Holly Hildreth
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Be of Service

Here we discover that what we do in our daily lives matters. Each prayer, each meditation, each loving action, each small act of kindness or support makes a difference. If you could only see the energy of it you would be amazed. Think of a pebble thrown in a pond, the ripples moving outward encompassing each thing in their path, then reflecting back again. What pebbles of service can you toss into your pond today?

7 Ways You Can Support Local Businesses

4/1/2020

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OK, this cartoon doesn't have anything to do with this blog post, but it really made me laugh. Toilet paper has been the gotta have item. Why? No idea.

BTW, anyone need toilet paper? I may have a little extra...😉 

Now, on to the topic for today's post.



​"When you support small business you support a dream."
- Author Unknown


Many of those dreams are taking a hit right now, but one of the silver linings to this cloud is our desire to get back to community, local community.  There is nothing like a stay-at-home order to make you appreciate what your community means to you!  It sure has me. While I am all too aware of what is going on globally, I find myself focused locally. I want to do something to support those in our area because our local businesses are struggling.

​H
ow can we support our small, locally owned businesses? Here are some ideas.

1. Join a CSA – Our local farmers are hard hit by all the restaurant closings. Their standing orders with area restaurants are cut way down because of the many restaurant closings, and so their income stream is drastically reduced. By joining a CSA and paying up front, or in installments, you provide much needed income to local farms at the beginning of the growing season when they need it most.

2. Patronize your local farmer’s market – Some farmer’s markets are changing their locations and/or formats to make them safer for their providers and customers and compliant with the current restrictions.  While you'll have to leave home to do it, you can stay safe and still support your local area farms and small businesses by attending.

3. Support the area restaurants you love by buying gift certificates for use later on, as well as by ordering take-out.

4. You may not be able to get your hair cut or get your house cleaned, you may not need your nanny, but if you can afford it, you can still pay them, buying their services ahead at a time when that income can make a difference.

5. Schedule non-emergency services ahead, the plumber, the electrician, home maintenance, a salon, a cleaner, services that you would have arranged for during this time but that now must wait until the stay-at-home order is over. This offers these service providers the emotional and financial support of knowing that they have business scheduled for the near future.

6. Look for your favorite local businesses on-line. They may have adapted for on-line sales if they didn’t have them already. Also, some exercise classes and educational classes that used to be in person are now being offered on-line. Check them out and support them when you can.

7. Many businesses are working with drastically reduced staff. Be kind, be patient and say thank you. Let people know how much you appreciate their efforts.

We can stay at home, AND we can offer local support to those who really need it right now.
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You Have a Choice

3/20/2020

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“Always choose love over fear.”
 - A.D. Posey

"This too shall pass."
​ - Persian Adage


At my behest, Peter has been out over the last several days, stocking up our food supplies and paper goods, and yes, toilet paper! To be fair, we were also preparing for a St. Patrick’s Day dinner with a few, close friends and family. To supply us, he has patiently and not so patiently waited in long lines in store after store, amidst others doing the same thing because DeSoto and the Kansas City area has caught the virus, the virus of fear.
There is a glut of information on the internet for how to protect ourselves from the Corona virus, but how do we protect ourselves from the hidden one, the one that is arguably the more contagious and devastating infection – fear?

​
At the heart of the journey of spiritual and personal development is a choice. Each of us must decide if we want to live with love or live with fear. When we decide that we have had enough of living in fear and choose love, then we turn to gathering the tools that will aid us on our journey from fear into love.

The journey we are on individually at this time is no different, we have the same choice. Each of us must decide, “Do I choose love or fear?”

If you decide to choose to respond with love rather than fear here are some ideas to support you.

- It does make sense to prepare, to supply yourself with what you will need for the next several weeks. This does not mean overbuying. It means buying what you would normally use over the next little while. It makes sense to do this because then you can let go of worrying about it. Once stocked you can let go of concern about having what you need, knowing that you do.

- The antidote to isolation and separation is connection and community. Reach out. Get involved in positively focused on-line groups, prayer circles and classes. Choose ones that uplift and give you a feeling of connection. Get on the phone and connect with those you love.

- Place your attention on the good stuff that is happening and make that your focus. Look around you, there is so much good going on, people reaching out, businesses supporting their employees, communities helping. People and businesses coming together to support each other. Here are just a few examples -

We joined Nextdoor Neighbor, a local website for community connection and information. On it I found some uplifting messages.

“If anyone is unable to get out of their house and needs food, water, supplies, etc., please let me or another neighbor know ♥️ Even if we are all being distanced from one another, don't feel alone and know you're part of a community and we are here to help!!” And in response – “We would also love to help if anyone around needs anything. We are somewhat new to the area and haven't met many neighbors yet, but please reach out and we can try to do what we can. :)”

On the town of DeSoto, KS website was this supportive message. - “Understanding that some residents may face financial difficulties arising from COVID-19 related closings, De Soto is suspending disconnections and late payment fees until further notice. This applies to all City water, sewer, and refuse accounts.”

Local stores like REI Coop are offering support to their employees like this - “We have modified our paid time off policies to ensure that our employees—including hourly retail employees—who miss work due to illness or to care for sick family members do not suffer loss of income or other benefits.” A number of big stores are implementing similar policies.

-Get out into nature. Go out to the woods and less frequented natural areas. Plan to go with a friend if possible. Get out into your yard and your garden. Listen to the caroling songs of the birds celebrating spring’s arrival. Feel the wind caress your cheeks. Watch the sky as fluffy, white clouds form intriguing shapes. Smell the fresh scent of daffodils popping their yellow and white heads out of the ground. It is a beautiful Spring, allow yourself to enjoy and appreciate it.

- Remember to laugh. Laughter is a great immune booster, physically and energetically. Humor lifts us at a time when it is badly needed. So, for your chuckling pleasure here’s…
“QUARANTINE DIARY: Day 1 – I have stocked up on enough non-perishable food and supplies to last me for months, maybe years, so that I can remain in isolation for as long as it takes to see out this pandemic."
"Day 1, 45 minutes later – I am in the supermarket because I wanted a Twix bar.”
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I'm not sure what's so funny about this one, it looks like every day to me. Maybe you can figure it out. 😉
​We can serve the world at this time. Together let’s keep the light shining, my dear friends.  
Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash
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Shine Your Light

2/26/2020

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 “Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.”  
-Matthew 5

This past weekend I attended a spiritual retreat with eight other women. It was facilitated by two, gifted, spiritual teachers. At the beginning of the weekend we met as a group and were asked to express our intention for the retreat. Participants spoke of fun and laughter, connection, spiritual community, nurturing, self-love, and more fully embodying the soul self. It was as if each one spoke a piece for the whole group. My intention was spiritual rejuvenation and re-energizing. What I received was all of that and something more.

On the first, full day of the retreat, participants received individual energy work/channeling sessions with each of the facilitators. The sessions, following one upon the other, combined to create more than the sum of their parts. My sessions catalyzed a new understanding of my inner child.

It looked like this. Throughout my personal development journey of many years, I have focused attention on healing the wounded child within. She and I have come a long way together. I love and cherish her now in a way I could not have imagined many years ago.

Yet, in all this time I forgot that other inner child, the child before the wounding. She is that spunky little one who expressed my soul openly. She felt enthusiasm for life, enjoying every day.

My nine-year-old granddaughter recently stayed overnight with us. We awoke early in the morning, 5:30 AM. Neither of us was ready to get up and she came and snuggled in bed with me. After a few minutes I asked her if she was ready to get up. She said, “Yes!” and jumped up, full of morning cheer.

I sat up, pulling the covers up around my shoulders and sleepily said, “I’m not sure I’m ready.”

She answered with deep wisdom, “If you don’t get up, you’ll miss all the fun things that are happening today!” We hadn’t planned to do anything special, but her enthusiasm made that day special for all of us.

That’s who my inner child used to be, the one who most fully expressed the joyous light and love of my soul.

For me, spiritual rejuvenation looks like getting back in touch with that part of myself and allowing her to more fully express through me. Expressing the part of me that is filled with enthusiasm for each day. That part of me is energized and connected with my inner being.

She is happy, and when she is not, she doesn’t hold back. She expresses whatever it is she is feeling. I have to go quite a way back in years to get in touch with her because she learned early to mask all that light and energy.

The question now is, how do we get in touch with that part of ourselves, the child we were before the wounds, the child who freely expressed the pure energy of our inner being? How do we remove the covering basket, reignite the flame, and allow our light to shine for all?

Because even one shining light makes a difference.

During the individual sessions I received at the retreat the subject was approached in two ways.

The first was about balancing my energy, and giving special attention to the particular areas that needed it. This felt like caring and nurture for my inner being as stuck energy was moved and my system balanced.

The second session focused upon getting in touch with my younger inner child, the one before the wounding. What came up first was the name that I was christened with, a name I haven’t used for years, Hollis. Then, activities that I particularly loved to do as a child, bike riding and expressive dancing.

Today’s Spiritual Toolbox is all about applying these ideas in your life and getting in touch with the joyous, loving being you truly are; the being whose shining light can make a difference in our world.
Photo by Randy Fath on Unsplash

Your Spiritual Toolbox

Here are several ideas for getting in touch with your joyful inner child and encouraging her to express more freely in your adult life.
​
Young children are highly aware and sensitive beings. You can see their soul selves looking out through their eyes and hear them in their bubbling laughter.

Young children know what they like and don’t like. They know what feels good, what is fun and joyful, and they know what comforts and nurtures them.

Remember back to a time when you felt comforted and nurtured as a child. Perhaps you were playing in a warm, bubble bath, or getting tucked into your cozy, soft bed. Maybe you were eating your favorite snack, or getting a hug from a loving adult because you skinned your knee.

Find ways to include elements of that cared for, nurtured feeling in your adult life.

Using the examples from above, you could make warm, bubble baths a regular part of your self-care routine. You could make your bed extra cozy with a billowy, down comforter and soft, fluffy pillows. You might allow yourself your inner child’s favorite snack as a regular event. You could love and nurture yourself with your thoughts and give yourself an ‘inner hug’ whenever you skin your metaphorical knee.
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Next, think about those activities that you loved to do as a young child. What felt like free expression of your inner self? What activities felt joyful and brought delight? What did you do just because it was fun and felt good?
​
As a young child I loved to twirl and dance. I used to spin with arms outstretched until I was so dizzy, I fell down. Other times I’d freestyle dance because the movement just felt good. Then there was bike riding. It was a central part of my childhood, riding all around the neighborhood, exploring and adventuring.

How about you? What did you love to do as a child that would add joy and fun to your adult life?

Listen for the yearnings of the child within you. Her clear light speaks from your inner being. She’ll tell you how you can shine your light brightly so that others may be inspired to shine theirs.
Photo by Gabby Orcutt on Unsplash
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Love in Action is Service

11/29/2019

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“Prayer in action is love. Love in action is service.”
-Mother Teresa
 
Service is about being a channel for the energy of love into our world. Compassion, beauty, patience, support, generosity, faith, trust, all these and more are expressions of love.

Creating a home that welcomes and evokes love is service.

A mother, enthusiastically admiring a six year old's umpteenth building blocks rendition of something with wings, is service.

A friend’s wondrous gardens, filled with love, are service.

My sister-in-law's paintings, each created with love, are service.

My husband’s giving of support to others for no reason other than that he is able, is service.

My soul sister clearing out all the old fears so that her authentic self may stride forward is service.

Giving someone your full attention when you speak to them, rather than listening with, ‘half an ear,’ is service.

A ministry filled with love for God and congregation is service.

A smile and a “thank you” of real appreciation for the clerk at the store is service.

Any thought, word or action carried on the energy of love is service.

Service is the act of living each day with love. In so doing, love is channeled through you into our world.

It can be a single thought or a mighty deed. It is all service.
Photo by Alex Block on Unsplash
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"We will never know how much good just a simple smile can do."
-Mother Teresa

Your Spiritual Toolbox

As much as possible today, be of service by doing whatever you do with love.

Understand that it is your attitude which makes the difference.

Approach what you do asking yourself, “How may I serve our world in what I do today?"

Here are some ideas:

Slow down.

Fully focus your attention on what you are doing in each moment.  Stay present.

Feel appreciation for any aspects of what you are doing that you can. Focus your thoughts upon those positive aspects to the exclusion of anything that you find less attractive.

Pay attention to those people with whom you interact. Really listen to them. Focus on those aspects about them that you appreciate. Express gratitude out loud when you can, or when you can't, express gratitude  in your thoughts.

Even with those people about whom you feel more negative than positive, it is possible to be of service by mentally offering that person a blessing.

​This works wonders for maintaining your own equilibrium with that snippy waitress, or the cranky person behind you in line. For example, thinking, “May you be blessed with peace,” or "wisdom" or "compassion," whatever feels appropriate at the moment. It’s OK to give yourself a blessing too!

Slow down. Breathe. Be fully present. Feel appreciation. Express gratitude. Be a blessing to others and to yourself. These are the tools of love in action.
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Making a Difference

7/27/2019

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“We rise by lifting others.”
Robert Ingersoll
 
Goldie, my yellow lab, and I, along with several other dogs, visited a Life-Skills class awhile back so that disabled young people might have the opportunity to get comfortable with dogs.

One particular young man in the class approached her cautiously, hooded eyes focused on her intently. His Life-Skills instructor stood off to the right and asked him,

“Steve, what’s the first thing you have to do?”

He shifted his eyes to look at me, round face serious as he struggled to form the words.

“May I pat your dog?”

“Sure!” I answered, “Goldie loves to meet people.”

Goldie sat in front of him, her tail wagging, doggie smile on her face and ears sweetly back as she gazed up at him. He slowly reached his fisted hand down toward her to smell, as he had been taught. She gave his hand a sniff and looked at him for what else he might offer, tail wagging. He opened his fingers and gave her a tentative scratch under her chin, then turned his hand over to stroke the top of her head. To my right I heard a sudden intake of breath.

“That’s the first time he has been willing to touch a dog!” said his instructor in an excited whisper.

Goldie lay down then, sniffing at Steve’s sneaker-clad feet, her attention focused on him. His hand followed her down, a smile on his face, and he continued gently stroking her head and then her paws.

“Goldie likes gentle pats just like you’re doing, Steve. Good job!” I said.

“He’s smiling, right?” asked his instructor quietly.

“He is!” I said, feeling great.

That’s why Goldie and I were there. That day we made a difference in someone’s life. 
Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

Your Spiritual Toolbox

You don’t need to have a friendly dog in your life to make a difference for others. There are so many ways to reach out, to be of service. Volunteering for a non-profit you believe in is one way to get involved and make a difference. Or, if you’d rather, you don’t have to formalize it in this way.
​
Making a difference is an attitude first, then an action.

It doesn’t take much. Stay alert to ways you might make a difference. Sometimes all it takes is a kind word or a smile, letting someone know they matter.

When you have an attitude of service the pay back to you is big because it feels great.

With each small action, you make our world just a little kinder, a little more loving.     
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A Very Short Story

7/5/2019

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One Woman's Joy

​The woman, still wearing her pajamas, stood back and looked with pleasure upon the mud room area she had just installed on the garage wall.

Two white benches with chrome shelving underneath for shoes and boots fit nicely into the space next to the door leading to the kitchen. Two shelving units hung securely above and to the right with hooks for jackets. Green plastic bins lined up along the shelves for hats, gloves and scarfs.

She had even hung a couple of pretty pictures on the left side of the wall over the benches balancing the shelves.

 “It looks great!” She said aloud, though as far as she knew she was the only one in the garage. “Good job, You.”

She then made several trips back and forth into the house collecting armloads of shoes, boots, jackets, hats, gloves and scarves and putting them away neatly in their new home.

Then, taking a last satisfied look at her completed project she walked back into the kitchen ready for a cup of tea and a sit down.

"I wonder," she thought, as she held the steaming cup in her hand and looked out the patio doors into the backyard, "How is it that I get such pleasure from organizing and decorating my home?"

She thought back over the last four months and how much time and effort she had put into making her home attractive and welcoming.

"Shouldn’t I be doing something more important with my time? Something that makes a difference for others?"

She allowed her thoughts to drift, enjoying the warmth of the cup in her hands and the soothing aroma of chamomile.

She thought of the friends who frequently gathered in her home, the groups, workshops and parties. She thought of the holiday celebrations. She thought of her children playing happily in the yard. She thought of her family from near and far who so often filled her home.

She realized that the love she expressed in her home was rippling outward and benefiting others.

​With a smile and a contented sigh, she understood that what is joyful is our path of service.
Photo by Amanda Lins on Unsplash
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Go on a Treasure Hunt

6/4/2019

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Flow is being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz.
 
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
 
Daily life may be lived as a treasure hunt, finding one gem after another. It is not a matter of what you are doing, it is the attitude with which you approach what you do each day and the focus of attention that you apply to each task.

Yesterday, instead of doing what I previously assigned myself on my to-do list, I chose to do the jobs that were foremost in my mind, the ones that had been niggling at me to get done. My intention was to be fully involved in each thing that I did, whatever that was.

I encouraged myself to focus fully upon what I was doing at the moment. When I wanted a break, I took a break. I tended to alternate physical activity with mental activity.  I pulled my mind away from thinking about the next job, or from thinking about how much else I wanted to get done. 

When I finished one job I moved to the next job that attracted me. By the end of the day I got more work done than I would have otherwise and felt emotionally energized by the process. I was following the energy, allowing myself to be carried by the stream.

This takes a lot less energy than swimming against the current. When you assign yourself jobs that must be done and force yourself to do them, you are swimming upstream, pushing yourself against the energy. This depletes your energy.   

A day spent following the energy from activity to activity becomes a day of discovery, a treasure hunt discovering the gems of flow in each activity that you choose to do.

Flow is attained when you are wholly involved in what you are doing. Mind, body and emotions are flowing together to create what you are doing.  It is a state of Love. You become a channel of loving energy, both giving and receiving. You feel energized. Whatever you are doing becomes imbued with that loving energy.

As a channel of creative energy you serve others as you serve yourself, literally bringing more love into the world. Go on today's treasure hunt. 
Photo by Arisa Chattasa on Unsplash

Your Spiritual Toolbox

Today, find the flow by focusing fully upon the jobs that you want to get done, one at a time.

What is the first job that comes to mind? It is probably the one that has been bothering you. It might be that report you’ve been putting off, or the packed closet that’s been driving you crazy, it might be the cookies you promised to bake for the school fair.

Whatever it is, do that job until it is finished. While you are working stay as focused on the job as possible. If the job is worth doing, it is worth giving it your full attention.

Allow yourself to relax into the energy and flow with the work.

When you are finished with that job, take several deep breaths and thank yourself for your good work, feel appreciation for your effort, and the completion of the job.

How do you feel now? Do you need a break? Take it. You are following the energy of your body as well as that of your attention.

​Does another job come to mind? That’s the job to focus on next.

Treasure is to be found as you give your full attention to what you are doing. That is where you will experience flow and be a channel of love into the world. 
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Dancing With Life

5/17/2019

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"To dance is to be in tune with the steps of life."
- Sasha Azevedo

The natural rhythms of the creative energy are slower and more focused than the rhythm of life most of us have been taught.

Watch the animals, they are finely attuned to the natural rhythm of the creative life force in Nature. They have to be, it is how they survive. The animals take time for focused effort, focused play and focused rest. They do one thing at a time. If they are distracted from that for whatever reason, then they wholly focus upon the distraction.

Watch a small child at play, you will see the same kind of focus. It is as if there is nothing in the world but what they are doing at that moment.

I’ve tried to hurry my 3-year-old grandson through what he was doing so that we could move on to something else. It was an exercise in frustration. He knew where the flow of energy was in what he was doing. I didn’t, and I just had to be patient while he finished up.

At three years old my grandson has yet to be acculturated into society's rhythm. We go, go, go, work harder, play harder. We feel like time’s a wasting, and rest only when absolutely necessary. I could hope that he would never have to unlearn what he innately knows. Yet, to fit into the flow of our society most of us have unlearned what we innately knew as children.

The natural rhythm of the creative life force is like a gentle music that surrounds us. We are swimming in an ocean of energy. The energy has rhythm just as the ocean waves do. Our bodies are naturally attuned to this energy.

We often are not consciously aware of the rhythm because we have been trained out of it. Our bodies have not been trained out of it however, and are very much aware of it. We are influenced by the rhythm whether we know it consciously or not.

Have you ever tried to dance to music where you couldn’t quite get the rhythm? I have, just recently in fact. It was hard work. I couldn’t get my feet to follow the rhythm of the music. The steps I was doing were too slow, the music was too fast. I felt frustratingly out of step as I stumbled along.

When you dance off the beat, you not only have to do the physical work of the dance, you have to do the work of competing with the rhythm. But when you get it right, when you dance on the beat, the rhythm of the music moves you along, carrying you. Your body flows through the physical work of the dance.

Living in self or other-imposed rhythm rather than flowing with the rhythm of the creative life force energy is hard work. It is like dancing off the beat. You have to do the work of living itself and you have to compete with the natural rhythm of the creative life force.

Life is exhausting this way. It is no wonder that as our lives become more technologically advanced with society valuing achievement above all else and always the pressure to go, go, go, there is an increase in illnesses of exhaustion like Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and autoimmune disease.

We are forcing ourselves to work against what our bodies know to be the natural rhythm of the creative life force energy. Why do we want to work so hard at living?

It doesn’t have to be this way. You can choose to learn again how to listen to and dance with the natural rhythms. You knew how to do this as a child. You can remember.

Try this. Put on some good dance music with a strong beat. Stand still and feel the rhythm. How does it feel as the rhythm moves through your body? It’s hard to keep your body still, isn’t it?

Now allow your body to move any way it wants with the rhythm, even if it’s just tapping your toes. Dance if you want. Whatever feels good. Notice how that feels in your body. Does it feel good? Is there flow? Is it hard or easy?

This is what it’s like living within the flow of the creative life force.

Next, see if you can move your body off the rhythm. Perhaps try clapping your hands intentionally off the beat. How does that feel? It may feel awkward and even difficult to do.

This is what it’s like trying to live within your own or other-imposed rhythm. It’s like paddling upstream against the water flowing downstream.

Last, allow your body to move with the rhythm again, on the beat, and notice the feeling of relief and ease.

There is ease and relief when you flow with the natural energies of the creative life force. It is like turning your canoe to flow with the current downstream.

As you live within the flow of the creative life energy you have a positive effect on others. We are all of us linked like a circle of dancers. One dancer, dancing in rhythm affects those dancing nearby. Those nearby will be pulled onto the beat. They in turn will affect those near them and it ripples outward from there.

As each of us dances to the beat of the creative life force energy, allowing it to support and carry us within its flow, we support others to do so.
​
May you dance with joy!
Photo by Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash

Your Spiritual Toolbox

​What is required to live within the flow of creative life force energy is your intent and willingness to focus fully upon one thing at a time.

When you give what you are doing your full attention, you slow down, and connect with the creative life force energy.

It doesn’t matter what you are doing. What matters is how you do it.

Today, do whatever you do with fully focused attention. Make whatever you are doing the most important thing you can do for that moment.

That means that you do what you do without any resistance; you are totally focused on what you are doing.

Even if you just playing a game on your phone you are doing it 100%. You are not worrying over the bill that you have to pay later. You are not planning your next blog post or what to have for dinner. You are focused entirely on those silly birds hopping across your phone screen, just as a child would be.

If instead you are paying your electric bill, focus fully upon doing so without resistance to sending off that money.

Allow the flow of energy.

As you do what you do fully, with focus and without resistance, the creative life force energy will carry you and you will experience increasing ease, flow and grace with each day.

​What’s more you become an energetic catalyst for others to do the same. 
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Sharing Our Stories

4/23/2019

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I asked my husband, Peter, what he thought my blog posts needed. He gave me the most useful advice. He said that my best posts are those that give examples from my own life, telling my story.

I’ve written posts using stories from my life. They are the hardest for me to publish. They feel risky, exposing my soft underbelly. I feel vulnerable as I send them out into the ethers. What will people think of me with all my flaws hanging out there? What’s more, how can my personal story be important or interesting or even good enough to share?

“Find the courage to put your words out there because that invokes the ritual of surrender.”
-Red Feather 

What is it I am surrendering? Ah, of course, I am surrendering my attachment to all those fears lurking in the back of my mind. I am surrendering my attachment to all those hopes smiling at me from my vision board. I am surrendering my attachment to any outcome at all from these sharings of my heart.

Is that all? I can do that… I think.

I’ll just take my courage in hand, like taking the collar of a reluctant puppy. That puppy may have her tail tucked between her legs and be frantically pushing backwards. So what? I’ll continue to share my journey anyway, in the hope that it may support others.
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We are each of us more alike, more connected than we know, and therein lies the value of sharing one’s story. Let's share our stories together.

First though, ahem…. I’ll start with someone else’s story. It’s so very good and beautifully written, by a woman who knows how scary it can be. I don’t want you to miss it.

A Fable by Jennifer Louden
https://jenniferlouden.com/a-fable-for-2018/  

Once upon a time, a girl made something from nothing.
She made fairy castles from mud and twigs, painted her dreams in every color and spun worlds from words.
Oh, how she loved the Making.
The bubbling luminescent Love of it gilded everything with possibility.
And then one day, someone intruded. A neighbor boy jeered at her fairy castle, a beloved teacher praised her best friend’s painting but not hers and a parent told her to stop wasting her time making up stories and go learn her sums.
Or, the natural Gap opened between what she could make and what she wanted to make. But there was no one to take her by the hand and teach her how to build her own bridge across the Gap. And the worry was planted: what if she wasn’t good enough?
Whatever the source, her faith in the Making was endangered.
A cage of razor-edged thorns tried to grow between the creating and her, pricking her with, “But if it isn’t perfect, what’s the point?” and “Look at what she made, it’s so much better,” and the thorns pointed at the Gap, made it appear as a yawning abyss and not a natural, inevitable part of the adventure.
Sometimes, the thorns used grades and grants denied and rejection letters to fuel their venom. Strangely, those rarely hurt her as much as the thorns of her own making.
Yet she persisted. Scratched, defiant eyes narrowed in concentration, she made something from nothing.
Sometimes exhausted, she retreated, rested, tried a new way of making.
But she always returned.
She always defied the thorns.
Until one day, after many years, for no reason or a thousand, the thorn’s power grew too great and pinned her to the earth.
Merciless in their insistence, pricking and tearing, chanting, “Give up the writing. Give up the painting. Give up the teaching. Why do you keep trying so hard?”
She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t think. She lay with her cheek pressed into the earth, panting.
It will be so much easier if you give it up.
Well, it would be, she thought. They have a point. What has all this making and creating and trying gotten me anyway?
With that, a blanket of gloom rolled toward her, made from everything that is the opposite of creating. A lightless blanket of sameness.
She grew sleepy. Just give it up. Why try so hard?
It rolled toward her with its endless flickering Netflix and Facebook and Instagram and books and paintings and beauty, all made by someone else.
And then, as the blanket of sameness was almost upon her and the thorns grew together over her head, through the gloom and the ugly lattice work of her self-made prison, the woman spotted a glimmer.
A shimmer.
A girl-shaped flame.
She struggled to raise her head.
It was her, as a child. And she was made completely of color and stories and imagination and devotion. Oh so much pure devotion.
She was flame forged from the pure love of making.
Not for accolades or approval or coins.
The girl’s heart cared less for any of that. She cared only for the challenge, the worlds she would shape and cradle, the butterflies of what if? Fluttering, fluttering in her belly.
She cared only for the making.
And the girl stretched out her hand with a giggle and the woman didn’t hesitate to reach out and take it.
May you always remember this woman and how you cheered for her to never give up,
And then may you cheer for you yourself
As loud and as proud.
And may you always remember your voice matters.
             
Photo by Katy Belcher on Unsplash
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Service with a Smile

4/2/2019

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Picture
Cooking can be more than a necessity. It can be more than a hobby or an avocation. Cooking with love can be part of a spiritual practice, because cooking is one way to bring more love into the world.

There is something special about donning an apron, putting on flowing music, clearing the sink and counters, gathering ingredients from pantry and refrigerator, and setting the scene. It starts to bring you into focus.

Then the food preparation and cooking presents a banquet for the senses, all the colors and shapes, the smells and textures. A crisp bite of juicy red pepper, the fresh, green smell of garden kale that wafts upward as you slice it for salad, the deep flavors and aromas of chocolate, vanilla and almond, all vying for attention demanding that you focus upon them. It is a sensual experience that can narrow your scattered thoughts, pulling your attention away from worries over past or future and bringing you to a place of serenity and flow.

And it doesn't have to be cooking. I believe anything done with love is a spiritual practice. Just imagine spending an entire day flowing from one activity to another, each one a spiritual practice of gentle focus and attention, channeling more and more love into the world. It is my aspiration.

​For today, however, I think I’ll start in the kitchen. Those juicy, red raspberries are calling me.


Photo by Alexander Mils on Unsplash 

Your Spiritual Toolbox

Is there something that you do frequently that is naturally meditative? Something you enjoy that asks for your full attention?

A favorite hobby is a perfect place to start.
​
Today, set the scene.

First, clear the area you will be in. A clean, uncluttered workspace is inspiring.

Next, put on some inspiring, instrumental music. Pick something you love, and that will encourage you to internalize.

Gather any materials you need and lay them out enticingly.

Now focus your attention fully upon what you are doing.

Go for the flow.

​As you do so you are channeling more love into our world.
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