Equinox Blessings Of Balance

Namaste this Equinox & Rosh Hashanah New Year Day!

In the Jewish New Year tradition, the ram’s horn is blown and apples are dipped in honey to intend and affirm a sweet life. In the Wicca celebration of Equinox, here it is the first day of fall with a Mabon harvest celebration and on the other side of the world, Ostara shines the birth of spring. This is the day of equal dark and light when the sun is directly above the equator, a balance point marking the turning of the wheel. From our New Thought Families Inspiration & Calendar pages, this marking of time has other cultural and religious manifestations and celebrations including these:

Shinto Shuki-sorei-sai
A memorial service similar to the March equinox service (Shunki-sorei-sai), this day is marked by the cleaning and purification of gravesites and the reverence of ancestors as kami, or divine spirits.

Buddhist Ohigon
A celebration of the equinox that is of particular importance to Japanese, Korean, and Tibetan Buddhists.  During this festival, the six Paramitas [virtues] are emphasized: generosity, morality, wisdom, honesty, endeavor, and patience.

Native American Autumn Feast
A day to honor the harvest end and the coming and going of the seasons, including prayers, songs, and the telling of tribal stories. 

Ritual and holi-days are ways we can re-align with the shine of our divine design. Even just taking a bird’s eye view like this of traditions that belong to others can help to inspire us. We all share the same sky and this equal time of sun and moon so it is an optimal time … to look at time. And BALANCE! And choices. Who do we give our time, talent, and treasure to? What energies are we feeding?For those of us who celebrate the New Year on January 1st, there are 100 days left now in this 2017! Those of us who live mindfully, awake and aware, this blessing of balance and the turning of the wheel is an opportunity to re-evaluate and intend for that sweet life. Sometimes this means making needed adjustments. Revisit the resolutions, if you made them. For those, like me, who do a lot, always good to take a grateful stock of what is & what has been, as well as what’s ahead. As parents, of children, (and some of us) of our own parents, milestones and markers are based on them and their lives. Tonight, my 17 year old Jeremiah is in the homecoming court at school. We are in the midst of college application preparations and Jeremiah is taking a crazy load of courses + drama and band. I am that mom helping with all of it as I also do for my parents, especially my dad, as well as tend to many of the facets of work that call to me, in part preparing for the big job of mom that comes with the child support paycheck to be past me in the circle of time. To that aim, our new Creative Spirit Families local studio began it’s first Creativity Classes & ChildSing this week, YAY! And! I have gotten back to my list of new alliteration titles that inadvertently got put on hold. Yay for Letter T! I am also in the midst of digitizing a re-illustration of a vintage Laurie Story about Hazel the tree to be shared at Spiritual Life Center this Sunday and onto the Free Shelf of the Leaping Literacy Library for the last week of September!Getting back to my Laurie StorEBooks needed to happen though, admittedly, juggling all that I do can be physically exhausting. For all of us, in this abundant culture, our fast paced lives compounded by the stresses of our global family, can really be all too much. Sooooooooooo … balance beckons! Doing what we can for our loved ones, our global family, and our own heart’s desires is a balancing act. We pray for so many devastated by hurricane, fire, earthquake. We give financially or otherwise if possible. There’s the other insanities of humanity playing out through world leaders, rebels causing genocide, hundreds of thousands of new refugees just in the last few weeks … whoa! BREATHE! BALANCE! As my Mabon song sings, “We rest in the dark, we renew in the light …”

Somehow … we find our balance in the turning of the wheel. For each of us, it is different. As Abraham Hicks and others teach, our feelings are a compass. Generally, when we feel stressed, we are out of balance. We either:

1. Think something or someone should be different than they are.
2. Think the way the situation is dictates what or how we are.
3. Think we do not have the power to change it.

We are well served to bring Byron Katie’s ‘The Work’ to any or all of those thoughts beginning with the question, “Is it true?”

In taking on the new studio, I have had to re-align with the pace of grace and the art of allowance. As a spiritual being, this is the only way to do so much and still be … Truly, “It is not I but the Spirit within me that doeth the work.” Of course, there have been many moments of messiness yet the more I allow grace, the more I am gratefully and abundantly flowing! In this balance of do and be, I am living my best me! At Spiritual Life Center last Sunday, our celebration of oak trees looked at how oaks, like no other tree allow insects of all kinds to breed upon them. Some of the oak balls or galls come from wasps laying their eggs in the bark. The tree forms the gall to protect itself and in turn protects the eggs. A beautiful blesson of oneness! For our art trees, we had puzzle pieces and the little turning of the wheel pastas to add ~ all of our beautiful children created very different, gorgeous trees.

And so it is that we create from the balanced blessings of our lives; integrating all we can of the good and the bad, the dark and the light, the sweetness and the bitterness, all found on the wheel. Here’s hoping that each of us and all of us are able to keep coming into the allowance of grace so we may indeed live the highest heart of humanity ~ no matter what the calamity! Namaste, Love!

Balance Beckons

Namaste bright, blooming beacons of beauty!

The last 10 days since I was here in blogland have been an amazing mix of beauty & horror, sorrow and joy. Our mindful meditation moment here and now centers on the oneness of all of it and how balance, sweet balance is the beckoning in how and what we make of this life experience. Truly, we choose our perspective and that is a powerful precipice in which to perch.

The big news at the heart of all that has transpired here is The Butte Fire which had just started at my last post. On 9/11, it became hugely apparent what a big wildfire this was with so many of our neighbors evacuated from their homes, power outages, displaced animals and scores of helping angels stepping up and in to help. I was *so* reminded of *the* 9/11 when I was on the last plane out of Sacramento, CA at 6:00 a.m. with 18 month old Jeremiah on my lap. The intensity of that experience came back to me on *this* 9/11 more in the wake of the way people around me were awakened … awakened to the kinship of who we are. Everyone in the grocery store was talking to each other … really talking … to know how we all were doing and what we needed. I hugged quite a few little known neighbors to convey my support. As the days have progressed, we now know that 545+ homes were lost though most if not all were in our neighboring Calaveras County. Some of these folks work here and are known to us though all of them need the help of a neighbor. When Creative Spirit Families was approached to help, of course I said yes, you can join that effort here.
There are so many ways we can support each other. In times of crisis, the goodness of our humanity rises and it is a beautiful thing. I was also shocked to hear of looters found going in evacuated homes so as a balance point, we must realize that the depths of despair can also arise in these times. Certainly the fear and suffering was palpable … not only from humans but all of the life lost in the 71,000+ acres burned. And there are other neighbors only a few hours away in CA suffering the same devastation in the Valley Fire. So, most of us are called to restoration … how can we help?! Certainly donated goods & money + displays and demonstrations of gratitude for the firefighters that came from far and near …
Yet I offer that an important balance point is also for us who have not lost to continue living and vibrating our joy. Our September monthly PlayShop strove for that very contribution. Originally scheduled at a nearby lake that was in the thick of where the fire started, it looked like it was going to be cancelled like all else that weekend when even gathering in the local park was out due to smoke. I took it to Spirit in my morning meditation and followed the guidance to ask our neighbors for use of the Methodist church. He immediately reached in his pocket and handed me the key. Instead of making mobiles and wind chimes, we made gratitude signs to join the others popping up around here.

And! We celebrated Equinox ~ equal night, the time of balance is coming this week 9/23 ~ and balance in our lives. Our yogi Keith drove a few hours to be with us! We did a bit of yoga …
And! Our small group of 17 went on an inner treasure hunt of listening and guidance with fun surprises tucked around that blessed social hall. One of our families was evacuated and it was a time of community, creativity, play and fun for them and all of us. We all found the vibration of joy to uplift our Spirits if even for that little while. Yes, collectively and creatively, we changed our perspective and hopefully helped lift the Spirits of others in our hurting communities. So, yes as kindred Spirits in the oneness of creation, of course we feel each other’s pain; compassion in action is the natural reaction! It is indeed a silver lining that tragedy reawakens this within our often sleepy consciousness. One of the gifts for me was a small sense of what the Syrian and other refugees were fleeing when the planes and helicopters were loudly flying overhead constantly for 1 or 2 days in particular. These planes over my head were helping angels. Yet I felt the fear that went with their presence and coupled with the news of homes being destroyed by fire, it helped me know, just a miniscule fragment of what it must be like to live in a war zone, to have ‘home’ destroyed and to need to leave to seek a better life. The refugee crisis is just one of many in our world today and this fire in our backyard helped me feel a deeper kinship with them. Because, truly we are all One. And! An important compassion in action step for me is to step out of my empathic place of sorrow with and for the pain of others and live the joy that I am blessed with. Yes, be aware and send prayer. Yes, take whatever giving steps I can to help. And yes, live the joy I am blessed with. Here I am from this last weekend showing some of my photography and art with other wonderful local artists in a county wide ‘Open Studios’. It was a gift to the county I think in it’s time of healing. It was a joy to be with other artists and an overall good celebration of this part of my soul expressed. It was also a personal remembrance to me of the preciousness of my time and energy and my personal need for balance.

It is all too true that for everything we say yes to, we are saying no to a myriad of other things! In the midst of being in my art love last week, I spent some hours at the hospital with dad and the school with Jeremiah … our lives are always unfolding in our moments made of choices and perspectives!

Yay for art and photos on display!

A new piece speaks of family and divine order all lined up!

And the transformations of life go on … September’s daily Play & Pray Calendar at New Thought Families is all about transformation celebrations. Remember with us here!

Jeremiah and I are giving a concert this Saturday at the El Cerrito Free Folk Festival and gearing up to present an In Our Hands Performance PlayShop, Compassion In Action, at the Parliament of World Religions next month in Salt Lake City ~ you can still go to this amazing event!

Meanwhile, the Leaping Literacy Online Library is still in beta testing … wanna help?! We want YOU! Any helping angels reading this who are called to peruse the Library NOW, give us useful feedback over the coming weeks and enJOY a full year’s free Library Membership, submit the form on our Beta Tester page! We gratefully invite you in for this win-win as we begin again!
Our weekly Free Shelf where we feature fun freebies from each section of our Leaping Literacy Online Membership Library is featuring a book from each section this week! SoulPlay Playmate Marsha Therese Danzig reads her book, The Tiniest Acorn along with 3 Laurie StorEBooks ~ enJOY!

Thanks so much for being here for this sharing … your presence is such a gift! May whatever else you are saying yes to this day, this time, be a blessing to you and others as we ripple our experiences into the oneness of our humanness with the balance that is always beckoning. Namaste, Love!

 

Love Expressed: Balance In Oneness

Life is always expressing yesness ~in balance & oneness!

Namaste brave branches of the tree of Life!
May this moment find you in heart connection with all that is! As the seasonal wheel turns us back & forward towards Equinox, we look to the wisdom of balance. Yin & Yang, the Tao, dark & light, male & female, etc. all translated into decisions of time and calendarizing. When we prioritize something onto our calendar, I call that calendarizing. This is a continued process of balance for all of us between family, work, friends, community, and personal needs. Sometimes us (single) moms put our personal needs so far down on the list, we never quite get there. I am getting better at calendarizing me time but it is a dance. And there’s the dance of resistance which I still tango with all too often! So what about you? What are you calendarizing & how are you keeping it in balance?!

Keeping play in balance!

Sometimes the unexpected events of life throw us off balance ~ like losing our friend Ranger Bob as we spoke of last week. Sometimes, it is a much slower process like it is with my son becoming a teenager. For the most part, he is still an amazing human. Yet, there are those13 year old, Jr. High moments like when he passionately expounded on how the Velcro shoes were a grievous offence. At such moments, my confused heart, mind & soul wonders, “Who are you and what have you done with my son?” I made the mistake of actually saying that out loud the other day and the impassioned response from him was anything but balanced. Sigh. But within a short period of time, we were indeed back in heart balance. Blessedly, because of our lifetime spiritual practice I believe, we do seem to bounce back from hormonal moments (his & mine!) into a place of heart connection. Still, I have found myself grieving life as we knew it as I embrace the circle of life & the man he is becoming. Herein lies the balance of oneness for as Spirit beings, we all embody all stages of our life here simultaneously!

Every stage of life ~ All One!

Our journey is further challenged these days by physically ailing elders. Heart troubles, neck surgery, strong drugs & side effects ~ so much to this medical system that Star Trek called ‘barbaric’ ~ I do think that Star Trek has it right ~ some years from now, humanity will say the medicine of today was barbaric at best. With a new system of healing the body with energy and clearing the heart of (emotional) pain, it does indeed make screws, plates, and chemical pills with life threatening side effects seem at the least outdated. Still and all, we are one with all of it. Before & during my mom’s neck surgery, I prayed for the surgeon’s hands … filled with light and healing as they set about their ‘barbaric’ tasks. I don’t have to agree or believe in the method, to be at one with the desired result of healing. Love expressed ~ every bit of it! Again, herein is the balance. We walk the fine line of choice everyday ~ what we choose for ourselves and how we choose to show up for others even, and especially when we don’t agree with their choices. This balance of oneness = unconditional Love.

Jeremiah & Grandpa Harry seeing eye to eye in Virginia City, NV

Our Mindful Meditation Invitation last week was to look at all the ways we are connected ~ we asked who do you sense is part of your journey even if you cannot see or talk to them in human form? Did you give that any mindful attention? I found myself more aware of how ‘everything talks to me’ and of the conscious choice to listen (or not!) and to give it meaning (or not!). I am grateful to know that everything truly is here for my highest good and I can choose to see all of life that way. I can also see all sides of a matter in oneness blessed balance if I so choose. For this week’s Mindful Meditation Invitation, let us see how we can integrate the ‘bad’ & ‘good’ side of things for the highest good in oneness blessed. Further, can we see it all as one magical miracle?!

“There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle.” – Albert Einstein

Bee One!

Our New Thought Families September’s theme is Oneness Blessed. Visit our multimedia, daily Play & Pray Calendar for playful & prayerful practice moments of daily remembrance. Our calendar is a retro one re-visited with Jeremiah’s younger voice of innocence & wisdom. The calendar also features many fine photos like the one above from fab photographer Michel Kotski of Third Eye Photo Creations ~ thank you Michel! And thank you, blessed branch on this living tree of Love. I am so grateful for this mindful moment of sharing. Now, I’m off to the pharmacy in service to a loved one, irrespective of what I think of the errand itself! May your travels this week be full of Love expressed in oneness blessed balance. Namaste Love!

Beach Blessings

Namaste this Mindful MONDAY!

Beach Blessings from my early morning walk on Brigantine Beach this morning! I was reminded of perspective, balance of light & dark, choices, chances, voices.

In the midst of the early morning splendor & beauty, there were biting flies. I was present to both but definitely noticed my judgements. Been thinking a lot about judgements; a necessary part of life? Is judgement the same as discernment? Can we live as observer in unconditional Love & acceptance of all that is in any given moment? Yes … AND we get to choose lots of things about our moments! Such is the gift of free will.

I continue to lean into the choices & voices within me. The update on my mid-life re-organization & subsequent relocation goes like this:
We are travelling another week, now back to Jeremiah’s dad’s house from the beautiful beach weekend … flying to the Sierras on Thursday & on to the Feathers Of Faith Family Camp until Sunday. My friend who we stayed with at her shore house urged me to contact my landlady who as it turns out has not rented our place yet. Due to  ongoing uncertainties including money … I told her we were staying TFN … that I might let her know of a move upon her return from a Europe vacation mid August and that I would give her 30 days either way. Still feeling it’s time to go but appreciating the safety net and embracing the unfolding process with trust.

I have been working on freedom from judgement for some time. With my 50th birthday coming mid-November, I have been saying the # all year so I can slip into it with grace when the day comes. To be sure, many of the self judgements I can indulge in are harmful at best. But what about the judgements of where & how to live as our highest expressions of Love? It remains my prayer … I left it in the sand this morning gently erased by the waves and witnessed by the clouds & rising sun.

Our Mindful Meditation Invitation this last week was to continue to listen to our guidance with the intention to align & see the miracles of manifestation unfolding moment by moment. As we embrace this next week’s Invitation, let’s navigate with our GPS (God Positioning System), the place of judgement on our mindful maps. As we enter into August, we continue our Sacred Summer of Celebration Moments  & our Play & Pray Calendar will feature signs ~ more sacred symbols for our journeys! Namaste, Love … happy trails!