​Iceland felt like home to me despite all that looked so very different, the drama of her volcanos and lava fields, mountains and icy glaciers, deep blue ice caves, black sand beaches and crashing waves, erupting geysers, sulphur-scented steam vents like the breath of Mother Earth, bubbling mud pits, spectacular waterfalls, crystal ice berg littered beaches, sturdy Icelandic horses everywhere, their long manes and tails blown in the ever-present island winds, wild reindeer grazing at the roadside, all of it felt like home.

My new beginning blossomed almost immediately with an internal acceptance of each present moment. Our group traveled the ring road all around the coastline of Iceland. Each day brought new experiences and challenges to be surmounted, both physical and emotional. I settled into a rhythm of acceptance of each NOW, trusting that where I was, who I was with and how I was responding, all were exactly right. I focused in and relaxed into that present.

That is not to say that each moment was bliss. Traveling with twenty-four people offers very little, if any, time to oneself. Yet ours was a remarkable group of caring and compassionate people, led by three spiritually self-aware and loving souls.

I feel blessed by the gift of this journey.


Photo by Jonatan Pie on Unsplash  
Photo by Simon Migaj on Unsplash 
Photo by Nicolas J Leclercq on Unsplash 

“You are so lucky to have every day.”
-Shoshona Ortalia Aurora Rogers
 
I’ve been reading a romance novel (my not so secret pleasure) set in rural Ireland about a woman whose heart’s desire was to be a writer. She gave up her city life and moved to a small village in Ireland to pursue her dream.  The description of her walks over emerald green hills in the mornings, then the delight she felt as she sat at her table, steaming cup of tea at hand, and wrote in the afternoons, all touched a chord deep within me. The more I brought up that feeling within me, the more I realized that she described my dream, and despite the difference in location I was stunned to realize I am living my dream.

The author of the trilogy writes so poignantly of her character’s life because she writes with love of what she loves. Why is it that we forget to see with the eyes of love in our every day lives? My dream is all around me and yet all I saw was the mundane and the repetition of every day. I guess even the bright shine of a dream dims from daily familiarity. Or perhaps I changed into it so gradually I took it all for granted, writing, woods walks with my dog, a loving marriage, my family who are my friends and my friends who are my family, my spiritual community. I am living my dream, how did I lose track of that?

Living your dream isn’t really about the physical aspects despite what we may think, it is about the feeling, paying attention to and expressing love in your every day life. The physical aspects of whatever it is you dream of may provide a vehicle for moving into that love, but it is the love and the expressing of love that creates happiness.

“A happy life is just a string of happy moments. But most people don’t get the happy moments because they’re so busy trying to get a happy life.”
-Abraham-Hicks
​
Appreciating each thing about every day that you can is an expression of love in your life. It creates happiness and it creates the energy for you to attract more of what you want, more of what you love into your daily experience.

You don’t have to wait until you’ve achieved your dream, whatever that may look like on the outside. For dreams change and shift even as we do. You can focus your attention upon appreciating the elements of today that are your dream, those bits and pieces of your day that you love. As you do so you open up to allow more and more of your dream into your every day.

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There once was a great master in India. Early one morning he gathered his devotees around him for teaching as was his habit and told his students a simple story.

“The truth is like a seed that is planted within all who hear it. Each time you hear that truth the seed takes root and grows. Each time you live that truth the roots spread, the plant takes hold. As the truth becomes a part of you, the plant comes into blossom and is yours forever more.”

Then the Master waited, black eyes gazing out over his students. He said nothing. The students waited respectfully, heads bowed. Still, the Master said nothing. The students peered sideways at each other with inquiring expressions on their faces. No one knew more than another. Still, the Master waited, the students waited.

Finally, one student, Shanto, spoke up.  “Master, why do you not teach us further?”

The Master gazed upon Shanto and answered, “Where is Rambala? I do not see him here.”

The students looked around themselves, craning their necks to see if Rambala sat hidden in the group. No one saw him. Shanto leapt to his feet.“I will find him, Master.”

Shanto ran all through the ashram, his long white sleeves and shirt flapping. He searched the kitchens, the courtyards, the meditation rooms, he even looked in the Master’s room. Rambala was no where to be found. In desperation, Shanto left the ashram and ran all the way to town to Rambala’s house.

There he found Rambala, sleeping upon his bed, his head cradled upon his arms, snoring gently. “Up! Up! You sluggish laggard! The Master is looking for you!”

Rambala sat up, rubbing his eyes.“The Master? He mumbled. Oh no!” Rambala leapt off his bed, a look of horror on his young face. He pulled on his clothing from the night before, and raced out the door behind Shanto.

They both arrived, breathless, and bowed deeply before the Master. Shanto found his voice first. “I have found him, Master, asleep in his bed. He is not deserving of your teaching.”

The Master looked upon Shanto, his face expressionless. Then he looked at Rambala. He said nothing.

Rambala, his face streaked with sweat and dust from the ground where he knealt having  touched his forehead to the feet of his master. “Master, Shanto is right. I do not deserve your teaching. But I thirst for it Master, as a man thirsts for water in the desert. If I may do penance to relieve my shame, perhaps I might again be worthy.”

The Master looked up from his two devotees and once again began the teaching. He told the very same story that he had already told.

After the teaching, the Master closed his eyes and sat quietly. This was his habit. He would sit, eyes closed in meditation for the remainder of the morning. The devotees quietly got up and resumed their chores.

Shanto sidled over to Rambala as he walked across the yard toward the kitchens to begin his morning work. Looking back at his Master, Shanto made sure he could not be heard and whispered. “Why should you have received the teaching when you were late and all the rest of us have been here since sun-up? That was the same teaching that we heard earlier. The Master repeated it for your benefit. Because you were late we missed out on what else he might have taught us.”

The Master opened his eyes. A devotee humming tunelessly to himself and working at spinning close by, looked at his Master’s open eyes, startled. 

The Master leaned over to him and said quietly, “Please ask Shanto to return here.”

Shanto returned to his Master and bowed deeply.

The Master said to him. “Would God turn away any who thirsted to know him?”

“No Master. You have taught us he turns away no one.”

“Yet you would have me turn away Rambala.”

“Master, Rambala slept while the rest of us were here as we should be at sun-up.”

“Does God turn away those who come later to seek him? Or does he offer himself to any true seeker no matter whether he wakes to his spirituality earlier or later?”

Shanto grumbled, “To any, I guess.”

“Did you not receive my teaching?”

“Yes, I did Master. I can repeat it word for word. But Master, we all heard the teaching twice, because Rambala was late. What else might you have taught us if he had been here when he should have?”

The Master gazed at Shanto. “Sit down Shanto. I have a story to tell you.”

Shanto sat down, a look of eager anticipation on his face.
The Master repeated the exact same story which he had already told twice that morning.
Shanto sat, his brows knitting in anger and confusion before he quickly got control of himself.

Then the Master asked him, “Shanto, did you listen to the story I have told you.”

 “Of course Master.”
​
“Then you know that each time you hear the truth it grows within you. Now, you have heard this truth three times. Do you feel its roots taking hold?”

Shanto sat quietly as a slow smile spread across his face. “Yes, Master, I feel it taking root. I did not understand.”

​He bowed deeply leaning forward over his crossed legs, touching his forehead to his Master’s feet. “Thank you Master. Thank you for your patience with my impatience!” 
​

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“Everything is always working out for me.”
- Abraham-Hicks    
 
Awhile back my husband left early in the morning to drive to a convention several states away.  I knew he’d be gone for six days. In the past when I’ve said goodbye to him and found myself alone in the early morning dark, I’ve sunk into feelings of loneliness and abandonment. Not because it was true but because old childhood tapes would play in my head.

This time I chose to experience it differently.

I put my thoughts and feelings on hold as I tidied up the kitchen from breakfast focusing my attention on what was immediately in front of me. I put in a load of laundry and made myself a cup of tea. The sun came up and I took my tea outside to sit on the patio and watch the backyard awaken.

Negative thoughts arose and I chose to focus my attention on my immediate environment. I paid attention to my breath moving in and out. I watched the light in the leaves and felt the fresh, cool morning air. I noticed the birds at the feeder and heard their morning songs.  

Even as I did so I could feel the old anxieties and fears just beneath the surface. I knew what was there. I’d experienced it all before and now it lurked, a darkness pressing against the door of my awareness. This time I chose not to give it any attention, nor did I allow it to come to the fore. I didn’t even try to fix it as I’ve done before. Instead I paid attention to what I sensed all around me.

It felt like I was faking it, and any minute the reality of negativity would take over, but it didn’t. In fact, just the opposite happened. In a little while my thoughts turned to what I’d like to do during the day, what would feel good to do.
I made a mental plan and decided to start by making myself a delicious soup to eat throughout the day. It felt nourishing and supportive.

I then took the dog for a long walk and thoroughly enjoyed the cool woods and sunshine. When I felt worry thoughts start I reminded myself of my favorite Abraham-Hicks quote and thought, I don’t have to worry about this because, “Everything is always working out for me.”

As I walked on I heard a repeated bird call from the trees. Over and over it sounded like the bird was saying, “Thank you, thank you, thank you, thanks!” It became my mantra as I walked.

Afterward, I got home and ate nurturing soup and took a nap.
​
When I awoke, once again I felt the aloneness pressing at the door of my thoughts and again I chose to focus elsewhere. Instead, I returned to the kitchen and tried out a new recipe, a healthy version of blondies made with white beans. They were surprisingly good. Then I replaced our broken mailbox which had been waiting for repair, and ordered a planter to go around the base of the mailbox post.

Throughout the day several friends called with invitations and connection. My daughter called for support with something that was bothering her, and my husband called just checking in, letting me know he was thinking of me. The calls felt connecting and supportive.

I realized that as I chose to support myself with where I focused my attention, and in the thoughts I chose to think, the Universe responded and supported me. I chose to feel connection. I chose to feel support. I chose to nurture myself.  The Universe reflected that right back to me. 

You will have your own ways of loving and nurturing yourself. You know what feels good to you. Begin with your inner home, your thoughts.
​

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“You must forgive those who hurt you, even if whatever they did to you is unforgivable in your mind. You will forgive them not because they deserve to be forgiven, but because you don’t want to suffer and hurt yourself every time you remember what they did to you. It doesn’t matter what others did to you, you are going to forgive them because you don’t want to feel sick all the time. Forgiveness is for your own mental healing. You will forgive because you feel compassion for yourself. Forgiveness is an act of self-love.”

- Don Miguel Ruiz, The Mastery of Love- A Toltec Wisdom Book

Forgiveness is a gift, not just for those you forgive but for yourself. When you feel continuing anger, hatred, fear or any negative emotion for another person, even when it feels justified, it ties you to that person. It creates an energetic cord that binds you together, rather like a sticky, energetic web running from your solar plexus to theirs. The longer you have felt this way, the more negative thoughts you have thought about this person, the more energy you have invested in those negative feelings, the thicker and stronger the web, the more firmly you are bound to this person. What’s more, the cord stretching between you feeds that negativity right back to you.

Who wants that? Wouldn’t you rather be free of all that negativity? Gift yourself with forgiveness. In today’s Spiritual Toolbox is a simple visualization that can support you to free yourself through forgiveness.

If the negativity you have felt is deep-seated, meaning the negative thoughts keep returning and reattaching the cord, you may need additional support. Negative thought pathways can be more like highways than paths, if so, you may choose to bring in additional tools to support you in the forgiveness process.*

There are many available on-line if you search on “Tools for Forgiveness.” Also, check out our Resources page for the technique of Faster EFT-V, which can support you to release negative emotions and allow the process of forgiveness.

"Love is not a quantity it is a flow. When you allow love to flow through you, you are then in a place of love for self, then the choices you make are with compassion for yourself and what you create outside of yourself.  There is no need to do the push/pull. It doesn’t become a trade. There are no disappointments. When we are truly in a place of love and forgiveness we are in a continuous energy spiraling and evolving upward."

-Red Feather


​*We want to remind you to seek out professional support if your emotions feel too much to handle on your own.  

​Photo by Kira auf der Heide on Unsplash

“And as I rise to greet a new day, may I always remember the source of my abundance and wealth flows from deep within, and that no person or material resource can hinder this progress of peace, love, and joy.”
 
Ntathu Allen, Love Your Life!
 
 
In this society we are so hurried, so rushed, feeling that so much must be packed into each day, that we lose track of what the day is all about. We cannot even see the blossom, much less appreciate its beauty as it unfolds.
 
Our lives are speeded up by cars, trains, planes, cell phones, televisions, microwave ovens, instant everything, bigger, faster and better, till we are exhausted just waking up in the morning. The perfect blossom of this day is an alien concept having nothing to do with our everyday lives.
 
During the holidays the expectation is that we will pack in even more into our days, so we are even more rushed. Added to the stress of this is that we are supposed to feel loving and joyful, but we’ve lost track of the beauty of our lives and how can we feel loving and joyful about adding in more to do?
 
The purpose for all these advances of civilization are for us to have a sense of control over the uncontrollable. If we schedule our days, fit in everything we are supposed to do, make our lives more efficient, faster, better, then we will be safe, we will be happy.
 
The problem is it doesn’t work this way. I am not happier because I have a schedule and a to-do list. I am not happier because I fit in more things and get more done. I have rushed through the day, worrying over the next thing I had to do even as I worked on the one before. At the end of the day I may feel a fleeting sense of accomplishment at having done so much, or I may just feel exhausted, knowing that tomorrow holds more of the same.
                                                                                             
There is another way. We can allow the day to unfold naturally, like allowing the opening of a beautiful flower blossom. Have you ever tried to unfurl a blossom with your fingers before it was ready? It ruins the blossom. It must unfurl naturally, on its own, to achieve its full beauty.
 
There are different stages to the unfolding of a blossom, these stages cannot be skipped or taken in differing order. It all happens as it should, slowly, exquisitely, beautifully.
 
Each day is like a blossom, not to be forced, but lived at its own pace, with no more important agenda than the experience of its beauty. 


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“Make the NOW the primary focus of your life.”
Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

Meditation is about getting to know that quiet place inside you, and allowing it to expand more and more in your life. It is about fully focusing in this present moment of here and now and resting in that stillness within.

Is meditation difficult to do? It can be, at least for me. I’ve done the twenty minute meditations, the hour-long meditations, the three hour meditations. I admire those who are able to do this on a regular basis, and know there is great benefit to be gained. Yet I find it easier to attain and maintain that quiet, present moment place inside myself in active ways.

Almost anything you do can become a form of meditation if your focus is one-pointed. That means your attention is fully focused upon what you are doing. For example, you are washing the dishes. You focus your attention upon the feel of the warm water and the slipperiness of soap on slick surfaces, but your mind drifts and thoughts of yesterday’s events intrude. You take a deep breath, let those thoughts go on the out-breath and refocus your attention upon the feel of the dish in your hand, the warmth of the water and swishy, soap bubbles. You keep yourself focused in this way throughout the clean-up, always bringing your thoughts back into the here and now when they wander.

My experience has been that it is easier to keep my active mind focused when I am physically engaged in an activity. When my hands, body, eyes, ears, and nose are busy interacting with the present moment it gives me a one-pointed focus for my attention, here and now. It gives me a specific place to return my attention to.

Can washing dishes be spiritual practice? You bet. What we are talking about here is a form of the Buddhist concept of Mindfulness.

​There are numerous resources available on-line if you are interested in pursuing this topic. You can easily find them by searching on Buddhism and Mindfulness. A great place to start is with the website, Lion’s Roar, Buddhist Wisdom for Our Time.


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"My Love, leave behind all this fruitless thinking and come lay down here in the silence of Being."
​-Mooji Baba

As I sat outside on the back patio, my early morning mug of tea warming my hands, breathing and attempting to listen for God, my thoughts wandered down well-trod pathways.

The usual question came unbidden to my mind, “What is it that I need to get done today?” Images of weeds in the garden, unplanted daffodil bulbs, messy bathrooms, and my young, yellow Labrador needing exercise, wafted through my mind’s eye.

I felt resistance, not yet ready to leap into the tasks I had assigned myself for the day.  

Resting my hands holding the mug on my lap I leaned my head against the back of the mesh outdoor chair, my gaze wandering up into the branches of the oak tree above me. Black and white Chickadees and gray Titmice flitted from branch to branch, calling softly as the sky peaked through blue in the background. A breeze tickled the leaves and they responded with rustling laughter. I sank down inward feeling a sense of contentment.

A new question arose, “What is it that I need to BE today?” 
​

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