incredibly inspiring sharing Leigh – so simple, and a beautiful illustration showing the contrast between approaching life’s tasks from our heads or from feeling the tenderness of our body. An awesome reminder of the joy there can be in every moment if we choose. What a treat for your lawn too along with the blessing others would receive from sharing your garden!

261. Choosing to do things consciously with full awareness of how our body is feeling changes the whole experience. Any overriding of the body will have an undesirable outcome, so well done on being aware from the moment you even had the thought to mow, right through to when you decided to stop. Body feeling great.

     1. Well said Jo, I think this is a beautiful simple accessible way of summing up the essence of the blog.

262. Beautiful Leigh, so tenderly expressed and the process of how you arrived at the tenderness clearly laid out. This is such a lesson about approaching things we have to do as chores. In doing so we are already looking ahead with that hardness and “have to do” rather than staying with the tenderness of every movement as we approach the task. Such an inspiration, thank you.

263. Hi Leigh, It shows us there must be heaps of ‘chores’ which we have that feeling of being a chore and not something we love to do. What a transformation by being with your body and honouring what you felt! There is indeed wisdom in this that we can use to consider how we do many things in life. Thanks

264. How beautiful to mow your lawn with tenderness Leigh, it feels like the most amazing experience. Towards the end of your blog it is beautiful in the way that you speak about how exquisite it is to feel your tenderness and that it does not have to be the same everyday. This feels like the key to changing our behaviours – so often when I have a good day I want to repeat that day and hold on to it rather than honouring the feeling that I had yesterday and expanding that – as you say ‘There is no perfection or any need to be the same as I was yesterday or any other day’.

265. Thank you Leigh. Being aware of and acknowledging that tense feeling gives the opportunity for it to dissolve. ‘ There is no need for perfection or any need to be the same as I was yesterday or any other day; there is simply a feeling and knowing that I am tender ‘

     1. Its interesting that it was the Esoteric Yoga that first connected Leigh to her body, that allowed her to be aware of the tensing up. I think for me I can spend a lot of time tense and so don’t recognise it (it just seems normal)

        1. Dear Simon,
           I can so relate to what you say about the tenderness feeling normal. A couple of years ago when I first connected to tenderness in my body it was truly a surprise. What got me most was exactly what you say here, that I had been living with it and had not even known it was there. A very revealing and life changing moment for me.

266. Doug, like you I find when it comes to doing physical things I can easily tense up and it all seems hard and effort. Or I can go more with my body and approach what I am doing with a tenderness, which means I will pick it up differently, position my body differently and so not feel the strain on my body and so rather than inevitably resenting the task I actually enjoy it and find I get a lot out of it. My body really responds to treating it this way and I find it then helps support me throughout the day.

267. Hi Leigh, I read this yesterday and during my working hours I was saying to myself ‘if Leigh can be tender mowing the lawn, then I can be whilst transferring my files into boxes’. Thank you for the inspiration.

268. Beautiful Leigh, ‘even when faced with doing difficult things, I can still choose my tenderness’, this is a lovely reminder for me that my natural way is to do things tenderly, I have been mowing the lawn a lot recently, but I can still feel a pushing and a hardness when I do it, rather than feeling my quality of tenderness and allowing myself to mow the lawn in this quality.

269. I loved this blog – simple and clear. It is a wonderful reminder for me to listen and honour my body while doing any task. Although I am much better, I can still go into the drive and pushing to get the job done. I can feel from reading the blog how loving it is for the body to stop doing the task even if it is only half the way through, the utmost importance being, to commit to honouring and loving the self first, the achievement of the job second Thank you Leigh for sharing, yet another awesome blog.

270. That’s exactly what I felt how it was lovely to read how Leigh is really tender with herself .. even putting on her socks : ) and how lovely it was to read as you have said .. the earth could sure do with some tender loving care.

271. So simple, yet so reveiling. I will take this with me to my similar ‘mow’-activities like vacuum cleaning. I can already feel it will make a difference, all the difference!

272. This blog simply demonstrates how love and tenderness can be applied to any task no matter what.

     1. Yes Kevmchardy, I agree and this blog has really got me thinking about some of the jobs done on the farm and the way in which they can be done.

273. I love what you have shared here Leigh. That we can be tender with any task, even when mowing the lawn and how when we listen to the body, rather than being a chore, it can be a joy.

274. Now if we apply the tenderness on mowing the lawn to every task that we feel is a chore… this could simply make our tenderness to become our new normal.

275. Thank you Leigh for your beautiful insight: “This whole experience was very poignant for it has shown me that even when faced with doing difficult things, I can still choose my tenderness. This is something that I am now beginning to explore. I am beginning to realise that my rhythm of living is actually loving and tender”.

276. Beautiful Leigh, I just love it, especially as you say “when faced with difficult things I can still choose my tenderness”.

277. The re-imprinting of the many household chores is a wonderful thing to do. I love doing the washing. Carefully preparing the dirty clothes before I wash them, turning all the clothes the right way before the wash really supports the hanging once they are wet. I join each pair of socks together so once dry I can join them easily. When all the clothes are dry I can fold them straight from the line. My routine is full of care and dedicated in knowing they will be worn and even sometimes the warmth of the sun is still in the basket an hour after I had brought them in, so lovely to feel. Another lovely thing to feel is coming back to unpeg the clothes after pegging them with presence, it’s like you get to feel the love hanging on the line waiting for your return, a real blessing every time.

278. I love this sharing, it’s such a great example of how we can bring self-care, gentleness and tenderness into anything in our life. I particularly like these parts, “On feeling my body harden I could have gone with not mowing the lawn at all, citing that it is too hard on my body. However, to not mow the lawn did not feel right, so I decided to continue on with my plans…..I began to mow and found myself choosing to mow differently to how I normally do.” It shows us that we have three choices at any time when we feel our body tense up; 1. Ignore it, pretend we didn’t feel it and push through with what we are doing any way. 2. Feel it, react to it and stop what we are doing completely. Or 3. Feel it, honor it, and proceed in a different way or a new way, exploring how we can honor our body. I can feel where in many different aspects of my day I have done any one of these three, but can feel how healing and powerful number 3 is.

     1. Good point, Danielle. I has been practising loan mowing for several weeks. I found it very difficult to do after esoteric yoga sessions. My body felt very tender and fragile but because mowing was my job not leisure I went through the push and it was hard and painful.
        After a few weeks of doing that I was recommended by one of the esoteric practitioners to stop because it was too much and I was harming myself.
        I love gardening and when I do it in a stillness – nobody is rushing me, there is no pressure for it to be done as quick as possible- my body loves it, and I can see, Leigh, that it can be done in a different way.
        Did you ever try to dig nettle roots in tenderness? That’s another level.

        1. No Elana, can’t say I have tried to dig nettle roots in tenderness, do let me know how it goes.
           I must say though that weeds in my garden drive me spare, I really get annoyed at how prolifically they grow.
           In fact we have a very tough grass that has taken over the vegetable patch and it really is a battle that I cannot win, my way of dealing with this is to purchase some pots and plant some vegetables on my verandah, as the grass seeds seem to not get into the plants I have there.

        2. Haha I love this Elena, you’ve just taken it to another level. Maybe when something we really feel to do is too hard for our body, it’s a sign we need to do some exercise to get stronger and fitter, to be able to do it in tenderness, maybe even digging nettle roots 🙂

279. Thanks Leigh for sharing how bringing tenderness to all that we do if we choose to stay aware of how we are feeling in every moment.

280. ‘There is no perfection or any need to be the same as I was yesterday or any other day; there is simply a feeling and knowing that I am tender.’ This way of allowing yourself to simply be in itself is ultimate tenderness – the space and grace you’ve given yourself is so inspiring.

281. You are gorgeous Leigh! I loved reading your unfolding relationship with tenderness, even in the midst of a so-called masculine task.

282. Our bodies speak so loudly, if only we choose to listen.

283. You inspire me to be tender Leigh. I truly appreciate what you have shared.

     1. Me too Leonne. A great reminder that it is possible to be tender with yourself in whatever you choose to do.

284. I have had a similar realisation with doing chores and now have a gentle approach with consideration to my body … I use my wrists as a marker of my tenderness, if I feel they go into tension I have gone into drive and it’s an opportunity to stop and check in.

285. Lovely Leigh. A beautiful example of every activity when approached from a place of tenderness can be enjoyable and healing, bringing about deeper levels of connection and awareness. Thanks for sharing. Inspiring.

286. This is a great experience to have Leigh, as re-imprinting the activity (of lawn moving in this case) will have such a different approach to it the next time the same activity is chosen to do. When we bring self care and love to an activity, it is amazing how the whole experience changes.

287. Leigh what you have shared is so precious. It shows so clearly the difference it makes when we choose to take loving care of our body and ensure we remain tender – the quality in our actions and in our experience is deepened whatever task we are engaged with.

288. Your aricle Leigh is very inspirational to read. I was reading this and I could actually feel the tenderness you have mowing the lawn, it feels like it is all there even in the article – it was like I was actually there with you. It is such joy & confirming to hear you share this about being tender & work at the same time. It is so important to realize the power of tenderness and it is never something that is weak (as it is portrayted a lot in the world). I love how you bring a different flavour to it , that tenderness is something gracefull and there to be embraced by everyone equally. This will bring us true freedom and clarity to see, move and speak in a way that is naturally supportive to oneself.

289. Leigh, I really enjoyed reading your experience, it shows how much power there is in tenderness.

290. Another great example of how conscious presence can bring such effortlessness to any task.

     1. Very true Elodie, to be consciously present with all our actions and movements in life, brings a greater ease to all that we do.

291. Wonderful Leigh, how you can look (from outside) to be doing the same thing the same way, and yet the way of doing it tenderly and connected with yourself and how that is with your body and mind can be ‘worlds apart.’ Extending the lawn mowing to all of life, we have made just about everything a struggle and a ‘chore’, and hardened up to do them. But as you’ve shown, it need not be that way. Tenderness is a choice that anyone can make, any time.

     1. Thanks Dianne, this is what I ‘heard’ from this blog as well. That while things look the same or we can approach them the same there is a quality also to what we do. That quality comes from a connection, an ever deepening connection that brings us away from doing it ‘hard’ or where things are a chore. All this is just time spent in connection to yourself and how you are feeling, which in turn connects everything and everyone.

        1. Really enjoyed this comment Ray – the way you link living this way to building a connection with everything and everyone.

        2. Ray I was just feeling into this ‘doing it hard’ thing. To do any physical job we ‘brace’ our muscles to make them hard to lift, push, pull, etc. And also we brace when something is coming towards us, like a falling or thrown object or someone about to tackle us, or a dangerous situation in traffic. We brace much harder and more often than we need to, and even brace muscles and body parts that are not needed for the situation. What I realize is that we ‘brace’ our whole bodies all the time, even to do the ‘job’ of talking to another person, getting ready to go to work, reading the mail, etc, which keeps us hard, therefore everything we do will feel hard and be hard. We are bracing, expecting everything to be difficult; this is an old habit we have trained our bodies into. But why do we think life will be hard, and brace for exertion or impact? Could it be that as little children, in a very un-tender world, that was how it actually felt to us because no-one around us was in loving connection with themselves?

        3. Dear diannetrussell,
           So much reality in what you have written here. To begin to make the choice to surrender to my body, the very thing I have been feeling is how very much I do brace myself, and how it happens in less than a blink of an eye. The most beautiful thing though is now we have the choice to continue with living this way or begin to unravel all the thoughts, ideals beliefs and yes the many ways that we think what is coming to us is going to be difficult in some way. Unravel and one by one make the choice to surrender to our body, in the moment and feel the bracing (tension) dissipate and our body immediately responds by becoming much more supple.
           Love your comment.

292. ‘This whole experience was very poignant for it has shown me that even when faced with doing difficult things, I can still choose my tenderness.’
     Leigh I loved reading this blog and really with your experience in mind, we can take any ‘task’ and turn it into an enjoyable moment by simple allowing more tenderness.✨

293. Thank-you Leigh for this example that we can bring tenderness to no matter what we are doing, even to very physical activities.

294. Leigh thank you for sharing your experience with this. It is so evident that moving and working in this way of tenderness is indeed possible, and for myself I know is something I am re-discovering after many years of rushing, pushing and hardness – clearly at the expense of my body. It is awesome to share that this no longer needs to be the way that it is done, so all can see and also start to feel the tenderness they innately are too.

     1. Really beautiful Amelia, I too have a lot to re-discover in terms of walking, talking and moving day to day in tenderness rather than protection and rushing. It has had a huge impact on my body, but nothing that can’t be changed with the help of a little love.

295. Hi Leigh, thank you for your blog. I have never mowed a lawn but can relate to hardening to do certain jobs and thinking they were mens jobs. But then in a way, I was proud that I could do “mens” jobs. Just reading your blog reminded me of working on the tractors and on the farm with horses and how much I would push my body. I am glad that is not the way that I live today.

296. Beautiful Leigh, a perfect example of how as we grow so to does our understanding of what it is to be tender, gentle and loving.

297. I love the detail that you’ve shared Leigh and it just shows that there are many things that can be done with tenderness if we approach them in a way that honours how we feel when we have already connected with that tenderness as you had during your esoteric yoga session before mowing your lawn.

298. i know the feeling of tenderness you describe Leigh and it is great how you show that our body can tell us exactly how to do things we perceive as hard and as a chore and when we honour this way it becomes a joy to do it!

299. Your blog just highlights that in every moment in life there are lessons to be learnt and new experiences to be had if we just stay open to what is there and what is going on.

300. I haven’t mowed lawns for a very long time Leigh, but I know that I definitely didn’t mow them like you did; they always felt like a chore, something I had to do, so there was no enjoyment whatsoever. What a wonderful example of truly feeling into everything we do and how we do it, even lawn mowing.

301. Beautiful Leigh. Thank you for sharing. I can feel your tenderness in your words.

302. I find it amazing the difference it can make in the way we approach things. I’m not perfect at it either but when I do choose to be tender and take notice of my body it certainly thanks me for it!

     1. For me, when I choose this way of doing things, I end up alot less tired than I would normally.

303. Gorgeous Leigh. You show that we can all choose tenderness in our day. It has reminded me to explore this more in myself, knowing that I have this quality already within.

304. I often have to deal with situations that are actually too much for me as a woman. I need to carry a lot of equipment or luggage because of my profession and not everytime someone is around. Like you shared, I started to do one thing after another and not like before, do everything in one go so that it is finished. My body gets honored so much more and it imprints a new step for tenderness in my next action.

305. It’s cool how to clocked your body tensing when it came to mow the lawn, and rather than back out of the task you chose to still do it but in a different way. It just goes to show how that the body’s messages can support us in our daily tasks and that tenderness need not be missing from life but a part of it. Even in everyday tasks such as this. Thank you Leigh.

306. I can relate to work, that requires physical exertion, being a lovely and gentle experience. I cleaned a roof yesterday as part of my work; it was a very physically demanding and challenging task. I scheduled a full day to do so and whilst I set-up my ropes and equipment methodically, was present in each climb and step I took, I feel that at the point whereby I would have naturally stopped, I continued passed it. I’ve learned (and from this blog, confirmed), that there isn’t much that can’t be done connected and gently – but there is certainly a point that the body tells you to stop. In future I’ll schedule more time to do jobs such as these, so as to stay with myself and not have to go into pushing or hardening.

307. I love your blog Leigh. So often we have the tendency to avoid doing a certain job because it is this or that. Your approach to prepare yourself for it in a way that it can be done lovingly and tenderly is inspiring. Sometimes things just need to be done, but it does not mean we have to push through and treat ourselves with disregard. There is another way.

308. I like the respect you showed your body Leigh. Despite not feeling tired you decided to stop then and there in order to not disregard it. A great lesson in tenderness.

309. I love how you describe that allowing yourself to be more tender actually is less tiring and you can do more, while most people would expect the opposite. Clearly showing how tender and delicate we innately are.

     1. i agree Monika it is amazing how when we are present in the moment and with our body we get so much more done then when we are ticking the chores off the list.

     2. Beautiful said Monika and i agree that we are all very tender and delicate. I can also feel that i thought to be tender in the world is not possible..that i need to harden and protect. But this is not true. To be open hearted loving and tender makes everything much easier and takes complication out. The more i allow myself to be tender and reflect that to others the more people respond with tenderness especially men.

     3. Agree Monika. Shows how tenderly powerful we are.

310. Bringing our tenderness to all that we do is an amazing gift we can make to ourselves and to the world. Work that is done with tenderness and love and care for ourselves suddenly does not feel like a burden or challenge, but as a joy to be carried out.

311. This is beautiful, it shows how such a simple activity as mowing the lawn can be changed from something that felt like a chore to a great part of the day, loving what you do because of the way you do it.

312. With some things where we think they are tough we automatically feel we have to become tough to deal with them, but your example shows that that is not the case. We can always choose tenderness over toughness.

313. Inspiring and very beautiful to read Leigh. Those lawns must be very exquisite with all that tenderness and care you take to mowing them!

314. Thank you Leigh. There is something magical but very practical about being tender. It’s not about being too precious to do hard work or face challenging situations as you share with us here. Tenderness for me is about loving ourselves no matter what and treating our bodies with the utmost love and kindness to the best of our ability , along with listening to and honouring how we feel inside.

     1. Dear Shevon,
        Loving ourselves no matter what. The activity of doing this is true healing, for as I deepen my love for myself I am finding that I make different choices. What I am observing is that when I do that the choices I choose support my body more than I was doing so before.

315. I love this blog it just goes to show that there are many opportunities to have mowing a amazing “teachable moments” if we stop to connect and feel what is going on in our bodies.

316. Leigh. Cutting the grass can be very therapeutic and rewarding. As you mow the grass, just look at the beauty that surrounds you. Listen to the birds. By the time you have done that, you will have finished cutting the grass, and your body will feel great and relaxed.

317. Leigh, thank you for the beautiful incite into mowing your lawn with tenderness and sharing this new found tenderness you live with. It is super inspiring to read and going through it I could feel a lovely nurturing quality in my own body. I’ll be taking this quote with me today ‘…my rhythm of living is actually loving and tender’ and exploring the natural tenderness I equally have within me.

318. Hi Leigh Strack – Sensational! I love these words “There is no perfection or any need to be the same as I was yesterday or any other day; there is simply a feeling and knowing that I am tender.” When you feel something and know it – there is nothing more you need – very powerful Love It !!

     1. Love these words too Rik and Leigh: ‘not needing to be the same as I was yesterday or any other day’, ‘feeling and knowing I am tender’, simple feels beautiful to read this and I connect with my tenderness.

319. ‘even when faced with doing difficult things, I can still choose my tenderness.’ – thank you for this one Leigh. The magnitude of your words, even about something simple and maybe an unrelated task, is vast.

320. It was also great to read how even when you felt your body harden at the prospect of mowing the lawn you didn’t give up on the task you had committed to but instead found the way of both doing the task and honouring your tenderness. I feel there is a real lesson in this, for me anyway.

     1. Great point Josephine – I know there are times when the ‘thought’ of doing something just puts me off rather than considering doing it a different way.

321. Leigh, I have been committing to bringing more tenderness into my life and the way I do things. From your blog I received the understanding that your tender mowing led on from the way you had already set up your day with a very self-caring routine in the early morning. By honouring ourselves in all these ways we build the platform to receive the next insight or the next level of in this case tenderness. Inspiring.

     1. Dear Josephine,
        I am learning more each day as to how important it is to commit to my tenderness.
        For it is easy to let the mind push me into being hard on myself, yet when the commitment has been made, then it is much easier to choose my tenderness and return to it.

322. To re-imprint each task with a deeper way each time we do it is an excellent way to be present. Each time is a new opportunity to connect with that beautiful essence.

323. Leigh thank you for sharing your tenderness and how it supports you every day. I always find it quite wonderous when we let our bodies guide us, and when we accept what is offered, in this case our natural tenderness, then it seems to expand even more in our bodies.

324. Thank you Leigh, a beautiful reminder that the choice always rests with us not matter what situation or activity – to say yes to tenderness or yes disregard

325. Leigh, your blog feels like a wonderful sigh of expansion. I can sense how really beautiful it has been for you to reconnect to your natural tender ways and let go of the hardness in your body and way of life. Just lovely.

326. So gorgeous to read of your tender mowing experience. I recently experienced a similar thing with vacuuming which until that time felt like a chore rather than an opportunity to feel how tender and loving I could be with myself – choosing to connect with me made the task a joy-full one and I could stop when it felt complete instead of perfect.

     1. This is lovely Suzanne, stopping when it felt complete instead of perfect. Words of gold.

327. Great Leigh, exploring tenderness in your body. I love how I feel in my body when I do things tenderly too. Clocking the hardness or tension that creeps in is so great because I find I am less tired after doing things too if I don’t do them with my body all scrunched up.

     1. So true Kate. The key is to ‘clock’ the hardness.

     2. I agree Kate, I have endless energy when I am present with myself and being my naturally tender self.

328. A wonderful reminder Leigh, that there is always an opportunity to unfold a greater understanding of whom we truly are from what appears to be the ‘mundane’ activities of life.

329. Just have to share something: I read this blog this morning, right before I went to the gym. I had the most tender exercise half hour ever, so beautiful. It just shows the impact and the healing we get from reading a blog. It’s not about moving the lawn, as I live on the third floor so there is no lawn for me to work in, but I have deeply felt the tenderness in your blog and I have taken that with me to the gym. Awesome!

     1. That’s a great example Mariette – I’ve been playing with being tender at the gym for a little while – the way I pick up the hand weights or reach for a piece of equipment, and on the rowing machine, and it’s been amazing to feel how my body has responded. My body feels so alive and open at the end of the session and I feel great for the day.

330. Leigh, I love feeling and reading about your tenderness. It just goes to show that there is a strength to being tender, from there we can really read what is going on for us and are more aware of what and how to make our very next choices to honour our depth and develop even further our tender nature.

331. I feel already more tender in reading this blog, thank you Leigh. I know I can sometimes even not do something for fear of becoming too hard in the doing of it – how crazy is that? This is a great reminder to just be tender with me first and allow that tenderness to deepen – choose that. Gorgeous.

332. I often find that when I do jobs that I believe are going to be a chore, they are instead quite enjoyable and it is always satisfying to complete something that looks and feels good. How tired I become is always dependant on whether I view it as a chore or view it as a fun part of my day where my body is moving. Our bodies are made to move so household tasks can be so energising, quite the opposite of what we expect they will be.

     1. Yes Stephen it is the way and quality we approach and do the things we have labelled as chores. Ideals and beliefs we bring in which stop us from enjoying ourselves in everything we do.
        If we bring a quality of tenderness in how beautiful is that especially in regards to physical tasks. I see now household tasks as part of caring for myself and it feels very supportive if
        i take time to keep my house tidy and clean.

333. Thank you Leigh, playful, beautiful and tender. And your lawn would be feeling exquisite!

334. I do a lot of physical work, including mowing, and I can feel what you have shared I will find extremely helpful in deepening my tenderness. Thank you.

     1. Agree Jonathan, it asks us to look at the detail in all the activity we do in life.

335. How beautiful Leigh to feel how your body tenses up in anticipation of a task, well before you have actually started it. This is a powerful awareness as it demonstrates how sensitive our bodies are to our thoughts and intentions, and that we have the power to restore tenderness to our whole day, if we choose to be aware of what is happening to our bodies. Thank you for sharing your experience, I can see how it can be applied to all the physical chores we do around the home and bring an enjoyment to each and everyone of them.

336. Thank You Leigh for reminding us if the job needs to be done we can still do it but it is How we do it that matters. I know my approach to finishing off a small task can be almost like a resistance and then when I take a deep breath and change my approach, I just get on with it but the key is to stay connected with my body. What I have noticed is that my head gets in the way, talks jibber jabber and I forget that its a small job and that it is not a big deal so I don’t need to complicate it with my head nonsense.
     We don’t mow our own lawn but the same applies for mopping the floor and when me or my partner do this with the tenderness you talk about, you can really feel it when the job is done – there is no denying this.
     Thank God as I always say for Serge Benhayon who has brought meaning into my life in more ways than I could ever imagine.

     1. Bina, through choosing to stay with my body I am feeling the importance of each and every small task that I do. For every one of them supports me in some way. Washing the dishes, preparing the items that will cook my next meal, doing the washing, preparing the clothes that I will wear again, doing the ironing, honouring my self and lovingly continuing to prepare the clothing for wear, cleaning the house… Big one for me, still pockets to address, yet by doing so with tenderness and steadiness, preparing the space in which I spend so much time to help to hold me in the love that I am. I am so coming to realise that there is no small task as such, for each one holds within it such a support for my body.

337. I absolutely love your blog Leigh! The way you talk through the most mundane of jobs with such care and tenderness is lovely. The way you knew to prepare yourself for the job, your awareness you kept until the job was complete and your enjoyment of listening to and moving with your body’s natural way, are all things we can apply to any one task in a day. Awesome example.

338. That is awesome Leigh, thank you for sharing how when we stop, feel and consider what our body is telling us we can then make subtle changes and suddenly everything else changes! I can very much relate to when you said you split it up into sections, it reminds me of cleaning the floor in a big hall, at 1st it can seem like wow this is a huge job but then I split it up into sections and before I know it it is finished! What I love about doing it this way is that I am not thinking about how much more I have to do rather enjoying each movement and section. It helps to keep my mind and body focused on what I am doing, which as you have found, really does work!

339. Just gorgeous Leigh, a reminder that chores do not have to be a ‘bore’.

340. As much as I want to love your blog on tenderness it brings up so much for me, I am finding myself frustrated at the thought of mowing half a lawn! Regardless I can feel certainly that being connected and listening to your body has allowed a new level of tenderness for you that I can be inspired by…just not today…. but hopefully soon once I have let go of drive and outcomes!

     1. Vanessa, I love your honesty here, what you say can so support so many. As all of us are dealing with drive to some degree. Connecting to my body has been the only way that I have begun to recognize when I am allowing drive to run my body. Loving myself deeply has supported me to make the changes needed to lessen the power drive has over me.

        1. This is awesome Vanessa – I too love you honesty! Leigh thank you for sharing that developing a deep love for yourself has supported the power of drive to lessen.

341. Beautiful Leigh. I also had an experience like yours: a few weeks ago I did my gentle exercises, I felt my body on this first day of Menstruation and found I was longing for stillness. So I thought about taking a day off from work, to shift the work to an other day. But something did not feel right doing that and I realised that my body was asking for stillness but not for lying down and doing nothing.
     So I made the choice to bring the stillness which I felt this morning into my day, into every meeting, every moment, yes I decided to not give up on my stillness, whatever the day would bring to me.
     With this decision I felt even more still and started to feel what needed to be done. This became a most interesting day. I was full in the moment – not thinking “how much time do I have for this meeting”, “I have to go to that meeting.
     Every person I met, I met in full. I just met them and let develop what had do develop. My connection with people and my appreciation for the meetings did go deeper. I didn’t wanted anything to be different, there was a deep acceptance of me, others and situations. I did choose to not give up on stillness this day and it did become a most easy, successful day – an honoured day. I did take the responsibility for the stillness which was needed.
     What I did get from this experience is a lot – but in a nutshell: to honour what I felt and choose and to not give up on it. It is powerful and brings the magic of god into my day.

     1. Thank you Leigh and Sandra, I agree honouring and living our stillness is so power-full and brings in that direct relationship to the Magic of God in all that we do!

342. Thank you Leigh, this takes grass cutting to a whole new level!

     1. I agree gregbarnes888, Leigh has shared a totally different way of approaching lawn mowing!

        1. Absolutely Marcia, Leigh has a different way of approaching life. It is not just about the grass, everything we do should honour our body, so whether it is the grass or going for a walk, too far is too much. Our body tells us when we are connected and are prepared to listen.

343. What a beautiful way to start each and every day – gentle exercise, Esoteric yoga – preparing our bodies for what lies ahead for the oncoming day. Tuning in (connecting and feeling) to held tensions in the body is a wonderful marker to work with which gently allows us to connect more deeply with that resistance/hardening in the body which comes to the surface. Reading this blog this morning brings a completely new way to how I approach any manual tasks which, before this I have taken for granted that my body will cope with the work load! Thank you Leigh.

344. I love this blog Leigh! Who knew that mowing the lawn could be an exquisite affair. Thank you for sharing your experience with allowing your own tenderness to guide you through what could usually be described as a hard slog.

345. Thank you Leigh for the inspiration to approach tasks that I have previously seen as ‘chores’ with tenderness which already feels so different in my body.

     1. Yep, not much that is tender in the word ‘chores’, whereas when we approach our day and what needs to be done with a willingness, having cared for ourselves first, there can be a lot of fun in doing the most ‘mundane’ thing!

        1. Katerina, that’s a great way to look at it, approach our day and what needs to be done with willingness, having cared for ourselves first. This completely feels different and no longer a burden or a chore.

        2. So true Katerina!

        3. Great point Katerina, just hearing the word ‘chores’ puts me off! It is amazing how different we can feel doing the same thing just with a different intention towards doing it. It can be laborious, hard and an effort or fun and playful – the choice is always ours.

        4. Katerina, that word ‘chores’ is so laced with how society views menial tasks. I looked it in up two dictionaries, an old 1930’s one , and a modern Oxford. The old one says’ occasional work to be done, household tasks’, the modern one ‘a tedious or routine task esp a domestic one’. This belittles anyone who does such tasks, as well as the tasks themselves. What could be more rewarding than to create order from chaos, or a smooth green lawn from a mini jungle..

        5. There so can be Katerina, something else I am beginning to discover is that I feel tension when I have felt to do a job, but ‘don’t get to it’ in the day. The tension stays in my body until I get it done. Amazing what we do to ourselves, obvious to me that ‘the other things I did do’ were simply a way to distract me from honouring what my body felt.

        6. Well said Doug, no more chores in my life.

346. It’s interesting – I’ve literally only just accepted that as a woman I could mow the lawn… I’ve always thought it was a man’s job – shamefully sexist I know! While I have used a sit on mower before, I always thought the manual ones were massive, heavy, awkward and more than a little scary. What I didn’t realise is with today’s progression of technology you can actually buy smaller cordless mowers that run on battery, much easier in every way, especially on my body – so this is definitely the way I have decided to go 😊

     1. Meg, as you’ve just shown, isn’t it easy to have an idea about something like mowing the lawn and never question it and just go through life by these ideas..
        Days, months & years go by but because I have this idea in my head I never check if this idea is still current for me..
        For me when I did start questioning the ideas in my head it was very quickly clear that not many of the ideas stood up to basic questioning like: Is this idea supportive for me? How does this idea effect me and everyone around me? Can I afford to keep this idea? Etc
        Let alone this bigger questions like: Why did I choose this idea in the first place? What plan is there behind me living this idea?
        Now I find that I’m no longer going through life, instead, I am living my life.

     2. Honouring our tenderness does allow for bringing simplicity and joy into what we do and so we naturally would see a easier way to go about things, which is very simple and works.

     3. Meg thank you. As I read your comment vacuum cleaning came to mind, a chore I never look forward to. This is partly because my vacuum cleaner is heavy and cumbersome but also because of the way I enter the activity. Time to find one that’s lighter in weight and puts less strain on the body and begin bringing tenderness to my body while I vacuum.

     4. Like Meg, I too have thought that mowing the lawn was a man’s job! I used to mow the lawn but gosh it was hard going. I gave up and from then on passed the job onto my husband! This blog is so inspiring. I would have never thought possible that a woman could mow the lawn with tenderness. How beautiful is that!

     5. Mmmm cordless mowers, that run on battery, I may just go shopping. Thank you.

347. I love this Leigh. You have sweetly and simply described how easy it is to bring tenderness, joy and all of us to everything we do throughout the day. A choice that appears ‘small’ such as putting on socks or boots must never be underestimated if we choose to do it in the quality of everything we are. Thank you for sharing this with us all.

348. Thank you Leigh, your blog made me smile all the way through. I live in a big city and never ever mow a lawn or even think of this as a possible task. The first thing that came to me when you said you wanted to mow before sunrise was “that’s lots of noise what if the neighbours are still sleeping?” Hilarious! I was absolutely enjoying to read every step of your mowing task as it showed so beautifully how connected we all are in our ways of living and that there is no difference between anything we do and that it is all about the same expression. I felt like I was walking next to you. Thank you for presenting the truth of equalness in expression.

     1. Thank you Rachel. It was and still is such a learning curve to feel and fully grasp the difference that is made in living my life when I choose to live it with my tenderness. Everything I do gives me yet another opportunity to do this and to feel the joy of my body moving tenderly. Once moving for me was a constant vigilant checking to see if I was being gentle, now it is a joy to feel my body in full, to feel the sexiness that is naturally present, the tenderness and understanding for others is also exquisite to feel.

349. What a great example of feeling one’s body and deciding to do something in gentleness that could have been overlooked. We always need to consider that everything we do requires tenderness from us. I would not think my neighbours would have a lot of tenderness for me cutting my lawn before the sunrise in London though.

     1. Lol, maybe mowing the lawn early would not be a good idea, we really don’t want our neighbors to be up in arms, there certainly would be no tenderness present.

350. Beautiful to read Leigh, very inspiring. I found too that it is not always about not doing things when our body tightens but about changing the way we do it.

     1. Well said Lieke, it is so easy to then not do things when we feel our body tighten, instead of embracing what our body is showing us and changing the way we do it. Otherwise I find I just put things off and then they build up and that leads to more tension!!

        1. Yes very true James, putting things off creates a lot of tension. As the grass in this instance won’t stop growing and the other things we have to do will not wait either! Doing things when I feel impulsed to do them works best.

351. Thank you for sharing Leigh it is a great reminder that we do not need to go into hardness or brace ourselves to get things done. What you have highlighted to me with your blog is how powerful Esoteric Yoga is. I know when i have put time aside to do the Yoga how gorgeous my body feels and it is almost impossible to do anything in a hard or rushed way afterwards, and if I do it really stands out.

352. Super gorgeous blog Leigh. Being “in the Livingness”, and the title could change to:
     Sweeping the Back Porch – With Tenderness
     Carrying the Shopping In – With Tenderness
     Vacuuming the Carpets – With Tenderness
     Washing The Car – With Tenderness
     Barbecuing – With Tenderness
     You get the picture 🙂 Life is lived differently when done … With Tenderness

353. Leigh what a truly tender sharing.
     Thank you

354. Great blog Leigh. Well I basically mow lawns for a living and try to do it as tenderly as possible, but yesterday I had a lot to do and went into total drive, disregard, the whole shebang and when I finally got home I was totally exhausted and collapsed on the couch. I was far more exhausted than I should have been and looking back over the day, it was due to my total lack of tenderness and self care.

355. Leigh thank you for sharing your experience of how approaching a task can be done in tenderness or intrepidation and anxiousness. As you’ve shared the feeling from mowing the lawn can be felt for a very long time after which is a lovely reminder that should we approach something from and with tenderness it will support us for every moment thereafter.

     1. David it so does support us, for myself, now I have felt it, when I am not allowing my tenderness to be in my body it is felt immediately, in feeling this I can choose again to be tender. Support like no other I have experienced before, me supporting me. And I am so worth supporting 😊.

356. Lovely to read how tender you were with yourself in the morning with your yoga and how aware and tender you were while putting on your socks and boots showing the importance of everything counts – thus your blog highlights it is how we are with ourselves in every moment that influences the experience we will have regardless of what we set out to do.

357. Thank you Leigh
     The lawn and how tender you chose to be in that moment can be applied to anything we do in our day. There is so much depth in how we approach tasks. Here you beautifully describe how honouring your body allowed you to mow the lawn with love,
     It is up to us to change the relationships we have created with chores – this is a beautiful example.

358. “This whole experience was very poignant for it has shown me that even when faced with doing difficult things, I can still choose my tenderness.” deeply profound and so simple

     1. I agree gylrae, this is very profound. Feeling that your tenderness is always apart of you (whether chosen or not) and is therefore a support to whatever is happening around you or is seen to be difficult is a great tool to carry. We could approach any situation from our tenderness really, as it’s always there to feel and return to at any time.

     2. Thanks gylrae and Leigh for this gentle reminder – there is always a choice – ‘I can still choose tenderness’ no matter what – and then that is the quality I bring to whatever it is before me.

359. Dear Leigh, gorgeous blog, a joy to read and feel the tenderness and appreciation. And the fact that in a split second we can come back to the tenderness we are, by a simple choice of knowing we are tender and not hard.

360. Leigh, I am very touched by this blog, you have not only inspired me to approach some pretty physically demanding tasks with much more understanding, but you have also shown that each day can be different with how I feel in my body, I love that. Thankyou.

     1. Dear Shami,
        I am beginning to understand more and more that everything we feel, experience etc is always simply there to support us returning to our beautiful soulful selves. Therefore each day our bodies do feel different as constantly they are evolving and releasing. But deep inside even on the toughest of days there is always this well of joy to be felt, supporting us as we feel and discard what does not vibrate with the joy we feel inside.

361. Thanks Leigh for a very good example of how performing any task, no matter how physical, is so much easier and pleasurable when you are really connected to yourself.

362. This is great because we have so many ideas about what tenderness, gentleness, stillness and words like that mean. I used to think stillness had something to do with not moving, but the best demonstration of stillness I have ever seen is Michael Benhayon playing the drums in a rock concert. Since I have become more loving with myself I have actually started to lift heavier weights in my morning exercise routine – who would have guessed!!!

363. I love your blog Leigh! What a difference it makes if we truly chose to be delicate and tender with ourselves and to keep bringing ourselves back to that. I notice that I harden at times through the school day – this blog has inspired me to stay with it and to keep checking in to see if I am being tender with my body or not – thank you.

364. Its great to hear how such a practical element of your day can be such a healing experience. We can learn from the most unexpected moments if we are open to it.

     1. Well said Laura. Every moment gives us an opportunity to deepen our presence and learn.

365. Leigh, as I read your blog, I felt you tenderly mowing your lawn. I enjoyed the way you brought love to what had been for you a mundane task and the fine detail of your choosing how to be. As you show, everything comes from the body: ‘This day though, when I felt my body tense up I acknowledged it and made the choice to be tender with my body as I prepared myself to mow. I honoured my feet and treated them with the utmost tenderness as I put on my socks and boots.’ This a gorgeous, gentle read and inspires us to bring tenderness to everything we do.

366. Leigh what a great way to practise bring your tenderness in everything that you do. I love this sentence – ‘There is no perfection or any need to be the same as I was yesterday or any other day; there is simply a feeling and knowing that I am tender.’ – It is a great reminder to not get caught up in how the tenderness needs to be and just allow it to be and connect to it. Awesome, thanks.

367. Tenderness, the word alone makes me drop deeper in my body. Exquisite and a wonderful gift to ourselves.

368. Listening to and honoring my body has also supported me to re-connect with my tenderness and delicateness. I too have experienced thinking I was in tenderness to only find out there was more as I gave myself permission to surrender and let go of the protection and hardness that I was carrying in my body.

     1. Dear marylouisemyers, What I am beginning to understand and feel is that it is not always that I was not being tender, but that in allowing myself to be tender – then gives permission for me to surrender to a deeper level of tenderness. And this next level then opens the doors for the next deeper again feeling of tenderness to be felt.

369. Leigh, your article comes in the perfect time. I am also exploring how it feels to match the tenderness I in truth have in my body and just did not respect most of the time. The care in how you proceeded in mowing your lawn is inspiring.

370. A great observation Leigh. How different your lawn will feel when you sit or walk on it when it has been treated with such care and tenderness.

371. It is amazing Leigh how when you felt your body harden and then chose to be tender with the way you put on your socks and shoes, this tenderness made such a difference to the way you mowed – sideways does seem less taxing on the body. Thank you for your example of the loveliness and the strength in tenderness.

372. It is amazing that on every aspect of life we can learn such great lessons if we allow ourselves to be aware of it. I am amazed by the fact that our bodies can learn us that much of who we truly are, what more will it bring to me when I connect more deeply with it?

373. Thank you Leigh for this lovely reminder about bringing tenderness to our work — no matter what it is. I read your article as I sat down to work at the computer. I can bring the same hardness to working on the computer as any other type of job, just that physical jobs expose this hardness more readily. It’s a timely reminder to bring tenderness to all that we do.

374. Thank you for this lovely sharing Leigh. A great and timely reminder!

375. Thank you Leigh for showing how we can make anything that seems like a chore turn into a joyful experience when we honour our bodies fully during it. I tend to really like mowing my lawn myself, especially when I really feel my body in the motions of doing it. It’s like giving the grass an overdue haircut, and I love how I feel after that myself. Perhaps it also has something to do with bringing more order and neatness to our yard and home, which is honouring of ourselves as well. It’s also a great time to practice not zoning out and thinking about all kinds of other things that need to get done or what you’d rather be doing, but just be with your body doing it.

376. Thank you for sharing this Leigh. Being tender with yourself and loving your lawn as you mow it is something that I would find difficult. It is inspiring for you to have shared this example of how we can be gentle and loving in all we do.

377. Love this Leigh, taking the time to clock that maybe the way we do things is what makes us tense and if we allow, there can be a way to flow with life.

     1. Yes Joel there is a way to flow with life, I feel it now and it is constantly surprising me how in the flow I am so supported.

378. Simple, beautiful and powerful thank you Leigh I loved this – i felt so light and free when I read this. I can feel how my old chores of duty can be enjoyable and easy by just being naturally me which is naturally tender.
     I especially loved :
     ‘I can feel I am tender and the feeling of living this way is exquisite. There is no perfection or any need to be the same as I was yesterday or any other day; there is simply a feeling and knowing that I am tender.’ What a beautiful way to live each day.

379. Great blog Leigh. It just goes to show that it is about the quality we bring to an activity and not always the activity. It’s amazing to read how you honoured your tenderness and body with mowing a lawn.

380. It feels like the tenderness you mowed the lawn with was made possible because you stayed aware and could feel that your body was tensing up at the sheer thought of what was ahead. Not judging how you were feeling then allowed you to do it differently and with amazing ease and joy – very inspiring.

     1. Absolutely – I notice having an awareness of my body changes the way I do so many things too.

381. Thank you Leigh, “that even when faced with doing difficult things, I can still choose my tenderness.”
     Also I could relate to how when you put presence, care and effort into what you are currently doing for e.g. putting on your “socks and boots”, you actually set it up for the next moment to be the same if not greater in quality.

382. Wow Leigh what a beautiful awareness and deep appreciation for your ever developing rhythm of tenderness. Thank you for sharing.

383. I have been working as a cleaner for the past 6 months. We work on a very tight schedule cleaning one house to the next, and it is a very physical work. So I start with an intention to be tender with myself and with my movement, but more often than not, I feel pressured and I am left feeling lot of tension in my body at the end of the day which often stays on for the next few days. It’s very inspiring how you have conquered the temptation not to mow the lawn by acknowledging your body tensing up and making a conscious decision to be even more tender, and I now realise how and where I might have been losing my connection at work. Thank you, Leigh. Your sharing has given me an opportunity to reflect back on the way I work and make some adjustment.

     1. I find too that I start the day with the intention of being super gentle and tender and then sometimes end up by getting hard and shut down! In getting caught up in my work, or in what I am doing or by being absorbed, I lose presence. When this happens the drive kicks in. This blog is a lovely reminder to check in and be tender in every moment. With each new moment the appreciation for the quality built grows but it is a choice that needs to be constantly made in each moment to keep the momentum flowing.

        1. That happens for me too – it’s easy to loose focus in a day of what really matters, and that natural tenderness we begin with. I had some amazing advice a few days ago about breaking the day up and that has helped HUGELY.

384. This is reminding me Leigh that it’s not what I do but how I do it that matters. That tension we go into before doing something that we feel is a chore is already exhausting our bodies. Your insights on your experience with your own tenderness and the fact that we all are that has brought me back to the feeling and awareness of my own tenderness as I read through your blog.

385. The tenderness you live emanates from your article Leigh. I love how you describe you tender preparations for the ‘hard task’ … ‘I honoured my feet and treated them with the utmost tenderness as I put on my socks and boots.’ and how these tender preparations change how you approached the task and therefore the outcome. I’m reflecting on the possibility that I too ‘harden up’ in preparation for some tasks … I will be investigating this. Thank you for sharing your insight.

386. What a gorgeous sharing Leigh – the feeling of you putting on your boots, etc in preparation is tangibly tender, warm, unrushed, unpushed and gorgeously simply present. I can feel jus thow deeply the quality you chose changed everything. I’ll be revisiting this blog as there is much to be learned here, particularly around the fact you were not tired when you chose the quality of care and presence you accepted the latter time – this is huge!.

387. There is no perfection or any need to be the same as I was yesterday or any other day; there is simply a feeling and knowing that I am tender. This sentence right there Leigh is an absolute gem for me at this time, so thank-you deeply for your spot on sharing.

     1. I love that Julie – “…knowing that I am tender.” I have found those few words key this morning ‘knowing that I am tender’ – not seeking it, trying to be it, looking to attain it etc. etc. – but ‘knowing that I am – tender’ – simply a confirmation.

388. I loved reading your blog Leigh – brought back memories of when we lived in the country and the ‘mowing the lawn’ was a 2 hour mostly weekly/fortnightly event. It was a ‘ride-on’ mower and the machine itself was quite a large piece of machinery for me to handle, also with pull start when the key ignition refused to work. I don’t really recall being ‘tender’ with me during those years on the mower, but I did enjoy the nature of in and out and under the fruit and native trees. Thank you for the reminder to be ‘tender’ in all I approach, even though on the 22nd floor of an apartment block I no longer have to mow the grass.

389. Gorgeous article on exploring and feeling tenderness Leigh, it’s made me want to deeper consider how my body feels in the activities I do that quite often are ‘carried out’ without such detailed feeling. Hmm, interesting, thank you, I’m looking forward to the exploring.

390. What a gorgeously tender blog Leigh! It brought back many memories for me in how I have mowed the lawn in the past, mostly in drive and disregard for my body (ie not only in the force I used to push the mower, but also in not wearing proper clothing to protect my body, and in how I very often overrode what I was feeling and would push on regardless even when I knew I was tired, just to have the job completed in one session…. And yet invariably feeling the impact of this afterwards with a tired and exhausted body!). Thank you for this beautiful reminder that it is possible to mow lawns another way that does not involve this drive and that does not have to be at the expense of the body. A great reminder not only when it comes to mowing, but every activity we do…

391. A great reminder Leigh that no matter what I do I have a choice in the quality of that choice and therefore the presence I bring too. A great way to start my day, thank you.

392. Ah yes, the wonder of choosing tenderness in our body and what we do completely changes. Instead of mowing the lawn being a chore, now it is just another part of life where we can do it gently, not worry about certain expectations that we had in the first place and then enjoy ourselves in the process. It’s great to have this evenness in life and then tasks like mowing the lawn aren’t tedious.

393. I agree, Leigh, with your statement “When we are faced with difficult things we can still choose tenderness”. There are many physically demanding jobs that we all need to do in every day life and I find also the stop and check how I feel before the activity, ensures a love for my overall body.

394. Leigh how gorgeous, that in the face of a previously difficult task you choose tenderness and completely changed it. What a way to live, that is just so simple and joyful.

395. When I do activities begrudgingly I’m always tired afterwards. What I’ve found is that I’m using energy to do the activity but using x10 the energy being cross because I had to do it in the first place.

     Being in aww of our tenderness is amazing and makes any chore worth doing again.

     1. So true Luke! When we are feeling our tenderness and our loveliness any chore is enjoyable.

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