What Are You Doing With Your Free Will?

We have plenty of choices in this lifetime.  We all have the free will to choose and to change our minds and to choose again.  Perhaps on this Monday morning because I’m feeling so centered, I can seem very black and white on this issue.  But when I’m feeling centered, it’s so clear to me.  Is it clear to you?

We make excuses when our choices don’t pan out and deliver to fruition what we want.  So we blame others for what we think they made us do.  Believe me, I’ve been there too.  But the reality is that we all have free will to choose again, to change our thinking and to let go of what we believed was supposed to be, what was fair in our own heads and what we deserved.

But that’s not the way life lessons come to us all the time.  Sometimes, we have to get out of our own thinking, out of our own way and see the big picture in whatever scenario is taking place in the forefront.  And then, deal with it.

We’ve all made choices that perhaps we regret.  We make decisions in an instant that hurt us or hurt others.  But to own our own stuff takes courage to be responsible for what is and not what we believed should be.  That’s the lesson that is hardest I think for all of us to wrap our minds, our beliefs and our hearts around.

But in order to heal, it’s necessary.  To work on ourselves takes time and baby steps towards healing.  If we don’t do the work on ourselves though, we are stuck in that place of pain and nobody wants to stay there.  But oftentimes, we do for lack of knowing how to release our limiting beliefs.

Use your free will to choose again.  Choose wisely by being the observer in your life.  Treat yourself as you would your best friend and be open to possibilities that maybe you haven’t been aware of before in your life.  Wherever a door closes, there’s a window which opens.  Be courageous to look outside that window to see the big picture.

Allow God and the Universe to guide you to freedom of choice and to choosing what serves you with joy and love.  Your heartlight shines when we allow ourselves to be whom we are meant to be.  To be anyone else doesn’t serve our souls, nor our life purpose.

Don’t regret the path not taken.  Take it.  Embrace it and if it doesn’t fit, then choose again.  This is your life and nobody else’s.  Live.  Choose.  Forgive.  Let go.  Move onward and upwards!  It’s a beautiful day!  You can always choose to be happy.

That’s your free will choice.  Choose happiness.

Shine On!

xo

 

Home Is The Nest You Make Yourself

I love the quote:  Home is where the heart is because it’s simple and direct.  Home is anywhere you find yourself comfortably surrounded by love.  Be it a hovel, an old drafty farmhouse, a small nest or a McMansion.  It’s home because your loved ones are with you.

It’s about being together and being able to be YOU with all of your goodness, your quirks and your insecurities, knowing you are loved for who you are.  Home is the comfort in being accepted for yourself.  Home is knowing you are safe in being vulnerable there.  Home is knowing there are arms to hold you in a strong hug with support and kindness, gentle kisses and soothing words.

There’s no place like home dear friends.  May you remember with gratitude the home and loved ones with whom you share your life.  No matter where you travel, near or far, may you always have a home filled with love and kindness.

Shine On!

xo

 

 

Full Moon

Hi All!  It’s Saturday and the weekend is here.  With that big ol’ full moon showing, the beaver moon as they call it, I’m just happy and hope you are too.

As I was thinking about what to write today, the song Blue Moon came into my head.  So I had to look up that famous song by Billie Holiday and listen.  I’m reminded of the years when I worked in a restaurant that had a band.  Weekends were packed with couples dancing to older favorites like this one.

It just makes me feel like dancing when I hear this song.  Does it do the same for you?  Imagine yourself dancing with a lovely partner who knows how to dance and makes you smile and sometimes twirl on the dance floor?

I remember as a young girl watching how beautifully these couples danced together and how the sheer joy played on their faces when they moved in sync.  It’s a lost art I think for today.  One which I would love to have return.

Oh maybe I should take up ballroom dancing now too?  Then I could get my dancing fix, just like I’m getting the healing horse lessons!  Who knows?!  Maybe I’ll do that one day too and you’ll see a photo of me dancing.

Until then, enjoy Billie Holiday’s Blue Moon and imagine dancing cheek to cheek with someone special.  Have a lovely weekend!

Shine On!

xo

Make Your Dreams A Reality

Sam and Me!

 

I had my second lesson the other day.  I am in heaven.  It has long been a dream of mine to learn to ride horses as I told you before here about Charlie.

I am making my own dreams come true and I’m truly loving it!

This smile that you see is only a fraction of the one when I was on Sam’s back learning how to balance and ride in the ring.  He is even bigger than Charlie (seriously!) and so I needed a mounting block to get on his back.  But, I am proud to say, that I dismounted all on my own without the block – ok, I’ll be honest, I slid off him, but I did land on my feet and not on my rear end!  That was a plus I think!

Oh my goodness, when I tell you how much my heart is bursting with happiness, there aren’t even enough words to explain how I feel.  It’s euphoria that I am doing what I have always wanted to do!  I feel like my heartlight is shining so brightly!  If I could financially swing everyday riding lessons, I wouldn’t think twice about it.  That’s how much I am enjoying my time with these horses.  Truly.

Go after your dreams.  Don’t lose them because you never know when you will get the chance to enjoy them!

Shine On!

xo

When We See Our Lives As Elastic

I imagine our lives as elastic bands, stretching us to our limits at times, only to return to our original shapes.  Elastic bands can stretch longer than we can imagine upon first looking at them.  As humans, we can do the same.  We can endure hardships, and experiences that make us grow, but we return to our original shape with the knowledge of what we’ve learned.  Of course, one could remind me that when stretched beyond limitation, elastic bands snap and break as can happen with the human psyche.  That’s true.

So what’s my point?  You know what it is!

Stretch out beyond your comfort zone today.  Just a wee bit if you can’t do more than that!  Expand your horizons, try a different food, smile at a stranger, pass along a kindness, pick up litter, write a note to a friend, stop at a local market, take the long way home to see the scenery, take a walk, read a book – do something out of the ordinary today that makes you feel good!  Bring happiness to your life by doing something different!

Stretch your mind today!  Stretch your body!  Stretch the elasticity in your life!  Let’s see what happens when we get out of our comfort zones a bit!

Shine On!

xo

Compliments of the Daily Post!

 

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

A Honeybee Came To Me

Recently my life has changed dramatically.  Divorce is final, we’ve closed on our home and we have moved to a new place.  So much upheaval physically, emotionally and mentally, but as I joke when people ask how we are faring, I say we are still upright which to me means we are still here, still walking on our paths and still getting up every morning to greet the dawn with gratitude.  Of course, that’s my description of what upright means!

I’ve continued my tradition of quiet prayer over coffee outside in the mornings before anyone else is up in my house.  Luckily for me, we have a small yard where I can sit and think among Mother Nature’s gifts.  While watching the birds, the small chipmunk who lives nearby who wanders around the patio and listening to the gentle awakenings of nature, I say my prayers and talk with God.

Friday morning began as usual, quietly sipping my coffee and feeling the gentle breeze blow the weeping willow nearby when suddenly a honeybee alighted on my shirt.  She didn’t scare me as she walked on my sleeve.  I looked at her and realized she was a honeybee with no stinger to injure me.  When was the last time I’d seen a honeybee so close up and why had she alighted on me?  Immediately, I thought that she was a spirit totem animal as I’ve had many instances when animals deliver messages to me.  So I looked it up and read what I could find.

Saturday morning began my quiet routine and again, the honeybee came to visit.  This time she landed on the cell phone in my hand.  I watched as she gingerly walked on my phone for about 5 minutes, just walking across it in circles, looking like she was sniffing it as if she were a dog.  Again, she made me smile and as quickly as she had appeared, she flew away.

Saturday night, I was outside again, enjoying the night sky, talking on the phone with a dear friend and who do you think came to visit again?  Yup!  My friendly honeybee alighted directly on my arm.  Her feet tickled my skin, but I remained still as she walked down my upper arm to my elbow and then flew away.

However, this morning, there was no visit, which I have to admit made me sad, as I was enjoying our little morning routine.  With spirit totem animals, there are messages to deliver via Mother Nature’s children and certainly, when we are aware and notice, the messages are delivered.

Have you ever been visited by an animal?  Do you know anything about totem spirit animals?  When was the last time you saw a honeybee?

Please share!

Shine On!

xo

It’s Been 15 Years and I’m Still Here!

Fifteen years ago today, I was diagnosed with breast cancer.  At times, it seems as if it were yesterday.  At others, it seems a lifetime ago.  But as any cancer survivor knows, we never forget the diagnosis which begins this journey.

So today, I celebrate with gratitude the triumph of still being here to enjoy my life with my children.  Even though I celebrate this milestone alone today, I have many angels in my life to whom I look with loving gratitude for all that they have done for me throughout the years.  I hold dearly those memories of loving support and kindness which were gifted to me.  Indeed, sometimes it takes a village.

My life has changed by leaps and bounds since that fateful day.  I’ve overcome 10 + surgeries, chemotherapy, baldness, radiation and countless scares that the cancer had returned.  I’ve loved and lost and let go.  But what remains is my faith, my courage and my choice to stay here and fight for my life.

I’ve learned so many lessons by enduring cancer, ones that perhaps I wish I’d never learned, but yet I am grateful all the same.

So on this New Year’s Eve Day, please celebrate with me as I celebrate with you.  Cheers with gratitude to the lessons learned in the past 15 years and cheers to another year filled with light, love, health, prosperity and happiness for all!

Shine On!

xo

The Layers of Now

Being present is what I yearn to be, although like many others, I teeter-totter in the realm of past rememberings or anticipating future fears of what’s to come.  It’s a fine line between the past, the present and the future.  One sharp word can trigger a memory and I’m conjuring up past wounds, beliefs and heartbreak.  One kind word and I’m breathing deeply in the present moment, finding my center of peace.  One anxious word and I’m fearing the uncharted territory of the future.

So where does one go?

Into The Layers of Now!

The Layers of Now is how I’ve found peace within me during chaotic times of trouble which seem to gather around me lately like thunderclouds sweeping in during a summer storm.  I don’t know if I can explain what I’m doing so that it will make sense to you, but I will try.

Simply put, I consciously try with all of my might,

to layer my present moment of presence.

If I need to cha cha into the past, I take a few steps back, rock forward to the present moment and repeat as necessary until the dance becomes obscured by the smile on my face as the music trills in my head, because I have changed my tune.  I drop what wounds I held onto as they don’t serve me anymore.  I allow the knowledge that we are all here together, doing the best we can to remind me that I am not without mistakes either.  I forgive the past, remember what I have endured and face the present with peace in my heart.

If I need to face the future, I step up, then rock back to the present and repeat as necessary.  Never actually staying in the future for it is certainly uncertain at this point, but also, never losing sight of the solidity of the present moment.  Thus I can grow my presents of presence.

Then, when I need to feel present in all the glory or chaos that is this very moment, I step to the side, into observer mode, facing my fears, my angst, euphoria and sadness with the magnitude of a maestro layering the chorus of past/present/future into a hit song that encompasses it all!  I stand by, not engaging, but simply looking with gratitude for all the facets of my life, no matter where they may be, past, present, future, happy, sad, uncertain and I just envelope them in my heart as the layers of now and rejoice, for I am here to experience and connect each and every emotion and feeling.

I am here,

to witness my life as it is right now with gratitude.

*

I am here,

to remember how far I have come from my past with gratitude.

*

I am here,

to open my heart, mind and soul,

to welcome with arms outstretched,

the unseen experiences that may come my way on my future path.

All at the same time.

Connecting…The Layers of Now.

Shine On!

xo

 

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/layers/

 

 

Buddha says…

“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe,

deserve your love and affection.”

– Buddha

I recently found this quote and found it a helpful reminder to myself, so I thought I’d share it with you.  In the hustle and bustle of life, we sometimes forget to love and nurture ourselves.  With all of the outside responsibilities, we soldier on, leaving ourselves behind.  We need to give ourselves, the same loving attention that we freely give to others.

So today, please do something nice for yourself ~ nurture yourself with a few moments of peace, wrap your arms around yourself and feel the comforting love of kindness.  Breathe in the sweet tranquility and feel yourself awaken to love and affection.

Shine On!

xo