Structure

We are stepping into the Unknown.  We have lived through two years of something that has created large upheaval.  All parts have been flung into the air, and when they fall back into place they will land in a different configuration.  It will be some version of life that we are not accustomed to, that is begging for reform, and that will be re-formed.  So as chaos seems to continue, I feel invited to imagine what structure will be created for this new arrangement. I made a painting one time called "Searching for Structure in the New."  This has come to mind as I look at where we are, and also at what we might be moving toward.  I have no answers, just an openness.  No requirements, just a wish for positive change.  I have no plan, just a willingness to participate in the process.  I believe that what needs to happen will happen, and we will be put to work as the need arises.  A structure is forming, guided by the Universe.

"I am going into an unknown future, but I'm still all here, and still while there's life, there's hope."                    

                                                --John Lennon

"I dwell in possibility."                      

                                                --Emily Dickinson 

Heart of Harvest

This is a time of reveling in our harvest.  Gardens have abundantly produced food throughout the growing season.  Many items have been preserved and stored.  And we have put those fertile beds to rest for the winter.  This is the northern hemisphere's cycle for animals and people, as the change in available light makes the days shorter.  Outside, time has slowed down.  I love this transition as the pace of life changes.  These days bring us to a more inward focus.  The slower time feels more natural and connected.  I consider this to be one of the parts of harvest that I really appreciate.  Harvest, home, and hearth all connect us to heart. 

"It is harvest time.  Open your heart to receive the abundance you have been able to conceive."

                                                           --Roxana Jones    

                                        

Being Human

We are here on earth at a precarious time.  It's important for us to navigate our way as it best suits who we are.  We are also being asked to grow and expand on our journey through this lifetime.  Part of that growth may include evolving our souls.  As we connect more deeply with our essential being within this human structure, we usually find a stronger connection with our Higher Being.  Making more sense of our incarnation helps us to understand more intimately the Source of our creation.  We are here to help each other to embrace our best selves.  We are sharing an Earth experience, and we are here to lift each other up.

"We need to remember that we are Energy and Light and Love and that we are here to Master these energies in Human Form.  When we can focus on that and release anything that is 'not love' and is not supportive of our essence and our soul, then we can raise up the frequencies and find that place where we feel that we resonate."       

                                                    --Celia Fenn

Amazing

Life is amazing!  Being human in the world is amazing.  We have just shifted into the season of autumn.  In my area that means we get to witness a visual and sensory transformation of the natural environment.  With a chill in the air, tree leaves have begun to change color, and breezes swirl around them when they fall.  I feel like this cycle of events is signaling that the winds of change are blowing.  Indigenous people believe that all winds have life force and symbolic characteristics.  I am feeling a lot of power in these current breezes.  They are activating a process of clearing and cleansing.  They are blowing out past, tired air and are swirling in new, creative air for the present times.  These current times challenge us to pay attention to what really matters in life, especially in the world of humans and nature.  By focusing on what gives us life and what brings us renewal we can fully connect with all that is amazing.

"Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement, get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted.  Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually.  To be spiritual is to be amazed."

                               --Abraham Joshua Heschel

From Fear to Love

Chaos, mayhem, upheaval.  These are words that accurately describe what we are seeing and experiencing in many places in our world these days.  Crises abound in the form of weather related events as well as political unrest.  The phrase "going to hell in a hand basket" comes to mind.  Yes, this is one reality.  And yet, there is another reality.  We have the power to choose how we integrate current frenetic events.  If we live in fear our reality becomes uncertain, and we align with the chaos and sense of being out of control that is around us.  If we believe in love, and we begin to turn that love inward toward ourselves, our reality can be something else.  We are able to choose what energy we want to live in and to express in the world.  We all have a place of calm and quiet within us.  Fear prevents us from connecting with this peaceful center.  Love allows us to disengage from the crises of the world, and then we have an opportunity to connect with our core essence.  This core connection can happen in so many different ways.  Since each of us is unique, it is important that we find what avenues will lead us to this connection.  There is so much beauty and richness in the world.  Love allows us to make the connection to this reality.

" 'The world is so loud and makes so many demands.  Sitting next to you doing absolutely nothing means absolutely everything to me,' said the boy to the tree."

                                        --Sketches in Stillness.com    

Overcoming

Recently, I have experienced a time of stasis, inertia, quiet lack of motivation, and sedentary living.  These times have felt like leftover tatters and remnants from a past experience of wounding.  So many of us have some story or account of wounding from our past.  Once healed, such traumatic experiences will not repeat themselves. The past is in the past.  Each day in the present we create a new life that becomes our future.  In global daily life desperate actions, chaos, and unrest surround us.  We may have previously experienced the emotions of desperation and chaos, but they can no longer touch us.  We are overcoming this old life of the past, and we are being lifted up and out of daily conflict.  We are moving forward in our whole human fullness and beauty, lifted by golden rays of light.

"The most beautiful people I've known are those who have known trials, have known struggles, have known loss, and have found their way out of the depths." 

                                  --Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

 

Higher Change

We are experiencing the heat of summer in extreme ways in our part of the country.  Heat is an amazing thing.  It makes precious metals softer and more malleable if they have become brittle.  Heat is also used to temper other metals, making them stronger and better able to accommodate weight and stress.  Heat puts us to the test.  It presses the toxins out of us; makes us sweat.  Again, with metals, extreme heat causes impurities to be burned off, so that when the metal melts, cools, and reforms, a more pure and true form of the metal exists.  This is how I am experiencing the heat of these past days.  It is a time of higher change, of moving toward my precious and authentic life.  Unnecessary elements are being burned off, and toxins are being released to make way for the reforming of my past self into a higher form of my true self.  While it might feel so uncomfortable when the heat is being applied, the feeling on the other side is one of being fresh and new, flexible and strong.  This feeling of releasing and opening to changes is creating a path for new life experiences.

"You cannot grow unless you are willing to change.  You will never improve yourself if you cling to what you used to be."

                                 --Leon Brown 

  

Moving on; Releasing

We are transitioning out of limited, confining experiences.  Each of us is finding our own version of freedom as we return to connection, and as we begin to reinterpret life structures.  We have been in a shakeup, and we are coming out of this time as different people.  We are closer than ever to the essence that makes up who we truly are.  NOW is a great time to nurture that process of connecting with our essence.  As we do this we release the past and say goodbye to old ways of being.  New ways of being are beckoning.  It's time to listen, and to follow these invitations.  You will be shown what no longer serves you along the way.  Just follow your path and see where you end up. 

"Leave who you WERE. 

Love who you ARE.

Look forward to who you WILL BECOME."

 

             --Fearless Soul     

Being Present

These times are unpredictable and changing every day.  I feel like we are starting with a brand new slate.  Whatever worked before no longer serves as it once did.   All systems are now under construction.  Revisions are happening, and we are being prompted to rewrite what we have previously known.  It is a good thing, and it is an unsettling thing.  The best path through these changing times is to stay in the present moment.  Any other focus for me feels like it contributes to the confusion, the turmoil.  Because we are living in the larger world of change we can only truly participate by listening in each moment.  That is where our individual selves intersect with the larger changes.  The present moment is where the greatest chance for calm and serenity exists.  Focusing on the past takes us to a place that is no longer viable.  Future looking is just guessing and empty speculation.  Our most solid footing happens when we stay grounded, and when we move one step at a time as that fits in each experience. Our anchor is the Present.

"If you feel lost, disappointed, hesitant, or weak, return to yourself, to who you are, here and now and when you get there, you will discover yourself, like a lotus flower in full bloom, even in a muddy pond, beautiful and strong." 

                    --Masaru Emoto 

New Breath

Spring comes and brings with it everything new.  The days can be rainy, but that rain seems to scrub away the old dustiness of winter.  The weather can also be windy, and that wind feels like it whisks away any leftover staleness or heaviness from the season of dormancy and the time of going within.  New life springs forth in a myriad of bright and colorful forms.  We are invited to go outside again by the warmer, longer days and the brighter light.  As I walk outside I am prompted to take in deep breaths of newly cleansed air.  There is a freshness that brings a lightness to my spirit. Every inhalation feels like new breath, new life--especially after this past year.  I feel more than ready for this new beginning.

"Today I close the door of my past, open the door of my future, take a deep breath, and step through to a new life." 

                                        --Louise Hay   

Gentleness

There is so much high energy and collective stress in these days.  We are in the birth pangs/growing pains of releasing the old and receiving the new.  Nothing is very clear, and yet there are glimmers and shimmers of clues that things are shifting into a new place.  It's very subtle, yet still possible to perceive these positive new elements, if you look closely and listen well.  And these new pieces are coming right on schedule as we move every day closer to Spring.  So be gentle with yourself.  Also, walk lightly in the world and extend this gentleness to everyone and everything you encounter along the way.  Wonderful changes are beginning to stir.

"Gentleness is not weakness.  Just the opposite.  Preserving a gentle spirit in a heartless world takes extraordinary courage, determination, and resilience.  Do not underestimate the power of gentleness because gentleness is strength wrapped in peace, and therein lies the power to change the world."

                                             -- L. R. Knost

 

    

Free

Free.  Getting free.  Land of the free.  Be free.  Freedom is something we think we have all the time.  I have been feeling more free as time goes on.  And yet, recently I had the experience of getting free from an old limitation that I was not even aware was in place.  Sometimes we don't realize that we are not free until that awareness is made clear to us.  That realization may come through a hint or suggestion that we get.  Or it may come when someone brings it to our attention.  Or it may seep into us out of our unconscious wisdom and land in our lap.  We don't embrace the understanding of full freedom until that old belief falls away.  And once that limitation is healed and cleared we experience the sweetest, most gentle feeling of liberation and being free.  Blessings to you all as you savor the freedom you have, and as you welcome new freedoms every day. 

"Freedom is the oxygen of the soul."              --Moshe Dayan

"Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth."  

                                      --George Washington