A New Start

Okay, so something went wrong.  What I wanted didn’t show up as expected.

If it’s, in fact, a Loving Universe, that means I didn’t thwart my progress for some unknown reason.  It wasn’t because I’m not good enough, either.  All of that is a lie.

In truth, it’s just a part of the process as I wind my way through this journey.  All is well.   I don’t need to dwell on the sad stories about how I messed up in the past, things never go my way, this always happen to me . . .

I can pray for help in washing away those stories.  And I can dream up new ones.  Anything I choose.  Like maybe there’s something even better coming!

Release the stress, worry and pressure.  I don’t need it.  All is well.  The Universe is Loving and looking out for me.  I’m not going to get what I want any faster by fretting about it.

Believe only good comes to me.

Stay Open for whatever arrives.

Let Go of a need for it to look a certain way.

Detach from expectations.

See if I can ask even more specifically for what I want.  Make my intention even clearer.  Renew and refresh my plans, looking for new ways.  Prepare myself to receive.  Breathe deeply and freely.  Remind myself I can.  Keep telling Good Stories.

Rest Easy.    Welcome.    Be Willing.

A Small Slice of Summer Allowing

How good it feels to relax and let go.  To not be attached to time – even  psychological time.  Doing what you feel, when you feel it.  Sleeping, eating, resting.  Not pulled down by things having to be a certain way.  Not shaped within the confines of the structure of time, it lengthens.  The days last longer. It feels like it’s late afternoon and it’s only 1:30. 

I tune into the rhythms of nature, the leaves moving easily in the breeze.  The sun meandering its way through the trees. It feels a bit like my body systems are moving slower, too.  As if floating on the rise and fall of a wave, gently rolling.  I don’t seem to be striving for anything. 

Is it time now to shift gears? No, I’m in the same gear I was when I woke up.  When was that anyway?  As if I’m reclining on a comfy chair, with nowhere to be at any particular time.  Does it make me clearer or foggier?  I cannot yet say. I wonder what it will feel like when I leave this place?

Like lifting off your feet in water, trusting it to keep you afloat.  Allowing the breeze to touch your skin without cringing in cold. Suddenly all those things that were making me feel tight and constricted have flittered away like the butterflies from the Mexican Sunflowers.

The icy goodness of a cool, fruity beverage slides down my throat like a caterpillar through the grass. It eases the heat like bare feet through wet grass.

Things that once seemed so important are forgotten as I ponder the sunlight shifting or the flight path of the butterfly.  Everything seems far away and quiet.

Now I get up gently to get in the water, just ’cause I feel like it. There is something so freeing about the feel of the water supporting and surrounding me.  I lift off the bottom of the pool and I float, trusting.  I have a real sense of now. Being outside of time.  Without wanting or needing it to be any different than it is.

Gifts

It’s important during this Holidaze season to practice infinite patience with yourself.  Give yourself the gift of self care.  Just being more kind to yourself. People tend to want to make everything happen perfectly, while still doing the “usual.”  It’s just not possible.

Detach from worry about what can’t be controlled.  Or a need for things to look a certain way, or happen at a certain time.   Be willing to say it’s okay, even if it’s not all you hoped it would be.

This is a good time to give yourself the gift of just taking a breath once in a while and checking  in.  Ask yourself how you’re feeling.  What do you need?  Slow down when you can, when you don’t have to be at high speed.  Surely there are moments for that.

Think about giving a special gift to others. Listen to what you are saying. Is it what you truly want to say?  Can you be more careful with your words?

Remember that you are always doing your best.  Appreciate all the gifts you have.  Remember what the holiday is really about.

Alan Cohen reminds us, “Your gift to the world is not what you buy or do.  Your gift is your happiness.”

Elizabeth O’Connor added, “We do not experience ourselves as a gift until we are engaged in the act of creating.”

Take heed of the gifts which really matter.