SACRED

It is with pause, that I take an observers view of what we believe is sacred.  As an individual, like, yet unlike any other.  As we are slipped into our skin, we are given with our first breath.......LIFE!  We are intrinsically imbued with a mind and a spirit that carries with it an original blueprint we can call our own.  some of which is our mothers, and her ancestry, some of our fathers and his.  Their DNA runs deep throughout our being, which can be prized as "Royal", or "Dammed" by disease.  but, there is something else here........a uniqueness of not only where I am raised, or by whom, during a particular period of time or culture.  Whether we are born into money or are dirt poor.

Our individuality is formed by our singular point of view, through making choices in our own scenery with our own free will.  From our earliest age we are unique, from the calm and complacent child, to the willful, thrill seeker.  A culmination of many ingredients, combined with an additional secret flavor of our own.  Others made the stock to our soup, yet we change the flavor and texture, some by accident and much by choice.

There in lies the question...........why do we not treat our bodies, minds & spirit with care and respect, as the sacred temples that we dwell in? For it is the only vehicle we have to make the journey.  When all else slips away, this is all you are left with.  This then begs the question, why do we not treat others as they too are sacred?

We are all too willing to give it up and tear it down, misuse and abuse this sacred place we call our own.  If someone gave you a precious diamond to take care of.........we would be so very careful, not to damage it, or lose it and would protect it from harm or theft from another.  You would never put it in the hands of someone you didn't know or trust?    Would you?   Are we not as precious as a stone?

Love is the driving force that grows the spirit and expands all possibilities.  Loving ourselves without ego, knowing that there lies within every human being a purpose, unique as a snowflake.  Our life, body & mind are sacred temples, waiting for acknowledgment with love, knowing how precious it all is!

Experience Nature

Our daily lives follow well-worn paths, only occasionally do we deviate outside of our habitual run and experience the world as a whole.  I challenge you to experience something new, awe inspiring and simply breathtaking.  Most lessons can be learned through observing nature in its intricate perfection.

Last year a close friend called me all excited about a "LIVE WEBCAM" of two magnificent bald eagles nesting in the Pacific Northwest.  OMG! How incredibly gorgeous!  Whenever I had a moment over several months, I observed these two eagles, a pair of many years.  First, they prepared and cleaned the old nest, then, she laid her eggs.  I then patiently watched as they shared incubating their precious brood until they hatched.  Realizing their daily struggle in keeping them fed, warm and safe was an intricate dance, not unlike our own.  Actually seeing the chicks in real time, hatch and struggle to grow through all odds with diligent doting parents, so those who survived would also become magnificent and free to soar, was an incredible gift.  The pair is back and starting all over. 

Zaplive.tv and wildearth.tv.  Live webcams of eagles, falcons, a bear den with a cub, African bush and other remote natural locations.  ENJOY!

Persevere

Don't give up!  It has been a long and arduous year for most, compounded by personal trials and loss that we go through on a daily basis in our lives.  Our minds being overwhelmed, our bodies changing with time and abuse to the point of not recognizing our reflection as it once was as we pass a window, and our spirit  bewildered by how fast it has all gone.  Have I done my best?  Have I fulfilled my purpose?  Have I lived my life with passion?  All difficult, having not realized it was going to be so hard.

It's not too late!  Make a conscious decision today to persevere!  There may be no praise or adulation on your mission.  No matter how scared, lonely, weak and painful it might be.  I CAN, I WILL, I MUST, carry on.

You will find strength in your conviction, and the seeds of hope and dreams long sowed in the earth of your soul, will inextricably begin to grow, and will be nurtured by unseen powers and strengths from deep within your being.  PERSEVERE!

Defining Ourselves

Face it, we are a sum total of our past experiences.  Where we grew up, who raised us, did we have siblings, were we poor, middle class, or come from great wealth.  Were we born in some foreign more primitive culture, a suburban community or in a large cosmopolitan city.  No matter, we are in reaction to what we were exposed to, what we were taught by our parents, teachers, race, religion, peers and the cultural time and place in which we have been exposed.

Who we are in the moment is defined by emotional and experiential imprinting from our past.  The memorable moments of loss, fear, anger, humiliation, etc., are what we are left with.  Our actions and reactions are in response to learned behavior.  Understanding who we are in our journey toward self awareness is aided by realizing our defining experiences that helped mold us.

It is the memorable identification of pivotal moments throughout our life that defines who we are.  Moments and experiences that changed our direction, our desires, hopes and dreams.  Identifying the root of an emotion and when it took place allows us to see the source of an action and reactions we have in the present.  Example:  I went to see my first broadway play at 9 years old, right then and there I realized I wanted to be an actor.

Make a list of 12 pivotal experiences that you remember through your life, that changed your view.  From your earliest recollections to the present, recording what happened, the emotion, and what it left you with.

Winter

Yes, it is upon us, the short, gray, cold and slippery days of winter, I love them.  Our lives parallel nature, congruent with all its magnificent beauty and stark contrasts, we are the same.  We begin our calendar year in the interior of our homes, close to all that is reflective of our lives and memories.  Nature too has retreated from the naked eye; although, there is much work in progress in her resounding silence.  I too am healing, through quiet introspection, going deeper and getting nourishment from all I know to be true.  The winter season is all in preparation of spring, so I may grow further and stronger than last season.  I am well aware of the necessity of stillness, before growth and contemplative assessment of my path.

Take winter on with the knowing of the strength that lies dormant in its silence.  Do not curse the cold or short gray days, and bring it on I say!  Let me feel the crisp cold air through my nostrils and see my breath in exhale.  It is difficult to not feel alive when the wind lashes at your cheek.  I then relish in the sharing of the coziness of home and the comfort of hot soup.  It is with clarity that I emerge from my den, ready to embark on a new journey, pockets stuffed with knowledge brought forth through my contemplative hibernation.  Live in gratefulness for the season of the foundation of all new growth.

COMPASSION

It is easy to judge, characterize, separate, divide, label and distance ourselves from others.  Different country, far away, out of sight, that's their problem, they caused it, they're weak.  Reasons that we allow ourselves to turn a " blind eye".  We have become a world of separation due to our inability to put another's shoes on and walk in their path.  Their path may have traveled entirely different than yours, but God imbued us all with the same range of emotions and sensations.  We all bleed when we're cut, and we all cry tears of sadness.

How soon we forget what we felt like, being criticized, ignored for one reason or another through our lives, and how deeply harsh words cling and ignorant glances tear.  Through all of our "Evolvement", how insensitive and impatient we have become to not only the world, but the universe that dwells within each individual.

Compassion is a merciful act that binds and unites us all as beings that feel pain, breath the same air, bath under the same sun and travel the same emotional highway.  Compassion brings forth acts of kindness and refrains from judging in realizing, "I am you!".  Respectful and conscious approach to the sensitivity of others.  A compassionate heart is filled with awareness outside of one's own realm and feels sorrow for another's sorrow and joy in bringing a smile to a stranger.  Compassion looks into the eyes of another, and treats others as they themselves would want to be treated.  Look, listen and acknowledge the pain and suffering that we all undergo in our humanness, nurturing our children, marriages and relationships with compassion inherently embraces peace and love.  Living compassion brings freedom from regrets.

Blue Moon Rising

One of my most favorite things in life is a full moon, on a clear cold snow filled landscape.  When you can see the outline to every branch and twig reflected on the snow below.  It's as if there was even more clarity in this moon lit night, than when the sun is shinning at mid-day.  On this starless night, the moon is bright, bright on a velvet black background.  The bright clear contrast of my own shadow as my companion, with the stillness of night.  I can hear............

A blue moon is a rare moon.  It's when a full moon happens twice in a one-month cycle.  That's only every 2.75 years. Next one is December 2 and 31 of 2009.  How cool.

There's a chance that the sky will be clear and that there will be snow on the ground, or maybe not.  After December of 09 the next blue moons will be in August of 2012, and July of 2015!  Catching a blue moon in winter is truly a rare occurance.

Although out of sync, there is a blue moon rising right now.  Upon a very black background of life, there's a very white bright light reflecting down upon us, so that we might have clarity, and see the elongated outline of our lives up against the stark cold snow.  May the light be here long enough to hear our hearts, without ego and have a knowing of what is our correct path.  While the light of the blue moon only lasts a short period of time, we can easily see the contrast with clarity of our reality.  A wonderful clarity, that only happens in the stillness of our own night and reflection of a light greater than our own.  A night that brings, gratefulness, humility and a new engagement to the beautiful simplicities in our lives during our own blue moon.