Spring Things Alive & Bright ~ Reverent Remembrances!

Namaste Meditative Minds & Brave Hearts ~ Circle of Life Alive & Bright!
Glad Greetings this Mindful Monday! We are celebrating Spring ~ Equinox 3/19, Easter 3/31, Palm Sunday hailing Holy Week and dad’s 2 year departure date anniversary, 3/24. Whew! No wonder this post took me more than a minute. I vlogged and blogged most of this on the 24th yet it took well into the 25th to get here. So! It’s here and NOW so let’s hop to it! Thank you, thank you for joining me; let’s be wHOLY centered in this celebration circle of Life!

On this 2 year anniversary date of my dear ‘ol dad’s departure, I am SO reminded to keep finishing what I start and to commit and re-commit to all I choose to do as me, Laurie Story V. May my life be an incarnation celebration for the Love that created me, expressing as me ~ may my humaness be Love blessed, yes expressed!

From February’s Love letters found here:
https://leapingliteracy.com/LoveLetters/LoveLetters.html

And so it is that the Circle of Life and Love bring us to this moment; the top of Holy Week, Spring/Autumn, Birth/Death, Seeds, Gold, Rainbows, Bunnies, oh my! Let’s Play & Pray in this 3/24/24 reverent & playful Vlog:

This vlog is a voluminous 24 minutes on the 24th day and year. So! If you just need a blessedly brief spring salutation invitation, got you clovered, click this one!

The egg altar in the video above joins many other spring invitations here. My home has been enJOYing some Spirit Rising UPliftment this month including a visit from Mr. and Mrs Clover who came to visit on Equinox! Their video is linking this week with more Om Home invitations on our Leaping Literacy Library Spring page.

There are SO many Spring invitations hopping about here at home and in the Leaping Literacy Library. Our daily Play & Pray video calendar, Planting Seeds has us planting Love, Hope, Joy, Surrender … oohh, let’s DO today’s Reverence:

There are SO many ways to be reverent for this gift of life. Always centered in awareness and nurtured with gratitude, reverence provides us a good compass for our heart and soul. As I discuss in the vlog, our inner GPS< Grace Positioning System, is always a wise whisper away to bring us back to the center essence of our egg, ourselves embodied as that Love blessed, yes expressed.

Rabbit is center stage this week with lots of celebrations @ famlit.tv and here with other spotlighted spring things on our New Thought Families Mindful Multimedia page including the Spring Celebration Om HomETV show.

If you shared the 24/24/24 vlog with me, yippee skippee! If you want to hear some of those songs, yippee skippee x3! Ostara, Daddy’s Song, and Pot of Gold are linked below on the Site Blog! From the bottom of my egg to yours, thank you for singing along in the musical rainbow of my heart & soul song!

And! Before we go, let us send 1 breath of peaceful love into the world ~ aho!

Sent with the breath of this month’s full moon! (In this time zone, 3/25, 3:00 a.m.) Picture taken 3/24, 9:00 p.m.

Wherever you are, this holy moment in the Circle, I wish you Joyful Peace & Passionate Purpose that you are able to experience with reverence & express with happiness. Yippee Skippee! We truly be Love blessed, yes expressed!
Namaste, Love!

Ostara Playing Here!

Daddy’s Song Playing Here!

Pot of Gold Playing Here!

Believing In Breathing

Breathe deep in blessed belief!

Namaste Beautiful, Beloved, Believing, Breathing Beings!

I greet you in the name of the breath and yes expressed for the letter B and our ABCs of humanity! Can you take a deep breath of blessings with me? Here and now … this mindful moment … let’s just … breathe … our blessings. For sanity. For humanity.
Before I bombard you with the plethora of new and developing ABCs at Leaping Literacy and Creative Spirit Families, let’s breathe some more … big, bold, beautiful, centering breaths of yes … of Love expressed … of life itself.

The essence of human existence lives in the breath of life that breathes us. Whether or not we ever stop to think of it, we are always believing in breathing ~ without question! Ok, there’s asthma, and allergies, and colds, and other things that sometimes bring us into conscious connection with our lungs but mostly we just breathe day in and day out. Yet! Our breath can be one of our most powerful re-alignment tools ~ with our hearts, with our calm mind, with our blessings. Have you ever calmed yourself down with breathing? Have you ever garnered strength from a deep breath?
Taking a Brave Breath is included in the Believing In Breathing video in process for our expanding spiritual literacy library of transformational tools. So is making a Wish Breath … like you’re blowing out a candle on your birthday cake. Try that one now … make a wish aloud or in your mind and then breathe out. Then make your wish again and blow like you’re blowing out the candle … feels different in your body, mind, and Spirit … like a gentle gust of grace!

So! Bravo for breath and bravo for B! And A … and C! I am in the midst of them all at the moment as I stand my holy ground for balance … with plenty of aware allowance and conscious co-creation! With only 52 weeks in the calendar year, 26 letters and my commitment to getting to them all this sweet 16, I find myself on the brink of C already!

B meets C on tomorrow’s Play & Pray Calendar at New Thought Families!

The daily Play & Pray Calendar at New Thought Families is the one place where the alphabetic timeline is completely on track. I am loving all the (Pixabay) graphics, creating new calendar pages, and recording the audio with my teenage Jeremiah who turns sweet 16 himself in a few weeks. Arranged in 2 week increments, we fully embrace letter 3, the big C, this Saturday, the 30th. One of my goals is to incorporate lots of new, intergenerational voices into the calendar this year ~ how about you and yours?!

Our timeline is also clicking with some new songs breathing life into an old vision/project. Our Leaping Literacy Library Members can sing along with us as we add to a developing CD of Children’s Chants ~ Awake And Aware, Appreciation, Yes, I’m Blessed, Breathing … Ah!, I Believe, Creation Celebration, Centered … whew! We’re only 3 letters in … yippee!

And yes, videos too from the aforementioned Transformational Tools … Altars, Affirmations, Angels, Believing In Breathing, Blessing Box … Well, you get the picture. Lots at work and play.

It’s tempting to wonder about my sanity in all of this but I figure there are many ways to be yes Love expressed for humanity so why not play with ABCs of *spiritual* literacy?! And the truth is I feel most alive when I am (co)creating … even if I am mostly a bird singing in a forest not really sure *who* (you?!) can hear me!

January 30th Play & Pray Calendar!

And! If you can hang in with my Leaping Literacy Library updates a bit further, Physical Phonics songs A~Z have been added to the ChildSing section and I am SO happy to report more Laurie StorEBooks are being re-illustrated and newly initiated! Check out the old and new Dan as well as Animal Airplane!

OLD Dan!

Shiny NEW Dan!

Ooohh SO fun is this A saturation of animals flying with aviator Annie Alligator on Atlas Animal Airlines! Again, great gratitude for Pixabay where I was able to get gorgeous graphics to allow Annie’s airplane to come alive and soar! We’re still getting our Leaping Literacy Library formats done for Marvelous Members but you can see and hear more here and you can purchase it on Kindle if you want to ~ woo hoo!

Suffice to say there are A LOT of ABCs at work and play in all sections of Leaping Literacy Library … and I’m still trying to figure out the best ways to let folks know what we’re up to should our offerings serve them … not my favorite part of things … happy to be singing in the forest … yet my nest requires rent, utilities, etc. so maybe more tweets?!

By the way, have I mentioned to you that you can try out Leaping Literacy Library for free??!! If the content serves you and yours, it’s just $12 per month ~ wowie zowie!

And! In addition to all of our Leaping Literacy Library offerings, early bird registration is open for our annual summer Family Feathers Camp:
How beauty blessed would you be to join us this Awesome August in the sacred Sierras?! Breathe into it! I would love to put your name on your cabin and hold your space in the Circle Of Love that is Feathers Of Freedom Family Camp!

So! Yes I am breathing and hope that you are too ~ whatever you are beautifully co-creating this moment, this time. Before I bid you adieu, I must make 1 conscious confession from last week’s blog ~ I wasn’t able to be impeccable with my word and post the For Humanity video ~ too much technical difficulty. So I did something I’ve never done before … went in and changed last week’s post! Whaaaaat?! Ya, you can do that and it was kinda fun and freeing! The song MP3 is there … if you’re called, scroll down, listen in and sing along! I love the thought that you might. I love you. If you are reading this, I absolutely love you. And I feel deeply blessed that we have breathed in blessings together, thank you, thank you. Namaste, Love!

 

Beauty Blessed

Namaste Beloved Beings of Beautiful, Bountiful Blessings!

I greet you in the blessed name of all that is we truly be … holy divinity embodied in the realities of humanity. On the eve of this Martin Luther King Jr. holi ~ day, I sit with a musing mind and a humbled heart with how far we’ve come and how far we have yet to go in what it is to be in human community ~ humanity. The great Dr. King’s dream(s) echoes in all of our hearts as a reminder of what reverent vision and revision can bring to this beautiful planet home and all of us who inhabit it.
While most of us don’t dream as big as Dr. King, we all do have dreams and callings of our hearts. When we answer the call, and act on our dreams however big or small, we truly do bless ourselves, each other, and the whole world. The example of  Dr. King’s life is still such a beautiful blessing so many decades after his death. Thank you Dr. King! Our New Thought Families tribute page to this great one is here. The above picture is from today’s Play and Pray Calendar at New Thought Families where the blessings of bountiful Bs are gracing our days this week and next.

I am reminding myself that I am indeed a BEing in the midst of my doings! And that all I wanted to have done by this moment that is still in process is just part of the I Am that I Am. The one I will share is a song I wrote last week with the Spirit of Pete Seeger. I planned to have a music video of it done for today ~ in celebration recognition of Dr. King’s life and dreams, for our year long theme, For Humanity,  and for this Monday’s mindful musings. What I have is a work in progress and some wonderful life moments along the way. When I get out of the way, lay expectation down and affirm divine order, it truly is all good!

So the writing of the song was a breakthrough freedom of me getting back to me and feeling the wonderful presence of Pete Seeger in the shape and message of the song. I learned it and sang it for the video camera this weekend before going off to a conscious community gathering where I sang it for the folks there who immediately ~ in true Pete Seeger style ~ sang along beautifully! Someone videoed the moment even … but the footage is vertical … oops. Anyway, the perfectly imperfect video will come out eventually and I will post it here. when it does. But what really matters is that the song was birthed, that folks easily and whole heartedly sang along ~ to my great delight and (the Spirit of) Pete’s too. A friend played an amazing guitar part along side me even as he was hearing the song for the first time; that gift always amazes me. Earlier in the week, I sang it with a small group of yoga friends after our class and they sang along too. The power of voices rising up together in song remains one of the best forms of Love expressed I know. Such a beautiful, bountiful blessing!

It is the small moments of dreaming that make up the emerging evolution of each of us and all of us. This song, For Humanity, is indeed our theme song for the year. The lyrics are here with a rough home recording … In the Spirit of ease and grace sharing, Hear It HERE and sing along!:

For Humanity  ©2016 Laurie Story Vela

Chorus:
Hand in Hand we take a stand
Each our own part, heart to heart
One Family … For Humanity … For Humanity

Clean the seas, plant more trees
Save the bees, restore our home to sanity
For Humanity … For Humanity (Chorus)

Set all slaves free, build homes for refugees
Feed & house the hungry, share our wealth of plenty
For Humanity … For Humanity (Chorus)

Let all people be, living with dignity
free from bigotry, change the path of history
For Humanity … For Humanity

Bridge:
There’s enough Love in you, in me
to live this dream of humanity …
Stop suffering and pain at the core
Put an end to war forever more
Restore … Humanity  (Chorus)

Mmmmmmmm … and so it is!

Our Free Shelf is basically restocking every 2 weeks when our letter changes. We have lots of B’s as well as our continued short a vowel celebrations. My A list is still being worked on even with the ushering in of beautiful B. I am choosing to accept, allow, and become the beauty I am dreaming of in this and many other areas of work and life this moment,  and all throughout this sweet 16. So it goes with how we be … dreaming, living, awake and aware, being blessed ~ consciously choosing not to be discouraged or distressed!

The truth is, we are so richly blessed. My prayer for all of us is that we can breathe in our blessings this very moment, and all throughout this beautiful day ~ and life! I behold you as the blessing you are; a breath of beauty gracing this world ~ and gracing this sharing here and now. Thank you. Namaste,  Beauty Blessed Love Expressed!

Love Expressed: Divinely Blessed

Namaste Beauty Filled Hearts of Love Expressed!
Grace filled greetings in these fleeting mindful moments of February! I am still in the thick of my yes blessed mess of thousands of web files and links as we open the New Thought Families branch of the Leaping Literacy Online Library 3/1. Our opening *should* be on time but in continued sweet surrender, some of the thematic links and navigation will continue through March as I continue planting seeds of Divine Energy. Divine Energy is our March theme and as we know, this is perfect for our onward openings because it is all energy! In the wake of my dance between burn out & resistance and full fledged passion & purpose pledged and re-pledged, I have indeed surrendered to the beauty & Love in all of it knowing that it all counts … every dot, stripe, spot, swipe ~ all in the hand of God!

Before we let go of February, I must take a mindful moment to further speak to this month’s website themes that mostly stayed in the smiling background as I focused on the bigger picture of rectifying all the files gone before and being offered up in library format ~ a process that did indeed require great Love as well as some hugs and laughter!





Love. The greatest power and the force that breathes life into us and into anything we pledge our passion and purpose to. Sometimes Love in Action feels hard or challenging ~ like dealing with adolescent advances or elder decline ~ 2 life scenarios I am facing daily. But guess what? The hard challenge is really in the story, not in the actual moment! When we release attachment to how it was or how we think it should be, we also release the struggle, challenge and suffering! When I affirm and allow myself as a vessel for unconditional, Divine Love, I am indeed infused with divine energy, aka, LOVE! Our Love page is HERE!
Laughter. The greatest medicine, to be sure. Jeremiah and I used to laugh a lot ~ we would get the giggles most often at bedtime and this joyful gaiety was a perfect gateway into our nighttime prayers. In his teenage phase, there is more of a chasm in what we laugh at ~ he often rolls his eyes at my childish sense of humor & play and I, admittedly will roll my eyes at some of the things he finds funny on YouTube, etc. Yet, through mutual Love, we do still find common ground to laugh upon and often one of us will go there to break any (hormonal!) tension that may be surfacing between us. What a gift! I am also experiencing a newfound laughter bubbling up from my father. He is having interesting behavior changes that include more laughter and singing ~ generally a good thing yet still awkward when done loudly in a restaurant. Through the flow of divine energy play, I am generally amused! Laughter Yoga is a great practice that 2013 Dream Team Callie Carling spoke of. Visit our Laughter page HERE for a giggle and 2 embedded YouTube Laughter yoga videos.
Hugs. Ah, the power of the hug! I could use more of them, how about you? Our old Unity church community was big on hugging and I would get my weekly dose ~ a great reason to have such a community! I do share hugs with my teenager and the elders and even myself on a regular basis though doubt any of us get the RDA of 7 … not sure if that’s true but somehow I have that in my mind ~ recommended daily allowance is 7 hugs a day?! How many hugs have you had today? This week? Visit our Hugs page HERE and the Hugs Around The World page HERE which features YouTube videos from around the world showcasing ‘Free Hugs’ campaigns!

As we move into the Divine Energy of March, we will be planting seeds on our daily Play & Pray Calendar and in conjunction, revisiting out Spiritual ABC pages to update them. Each of these pages ~ from Abundance to Zeal ~ has some inspirations and we are adding a Mindful Members section linking all the related songs, videos, books, etc. for easy Member access. We have plenty for our Free Members too ~ in fact, there are 14 Fab February Freebies still available in a multi-media celebration of Love, Hugs & Kindness!

Last week’s Mindful Meditation Invitation was to look at what you pledge your passion & purpose to … how did you do? Did you see what was true? Did you pledge new allegiance? For me, yes to all with a continued all in all out demand to get some help in all of it! And I am indeed making good steps in that way ~ meeting a young intern in just a few moments as a matter of fact ~ woo hoo! So for this week’s Mindful Meditation Invitation, let’s look at how our hearts are infused with divine energy and how this fuels our purpose and passions!

Thank you so much for being here! And thank you for living mindfully, on purpose and full of passion! I love you. Namaste!

Join us in our new expanded Leaping Literacy Online Library ~
Membership March brings you a deeply divine discount!

Awareness + Appreciation = Abundance!

Namaste this Miraculous Mindful Moment!

I awoke on Mindful Monday morning dreaming that I was writing this blog … a myriad of priorities & calendarizing choices later, here I am this wondrous Wednesday! I gratefully & cheerfully greet you in the name of Oneness, Blessedness, Acceptance & Awareness of the divine spark of Love we truly be ~ any mindful moment you happen to be here! Time is all one in the circle of Love … For this week’s look at Oneness, we will be mostly focused on Love ~ and money ~ and full circle back to Love!

In an effort to be more full circle connected in my Love expressed efforts, here is a snapshot of today’s Play & Pray calendar entry at New Thought Families. You can visit the page directly for a fuller multimedia effect with narration, etc.

Last week’s Mindful Meditation Invitation, was to see how we could integrate the ‘bad’ & ‘good’ side of things for the highest good in oneness blessed. Further, could we see it all as one magical miracle?! I have to say I was challenged here ~ it seems our (my) first, go-to response in the face of pain & hardship is not miracle mindedness! I did pretty well staying focused on highest good in the midst of tears and struggles for balance and even sanity! And I will give out A’s for this formula: awareness + appreciation = abundance! It can be so tricky to appreciate what doesn’t feel good in the moment. But if we stay aware that everything truly is unfolding for our highest and best, then we can greet whatever shows up with some measure of gratitude which ultimately allows the flow of grace, aka abundance! It doesn’t even matter if we do this awkwardly in fits & spurts, we just keep coming into consciousness ~ being aware & gratefully affirming our good as often as possible. The grace & abundance is always poised and ready to receive us. Now, that is a circle of Love!

In my circle, there has been a lot threatening my ability to stay balanced, body, mind & Spirit. Much of it has to do with my elder’s journeys and my tendency to be an empath ~ that is one who feels the experiences of others ~ literally! Among other things, I have had my mother’s sore throat after her neck surgery and my father’s heart pains. I am more convinced than ever that we are energy beings and at least some of our autistic youth are beautiful indigo children short circuited by the intense energies of others all around them. I have been cutting cords again but I think the best tools in the Spiritual Tool Box for this sort of energy clearing are Access Consciousness and Emotion Code work ~  With Access Consciousness, ask who does this belong to? and the energy stronghold will dissipate immediately if you are holding something for another ~ you don’t have to know who! You just have to be awake and aware enough to ask! To follow Dr. Brad Nelson’s Emotion Code, see the chart & procedure found in his book for releasing trapped negative emotions and trapped inherited emotions that could go back generations but be running you (subconsciously). Again, you don’t even have to know much of the whos & whats, some simple muscle testing & releasing is all it takes! And willingness to show up in the awareness & allowance of course!

On the lighter side of this last week’s journey, was my 8th grade Jeremiah’s run for Student Body Treasurer. Significant to me because all things Jeremiah are, but also more collectively as another song in the mother dance. Most mothers and many fathers live this one … we pour so much of ourselves into being there for them when they are born and as they grow that as they become their own person, we must find a healthy balance of what it means to be there for them. Unconditional Love. In this instance, I stepped in where needed (at least as I perceived the need!) & got supplies for 2 (I wanted 3!) posters for Jeremiah’s Treasurer campaign ~ he graciously accepted my idea for the slogan to bank on him and we had fun making the posters together: He decidedly did not want my help on his speech and I couldn’t be prouder of what he came up with. He wrote it out below ~ I typed it as well for easy reading!
Jeremiah’s Speech given for Student Body Treasurer
~ (Speeches were done during lunch with student choice to attend.)

Hello! First, I would just like to thank you guys for taking the time to be here. For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Jeremiah Vela-Murphy and I’m in the 8th grade here at IJH. For those of you who do know me, “How ya doin’?!” In case you were asleep, I am running for treasurer and here are some reasons you should vote for me. This year I am taking a high school math class so I guess you could say I’m decent at math meaning I won’t forget to carry a 1 and lose the school hundreds of dollars. Also, I have always believed in saving. When I was 5, I opened a savings account and it has blossomed into a nice healthy bank account today. But you also need to buy some things that are necessary. I can’t promise anything like ridiculous paint jobs, or a skate park, or vending machines, but I would love to know your ideas for the school. That’s what I love about Student Council, it’s the student’s choice, not the school’s choice or a volunteer, but our choice. We the students! If I’m elected and you have a great idea, talk to me about it. I’ll see what kind of budget we have. So again, thanks a lot for taking the time to listen to us and remember, you can bank on Jeremiah Vela-Murphy for treasurer!

And bank on him, they did. Yes, he won and I survived another round of the step up and step back mama tango! Here’s an enjoyable YouTube ‘Mom Song’ that humorously speaks to the journey via the talented writer & singer Anita Renfroe, sung to the William Tell Overture:

As funny as this is ~ based on too many truths of the generations ~ I remain called to change this paradigm! Part of my struggle for balance & sanity is the plethora of negativity that our culture is steeped in ~ including the YouTube gurus that Jeremiah finds so cool~ that is another discussion! Meanwhile, I have years of archives … my co-creations that have yet to find the people they are here to serve. I will continue to put my gifts into the sea seemingly met by obscurity in the vast online ocean of offerings. Yet in the same vision of paradigm shift, I am affirming that my co-creations do in fact have people to serve and I vow to keep trying to reach them as I also allow that flow of receiving & grace in the circle of Love. To this aim,  I would love to get your input on our offerings! If you take a mindful moment to take our Sacred Service Survey for New Thought Families, we will send you a free download for our In Our Hands CD!
If you really want to go all out, take our Laurie’s Stories’ Leaping Literacy Online Library Nine To Find Survey & get more goodies! Oh what a good soul you are to be here reading this blessed blog this mindful moment! What a good soul you are to mindfully navigate your own circle of Love this week, this life! For this week’s Mindful Meditation Invitation, let’s employ our A’s of acceptance and allowance in all ~ reverently remembering the divine Love we truly be and that Awareness + Appreciation = Abundance! This is the Love we can always bank on ~ thank you for the treasure you are. 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!