189 thoughts on “Mowing the Lawn – With Tenderness”

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.’

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. 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.

15. 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.

16. 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.

17. 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.

18. 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.

19. 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.

20. 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.

21. 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.

22. 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.

23. 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.

24. ‘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.

25. 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.

26. 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.

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

28. 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.

29. 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!)

30. 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!

31. 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.

32. 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.

33. 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.

34. 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.

35. “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.

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

37. 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.

38. 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.

39. 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.

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

41. 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.

42. 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.

43. 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.

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

45. 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.

46. 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.

47. 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.

48. 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.

49. “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.

50. 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.

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

52. 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!

53. 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.

54. 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.

55. 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.

56. ‘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. That is exactly how it feels Meg, beautifully said.

57. 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”.

58. “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.

59. 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.

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

61. 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.

62. 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.

63. 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. 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.

64. 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.

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

66. 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.

67. 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.

68. 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.

69. 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.

70. 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…*

71. The lawn never had it so good.

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

72. 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.

73. 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. 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.

74. 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.

75. 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.

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

77. 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.

78. “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.

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

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

81. 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.

82. 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

83. 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.

84. 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.

85. 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.

86. 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.

87. 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.

88. “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.

89. 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. 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.

       1. 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.

       2. 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.

       3. 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.

90. 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.

91. “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.

92. 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.

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

94. 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.

95. 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.

96. 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.

97. 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.

98. 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.

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

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

101. 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.

102. 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. 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.

103. 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

104. 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. 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 🙂

105. 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.

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

107. 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.

108. 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. 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.

109. 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.

110. 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.

111. ‘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.

112. 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.

113. 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.

114. 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.

115. So wise Rebecca Briant.

116. 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.

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

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

119. 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!

120. 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.

121. 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.

122. 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.

123. 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.

124. 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.

125. 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.

126. 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.

127. 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!

128. 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.

129. 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

130. “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.

131. 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!

132. 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.

     1. 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?

133. 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.

134. 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.

135. 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.

136. 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.

Comments are closed.