joy
Release Control And Live In Joy
Last month, an old friend reconnected with me on social media. She talked quite a lot about the old days, when we lived and went to school on an island in the Canary Islands. It was fun looking back and reminiscing, as well as sharing all the things we’ve done, and the weird and wonderful places we’ve lived in and traveled to in-between.
I was quite taken back when she made a comment about how controlling my father was back then. In the past, I would have defended him, but she had a valid point. Make no mistake, I adored my father, but as years progressed the controlling behavior actually worsened. Continue reading
A Symbol To Know The Unknowable
This morning, I ran into one of my friends in our little Spanish town, and we decided to grab a coffee and catch up. I was delighted at how she took an interest in my Om/Aum pendant. She commented on how I seemed to treat my pendant as something rather sacred, and with respect – an interesting observation! She loved the flow of the shapes, and asked if the pendant had any specific meaning.
I had to remove the pendant and study it closely to try and remember what I was taught years ago, in order to give her a brief description to the best of my ability. One by one I tried to connect with each swirl in the design and was surprised that I had remembered quite a lot of what my mentor had taught me. It was a long time ago, when we used the Om/Aum chant in our meditation sessions.
With my pendant on the table I began to explain the meaning of the dot at the top of the symbol, and recalled that this related to the silence after chanting Om/Aum. It represents the Enlightened Self, and is known as the transcendental state of Turiya. Continue reading
Connecting To Your Internal GPS
This past year has been the best! It is amazing to see what happens when we live with eyes and heart wide open. We experience more synchronicity, calmness, joy, and peace. We go from go, go, go, and do, do, do, to being fully present.
We too often choose to ignore the little voice inside that tells us things like, “Don’t go out, stay in!” or “Don’t do that, do this instead.” That inner voice is what most people call your intuition or inner guidance. I think of it as God within.
When we are clear-headed and keep from chaos and drama, and set healthy boundaries with others, we actually can hear that voice much more clearly. Continue reading
Finding Serenity
What is spiritual serenity, and how does one get to such an enlightened place? I’ve put forth this question many times throughout my life, and I’ve also had it asked of me. People hear what I do for a living and they immediately assume I walk around chanting Buddhist chants, or waving sage throughout my sacred space 24 hours a day. If only!
I don’t have the answers any more than the next person does. There are some things I have learned and seen, as I am sure I have yet more to learn and see. It is an endless cycle of not knowing and then knowing, the same cycle we all go through. The same lessons. It is only in how we apply them that we become different. We grow differently and start to use parts of ourselves that perhaps someone else, who is growing ‘at their own pace’ may not be using yet. And that is okay. Continue reading
Life Is Like Cooking Bacon And Eggs
Life is like cooking bacon and eggs without a shirt on. Why is that? Well, let’s think about the process one goes through when cooking bacon and eggs.
After picking out the frying pans, next is to consider what version of eggs to cook. Scrambled, poached, fried (sunny side up, over easy), omelet, boiled? Do we add vegetables, or cheese? Which kind of cheese: American, Swiss, Pepperjack? Broccoli, onions, asparagus, carrots?
So many choices, so little time.
Having sifted through the refrigerator, checking out the ‘best before’ dates, and smelling and squeezing all the ingredients, we are now ready to cook the eggs. The first choices made, now it’s time to take action. What is the timing between starting the eggs and bacon: separate pans or combined? How crispy do we like our bacon? Continue reading
Do It Anyway
Recently, I posted on social media about my daughter’s graduation, when she was awarded a degree in Psychology with high honors from a well-known university. I was really proud of her, and wanted to share it with the world.
Many friends and family commented on the post, with congratulatory excitement and kind remarks. But later that day, I noticed there was also a hurtful comment on that same post from my mother.
In the post I had misspelled the words summa cum laude and my mother’s comment read, “Ask your daughter how to spell summa cum laude.” That was it. It seemed short and cold. My heart sank. Not only from the public embarrassment of her comment, but more so from the insinuation that I lack intelligence. Continue reading