A Fluttery Heart

I’m more aware of my heart these days which is pretty fascinating since it’s been with me my whole life. Right? I mean, are you aware of your heart? Or of your breathing? Because they are working 24/7 365/6 days a year, non-stop to keep our human selves alive. We can’t go on without either one doing their jobs, but how much are we really aware of them?

I can say, I wasn’t really aware until now. As I sit here writing, I can feel my fluttery heart beating in my chest. Even though I’m seated in my new recliner for the moment, my little heart is fluttery which is how I describe this feeling of it beating out of my chest for no reason. It’s not like I’m exercising or anything, and still, it’s making itself known. That’s a good thing as I don’t want it to stop anytime soon!

Because I wear my heart on my sleeve. I always have. That and every emotion shows front and center on my face. I’ve been told that you can read me like a book and I guess it’s true because I don’t have a good poker face. I don’t like to hide how I feel because that’s not how I’m made. I’m more of a let it all out type of person which may or may not help in certain life situations. But it is what it is…and I am who I am. No excuses. No guilt. I’m me. Take me or leave me. It’s ok now. I’m at peace, finalmente.

This whole-hearted experience has changed me, enriched my life emotionally, spiritually and for the better. There is a peace which has emerged from within me, sprouting up like a tender flower stalk and blossoming with showman spirit using all the courage she can muster. It’s like a ‘ta-da’ moment, arms raised in victory, that I’ve gotten to this very place of loving myself and not being afraid to fearlessly give out love, shine my own heart light and enjoy every sparkle of love given and received. Not that I haven’t always quietly been that way, but now, more than ever, the fluttery heart demands her presence known everywhere I go. I’m smiling as I write this because it’s as if I’ve always known I would come to this – a surrender, a delivery of who I really am and an embracing of my authentic self with all of my strengths and weaknesses, without excuse, without fear, and with love and acceptance.

I love the way the Soul works. There’s a divinity in the perfect timing of all of this even though I haven’t figured out how/why/when. What I do know is that there’s no such thing as coincidence. There’s a plan here and I am grateful to be a part of it.

So I’ll embrace my fluttery heart and allow it to lead me without question, and to shine without reservation. Can you see my heartlight?

Shine On!

xo

Empowerment Through Presence

Empowerment to me is a strong word which lends itself to many topics, but the one topic that I find most empowering is healing.  Through life lessons, traumatic experiences, disappointments, abuse and all the yucky negatives that can occur in a lifetime, the presence of choice and of love is ever there.  While in the midst of the swirl of negativity, anxiety, martyrdom, feeling as though we are victims and wronged by others, we can sap our own strength and fall into the abyss.  We can make excuses for others and our behavior, focus on what happened to us and never be able to release those ties that bind us to those circumstances and people who have wounded us.  We continue a story that we’ve built around the past that perpetuates if we aren’t allowing ourselves to release the negativity from our solar plexus and embrace the peace that is a choice in this present moment.

It’s not easy to go within to do the work required in healing, but it is essential.  Otherwise we continue that path of not allowing ourselves to live a full life of presence.

Presence to me is filled with peace and love.  It’s that hiccup between moment to moment where we can feel our soul speaking as it centers in love.  Our soul longs to empower the human we are, to embrace us in healing light and to find the joy in the preciousness of our life.  Our soul is here to guide us as we navigate the muddy waters of life school.  As a precious touchstone, when we come back to the essence of love, we heal the wounds that bind us, that burden us, that make our life choices low vibration.

We are not meant for a lifetime of low vibration, but instead, we are meant to experience the negative, be with it, allow its emotion and to transmute it into healing positivity.  It takes courage to offer our experiences to the light in order to heal.  In truly feeling negative emotion, we can bring the darkness into the light of healing.

Many of us carry wounds from this lifetime and the longer those wounds perpetuate, the deeper they go.  Perhaps the next time you are feeling sad or wounded, you could find a quiet place, allow the emotion to flow and with courage, ask yourself – “What’s beneath this feeling?”  Like an archeologist, one never knows what will be found as we dig deeper into a wound.  Some wounds run deeply and seem to cycle back into our lives, manifesting similar experiences until we come to terms with the emotion that surrounds the wound.  That’s not to say to wallow in the emotion of however you’re feeling.  But instead to engage the emotion to uncover what’s beyond the simplicity of the common, “I’m sad because I’m hurt.”  You may be surprised by what you find beneath the hurt that when it’s exposed to the light begins to heal in the most miraculous of ways.  Having the courage to sit with the emotion, to ask yourself, “What’s here?  What’s beneath this?” over and over can reveal our inner wounds and spark healing.  When exposed to the light, healing requires we look at the emotional wound from an observer point of view and allows the soul’s infinite wisdom to begin what it wants to do – release and heal.

There is so much I long to say to you about this topic, but I also would love it if you would add your thoughts in the comments below as I am sure they would be healing words of wisdom from your own experiences should you want to share them.

I wish you all The Presents of Presence and healing.  Your beacons of heartlights shine in the lives of many.  May your infinite wisdom continue to aid you and others by sharing your story.  We are all connected and as one of us lights up, there’s a part in each of us that lights up too.

Shine On!

xo

You Feel It, Don’t You?

“There is a candle in your heart,
ready to be kindled.
There is a void in your soul,
ready to be filled.
You feel it, don’t you?”
― Rumi

I hope this quote makes you smile as it did for me.

May your day unfold with grace and love.

May smiles greet you everywhere and may you delight in returning them with a heart filled with gladness.

May you rest and rejuvenate today.

May love and light shine from your heartlights.

May you feel comforted and may you comfort others.

May your prayers be heard and answered.

May you count your blessings and not your heartaches.

May you be filled to overflowing with peace that you generously share with others.

Shine On!

xo

 

The Discovery on Netflix

Have you seen the Netflix movie called The Discovery?

I watched it the other night and it brought up a lot of questions that maybe you have pondered as well – for example –

What happens after death?

I find The Discovery an interesting answer to that question.  I would love to hear if you have seen the movie and what you thought of it.  In case you haven’t heard of the movie, below is the trailer in case you’re interested.

Feel free to share any thoughts you may have!

Shine On!

xo

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

 

Tapestry of You

**Photo saved from Pinterest @owlhunt.com

We are layered beings, full of textures, emotions, experiences and hues that span the rainbow.  At any given moment, we are not just black and white, but every color in between as life swirls through us.

We are musical too – sometimes at an allegro speed, we pulse through the chords of life, rushing, fleeing, jumping through hoops enthusiastically.  At others, we are legato, smoothly playing without interruption, calm and happy.  Or at others, we are lento, slowly moving through life.

Our heartlights shine on throughout our life journey – blinking rhythmically in tandem with our musicality and hues, sometimes pulsing urgently like a beacon in need of help, at others, simply dimmed when we are weakened and sad.  But still, always, the effervescent heartlight remains glowing deep within us in a mass of light and love.

Humanity flows through us as we connect soul to soul with others.  Shedding the superficiality and growing deeply within us and filling the chasm that disappointments often rift in our minds.  We become more loving towards others and ourselves.  We rebuild the broken pieces of our lives with gold as the Japanese do when they  practice Kintsugi.  I find it a beautiful, healing notion of how to culminate our life experiences as we continually strive to live on Earth and recognize our divinity – our soul beauty!

Translated to “golden joinery,” Kintsugi (or Kintsukuroi, which means “golden repair”) is the centuries-old Japanese art of fixing broken pottery with a special lacquer dusted with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. Beautiful seams of gold glint in the cracks of ceramic ware, giving a unique appearance to the piece.

This repair method celebrates each artifact’s unique history by emphasizing its fractures and breaks instead of hiding or disguising them. Kintsugi often makes the repaired piece even more beautiful than the original, revitalizing it with new life.

It’s the Tapestry of You, unique and beautiful you which I celebrate and salute today.  Please join me in celebrating each of our golden souls each and every day!

Shine On!

xo

P.S.  My heartfelt gratitude to Joanna from whom I was inspired to write this post today. Please visit Joanna’s post here – The Patchwork Soul.

 

Practicing Gratitude For What We Receive

Let’s be honest.  Sometimes we receive fabulous experiences and synchronicities that make us giddy with happiness and excitement.  We twirl around in glee for the wonder of it all and walk around on the proverbial Cloud 9 in joy, thanking God and the Universe and everyone else for the good news.

However, sometimes we have experiences that we don’t want and we can’t believe that God or the Universe have delivered this strife to our door.  We don’t want to be thankful or gracious about the upsetting news or situation or relationship.  We don’t want to hold our hands out with a ready heart to receive disappointment or grief or burdens.  We want to to live happy go lucky lives and be done with the horrors we’ve endured.  Do you feel that way sometimes?

Because I honestly do.

So what other choice do we have?  We have to receive the blows as they come and deal with them in the best way we can.  Getting on our knees is one plan, full of prayers.  Getting help by reaching out to others is another good idea.  Going through the process and not hiding behind blinders is probably good advice as well for we can ignore situations, but until there’s a resolution, the body, mind, and soul suffer.  And I know, sometimes there’s no resolution.  Bad things happen to good people.  We suffer at the hands of others and circumstances at times.  We can feel like we endure more than our share of illness, of disconnections and of failed relationships.  We strive to do what’s right in all situations, but we’re human and we make mistakes.  We can’t have it always perfect all the time.  It’s just not what life school is all about here on Earth.

A friend and I were talking on the phone the other day and admiring each other’s strengths.  I flippantly said, God only gives you what you can handle right?  in an effort to connect with this person who was also having a hard time these days.  Sometimes I think He thinks I’m cement!  I said.   She replied, Then I’m puddy! and because I liked puddy better, I agreed, We’re both puddy!  We laughed, enjoyed the camaraderie of the moment and when we hung up the phone, there was a kinship there that remained between us.

When we go through hard times, we learn about life, about people and about ourselves.  We expand our knowledge, our spirituality and our ability to help others who are hurting as well.  Our experiences, when we share them, become a springboard for healing others and for healing ourselves.  We inspire others by how we deal with hardship.  We admire others for how they have conquered the ugly parts of life with grace and dignity.  We grow our faith and our connections with love when we heal ourselves and others.  We find the springboard to something positive when we dig ourselves out of the hole of adversity.  Hope becomes key.  Love becomes the answer.  Patience increases and a centered soul becomes the strength in which we shine our heartlights.

Shine On!

xo

 

Life Is A Give And Take

Life is like riding a see-saw I think.  We have our ups and downs.  We give and we take, sometimes more, sometimes less.  Ideally we want equilibrium, but we don’t always get it.  Because, life isn’t always fair.

So we take the good with the bad and hopefully learn our lessons through the experiences.  We become good at exploring the passages where we grow in thought, word and deed.  We make mistakes.  We forgive.  We move onward or stay stagnant and grieve.  We take risks when we grow restless.  We realize that the more we put into this  life, the more we reap in benefits and experiences.

We meet people who teach us lessons in humility and those who lend a hand and grow our thinking.  Our hearts expand with love and nurturing or shrink with diseased thoughts and stony unforgiveness.  Our souls shine brightly, sparkling with strength and endurance as we tally up life’s experiences, both good and bad.

We learn the important lesson of love, gratitude and presence by our choices.  We can become bitter when hurt, but love is resilient and we can bounce back with forgiveness, caring and kindness.  We embrace relationships for their lessons and for their beautiful connections.  We hold tenderly those precious moments when all is right in the world, when being in the present is powerful, no matter the circumstances.  We free ourselves from the bondage of ego’s tyranny when we allow love to take its place.  We restore peace within our souls and shine our heartlights of love to the world around us.

Faith, hope and love are significant contributors to life.  We can chose to embody these mindful thoughts and actions or we can turn away in fear.  We each have a choice that we alone choose as we alone are responsible for ourselves.

I am not your keeper, nor are you mine.  But I am your friend and companion on this path of life.  Come on, hold my hand.  Let’s love this present moment together!

I have to add that a blogger friend reminded me of a post he wrote too about Give and Take!  Please stop over to see Ray at his post called The Key To A Happy Life!

Shine On!

xo

 

Ceasing Cacophony With Charlie’s Help

For years, the cacophony in my head about all the woulda, coulda, shoulda’s reigned.  Due to circumstances in my life, there wasn’t a lot of me time allotted in my day.  I put what I wanted to do on the back burner while I helped others.  My life was turned upside down with a series of deaths, divorce, illness and trying to get through the days.

I have always wanted to learn to horseback ride.  For years, my sons and I would drive past the horse farms and I would routinely say how much I wanted to learn to ride.  I tried getting them to go on a trail ride with me, but neither had any interest.

Now that things in my life are steadier, I finally decided to do something for me that I had been wanting to do for a long time.  Yesterday, I had my first lesson with Charlie the horse.

I was nervous at first.  Horses in my mind were these beautiful gentle souls, but not so big!  As you can see in the photo, he’s much bigger than me, which at first, was a little daunting.  As it was, to brush his mane, I had to get up on tiptoes!

Sharing the love with Charlie

I think Charlie likes ‘cookies’ as much as I do!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I realized afterwards how much I haven’t been living my life to its fullest potential.  I was staying small and not trying what I really wanted to do.  Although I only walked Charlie yesterday, it was a good, healing, connecting start to a new chapter in my life.

The barn atmosphere was lovely.  The people I met were kind, accepting and helpful.  I felt a peace within when I left after my first lesson.  It’s as if a soul healing has begun in me that is deeper than I’ve felt in a long time.  I’m so grateful for the whole experience and I can’t wait for my next lesson!

I hope you won’t mind if I post occasionally about my Charlie.  Yes, he’s my Charlie now.  Like me, he’s had some hard times in the past.  He has scars that are healing too.  He’s not as young as he used to be, but he has a big ole heart and is open to friendship.

Any horse peeps out there?  I’m obviously a newbie so please feel free to share any tips, advice, experiences because I’m all ears!

What a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon with Charlie!

Shine On!

xo

Sunday Musings

I often wonder if those who have not learned of religion, find comfort in prayer.  Is it mankind who believes in a force outside of themselves, an ethereal being of the Universe who magically pulls the puppet strings on events or without prior external religious knowledge, do they believe that we ourselves, under our own volition and efforts, make things happen?

What do you believe?

Brought up a Catholic, I believe in prayer as a way of healing, of connecting soul to spirit and of bringing much needed energy, fortitude and possibility into my life.  I pray for others.  I pray for myself.  I pray in gratitude.  I find comfort in prayer, be it the Rosary or my own meditative affirmations.

When quietly immersed in prayer, I feel whole, complete and at peace more than at any other time.  But, I have also been known to cry out in prayer for help, a strangled beseeching to the ascended Almighty and the Universe Divine in supplication for aid, tears streaming down my cheeks as I beg forgiveness and for peace within my troubled heart.

Do you pray?

I have experienced lives exponentially changed through prayer, though mantras and affirmations, through meditation and through the most important piece –  asking for help.

On this Sunday morning, I sit here in my home writing to you.  All is quiet except for the occasional chirp and meow of one of the cats.  Peace envelopes us here.  With sunlight streaming through the windows, stillness surrounds our peaceful abode.  My children are nestled asleep, safely in their bedrooms.  I am ever grateful that they are with me today.  There is a mother’s peace when our children, no matter how old, are sweetly sleeping in their beds.  Watching their chests rhythmically rise and fall, their angelic faces void of any tension, I am grateful for how my prayers have been answered.

We raised two amazing children and even though we divorced, I am grateful for the union.  Gratitude is always part of my prayer.  Family is important and being alone is heartbreaking.  The bond I share with my children is like no other and our precious bond has only increased over the years.  It is solid.  It is full of trust, love, kindness and honesty.

My prayers have been answered.  Not necessarily the way I thought they should be, but in a beautiful way that is even better than I imagined.  Sometimes we need to let go and let God and the Universe work in tandem to deliver what we could have never thought possible when we were struggling.

I pray that yours and mine (prayers) are answered today.

Shine On!

xo

The Daily Prompt – Ascend