Spring Has Sprung!

Heralding in Spring today on the Equinox, I look outside to a snow-cloud covered sky.  While I must admit, I was excited for Spring to have sprung today, I also am probably the last person in my neighborhood who can say yes to one last snow fall for the season.

Because for me, there’s something still very magical about snow falling, the crisp cold in the air and the smell, oh! the smell of snow coming!  You know that smell, don’t you?  That smell excites me to my very core because I love to watch snow fall and to be out amidst those big huge flakes as they waft down.  Oh, I’m so excited, like a little child!  My children laugh at me because I’m the one who insists we should wear our pjs inside out for a potential snow day off from school!  Have you followed that tradition too at your house?

I love the fact that towards the end of the week, after the snowfall, we will have warmer temperatures which means melting snow and not as much shoveling!  Woo Hoo!  But honestly, I don’t mind shoveling as long as there’s not a lot to do.  You know me though, I like Mother Nature’s gifts for the most part.

We’ve had our share of snowfalls this year thus far, so I am sure that there are plenty of people who don’t like my Pollyanna attitude towards the anticipated snowfall.  But as a gal who enjoys what a snowday offers – staying home in our pjs, being housebound while watching the outside world go by in a sea of white flakes, playing board games and watching tv, and eating comfort foods with my children – well, then can we just enjoy one last snowday – please!

Shine On!

xo

 

Do You Know About Cempasúchil?

Today’s prompt immediately made my mind go to the beautiful orange marigolds which are so popular around this time, especially in Mexico.  Cempasúchil as they are called are used in the Day of the Dead decorations.

Do you want to know more?

See The Legend of the Cempasúchil Flower

Have the most delightful Friday!  Here comes the weekend!

Shine On!

xo

Be Like Impatiens

I buy certain flowers each season and for summer, it’s always impatiens.  There’s something about them that brings me joy.  Perhaps it’s because they are good reminders to me of how to grow in this life and how to recover when life hands me a drought of goodness.

Here’s a photo of my red impatiens the other day.  Scorching heat and my not tending them as I should along with no rain for a few days made them look a bit dreary.  Like humans, when we don’t meditate and nourish ourselves, we become a bit downtrodden and sad.  However, if we realized that all we needed was caring and nourishment, we could come back from:

To this!

The non-green thumbed gardener that I am just watered my sweet impatiens and Voila!  They bounced back beautifully within hours!

Wouldn’t it be nice if we humans could be healed and bounce back from depression, sadness and even stony unforgiveness by a little watering, some kindness and love?

We can, dear friends.  It’s possible to be like the impatiens.  We can nourish ourselves and others with love, forgiveness and understanding and perk up!  Imagine if we, as a world, all watered eachother’s souls with nourishment instead of hatred and hurt?

We would have a lush, beautiful, spiritual world of love!

Shine On!

xo

Honeybee Spirit Totem Animal Message

I thought that yesterday’s post about my 3 encounters with the honeybee might interest you as to what I found the message to be for me.  Perhaps you’ve had a visit from a honeybee as well, so I thought I’d share what I found from here.

When the honey-bee spirit animal appears to you, it’s calling your attention to your everyday miracles. Just look at your honey-bee totem which is so small yet able to achieve so much.

The honey-bee symbolism is also of community and teamwork. Use your talents to help humanity and make your personal contributions to change the world for the better.

Add your voice to the collective consciousness. Raise the vibrations of the world you live in.

Wow!  Who knew the honeybee was such a powerful totem?  And as I begin my next chapter into uncharted territory, I am grateful to that sweet little honeybee’s message.  I love our community of bloggers and the friendships we have made.  I am hoping now that we are transitioning into our new home, I can begin again to write, to read, to comment and to grow our community.

Please join me in raising the vibrations of the beautiful world we live in!  It’s time to spread our wings, band together and fly like the darling honeybee!

Shine On!

xo

 

 

 

Happiness Is What You Are

“Most people are searching for happiness

outside of themselves.

That’s a fundamental mistake.

Happiness is something you are,

and it comes from the way you think.”
— Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

This quote inspired me today so I wanted to share it with you.  I hope you find inspiration in it as well.  Happiness is a choice you make for yourself.

Think Happy!

Shine On!

xo

 

 

The Present Moment

With the uncertainty of life, we let go when we have exhausted all means of control.  Sometimes it takes us longer to finally come to the conclusion that there are simply parts of life that we must allow for we cannot stop them.  For a planner like me, it’s always felt unacceptable.  Searching my brain, I would try to come up with endless ways to make whatever situation better for me, my family, my friends ~ relentlessly trying to improve a situation that I found unacceptable because it was causing someone else or me pain.

But there are times now, after sleepless nights of fret, worry and planning, that I am learning, albeit slowly, to let go and to allow God and the Universe to proceed.  What I’ve learned in the wee hours of the morning is to go with the flow, release, let the river take its course and have faith that as long as I can put my head on the pillow in peace, knowing I have done all with a loving heart, there is nothing more I can do.

However, it’s hard ~ this letting go.  So I am learning to let go and let God ~ and let Him in.

I think it’s human nature to believe we’ve got this, we can figure it out and make it work.  But we forget that there is God, the Universe and the Laws of Attraction who also carry us when we allow them to work their ‘magic’ as well.

Being in the present moment is a life lesson worth learning for me.  I am watching my Mom struggle with Alzheimer’s and being in the present moment with her.  Sometimes her present moment isn’t ‘reality’ but wherever her brain is at the time.  So to honor her, we gather in her present moment and support her, enjoying whatever gifts we can.

It’s a shift of thinking that has taken me a long time to accept and to process in my own brain.  However, love is accepting and above all, I love my Mom.  So I accept where she is at any given moment.  I’ve come a long way baby, but I still have much to learn.

Isn’t that the way life school is anyway?  Learn, practice and love?

Shine On!

xo

Alzheimer’s Disease and Telling a Loved One About a Death

My Mom recently lost her sister with whom she lived in a memory care facility.  It broke my heart to deliver the news to her, so I remained mum for a while and didn’t tell her.  She believed our Aunt was still alive in the hospital for longer than she was, as we contemplated how to tell her the sad news.

But God and the Universe had different plans.  For you see, her resident friends who knew Aunt Mable were also concerned about Aunt Mable and wondered when she would return home.  Mom was told that she was still in the hospital getting treatment, but in truth, she had passed away.  Little could any of us know that one little lady, who is wheelchair bound, blind and has hallucinations along with memory issues would be able to succeed in calling the hospital in hopes that Mom could talk with Aunt Mable and get more information.  A miracle unto itself that she accomplished this with her cell phone.  Sadly, she got the news that Mable had passed away and in a loving manner told Mom.  I know she thought she was helping, but her announcement wasn’t what we had planned.  We were trying to get to Mom to tell her ourselves in person.

Looking through the eyes of an observer, this little lady’s heart was in the right place.  She saw our Mom upset and wanted to help and when I see the situation with a loving heart, I am grateful.  But in that moment when Mom reached out to me, sobbing that she had heard that her sister had passed away and was frantic, I felt powerless.  I had wanted so much to shield Mom from the pain and be there when she found out in order to help her through her grief.  In the end though, life unfolded as it was meant to be.

It is hard for anyone with memory issues to remember, let alone to keep the information that a loved one has passed away, for their ability to remember fades and rallies, moment to moment.  The acceptance of what feels unacceptable (a death of a sister) is too much for the mind to handle and it fades, only to return after a bit and the grief begins again.  It’s a roller coaster for all involved as we try so desperately to soothe a broken heart as the knowledge comes and goes, along with the grief.

There’s no easy way and from my experiences, the only rule is to keep a loving heart, flow with the moment’s understanding and continue to offer love and support to Mom.  That’s all we can do in every situation quite honestly.  Be open, be kind and love.

May you find your Sunday to be filled with peace and love, this is my wish always.

Shine On!

xo

 

 

 

Teardrop Poetry

Teardrops fall unbidden

like raindrops outside the window,

nourishing the soul,

so she can blossom again.

Cleansing, letting go

of winters passed

turning a tear-streaked face

to the spring of a new dawn.

~The Presents of Presence

Shine On!

xo

National Cancer Survivor’s Day

Today is National Cancer Survivor’s Day ~ the first Sunday in the month of June according to Google.  So I found it appropriate to write today as I am also a cancer survivor ~ breast cancer in particular.

I want to honor those who have endured cancer, those who have passed already, those who are enduring the ‘Big C” and those who may be diagnosed in the future.  Most of us have had cancer rear its ugly head in our lives directly or in the lives of loved ones and we have been touched by its tentacles in one way or another.

Cancer as with most illnesses changes the lives of not only the patient, but the friends and the families that it touches.  It changes us all in ways we could never predict.  Cancer can strengthen the bonds of love or it can destroy them.  It can strengthen your soul or it can weaken it.  Cancer doesn’t play fair and it’s up to you in how you allow it to change your life and the lives of your loved ones.

I want to take this opportunity to publicly thank my family, my friends, my loved ones, my doctors and nurses and all whom have touched my life during my cancer journey.  I am ever grateful that I have been loved throughout this journey of endurance and I know that each and every person played a special part in my surviving.  I also am grateful to God for the prayers answered for my highest good, even when I didn’t believe that what was happening was actually a gift.

Cancer changes our lives.  It enriches them in ways we could never imagine and it also can take away in the same breath.  It’s up to you, the survivor, how you view your cancer situation.  Personally I have been all over the map of emotions with my own cancer journey.  I’ve worried.  I’ve been angry.  I’ve been hurt.  I’ve lived in fear.  I’ve lived in peace.  But the one constant has been the love and friendship that I’ve felt during the trials and tribulations.

Love is the answer my friends.  Love is your legacy.  Compassion is key.  Looking outside yourself and into the hearts of others with loving gratitude is required.  So on this special day, I want to honor all of you who have been touched by cancer in every way.  We are all survivors whether we are the patient, the family member or the friend.  We all play a part in the experience and I am truly grateful to each and every person in my life who has been there for me.  I treasure the role each of you played in my life and I love you all.

Shine On!

xo

Don’t Quit

This one’s for me today…and for you as well.  My favorite poem and best reminder:  Don’t Quit!

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit-
Rest if you must, but don’t you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a fellow turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out.
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow –
You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than
It seems to a faint and faltering man;
Often the struggler has given up
When he might have captured the victor’s cup;
And he learned too late when the night came down,
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out –
The silver tint in the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It might be near when it seems afar;
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit –
It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit.

 ~ Unknown

Shine On!

TGIF!

xo