valeriecameronmerritt

Skipping in the Street

Something took hold of me the other day…

I dropped my car off for inspection and was walking away from the auto care shop. There were two female pedestrians directly across from me and we were all waiting for the light to change. I noticed that the intersection was clear ahead of the signal and decided to go for it early! In the middle of crossing the street when it wasn’t yet time for walkers, a sweeping energy came rushing through me and it was picked up in my body with a skip. I put on my biggest, boldest smile as I delighted in the warm sun on my face for the moment. Bounding over to other side I said, “Enjoy the day, Girls!”. One of the women laughed and replied, “What a great moment. I’m so glad you just did that.” I lifted my shoulders with a happy sideways glance over to her and the response, ” Me too!”. We then exchanged a little laugh and continued our different directions.

I hope that over the weekend you will open to feeling good on the spur of the moment and showing it to others. Skipping in the street may not be your thing or at the level of comfort where you find yourself, but whatever works for you to feel free and good – I hope you let yourself do that!

Good Wishes and Love -Valerie

Get Happy

1. “Happiness is the art of never holding in your mind the memory of any unpleasant thing that has passed.”
Unknown
2.“It isn’t what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about.”
Dale Carnegie

Watch what comes and goes in your thinking. Hold the thoughts that feel good in focus for longer periods of time and consider writing them down for clarity on the blessings that you experience. You may be pleasantly surprised at all the reasons you find for feeling good. Expand into the feeling of happiness that greets you!Photograph by Cindy Weaver – Santa Fe, NM

In the Moment

Make a date with yourself this weekend! However much time you can afford – even if you’re only looking at 15 minutes. Use the time to follow any impulse that flows to you. Don’t question – don’t hesitate – just do. ‘Doing’ may mean following the impulse of sitting quietly or going off on a trail, into town, or some creative inspiration. Whatever feels good to you in the moment is the idea. Enjoy what comes!

Inclusion

Post by: Tracy Weaver, Life Coach, EFT Practitioner

Pssssst! Hey! Of course you! Want to learn a magic trick? This one is so simple, you’ll laugh when you hear it. This one tricks you into seeing contrasts differently, which changes the way you think just a little, which gets you to explore your habitual beliefs a little, and before you know it the way you’ve been feeling about life will quietly move up a few notches, which means you could end up a little happier. Not bad for a simple little parlor trick, eh? The best part is, nobody ever needs to know what you’re up to. Okay, here’s how it works.

Whenever you catch yourself saying “or”, try sticking “and” in there instead! Doesn’t sound like much, right? Well, I’m not saying it works every time, but when it does it’ll make you smile, and might change things up for you. Let’s see, some examples:

– We can go out to dinner or we can go out to the movies. -> We can go out to dinner and we can go out to the movies. (There’s that dollar cinema downtown and we can go out for vegetarian tonight, and maybe skip the wine until we get home. Ours is better anyway.)

– We can have burgers or salmon tonight. -> We can have burgers and salmon tonight. (Surf and Turf! I’ll just use half the amount of each. Then tomorrow I can make salmon cakes, and I can use the rest of the burger meat for spaghetti with meat sauce the night after. Wow, I just got the next three dinners solved!)

– I can go to college or do what’s expected and work for the family business. -> I can go to college and make my family happy and work for the family business. (I know I’ve read about people who have done both and still gotten good grades. Helloooo Internet! Who’s already got a blog going about this? Anyway, it’s not like I have to work for them forever. I can sort of gradually segue from the family business into whatever I decide I want to do. Anyway, I’ll be getting paid to help my family. That’s more than a lot of people can say.)

See what I mean? Once you get good at this, try switching “and” in for “but”. It’s a bit more subtle, but can still change the way you think about the contrast. Like this: “I want to write a blog, but I’ve never done anything like that before. -> I want to write a blog and I’ve never done anything like that before. (So what? Hmm, is there a blog about this? How about “Blog Writing For Dummies? Something on YouTube?)

If you want to really go for it, try swapping “can” for “can’t”, “will” for “won’t”, and “Sure!” for “No way!”, just to surprise yourself.

What’s the secret? You’re using inclusion instead of exclusion, that’s all. Have Fun!

-Thank you, Tracy for contributing!

Allowing

Guided breathing practice to allow presence:

I breathe in, I allow the breath to permeate my body.

I breathe out, I allow the breath to go from this body.

I breathe in, I allow thoughts to slow down and stop.

I breathe out, I allow an open space to fill my mind.

I breathe in, I allow light to fill my being.

I breathe out, I allow light to filter into the space around me.

Repeat until you have surrendered to a quiet mind and relaxed body.

Earth Praise

Inspiration for the weekend ahead… you may need a little book

–from A Thousand Mornings by Mary Oliver

Conduit

con·duit
ˈkänˌd(y)o͞oət
noun
noun: conduit; plural noun: conduits

1. a channel for conveying water or other fluid.
“a conduit for conveying water to the power plant”
2. a person or organization that acts as a channel for the transmission of something.
“the office acts as a conduit for ideas to flow throughout the organization”

Try thinking of yourself as a conduit for positive interactions. This can be a helpful visualization in releasing the ego. Let yourself become the channel that brings compliments, kind words, encouragement, open listening, and sound advice into the lives of the people with whom you share yourself.

Belief Patterns

Letting go of preexisting belief patterns has become a natural flow from focusing on ‘being present with self’ in the previous post. Not to lose the fabric of one’s self or throw ethics out the window, but to open up to the possibility that thoughts may have been hindering growth and a more full existence in the past. The object is to be fresh and fully awake for what each day will bring.

If there are beliefs in you about what you can or cannot do, if you are not open to seeing ways around or through a situation, and if you hold fast to past experiences as more than a teacher then you may be limiting your present experience. Let’s make room for more of the good ‘stuff’ by eliminating what no longer serves us.

My child has adopted a pet lizard in the last month: a bearded dragon named Gandalf. In watching his lizard grow we have seen some starting signs of molting. As the lizard’s form grows, we can literally see him shed the old to make way for new; a perfect analogy to my mind in our own process of allowing our inner selves to shed as we grow and change.

Presence with Self

Gather everything you think about yourself as a strength and place these things as your focus for the longest possible increments of time. While focusing on your own strengths you will find it easier to draw out those of others as well because with practice it will become your habit. We often fall victim to patterns of habit energy ingrained in years and years of acting without clear thought about what it is that we are doing or passing on to others. How about highlighting everything that is your best and the best of others instead? When you train your mind to find the good parts of people (this means you too!) or situations it becomes easier to reside in a place of acceptance. This perspective assists with actively living from a balanced center and connecting to the infinite wisdom of your soul.

It is my goal for this week to have presence with self and to move from the center. By that I specifically mean:

1. Focus on good feeling thoughts

2. Express Gratitude

3. Act in accordance with desired change

I know there will be challenges and unpredictable occurrences but the place from which we operate can be consistent. Here’s to being consistently present and focused on the thoughts we generate about ourselves and the actions we share with others!

Please join me if you’re up for it this week and let me know how it goes …

Connect the Dots

“Learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else.” – Leonardo da Vinci

A child’s game of connecting dots is much like our task as adults in reaching for understanding our world. Being human can create a feeling of separation, of coming and going alone. This is an illusion; we are each part of something much more than ourselves.

What connections can you find this week and where will you find them? Perhaps you will look to nature, to the coming and going of the sunlight, or pause for the evening sky. Consider taking a long look internally or into others. Perhaps you will spy a vast system of interconnection in these seemingly separate parts by making the effort to be present with sight.