Return To Reality

What happens when our physical vacation has ended and we find ourselves back in our "real" world?  For me it is the gradual onset of the realization that there is still much pain in my body.  What causes this?  How can this be healed?  What is the true source of all of this pain?

A longer vacation would be nice, but we have to return to reality some time, don't we?  We have a life here, responsibilities, children who need to go to school, bills that have to be paid, jobs and chores that must be done.  We can't just pack up and take a permanent vacation from the "real" world.

We've been programmed and trained to feel guilty even considering such thoughts.  We can't just sell all our stuff and travel like gypsies to lands that help us all to feel better physically and mentally, besides, eventually that would begin to weigh on most of us and we'd long for a spot to call home.

What things could we do in our every day life to help lighten us up, to help us to feel more like we are on vacation?  What things are we hanging onto in our "real" world that weigh us down and cause us pain?

I can think of a few differences that I see as I sit here and ponder this all.  When we are on vacation we normally try to take only what we really need.  We don't want to haul a bunch of useless stuff around and have to worry about it.  We pack what we feel is most essential and that is what we live with day to day.  Think of our homes and all of the stuff we have to take care of, all of the stuff we could really live with out and the stuff we never use.  How much stuff do we just dust around or have crammed away in cupboards or boxes?  How many outfits of clothing are really necessary?  How much food do we really have to have stocked in our pantry?

Also there are a lot of things that we worry about at home that when we are away we realize we have no real control over and can't really do anything about, so we put them aside for awhile.  There is really nothing we can do and we don't want to ruin our vacation with needless worrying, so we put them out of our mind.  What's the point in worrying over things we can't change or have no control over?  How many things in our normal daily life are like this?  How many things are we worrying over and hanging on to day in and day out that really we can do nothing about and worrying about them is only making us sick and adding negative energy to the situation?  Are we worrying ourselves sick when we are at home?

If we are with our family on vacation we are sort of forced to spend actual time together, as a family, talking with each other, considering each others wants and needs, perhaps even actually communicating in a way we normally would not do at home.  We discover in a hurry that we have to learn to get along or our whole trip could be ruined.   When we are home my husband is off working, that is his main concern, my boys are off with their friends, doing homework or in the shop or with their dad and I am filling my days with cleaning, taking care of my mom or figuring out what we are going to eat.  We all live together, but almost seem to have separate lives.  Even when we are in the same room together, we aren't really focused on connecting with each other like we do when we are on vacation.

For me the nice weather helps so much because the cold makes my muscles contract and my body aches, but I think what really helps me to feel better is being able to be outside.  To be near the earth, to feel the sun on my body and breathe in the fresh air.  I firmly believe we need to be able to connect with the earth daily on some level and that is difficult to do when the cold makes you hurt and you stay inside, bundled up for months on end. receiving little to no sunshine.  I try to be outside in the winter, but it really is just painful for me most of the time.

I think another thing is just plain old appreciation and gratitude.  For me a vacation is a treasured thing.  I understand how fortunate I am to be able to travel, to pack up some stuff and go experience a new place.  Each day I am grateful and thankful for where I am and I appreciate how blessed I am to be having the experience.  Each and every day, hour and minute is a blessing, a chance to make a special memory whether it be "good' or "bad" it's something we will cherish through out our life time.  Even the horrible gone wrong type of experiences have held great lessons for me, such as home is not such a bad place to be and we are all very lucky to be alive.

Being away from the ones we love can also be a blessing because it helps us to let go of the things that bother us about each other and helps us to remember and appreciate all of the good things we love about each other.  Absence really does seem to make the heart grow fonder.  There's nothing like being without someone to open up our eyes to how much we count on having them in our lives, even if they drive us nuts!  We so often take those around us for granted, it's good to get away so that we can find a new appreciation for what we have in each other.



Perhaps we can look at what helps us to feel so much better while we are a way from home and we can incorporate some changes in our daily life that help us to cope better with our reality.

Maybe we can reduce some of the stuff we feel we have to have in our lives.  Perhaps we can let go of some of the things we needlessly worry about, maybe it's time to reexamine all of the stuff we fill our homes with and think we have to have to be happy,  we can make more of a conscious effort to really connect with those around us and appreciate them and we can be grateful and count our blessings each and every day.

Maybe if we can find a way to connect every day with our inner self we will see that all of the outer stuff really isn't that important and we can relax, find more joy in our world and heal some of the pain our bodies experience.

Life Is Like A Traffic Jam

Living life is kind of like driving through rush hour traffic in a city.  If  we all slow down and pay attention to those around us, driving our own vehicle with care, concern and respect, we will all make it through to the other side.  Using our driving skills, good judgment, prayers and patience we can navigate the traffic safely.

Some people will drive like idiots, some will pay no attention to where they are headed, some will drive so cautiously they barely move and some will be focused and careful moving steadily forward.  Whatever our style of driving, we all want the same thing, to arrive safely at our destination.

I am fully aware that I've filled all of these positions at some point.   I've been the idiot others had to look out for as well as the overly focused careful driver who has slowed everyone down, so I do my best now to show compassion to all of the drivers on my road, even the ones I'd like to flip the one finger salute to.  When I become frustrated with others, I just remind myself that I've been that one, be it someone overly cautious who slows us all down or one who nearly runs us all off the road in the hurry to get to where they are going.  Nobody on my road is displaying anything I haven't displayed at some point myself.

Jesus Take The Wheel

As we travel down the road the song Jesus Take The Wheel is softly playing on our truck radio.  I've got nothing to do but listen to the radio, watch the scenery go by and think.  As I listen to this song I am pondering if Jesus really wants to take our wheel or if he'd rather we learn to follow the example he set  for us and eventually steer our own vehicle.

Did he come here just to steer us all around or did he come here to teach us how to steer ourselves?  Were we meant to be blind sheep simply waiting for our shepherd to lead us around or were we meant to learn from our shepherd and grow from being sheep into being shepherds ourselves?

I think maybe we are a bit of both...sheep following our shepherds example and shepherds in training, learning to help other sheep find their way.

Perhaps we are the sheep and the shepherd, the student and the teacher.  Perhaps the Master is there teaching us to take our own wheel, guiding us along, steering us when necessary, teaching us that we can travel the road and steer ourselves if we look within and steer from our hearts.

Perhaps there is a whole team of teachers in the form of angels, guides and those who have already mastered steering that are helping us and supporting us as we learn to steer and eventually take our own wheel.

Real Life Vacation

Have you ever noticed when you are on vacation you simply feel better physically, mentally and emotionally?   Most of the time we credit this to the location we are visiting.  We may find ourselves fantasizing about what it would be like to live in the place we are visiting and have a difficult time returning home.

Of course our surroundings can have an effect on how we view life, beautiful scenery and "perfect" weather make it much easier to relax and enjoy ourselves, but I think if we look deeper we will see that it's not the scenery change that is shifting how we feel, it's our mindset.

When we are on a vacation we let things go that we normally spend hours at home focusing on and worrying about.  We focus more on relaxing and enjoying every minute of our trip.  We let go of our daily struggles and let ourselves enjoy the world around us with a fresh excited view.  As our bodies and minds relax it becomes easier to enjoy ourselves and we feel physically better.

I wonder if we were to try to stop focusing so much on our worries and stop focusing on what we view as negative or "wrong" in our daily lives if we could in a sense take a vacation where ever we are.  Maybe we could find ourselves able to relax and enjoy our daily lives.  Perhaps we could even see our lives with a fresh excited view and be opened to enjoying every single precious minute of it.

Could we use our thoughts, our mindset, to transform our mundane, depressing, even difficult lives into something wonderful and full of joy?

Perhaps if we work on healing ourselves emotionally, mentally and spiritually we will find physical healing and we will be capable of being happy and healthy where ever we are in any situation.  If we can shift our thoughts from focusing on only what is "wrong" and seek to find joy in every nook and cranny of our lives maybe our lives would become more joy filled.  Perhaps we could view our "real" life as a vacation every day.

Wouldn't that be wonderful?

I'm All Right

Have you ever found yourself in the middle of a conflict with someone where it was as if the two of you just could not seem to find anything to agree on?  You are at odds and butting heads because you can't seem to see each others point of view.  Perhaps you feel that if only they would see things your way everything would be fine.

Sometimes we become so wrapped up in our own point of view or in being "right" that we end up completely refusing to see all sides of an issue.  When I find myself in this situation what I try to remember is that there are always different points of view to every situation.  There are always at least two sides to every story.  We all see things from different angles, through different lenses or filters.  We each have our own experiences that form how we view things.  No two people see any event exactly the same.

What would happen if we would let go of the idea that different means "wrong".  What if we were to understand that there are no right and wrong views, just different ones.  What if we could accept that someone sees things from a totally different perspective than we do, that from their point of view they are "right" and from our point of view we are "right"....strangely if we can see that there are many points of view, all points of view suddenly become valid.

Sometimes when we look at someone it may be almost as if looking in a mirror at a complete opposite of ourselves.  Everything looks the same, but the reflection is totally opposite of our self.  What we have to keep in mind when looking in that mirror of opposites is that underneath that exterior lies the same thing, a beating heart that just wants to experience love.  If we keep this thought in mind while looking at others would it make it easier to reach out to them and accept them and embrace their outer differences instead of using them to force us apart?

Can we hold on to the idea that underneath all of our differences lies the similar need and desire to be loved and trusted and treated with respect.  Can we see that despite our outward differences we are all really  alright?

Circle of Love

As I face my own daily struggles and watch my friends, loved ones and those around me struggle I sometimes wonder what could possibly ease our pain and help us to stop struggling. It's sometimes too much for me to handle seeing all of the pain in the world.  When I become overwhelmed by the pain of the world I find a way to quiet myself and go within.  I remember that underneath all of the pain in the center of each and everyone of us is love.  LOVE is there for all of us, just waiting for us to stop and remember it.

No matter where we are or what path we have chosen in our lives love is always right there, inside of us hidden under our pains, struggles and confusion.  It's time to accept ourselves just as we are.  It's the perfect time to make the biggest change of all and be opened to joy, peace and love. It's time to understand that we are all worthy of these things no matter what we've done or who we've been.   It's time to know that we all have the free will to choose different paths and no matter what path we've chosen, what road we've traveled to reach where we are right now, there is love right here, right now, right where we are, love for all of us just as we are. 

We need to tap into that love and know that it's ours no matter how we view ourselves, no matter what choices we've made along our path.  We must understand that we all belong and that there is love for each and everyone of us.  We need to quiet our minds and listen to our hearts and know that deep inside of us we are loved, we are lovable and we are loving.  When times get tough and life seems too difficult we must open our hearts and look within and see that we are love.  We are all part of one huge circle and in this circle there is love and grace for each and everyone of us.

May we all hold this image in our minds, this image of one unending circle of love that includes us all exactly as we are, where ever we are.  There is not a single one of us that is not a part of this circle of love, we all belong.

Postively Wonderful

The other day I realized that I have a really difficult time enjoying anything positive that happens to me.  I seem to find a way to feel guilty or feel bad or feel like I don't deserve such things.  As I was thinking of this I realized it's partly because I have been surrounded people who couldn't be happy for me when something good happened.  As I looked at all of this I didn't find myself mad at the people or casting blame, but I felt a deep sadness that I had learned to feel guilty and unworthy when good things happen to me.  I was suddenly able to see myself a little more clearly and understand some changes I needed to make in myself.

It just so happens I am getting ready to take a trip and I was dreading telling someone because I "knew" how they would react.  I assumed they would be negative and I'd end up feeling guilty.  I avoided telling them because all I could focus on was how bad I would feel when I told them I was going on this trip.  As I thought about this suddenly I realized what I was doing.  I was so busy focusing on the negative that I was losing the positive!  I was so sure this person would have a negative reaction that that was all I could focus on.  I was shocked by this realization.  I mean I know this stuff, I write about this stuff...how was it that I didn't see this?  Once I got over my shock I immediately stopped focusing on the negative and started making a list of all of the positives and began to envision the fun I was going to have on this trip.  I kind of erased all of the negative thoughts and replaced them with positive ones.

Now here's the really interesting part.  I then took it a step further and let go of focusing on this person having a negative reaction to my good news. I simply decided that she would react however she felt and I would just have to let whatever she said go in one ear and out the other and not take it to heart.  The next day I went and told her I was going to take this trip and she was very calm and said nothing negative about it at all.  I couldn't believe it!  I kept waiting to here..".OH I hoped you weren't going this winter because I don't want to have to worry about you" or "oh every time you go we have a blizzard here", but nothing came!  I thought I was in the Twilight Zone.  All the way home I pondered what had just happened.  When I got home I asked my husband if he had spoken to her told her how I worried I was that she would have a negative reaction.  He said he hadn't spoken to her at all.  The only thing I can figure is that once I let go of focusing on all of the possible negatives, they were no longer drawn to me.  I had been basically drawing all of this negativity to me by constantly focusing on it!  I had spent a whole day wasting energy assuming how this person would react! 

We often hear that what we focus on is what's drawn to us and what we think about is what we create, perhaps this idea isn't so crazy?  Think of all of the lovely, positive things in our lives that are ruined by our inability to let go of focusing on the negative aspects.  We are going to take a trip, but we have to leave family behind, we are visiting our friends, but we'll have to say good bye at the end of the trip,  we get to go do something fun, but we'll have extra work to do to prepare to go.  How many wonderful things are turned into something less than fun because our thoughts are being focused on the negative.

How different would our lives be if we could let go of the negative and focus on the positive?

I think if we could learn to release our negative focus our lives could be positively wonderful!

That's Heavy

Do you ever feel like the world is just too heavy?  Like everything is just so serious and the weight of the whole world is sitting right on your shoulders?  Does your neck ache, your shoulders hurt and your back throb?  Do you feel  almost as if your physical body is being crushed by the weight of the world?  If you do, you are not alone.

There are many of us that feel this way.  What can we do to lift the weight?  How can we ease our pain?

I think a good place to start would to be in realizing we aren't alone.  It doesn't really make us feel better to know that others suffer like we do, but if we realize a lot of people feel this way then maybe we can see that we really aren't holding the weight of the world on our shoulders, there are many holding the weight.  Each one of us is responsible for our own weight and no one else's.  Think about that.  We are responsible only for ourselves.  That's kind of hard to imagine, isn't it?  Sure we all have responsibilities, but ultimately each one of us is responsible for our self.

Perhaps if we start by taking care of ourselves and focusing on our inner self we will find that the world around us lightens up.  Maybe if we remember to stop and take a deep breath and focus on what's really going on inside of us instead of all of the drama we see going on outside of us.  Our world won't seem to heavy.

What if we all stop right now.  Just stop what we are doing and thinking and quiet our minds.  Take a deep, deep breath, hold it for a second and then let it out.  Now we take another deep breath and when we let it out we slowly release the tension in our shoulders.  We feel our shoulders release and gently begin to sag.  One more really deep breath and then when we release we allow the tension in our whole body to flow out until we feel almost limp.

Now we picture in our minds the ocean.  See the waves gently going in and going out.  We are standing at the edge of the waves and they are gently tickling our toes, slowly the waves grow higher and as they glide in and out they gently wash away our pain, our deep feeling of seriousness releases and we feel the joy of the water cleansing us. As a wave washes in it surrounds us in warmth and love, as it washes back out it takes our tension and pain with it.  Envision the waves coming and and washing over us, feel the tension and pain release.

Gradually we float down into the waves and become one with them.  We are the ocean, we are free, we are peaceful .  The world no longer rests on our shoulders, we only need to concern ourselves with who we are, there's no one to change, no one to fix, only us surrounded by the waves of the ocean and full of love.We gently roll flowing in and out while the sun warms us with it's love.  Perhaps dolphins or whales float by or a mermaid sings us a song.  We allow ourselves to float in this feeling for as long as we feel comfortable, flowing with the ocean full of love and then we gradually feel our toes and fingers,  feel the sand beneath our feet,  see the waves reside back into the ocean.  Once again find ourselves standing on the shore, in the sun, full of light and love and refreshed.

That ocean is there for us any time, any place, all we have to to is stop and picture it and let it wash away our feeling of heaviness.  Even if we only allow ourselves to feel the light of our ocean a few minutes each day it will help relieve our burden.  Perhaps eventually we we realize that we don't have to continuously hold the burdens of the world.  Perhaps eventually we will see that the world doesn't have to feel so heavy and that we really are light.

When the heaviness weighs us down go to the ocean, it's always there waiting for us.

I Wonder?

I know a lot of people believe we can't know love without knowing hate.  I'm not here to argue about that idea.  It makes sense that at one point in time we were so accustomed to being immersed in love that we desired to experience something totally different.  But, we are supposedly advancing beings and our world has been full of hate for a very, very long time.  Wouldn't it seem logical that by now, we as advancing beings, can understand the contrast between love and hate and we'd release the need to physically experience it any longer?  Could it be that we could have advanced to a state of desiring once again to experience our original state of full love?  I wonder what would happen if we chose only love?

Our bodies are made of energy.  We are full of energetic rays and each ray, much like a battery, contains positive and negative charges.  We are all capable of exhibiting both the positive and negative aspects of our energy.  Do we really "need" to have the negative aspects or are we meant to transform them into positive energy? Are we looking for a way to balance the negative and positive out?  I wonder what really happens if we transform negative energy into positive energy or we find balance between the two; what will be created?

Is there really still a need for negative energy in our world or is this an ancient idea that served it's purpose and has run it's course?

I wonder will we always experience war so that we know peace?
Will we always know pain to feel comfort?
Will we always feel sorrow to know joy?
Will we continue to envision lack and want to see fullness and completion?
Do we really "need" to know hate to know love?

OR is it our choice?  Is it time to envision a different way?

Can we look out over all that we've experienced and learned through our experiences both negative and positive, understanding that we've "needed" to experience both. Can we embrace it all as a huge learning experience that has served it's purpose.  Can we now choose a different way?  I wonder....

Speaking of Cleaning House

Wouldn't it be nice if we could just pull up a truck and throw all of our useless garbage in it?  Imagine if we could look around our house and in our lives and in our past and just round up all of the useless clutter that's clogging our lives and throw it all out!  All of the junk that we pick up and look at and dust around and move from one spot to the next, the memories we cling to and can't seem to let go even though they really hold no purpose other than to keep us buried beneath rubbish.

What kind of junk is cluttering our world?  What useless pieces could we give away, toss out or remove from our life?  What are we clinging to that no longer serves us?

Are there clothes in our closet we never wear that someone else could use?  Is there food in our cabinet that always gets shoved to the back and never gets used, but someone else would love to have it?  Are we in a relationship that's long past it's expired date and yet we're afraid to let it go?  Is there a memory that really serves no purpose other than to keep us stuck in some past pain every time we look at it, but we're afraid if we let it go we'll somehow lose a piece of who we are? Are there mismatched socks that just sit in a drawer or basket because we are sure when we throw it out we'll find the mate to it?   What kind of garbage is cluttering up our lives and tripping us up?  Look around and see what you find and don't forget to look under your bed and in all the cracks of your mind.

I don't know about you all, but when I stop and look I see that  I've got an awful lot of garbage cluttering my life.  I'd really like that truck to back right up so I could chuck all of the useless stuff out the window and let it go.  I'm getting kind of tired of being a hoarder of useless things and I've tossed or donated a lot, but still there is more.   When I figure out how to over come my need to hang on to useless items I'll let you all know and maybe we can toss some stuff out together!  Imagine how much lighter we could be if we  cleared out the useless stuff and created some empty space where perhaps we could place a few select useful things!

Change Starts With Myself

We can only change ourselves.  I've found that this is a statement that is very easy to understand and very hard to live up to.  Many of us seem to be programmed in some strange mode where we feel we must change the entire world.  No matter how hard we try we are focusing outside of us and trying to fix what we see.  It's a hard habit to break.  It really is!

I often catch myself looking outward and wishing so much for changes and then realizing that if I would focus inward on MYSELF I could maybe actually accomplish something.  Focusing outward comes so much easier and feels so much better.  It's more comfortable to feel that it's the world that's being difficult or causing the problems, not ourselves.

The funny thing that I've noticed is that the more I focus on others and try to "fix" them, the more frustrated the both of us become.  Obviously, this tells me something isn't quite working out with the focusing outward.  Many, many sources tell us if we want to discover the source of our distress, the source of our discomfort and unease all we have to do is look in a mirror.  OUCH  that one always kind of feels like a little kick in the pants.  I get it, I just can't seem to always hang on to it.

It helps if we can remember that when we are handing out advice or sharing our wisdom, the one who usually needs to hear that wisdom or advice the most is our self.   Let's think about that one...are we willing to follow our own advice?  Are we following are own advice?  Are we speaking to others in a manner we ourselves would like to be spoken to?

I know that I've realized over and over again if I want to help clean up the world I need to start by cleaning up my own house first.  That seems to be one of the most difficult yet most beneficial jobs we've got.

What Do I Really Know?

I've often felt that I know a lot of things, but am an expert and nothing.  Then I began to look at what I know and began to wonder if I really know anything. 

Have you ever found yourself so sure that you knew something and then gradually what you knew shifted into something else and before you realized what happened what you knew became something completely different?  This would be what I meant in the very first page where I said that we have to understand that truth is ever changing.  We know something, we are sure of it, we may even have facts to back it and then slowly as we are exposed to different understandings or newly uncovered facts what we know shifts or transforms into something different.  Our truth changes.

At first this can be very confusing and kind of uncomfortable.  It can rattle us and cause us to look at our whole world and wonder what really is constant, what is true, what is unchanging.  When this first happened to me I was really thrown, but it helped to realize this was just a new way of looking at my world, not the end of my world.

After awhile I began to understand that feeling that I really know nothing is not so scary, it actually frees me to be opened to all of the other ideas and understandings that I encountered in my world, which opened me up to different understandings and ideas and in turn opened me up to relationships with new and different people. Before I knew it I had expanded my circle of friends to include wonderful people who I normally would not have met.

In letting go of what I knew to be true I gained a new freedom and sense of who I am myself. I  also opened  up to finding out more about the people around me which helped to release my feelings of isolation.

Knowing that I really know nothing also makes me aware that when someone tells me that "this is the way it is" I don't have to believe what they tell me, but I also don't have to feel offended by it.  I can accept it as truth or let it go, it's up to me to discern if what they say speaks to my heart and feels "right" with my soul.  

Some of the things I know haven't changed yet, so I am guessing for me, these are my truths, at least until I find some other understanding that shifts them.

Something I've learned through out this process is it's an ever changing world, but I'm strangely OK with that.

Simple Is Not A Four Letter Word

Simple is not a four letter word!  Have you noticed that if you give someone a simple answer they often have a hard time accepting it?  OR if we ask a question and we receive a simple, direct answer we are astounded and have difficulty believing things could be that simple?  We often hear... but that's too simple!

Our world has become so complicated.  We have to discuss, analyze, fact find and use big, important words to back all of our understanding or we just can't wrap our brain around a concept.  We want facts, we want written proof, we want technological sounding words to prove to us that ideas are real.  We have a really difficult time with just following our inner guidance or trusting our intuition, we basically do not trust ourselves.  We need someone or something outside of us to validate what we know and show us that it is somehow true.

How did we lose our ability to view things simplistically? How did we lose our ability to look within ourselves to find our answers?  How did simple become a four letter word to most people?

We were built with our own inner system of knowing what we need to know, our own little link or pathway to all of the knowledge that is available to everyone in the world.  We can ALL tap into that knowledge when it is necessary.  Somewhere along the line we got a kink in our system of beliefs and began to feel that we had to look outside of ourselves to find wisdom, to find answers, to have our own understanding validated. We somehow got a kink in our knowledge hose. How do we unkink that hose?

We could start by letting go of our feelings of unworthiness.  When an answer comes to us we sometimes feel unworthy to receive such information.  We may think,  "Who am I to receive such information?"  How about we ask this instead,  "Who am I to not receive this information?"  Why would we reject information coming through to us?  We are ALL perfect beings of love and light who are perfectly capable of connecting with the higher consciousness of the whole world.  We are all pieces of the big puzzle.  The only thing keeping us from connecting is our own self doubt.  Our self doubt is kinking the hose!

If we wish to receive information we must let go of our self doubt.  Self doubt is kind of like a fly in our can of car polish.  We spread the polish all over our car to make it shine, but end up with a big cloudy spot because there's a fly in our ointment. Parts of our car may be shiny and clear, but that fly of doubt it is putting a cloud on our finish.  If we can remove our feelings of unworthiness and self doubt our entire vehicle will shine as if we've been polished.

How do we remove the self doubt and unworthiness?  Are we ready for the SIMPLE answer?

Open our hearts and minds to the idea that we are perfect just the way we are and that we, each and every One of us, are fully loved.

We must simply stop looking at everything through the filter of our brain and start seeing everything through our heart.

When we are able to look at the world from the center of ourselves, from our heart, we will begin to understand that the only thing that really matters at all in this world is LOVE and our fear, self doubt and feelings of unworthiness will begin to disappear.  It's that simple.

I'm sensing many of us are still doubting this, but remember, this is a process we aren't Masters of our bodies and minds yet, we are still learning and someday the simplicity of it all really will all just fall into place for us.  Let's not complicate things by over analyzing them or try to figure them all out. Lets just take a deep breath and  let it all soak in for awhile.

Ground Control to Major Tom

Some times I feel like Major Tom the astronaut lost in space. "Planet Earth is blue and there's nothing I can do".   Other times I feel more like an alien living on some strange planet where everything is foreign to me.

Much of what I see going on on this planet really makes no sense to me.

People say they love life so much they hate war.
People love animals so much they hate factory farms.
People love their kids so much they yank them out of school systems they hate.
People throw out the phrase What Would Jesus Do and then use the Bible to judge and hate others.

Does any of this make good sense?  Can we truly love if we are so willing to hate?

How about instead of wasting energy hating anything we use that energy to find practical solutions to address the issues we are upset with.  What if we take our hate and anger and transform them into love and concern and use them as tools to really make a difference?

If we hate war perhaps we should stop hating and judging others.  We could view the whole world as one group connected to the planet instead of a bunch of individuals just sharing the same space.  Without hate the need for war will end and our planet will heal.

If  we love animals we could stop wasting food and reduce the worlds "need" for meat by adding healthy alternatives to our diets.  With out the huge demand for meat factory farms will become less feasible and they will end.  We have an abundance of food in our world, we just aren't making proper use of it.

If we love our kids instead of hating the school systems we should work to improve them so that ALL children get a proper education where they are taught to become productive, successful individuals instead of just being molded into a system that clearly does not work for everyone.  Improve our schools and we will change our world.  The children are our future!

What if we were to really do what Jesus would do and love our neighbors as ourselves, ALL of our neighbors, not just the ones who share our beliefs or look like us or speak like us or think like us.

I really must be from another planet!  These ideas are really outrageous and far out there, aren't they?  Some people may actually choose to hate me for making such simple suggestions.

If we truly want to change our world we have to let go of the idea that it is ever OK to hate anything.

Hate is the single most negative energy producing force and it is killing our planet!
Let go of our need to hate and we will change our world.

This is Major Tom signing off.

Under Pressure

Sometimes the pressures all around us just really are too much and we become overloaded and overwhelmed.  We need to learn to recognize when we are hitting our limit and take action to keep from overloading. 

What can we do?  The very fist thing we do is simply stop.  Stop whatever we are doing and take a really deep breath.  Now think...what can I do to help me feel better?  Is there someone who we can talk to who will listen and understand and not judge us?  If we have someone like this that is great, we all NEED someone like this in our lives.  We can reach out to this person and let them help share our load.

If we don't have anyone or we can't get in touch with anyone or we really don't feel like talking, we can take out a pen and paper and write it all out.  Don't hold back, write whatever we are feeling, seeing, hearing, anything that is effecting us in a negative manner, write it all out.  Once we have it all out then we can decide whether we want to keep it for future reference or destroy it.  Sometimes we feel the need to keep it and take it out and look at it again to see what there is to learn from it and other times we may feel the need to destroy it and in a sense release ourselves from it all.  We will know it feels we need to do with what we've written.

They key is to not hold all of this in or think that we have to tough it out alone.  We want to release some of our inner pressure and get our negative thoughts out so that we don't burst.  Once we have them out we may be able to see thing more clearly and be able to recenter ourselves.

We do need to be very careful though that we aren't constantly using others as a dumping ground for only our negative thoughts,  this is not what our friends and supporters are for and it would not be beneficial for them.  We might want to consider writing our feelings out before reaching out to a friend just to see what is left that needs to be cleared.

It might be very beneficial for us to unplug for a little while.  Take some quiet time alone to reconnect with ourselves and get away from all of the outside stimulus we deal with on a day to day basis. Take a little time to focus only on our own needs.  Find someway to spend some time alone. 

This might sound funny, but when my kids were little I used to mow the lawn to get my quiet time.  They knew they couldn't come near the riding mower and I had nothing to do while mowing but enjoy my quiet time and do some inner reflecting. I always felt recharged after mowing the lawn. Do whatever works for you, take a little drive, go for a walk, hide in the shower or soak in the tub,  clear out a little spot in your garage or basement where you can go just to tinker on something.  Anything that gives you a little bit of peace and quiet time.

We sometimes feel ourselves under a lot of pressure and we need to learn to keep ourselves from exploding.  We won't be any good to anyone if we don't take care of ourselves first.

On The Offensive

I'm just going to say it, being offended is a choice.  That's right, we can choose to be offended or not to be offended by the actions of others.  No one forces us to be offended, WE choose to be offended.  Does the very idea of that statement offend us?

If someone does something "stupid" or hurtful towards us or someone we love or anyone for that matter shouldn't we have the right to be offended.  Why wouldn't we CHOOSE to be offended?

Good question.  Let's think about this, what purpose does being offended serve?  Is being offended going to be a good use of our energy?  What kind of energy is produced by our body when we become offended, is it positive or negative?  Is there some better choice we can make besides choosing to be offended?

It seems being offended serves no purpose other than to point out to us that there is an issue we need to deeply look at.  Our  indicator light is going off and if we give in to our feelings and choose to be offended, that leads to anger, which is only negative.  Instead of choosing to offended perhaps it would be more beneficial to choose to take a deeper look into our selves and find out what seems so offensive to us.

OK if we are going to let go of our right to feel offended how can we do that?

First stop making assumptions.  We all spend so much time assuming we know exactly why someone has done something and most of the time we have no clue what we are talking about. We can come up with all kinds of little scenarios in our mind for why people are doing what they are doing and literally make ourselves crazy if we are not careful and don't control our minds.  Unless we are living in someone elses skin we truly have no way of really knowing or understanding the intentions behind their actions.  Basing our ideas, opinions and actions on assumptions is dangerous.  Why would we continue to choose to do it?

Second keep in mind our opinions are not FACTS.

Let's look at the definition of the word opinion:
A personal belief or judgment that is not founded on proof or certainty.
A message expressing a belief about something; the expression of a belief that is held with confidence but not substantiated by positive knowledge or proof.
A vague idea in which some confidence is place.


We may feel entitled to our opinions and we may think we have a great basis for forming our opinions, but using our opinions to try to "teach" others or forcing our opinions on others truly serves no purpose. My husband likes to say opinions are like buttholes, everyone has one and they all stink.  Kind of crude and funny, but really very insightful when you think about it.  The most useful thing we can do with our opinions is keep them to ourselves, but that's just my opinion.

How about the next time someone does something that normally we would take offense to we simply stop, look at what we feel is offensive about what they have said or done and instead of choosing to be offended and going on the defensive we simply look within ourselves to see what we can learn from the situation.

What if we could look at the offensive person or act as merely a vehicle for delivering some message we needed to receive and instead of being angry and resentful we actually feel a bit of gratitude for being given the opportunity to learn something.  What a different way to look at the offensive situations and people in our lives!

It won't be easy and it will take practice, but are we willing to let go of our right to be offended and look for a new way to view the "offensive" situations and people in our lives?

Great Expectations

I had something to say today and then before I could write it out I lost it.  The thought was completely gone.  I tried to get it back, but it's floating around somewhere perhaps waiting to come back into my brain or maybe waiting to float into somebody else's head.  Perhaps someone else is already sharing the thought in some manner as I write this.

Sometimes we get a little frustrated with ourselves. (Like me right now because I had something awesome to say and I lost it) A lot of times we put a lot of expectations on ourselves and on those around us.  We feel we have this image to live up to or this one specific role to fill.  We become worried we will let someone down and not be all that we can be.  I'll admit one of my fears in doing this blog is someone will take what I say wrong or people will start expecting something from me that I can't provide.   Is it any wonder with the pressure of expectations on us we get so stressed out and depressed?

What if we were to realize that the only thing we have to be is our self?  What if we were to let go of all those high expectations and realize that all we have to do in every situation is try our best and be who we are.  All we have to do is follow our heart and act from a place of love and we will have nothing to worry about.  What if we remember we are already perfect and are just here trying to remember that?

If we are always acting out of a place of love, from deep with in our heart we will know that we are in no way intentionally hurting anyone and we can rest easy.

Many people confuse acting from their heart with acting from their emotions, this is not the same thing.  If you are in the place of your heart you will be calm and peaceful, not overly full of emotion and ready to burst.

If we are constantly questioning our choices and always finding ourselves defending our choices and offending others, then perhaps we should make sure we are really connecting with our heart and not just listening to our mind or reacting to our emotions.

That's not to say there won't be people who will make the choice to be offended by us.  Being offended is a choice people make and some people choose to offended no matter how you try to speak to them.  But, if we are presenting ourselves in a honest, loving, kind manner coming straight from our heart, most people will not be offended by our words even if we say things that they don't fully agree with or are very difficult to accept.

If we set expectations aside and simply do our best to always come from a place of love, the rest will take care of it's self, we should have no worries.

All we have to do is be our self and come from a place of love.  We can do that, can't we?

It's Seriously Time To Lighten Up

We sometimes take ourselves SO seriously.  Our life can become so heavy and feel full of darkness because we take ourselves and our life so seriously that we've totally forgotten how to relax and have fun.  When was the last time we actually played?  Think about this, when was the last time that you really let loose and just enjoyed yourself?  One of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves is permission to play.

Just because we grow up, that doesn't mean we can no longer enjoy life or have fun.  Sometimes I look around the world and think our society is trying to suck the joy out of everything.  How sad and how destructive to all of us, especially our children...but that's another post, right now we are focused on us older ones.

I have a very close friend who is an expert at play.  When we get together we giggle like two school girls.  It really doesn't matter to us where we are or what we do, we seem to be able to make any situation fun.  Our very first meeting was spent shopping for furniture and we both reveled in petting all the soft furniture, sitting on all of the chairs and sofas and imagining what we would do if we actually owned the furniture.  We had more fun than if' we'd visited an amusement park and all we were doing was looking at furniture!  Every time we are together we find joy no matter what is going on in our lives.

Life can be very serious and it's OK to take it seriously, but we shouldn't take ourselves so seriously that we forget who we are and that we are entitled to joy and happiness.

The key here is finding joy in simple things, looking for the positive in any situation and allowing ourselves to let go and have some fun.  We don't have to spend a lot of money or even go out to play, we can play where ever we are.  We just need to use our imagination and be opened to whatever comes our way.  It also helps to find someone who likes to do things with us, sharing the joy seems to increase our joy.

Be spontaneous, dance in the isle at the store, throw off your shoes and walk in the grass,  sing a long with the radio.  LIGHTEN UP!  We don't have to carry the weight of the world on our shoulders, there are plenty of us to share the load!

Don't go out there and do anything dangerous or something that would hurt someone else, but please try to find some way to play at least once a day.  Dance around your kitchen, crank up the radio and sing at the top of your lungs while driving,  steal your kids playdough and make a dinosaur,  fill up a tub with bubbles and put on your favorite song, get some flowers and arrange them, whatever sounds like fun!

Let's give ourselves permission to lay down our load and have some fun.  I know we all can do this!

The Center of Things

What exactly do we mean when we say "center our self"?  Centering our self does not mean we become self centered.  Centering our self is becoming quiet and looking within to see what truly lies within us.  It's quieting our mind, letting go of our need to analyze, solve or shape anything and just seeing what's at the very center of our being.

In finding our center we usually find that we are here not to serve ourselves, but to serve others.  We are able to let go of our need to be waited on and have our world shaped around our own needs and we become able to look at the whole world and see how we can best serve the needs of the whole world, not just ourselves.

We still see ourselves, our beautiful individual selves, but we begin to understand that we are but a piece of a puzzle which when placed with other pieces forms a big picture.  We can recognize our own unique shape and yet understand that we need to be connected with others to make the puzzle complete.  Instead of avoiding being connected with others we begin to look forward to it with great joy.

If we chose to remain self centered we often find ourselves feeling alone and unloved and frustrated.  When we let go of our self centeredness and reach out to serve others for the sake of helping them and not to gain something for ourselves, we will begin to see great changes in our world around us.

This doesn't mean we become a door mat and allow others to wipe their feet on us.  It means we stand in our own power and chose to love others no matter what and if they don't want to receive our love and continue to try to walk on us, then we can love them from a distance.  We don't have to lay still and take someone else's dirt. When we realize that we can gently stand in our own power without stomping on someone else, we can decide whether or not it's time to let someone stop cleaning their boots on us as well as whether or not we want to be cleaning our boots on others.

Real power does not come from controlling others, it comes from showing grace and peace.

Let's take some time today to quiet ourselves and look within us.  Go to that soft center of our self where our soul resides and just rest there for a few minutes in the love and beauty of who we are.  We are beautiful, perfect, powerful beings that are loved beyond imagination.  Tap into that and use it through out the day.

Love Can Build A Bridge

I noticed as a child that I often attracted many of the grumpiest teachers in my school settings.  I was somehow able to connect with them and they would take me under their wings.  It wasn't until I was an adult that I realized that it was because I saw underneath their gruff, scary exterior and was able to show interest and love towards them instead of being afraid of them or angry towards them.  This is why they were drawn to me.  Unfortunately there were also many teachers who a little afraid of me and all of my questions and I was too young to understand they were frustrated by my big questions and different way of looking at things, they didn't treat me so well and so I was angry towards them.  My experiences with those teachers did not have positive outcomes, but I learned many lessons from them.

Sometimes through out our lives we come across people who are really, really hard to deal with.  We all have someone in our life who just comes across as snarly and unlovable and it's easy for us to project that back to them or to just avoid them.

What we can do instead of sending negativity at them is to let the negativity go and just send them love.  I don't mean we have to go to them and hug them or shower them with praises.  We can simply, let go of our own negative thoughts toward them and send loving thoughts their way.  Imagine them kind of surrounded by the glowing pink and yellow light of love if you can.  Whatever we project onto them will most likely be projected back to us, so doesn't it make more sense to send them love instead of anger, judgment or avoidance?   
(Sometimes WE are the snarly unlovable one and we have to learn to use this method towards ourselves.)
When we send love out to the world we are literally building and energetic bridge of love.  We may not notice a difference at first and some people will continue to choose to refuse love no matter where it comes from, but if we show perseverance and bring only love to a situation, we will begin to see amazing differences in our lives.  Even if a person refuses to receive the love we send, we will feel better for sending out love instead of negative, hateful thoughts.

Think of this, in every situation we are a part of where we deal with other people we are creating a sort of energetic vibration.  It's up to us whether the energy we send out is positive or negative, it's our choice, BUT, what we put out is what is going to come back to us.   What would we choose to have coming at us, negative energy or positive energy? We should keep this in mind every time we interact with anyone in any situation.

Imagine the difference we could all make in the world if we start building our bridges of love!