Author: takeawalk44

Choose a way of asking yourself a question about the root of our relationships, health and Dharma.

• Am I allowing within this moment or am I resisting within this moment?
• Is this love, right now or is this fear, right now?

Whether you find yourself looking back, examining the present experience OR looking ahead to the big IF…. chose which version of this sits well with you and ask it for the rest of your life.

Positivity, flow and abundance are there waiting for us all.

Part 2 – Now find time with a young person AND an animal at the same time!  You will be flooded with The Moment as well as JOY.  Neither of these creatures can help it!   They haven’t learned our bad habits yet and so we can learn from them.  We can emulate their natural desire for pure joy in an interaction.  Happy DAY!

Presence.  This Moment.  Breathing and letting go of past and future.  Who is better at this than children!  If you have kids in your life, take 10 minutes and let their approach sweep you up and teach you about NOW.  No matter their life circumstances, their health, their families or their tomorrow they find sweetness and fascination in tiny moments.  So turn your phone off, get away from a clock and engage with a little human.  They have a lifestyle to share with you.

I have a few strange ways that help with reusing the packaging that common household items come in….  It’s simple, I just put specific containers of sacks into a drawer for projects I know are coming within a few weeks.

Sheets, pillow cases and sometimes toys or gift wrapped present from AMAZON come in little sewn bags with either Velcro or a draw strong cord.   I like to….

1. make belly breathing bags for Pranayama work (controlled breath). I will them with rice and cheap beans, sew the one open end shut and give them as gifts, especially to friends who suffer from chronic anxiety and stress.  This is the perfect addition to your Nightstand for a bedtime routine of calm, meditative breathing.  You can also fill a long bag (one came with my kids pick up sticks) full of rice that is NOT instant), add a few drops of desired essential oils, sew the end and you have a microwavable neck wrap.  Use a square of rectangle bag for heated tummy help.
2. makeup compact mirrors.  I have a history of camping and hiking.  I keep the little mirrors for ‘tick checks’ as well as a tiny travel mirror for on the go plucking and futzing.  These tiny mirrors also tend to entertain your kids for way longer than expected when given on a road trip – who doesn’t love to watch themselves make funny faces!!
3. Many cold cuts come in tiny less durable Tupperware.  Even the packaging at Chic-fil-a and to-go containers from restaurants!!  These containers do well in the top rack of your dishwasher.  Instead of throwing them away of even recycling them – they are great for sending people home with left overs.  Sending kids home with craft projects or for packing school lunches.

This probably show how eclectic my life is…but there you have it.  Some ways I reuse packaging!

It is a choice…how you see the details of your life.

A choice to see it for good or for harm.  To see it as an obstacle to struggle through or a lesson you are flowing through.

It is a choice…to be offended, hurt, even devastated or to be humbled, grateful and inspired.

There is no definite wrong or right at all times.  Both can be experienced and both are necessary in different times.

Just remember, it is a choice. 

We want to help those around us.  It is up to the other person to accept our offers or not.  We can help heal old hurts through these interactions.  They give an opportunity to build trust and safe space between people.  There is healing ready and waiting within these interactions.  When we ground our bodies and breathe before we ask to help we give that person neutral space with which to answer honestly.

If we reach for them or ask out of desperation or felt obligation- resentment, irritation and mistrust can grow.  Ground your feet, breath and then ask with no exceptions.  Whether they accept or refuse makes no difference.  That is the intention of living in LOVE and respect.

To remain positive through our days can be difficult, yes?  Social media, the news, negative movies and music all around, watching people become angry at the smallest of misunderstandings in stores, at work and with their families leaves little room to feel LOVE around us.  We can feel so heavy instead of light and hopeful.

There are a few ways that I have learned to help see the good in life, in people and in the MESS.  When I find myself asking ‘Why?’ or when I find myself judging my surroundings, I come right back with, ‘It is what it is.‘  This simple statement that I learned from Eckhart Tolle brings my present moment into a nonjudgmental way of seeing, watching and observing life.  I do not have to begin to categorize ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ or how to change the moment to make it more like me.  ‘It is what it is.  I am Here.’  I say this when my kids are having big reactions, when I see all of the violent movies advertised on Netflix or when I watch an argument.

Life is contrasting.  It is dynamic and unpredictable.  Nature is unbelievably fragile and gorgeous and also brutal.  ‘It is what it is.  I am Here.’  We can only affect our present moment and our inner state.  The butterfly affect of THIS way will create a larger change than you could ever campaign or rally for.

 

My 4 year old drew this after playing with a kitten for a few minutes.  He then watched his brother play with the kitten and drew a picture of them playing.

I read the book ‘The Zen of Seeing’ by Fredrick Franck in high school and was reminded of it when I saw him happily watching and drawing.  What I learned from this book, so long ago, is that is doesn’t matter what it ends up looking like.  The judgement of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ can take a back seat along with the mental projections and old memories of an object.  This practice is to sit down with paper and pencil, draw exactly what you SEE.  Not what it should look like, not what you think would help someone recognize, simply what you see.  Line for line, shadow and light, space and stuff.

It can help to take a fairly simply picture, turn it upside down and cover it.  Expose 1 inch at a time and draw.  This confuses the brain away from labels and trying to make it look ‘right’ because the upside down image confuses the brain, you can then simply draw the lines, shade the shadows and leave what needs to be left.

This is a meditation.  It is a practice of seeing with fresh eyes and fresh mind.  It is so good for your brain and worthy of your time.

 

Whether it is a break at work, eating lunch or right before bedtime when the day is quieting down.  Go outside and listen.  Find a noise or a sight that calms you and warrants your attention.  Give it 3-5 minutes of you undivided attention.

Find a:

Smell – Sight – Feeling on your skin – and let it be all that matters for 3-5 minutes.

There is a world outside of our brain loops, worries, successes and lists to check off.  We are missing it most of the time.

Go Outside.  Smile.

In the spirit of presence and SEEING.  progress through these pictures and at the end adjust your eyes to finding as many frogs as you can.

 

SEE

 

SEE

Find at least 15, which is my count.

and YES, this is worth your time.