Friday’s Focus—Face the Fear

The immortal words of FDR says it all: “[The] only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

Fear can make whatever we want or need to do seem larger and worse than it really is. Having a healthy sense of fear can be a life-saver, but when fear keeps you from moving forward or taking the next step, then it becomes more of a hinderance than a helper.

Don’t let your fear and insecurities get in the way of whatever it is that’s been stopping you. Put all that energy of worrying about “what happens if…” to better use and see for yourself “what happens when“.

Remember, though there may be similarities, each person’s experience is their own, so don’t rely on what happened with other people and use that as an excuse for not stepping through your own fear.

Don’t be afraid—be curious!

Have a good weekend!
Keeping it light and singing LiLoLa [Live, Love, Laugh] all the way…

Friday’s Focus—Never Stop Learning

Stay a student.  No matter how much we may think we know there is always something to learn. Keep your mind open, your eyes wide, and your curiosity stoked.

Read, go outside, talk to people.

The world is our classroom and there is something to be learned from everything and everybody. We are each other’s teachers, so why not start each day by being curious and asking,  “What am I going to learn today?”

Be inspired and be an inspiration!

Have a good weekend!
Keeping it light and singing LiLoLa [Live, Love, Laugh] all the way…

Defining Moments

Today, I woke up and fell in love with the sound of the rain.
The clock ticked and the refrigerator hummed as I let my coffee grow cold beside me while I continued to listen to the drips of water outside my window.

It was a moment of perfection.
Not THE defining moment in my life but certainly one of them.

Yesterday I heard the expression, “defining moment” more times in one day since I don’t know when. It inevitably caught my attention and by the third mention, I could almost feel the poke on my shoulder and hear the “Pssst” in my ear.

What was my defining moment?
Did I have one?
It was a great question and gave me much to chew on.

I don’t think I can say I have ONE defining moment but rather several small ones that, looking back, certainly add up. Maybe my big ONE moment is still to come. Maybe not. Maybe it is meant to be chuncked into these smaller pieces. I think the end result is the same though. Moments occur in which my self meets my Self in a series of Howdy do’s.

Falling in love with the sound of the rain and the quiet moments between the ticks of the clock, was certainly one of those times because in that pause when everything is just so….a realization, a shift of perception, was finally able to wake up and bubble up. But they haven’t always been so peaceful and serene.

I think that any time something happens (whether it’s an event or simply a time of reflection) that gives us the chance to redirect and realign where we are in our thoughts and actions—basically where we are in our life, is a defining moment. They’re not always welcome…at first, and not always what we think they are… at first.

I believe that these moments, whether they come as softly as a whispered ah-ha in meditation or as powerful and disruptive/destructive as a hurricane, it’s what we make of them that holds the key to our growth.

Hindsight has the gift of reflection and hopefully clarity. I’m not going to lie and say I never thought “Why Me?” when things happened to me and it was only through hindsight, sometimes years away from the original incident, did I see the circumstances for what they were and  looking back has now allowed me to say “I’m glad it was me.”

Have you given thoughts to any of your defining moments?

Friday’s Focus—Disowning Illness

Words are power. Each word you think, each word you say has an energy and carries a vibration. In some cultures and tribes it is believed that negative thoughts directed at another person is the equivalent to throwing daggers at their etheric energy level, creating real-world illness and disharmony.

When we are ill, we don’t think twice about saying my ulcer, my depression, my diabetes, my cancer. We essentially lay ownership to the illness that is affecting our body and mind, identifying with it as being us. But the illness is not us. It is something that is happening to us and should be regarded as such and treated as something separate.

Instead of using “my” when describing an illness or medical situation, create some distance and instead try referring to it as the cells, the [insert name of disease], or this feeling. Give the energy of your attention, your words, and your thoughts to yourself and not to the malaise you may be dealing with.

When you identify with the self and not the illness or the diagnosis, it is in this space that healing can truly begin.

Have a good weekend!
Singing LiLoLa [Live, Love, Laugh] all the way…

 

Friday’s Focus—Eating Out of the Box to Make Healthier Choices

Waiting in line at the grocery store the other day (a very l-o-n-g line, between the Sunday sales and an impending snowstorm), I had a lot of time to people watch. I absent-mindedly watched a woman in line next to me as she unloaded her cart with item after item of something that was either a paper product or some type of processed boxed, bag, or frozen food. Processed. Every. Single. Food. Item.

I get it—snowstorm = snacks and sales = stocking up. As I discretely looked around at other shopping carts, I saw more of the same except here and there peeking out were a bunch of bananas; fresh eggs were in the cart in line 3; and apples and a Club savings-size flat of blueberries in the cart right behind me. Now you’re talking!

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that I didn’t have some boxed or bagged items of my own, but I don’t rely on processed foods and I believe that our bodies deserve better.

Next time you go shopping or even just to pick up a few things for dinner, think twice when you reach for that box, which promises you dinner in 10 minutes. The long list of ingredients on that side panel is not an invitation to dinner but rather an invitation to bad health and poor eating habits.

Do yourself a favor and let today’s focus inspire you to stop eating out of the box and begin to make healthier choices.

Have a good weekend!
Keeping it light and singing LiLoLa [Live, Love, Laugh] all the way…

Tapestries—Stories in Webs and Threads

Lately I’ve been drawn to the myths and stories surrounding the Fates and Grandmother Spider. It’s been a journey of discovery that has had more than its share of goosebumps for me on a very deep level. The journey is a personal one but there is a public face to it. A part of that public face was the creation of this poem. I hope you enjoy it.

The witch strikes a match
and she sees a soul born
threads have been woven…
Maid, Mother, and Crone

Arachne and Athena
both sit at the loom
the Gods and Nymphs watch
the lightening speed in the room.

The Fates are all gathered
beneath pale moonlight,
while the dogs howl in restlessness
and wings rustle in flight.

Destiny joins those
gathered this eve,
as the infant is born
to Earth angels, he’s received.

As dusk yields to dawn
and the babe suckles his mother,
across heaven and earth
there is yet another.

A daughter is born
to meet up with this King,
on a day in some future
he’ll give her his ring.

Free will and free choice,
do you really think it’s yours?
Or is Fate already settled
behind God’s closed doors?

Who will we meet?
Will they love us and leave?
Who will we know in our lives?
Who will make our hearts bleed?

Maid, Mother, and Crone
and the Gods upon high
all watch from above
our human struggles to get by.

It doesn’t matter to me
what the Fates have in store,
I’ll make the best of what comes,
On that you can be sure.

I’ll still talk to the Moon
and wish upon a star
watch comets fly by
and catch fireflies in a jar.

Who knows what is woven
into the web of our lives.
Do you? Of course not.
Don’t tell me your lies.

So let’s take the spark
from the match that was lit
at our birth in the stars,
and make the most of all this.

Dear Spring

Dear Spring,

Please, please come back. I miss you. When you left I know it was because Summer had come to town and you may have felt intimidated with all of her long sunny days and giving off heat so intense sometimes, she had the power to make the rest of us wear the skimpiest of clothes and sometimes even do nothing but just lie around basking in her light. Oh, but she is not you.

And yes, then Fall came wearing the most breathtaking colors. She is THE weather diva sashaying down earth’s runway wearing her colors of gold and red that no one else can carry off. But you know she only stays a short while, so you never have to worry about her. And again, she is not you.

But then there’s Mother Winter. Sometimes the cruelest one of all with her paralyzing ways. None of the others can compare with her ability to hold us down, keeping us hostage to warmer areas while she redesigns the landscape by making new snow mountains and hills by covering everything she sees. Yes, there are some who love her and dance with her in the storms and use her back to ski or sled down, but not me. She is definitely not you.

Spring, you are the only one for me. Yes, okay, I admit, there are some things about the others that I hold dear, but it is you whom I adore and just can’t wait to see again.

I keep thinking of the times when we used to walk in the park or go running and bike riding outside in the fresh air, and then the nights I would sleep with the window open, your rose and lilac perfume wafting through the window and tickling my dreams. Oh, what I wouldn’t give to smell and feel you now.

So come back dear Spring. I heard you were coming back to town in a few weeks and I am counting the days. It’s hard to believe you’ll be here soon when I hear Mother Winter will once again come visit my house. But I will keep the vision of green grass and budding trees in my heart and listen for the songbird singing your name.

I will be hear waiting, but please hurry because I can’t wait to see you again!

Love,

me