Burnt umber…..

I believe your past
shapes you
 
and may even
color you in
 
I prefer to
color outside
the lines

A good use of space.....

Calm, like love, comes when you make a place for it

Public Service Announcement…

Fear or love
Life basically boils down to one or the other state. When you have fear of love? You're screwed.

Yesterday is gone. Make experiences that are joyful now, today, this minute. Love yourself and the people around you. Love nature, love experiencing the smallest thing. Be happy. Life is too short to be miserable. Misery loves company yes, but the company you attract by being miserable is well….miserable company.

No matter how brief...
The pain of a heart broken

is worth the experience
of a heart filled to bursting

The company you attract by being joyful is the best company you can imagine. It's company that is light and lighted and sometimes so bright you just gotta wear shades.

This has been a public service announcement.

*steps off soapbox*

Now I'm gonna go hug some trees. You're all welcome to join me.

*skips happily off*

Turn, turn, turn

Let yourself be open and life will be easier - Buddha

I've been on a journey for the last two years toward regaining balance in my life between health, happiness, creative fulfillment and satisfying the basic needs of the body.

The BIGGEST thing that I have learned is that you create your own experiences. Loving yourself and surrounding yourself with love and only loving positive people is the only way to live a healthy life. Meditation, prayer, exercise, being hugged and laughing are daily needs, not something that you do if you get around to it when everything else is done.

Parents especially often leave themselves last in the list of people to nurture.

So today I'm reminding everybody to nurture themselves first, it's not selfish, it's just good common sense.

Fall is a great time to explore new things. To let old habits die off with the leaves falling from the trees, to take winter as a restorative time for the soul and to look forward to the renewal of spring.

He who knows others is learned; he who knows himself is wise - Lao-Tzu

Take time to know yourself and be happy.

Namaste

Eye on the prize

Is the thing that I’m doing now, this instant, making me happy?

Is it moving my life forward in some way?

If I let it go, will my life have more quiet?

What’s stopping me?

Enlightenment

Buddha came to me in a dreamI was searchingopening doors
The things I saw were not the things I soughtI opened a door to a halla woman insidefamiliara friend before unmetinstantly trusted
She invited me to her classroomI chatteredthen was still
In the room was an entityshe beckoned him to join uswe lay on the floorthe small of my back across her legs

I felt his overwhelming presence
He bowed over my feethis hands open
his heart more so
I felt his intentI felt his powerI felt his love
I attempted to place my hands
in enlightenment mudra position
at my heart
My fingers would not/could not come together
I attempted againand yet againat first frustratedthen relaxing
And suddenly they metall was easyso easily understood
He placed his hands on my feet
The world stoppedbecame smallcontained only we three
The teacherthe conduitthe student
My body was overwhelmed with energy
I felt squeezedas though two giant squeegees
one front, one backhad traversed my bodyhead to toe
Cleansing all pain and despair from my soul
I looked at his facehe was beautiful
I looked at her faceshe was beautiful
I saw myselfI was beautiful
I awokeI am whole

Ten Minute Kaleidoscope

I spy a long rectangular patch of bright sun caressing my living room floor.

Off I dash to get my purple quilt, my silky mat on which I do daily yoga.

I capture the visiting beam and lie down, face up, fully intending to go into corpse pose and sink into silent, soul refreshing , heart centering, glorious, deep breathing, total relaxation.

The warm sun full in my face, a myriad of blurry colors and patterns reminiscent of a kaleidoscope reflect through my lashes.

I repeatedly open and shut my eyes, examining all the stages in between.

The rainbows alter; I find the best colors are at eyelids half mast.

Relaxing into corpse pose I entertain myself a fleeting moment with my kaleidoscopic lashes.

Too soon, the sun shifts, the colors fade, the experience is over, I resume my day.

Smiling, I hug the memory to myself as a freely given delight; a tiny present from the universe.

I bask daylong in the recall of this ethereal phenomenon, this surprisingly colorful tiny pleasure.

A pleasure born only from a willingness to pause my day, a seamless meshing of my eyelashes, the right window, the right moment, and the perfect strength of springtime sun.