Cherish

Remember the people closest to you. You know...the ones you shut out when you're hurting. The ones you lash out at when you're anxious or confused. The ones you treat meanly sometimes because you've been stressed for months. 

Remember and know the ones who look past your words, your anger, your disapproval, and love you just the same. The ones who check up on you periodically. The ones you cheer you on regardless. The ones who support you in ways you don't completely know. The ones who help you pull yourself back together again. 

Remember these people in your lives. You know who they are. 

Cherish them, thank them, and send them love from your heart to theirs in deep appreciation for them taking the time to notice, the action to care, and the love to let you be yourself.  

From Forgiveness to Freedom

 How does it feel when you forgive someone?

How does it feel when someone forgives you?

Forgiveness creates better emotional health and can grow deeper relationships. If we hold grudges, we may be perpetuating emotional and mental blocks due to the lack of forgiveness. By practicing forgiveness, we create peace, provide a model for spreading goodness, and lighten our energetic baggage as we move forward in our lives. 

For the month of May let's plan to take a few moments each day and bring in the energy of Forgiveness. Let's understand the benefits of forgiveness and our role in forgiving people in our relationships, as well as requesting or accepting forgiveness from people too.

A few wonderful forgiveness methods include:

• saying the Ho'opono'pono prayer
• placing individuals or groups of people (including ourselves) onto a forgiveness altar in our mind's eye
• writing a letter of forgiveness to someone (they can be deceased or living) and burning it. 

Incorporating a daily forgiveness practice helps us release the hold the past may have on us, and gives us permission to move forward, lighter and freer than the day before. 

Allow the magic of Forgiveness to harness the Freedom you've been yearning for!

A Child's Smile

Walking outside the other day, I saw a child riding her bike towards me. I stepped out of her way, she smiled at me as a thank you and I smiled back.  

It was then I realized how much smiling was needed!

So - thank you to the innocence of the girl who smiled at me today. Her smile opened my heart, even if it was for a short while and became a stepping stone to move me into an even better space.

Here's to smiling at the next person you see today! 😃

Healing Angels

Have you ever woken up one day and found yourself not ready for what the day may hold?  Where maybe fear, frustration, or a blank wall of resistance seems to permeate your mind?  

The other day, I woke up like that and for the first hour or so, I spent energy trying hard to block the discordant emotions - to keep them from surfacing or festering. After wrestling with this for awhile, I decided to walk into another room, sit down, and ask for help from the angels.   

Within 20 seconds I felt a rush of energy shift inside and out, took a deep breath, let the worry and tension go, and relaxed into the soothing energy of the angels. They came to my aid, and all I had to do was ask and be open to receive. 

In full gratitude and relief, I sat in their energy for only a minute or two as I had a calendar of events to attend to. I would rather have stayed there longer and fully basked in the energy of the healing Angels; yet, I found myself going back to that space throughout the day for periodic angelic pick me ups. 

I hope you do the same today - and everyday - for the angels enjoy helping us out when we request their gracious assistance, and they also love to participate in our joys too. They're our 24 hour-a-day cheerleaders - and when we sit quietly for a few breaths, we can feel them with us, and may even hear theirs wings flutter.    

Learning with Ganesh

As I make some bigger changes in my life, buried emotions rise to the surface. I know this is normal. These emotions include feelings I thought I had dealt with already, emotions or situations I know I've not dealt with, and still other emotions and limiting patterns of thought and attachment to things I didn't even know existed within me. 

It's been a bit of a roller coaster ride with the emotional, mental, and spiritual depths and heights that are available to us when we become more vulnerable in change. Of course, it is usually not easy for us, nor is it for those who live with us either. :) 

Regardless, I find that by inviting Ganesh in for assistance and comradery has been an overall uplifting, growth experience for me, although these words seem to fall ever so short. 

In the past I've previously worked with Ganesh on what I would describe as a more superficial level. More recently, I ask Ganesh for assistance in pushing through some emotional and mental muck. When I feel a small hurdle had been surpassed, I then ask for a clear path to my highest good in specific aspects of my life; then, back to pushing through the muck, and then again, back to clearing the path to a best and highest life. 

During that oscillation, which continues still, my heart seems to open just so - perhaps in that vulnerability - to experience Ganesh at a deeper level. I assume this is true for our connection to all deities or guides we work with - our own willingness and ability to connect influences the experiences we have.  

Through these experiences, I feel free. I feel calm. I have an inner knowing that all is ok and will continue to be ok. I'm learning to trust differently, and I'm letting go of old ways of being. 

I am sure many of you reading this may already have a wonderful connection with Ganesh and I may be considered as being late to the game. We all have a few "go to" beings we work with and for me, Ganesh is in the forefront of my world these days for whatever reasons, and I am enjoying his presence. 

So I'm writing this piece to give a shout out and a thank you to Ganesh for sure, and to all our Spiritual Individuals and Teams of Light who support us on our sometimes arduous path of human living.  

May we all be open to the blessings and goodness on their way to us now.   

The Present Moment of Now

Think of a time when someone started talking to you when you were in the middle of an email, or trolling on your phone, watching TV, or in the middle of a conversation. When you experienced this interruption, were you able to stop what you were doing and fully engage with the person? 

When you're reading a book or have some downtime, do you find you're thinking about plans for later in the day or the week? Or are you fully engrossed in the current moment?  

The importance of being ever present in the current now, brings us to a different level of existing. We spend less energy splitting our time or corralling our thoughts back to focus. 

Let's make sure we love ourselves enough to be present in our activities, tasks, and downtime this month. See how certain things fall way, who steps up, which connections deepen, and how we feel as we release the grip our plethora of responsibilities have on us. 

For many of us, this presence means slowing down a bit and allowing the flow of life to be, which may be contradictory to how many of us live most of the time. Hopefully we can all find areas in our lives where we can be present and over time, with attention, we can bring that presence to another aspect, and another, until we are consistently present in our lives. 

Wishing you all Love and Peace this month!

Strength

When was the last time we acknowledged someone who has helped instilled strength within us?  Parents, coaches, teachers, mentors, friends, and pets could have all contributed to the strength we possess today - whether it be the strength to get through a situation, pick ourselves up after we make a mistake, or to deal with a tough emotion or person.  

When we find there is a little more depth to us that we may have realized, we can turn to external factors that created an internal decision to be strong - whatever that means to us. To me strength is, and certainly isn't limited to: 

knowing when to speak up and when to act

knowing when silence matters and when allowing flows

going within rather than lashing out

releasing responsibility that is not your own

realizing an illusion

including self-care

communicating needs and desires

celebrating self

celebrating other's progress and successes

expressing kindness in the midst of discord

being grateful 

Who would you say has helped cultivate your inner strength? Know that strength takes lots of different forms, each uniquely beautiful. 

I appreciate the strength it took you to bring you where you are today.  

 

Simply Intending

When it comes to our own self-improvement, we also can be rather meticulous in initiating and following through with the change we wish to implement into our lives. This meticulousness can be influenced by what-ifs, second guessing, and making sure we can plan everything out just so. While there is often value in being detailed, it can be helpful to incorporate a bit of simplicity too. 

To simplify our thoughts, we may start with simplifying our intentions, which can have ripple effects in our moments. We may see less jittery mind chatter, insecurities falling away, and moments where we're sinking into the heartful essence of ourselves and inviting that beautiful essence from others. 

Let's take note of our intentions this week, this day, this moment, and watch the magic unfold.

Peace of Mind

We talk about having peace of mind when it comes to safety, healthcare, financial security, and a lot of other things. We purposefully put measures in place - checks and balances - in various parts of our lives to ensure that we mitigate or eliminate concern so we can go freely about our lives in other capacities.

Many of us are distracted by our own routines, jobs, workout schedules, volunteering, paying bills, caring for others, home/chores, etc., that true peace of mind may escape us for long periods of time. We may constantly be worried about getting everything done, how others perceive us, or some variety of persistent thoughts. 

What if we were to elaborate on the concept of peace of mind, and increase its priority to be in every aspect of our lives? At first it may seem daunting, and when we consider for a moment what peace of mind looks like in all ares of our lives, of course, most anyone would want that.

Where does peace of mind come from - what is it driven by?  Do we claim or pursue peace of mind to allay fears versus opening up to the wonder and goodness of this world?  How do we keep this seemingly protective layer in place so we and others can be mindful of our own and each others' peace? 

Obtaining and maintaining peace of mind requires:

• Awareness of all our emotions and thoughts and addressing those emotions and thoughts to fully let go of them. Yes, although this can be a bit time consuming initially, it will become easier as we continue the practice. 

• Permission - us giving ourselves permissions to not only take the time to reflect and process what we need to mentally and emotionally, but also permission to let go, trust, and allow ourselves to truly be in the moment releasing any concern. 

• Commitment to ourselves that we are worth the investment of time, attention, and growth.

Peace of mind may be subjective and personal, so feel free to take some time to identify what peace of mind feels and looks like to us individually and collectively. Then dare to bring that peace of mind with the help of our angels and guides to clear the path of experiencing peace of mind as a gift to ourselves on a daily basis. If we employ the assistance of others too, this peace of mind concept may very well be contagious. 

Earth Angel Bailey

I met Bailey last year at a riding barn. She is a beautiful buckskin mare who requires a bit more TLC and understanding than other horses at the barn. She enjoys her space and does what she can to set boundaries when she feels she needs to. Despite that others consider her to have a nuisance attitude, I have developed a unique connection with this horse. I trust her on a level I didn't know existed. I feel safe with her and I believe she does with me. She has truly marked a spot in my heart just for her.

Recently I experienced an extraordinarily trying day emotionally which caught me incredibly off guard and I wasn't handling any of the experiences with grace. The next day, though, carrying significant residuals from the day before, I went to the barn.

There are many days when I am at the barn and I don't see Bailey. There are also many time I pass her stall and she may or may not acknowledge me outwardly. But this day was different. I walked another horse to the field and as I turned around, there was Bailey - her head outside her stall, I felt as though she had something to say.  So I walked over, happy for a moment with her. We said our hellos and I simply stood with her - her head close to my shoulder as I pet her neck and withers. She sighed a big sigh, as if to let me know everything was going to be ok. She stayed with me - not once distracted by other people, or noises. She was with me in the moment. And I was with her. Although the time passed was probably less than five minutes, I firmly believe she helped remove a heaviness within me. I know the space we shared was meaningful and I am grateful for the exchange.

Thank you, Bailey, for being my angel that day.

Ask and it shall be Given

Not too long ago I was at the airport, 4 AM, and less than enthusiastic about my trip. I saw a long travel day ahead of me and while I was looking forward to my destination, I was feeling daunted by the trip itself, consistent life pressures, and a barrage of  impatient self talk. I had stopped to purchase a drink and as I slowly walked back to my gate, I remember asking my vast unseen helpers for assistance to make it through the next 12 hours.

As I approached the general area of my gate's waiting space something on the ground caught my eye. Initially, I stepped past it before it caught up with my brain to stop and investigate. I turned around and bent down to pick up a Mother Mary medal - just the medal. Someone must have dropped it in their rush or perhaps it had fallen from their chain. I looked around for the owner but there was no one was in sight. I then marvelled at the medal in my hand and what it represented to me. The Spanish version of the Hail Mary prayer was etched on the back and Mary in all her glory illuminated the front. I was almost brought to tears with the perceived answer to my request for support. I was comforted and held by my angels and by the Divine Mother, who no doubt accompanied me on that specific journey through completion.