Time out

If we are always busy how can we truly savor life's greatest gifts? 

As you move through all that needs to get done this holiday season I urge you to make the time for some stillness. In the quiet is where we really get to be with our truest feelings and we get a chance to reflect on all that we have achieved in our busy times, our family gatherings, all that our senses have so quickly absorbed. We can access if there was something left unsaid, or undone, we can access if how we spent our time was truly valuable or if we need to make adjustments. Remember too than in the stillness daydreams bring in valuable visions and new ideas.

Its my intention this year to create this kind of time intentionally because I wont be travelling home. In my mind I will make many journeys. I will visit with people I have known who are no longer with me, some of my past Christmases have been my best gifts and I intend to truly savor them in gratitude. I also intend to be grateful for whatever days are left to me, for there is not one of us who knows the day nor the hour that we will take our leave. I reap as I sow, I intend to sow a lot of love. In stillness I imagine how that will be.
Make time to savor and to intend, its your life, is it good? If not, look harder for the good in it. There is always, always something to be grateful for. What actions can you actively take to make it better? You are the creator of your own experience, there is no one else to look to to make a change.

I wish you time, peace and balance, and stretches of stillness at all times of the year but especially now so you can access what your heart wishes to experience this Christmastime and for all time. 
Namaste.

In the midst of movement and chaos, keep stillness inside of you.

Deepak Chopra

A New Beginning

Each day is an opportunity for a new beginning. I think that's why I love early morning so much. Its like untrodden snow, no one has put there mark on it yet and I have a feeling of optimism and expectation as I begin the day, (especially if I have had a good nights sleep!)
Its so interesting to me to observe my highs and lows - day to day - like night and day it can all change with a conversation, a piece of news a realization or a thought. Those thoughts are most powerful! My thoughts about what I perceive or hear have the ability to change my mood and my feelings tend to follow them down to the abyss or to the peak like the children to the pied piper! It all starts with a thought.

This is the reason I meditate. There was an elderly lady I used to receive prayer from when I first came to church at Centers for Spiritual Living. She used to say to me that the mind was like an untrained puppy, you had to keep calling it back and directing it. I remember back then this used to irritate me and when I wanted prayer I would seek out someone else but of course I got her, with her profoundly simple message which I most needed to hear!
So today if I feel low or depressed I ask myself where are my thoughts, what am I telling myself? Once I identify where my mind has gone I call it back.
What do I know is True? What do I believe about myself and the world? What counsel would I give another? How can I love myself in the midst of all that is going on?

I know that I am deserving of love, that I am loved, that I can love, I know that nothing can make me less precious in Spirit. I know that I am part of all life, one with the very source of all potential outcomes and variations in the universe. As I go through this process I begin to feel a shift - slowly I begin to grasp my connection to the Divine, and now releasing the small fearful thoughts I allow in something new, something positive, powerful with the potential to create something more desirable. I choose rather than become a victim. So I say thank you to that lovely lady today, who is no longer with us on this plane but so much with me in Spirit, and begin a new day, making it a good day as I go no matter what comes my way.

Meditation

I recently recommitted to meditation as a daily practice. I vary my method depending on what I feel I need that day. Somedays I use Vipassana - becoming the observer of my thoughts thus giving me the distance I need to realize the real "I" is separate from my worries and fears. Other days I use a mantra or affirmation that I repeat silently. My favourite at the moment is "God is the love that I am." Another way I like to meditate is while hiking to try to be fully present with nature, observing my surroundings and listening to the sounds I hear; all the time being aware of the solidness of the earth beneath my feet.
Of course meditation for some takes the form of a creative activity such as playing an instrument or painting. Its a time they are so absorbed in their task they forget themselves, loose track of time as if they have been absorbed into everything around them and merged as one.
Joseph Campbell says meditation is simply where we place the majority of our thoughts in any given day. He believes we meditate a lot on how to procure money and how to spend it, how to provide for our children, how to improve our lives and of course whats wrong in our world!
This idea I find very interesting because it is my belief that what we focus on grows. Being aware of what occupies the majority of our thoughts can help us realize how we are creating our life circumstances. Ernest Holmes says trained thought is much more powerful than untrained thought, the more one gives conscious power to one's thought the more power it will have. So be watchful today of where your thoughts are going. Where you feel it necessary try to make more of a conscious choice of what thoughts you think. Then observe the difference in how you feel, and how others respond to you. Add to this better posture, speaking with more confidence in your more positive thoughts and really notice the shifts that happen. Have fun with it and know your own power to create.

Monday Monday!

Hide not your talents. They for use were made. What's a sundial in the shade?”
Benjamin Franklin


Monday morning for so many comes with a groan. Back to work, weekend is over, back from out of town, or back to no work even worse! Monday morning has its own energy and meaning for everyone. If you love your job fabulous, you won the jackpot.


I have had that experience and even when I have not been overjoyed with my work I have always enjoyed that sense of purpose it brings. I enjoyed my work colleagues or seeing what challenges the new week would bring.


Whatever your experience is this week, in the range of possible work scenarios I invite you to find a purpose for your day. You have unique strengths to bring to the world, whether its being someone who likes to beautify their surroundings, or someone who is a good listener or someone who loves order and balance. No one can do the job just like you. No one sees it exactly your way or brings your vision to the world. Appreciate your unique gifts today and express them, we are all waiting for you to show yourself. Even the tiniest flower opens itself to the morning sun and offers its beauty for the glory of God. Shine today, be who you were meant to be. As they say bloom where you were planted. Monday or Wednesday, make it your day, create a good one, it is within your power and thank you for being you.


I'd love to hear how you created a good day or turned a day around either in the past or today.