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Posts from the ‘Happiness’ Category

Sep 14

This is Your Life, Are You Who You Want to Be?

“We ‘reorder’ our lives when we choose spirit over the illusions of physical circumstances. With each choice we make, we either become more involved in the illusory physical world, or we invest energy into the power of spirit… Each time we choose to enhance our internal power, we limit the authority of the physical world over our lives, bodies, health, minds, and spirits. From an energy point of view, every choice that enhances our spirits strengthens our energy field; and the stronger our energy field, the fewer connections to negative people and experiences.” – Caroline Myss, PhD, Anatomy of the Spirit

As I was driving to work yesterday on autopilot, my thoughts focused on my overwhelming “to do” list, one line from a song playing on the radio suddenly caught my attention – “this is your life, are you who you want to be?”

Songs, books, nature, art all have a way of capturing our attention, bringing us back to center, to the important questions that need answers. Signs, seeds, and clues surround us begging for our attention, to wake us up and give meaning to our days.

Take yourself off auto pilot, cruise control – look and listen to what’s all around. You will be surprised what you see and hear. Suddenly, awe and wonder enter into your noisy busy, busy world that you’ve convinced yourself that you must participate in. Slow down so you can answer the questions that really matter, that define your life.

This is your life, are you who you want to be? If you don’t like the answer, do something different. Not sure what to do? Listen closely, the answers are there.

Sep 8

If Then, Only, When

If we do not center ourselves how can we be steady;
If we do now slow down, how do we find meaning;
If we do not rest, how do we find solace;
If we do not reflect, how do we find purpose;
If we do not look, how do we see beauty in our midst;
If we do not create, how will we be created.

Center
Slow
Rest
Reflect
Look
Create

If then
If only
If when

Sep 2

How old?

“We are always the same age inside.” – Gertrude Stein

May you feel as young as a wide-eyed optimistic teenager with wisdom from experience, softened rather than hardened from the years. We fritter away so much time trying to control that which is not ours to control. What’s inside of each one of us is truly our own, within our own control. Never surrender that control to others or circumstances.

Our world is created from inside, so choose your thoughts well with an open heart and a forgiving, light spirit. It’s easy to succumb to worldly reality, becoming old and stale. Don’t. Forever young.

“The habit of being happy enables one to be freed, or largely freed, from the domination of outward conditions.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

“The habit of being happy enables one to be freed, or largely freed, from the domination of outward conditions.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

Aug 23

Claim It

“No desire will ever be placed in you by the Holy Spirit unless He intends to fulfill it. So let your faith rise up and soar away to claim all the land you can discover.” – S.A. Keen

We have right within us what we need each day. It’s not off in far off places, other people or in the mythical “someday” we create in our heads. It’s within us, this very moment. We need only suspend our search and be found. Then we can move to what’s most important and written on our hearts. Then we can begin to live the life we were called to fulfill.

Uncover it and let your light shine.

Aug 18

4 Comments

Don’t, Don’t Miss This Day

“If every moment is sacred, and If you are amazed and in awe most of the time when you find yourself breathing and not crazy, then you are in a state of constant thankfulness, worship and humility.” – Bernice Johnson Reagon

In our frantic pursuit of who knows what, don’t miss this day. The one thing that this year has revealed in my search for understanding is that what is most important and remembered forever are the moments that we spend in simple conversation and connection, in laughter and in tears.

Be present and awake each day. And when you drift to the past or race to the future, grab yourself by the collar and pull yourself back to now. Our ordinary days offer a profoundness that we often only discover after they are gone. Capture the profound in the midst of unfolding.

Make your words more meaningful, embrace a bit longer, awaken to the sacredness of each day. Don’t ever dismiss or miss this day and the joy it offers. Ever.

Aug 9

EFG – Effort, Faith and Grace

“Effort at its most fundamental level is just that commitment to try, to work hard, to give our all, not knowing where that will lead is also a working definition of faith. Life has taught me that, regardless of what we face, effort and faith will lead us into the larger stream of life that holds us. And being held by the larger stream of life is another way to describe grace.” – Mark Nepo, The One Life We’re Given

“Infuse your life with action. Don't wait for it to happen. Make it happen. Make your own future. Make your own hope. Make your own love. And whatever your beliefs, honor your creator, not by passively waiting for grace to come down from upon high, but by doing what you can to make grace happen... yourself, right now, right down here on Earth.” – Bradley Whitford

“Infuse your life with action. Don’t wait for it to happen. Make it happen. Make your own future. Make your own hope. Make your own love. And whatever your beliefs, honor your creator, not by passively waiting for grace to come down from upon high, but by doing what you can to make grace happen… yourself, right now, right down here on Earth.” – Bradley Whitford

No matter how many times you throw the stick, Grace (my poochie niece) always runs off the dock full throttle with the same level of effort and enthusiasm at the beginning and at the end.

The stick is out of reach but only if you don’t pursue it with all of your heart, soul and being. Yet again, our four-legged friends teach us two-legged over-complicating wanderers how to live well and completely by pursuing the stick and never, ever giving up.

EFG

Jul 29

Reach

“Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, Or what’s a heaven for?” – Robert Browning

It is in the effort and action of reaching that we are simultaneously pulled and pushed. Motion transforms to momentum. Dreams released to unfold. The effort soon becomes effortless and the action natural.

“But for each of us, isn't life about determining your own finish line?” – Diana Nyad

“But for each of us, isn’t life about determining your own finish line?” – Diana Nyad

Change is our friend not foe. Growth is our calling. And reaching our potential is not only for oneself but is the gift that the world needs from each one of us. Our purpose is to leave this world with no regrets or doubts that we became our best and most sacred self. And the world is better for it.

Reach, and keep reaching.

Jul 19

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Open and Still

“When everything is moving and shifting, the only way to counteract chaos is stillness. When things feel extraordinary, strive for ordinary. When the surface is wavy, dive deeper for quieter waters.” – Kristin Armstrong

Pause and create pockets of silence each day with rapt attention. From the sacred quiet at the rise of the day to the gentle peace offered as the sun drifts to slumber, stillness calls to restore, renew and inspire. No sense of time or tasks to check off. Present in the present. Discovering the poetry found in a walk, a smile, a flower.

Open, still and ever so grateful.

“Only when your consciousness is totally focused on the moment you are in can you receive whatever gift, lesson, or delight that moment has to offer.” – Barbara de Angelis

“Only when your consciousness is totally focused on the moment you are in can you receive whatever gift, lesson, or delight that moment has to offer.” – Barbara de Angelis

May 25

Ask, Listen, Ask Again

“Standing as a witness in all things means all things – big things, little things, in all conversations, in jokes, in games played and books read and music listened to, in causes supported, in service rendered, in clothes worn, in friends made.” – Margaret D. Nadauld

In loss, we vividly see the gain, the depth, the abundance of what was AND what IS right now. Big events, milestones – birthdays, graduations, weddings, funerals – make us stop to witness and celebrate our individual lives together, in community.

If we are present daily, aware and alive in the moments that create memories, weaving the fabric of our lives a stitch at a time, we can witness and celebrate each and every day as well.

Don’t speed through this day, planning for the next milestone, missing the moments, the substance of life. Put your phone down, have an in person conversation, look at someone, anyone, everyone in the eye with rapt attention. Learn something new about the world, your neighbor, your family, yourself. Go deeper, gaze longer, notice all that is contained and offered in this very day.

We are called to witness and participate in not only our own life but others as well. Ask, listen, ask again.

May 22

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Pivot

“We either live with intention or exist by default.” – Kristin Armstrong

It’s been a season of big and small, sudden and not-so-sudden change. Trying to keep my footing, I find myself pivoting, adjusting, accepting, shifting, at times with heels dug in, often tripping but always getting up and moving, sometimes forward and at times a few steps back. Letting go of what was and trusting at some point what is and is to come will play out the way it is meant to.

When we pivot, we keep one foot grounded in what is fundamental to our core values, beliefs, intentions, universal and non-worldly truths – love, peace, kindness, gratitude, joy, faith, despair, darkness and ultimately light – God. The other foot is the one that moves, opens us up to beginnings, transitions, new directions, pushing us to release assumptions and judgments that weigh us down.

Grounded yet still moving – the pivot.

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