Gil Grimes

April 9, 2018

Compassion, Core beliefs, Hakomi, Inner Child, Loving Presence, Mindfulness

Lessons in Love...

Gil Grimes

April 9, 2018

Compassion, Core beliefs, Hakomi, Inner Child, Loving Presence, Mindfulness

‘I am curious about your use of the word allow.’

My breath caught in my throat, tightness grabbed at my heart, and for a second the sense of vertigo was there, I was on the precipice looking down. What had she seen, what had I shown, and why did she hone in on that phrase.

‘I want to offer you some words… notice what happens when you hear them…. It’s OK to allow yourself to be loved.’

I turned in, felt the instability in my seat, felt myself twisting just a bit as I looked into that place where it felt scary.

Gil Grimes

February 4, 2018

Hakomi, Inner Child, Loving Presence

Enduring love.....

Gil Grimes

February 4, 2018

Hakomi, Inner Child, Loving Presence

In the moment, she asks me to feel into the place where the longing lives, where the desire to reach out to others arises. I find myself moving my right hand to reach toward someone who is not there, reaching for something that is elusive, something just out of reach. Drawing my attention to the feeling, she asks me to stay with the longing, to sink into it, let it fill me up, let it flicker to life within me in a deep way. I notice the ache in my heart for comfort and love, the ache in my heart to be held close, and the voice in my head tells me it is not possible. Skillfully she notices that change, asking me about this voice, she offers to say those words out loud so I can study them more closely. Hearing those words shifts the longing to a deeper place, and unconsciously my hands begin to cradle my face.

Gil Grimes

January 22, 2018

Forgiveness, fear, Core beliefs, Compassion, Hakomi, Inner Child, Loving Presence

Stepping toward fear...

Gil Grimes

January 22, 2018

Forgiveness, fear, Core beliefs, Compassion, Hakomi, Inner Child, Loving Presence

“Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth”
― Pema Chödrön, When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times

I am struck by the honesty of this quote, there is a deep truth within this understanding, there is a fear in moving, edging closer to the deep truth that lays within us all. This has been the 11th block of a 15-block training in Hakomi Mindful Somatic Psychotherapy, and as per usual, I am sitting at the Newark Airport feeling a little shaken up by the process.

Gil Grimes

December 31, 2017

Compassion, fear, Forgiveness, grief, Hakomi, Self Awareness

He had great faith in you...

Gil Grimes

December 31, 2017

Compassion, fear, Forgiveness, grief, Hakomi, Self Awareness

“He had great faith in you, and you let him down…” These words landed, heavily, in the middle of my chest. These words brought pain, they were a tool to bring pain, and they did their job well. I cannot know the state of mind within the one who spoke those words, but I imagine they came from a place of great worry, great pain, and great anger. I have spoken words like this myself on occasions, more than I would care to remember at any given moment, and when I have used words like this with others, they were designed to hurt. It is from this place of seeing the pain, that I began to wonder about why anyone would choose to be a physician, and I realized it’s because no one really knows what they’re saying yes to when they pursue this career.

Gil Grimes

November 19, 2017

Core beliefs, Compassion, Self Awareness, Inner Child

The inner child...

Gil Grimes

November 19, 2017

Core beliefs, Compassion, Self Awareness, Inner Child

He is watching me as I go about my morning. I can feel him just below the surface, noticing what I am up to. He is ever curious, this little one, and lately he has not been far away. I can hear his questions about what I am doing, why I am doing it, and what it all means. He is always asking ‘Why?’ and as often as I can, I work to answer his questions. He did not used to visit me at all, and for the longest time, I did not know he existed.

Gil Grimes

November 5, 2017

Compassion, Forgiveness, Hakomi, Mindfulness, Self Awareness

Sorrow and the teacher...

Gil Grimes

November 5, 2017

Compassion, Forgiveness, Hakomi, Mindfulness, Self Awareness

Something was missing as I walked in to the house, something was just not right. It took me a moment as I closed the door to realize, my greeter was not present, and then I remembered, she would not be coming to see me any longer. Her time with us had come to an end, and in that moment, the sorrow that had been lurking near the edges of life came in the door with me and settled into my heart.

Gil Grimes

November 14, 2016

Hakomi, Shadow work, Forgiveness

Changing your world...

Gil Grimes

November 14, 2016

Hakomi, Shadow work, Forgiveness

A phrase to change the world...

The most liberating thing I have learned in my life to date is the following phrase…..

Everyone is doing the best they can…if they could do better they would.

- Matt Kahn

Thinking lightly about that phrase we often find ourselves viewing it with a degree of judgement, ‘I know Bob, and I have seen him do a lot better than he is giving me right now!’ or my personal favorite, the self-deprecating ‘Jeez you would think after so many years I would do that better than I did’. However, both of these miss the mark of what is being said in that small phrase., so let me repeat it to make it fresh for us all…

Gil Grimes

December 25, 2015

Meditation, Mindfulness

A Christmas Gift to You....

Gil Grimes

December 25, 2015

Meditation, Mindfulness

It is no secret that there have been big changes in my life in the last 9 months. For anyone who has seen me, there is clearly a transformation taking place. There are two transformations taking place, one internal and one external. The external transformation is very clear to everyone, but what is harder to see is the transformation that is occurring internally. And of the two transformations, the internal one has had a far greater impact upon my life, and through those internal changes, the lives of every person that I touch.