The Prayer Box

Words have power.

Prayers have power.

Invoke the help of the Universe

by placing your written prayers

and requests in the prayer box.

Place the box in a sacred spot

and allow your words to aid and heal.

The prayer box helps bring your prayers to fruition.

And so my little dream of having an online outlet to sell my inspirational art moves forward. My Etsy store is now open: http://www.graciel.etsy.com/. For those of you not yet familiar with Etsy, it is the place to buy and sell all things hand made. Wonderful, beautiful, unusual offerings from artists and craftspeople all over the world. Unlike eBay, it is not an auction format. Prices are set by the artists. My buying experiences on Etsy have been nothing but flawless. It is a pristinely run site. Now, fingers crossed, my selling experiences will be the same.

My quest with this blog has been to offer up hope and love and positive words to any and all who shared a few moments of their time with me. My quest with my art is the same. To offer up hope and love and something positive that can be held in the hands. Because I believe so strongly in the power of the spoken and written word, because I know from experience that prayers and affirmations work, Prayer Boxes are a first, natural, creative melding with my blog.

Each Prayer Box is one-of-a- kind. Some of my own blog posts appear as background layers to my original photographs, altered though they might be. Butterflies are common, as they help give wings to the prayers held in the box. And each box has a small rose quartz heart glued inside. Rose quartz is known at the love stone. It's presence ensures all prayers are infused with the energy of love.

My own prayer box has held my wishes and requests since the first of this year. I have it placed under a lamp so my prayers are lit whenever possible. Already, prayers are being answered. Already, my dreams have more focus.

And so dear Universe, take this offering of hope and love and let it serve the highest possible good for any and all who believe in the sacred power of prayer.

The Sweet Threshold Of Spring

The transition from winter to spring can sometimes be slow here in Western New York. Bare trees, bare earth, clouds, and a chill in the air that prevents the storage of mittens wears thin. The soul aches for color. But just when limits are reached and the lack of sunshine begins to call in the question of sanity, time tips the scales and sweetness slips in. Tiny blossoms burst through damp earth and reassure the soul monochromatic times are passing. Lavender is arriving. Yellow is arriving. Pink and white and fresh, spring green are arriving.

And so it is with our lives. Just when we think we can handle no more, when the chaos and depression and colorless days have threatened to shut us down, sweetness slips in and carries us over the threshold to a new season. Often the sweetness is small, easily overlooked, barely visible in all the mud. But it comes.

It comes. It comes. It comes. Look to the earth. Look to the sky. Look to the hands and smiles nearby. Spring comes. Outside and inside. It comes.

The Pause

Every once in awhile, life takes a pause. The ebb and the flow suspend themselves. Clocks stop ticking. Mind chatter stops racing into the future and backpedaling into the past. Anchors are dropped. Shoulders are dropped. Stillness settles at the surface.

There is very little doing and much more being. Decisions are put aside. Obligations are put aside. Issues and events and very important happenings register a flat line on the interest monitor. It is quiet inside the pause. Unriled inside the pause. Passionless and open inside the pause. Observation without judgement is a prime activity. Effortless release is another.

Inside the pause there is light. Not a bright light that shines on anything particular, but a light with soft edges that calms and soothes and echoes the freshness of dawn. A light that assures the safety in stillness and the wisdom in stillness. A light that assures the path remains visible.

If the pause is given its full measure, if fears are quelled and stillness is allowed to ripen, if being becomes the primary activity in doing, balance, strength and clarity of mind are the succulent fruits of the harvest.

3 Cups Of Tea

Simply put, this is the most important book of our times. Read it. Absorb its message. Pass it on. This is the story of an American man, Greg Mortenson, who, since the early 1990's, has selflessly worked to build 55 schools in the remotest parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan. His schools promote education and literacy, especially for girls, in an area of the world that has been an easy target for the brainwashing tactics of militant extremists. The key to dowsing the flames of terrorism is the education of children. The key to promoting peace on a world wide scale is the education of girls.

If we Americans are to effectively decrease our own angst and feelings of insecurity on the world stage, fighting terrorism from a military standpoint is not the final answer. As Greg Mortenson demonstrates with his blood, sweat and tears, the most effective means to ensure our security is to build relationships with other cultures and offer up the death of ignorance through education.

One student at a time, one school at a time, one consistently paid teacher at a time, the world will enlighten itself. Stop watching the flame-fanning news and read Three Cups Of Tea. It will give you hope. It will give you answers. It will give you ways to contribute and make a difference in the quest for world peace.

Not 5 minutes after finishing the book, I went to the 3 Cups of Tea website, http://www.ikat.org/ , and made the largest single donation I have ever felt compelled to make. This was the comment I made that went along with my contribution:

"Just this moment, I finished your book. My face is still wet from tears of joy and gratitude. The empowerment of girls and women as the key to world peace is uppermost in my heart. Please use what little I can offer today in the best manner for the highest possible good.
Blessings and continued protection in this most important mission, Graciel of Buffalo, NY."

Let's reduce our own ignorance and learn about other cultures and their needs. Let's follow the example of one extraordinary man in any way we can. Singular help matters. Singular efforts count. Singular efforts multiplied will change the world.

Three Cups Of Tea: Read it. Absorb it. Pass it on.

Ancient Wisdom

“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe,

deserve your love and affection.”

~Buddha

A Student Again

The older I get, the less I know. The less I am sure of. The less I understand. I used to know everything, or darn close to it. But here in the outer fringes of my early forties, I am forced to rethink the known world. And admit that it will take more than my sparse lifetime to know even the smallest of important things.

The more open my mind becomes, the more fears I conquer, the more there is to understand. The more that gets revealed in the crystal clear light of day. The more I see the world is too complex to fathom.

So let me be a student again. Let me approach people and things and circumstances with freshness and openness and a willingness to learn. Instead of thinking I have any answers. Instead of presuming or stereotyping or seeing only 2 of 4 sides.

Let me learn about love. Let me learn about joy. Let me learn of the value of service to others. Let me remember wonder. And surprise. And the yelping laughter from tickle-fights. Let me know nothing to experience everything.

Birth and Movement

Nature called to me and said, "Daughter, come into the snow and let me tell you of spring". I followed the voice of my abiding Mother, for she alone has the power to smote shadows from my heart. She led me to the horse farm in the middle of town and showed me the birth of power. There I found, to my utter joy, a pint-sized Arabian horse, newly born and scampering beside its mother. Nature said to me, "A new journey awaits you. One that brings freedom and power and contentment. See the great spirit inside that little horse. Kick up your heels and free your own spirit".

From the farm I was led to the swamp. Wings were everywhere. Wave after wave of migrating Canada geese flew over me. Strings and ragged Vs of feathers flecked the sky. Thousands and thousands of honking birds, each announcing itself, came to rest in a field of last year's corn. It was a joyful noise. Nature said to me,"You are about to break free of old childhood restraints and begin to come into your own. Be open. Look to new possibilities. The next spiritual quest is upon you. Ready your wings for migration".

From the swamp I was led to a barn. The wood was old and the roof was gone, but it served as the backdrop to an aerial mating dance. More sure than the sighting of a robin, the return of the turkey vulture is the true harbinger of spring. And so they danced on air, swirling around each other, wings wide open. Nature said to me, "The vulture is more than it appears to be, and so are you. The shadows over your heart were temporary and necessary for a higher purpose has been at work. Welcome rebirth and ready yourself to join the dance".

Nature said to me,"Daughter, do not look at the crusted snow. It's time is passing quickly. Birth and movement is all around you. Your spring is already here".

{ The first 3 photos are mine, taken with my low budget, no-telephoto-lens camera. The vulture photo is a stock image.}

The Field Of Happiness

There is no happiness but that which I create for myself. There is no happiness that some one can bring to me that will last. I must lay happiness down at my own feet. I must embed it in my own heart. I must build that foundation for myself. If it is not built with my own toil and blood and beautiful thoughts, it is merely a foundation of shifting sand, sure to turn quick or blow grit in my eyes. Happiness is the work and the making and the choice of my own.

Having forgotten this wisdom, I find myself in an empty field, late winter snowflakes showering down. It is not where I thought I would be. It is not what I thought I asked for, wished for, or visualized. But here I am. Less than warm, empty hands, blue mist shrouding my brain.

And so, I have a choice. Remain suspended and cold, or look closely at the beauty of the field I stand in. Stop looking beyond or behind this field and see where my feet are standing now. Lay happiness down in the snow-covered grass. Take my empty hands and press them together over my heart. Embed love and prayers. For me. I have the choice to stand in my field, dissolving blue mist and snow with beautiful thoughts, with happy thoughts, knowing spring will come.

International Women's Day

Have no doubt. Have no fear. You are exactly where you are meant to be. Right now. You are the energy of Love made manifest. Exactly where you are is where your love is needed most. When your love is needed elsewhere, you will move to that space. Body, mind, heart or soul. But right now, your love, your goodness, is best served up in the company you are keeping and the places you occupy.

If you feel stuck, if you have doubts, if fear is a silent companion, serve up your love and your goodness to yourself. Right where you are. Dare to put yourself first in the company you keep and the places you occupy. Dare to fill your own well before you attend to anyone else's. Fill it with creativity or a neglected book or a walk in the park. Fill it with tea and silence. Fill it friends and flea markets. Fill it with whatever brings you joy.

A woman filled with joy, a woman who serves up love to herself first, is a woman in charge. Of herself, of her dreams, of her life. A woman in charge is a powerful force for good. A woman in charge is able to offer her love and wisdom where God has planted her. She is also able to know clearly when she needs to pull up her roots and plant herself in new earth.

No doubts. No fears. The road is clear. Put yourself first. Love yourself first. Fill your well to overflowing and let the joy you create lift the company you keep and the places you occupy. Let it lift your dreams until they become your life.

A Message From A Friend

This picture and this note appeared in my email today. Sent by my dear friend, Mr. E. Such sage advise from the woodpecker family must be passed on. If her message resonates, I invite you to join me in doing what makes you most happy.


"I was awakened today by an odd sound I haven't heard in a very very long time. It took me 3 tries to get it right. At first I thought of a tree frog singing its nightly song, but then I remembered that we don't have Arctic frogs here. I soon realized that it was Your Friend outside my window. I actually see her nearly every day. She is very friendly and doesn't mind me coming closer to watch, or all the birds fluttering around her. She is in her own little world, going about her business oblivious to the rest of the world.

For whatever reason, she wanted me to tell you that you should do the same.

Do what makes you happy and don't be distracted by those around you. "

Little Things

I'm a big fan of little things. Little gestures. Little kindnesses. Little gifts of the heart. Big gestures certainly have their time and place and needfulness, but it's the little offerings that speak to me at full volume. That widen my smile. That supply more oxygen on the in-breath and keep love flowing.

The other night, amid a simple gathering of 6 friends and myself, I was filled to the brim with little gestures and gifts. David, a master bread maker who uses only organic ingredients, served his artisan Kalamata olive loaf. Warm. I swooned at the first bite. It was the singular best bread I had ever eaten. Smeared with soft cheeses, it almost liquefied me off my chair. While I was swooning and chewing, David was in his kitchen making homemade gourmet pizzas. Naturally, anyone whose art is bread making has a pizza oven in their garage. The caramelized onion and goat cheese wedge I devoured defied proper adulation. All I could come up with between bites was, "oh, my God". Then Sue, the Confection Contessa, served up her from-scratch chocolate cupcakes and it was all over for me. They were heaven in a pastel paper wrapper.

Other recent kindnesses include a Buddha head that showed up between my doors one snowy day and has since become the favorite in my collection. A pack of Wizard of Oz bookmarks in my mailbox. A link to a Yvonne Elliman video on YouTube. A response to a comment I left on a blog.
All little things. All sent with love. All potent.

There is an energy of love that permeates this planet. It is available to all at all times. The quickest way to access this energy, to feel it and to pass it on is through little gestures. Little impulses and little offerings to others that originate in the human heart. It will be the little things, given in love, that will save us all. No matter how little we may have at any given moment, there is still a little thing we can offer. A hug, a compliment, a note, a phone call, a slice of warm bread. Little things add up. Little things count. Little things can make the difference between hope and despair. Between a quality life and a life all but lost.

Let's keep love flowing. Let's give and receive little kindnesses. Often. Daily. Willingly.

Live Here Now

I am not looking for an escape from this life. I am not looking for a way out. I am looking for a way in. I am looking for a way to feel more of life. To taste more of life. To ingest it and revel in the experience that only birth on earth can bring. Stress and angst and fevered insistence on perfection keep me ungrounded, rootless and tumbling with every breeze that blows. I am kept in the past and the future when I tumble with the breeze, when what I am looking for is to live here now.

My answers for the way in, my answers for living in the now are found in simple, accessible avenues. Nature is my first and favored way in. Nothing has taught me more about peace and strength and acceptance of the way things unfold than trees and birds and flowers and stars. Nature is every spiritual text, every true word of every spiritual text playing itself out in living color. Right before my eyes and ears. If I am lost, I willingly throw myself into nature's embrace and suddenly, I am found. Feathers and petals and bark have saved me from the jagged edges of my past and the fear-filled illusions of my future. Because there is no where to be in nature, but the grounded, sane-filled present moment.

Another of my ways into the goodness of life is the recently adopted practice of yoga. Nothing has put me more in touch with the beauty and natural peace of my body than this physical practice. My body, having its own separate intelligence from my narrow mind, craves the stretches and movement. It craves the attention and love. It craves uncritical connection to my mind and spirit. Yoga is the bridge for that harrowing gap. It stimulates peace and love and acceptance between all 3 aspects of my being.

More favored ways into life include the words and advice of Eckhart Tolle, Marianne Wiliamson and Deepak Chopra. Writing, expressing myself creatively and listening to soothing music. Prayer, meditation and giving. All are avenues to ground me and root me. All offer the way into life, my life, especially as an ensemble.

What I get out of this collective of accessible practices is this: I get more moments of clear thinking. I get higher levels of acceptance of the way things are. I get more courage to change. To grow. To risk. I get more awareness of what myself and others need. I get more love. More peace. More stability. I get a reprieve from the drain of the past and the future. I get to embrace the wonders and opportunities of my life. This life. I get to live here now.

The Sacred Within

In my search for the sacred, I have come gently to the understanding, that what I have been searching for lies within. There is no recognizing the sacred without until it is first recognized within. It takes a willing surrender and a mind exhausted of fighting itself to slip past the gates of reason and glide into the presence of grace.

It can happen as a torrent of tears winds itself down and there is nothing left but the rhythm of the breath. In that space of emptiness and freshness, a presence can be felt. It is calm and soft and speaks in whispers, if at all. It's vibration is familiar. It feels like home. It is the soul having risen to the surface. And it feels nothing less than sacred.

This presence, this grace, this feather-light fullness is safety and ecstasy all at once. It is perfection and love and unshattering peace. It sustains everything. It is everything. It is ever present.

To feel this peace, this love, this ultimate safety, if only for a moment, is to be changed forever. Because once it is felt, it can be recognized again. Once the sacred is understood to dwell within, it suddenly appears without. In all of God's creations. If it suddenly disappears without, it is because it has been forgotten within. How we feel about ourselves is how we feel about the world and everything in it. If we know we carry the sacred with us, the sacred appears everywhere we go and in everyone we meet.

We are each of us sacred. We are each of us filled with grace and the spark of God. Let's be open to the awareness of that soft presence within. The love and the safety we each struggle to find without is at home within our surrendered minds and ready hearts. It is at home within our sacred selves.

{This glorious photo of honoring the sacred is from the incomparable website:

http://www.ashesandsnow.org/}

The Embrace Of Suffering

Everyone suffers. Some more loudly than others. Some more often than others. Some have made it a way of life and frankly, seem to thrive on it. Suffering seems to be an endless quality of humanity. A quality that makes us uncomfortable even when we are not the ones who suffer. Since happiness is not possible in every moment of a life, suffering, in its infinite manifestations, would serve us best if it was embraced.

It is the resistance to suffering that prolongs it. It is the resistance to the pain or the grief or the depression that allows it to endure. Suffering is meant to be a transition. A transition to a more refined state of self-understanding. We learn more about ourselves in a state of despair than we do when we are flying high. Or even coasting merrily along.

Suffering cracks open a doorway to our inner-most selves, the secret God-essence that few us take the time to acknowledge. Suffering is meant to cleanse and purify us. It is an alchemical process that refines our character and our soul. It leads us to an understanding of our greatest wants and needs and desires. But, because it is grossly uncomfortable, most of us seek to crush it down, drown it out, shop it, eat it and drink it into oblivion. We become addicted to the avoidance of suffering, and so it never ends.

Instead, if we could just summon the courage to sit with our pain, to acknowledge our pain, to feel it and allow it to burn, we would move beyond it at an astonishing rate. If we could just stop telling ourselves, "I shouldn't feel this way" or " I will appear weak before others if I allow myself to feel" or "oh my God, why did this happen to me?", if we could accept that we have the right to feel the pain and learn from it and use it to mold a stronger life, we would diminish our addictions and our forays into insanity. We would stop living a defensive life and start living a life that embraces. That partakes. That receives infinite bounty.

The courage to sit with, acknowledge, feel and burn the suffering comes from the breath. Next time we begin the cycle of suffering, if we could simply breathe loudly and rhythmically for 10 seconds, our suffering lessens. We consciously shift our whole selves out of the sting and at the same time allow ourselves to feel it more deeply. Breathe as loud as we can, and allow the breath to get us through it, because there is no getting around it. It is the attempt to get around it that impairs us.

Let's not avoid our suffering any longer. Let's be brave and feel our way through it. Let's use the simplest tool of the breath to aid us in our quest. Let's come out the other side more stable, more able and more compassionate towards ourselves. Let's give ourselves permission to feel and permission to heal.

Happy Valentine's Day

Nothing says "I love you" like a meat heart for your sweetheart.

Only $13.16. Such a deal.

Streams Of Living Water

" Set out now, while you're strong, on the heart's vast plain:

You'll never discover joy on the plain of the body.

The heart is the only house of safety, my friends:

It has fountains, and rose gardens within rose gardens.

Turn to the heart and go forward, travelers of the night;

there's where you'll find trees and streams of living water."

My favorite mystic poet, RUMI

Take One Small Step

Join me in taking one small step to realize a dream. Join me in extending one small effort in the direction of a more positive, fulfilling life. Stop looking at the enormity of what you have dreamed up for yourself and do one thing to invoke your vision. Do one thing to nab the attention of the Universe and let It know you are serious about manifesting this dream. Resist the temptation to sabotage yourself by focusing on three needful steps. Focus on one.

Prepare yourself.

Take the step.

One of my dreams, one of my visions for myself is to open a shop online. Something small and managable for myself in the midst of the life I have now. Something that reflects the qualities of this blog in a 3-dimensional form. Things to be welcomed into the home and heart that remind our souls of ever-present beauty and love. Things made by me.

Tonight, I cleared off my studio table and took one step towards realizing this dream. I prepared surfaces for paint. Yes, there are 239 other steps that must be taken to achieve the goal, but I set the intention. I put the energy out into the void. I demonstrated my willingness to help myself along, and now the Universe will respond.

The Universe will bring me snippets of inspiration, people who offer encouragement and the where-with-all to take the next step. Then the next after that. It is my responsibility to hold the vision of my dream, demonstrate willingness, and act. Even a small action makes a difference. It keeps the Universe engaged in helping me. It keeps the enegy alive.

So, let's not be daunted by how many steps it might really take to manifest a dream. Let's just take a step. Yes, it may take longer than we planned, than we seemingly have patience for. But in the end, life will begin again. And it will be sweeter and more fulfilling than if we had never dared to make our dream come true.

Bloom

Rise up. Unfurl. Bloom. Set your sights on living life and spread your heart wide open. Walk straight through the disease, the debt, the divorce, the death of someone you love. Walk through it because there is no getting around it, there is only getting through, one brave and determined step at a time. There is so much life to be lived and our traumas make us face the parts of ourselves that have never seen the light of day, much less the light of life. Walk straight through the trials and wait for your blood to start simmering again. It will. And when you feel the percolation in your heart, the renewed interest in life, rise up.

Rise up and open yourself to opportunities and connections that were too outside your narrow box to consider before trauma trampled your life. Open yourself to people and places and the purple hues of dawn. Welcome change because you have just survived change. Unfurl your hidden wings, your shimmering petals and grace the world with your true self.

Hold back nothing. Love with abandon, knowing love will never abandon you. Give your passions permission to thrive. Live your best life. Bloom for all the world to see.

{16 dawn-lit blooms on my orchid...what an inspiration!}

Francine Ward~ Self Love

"If love is an action, how do you express self-love? Self-love starts with having the courage to be who you are, regardless of what others might think. It is about having the courage to live your dreams, to do what makes you happy in life, so that one day you won't wake up saying, ‘I wish I had.’ Self-love is about self-care, making your health a priority. Self-love is revealed in your willingness to stay focused on the things you say are important. It's about having the courage to set boundaries and protect them".

~ Quote by: Francine Ward

My Birds Of Paradise

It is not often I find myself kneeling in snow. But the other day, instinct and gratitude brought me to my knees. Following the gentle whispers I have come to know as God, I went for a cold and sunny walk through Akron park. Listening to the soft suggestions going on in my brain, I followed the road above the creek. It was on that road, bliss burst through and stopped me in my tracks. It was on that road in a tree to my left, my personal paradise revealed itself.

Hanging from the underbelly of a limb, hammering away, was a rare and glorious Pileated Woodpecker. The largest woodpecker in North America. I have seen this rare bird an average of once a year, flying quickly by me and out of sight. Suddenly, here it was, in full view without aid of binoculars, doing what woodpeckers do.

It stayed in my view for no less than 20 minutes, swooping from tree to tree, trilling and calling and hammering for bettles slumbering beneath the cover of bark. It was when its mate flew in and landed nearby, I fell to my knees. They stayed together, in my view, for 10 minutes. Calling and joining each other on successive trees. At one point they were even joined by my favorite bird, the red-bellied woodpecker, and at that moment, I had to consciously open my heart wider to receive such levels of joy.

The Pileated Woodpeckers flew off towards the creek, one behind the other, bouncing silently over the cold air. I turned my attention back to the whispers within and wandered through the park. I fascinated myself with my own footprints in pristine expanses of snow. I leaned against elderly hemlocks and suddenly, I heard the calls. The woodpeckers were back in my view. They regaled me with their presence for another 10 minutes before chattering their way along the creek. My smile was miles wide and a lightness lifted me 3 feet above the snow.

Had I chosen to stay indoors, I would have missed a glimpse into my personal paradise. Had I ignored the whispers and instincts, my knees would have stayed warm, but I would have missed the making of a life-long memory. So little effort brought so much reward. I heeded my instincts and happiness flew in.

{Tthe photo of Drycopus Pileatus, all 16 to 20 inches of feathers, is a stock photo image}

Blue and White

What Do You Love?

Today, I want you to quiet your monkey-mind. The part of your mind that swings wildly from one illusion to another. From one worry to another. From one judgement to another. I want you to practice focusing the part of your mind that leads you into made-up trouble on something positive. Practice focusing for one minute. Yes, just one minute. I want you to think about what you love. Not who you love. That's another minute. This minute, I want you to think about what you love. Because it takes a bit of concentration and the monkey-mind must come to a rest while thinking positive thoughts.

While you're contemplating, I'll share with you what I love:

*The first scent of apple blossoms in May
*Orange roses
*The laughter of the red-bellied woodpecker
*Cats
*Stained glass windows
*Lancet arches
*Trees
*The color cerulean blue
*Rose petal tea
*European chocolate
*Hiking along a creek
*Autumn leaves
*Butterflies
*Every single bird
*Skeleton keys
*The poetry of Pablo Neruda
*Carousels
*Elephants
*Hot wine soup
*Moonlight on snow
*Kissing
*Red shoes

Like me, you will find that one minute is highly insufficient for focusing on things you love. One minute could easily turn into hours. And those pleasant hours will seem like minutes.

You see, love is the secret to making everything more positive. Focus on love and illusion retreats. Focus on love and worries abate. Next time your monkey-mind is swinging out of control, take a deep breath and focus on anything you love. Keep a list handy of your personal, positive loves and refer to it in times of need. Add to your list on a daily basis.

When you turn your thoughts to something highly personal and highly positive, blood pressure drops. Tears dry up. Shoulders relax. Give your mind a needed rest. Focus on what you love.

The Goddess Shift

For the women I know and love, and the women I have yet to know and come to love, and the women I will never have the privilege to meet, take heart, Dear Ones. We are individually and collectively in the midst of a shift. A shift of magnificent proportions. A shift of focus. A shift of purpose. A shift instituted and driven by the force of Love. We are in the midst of the Goddess Shift.

If you are awake and aware, you have no doubt felt the effects of this shift. It is felt in the hours of depression that seep into your daily round. It is felt in the tears that fall for unclear reasons. It is felt in the yearnings for something that cannot be named. It is felt in the unexpected happiness that swells in your heart when you peer through the doorway of a new-to-you world. The seeping and falling and yearning and swelling are signals that the life you have been leading is asking to evolve. Evolution is pressing at your window, asking you to let go of outmoded self-deprecation, outmoded dependencies, and outmoded excuses for playing small.

The upheaval or unease or new twinkle in your eye is shifting your personal evolution into a higher gear. A gear that is needful to keep pace with the coming opportunities to blanket the world with more Love. What is required to blanket the world? Women in charge of themselves. Women who have slurped rancid water from gutters and risen above those gutters one limb at a time. One small effort at a time. One small prayer and one pound of emotional strength at a time. Women who have found the strength of Goddesses in the marrow of their beings and lifted themselves above the manic fray. This is what Love requires to heal the world of its ills. You are being asked to heal yourself, so you may assist in the healing of others.

Upheaval and depression and new ideas that catch your attention are shifting you out of your old lesser-self and ushering in a refined, more balanced inner beauty. The shift can be painful, depending on how invested you have been in playing small and dismissing your value. The sooner you understand how important you are, how precious you are and how much your personal gifts can contribute to the healing of the world, the sooner the shift becomes bearable. Navigable. Enjoyable.

You are a participant in this Goddess Shift because you have something no one else can contribute to the healing puzzle. You have a brand of love that the world cannot balance itself without. Keep rising up one limb at a time. Keep crying until the vision of your true beauty becomes clear. Keep telling yourself you are capable enough to fulfill your needs. Keep exploring. Keep praying. And along the way, keep one hand out to help the next shifting Goddess stay on track.

See yourself. Heal yourself. Allow the shift. And do your part to blanket the world with Love.

Winter's Opportunity

In the depths of winter, a quiet form of despair can seep into our minds. A weighted apathy can slow our pace. A disinterest in the world can shut us away. We wonder where our enthusiasm went. We wonder where our passion went. Friends don't satisfy us. Books don't satisfy us. Food is always on our minds. We feel stuck. Bloated. Impatient. We worry this will not pass.

In the depths of winter, we put on the death mask. The mask is an opportunity to turn away from the world and look within. It is an opportunity to embrace stillness. In that stillness of the death-mask experience, we are invited to look at our true selves. We are invited to relinquish our false and fearful selves. We are invited to die to all that holds us back from realizing our full potential.

The death mask, with its accompanying despair and apathy and disinterest, is a divine tool of transformation. The only way to transform and move towards greater levels of happiness, is to see ourselves clearly as we are~ beings deserving of joy and goodness and loving kindness. We must turn away from the world and its distractions to see and hear the truth of ourselves. We must turn away for a time, to uncover new worlds within. To know ourselves more intimately. To attend to the rage and the shame that holds us back. To feel how beautiful we are.

We must die to the false beliefs we have stubbornly held about ourselves. We must die to the idea we are less than others because of our life circumstances. We must die to the notion our every life-affirming wish cannot come true.The death mask is ours to embrace. We are not stuck. We are transforming. Through the gifts of despair and apathy, we can choose to turn inwards. We can choose to use winter's opportunity to heal our darkness and reveal our light.

{This is a post from last year. Although the idea of friends or books not satisfying me does not apply currently, I re-read this post and thought to myself, "if this notion would apply to even one person right now, and they read it and it helped in even a small way, it is worth re-posting." If that person is you, my highest blessings go with you.}

My Essential Yoga

This morning, my world was turned upside down. In a good way. All because of Yoga. I have been the blessed recipient of unintentional private Yoga lessons each Monday morning since last September. I joined a new studio and have been the only dedicated soul to claim Monday mornings as the best time for my practice. Each week I am inspired and planted more firmly on a course of contentment. Each week I am asked to set an intention for my session and my forthcoming days. ( Today: "go with the flow") Each week I get stronger and more willing to find out just what my body can do. And what my body can do is more than I ever thought possible.

Yoga is helping me to understand just how open I really am, even when there are too many days I think I am closed. It is helping me to understand how willing I am to try new things and how willing I am to be my own best support system. The postures and breath work are aiding me in stability and awakening me to my inner resources. If I can hold myself in a position longer than last week, I know I am getting stronger on all levels of my being, not just the physical. If I can reach just a bit farther than last week, I know I am becoming more flexible in all areas of my life.

So, this morning, when I was encouraged to try inverted postures, I knew my world would be turning upside down this week. With the help of my instructor, Kathy, I managed 2 handstands. With the help of a wall and Kathy's encouragement, I managed 1 smooth headstand. Strength keeps building, new perspectives are being embraced and if my world does turn upside down, I will have the fortitude to meet it. Hopefully, with grace.


{For anyone Yoga-curious living in the Buffalo, NY area, please give my new friend, Kathy, a visit at her studio. Find out how Yoga can change your perspective about yourself and build strength on all levels. Essential Yoga is located at 9830 Main St. in Clarence, across from the post office. Call 716-759-7303 for rates and class schedules.}


Photo of inverted Kestrel is a stock photo image. One of my favorites...

Frost and Clarity

Very little is clear. Frost and hesitation and doubt are obscuring my view. Both inner and outer. Decisions feel too big to handle, yet the perception of light is there. Just beyond my doubts. Just beyond the limitations I have outgrown, yet still choose to shield myself with.

Very little is clear. But I have decided to relax. I have decided to take the new road and put my needs and well being in the hands of God, instead of thinking I have to figure everything out on my own.

Logistics. Safety. Funding. Sanity. I'm handing it over. I'm going to take a nap. Or maybe read a book. Or create something with my hands. Or attend to the needs of someone else. I'm going to let go, and let God steer and make it clear. I'm going to let go and accept the outcome labeled, "this is for your highest good".

I'm going to live in the moment and trust. Trust that my life and its details are of interest to the Loving Energy that made me. Trust that, with little effort and worry, decisions will come easily and the light of truth will be revealed.

3 Things~ Lao Tzu

I have just three things to teach:
Simplicity, patience, compassion.
These are your three greatest treasures.
Simple in actions and thoughts,
you return to the source of being.
Patient with both friends and enemies,
you accord with the way things are.
Compassionate toward yourself,
you reconcile all beings in the world.

Lao-Tzu

A New Day

The word of the day is "new". New music to listen to, new tea to drink, new curtains to hang on my window. New-to-me effects on my computer to play with, new authors to read, new business to lift out of my brain and into the 3rd dimension. This day and this month and this year are all about new beginnings. Numerologically, 2008 is a "one" year and ones mean new beginnings. New opportunities. New adventures. New levels of awareness.

The most important "new" of this day and this month and this year for me will be a new mindset. It will take a conscious effort on my part to be open to new things, new people, and new thoughts. To welcome anything new and fresh and beneficial, I will need to change my mind about the way I see my world. I will need to disregard and move beyond inhibiting patterns of thought, like the one that covertly tells me I don't quite deserve the same level of goodness I see others allowing themselves to have. Or the one that overtly tells me that to be seen is to be made vulnerable. And vulnerable is not in the comfort zone.

This is the time in my life, this is the year in my life to come out of the comfort zone to a greater degree than I have previously felt capable. Because, really, what am I waiting for? Why hold back any longer? Approval isn't going to be any more forthcoming from outside sources this year than it was last year. So now is the time to say," I need no one's approval but my own. I'm doing it anyways". It will be up to me and my new thoughts about myself to invoke the adventures I crave and deserve. It will be up to me to think differently and say "yes" to opportunities. It will be up to me to create, through my thoughts, the world I'm ready to embrace. Come hell. Come high water. Come sputters and doubts and quaking boots.

It's time to travel more. It's time to create more. It's time to stop denying myself goodness. There are new hearts to welcome and new levels of compassion to attain towards myself. Join me, if you will, in making 2008 the sworn year of new and positive beginnings.

My New Year's Wish For You

In 2008, I wish for you the awareness of Love with all 5 senses.

I wish for you the sound of love in voices that call your name. Listen closely. The human voice is one of the greatest conductors of God's purest Being, God's embracing vibration. Listen with your heart. Speak with your heart. Use sound to soothe and bless and uplift the world of everyone you meet. Turn down the discord, turn up the Love.

I wish for you new eyes to see the beauty in yourself. Love is beauty, beauty is love. When you see and acknowledge the beauty within yourself, you see the beauty more clearly in those around you.

I wish for you the life-altering therapy of loving touch. Nothing is more healing than the human hand. Your hand, when offered gently to another, is a conduit for God's love. If you have no hands, know your lips are also gateways to healing. Open your arms. Pucker up. Give and receive. Be touched by love.

I wish for you the discernment to taste only food that was prepared with love. You know when a meal or a cookie has been made with love, the flavor is just that much richer, that much sweeter, that much more healthy for your system. The only meal plan that heals and balances the human body is food infused with the love and positive intentions of its creator. Whether the cook or baker is known or unknown, Love's vibration can be tasted. Eliminate uncaring food. Be healed and slimmed by the flavor of love.

I wish for you good scents. Whatever tickles your nose with pleasure, whatever fragrance makes you swoon, love is the mixer of that fine elixir. Body fluids mixed in the act of love, cinnamon bread fresh from the oven, lilies and lavender and rosemary and thyme, kittens and babies and sweet spring soil. Fill your lungs with saturated love.

Love is all around you. Hear it. See it. Touch it. Taste it. Breath it in. In 2008, I wish for you to come to your senses.



{http://thefirstmorning.wordpress.com/2007/12/28/new-year-promises-to-myself/ For more new year's wishes about the power of the senses, visit my favorite preacher.}

The Masked Bandit

Yesterday, at 7:06am, I was driving to work on Route 5. The sun had yet to rise. Traffic was not an issue. My mind was reviewing the morning's dream. Two points of light in the middle of the road, low to the ground, snapped me out of my lazy review. Animal eyes, yellow-green in my headlights, were moving back and forth. The size and shape of the shadow in the road told me it was a raccoon. A raccoon in trouble.

As I slowed down, I saw the raccoon was writhing on it's back, trying to right itself with flailing forelegs. I sucked in my breath, hard, and spewed out expletives. The bandit was suffering. And there was nothing for me to do. Had the eyes belonged to a cat, I would have been out of my car in flash, scooping it up. But raccoons carry rabies, and I am not equipped to end an animal's life, so I drove on.

I detest suffering. It hurts my heart. And so I began to pray. I asked all Universal agents at large to attend to the bandit in the road. I asked for its highest, most gentle good to be done. I asked for its ability to crawl off the road or its swift death. Whichever was more merciful. I prayed all the way to work, knowing it was the best I could do, then I turned my attention away.

After a short work day and completed errands, I drove home along Route 5. I had to see what mercy had delivered. There, straddling yellow lines in the middle, was my bandit. Flat on its back, forelegs stretched up to its head, belly exposed to the afternoon light. I stopped my car. When traffic had cleared, I walked to the yellow lines and said, "I'm here now. I came back to help". And with that, I picked it up by its tail and walked it over the side of the road. It was not quite stiff when I laid it down on winter grass under a tree. It's teeth and paws were covered in blood, but it had not been crushed. Nor would it be. I covered it with branches that arcked over its belly and told it it's life was a gift and a blessing to this planet. I told it suffering was done and peace was all it would know. I said, "bless you, little one" and walked away.

In exchange for honoring its death, the raccoon spoke to me as I drove home. It told me that its medicine, its symbolic energy, was that of the mask. The mask has many applications for transformations, healings and rituals. All for positive purposes. But in my case, the mask was inhibiting. In my case, the mask I wear is hiding my true self. And without living my truth for all to see, the bandit told me I would never know the happiness I longed for. I would never know the full joy of expressing my life's purpose. The bandit told me I am half way between 2 lives. I am on the yellow lines and now is the time for me to make the choice. Remove the mask and walk proudly to the other side of the life I was born to live, or stay stuck in the middle, still wearing the mask of the life I have outgrown.

Today, I am holding the mask in my hands. Tomorrow, with the help of a raccoon spirit, I hope to leave the mask on winter grass under a tree.

My Christmas Wish For You

This Christmas, if you have lost someone dear to your heart, I wish for you 3 moments of peace amid the sadness. Just 3 small moments where the pain recedes and the presence of your loved one is palpable in the glow of white lights.

This Christmas, if you are alone, I wish for you the knowledge that God is always with you. Stillness and candle flame and a quiet mind will invoke for you whispers in your heart that confirm your worth and love-ability. Be still until you hear "I love you, Child" at the very edges of your awareness. Know you are never truly alone.

This Christmas, if you spend it with family, forgive everyone their foibles and dare to see them as individual human beings doing their best to live a valued life. Just one day of removing judgements and "shoulds" and expectations, just one short day of seeing them exactly as they are, will produce miracles. In you.

This Christmas, if you receive everything on your list, or you receive nothing on your list, or you had no list to begin with, I wish for you the most over-looked and critical gift that exists. Your breath. And its continued flow. Without your breath and the life-animating force it carries, you would have no lists to enjoy or aspire to or choose to never write.

Breathe deep the scents of the season. Breathe deep the love that time and space cannot erase. Breathe deep the God-force within and around you. Breathe deep the miracle of forgiveness. This Christmas, inhale love. Exhale peace.


{Ornament image is a stock photo}

Do Not Be Afraid

Do not be afraid to open your heart. Do not be afraid to give generously. Do not be afraid to go against the grain, live with abandon and march to your own drummer, even if it makes others uncomfortable. Their discomfort is not your responsibility. Nor is it yours to soothe by plucking the wings that seek to lift your heart into its own wild spaces.

Do not be afraid to live as God made you. You are sacred in Its eyes. You are perfect in Its heart. You are Its hoped for and longed for answer to Love. Love expressed without reservation. Love expressed with gust and glory and glee. Do not hold back. Do not shrink before opportunity. Breathe, center and walk boldly into your wild spaces. Fill them up with your one-and-onlyness. Share them with those able and willing to see clearly your truth and your shimmer. Encourage others to find their own wildness, their own open and generous love.

The world is waiting for you. God is supporting you. Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid.

Follow Your Dreams

I am not a plant person. My existing plants survive me. My neglect. My indifference. My poor choices for placement. The terror of feline teeth is a constant tremor rippling through the secret lives of my plants~ violets, spathes, ivy and lucky bamboo alike.

Then came my fascination with potted orchids. The purchase. The pleasure. The seemingly proper placement.

Then came the dream. 2 months ago, as my first potted orchid was at the height of its bloom, all 3 of my African violets, (the oldest of whom is 10, the youngest of whom is 5) came to me in an early morning dream. They pleaded with me to move them from the north window perch in my studio to the shelf in the living room that held the orchid. A north window as well.

Because I pay attention to my dreams, I moved the trio. Instantly, the atmosphere in my living room felt...happier. The spot on the floor beneath the north window became my new favorite place to read magazines, meditate and sip rose petal tea.

The blooms on the orchid waned and fell to the foot of its pot. But color was not lost. Beauty was not lost. The baton was simply being passed with each bloom that fell. It passed to the violets. And they responded. For the first time in their familial lives, all three of my violets began to bloom at the same time.

To encourage them, I have purchased a new orchid. Its blooms are unfurling like butterfly flags. But it's the wee velvet blooms that are singing to me and doing their part to hold happiness at a palpable level in my home. It's the wee velvet blooms that have brought me the most beauty, the beauty of truth which is this: If you follow your dreams, your life will blossom. Threefold.

Ode To Autumn

Autumn in Western New York state. My favorite time of year.

The Difficult, Wonderful Year

This has been a difficult year. Little deaths, shattered illusions, foibles played out in center stage. The known has become unknown, answers have dissolved into questions, colors have bled together and layered themselves into shades I don't recognize. There is the undercurrent of change in this difficult year, a sense of being prepared for something I can't quite put my finger on. But that something is looming with sweet-scented breath just outside my window. The window that has yet to open.

I know I will look back on this year with gratitude and see that it was filled with opportunities for grace, and that despite the angst and the emotional tumult, I took those opportunities and turned them into future splendor.

As this difficult, wonderful, purposeful year winds itself down into memory and dust, I am left with two phrases playing over and over in my wakeful mind: "Do not give up 20 feet from the finish line" and " If you focus your energy and attention on something beneficial long enough, it will bear fruit. Fruit that sweetens breath."

I will carry those phrases with me, pasted to a locket and held over my heart, as the last few weeks of the difficult year melt into new beginnings, and the latch on the window is finally released.

The Trinity

It comes down to this. Every human being~ young, old, and all ages in between~ wants 3 things. These 3 things are not found in holiday catalogs. They are not found on eBay. They are beyond the reach of the dollar, the yen and the euro. They are, quite frankly, priceless. They are needful. They can possibly make or break a life, depending on the circumstances at the time of the giving or withholding of these 3 things. The trinity is this: every human being wants to be appreciated. Every human being wants to be understood. Every human being wants to be loved.

We all seek these 3 forms of acceptance everywhere we go and in everything we do. This trinity, when felt and received, creates a stability and a support that allows us to relax and express our true God-given essences. When one or all aspects of the trinity is withheld, overlooked or deemed unimportant in the daily round of our lives, a film of sadness clings to our hearts. We cease to operate at our fullest potential. We are visited by depression and illness and general unease. We no longer shine.

But we forge ahead as best we can. We keep showing up... until one never-hoped-for day, when our wells are dry and dusty from lack of appreciation or understanding or love, we simply give up. Our souls lose the spark that fueled the fires of the Divine within. On that day, the day when a human spark becomes ash, angels weep.

There are alot of weeping angels right now. Deep pools of tears mark the critical point we are at in the tide of human development. We have choices to make. And they need to be made soon.

First and foremost, we must choose to appreciate ourselves,understand ourselves and give love to ourselves. If we know how to give to ourselves, we can easily give the same to others. We cannot give what we do not have within us. From this point, as our own wells fill, we can seek to understand other points of view. We can become aware enough to appreciate the smallest gestures from the people around us and we can voice our appreciation. We can offer love in simple ways~ a touch, a smile, a silent prayer for healing or well being.

It is up to us, individually and collectively, to keep the shine in humanity. It is up to us to stop breaking lives and start making lives better. How do we do this? We choose to tend to the trinity of human needs. We choose to acknowledge the gifts we each bring to the table. We choose to change our world through understanding, appreciation and love.



{The 3 lambs are a stock photo image}