Author: valeriecameronmerritt

A childhood memory share:

When I was 12, my mother started giving me a little space in the kitchen to make dinner ahead of her arrival home from work.  My dad worked an evening shift and my sister was 2 at the time so this was fun for me and (debatably) a win for her.  I wasn’t assigned to the task — I asked to be there.  I liked everything about the kitchen and even better when my mother wasn’t there because I could pull the spices down and mix different ones together.  I did this unabashedly with her there at first but because she prefers simple seasoning, she told me to stick to the recipes she left me. I continued to sneak in oregano, garlic, and cumin anyhow.

One day I decided it would be fun to venture off into baking and we had fresh peaches on the table.  My mother suggested a cobbler when I called her at work to ask about it and that I take it to an elderly neighbor down the street who was on our church shut-in list.  Okay and okay, that was checking off two things I liked, solo kitchen time and meeting someone new.  I made the cobbler and felt quite proud of it when I walked it about seven houses down.  The neighbor smiled at me and took a long look at the peach cobbler when I handed it to her, “Oh my, this looks so lovely.  Won’t you come in for a few minutes.”  I did go in but I have no recollection now of what we spoke about.  I do, however, remember walking home and feeling very neighborly.  Later that night my mom asked me about how the cobbler turned out and how the visit went.  I said, “It was really fun.  She smiled a lot when I gave her the cobbler and she thought it looked lovely.”  My mom was putting something away in the cabinet at the same time and she saw a bag of marshmallows that I had left untied there, “What happened to these marshmallows!? There was a whole bag this morning.”  I went in to tie them off, “Oh! I decided it would be tasty to add those to the cobbler.  I covered the whole top with them!”  My mom’s eyes grew as she rolled them to the side, “I bet she did smile a lot while she was trying to figure out what kind of cobbler you made her.  Oh goodness, I wonder how it tastes.”  She shook her head at me, “You just have to add your own special touch, don’t you?”  I beamed and nodded to the truth of her words.

I still think we should all add our special touch to things in whatever way calls to us.  I hope you’ll think of something to make your mark on some part of everyday whether that’s dotting i’s and crossing t’s with precision or sprinkling marshmallows on cobbler; no matter how insignificant that may look or feel, letting yourself BE exactly as you are is integral to all.

This very moment is the perfect teacher. – Pema Chodron 

What is being shown to you? 💙✨

This is a wonderful day, I have never seen this one before.  – Maya Angelou 

Find three positives about today and talk or write about them!  Let gratitude for this day guide you closer to your bliss.  🌸💕

We live within a veil of illusion,

collecting scores of records on accounts by and 

for something that may always elude us.

We are drawn in and yet — in is out,

though reversal may seem skewed to the

unstirred practitioner.

A far away voice calls;

the creek rattles against the rocks;

the sunset flashes through the extremities 

of a starkly clad fellow,

or so it seems.

And in a dream

and in a poem we may know to

consider the underpinning of the verse.

Can we look too on the world as such

in the dissection of the universe composed

through our senses?

Can we hear how it sings,

answers, laughs and cries with us?

How dense is the language of men to distract

us from the symphony in the trees?

The words are

at the same time

too little and too much.

excerpt from Tosha Silver’s Change Me Prayers:

Change Me into someone who can feel wildly open to receiving.
Let me know my own value, beauty and
worthiness without question.
Let me allow others the supreme pleasure of giving to me.
Let me feel worthy to receive in every possible way.

And let me extend kindness to all who need,
feeling compassion and understanding
in even the hardest situations.

Change me into One who can fully love, forgive
and accept myself…
so I may carry Light without restriction.

Let everything that needs to go, go.
Let everything that needs to come, come.

“Break the old pattern of present moment denial and present moment resistance.  Make it your practice to withdraw attention  from past and future whenever they are not needed.”   – Eckhart Tolle

“When you wash your hands, when you make a cup coffee, when you’re waiting for an elevator – instead of indulging in thinking, these are all opportunities for being there, as a still, alert presence.” – Eckhart Tolle

The everyday activities you perform can become mini meditations.  You can attach a practice to short lived actions as reminders to live mindfully.  You can also attach gratitude to the action with positive affirmations.  Think about an affirmation you’d like to repeat everyday or every time you see one of your coffee mugs.  (This isn’t a new idea -plenty of mugs have quotes on them, but I happen to like wordless mugs collected for their color or shape.) The sight of the mug, your positive affirmation, and then quiet awareness on the actions of preparing, pouring, and drinking the cup of coffee, tea, or water can become a meaningful part of your day.

Suggestions for mug affirmations

1. I am so grateful for this moment.

2.  I know my worth and I honor the same in others.

3. I am so lucky!

4. There is no wrong choice.

5. Life is always balancing itself.

Use whatever words bring you the most joy, comfort, or sense of rightness for where you are now.

Congratulations!  You’ve made it to day six of a brand new decade.  How do you feel?  Did you take time to look over what you were happy about in 2019?  Have you spent time hashing out those 365.24 days to see if you could pinpoint the most important moments for change, joy, and love?  If you did, did it make you feel better about the moment you’re in now or the ones you’re going to be creating soon in 2020?  If you loved the last decade, maybe you sat joyously reminiscing or celebrating your noted accomplishments.  If you’re not satisfied with where you are, maybe you resigned to buckle down and make larger strides.  It could also be that you were indifferent to December 31st, 2019 as it turned over into January 1st, 2020.  You know you and you know where you stand with your past and with your present.  Generally, the past is only useful to you in what you can learn from it in recreating more of the same or altering for change.  With that in mind, taking just a few moments to feel gratitude for the past decade and year could be enough, otherwise you may be missing some of your now.  The same is true for future planning.  Take time to set your goals and intentions, but don’t let your head get stuck in a future that’s not yet here.  Planning, vision boards, and even feeling your future as you want to experience it are wonderful tools but too much worrying about another time can keep you from being a part of the present.

BE HERE NOW  

You can bring yourself back into your present moment with purposeful breathing.  You can also spend time with nature to do this and if you can’t get outside but you need to refocus, call yourself back into the present moment by going tactile.  If you’re outside, look for a pebble or whatever is in the landscape and comfortably accessible to you.  If you’re inside or at a desk, you can call in your energy with a pencil or another item there close by.  Focus on the object of your choice, feel it’s weight, notice it’s texture, and smile as you inhale and exhale.  Notice the weight of your object again and internally recognize your presence through the external.

Let 2020 be a year of clear vision for staying present as much as you can.  Honor your true self with acceptance of the current scene while you let that bright light of yours shine radiantly. No matter what has come before this and no matter what may come to pass, let the present be your muse.