SOUL MAIL Sunday: Your Life is the Time of Your Blossoming
Welcome back to SOUL MAIL Sunday.
Our message this Sunday, August 16, 2026, is Your Life Is the Time of Your Blossoming.
This message first came to me on August 5th, when I asked for guidance while visiting my son, along with my daughter, son-in-law, and three grandsons in San Diego. Then it came to me again on August 9th, after I returned home to Texas.
So I paid attention.
During my travels, I found myself pondering two questions:
Why do we judge our experiences as good or bad?
And:
How can we refrain from labeling what is happening in the present moment so quickly?
Does judging an experience too quickly cause us to react with emotion rather than slowing down enough to respond with care and love?
I returned home to an immediate opportunity to explore those questions.
The morning after I arrived, I walked into the kitchen and found Mr. Cockroach sitting on a paper towel on the counter.
There are times when a quick and decisive NO is required—and this was one of them!
This uninvited houseguest is my worst allergen, and his presence triggered me. I thanked him for reminding me to be flexible and adapt to outside forces, and then I removed him from my home.
It wasn't pretty.
But the experience inspired me to deep-clean my kitchen and remove some excess.
Then there was Mr. Frog.
The days had become so unbearably hot that I decided to bring many of my plants back inside. After returning my peace lily to its place in the living room and watering it, I noticed Mr. Frog sitting on the floor.
I had forgotten that he had made his home in the peace lily.
This time I responded slowly.
He allowed me to gently carry him outside, where he hopped into the garden.
It was a peaceful exit.
Photo of the frog from my peace lily
He reminded me to be grateful for the unexpected invitations and explorations I experienced in San Diego—and to remember that sometimes life asks us to move gently rather than react quickly.
People are more complicated than frogs and cockroaches.
Especially the people we love.
While I was visiting my son, he shared something deeply honest with me. He had come to realize that his dad and I were pretty overwhelmed when he was young, and that he needed more emotional support from us through our presence and our ability to hold space for him.
He wanted his family to become more emotionally open and supportive.
I appreciated his openness and honesty.
It reminded me that it is never too late to change family patterns and grow, both individually and together.
That takes slowing down and remaining calm in response to whatever comes from our external environment.
It takes being willing to hear one another.
It takes conscious action.
And it takes remembering that love is always with us throughout our days.
The message was echoed in my yoga classes during the week—and even in a Bluey episode my grandsons were watching.
I could say to one of my grandsons,
“No! Slamming the door is not acceptable.”
But then I needed to invite him to identify what he was feeling and explore other ways to express those feelings.
He found many:
drawing, dancing, using his uncle's drumsticks, swinging high on the swingset, pretending he was on a pirate ship at the playground, and walking in the waves while chasing birds at the beach.
The experience reminded me that a boundary does not have to close the door on connection.
Sometimes we need to say NO.
But we can say NO while remaining present.
We can set a boundary while still making room for love.
Sometimes external events distract us from the dream or vision that forms when we are in quiet stillness and presence with ourselves.
Today's SOUL MAIL message reminds us not to let outside forces topple us or push us away from who we are becoming.
Our life is a thing of beauty that we create through loving presence.
You may view the SOUL MAIL image and read or listen to the poetic message below.
May we let go of the habit of judging our experiences as good or bad and instead allow ourselves to be present with what is.
May we pause.
May we give each experience some space.
May we allow it to unfold and see where it may be taking us.
In that pause, perhaps we can look for the best in others—and in ourselves—and respond with greater presence, compassion and love.
And when we need to say NO, may it be a high-quality NO—one that honors both our boundaries and our relationships.
We don't have to quickly appease others simply to keep the peace.
We don't have to fix everything.
We don't have to understand how everything will turn out.
We can honor the life we have been given and the loving force moving through it.
Your life is the time of your blossoming.
Not someday.
Now.
