Really hear the message and feel better…
When you are discontent, you always want more, more, more. Your desire can never be satisfied. But when you practice contentment, you can say to yourself, ‘Oh yes – I already have everything that I really need.’
Dalai Lama
Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.
Dalai Lama
A common complaint of those closest to me is that I use big words too often. Interestingly enough, when they tell me this I am surprised. I am surprised because I was not aware of what words they considered big, and I was not aware they were uncomfortable.
I ran across this quote recently and felt understood, finally on this topic. How could I possibly know what words are big or little to someone else? I only use the words that I have discovered and have come to know, because once you understand a thing it loses its scariness or bigness and becomes simply what it is; an expression.
I never want to limit my ideas or thoughts to the vocabulary I have today. I want to see how much more I can come to understand. Could this be a secret of childhood? If we all stopped knowing more when we said things like, ” I wuv you.” imagine the beautiful expressions we would miss out on. So many times people bemoan losing themselves as children to become adults. Could it be that adulthood as we know it is really just forfeiture of discovery? I think one of the secrets of childhood is accepting ourselves without judgment, and then opening ourselves to knowing, exploring, and discovering more.
“People laugh at me because I use big words. But if you have big ideas, you have to use big words to express them, haven’t you?”
― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
So many times people tell me they hate the fall, except the leaves of course. Their reason usually is that they feel like the Earth is dying.
I do not think the Earth is dying so much as she is going to sleep. When I lay down at night one of my favorite times is just as I snuggle into the pillow and feel the cool crispness of the linens. I breathe slowly and then I snuggle into my soft blankets.
This is how I picture the fall. The Earth is finally laying down to go to sleep. Rest is exciting because the realm of dreams lies in sleep. Rest is good when we feel confident that we will awake again the next day refreshed.
I love October, it has to be hands down in my top 2 months of the year, especially around here. I feel that wonderful zing of energy in the autumn, much like I do as I walk up the stairs to my bedroom each night and know that peaceful sleep awaits me.
“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”
― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
A while back I wrote a post about having to wait for my experience to catch up with my education in order to build my career path. I lamented that “they” tell us to get degrees and then when we do “they” tell us that we do not have experience. I was upset and impatient about when my next door would open.
Today is that day, the time is now.
I have pulled myself to the next rung in the ladder and I can see more of the distant sun above me. I am looking up only. Looking down is not an option and looking laterally is out of the question. I continue to push.
My message today is that with endurance, work, persistence, and faith in a positive outcome success is possible.
Clothe yourself in the robes of victory and soon people will notice. Develop a passion for what you are doing and others cannot help but witness your unique potential.
Stay the course. Ride out the storm, and ride out the stillness…
I think stillness can be more maddening then storms or glorious sunshine because it feels stagnant.
It feels good to finally have movement. It feels empowering to be validated that “they” may think they hold all the cards, but there is still a trick ace up my sleeve.
Passion gets you everywhere. Positive thinking shoots you to the stars.
You can land on the next rung of the ladder. The view is getting better and better with each step!
Sometimes I find myself in a place of deep contemplation.
Now is one of those times.
I want my life to mean more then what the materialistic world believes it can be. I want my life to count in the timelessness of the cosmos. I want myself to endure through, beyond, and on into the great expanse of existence.
How can I do this?
I think that there is a way for this to happen for me and every other person who walks this Earth. We just have to look for it. We have to ask the questions and then accept the answers. We have to be willing to engage in the dance of life.
Plato talked to us about the Allegory of the Cave, he saw humanity as existing in a dark cave, and he describes people in different categories. Those who want to only know the darkness, those who want to see the light but are afraid of it, those who find the light but retreat back to the safety of the cave, and those who truly go out into the light and take it into themselves.
Is it possible that we today are looking for the same things as those of us from the past were also looking for?
How do we even know when and if we find it?
Is life simple, can it truly be simple?
Does depth of life have to equal complexity of life?
I think life can be simple, and I think complexity relative. I think that it is in my own power to define myself and it is in my own power to discover my courage in exiting the cave for good. I do not want to live in darkness, but it will take great courage to face my darkness, the darkness of the world and then transform that into living light.
I live for the harvest in late summer. I hate the dog days of summer.
I went out to my garden and pulled in a bucket of beans and cucumbers and my very next reaction was to put in my John Denver cd.
Do you had music that just fits into certain times of the year? John and I do my preserving every year.
Here in my humble little kitchen the melodies of John Denver float among the sights and scents of pickles, jam, cobblers, cookies, and spaghetti sauce.
At this time, in this place I feel safe, I feel warm, I feel alive, I feel like both a child and mother, I feel a deep and pulsating connection with the earth and the circle of life. I feel as if everything is right in the world, and I feel re-energized to face the next challenge.
Because that challenge is coming whether I like it or not, and it will most likely be a surprise. Let it come.
Today, it’s just me, John, and the magic of the harvest.
Well I did it. I finished my first fictional novella.
It was an awesome and fuzzy feeling when I typed that last word. Now my editing and development team are busy getting us ready for publication.
My publication venue of choice is Kindle Direct on Amazon.
Holy Moly am I still terrified! I hope that any criticism is professionally given and not just derogatory in nature. Please watch for the release date if you are interested. I was also thinking I could publish the prologue here in order to give everyone an idea about what to expect…
“Courage is being scared to death… and saddling up anyway.”
John Wayne
We put up hay again today. The crop is not so good this year, but with the help of our farmer friends I think we might make it through the winter ahead.
I grew up in the city, but I would never go back. The country seems simpler, more grounded, and infinitely more peaceful.
Sometimes I wonder if what people really need is some country living. The amazing thing is I am not talking about country music. I am extremely picky about what country music I might listen too.
I am talking about the connectedness, the vibrancy of life, and the peace of the country.
It relaxes you, it rejuvenates you, and it reminds you how all life is connected in a constant cycle of birth, growth, and change. John Denver, who is one of my favorite folk singers, talks about the country all the time in his music. He is right. The magic of the country life is a healing balm.
If you are staring at concrete and walls, maybe instead of running to a hectic water park, you should book yourself some time in the country.
See it, hear it, taste it, smell it, feel it; there is a little patch of heaven somewhere near by to you. Discover the country and see if you fall in love.
“I hear her voice, in the morning hour she calls me
The radio reminds me of my home far away
And drivin’ down the road I get the feeling
That I should have been home yesterday, yesterday –
Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong “
John Denver
I got this quote in an email from one of my best friends, I have no idea who said it first but I thought it was so apropos I wanted to share it. Here it is;
“The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts.” – unknown
Do you quality control your thoughts as often as you should?
Most of us probably could do a better job at this, but it seems like one of those things we let go. We watch the purchases we make, we watch the gifts we are given, we watch the bag of food we receive in the drive thru, then why oh why do we so often fail to watch our own thoughts?
If you believe your life is negative it will be, this is a self-fulfilling prophecy. The reason this works like this, is because even if its unconsciously done, we make choices that re-enforce this thought of negativity.
Now flip it. If we think positively about our lives will things go better?
In my own experience the answer is yes. Here is where the doubters scoff. They miss this crucial point- positive does not mean all your selfish desires come true.
Positive means that when a bushel of lemons lands in your lap you shift gears and make some lemonade. Positive means that no matter how bad the situation you acknowledge you learned something positive. Positive means that we were not meant to have Heaven on Earth, but we were meant to try for it. Positive means we see ourselves as an action in our own life, rather then a victim of our lives.
Love is the answer. Find love and find freedom.
Stress happens. Kind of like the reality that if you eat you will have to void. If you live you will encounter stress.
It almost got me this week.
I usually have really good coping mechanisms that tend to fight my stress battles for me and I go about my perky little way highly agitating people who think I live on an incessant sliver cloud.
That silver cloud turned into a thunderhead this week. My coping mechanisms either failed or were too overwhelmed from too much stress on all fronts to really just fix it so I could forget it.
I started getting tight muscles, my brain took over on its own, not letting me sleep by constantly repeating information over and over in this loop of insane activity moving at some ridiculous speed beyond light! Whew.
The stress had me cornered. My face was pressed into the floor beneath the foot of a whopper stress.
Last night I finally just let it go. I can’t tell you when I fell asleep, other then it was light outside still. I did not dream. I did not move around in my sleep. I just konked out and let the magic happen of de-stressifying.
I feel much better today. My clouds are white. They will be silver again soon I hope. That was a close one. Whenever I have physical symptoms to stress I know that I am in a critical mode and need to take evasive action.
The coffee this morning actually tastes good. The sun is shining, and best of all my sore muscles have relaxed into healing. My ears are not ringing. My head does not hurt.
I sent that whopper stress packing.
“Reality is the leading cause of stress amongst those in touch with it.”
― Jane Wagner
Beth's Journey 