The Peony

My sweet neighbors always remember me when their peonies bloom. It is a Springtime tradition that began long ago and continued even after I moved away and one that I am so grateful for each and every year.

There is nothing like a clear beautiful vase filled with the sweetest smell of freshly cut peonies in a home, especially ones that are delivered with kindness. My house has been so aromatic for the last week that I couldn’t help but to grin broadly each and every morning as I brewed my first cup of coffee for the peonies greeted me on the kitchen island!

I don’t often get fresh cut flowers anymore unless I buy them, but even then, sometimes they aren’t as fragrant as ones from a friend’s backyard. These were truly spectacular and I wish we had a smellavision on the blog so you could have enjoyed them too!

I was talking with a friend recently and the phrase, ‘kindness doesn’t cost anything’ was part of our conversation. How true is that! I always feel strongly about kindness. Don’t you?

Anyway, being that it’s June first and it seems my bunny has found greener pastures, I just wanted to send you a little blog post to let you know I am thinking of all of you and hoping you’re doing well!

You know as a gentle reminder, I can’t help myself and say, Rabbit Rabbit!

Shine On!

xo

Happy Thanksgiving!

May our lives be full of both thanks and giving!

Good morning to you!  If you’re celebrating Thanksgiving today, please allow me to wish you many blessings on this day along with my gratitude for our friendship and the connections we have made.  Happy Friendsgiving to you!

It’s a quiet morning here.  My children are still sleeping in their beds and as usual, I’m sitting here sipping coffee, thinking about life and counting my blessings.  Especially as I grow older, I find myself appreciating The Presents of Presence more and taking the much needed time to remember and to be grateful for all that I have endured to make this moment in time more precious.

Life continues to change with every passing year.  We lose friends and family along the way as we grow older.  Situations change.  People change.  Life can seem more complicated.  But the simplicity of gratitude which is what Thanksgiving represents makes the now, this present moment, all the more real, for we never know what can change in our lives at a moment’s notice.

So, take this day and remember to:

Speak from your heart and say I love you more often.

Appreciate those with whom you have a lasting connection.

Be thankful for all blessings – big and small.

Shine your heartlights.

Connect with kindness.

Be grateful for all of the kindness you’ve received.

Make sweet memories, for they are your legacy.

Enjoy this day that you’ve been given.

Shine On!

xo

May 1st Rabbit Rabbit

Rabbit Rabbit, White Rabbit, White Rabbit to you today on this First of May!

This sweet bunny has such a cute face that I had to use him today.  You know how excited I get when a new month begins!  You know my ritual too if you have been here for awhile.  I get so inspired by a new month, let alone how inspired I am every morning when I wake up!  I love that there’s a whole new day and month on which to build memories with others and for myself.

I hope that you remember to say Rabbit Rabbit today and that you enjoy the month ahead to its fullest!  Hop along with joy, with kindness and with your heartlight shining in all you do!

Shine On!

xo

Snow Brings Out Neighborly Kindness

The Presents of Presence

The Presents of Presence

There’s a kindness during a snowstorm in the Northeast.  Being out here in the farmland, people are especially nice and I am very grateful for their generosity considering my predicament.

So this morning, when my telephone line was heavy with snow, hanging dangerously low across the street, I saw my next door neighbor outside, shaking the snow from his beautiful trees and having to cut some limbs which had broken.  When I explained my worry, he came over and with a huge pole, and was able to knock the snow from the line, freeing it to spring back to it’s normal height thus restoring what could have been my phone line being broken by a tall truck.  Yippee!

I was plowed into my driveway too and I just don’t have the strength to shovel that much heavy snow.  I was praying for help as I was outside taking the snow off of my car in anticipation in getting out of the driveway when a man riding a small tractor came up the street.  Seeing my dilemma, he stopped and asked if I needed help.  Yes please!  So he’s now getting the heavy 2 feet of snow that the snow plows left at the base of my driveway.

God is good.  People are good.  Strangers are kind and all is well.  I hope you are enjoying the snow day today.  I am feeling very blessed myself and I send blessings your way as well!

Shine On!

xo

Christmas Presence

Dear Ones,

Hold loosely the presence of love today.  Do not hold tightly to old traditions, but instead go with the flow of being present.  Allow the day to flow freely, evolving divinely to incorporate all the blessings of this beautiful season of  Christ’s birth.

Make your greatest gift your presence with your loved ones.  Pay attention to the moment in the conversation.  Hug with heartfelt joy for life is precious and nothing is ever guaranteed.  Speak with kindness and love in your heart.

The above is what I began channeling before the Christmas Day festivities began and I never finished it unfortunately.  But since today is the day after Christmas and the spirit is still in the air, let me tell you about my day.

It was filled with love and connections with my family.  My greatest gift for which I’m ever grateful was the presence of my sons and the beautiful crystal angel present which they gave me for Christmas.  Through the chaos of circumstances, one bell continued to ring true – we are a family, we are bonded through good times and bad and we support each other’s healing with respect, love and kindness.  Our accepting open hearts and ability to share our feelings triumphs all worldly goods.  Our presence together speaks volumes in a world which is littered with distractions.  Unmasking the superficial, we are really ourselves – our gift to all.  We shine our heartlights with loving presence.  We hold dearly truth and open mindedness.  We bond together with love in our hearts.

That Christmas presence pervaded the celebrations.   When feeling weary from outside forces, we sought shelter together.  We understood each other in profound ways.  Kindness in act, word and deed and living at the higher vibrations was the melody on which we floated.  We chose the gift of presence with each other and that’s the greatest present of all.

Shine On!

xo

What’s Your Inheritance?

What comes to mind when you think inheritance?  Is it inheriting money?  Eye color?  Personality traits?  Grandma’s silver?  Family treasures?  Cancer genes?  Mental illness?  Or something else?  Is what you feel you’ve inherited a treasure or a curse?

Do you ever think about what your family will feel they’ve inherited from you?  I think it’s a valid question to think about as we live our lives.  What will you be remembered for?  Will it be treasured or cursed?

I know these are a lot of profound questions to ask yourself, but they are relevant, not only to The Daily Post, but to ourselves and to those around us.  What will you leave behind?  What do you want to leave behind?

For me, I want my children to remember me with joyful memories of a loving mom who taught them to love and to honor their family.  I want them to inherit the understanding that comes with loving people for all the good and the quirks of each individual.  I want them to inherit the mentality that the glass is half full and how each day holds miracles – that hardships are life lessons which make us stronger, help us to bond and to learn how to love even more deeply.  I want them to inherit a good sense of wholeness in health, mind, body and spirit.  I want them to inherit the knowing that comes with faith in themselves, in others, in God and with our Divine Universal code of love.  I want them to inherit an earth filled with peace, abundance for all and kindness.  I want them to inherit the blessings that have been bestowed on me, the amazing relationships that I’ve made and the soul family who are not necessarily biological.  I want them to inherit whatever wealth I have left in order to help them to succeed.  I want them to inherit a lifetime of knowing that they are loved from my whole heart.

I pray they will look back on my life, with all its peaks and valleys, knowing that I did the best I could to be the best person I could be.  I want them to be proud of themselves and of me.  I want them to remember The Presents of Presence.

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

 

 

Sandwich Generation

Have you ever heard of the sandwich generation?  It’s when you are a parent who takes care of your own children and your own parents at the same time.  Sandwiched in between the generations and responsible for them all at the same time.  At least, that’s my attempt at its definition.

I should know…I’ve been doing it for awhile now.

I have friends who are beginning the journey of helping their elderly parents and it’s hard.  Hard for the parents to let go and to allow their children to help them and hard for all to realize that life is imminently shorter than we plan for when we are young.  The changes that occur as our parents get older are sometimes unimaginable and hard for them and for us to fathom and navigate.  I mean, what parent ever wants to give up control to their children?  We are the parents after all. (said in the parental authoritative voice!)

But it happens.  If we’re lucky to still have our parents and our children be able to have a relationship (and if we still have a good relationship with our parents as well), please remember to feel blessed.  Because sometimes as the years go on, family difficulties interfere and our relationships deteriorate.

But in a perfect world, we may be blessed to take care of our parents as they took care of us.  This goes for anyone really in the older generations, the aunts and uncles, the older cousins, etc.

So can I give you a little advice especially now that Thanksgiving and the holiday season are arriving?

1. Do your best to include them.  Make the effort to go get them to bring them to the family get togethers if they are close enough.
2. Make them feel important.
3. Watch to see how they are doing physically, mentally and emotionally.
4. You are now the caretaker so be aware of subtle changes and if you see some, gently approach the subject.
5. Get Mom’s favorite recipes now while she remembers them.
6. Take pictures!  I can’t stress this enough!  Get photos of the family together.
7. Video tape them telling stories or singing or whatever memory you want to keep.  Someday you may wish you could hear their voices again or remember how they sang their favorite song or danced the watusi!
8. Be patient.  Getting older is not for sissies and they are doing the best they can.
9. Role model kindness because your children they will remember how you treated your family.
10. Be affectionate with them if that’s your family style.  There’s nothing better than taking that extra moment to hug a parent or family member.  They will appreciate it as will you.
11. Tell them how much you care and love them.  During Thanksgiving you can give thanks to them for all that they did for you.
12. Include them in favorite memories that showcase their love.
13. Be aware that as we get older, it gets harder to remember, to move and to hear other people.
14. Take the precious time to talk with them and to ask and to listen attentively to whatever they have to say.
15. Try not to put them in the corner and out of the way if they don’t want that because keeping them actively involved helps them immensely.
16. Be kinder as you won’t ever regret it later.
17. Take it all in stride and be patient with yourself as well.
18. Smile and know in your heart you are doing a great job.
19. Count your blessings that they are still here to spend time with you.
20. Enjoy each and every moment for life goes by in a flash!

I wish you all a wonderful holiday season!  I am thankful for my Mom and for those in the older generations of our family.  Having loved ones pass away in the last few years has been hard and I pray that you will keep in mind that every moment spent together is precious.

Shine On!

xo

 

Which Wolf Do You Feed?

I’ve seen this Native American parable before, but I think it bears repeating, so here it goes:

A grandfather is talking with his grandson and he says there are two wolves inside of us which are always at war with each other. 

One of them is a good wolf which represents things like kindness, bravery and love. The other is a bad wolf, which represents things like greed, hatred and fear.

The grandson stops and thinks about it for a second then he looks up at his grandfather and says, “Grandfather, which one wins?”

The grandfather quietly replies, “The one you feed.”

 

We can use this parable in our daily life by which story we feed our souls, especially when life gets challenging and we feel like we are alone.  We can become depressed and angry for the circumstances we find ourselves in or we can feed ourselves and the situation with love, kindness and forgiveness and move beyond the hurt.

Just like the parable suggests,

it’s all in the wolf that you choose to feed.

It is that simple dear friends.  Come on, hold my hand.  Let’s feed the good wolf together and make this world a better place for us all!

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