Be Creating

The Invitation by Oriah Mountain Dreaming This is one of the few books I have read over and over again. I have turned to the words of the poem and the meditation at some of the most glorious and some of the most sorrowful times in my life.  I have gifted it many times to my female friends in times of stress, recommended it to husbands, boyfriends and lovers.  I have shared it with hundreds of people during workshops. The Invitation by Oriah Mountain Dreaming is a book that helped me transition from being married to being single. It was recommended to me by my friend, Larry Larson, during my divorce.  The book begins with the poem allowing readers to settle into their own soul.  Her poetry is a gift she gives her readers. Each chapter then explores one verse of the poem by sharing the author’s life experience.  She then takes you back to your inner self through ending the chapter with a meditation. I nearly wept the first time I read these two verses – “I want to

Small shifts can make a big difference if we just take them one at a time. Our five senses are the way we interact with our physical environment and you may be taking them for granted.  Taking pleasure in feeding your senses can also feed your soul.  Touching, tasting, smelling, seeing and hearing are all channels to create peace in your life.  First, take time to show you cherish your environment by clearing the energy in your space and clean it out.  After you have cleared your space, learn what specifically resonates with your senses and begin to take pleasure in the small connections you make with your environment.  Savor your senses and be totally present as you interact with your environment.  Thich Nhat Hanh in Peace Is Every Step shares a lovely story of taking an hour and a half to eat one small cookie. He reminds us that “Eating mindfully is a most important practice of meditation.” When’s the last time you took time to savor your food.   What small shifts can you m

When you find yourself entangled in a situation or a perceived problem your perspective maybe twisted and tangled.  Finding a way to detangle the situation involves the “IT Factor”.   When my long hair tangles and becomes full of snarls, if I yank, tug and pull on it, clumps of healthy hair come out. The process is painful and I lose something I value.  When you struggle with a problem, you often expend a lot of energy and destroy something that was healthy or pay a big price to resolve it.  The trick is to be gentle and move slowly applying the it factor .  At first, you may feel as if you are in it . You are the problem and it is you. You maybe allowing yourself to be physically/emotionally caught up in the situation. To begin to untangle yourself, you need to recognize it !   When you accept and validate that, you are struggling with something you can become clearer. You then can identify  both what the struggle is about and why you are struggling. Giving something a label or a

"How do I learn to ignore the reality of the world around me?"  This question was posed to me this weekend at a session on Creating Well-BEing by Crowding Out Stress. My answer- First recognize that "reality" is unique to each individual.  You and I can be in the same room listening, to the same message, watching the same show and walk away with two distinctive experiences.   Why?  Because, we each walk into the room with two different personal histories, two different references for what we want at this moment--I maybe wanting time to explore my inner thoughts while you want to share your thinking with another, or perhaps one of us wants to be open minded and the other has come with an opinion to voice, etc.--and we process the message in two different ways.  Even more interesting is the idea that if you or I were listening or watching on a different day, we world hear and see the same message (reality) differently.  Once you recognize that "reality"

The Gift of Compassion Compassion for others is one of our greatest gifts.  It is easy to feel compassionate towards those in our immediate circle of friends and family, but what about for the homeless person begging on the street, or the person who cut you off in traffic this morning. It can be as simple as sending a prayer or wishing them light and love. As you gift someone else a moment of compassion you in turn receive the gift of uplifting your own energy and remaining in the stream of well-BEing.