Winter light

There are many things to love about winter, the cold weather and the sharper focus it can bring us. From one image or one thought we can build an affirmation for accomplishing our goals in 2010: 


I love the beautiful light at this time of year. 


It brings me the clarity of seeing what is right in front of me and the knowing that I can attain it. Build your own affirmation.

No limit

I find there is NO LIMIT to how much we can each grow as a whole person (mentally-emotionally-physically-spiritually). The only limits we have are what we accept for ourselves. Now this may sound vague but think of all we can't accept because our minds can't understand it or we haven't experienced it before. A lot can be said for imagination ... even if it's as simple as a relative who's always been unkind, even hurtful to us and later in life they show us kindness in ways we didn't expect. It can even be difficult to accept kindness sometimes.


An example I've been given is a simple one. Trees are tall beautiful creatures. The very old ones seem to go up and up forever: trunks lead to branches and off the branches leaves sway graciously with the breeze. These parts are all connected although the branches and leaves can't see the ground, but it is there and the trunk supports the tree's growth. Yes, we are all supported and don't always realize it and all it takes is a little imagination to realize it.


Perhaps we need to learn to expand our idea of what's possible. It may only be difficult when we realize there is no limit to expansion and no limit to growth. We all need to grow in different ways. Recently I've felt as if I'm going through the motions. I've made many positive changes in my life: pursuing my Reiki practice full-time and helping to grow my husband's video production business. So why did I feel like I was going through the motions in an almost mechanical way? I was very busy after all =).


The answer feels complicated but essentially I needed to allow myself to FEEL my emotions. According to Rosalyn L. Bruyere (Wheels of Light), we process information (ideas, concepts, experiences) in a very physical way aided in a large part by our chakra system: starting with the root chakra (at the base of the spine) and all the way up through the crown chakra (at the top of our head). What this means to me and to my experience is that I wasn't fully embracing the emotional part of what I was accomplishing. It's an interesting approach to listen to and release what your heart wants to feel!


I want to embrace what's in my heart and act upon this. I want to be emotion-filled in my actions: feel and act compassionate and feel and act non-judgmental.


I want to use the light I've been given to explore how this feels for awhile ... and see where it leads me ...

Love love love

I attended a workshop yesterday that hit me (unexpectedly!) in a very emotional way. The facilitator had us pair off and take turns being the listener who asked a question that our partner would answer. The listener's job was to be a sounding post and not react or comfort our partner in any way. How I saw myself in that 70 year old man's face and how I heard my voice in his!

We talked about our lives that were not similar at all but because I could not speak - I could not judge ... and that meant I could also really look at him. I thought this must be what all of us look like when we talk to the universe about our problems: the daily issues we don't know how to handle and the people we struggle to understand.

Do we look at ourselves with as much compassion as we allow for others? Can we forgive ourselves for our struggles and what we call mistakes? Love yourself, your emotions and challenges with as much compassion as our angels and guides love us. Love and feel much more than you can possibly imagine and then ask for more and breathe into it ...

It can be easier...

It's funny how much time we spend avoiding spending time with ourselves. It is easy to run errands and attend events but it is difficult for all of us to SIMPLY sit down. We make up excuses and create distractions and willingly conceive of daily "traffic" plans that take us around town and pretty soon time in the car is considered alone time. And then, we take that time in the car to call friends, eat our meals and conceive of even more plans.

How wonderful would it be (sometimes) to be the child who spends his or her time being a child, or a favorite pet who can just be playful, content and even pleasantly solitary in their favorite chair/corner.

Find that chair/corner in your favorite room and sit down. Set up what you need to in order to have some space without distraction from others, but don't let that "setting up" time become your quiet time. Once it took me two hours of preparation before I finally sat down to write. I knew I wanted to but just kept delaying it ... it's almost like your dog taking two hours to circle the spot where he or she feels comfortable enough to sleep.

I am sitting down now and it occurs to me that I feel much differently in this position. I am done running around ... I am sitting. The first part of my day is done and I have changed the rest of it entirely.

It's Nice to be Reminded ...

It's nice to be reminded of how truly unique each of us are and how we can best serve ourselves and others by being our authentic self. Two people have reminded me of this in the last week and, oddly enough, both I've just met for the first time.

One woman came to this idea of being "one person" inside and out after a divorce and living with cancer (for a time). The other woman advised me in a mentorship session, ABOVE ALL, to be true to my experience rather than trying to fit everything about me - how I think, how I feel, how I interpret energy - into another teacher's system. We all have our unique way of defining who we are, what we do, how we go about our lives and ultimately how we learn and decide if we need to make any changes.

Honor who you are and how you feel you should go about your business. Each of us gravitate towards those we have something in common with and, at least in my life, I find such inspiration (as with the two women above) in those who have the courage to explore all that they have to offer.

The Way We Learn

Over the last few days, I've been working on writing a grant proposal (with four other people) from different organizations in Rhode Island. It has been a very rewarding process although difficult and challenging to successfully "wrap our minds" around all that was needed (in general and the nitty-gritty specifics).

I will not mince words ... it has been stressful and exhausting. However, through this intense process, I've learned a lot about how I process information. I was telling one of our Project Team members that I'm able to write in a very detailed manner, about subjects I know relatively little about, because I'm very intuitive and can absorb information quickly.

I likened it to my background as a Modern dancer. You rehearse a dance ... the steps, the timing ... but it goes much beyond memorization to "learn" a dance. It becomes like physical memory in your body that stays while you rehearse and mostly forgotten when the dance is no longer performed. That's how I can relate to you the nature of my grant writing experience.

But where does that memory go? I'd like to let that information go it's merry way. Can I do better as to not feel so stressed? Maybe ... maybe there is a better way beyond wonderful ways to relieve stress: i.e. exercise, rest, meditation ...

I don't have an answer but I know more about myself than I did yesterday =). What a wonderful gift!

The Idea of Health

I'd like to speak a little more about the "Idea of Health" that I wrote about in the last post. I believe that we are all energy and energy moves and changes and we never truly have to be stuck in any one belief about ourselves, i.e. I don't feel well or I'm tired.

I've come to know this through working with (but not limited to) Reiki energy. The flow of energy during sessions is very real - energy can be felt, seen and give us a greater understanding of ourselves - even if it's just for one clear moment. A client's energy feels different in each session as my own energy feels a little different each day. Let's use energy in a POSITIVE WAY!

We use our energy to get out of bed, to go to work and do errands but we also use that same energy to decide how we feel on any given day. Our energy is tied to our mental, emotional, physical and spiritual bodies and we can change significant parts of our daily experience by simply choosing to think/feel/react differently. We can lose nothing by trying a different, affirmative approach and everything to gain IF IT WORKS FOR YOU.

Create and record your own affirmations or use ones by your favorite holistic/new age/spiritual/religious teacher of the moment.

I am love. Love surrounds me at all times. I am alive with love.

When I trust and let go I know all is well.

I accept all the good that comes into my life. I accept it for myself and others.

I am healed, whole and healthy. I am well.

I am grateful for...