Compassion trumps everything--judgments, criticisms, brokenness, negativity, ignorance. Being compassionate triumphs in all circumstances--wins out over anger and denial. It allows us to feel and be who we are in the moment. This is one of the most important things in life.
Practice loving-kindness, give yourself permission to receive compassion, bring compassionate energy forward in your daily exchanges with the world.
"In cultivating compassion we draw from the wholeness of our experience--our suffering, our empathy, as well as our cruelty and terror.
Unconditional
good heart toward others is not even a possibility unless we attend to
our own demons. Everything we encounter thus becomes an opportunity for
practicing
loving-kindness."
--Pema Chodron
Light out of darkness. Long, dark nights are giving way to lighter, longer days. Longer daylight causes seeds to germinate. Light shines into our lives physically and inspires us spiritually. We just experienced the unfailing light of Hanukkah and the growing light of the Winter Solstice. We even had light in the night with a full moon at Christmas. Now the lights of Kwanzaa focus on Unity, a light for our souls. All kinds of holiday lights sparkle in the dark evenings. I am opening to the light. I want to invite light into my life in the form of my higher self, my higher consciousness. This is a rich time of filling ourselves with literal and metaphorical light.
"The winter solstice triggers a time in which the Inner Light is kindled in spite of outer darkness. It is a time to give birth to and awaken the higher self. If celebrated properly, spiritual impulse is born anew within us, adding light and strengthening the love principle within our life."
--Ted Andrews
I feel like my life is a living, breathing Thank You. Every moment is infused with the wonderful mystery of All That Is. I may not be fully aware of this all the time, but I know that my life force energy continuously flows from the Source of All Being, and I feel grateful for this truth. This is such a time of abundance. Blessings flow freely to us as much as we are able to fine tune ourselves for opening up to receive them.
"Gratitude is an astoundingly reliable, immediate way of becoming present."
--Danielle LaPorte
We worry about lots of things in life. We're wired that way, and the culture has trained us about acceptable ways to live. When we step out of the mainstream, or challenge the cultural ways, we worry even more. I have learned this week that worry gets us nowhere. I have also learned that compassion gets us somewhere. More important than addressing cultural values is the act of bringing compassion into our daily lives. Compassion for our friends, neighbors, strangers, tragic victims, animals, plants, all of nature. As well, we must find compassion for ourselves. Especially the kind of compassion that allows forgiveness. We all carry negative energies/experiences that we would just rather not look at. Rather than avoid these, we can turn and face them, and then offer the compassion of forgiveness--to ourselves. My experience of doing that recently allowed me to dispense with worry--it seemed irrelevant; insignificant. I immediately found myself easing up on my life, myself. I found myself spontaneously breathing deeper and easier.
"May I live this day
Compassionate of heart,
Clear in word,
Gracious in awareness,
Courageous in thought,
Generous in love."
--John O'Donohue
We are moving through grand changes and significant times. I am navigating through my own individual version of these changes. To me that feels grand and significant also. This is a time of new beginnings for many ancient believers--a New Year time. I am also feeling that New things are happening. Stepping out to the edge of this change is part of my present task. Stepping up to things in my life that need to be released is part of my present challenge. This is a powerful and humbling time for me; possibly for many. A time of breaking through old resistance, confronting fears, and taking risks so that a new path is formed.
"Life begins at the end of your comfort zone."
--Neale Donald Walsch
I am enjoying this month for all of its gifts. Part of living my beautiful life is staying open to what each day--each moment--brings. I have loved all harvests of abundance that have come my way. Tomatoes, squash, corn, greens, fruit, berries, not too mention the late-blooming flowers. This month feels like a transition time, too, as summer gives way to autumn. I have seen and heard geese on the move. Their V's have started to appear in the sky overhead, and their sounds speak of a change of scene. The evening temperatures have dropped to cooling, comfortable levels. Abundant harvests and seasonal touchstones. Beautiful living.
"August
The opposing
of peach and sugar,
and the sun inside the afternoon
like the stone in the fruit.
The ear of corn keeps
its laughter intact, yellow and firm.
August
The little boys eat
brown bread and delicious moon."
--Federico Garcia Lorca
I am finding myself drawn to butterflies of all kinds. They have been coming into my daily life often, and I love their feeling of lightness and floating. These are challenging times we are living in. Contrasts are extreme, and much change energy is activated. I feel like I want to keep things on an even keel, yet I am still perceiving the ups and downs of this change time. I think the butterfly life is a good adaptation. I feel like I'm emerging from a cocoon of old structures, and I'm opening to a life of floating on the breeze. The winds carry me--sometimes slow, sometimes fast. I look for gentle places to land, and I'm nourished along the way. Even though I am buffeted on the wind gusts, I feel well cared for. It's time for me to live my beautiful life.
"Twilight
In the middle of the town.
A single butterfly."
Haiku by Takarai Kikaku
