This is a song by Rising Appalachia that Jess shared with me a while back and we both enjoy so much!   Hope you’ll appreciate the words as much as we do:

Be Brave Enough to Bloom

 

 

One easy way of practicing a meditation or a presence within your day is to watch liquid.  It’s fascinating and like a fire, you don’t want to look away as your eyes and brain keep taking in the present movement’s evolution.  Whether it is carbonation, a lava lamp, a Calming Glitter Jar or colored vinegar and baking soda interaction….these are quick and easy ways to take quiet time and watch, absorb, find a quiet mind.

 

The Glitter Jars are great for ALL ages.  Here is a link to make one out of mostly household items: https://preschoolinspirations.com/6-ways-to-make-a-calm-down-jar/

When our aim is to be uplifting to others, we can come to feel that honest reflections on challenging periods or experiences have no place in the current reality though sometimes these things crop up in conversation.  What should we do with them?  Allow the conversation to turn from being only an uplifting exchange?  Quickly change the subject?  It all depends on how you feel.  If you’re at peace with yourself and can see your experiences as teachers, it may be beneficial to let past experience flow into the present for what it may offer you in understanding or another in support. Challenges don’t have to be perceived as negative downers.  How topics flow all depends on listening to yourself and trusting yourself to know when to listen and when to speak. Distractions happen and old protective patterns may play.  The most important thing to remember as you navigate personal expression, boundaries, and vulnerability is that it’s okay to let others hear you and you’re not alone.  Whatever you have experienced has value in it’s lessons.  You are not too much for this world that birthed you and your experiences, but a worthy expression of everything you have endured.

Begin with affirming the feelings you want present in your home.  Ask yourself, “How do I  want to feel when I walk into my home? How do I want others to feel when they share this space with me?” Collect your ideas on paper.

Light a candle, burn the paper over a firesafe bowl, gather flowers (dried or cut) that bring you a feeling of Earth’s abundance and place those in the bowl after affirming. Carry your blessing into all the spaces of your home.  You can extend this outside of the home if that aligns with your heart wishes and the layout of the place you inhabit.  You may also consider working with other materials, placing a crystal or two in the window sills with your uplifting words.

Affirmations that may help as you bless your space:

Inside:

This home is a safe haven for all who enter.  Let many blessings bestow upon the rooms that hold us.  Thank you for our blessings, those of today and those to come.

Outside:

The property of this home is surrounded with loving energies, there is a flow of spiritual abundance, and the gates of goodness are wide open for the cycle of giving and receiving to be honored.  May all who come here be filled with the knowing of their worth and inspired to carry kind feelings with them into their daily interactions. 

The solo work 

If you want to experience better interaction with your loved ones , sometimes the work all comes down to one person, the person who decides they want a different way.  It could be that others are so entrenched in their patterns and the reality they know, seeing another option is difficult.  Don’t let this cause you to think it’s impossible to change your relationship and don’t buy into believing that people never change.  People can change by changing their thoughts and then their responses and actions.  This can start with one.  One person practicing alone is perfectly fine because that’s all it takes to get the ball rolling.  A lot of relationship work can happen at the soul level without verbal communication.  How?  Others can feel when you’ve resolved any negativity or discontentment, even if they’re not aware of why they feel differently.  Your loved one may have nostalgic recollections of you, a softening of thoughts, or you may come into their thinking more frequently when you’re practicing acceptance, forgiveness, and sending compassion to their soul.  You will see them in a new light and they will feel it.

“What if our religion was each other. If our practice was our life. If prayer, our words. What if the temple was the Earth. If forests were our church. If holy water–the rivers, lakes, and ocean. What if meditation was our relationships. If the teacher was life. If wisdom was self-knowledge. If love was the center of our being.” ~ Ganga White 

The approaching Holidays tend to create time for more familial gatherings, with all of the patterns that have been set up in years of interacting with one another.  If your family always sees eye to eye, or honors the differing opinions and habits of others with love, and there are no dysfunctional patterns, that’s wonderful and I hope you enjoy being present for more of that healthy connection.  If your family has points that could use a little forgiveness and a lot of compassion, please take time to think about how you can approach one another differently for acceptance and perhaps with time, relationship healing.  This could be a turning point for your experience, if you decide to let go and forgive anything and everything you may be harboring.  This practice can lead you into feeling little to no response with future events that would have caused a kind of suffering in you and your loved ones before.

When you see unkindness, flaring temper, snarling sarcastic remarks, or displays that are otherwise hurtful try to remember that this is a mark of suffering in the person.  If you see “mean” or “selfish” or “difficult” as suffering, it will open the doorway to your compassion.  From here, unconditionally loving people can start to take form in your life.  No matter what is presented by a person, allow yourself to see them as their highest expression.  See others for their potential and they will show more often how incredible that is!

You could find yourself uncovering long held ancestral patterns in thought or as lived actions that are ready to be released and healed.  I have personally had experiences that I feel are part of my life now for this very purpose: to heal ancestral lines and possibly set a new path for my children.  If you start by healing with your family, you can then move into a larger arena for healing through the mass consciousness of humanity.

I hope this year’s end will bring a lot of light into your heart and homes.  I hope you will not harbor feelings that cause you or another to suffer and I hope that practicing compassion towards yourself and others will become a regular part of your life.

Happy Thanksgiving!! May this be a coming of fresh starts and happy hearts!!

 

Hi Everyone! Let’s collect hugs this weekend!  At one point in time, I had a 10 hugs a day rule.  I’m not quite sure how that was lost in the shuffle of life and changing roles. We do let go of things as we age and may decide that some of those things are worth returning to… hugs, for sure, are worth the effort!  Hug your people 🙂

I’m not suggesting you should put a sign out and offer free hugs (unless that’s something that meets your comfort) but how about the people you live with or interact with regularly? Hugs make a big difference in how you and others feel and they can increase levels of trust within yourself and within those interactions where you share a hug.

Happy Hugging!!

Valerie

Do you know that saying, “one step forward and two steps back”? I think that saying could use a little makeover…

In a celebration of our humanness – our imperfect perfection (as Jess would say) – I am reworking this phrase in my life and I hope you will join me!  It’s easy to let the small steps we take in making positive change go by the wayside, unnoticed.  Maybe you have a goal to not lose your temper so quickly, and after weeks of successful practice, you do lose your temper and then you feel you’ve failed your intention.  This can happen with emotional reactions, weight loss or gain goals, upkeep of your home, and the list goes on.

You deserve love and kindness and you can be your best ally in noticing your progress and practicing forgiveness when something slips.  Some things in life do call for a reaction, and sometimes you pick up or drop off a few pounds, maybe there’s a pile of dishes and a load of laundry you meant to take care of yesterday, and sometimes maybe that’s all okay because you’re putting those TWO STEPS FORWARD in bold letters and that one step back gets a little less limelight.

 

Make gratitude a part of your practice!  It lifts spirits and shifts perspectives.  There are so many simple joys around you waiting to be recognized.  Notice them, talk about them, and take time to write them down!  When you notice your joys and write them out, they take on a secure form within you as the spoken words and action of writing these words alters your focus.  It feels fantastic and it doesn’t have to be a long and involved process!  Sit with your heart, go basic, and let gratitude become part of your day!