Pema Chodron advises approaching life as if it is one big experiment.  The hang up with this, at times, is that we grown ups can take our experiments extremely seriously and can be devastated by the results.

When I watch my 3 and 5 year old paint or dance or dig it is a different level of experimentation that I admire.  They truly have little attachment to the outcome and have little care for how they look to someone else in the process.  It’s not a show or a recital.  It’s not a piece to be framed or a paper to be disgusted by.  It is a process that is here to participate in and so they DO!  When it turns out all brown and torn from the mix of colors and aggressiveness of the artist, they toss it around and usually laugh at their attempt and move on.  When ‘it’ falls over as they build or they fall over as they dance, they continue on and or move on.

I will try, with more consistency, to approach life as an experiment with child-like enthusiasm and passion.  When it’s time to move on, I will move on.

When it’s time to laugh, let’s just laugh.

 

 

There’s a small bridge that lies across a narrow section of the creek nearby.  This ‘bridge’ is a series of planks that is underpinned with a long piece of wood running the length of it and two additional pieces intersecting at each end to help provide stability where it rests.  Because there is no attachment into the bank, the bridge washes down stream a bit whenever there’s a heavy rain and it’s left lying crooked.  The land on either side is higher a few feet down where she slides and the bridge is rendered useless until someone moves it back into place.  Until last week, I’ve either waded through the water in rubber boots knowing what I would find or I would take a different path when the bridge was out.  I viewed the displacement as reason to enjoy another way.

An elderly gentlemen was at the bend before the creek when I was passing some days ago.  He had wild white hair atop his head and a thick beard at his jaw.  He called out to me, “Wanna help me put the bridge back in place?”.  I said I would be happy to lend a hand.  We went down to the creek together and my dog wagged his tail but barked his uneasiness to the stranger.  The man was gentle and set about making the pup comfortable with a low stance and friendly greeting.  In a moment, there was another man at the other side of the creek and I shared that we were aiming to set the bridge right.  He agreed to help.  All of the activity calmed my dog and we were soon in the water helping to move the bridge back.  Not long into the motions of lifting and adjusting, I realized that we each had a different idea of where the bridge should be placed.  This, however, did not cause much conversation.  We worked together, naturally following the direction of the man with white hair, until the bridge was passable again.

At this time, we mused about our different views with the understanding that we’ve each seen that bridge situated in different ways at different times which would contribute to our perception of how it should be.  Each person appreciated the perspective of the other and we all called out kind words of departure before we took up our individual directions again.

Light a candle and send good wishes to the people in your life and perhaps even those you encounter but do not know intimately. Sending a blessing to that which is part of your experience and also that which is impacting the world can do good for your heart and possibly beyond.

Drawing attention to the positive aspects of today can be helpful to both you and to those that share in daily experiences with you.  Should you find that someone you know is facing difficulties, perhaps you can help guide conversation to things that are going well.  It is very easy to fall into a pattern of finding the negatives and it is just as easy to fall into a pattern of finding the positives; everything depends on where you place your focus.  Beyond placement of our own focus, helping others to feel better by talking about topics that generate positive energy aids in lifting vibration.  You can be a bright spot in someone’s day.  You can be a light unto others!

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If you are placing judgement on a person or a place you are either in the past or the future.  This act of judgement is based on some sort of knowledge from your experiences thus far, or a fear, possibly even an assumption of what could be.  To be present is to discover a person, establishment, or experience for the first time, every time.  Let it teach over and over and over again, giving it full and curious energy.

This does not take away from a ‘gut feeling’, THAT is present moment.  Letting the original SOURCE in you express knowledge, protection and guidance is very different from a life lived through judgement.

…and so we choose which one we partner with for life… Present exploration with intuition  OR living in the past and future through judgement?

One of my favorite quotes within my adulthood, “Be Kind, for everyone is fighting a hard battle.”  Plato.

This can be seen as a negative view of life, but it is no secret that many humans suffer every day.  We all suffer and break at different periods in our journey.

The positive can come by the kindness that each of us is capable of for each other.  At any moment, we can see a behavior as a display of human reaction.  There are endless reactions out there to witness.  Our ACTION is to be kind.  The rest is not our concern.  The why, how, when, and who is not really important for the most important action that can become a lifestyle.

Be Kind.

Decadance is alive and well in simplicity.  It takes about 5- 10 minutes to prepare this 8 ingredient dish and after that, the tender magnificence is left to the oven as well as resting time.  Please let this simple yet decadent dish of baked pears and yogurt create a little distraction in your life!

Baked Pears with Yogurt

Serves 4

2 Large Pears (any variety ) sliced in half and cored.

4 tbsp honey

4 tbsp lime juice (or water)

2 tbsp cinnamon plus more for dusting

1/4 tsp allspice

2 tbsp brown sugar

1/8 cup of water

8 tbsp plain yogurt

Preheat oven to 375. Place cored pear halves into a 8×8 baking dish. In a small bowl combine honey, lime, cinnamon, and allspice.  Heating the honey for a few seconds may make this step easier.  Fill each cored center (I call them pear bellies) with 1/2 tbsp of brown sugar. Pour the mixture over the pears.  Dust the pears with cinnamon.  Place in the oven for half an hour.  At this time add a 1/8 cup of water to the bottom of the baking dish.  Continue to bake for 15-30 minutes more.  Baste the pears with their juice and leave them to cool.  Leaving the pears to cool in the sauce will produce a rich, flavorful result.  Up to an hour or more of cooling time is recommended if you can withstand the temptation!

Place the pears in a shallow bowl or on a plate with 2 tbsp of yogurt joining the spice and sugar filled ‘belly’.  Spoon the remaining liquid over the baked pears and yogurt.

Enjoy!  C’est fantastique!!

Our bodies walk, sit and stand through our day with us.  They are actively participating in each conversation, surprise, hurt and smile.  Everything our brain, heart and gut feels our spine, core and chest holds.  It dances along all day to our overall emotional experience.  

When we have body awareness we can choose how that dance flows and how it feels throughout our minute, hour and day.  When we lack body awareness and stay constantly busy,  our body is much like a neglected friend.  This friend begins to complain and ‘check out’.  Our bodies atrophy in places and build tension and hurtful habits in order to be seen and heard.  It lives a sad dance along with our emotional roller coaster.  

Much like this tree, hunched over and frozen in it’s environment, our bodies harden to this neglect.  Body awareness, a flowing dance throughout your day can come when we simply begin to ask ourselves, ‘Why am sitting this way? How am I standing when I talk to this person?  How strong does my body feel when I walk into a room or when I stand to leave?’  

Begin a day stretching in bed and then let your body converse with you.  You can talk back by allowing for your own flowing adjustment, that is the conversation!!  Have a relationship, it is talking to you constantly, but lost in the buzz of electronics, traffic, family, TV and music.  We can show our bodies and the world a more confident, strong, positive person just by getting to know our own bodies again and changing our personal environment to warmth, acceptance and listening. 

 

To be present with self we have to listen to what we need in our physical and spiritual bodies.  Perhaps what you need is to be interjected in every part of the physical experience or it could be that what you need is a quiet space to process, to make sense of these experiences and then in time to participate in ways that align with your own truths.  Learn to listen to yourself and follow with actions that nurture and honor your needs.  Take care of the inner self as you would your outer. Self care is an important tool to have and to utilize.

 

2017 is here.

We are able to Chose,

Create,

Forge,

Discover our ways and patterns in a new way.

Peel away our layers and shed what is no longer serving us.

The only way you can do this is to

SIT

BREATHE

and LISTEN.

Then get up

rise with strength and lightness

 and DO.

Peace