Category: mindfulness

Grow

From the Talmud:
Every blade of grass has its angel that bends over it
and whispers, ‘Grow, grow.’

A gentle whisper—grow, grow…

  • the spring rain to the grass
  • the sunlight filtering down to the rosebush
  • the robin nesting on her eggs
  • the mother bending over her baby
  • the conversation that asks from us a new response
  • nutrient-dense food coming into our cells, tissues, and bones
  • each new breath entering the body
  • love suffusing our overwhelmed hearts
  • the angels watching over us as we sleep
  • True Nature guiding the unfoldment of our lives

Take a moment and sense how you feel right now—body, heart, and mind.

But what about the everyday messages you learn from your upbringing and culture, reinforced by the inner critic inside your head?
Keep reading about how we really talk to ourselves and what to do about it.

becoming you

The teenager on the way to school, in a bright pink sweatshirt (something a boy never would have worn when I was growing up). The man in a down vest and work clothes crossing the street to his work truck. Me, walk-running down the neighborhood sidewalk, taking in the morning.

We are all becoming.

The sun rising a bit earlier each day as spring becomes more and more apparent. The birds chirping, singing, and chatting and with different birdsong than in winter. The earth greening again—buds, shoots, sprouts coming forth.

All in its natural order, in its natural becoming.

I like to think of this life force energy as the “optimizing thrust of Being” (from AH Almaas’s Diamond Approach Work).

Nature is and becomes who she is naturally. Seasons follow one after the next. Plants and animals respond in kind to grow, blossom, hunker down, and hibernate.

Becoming is part of the natural cycle—
it happens without effort or conscious planning in nature.

We are part of nature, too. Our brains are hardwired to do certain things naturally—and the most basic hardwiring is to SURVIVE! Keep Reading This Post!

Begin Again

Those unintended mean words.
That angry attitude that bubbled up from the depths, surprising even you.

See it. Own it. Understand it. Let it go.
And Begin Again.

That familiar frustration.
The thought that just doesn’t seem to want to give up.
The behavior you wish you could stop.

See it. Own it. Understand it. Let it go.
And Begin Again.

Keep Reading!

be amazed

Spring in Minnesota at the beginning of March!

How Lady Grey’s Garden tea never ceases to amaze and delight me!

Finding the perfect pink down sweater marked way down at REI.

The spark of new life as fire is created in the woodstove.

Getting bangs and opening my face to new freedom!

The bliss coursing through my body when I dance.

A girlfriend feeding me freshly-baked cornbread.

How my bodysoul loves to run full out!

The open wonder in the face of a child.

Birdsong arising out of nowhere.

Dave. Here. With me.

Sun.

When I am able to experience this openness to life, this radical amazement, I am here. Present. Alive. Living my life.
Keep Reading!

is your heart open?

I’ve been hearing for years the Course in Miracles exhortation to choose Love instead of Fear.

It sounds good, but it never made sense to me. It’s just not that simple in my experience!

First of all, it’s not just Love I want—it’s joy, goodness, compassion, peace, fulfillment, gratitude…Perhaps they are all expressions of Love, but the exact feeling state is different.

And it’s not just Fear I don’t want—I’m not particularly inclined to want to feel anger, hatred, confusion, sadness, shame…

So, what does it mean to choose Love?
Isn’t it really about keeping your heart open?

Every time we turn toward ourselves or others with compassion and curiosity, we are practicing opening our heart.

If I’m afraid, angry, or sad, instead of distracting myself, getting busy, or drowning in my feelings, I turn toward myself with kindness. I hold my fear, anger or sadness, acknowledging it and how hard it is to feel this. I am gently curious about how I am feeling with a desire to  understand. I don’t try to change myself, but accept myself just as I am. Read more about practicing mindful self-acceptance.

I find an image can help here. Keep Reading!

A Recipe for Joy

First things first.

Clear your counter—or if you have a well-used space that has everything you might need nearby, at least make some room for the mixing bowls and other utensils needed!

We’re mixing up Joy, so consider the ingredients you need for the recipe today. You can make another version another day. What do you need right now?

My Ingredient List

Sacred Time
Spiritual Practice
Intimacy
Self-Care
Friends
Music
Dance
Play



Method

Creating Sacred Space

  1. Create sacred space for this time in your kitchen. You may want to light a candle or say a little prayer or intention for creating Joy. It could be as simple as taking a breath and saying, “May I open to Joy.”
  2. Take a look at your ingredients. If you want to mix these particular ingredients together, what mixing bowl will you choose? Make sure you choose one that has MORE space than you think you need. You’ll need room to stir the ingredients together—and, who knows, there may even be some kitchen magic from the combining, so you’ll want to save space for that!

Preparing Your Joy
Keep Reading!

white space

white

           space

                      here

                                on

                                            this

                                                         page

as

       you

                  read 

                             this

I’ve always been attracted to things—to density and color and texture and variety and vividness. I filled my little 500-square foot cottage with comfortable, practical beauty to the point that Dave referred to it as my hobbit hole. And I felt completely at home with my stuff all around me.

When we go to our favorite B&B, we don’t choose the Air Room, the one that is simple, spare, and decorated all in white. We choose Fire, Earth, or Water—full of color, of something for the eyes (and the soul?) to hold onto.

But             there          is                 something           here            for me.

here

surrounded

by

space

Keep Reading!

New Year’s Ease

This year I spent about three weeks really focused on learning from the past year and getting clear about how I want to live into this New Year.

I’m so grateful for this practice…there were many years I didn’t feel like I could take the time—or that it would make any difference if I did. I didn’t feel I could consciously influence the way my life would play out over time. I knew the value of practicing to change something in myself, but I felt at the whim of life’s unfolding events all too often…

As I reviewed, visioned, and felt into myself, over and over, a yearning in my soul arose—balance, ease, abundance, balance, openness, ease…

Ease, Work / Life Balance

I WANT this! And I’m struck with the fact that I only found out how much I want it by taking those 3+ weeks to settle in, to look at 2015, at all that I accomplished (or didn’t) and all that I had felt during the year…

As I was writing this post at my favorite local cafe, a friend I run into 1-2/month there stopped by to say hi, and as I showed him this New Year’s collage and talked about my theme for the year, he had an insight and spoke these simple and profound words:
Keep Reading!

The Coming of Light

The Coming of Light by Mark Strand
Even this late it happens:
the coming of love, the coming of light.
You wake and the candles are lit as if by themselves,
stars gather, dreams pour into your pillows,
sending up warm bouquets of air.
Even this late the bones of the body shine
and tomorrow’s dust flares into breath.

The New Year is almost here—it’s almost unbelievable how quickly 2015 has passed…

Even this late it happens…

  • even when my attention is firmly fixed on closing up 2015
  • even when I am relaxing and enjoying the holy-days with friends and family
  • even when I am reviewing and thinking and envisioning how I want to live in 2016
  • even when friendships fall away unexpectedly
  • even this late…

 the coming of love, the coming of light…
Keep Reading!

Precious, Fleeting

Precious, fleeting…

Sara Avant Stover introduced this phrase in the last retreat this summer of Reversing Our “Curse,” her course on aligning with psycho-spiritual and feminine hormonal rhythms. She learned it from one of her teachers, Ty Powers.

And I’ve been living with it ever since.

Precious, fleeting…

As a woman, who, (quite astonishingly!), entered her 50s a few years ago, I am facing the fact of getting older. It’s happening to me! I never thought it would.

I was not concerned with ageing in the past. In fact, I enjoyed the woman I was becoming. My 40s felt so expansive and energizing—I even met and courted my husband during this time, and started a new life, moving halfway across the USA to be with him and his two boys!

And now, I am uber-aware of age. Of life. Of most likely not having as much of my life left as has already passed.

Precious, fleeting…

Keep Reading!