joy
You Are What You Speak
Even the quietest among us speak many words every day. Each one of those words has meaning. How often do you stop to consider that meaning?
If your friends, neighbors, or co-workers were asked to describe you briefly, what would they say? That you were “nice,” “kind,” “generous?” Maybe “rude,” “messy,” or “thoughtless?” What comes to mind when we hear those words? Each one of them is a snapshot of who we are as people. But we don’t get there without lots of words of our own.
Most of what we say, as well as think, the “little voices” in our mind, is done without much thinking. It’s easy to get into a rut and stay there. That’s how habits are formed. It’s also how we succeed or fail. If we start telling ourselves that we are worthless, unlovable, or stupid, we’ll start believing it. Others will too! Continue reading
Living Under The Mushroom?
Are you living under the mushroom? This is not necessarily a bad thing, depending what your expectations are. In order to live in the Light we must make an effort of some kind to come out from under the mushroom. Nothing much grows in the shadows.
Living in the Light? What does that mean? Does it mean we will no longer gossip about the neighbors, focus less on the negative aspects of life, stop finding fault with others, and never expect bad things to happen to us? Probably not.
What “living in the Light” does mean is that we strive to accept and understand the motives of others, and that we allow some leeway when dealing with faulty human beings, especially considering the fact that we are personally also one of those “faulty souls”. We also choose to expect good things. Continue reading
Say Good Morning To The World
Yesterday was a real hard one for me; too many things going wrong: kids not observing rules, friends who just needed a few minutes to talk, family calling with one problem or another, and then being notified to fill in at work at the last minute.
Good morning to the World.
There I went, off to the craziness of another day in the old rat race of work, and family chaos.
But this morning I took a different approach, by returning to my usual daily routine. Seeing the Sun rising high in the East, I went outside to sit on the bench with my second cup of espresso. To charge up my energy I started singing O’ Sole Mio in a clear, strong voice. This is the best way to welcome the blessings of another day – before everyone else wakes up. Continue reading
Your Life Can Be So Much More Beautiful…
If I told you that your life could be beautiful and filled with joy every single moment of the day, every day of the year, would you believe me? Probably not. You’d be correct. Nothing is 100% perfect all the time. But what if I told you that there are a few things you could try that has worked for me to help manifest a much more peaceful, harmonious and drama-free life? Would you be willing to give them a try? If so, then I encourage you to keep reading.
The strategies below have stripped most of the stress from my life, and made me much more relaxed and able to enjoy special times, and create special memories, with those that mean the most to me. Remember those moments are fleeting. Don’t allow them to slip away from you, because you were too focused on things that, if you look at it carefully, not that important at all! Continue reading
Don’t Add Drama To The Chaos In Your Life!
I had a very stressful situation recently, too personal to be written about here, but I can assure you my Italian temper blew up completely due to my frustration. I had to humble myself to people I did not feel comfortable with, and had to set my ego aside entirely.
I felt I had to hit or break something. I took a good box of empty jars and shattered every one of them against a rock outside. The explosive sound of the breaking glass was a source of relief. It is not something I am really proud of doing, but I am only human, and sometimes our more base instincts rise to the surface in this way. I am normally a highly sensitive, compassionate, and spiritual person, but I was not setting much of an example in this case. I had clearly lost it this time. Continue reading
A Message Of Hope From Hel’s Pond
A yellow butterfly guided me to Blanke Helle, or “Hel’s Pond” during a recent visit to Berlin, Germany. It darted ahead of me all the way from the bus stop in AlboinStraße, until I reached the entrance to the park where lies forgotten, and hidden from public notice, the ancient pagan site sacred to Hela, or Hel, the Norse-Germanic goddess of death and the underworld.
I have been guided by butterflies on a regular basis over the past two years, since the first one appeared to me at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi, Greece. I was much encouraged by the sudden presence of this golden, magical creature, because it predicted that my visit to this sacred pagan site would be less somber than I had imagined. Yellow butterflies represent rebirth, new life, transformation and resurrection in several cultures. The Irish believe yellow butterflies to be an indicator of the peaceful transition of departed souls. And in Christian tradition yellow butterflies are symbolic of the Christ’s resurrection from death. They are also regarded as a sign of the presence of angels. Would Hel’s dark waters ultimately leave me with a message of hope? Continue reading
Helping To Heal The World In A Spare Moment
When we truly open our eyes to the wonderful world around us, what we see is the amount of abundance available to us. There is an endless supply of good things, too plentiful to list, and we are welcome to partake in all that is here. Many of us understand this and live in harmony with all that is provided. Some of us do not.
I am not sure where satisfaction ends and greed takes over? My guess would be that it is connected to a spiritual lack. When we feel complete in ourselves, there is no need to try and control or own everything on the outside. Why would we feel a need to possess it all, when there is so much here for all of us and joy emanates from the sharing?
Spiritual fulfillment comes from the inside only. It arrives when we have a feeling of love that radiates totally from what is within and is rarely connected to what comes from outside of us. Continue reading