Yesterday I shared with you one thing that happened to me on my yoga mat. Today, I share with you another thing. As the instructor said “Breathe into your heart space”, I did and I said in my mind, “Yes, heart space. Bless your heart, Nicole. Bless my heart.” “Bless your heart” in the South of the United States can mean quite a few things. I like how Wikipedia explains it. “Bless your heart” is a phrase common to the Southern United States. The phrase has multiple meanings and is used to express genuine sympathy but sometimes as an insult that conveys condescension, derision, or contempt. It may also be spoken as a precursor to an insult to mitigate its severity. -Wikipedia

For me it meant genuine sympathy to my heart which was enduring the jumbled, jammed, thoughts in my mind spreading throughout my body delivering pain and moodiness. “Bless my heart” lead to this:

Bless my heart God.

Bless my weary heart.

Bless my before I was born into my mother’s womb heart.

Bless my 7 year old heart when I had trouble walking and pain in my knees. Bless my 8 year old heart when they told us I had juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.

Bless my elementary heart as I was laughed at and made fun of because I was a black girl with red hair. Bless my heart. Bless my tears. Bless my buried self esteem.

Bless my troubled heart during the drama and trauma of my childhood and teenage years.

Bless my young adult heart.

Bless my 30 year old heart.

Bless my 35 year old heart when I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Disease, fibromyalgia, anxiety and depression.

Bless my the heart of my 40s.

Yes, God. Bless my heart.

May you bless your heart. ~Nikki