Affirmation for pure contentment:

I am satisfied with who I am.  I feel so pleased with life and myself.

Not to be egotistical or conceited but to feel satisfaction and worthiness in loving yourself…  I hope you’ll practice saying this until the affirmation sinks deep into your bones and becomes part of you! Feel the perfection that you are – the work in progress – the blossoming beauty with more to come!

 

If you can find a few moments in the next days to be absolutely present, take time within those moments to focus your energy on your heart center.  Notice your body and your life force.  Does the energy you possess feel scattered?  Is it caught up in something that happened yesterday or are you worrying about events that could be part of tomorrow?  Can you call all of your attention and energy back to you and focus on it collecting at the heart?  Be with your heart as your only objective.  Let the rhythm of your heart beat be the voice that draws you inward. Try for a while to meditate on this pulse.  From here, imagine the collected energy as a color that resonates with you.  Send the color into the room around you.  Let that beam be filled with the feelings of joy, adoration, and love.  Imagine the color surrounding and brightening the hearts of those you cherish.

Joy emanates from my core.  Feelings of adoration surround my loved ones.  We are light and love.

How wonderful will this day be if you allow yourself to focus on the things that easily fit and flow with you!? Let things, people, places, and experiences that lift your spirit be highlighted in your thoughts and conversation.

Whats’s easy?  What feels good?  This is what deserves your attention.  Tell everyone about the good in your life!

 

“In a beautiful world that has come to hooray the hustle I find my sweet loving soul rebelliously dancing to the contrary — an upside down, inside out, reversed, lapsed beat. It’s mysteriously boundless, surprisingly wholeheartedly, perfectly un-calculated and wrapped in a tangible fabric that is made out of shooting stars and moonlit expanse. For this season, busy has no place.” – Tess Guinery

Let your life take a hiatus from busy for a little this weekend.  Take a moment to notice what the earth is up to around you, which at this time of year is particularly beautiful!  When you’re back in the hustle of everyday, perhaps you can carry along an internal feeling of abundance and blooming!

 

Have you ever found yourself drawn to another without being quite sure why?  This can be romantic, platonic, or any number of scenarios.  It could even be fascination bordering revulsion but nevertheless you’re drawn in… It’s simply someone that captures your attention.

Consider the qualities about the person. Could it be that they’re hosting attributes that are complimentary to your own?  Could it be that you are drawn to what feels absent in you?  On the path to becoming the best version of yourself without seeking to live that through or in opposition to someone else, it can be helpful to understand the pull of others.

Practice noticing your internal atmosphere to nurture the next steps in relating.

Getting back to the workweek, if you’re on a traditional Monday- Friday schedule, can feel less than desirable.  Maybe you’d rather be under the covers for a lay in and looking forward to a late brunch.  For this Monday, I hope you can let yourself appreciate yesterday for whatever it was and also appreciate today for whatever it is.  Let possibility be an enchantment as part of this Monday.  Embrace not knowing absolutely what today will bring you.  Greet today with anticipation – even if only mildly so.  Let yourself expect something good and see what naturally stems from there!

 

I hope there is a time this weekend when you sit somewhere outside.

Listen for 3 distinct sounds.

Follow 3 birds in their flight across your sky.

Feel 3 breaths from complete bottom to the tippy top- through your lungs, muscles and skin.

Speak 3 gratitudes about your life in that moment.

Sit. Breathe. Be. Just for 3.

 

 

 

 

Your mind is a precious space, like your heart center and body.  All of you is sacred and what you think turns into words, which sometimes turns into action.  It is so important to watch yourself with love and compassion so that you can know your center.  Knowing your center gives you more input on the source of creation in your thinking, words, actions, and the overall landscape of your life.

From where do you want to define you -and create your experiences?  Do you want to create from frustration?  Do you want to create from low energy and sadness?  Do you want to create from peacefulness?  Do you want to create from joy?  You can guess what the various emotional states would lead to and determine what will be the source of your creation.  Anytime you see an unfortunate pattern (which sometimes doesn’t happen until after an argument or wreckage) be kind to you, and try again for what will make the best outcome for you and your loved ones!

This quote from James Thurber keeps coming back to me in many forms:

“All men should strive to learn before they die; what they are running from, and to and why.”

This was painted on my bedroom walls as a teenager, along with about 30 other quotes.  It has remained one of my top favorites that I never seem to outgrow.  As I listen to spiritual leaders and move through life… this basic quote,  or something like it, keeps coming back. 

We must not run away from fear and stick our heads in a hole singing our favorite songs loudly.  The stimulating world that we live in makes this SO easy and convenient to do!

When you feel fear – sit with that emotion.  Give it your time and patience.  This is not an easy practice, nor a comfortable one… but you may find that the fears you sit with don’t actually exist!  They are about a possible made up future (not yet here and not yet living).  They are ‘memories’ or our past that also no longer exist.

We can shine the light of presence on fears and show them gently that they do not belong here, because they do not actually EXIST.  Therefore, as I have heard many times, it is a grade of insanity to be fixated and fearful of something that does not exist.

Are we all living on a spectrum on insanity?

Walking Meditation by Thich Nhat Hahn

Take my hand.
We will walk.
We will only walk.
We will enjoy our walk
without thinking of arriving anywhere.
Walk peacefully.
Walk happily.
Our walk is a peace walk.
Our walk is a happiness walk.
Then we learn
that there is no peace walk;
that peace is the walk;
that there is no happiness walk;
that happiness is the walk.
We walk for ourselves.
We walk for everyone
always hand in hand.
Walk and touch peace every moment.
Walk and touch happiness every moment.
Each step brings a fresh breeze.
Each step makes a flower bloom under our feet.
Kiss the Earth with your feet.
Print on Earth your love and happiness.
Earth will be safe
when we feel in us enough safety.

 Photo taken by Cindy Weaver

( “Call me by My True Names  – The Collected Poems of Thich Nhat Hanh”, Parallax Press, 2005.)