Rabbit Rabbit With Clover

I have a bunny whom I met when I first moved into the house.  He was a small brown rabbit, a baby.  I never saw him with any other bunnies.  We got used to each other over time and he has gotten to the point where he doesn’t run from me, although he doesn’t come near me either.  But we can sit companionably nearby whenever we meet.

He’s been sleeping under my porch as I have seen him hopping out from under it in the mornings which made me wonder – why?  I thought that bunnies lived in burrows.  But a good friend (thanks Mark!) told me that it’s the boy bunnies who tend to live above ground, leaving the momma and her babies to stay safely in the burrows.  So that makes sense to me and it makes me grateful for my porch which offers him shelter during the stormy weather.

I named my bunny Clover and although I don’t have a new photo of him to show you, you’ve seen him before here, and here .

Being that today is March 1st and our special Rabbit Rabbit, White Rabbit, White Rabbit day, I thought it fitting to share my Clover with you!

May your month of March be filled with love, light and healing —- and LUCK!

Shine On!

xo

The Present

Today’s Daily Prompt of PRESENT was a no-brainer for me to write about because hello! it’s the name of my blog!  The Presents of Presence.

It’s been a HUGE PRESENT to write to you, to make connections with you and to get to know all of you!  I love our friendships and I feel grateful and honored to know you all!

Because if we look around, precious moments are presents and they are everywhere.  But they can be fleeting when we are not paying attention.  You know what I mean?  When you turn around and wonder, what in the world did I do yesterday?  Or how did this past week fly by?

We have a limited time on this earth dear friends.  Connections can be fleeting or lifelong.  Either way, we must take each and every special opportunity to savor them.

May you have a blessed day and continue to shine your heartlights!

Shine On!

xo

During and After The Eclipse Experience

Just before the eclipse was to begin, the cats remained awake, ears perked up, listening and watching the unseen.  I watched as their breath was steady, but ever so slightly quickened.  I wonder how they react to such a phenomena?  The quiet is amazing outside.  Stillness except for the whir of a car on our country road.  It’s as if we are all holding our breath for the big reveal – the darkness of the moon’s passing over the sun on a summer’s day.  In quiet anticipation, I await as I assume so many on our planet do at this moment.  Await the experience, even though I am not in the direct line of view where I live.  It is the experience of being outside with the world as darkness falls for a few precious moments and life is reset.

From inside our home, I see nothing different outside as I check my watch.  I still see the sunlight dappled on the ground, peeking through the leaves of the trees.  I know I have to look for the crescent-shaped shadows when it’s time.  I only hope I can get a photo or two to show you.  The eclipse is slated to begin at 1:20pm in my area, to peak at 2:45pm and to end at 4pm.  It is only 1pm and my limbs feel heavy suddenly.  Is it my imagination or is it a real feeling from the Universe?  Did you have any reactions as the eclipse time grew nearer?  I would love to hear how you spent the eclipse time?  I didn’t get glasses so I won’t be looking directly into the sun as I value my eyesight.

The winds have picked up.  I can see the leaves dancing on the limbs of the trees outside my window.  It feels like the anticipation before Christmas morning.  The sky grows dimmer.  It’s now 1:18pm.  It is silent except for the whispering of the wind through the trees.  Even the farmer across the street has stopped his tractor in the corn fields.  Outside it’s beginning to look like the darkening of the skies before a summer thunderstorm.  I’m not sure why I’m so riled up about the eclipse.  It feels like a giant present to the Universe for me to witness.  You know, like when you’ve bought the perfect gift for a loved one and they are about to open it and you just know they’re going to be so surprised and love it?

I watch a car stop across the street.  A teenage boy gets out, puts on his solar eclipse glasses and looks up to the sky.  Since I don’t have glasses, I wonder what he sees if anything yet?  Is it too early to see a change?

Meanwhile, at the same time in Los Angeles, a friend sent this photo:

A friend in Los Angeles just sent this photo of the crescent-shaped shadows on concrete. Cool!

No need to wear sunglasses now.  Skies are darkening overhead slowly, but steadily.  I await hungrily in anticipation.  Do you?

2pm Cats meowing relentlessly.  Do they feel it?  Do you?  Do your pets?  What was their reactions, if any?  Outside the light is fading.  No sunshine to see.  No shadows on the ground.  Willow tree gently sways in the gentle breeze.  No birds are chirping.  No movement from any animals either.  Are they resting?  Do they think evening is here already?

Clouds have darkened the sky. Only a sliver of blue remains and the sun is covered by dark clouds.

Suddenly three geese burst forth honking on their way across the sky.

And then all grows eerily quiet.

Until the clouds part for the briefest of moments and voila! I capture the eclipse!

And then again, two seconds later!

I guess my Universal gift was that I was able to photograph the eclipse because of the cloud cover.  However, I am dismayed that I never got a shot of the crescent-shaped shadows on the ground though.  Thank goodness my friend sent me a photo earlier in the day which I shared here.

It may have been the big reveal that wasn’t such a big reveal, but as you read through my two posts about my experiences, perhaps you’ll share yours.

What’s the big reveal to me?

I think it’s the unity in experience that counts.

Each person’s experience is one’s own,

even when it’s as universal as seeing an eclipse in the sky

over our planet Earth.

Shine On!

xo

 

Sharing Experiences

Blogging is sharing experiences via writing as you well know if you’re a blogger.  We read blogs to share our experiences and to connect along the way.  Sometimes there’s a tidbit in someone’s blog which ignites a part of us in a good way.  I’ve learned so much from reading your blogs – new vocabulary, new books, and assimilated new ideas into my life.  I’ve connected through shared similar life experiences and found friendships, whether brief or long-term.  I’ve enjoyed expanding my thinking, my music repertoire and my enjoyment of reading with you as well.  I’ve felt when you’ve had challenges and grief in your lives and I have felt your support and caring when the same has happened in mine.

Writing with openness requires great vulnerability.  I don’t believe that when we open up to the world we are being weak.  I think it takes great strength to show ourselves in emotional truth for we never know how it will be perceived.  I feel grateful that I’ve found truth in the Universal code of kindness that if you don’t have something nice to say, you keep it to yourself because if it’s not helpful, then it’s hurtful and the majority doesn’t intend to hurt anyone else.

There may always be those who misunderstand me for which I’m sad, but I’ve accepted them.   Their fear-based beliefs keep them from opening up and experiencing life in different ways.  Fear can do strange things to people’s minds and being fear-based brings much anxiety to the most stable of individuals.  It is only when we release fear that we can embrace the plethora of goodness in life.  Sure, there are times when we are hurt, when misunderstandings occur and when people just don’t act with kindness.  That happens everywhere.  We must accept that we are all on our own journeys and that they intersect at different times.  We may walk on the path of life with someone for awhile and then part ways.  Or we may stay, sharing the path on and off for a lifetime.  What I know for sure is that each time our paths cross, whether it’s in a good situation or a teaching moment, we come away with a richer life experience for having crossed paths.

And isn’t that what life school is all about?  Learning, growing and experiencing all different types of situations and people?  Taking what comes to us a calm way and finding the good in the encounter – even when at the time it seems not so good?  When we are healed or when we can view it as an observer, we realize that the encounter has helped us to learn more about ourselves, to understand people in general and to enjoy the tapestry of experiences that is this life.  We are grateful for the peace and the  learning opportunity that we may have missed we if hadn’t crossed paths in this lifetime.

So I thank you for reading my blog and for opening up and letting us be with you through your blogs.  It is my honor to connect with you always.

Thanks for being you!

Shine On!

xo

The Last Time

We never know when the last time will be.  There.  I said it or better, I wrote it.  It’s a fact that most of the time, we never know that this may be the last time for fill in the blank.

Look back on your life and you may find endings and beginnings that at precise time, you might have been unaware were endings and beginnings in the making.

For example, the last time you fed your baby a bottle or changed the diaper (because they started using a sippy cup or going ‘potty’ like a big kid).  Did you know that it would be last time for sure?  Perhaps you are relieved at this point, but maybe in the future, you will look longingly back at their childhood wondering where the time has flittered away?

We can say the same for all types of situations, circumstances and people.  There are a myriad of events that in hindsight we can deem ‘the last time’ which at the time, we didn’t know.

My point is simple:  be present in all of your experiences.  Enjoy this special moment even if it doesn’t feel special, but instead feels routine.  Not to fear ‘the last time’ but to know in your heart, peacefully in your soul, that if this distinct last time were really the last time, you have peace.

So kiss your loved ones hello and goodbye.  Make the extra effort to connect with people, places and animals.  Find that quiet loving presence in your heart and allow it to expand throughout your day.  Don’t allow an opportunity for kindness and connection to pass you by.  Sure, it takes effort to be present, but The Presents of Presence is most definitely worth it!

I’m a living example…and I know you are too!

Feel free to share your experiences with the last time.

Shine On!

xo

 

 

Have You Ever Had Signs From Loved Ones?

Born on All Saint’s Day, my Dad has celebrated his birthday in Heaven for 5 years now.  Tempus Fugit as he would say, meaning ‘time flies’ and I would humbly have to agree with him.

I’m a bit melancholy today.  Perhaps that happens to you when it’s a loved one’s birth or death date  who has already passed on?  So much has changed in our lives since he left.  So much of our lives have changed so drastically.  Sometimes I wish I could just ask him for advice.

And then, just when I’m wondering if I’m doing everything right, or the way he would have wanted me to, he sends an earthy angel to tell me.  Recently, a friend of mine, out of the blue, who never knew my Dad told me that my Dad wanted me to know that he is prroud of me for all that I’m doing now.  This man said he felt a huge urge to say that to me and to pass along a message to me (from my Dad).  It was as if my Dad knew I needed to hear those words and I most certainly did.

While the veil is thinner, I pray that you and your loved ones can communicate a bit more, or at least, you can feel peace.  I have had a few signs lately, so I know he’s watching over his family.  There’s been a lot of forgiveness between us because as you know, ‘time heals,’ and I’m proof of that phrase.

So be on the lookout – feathers, coins, synchronicity, unexplained phenomenon and sometimes even more physical feelings of cool air, lights blinking, etc. can be signs.

Love is eternal even when we can’t see them.

Have you ever had signs from loved ones?  Please share!

Shine On!

xo

 

Unexpected Kindness…

is the most powerful,

least costly,

and most underrated agent

of human change.

~ Bob Kerrey

I recently had an old friend reach out to me.  She texted me, “I will take care of you,” in response to a concern of mine that we had been talking about that day.  In true text form, she added the emojis of pink double hearts and added, “love you.”

I don’t know why it hit me so hard that she replied out of the blue in that way, but it did.  To the core of my heartlight, her response, zinged me with a confetti of warmth, understanding, love and an overwhelming gratitude to her for her unexpected kindness.

Do you know what I mean?  Have you ever felt this way as well?

Sometimes, it’s the simplest offer of friendship and connection that helps us along the bumpy paths of life.  Knowing her, she simply reached out in kindness for that’s the type of person she is and she probably didn’t think twice about what she wrote to me as she is a kind-hearted loving human being and we have been friends for years, even though we don’t see each other too often.

I found the above image on Canva and just knew I had to share it today with you.  For you see, one small kindness delivered with a loving heart, can connect and raise up another’s heartlight.  My heart, even one day later, feels as if it is bursting with sunshine, hope, happiness, love and gratitude.

So today dear friends, I’m sharing her message with you, with the same loving heartlight…

I will take care of you…

Love you!

Shine On!

xo

P.S.  Today’s post is dedicated to E.S. ♥  Love you too!