Posts tagged spiritual
Appreciation

Appreciation

I like the word appreciation over gratitude.It's cleaner,It's clearer,It feels better to me.Gratitude can still have the energy of overcoming something attached to it."God! I'm so grateful THAT is over"!Thankfulness can carry a similar energy to gratitude."I'm so thankful to be done with THAT"!Don't get me wrong, reaching for gratitude and thankfulness,can pull you up and out of the sticky tar of hate, fear and anxiety.But I have found that through the years, as my gratitude journalsevolved, I could read back and feel in those words of gratitude, the wounds that had not healed, the fear that I was trying to banish.It felt like gratitude and thankfulness were part of the healingprocess, part of the energy working to sooth me.Appreciation feels like the finish line.It feels like the wind is at my back, the past is far behind me, andI am reaching that line, having stopped to heal along the way with:1) forgiveness2 gratitude3 thankfulness.So...currently the clean air of appreciation stands waiting for me at the finish line, with a towel and some Gatorade.Try it and see if you can feel the difference.XoxJanet

Civil Disobedience

http://daily.represent.us/matt-damon-blows-your-mind/

This got me thinking. Do we blindly continue to "follow the leader"?History shows that allowing others, even if they are in a position of authority, to dictate our actions, can undermine a society.It is the slow drip effect. It starts slowly, it is subtle, and most importantly, it doesn't FEEL right.What does YOUR heart say?

Delicious Ambiguity

Delicious Ambiguity

“I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious Ambiguity.”~Gilda Radner~I LOVE that!! What a contradiction! Right?!!In AA they call it letting go,And letting God.AMBIGUITY (noun)the quality or state of having a veiled or uncertain meaning Synonyms ambiguity: ambiguousness, darkness, equivocalness, equivocation, inscrutability, inscrutableness, murkiness, mysteriousness, nebulosity, nebulousness, obliqueness, obliquity, opacity, opaquenessSounds scary, right?But then you add the word...the perception ofDeliciousI saw this quote a couple of weeks ago and it's been rolling around in my head.What did she mean? The lack of clarity about a situation does not necessarily mean it cannot be desirable. Delicious Ambiguity means to Revel in the Unknown. What appearsambiguious has many delicious things for life. Keep your eyes open,Your MIND open, and things will reveal themselves. Then I found this on the Web just the other day and it all started to make sense. It's a prayer of sorts that feels to me like it can help put us in a place of Delicious Ambiguity. I'm saying it every morning.It goes like this:Dear God, Put me in the right place even though I don't know where it is. Dear God, when you do it, make it comfortable for me and help me to see the sense of it. Make it easy and bring me the right situations and synchronicities to put me in this place I don't know about.XoxJanet

Coming to New Conclusions

Coming to New Conclusions

How can we ever come to new insights or conclusions about our lives if our existing reality is never challenged?That would be like only eating at the salad bar because you've never walked the whole buffet and seen the dessert cart.We are creatures of habit,Scared of any turbulence or bumps in the road.But can we learn to appreciate, even welcome, the rainy days when we only prefer clear skys?A certain amount of failure is necessary for success, because it sends us back to the drawing board.When something's not working, there is clarity in that realization.A certain amount of discomfort is good for our souls.We know we don't want to do that again!so it colors all our decisions.Like Abraham says, who comes through Esther Hicks, "When you know what you Don't want. You know what you DO want".I've come to this conclusion : that all the great gifts that have come to me in my life,were born out of soul searching that was either precipitated by dissatisfactionwith the status quo, or....I was dropped kicked by the Universe in the direction of a new life change.Either way, it felt like shit.So, Here's my NEW conclusion:Big change feels scary,It feels awkward, and uncomfortable and uncertain.Change is rude! It shows up unannounced, often at the most inopportune times, and tracks it's dirty feet through your life.It also does a number on your diet by making you eat raw cookie dough and cereal right out of the box!So what does this all mean?We can either hide under the bed,Or ...we can put our arms up, throw our heads back,And scream bloody murderAs we careen toward our brighter future,On the roller coaster of life,In full surrender mode,Knowing the Universe has our back.

A Crisis of Faith

A Crisis of Faith

Bad things happen to good people.Horrible, unimaginable, things.Those experiences can either break us,Or make us.Often the first thing to affect us is a profound crisis of faith.How can we operate in a world where chaos reigns,Where prayers seemingly go unanswered,and often, endings aren't happily ever after.Failure,adversity,devastation and lossKick our butts another rung up the ladder to the divine.On the way up, we accumulate the experience, compassion and empathy toReach out our hand and pull the next person up the ladder.I often feel like the elephant being pushed up the ladder by the Universe,Maybe that's just me...I believe we CAN rebuild our foundation.We CAN regain our faith.It won't be quick, and it won't be easy.We'll have to dig deep, way below the surface, to find who we at our core.To open the drawer, and find our big girl pants among all those "pull ups."Do you have strength?The strength to conjure tenacity?Can that tenacity fuel a vision?and can that vision carry you forward into the grace of the Phoenix, reborn from the ashes?I think you do!! I have hope that all of us have the innate ability to right our own ships. Adversity is the direct route to that deep reserve of strength and courage you didn't even know existed !Just think about that...Contentment and happiness do not lead us there,Playing it safe certainly will not .Expansion of our spirit does not happen up in an ivory tower.We have to get down and dirty,Get into the street fight that life often feels like,Living as if a richer, broader, more expansive life depended on it!Because it does!

Integrating the Dark with the Light

Integrating the Dark with the Light

Pol·ly·an·naˌpälēˈanə/noun1.an excessively cheerful or optimistic person."Hi my name is Janet and I'm a Pollyanna.""Hi Janet"Geez!I've been called that name countless times in my life...like its a bad thing.I've been that way ever since I can remember.Always believing that good would prevail, and thatevery cloud has a silver lining.I think when I was in line to come to planet Earth,I was busy checking my lipstick or goofing around, because I never got the memoabout all the bad shit that could happen here!I came for the adventure and the fun of it.Never once did it occur to me that misery and loneliness,sadness and depression would be part of the equation.Therefore, when things happen that are terrible, or unjust, Or just plain sad, I have to admit...I'm still surprised.And surprise can lead to disappointment, as I've found out.And disappointment can be the key that let's all the heartbreak in. Because that's what happens to me, I become heartbroken.So...what to do? what to do?How do I integrate these two? The beautiful light that happens here.And its companion, the "darkness".It's continuing to be a process for me.I was once told that when your light shines brightlySome Will be attracted...And some repelled.I guess I thought that might apply to bad things too.Maybe I could repel them somehow.But why would I be different than anybody else?No one WANTS pain!But can I learn to reconcile the ups and downs,The ebb and flow of life?Can I be just as okay letting sorrow wash over me as joy?Or will I choke it off, or stop it altogether because it's just too damn Uncomfortable?Accepting the bad with the good is my holy grail.What if I didn't dog-pile all the judgement on top of the unwantedevents that occur?Maybe if I learn to throw my hands up and surrender to the painwill help it move through easier.My brain understands, my heart...not so much.If this has been your struggle as well, what has worked for you?Please share!XoxJanet

Significant Others

Significant Others

What does it take for someone to earn a place in your life?Is the criteria complicated?Are there invisible tests they must pass?Or do all that apply get accepted?Trust should be earned. Not given away for free.People should be approached with an open heart,but earning a permanent place there, should come with a few qualifications.First and foremost, is the love and trust reciprocated?It should never feel one sided.Second, are secrets kept, and confidences held close?You want to know that your most intimate thoughts and vulnerabilitieswon't be betrayed to others.Third, are they dependable? Will they be there when you need them?Will they drop everything in a crisis to be available to you?If you can answer yes to all three of these questions, then and only then, should someone become significant in your circle.You may even have a couple more criteria of your own that must be met,But let these three questions be a true litmus test of who you hold close and who you keep as an acquaintance.Not everyone EARNS a place of SIGNIFICANCE in your heart.

Reminder

Reminder

Just a reminder here, that all the aches and pains,and cold and flu symptoms are part of a recalibration.After big waves of energy come in, they rearrange everything,the cells of every living thing are shifted,and shuffled.This is all for the better, but often your bodies need some time to catch up.That is why you feel so tired, achy and cranky.It makes you seek solitude and rest, lots of rest.As these cells recalibrate, they actually vibrate faster, shaking off a layer of density, of unwanted, un needed layers of "muck".As this "energetic muck" is released, your body responds.If it chooses to leave quickly, it looks like vomiting and diarrhea.Chills and sweating. Like the "flu"So don't freak out, and don't yell NO at it!The more you resist and yell NO, the longer it will take to pass,And it will pass, so better to just relax into it.For many of you it presents as a sore throat, and running nose.Like a "cold".Again, it is your body catching up with this new higher energy, so now that you remember that, you will just take it easy, and let it pass.We don't want to sound like a broken record, but we can hear you complaining,So here's our gentle reminder ;-)If you want more of a reminder re read "Recalibration" from earlier this year.