Dove - Spirit Animal

 

                                            

Picture of “Mama Dove” in our back yard – picture by Judy Hirst 

 Wikipedia says this about doves:  “Doves….. build relatively flimsy nests from sticks and other debris, which may be placed in trees, on ledges, or on the ground, depending on species. They lay one or two eggs, and both parents care for the young, which leave the nest after 7 to 28 days. Doves feed on seeds, fruit and plants. Unlike most other birds (but see flamingo), the doves and pigeons produce "crop milk," which is secreted by a sloughing of fluid-filled cells from the lining of the crop. Both sexes produce this highly nutritious substance to feed to the young.”

This passage from Wikipedia basically sums up that Dove is about home, security, and the maternal instinct.  Dove appears to us when we need to be reminded about the importance of home and security.  She may appear if we are having issues with childhood issues that we cannot resolve.  And, since the dove is a ground feeder and eats mostly seeds, nuts, and grain, she tells you to eat more healthily, as any mother will.  Dove is often associated with Buddha and indeed, has a “Buddha nature”.  It is no surprise then, that her diet is similar.

Many of the legends and myths tell the stories of Dove being associated with the Goddesses of old.  Even the Bible tells of the importance of Dove and how she is associated with Christ and often is a symbol of Christ – standing for peace.  
Dove may be telling you:

• Find peace in your life, or move away from that which is not peace
• Look to find something creative in your life that brings you peace
• The cooing sound Dove makes is a communication to your cellular memory – what it is it that you once were?  She helps you find that peaceful, spiritual person deep inside you.

Blessings,

Judy

Finding Peace When The Day Is Stressful

 

This picture is of Fish Creek in the summer in Fish Creek Provincial Park.

Many folks carry a lot of stress around with them…from work, from family, from financial worries or health worries.  When stress is building up, even those things that are usually seen as “normal” add to the stress. 

I worked with a teacher for two years in the early 2000’s. One of his best lessons for me was to teach me to deal with stress by finding peace.  He would lead me through meditation to different places to see where I felt the most comfortable….a beach on the ocean, a lake where animals come to drink, a mountain ledge easily accessible, a cloud, beneath a tree, and we tried different trees, on a rock, up a tree, by a creek, in a forest glade, by a waterfall, in the middle of a meadow, and even on a monastery.  Each meditation relaxed me and gave me shades of peace.  The place where I felt the most peace was by running/moving water with a forest close by. 

For years, as I felt stress, I closed my eyes and went to that place where the water was running with the forest in the background.  As time passed, the vision of the place changed.  Sometimes it was an ocean with waves rolling up on the shore and the forest in the background. Sometimes it was a large lake that was mirror still with a forest growing almost to the water’s edge.  The vision slowed my thoughts, cooled anger and frustration, and relaxed my muscles, especially in my shoulders.  

In the beginning, it would take up to 25 minutes to get peace.  If it was a tough day, then it took longer.  Eventually I could find peace in two to three minutes, and what a difference it made to my work performance!  

The lessons that my teacher taught me about finding peace in a stressful day are:

• In meditation, people will tell you to go to your comfortable or safe space.  One does not know what that space is until all the options are explored.
• Finding one’s peaceful, safe place is a process and the safe place may change over time.
• There is not a magic time that it takes everyone to get to their peaceful place.
• Like many actions, getting to the peaceful place takes a lot of practice.
• Arriving at the peaceful, blissful state is worth the work.

Blessings.

Judy

Happy Thanksgiving Nov 24 2022 For My American Friends

 

I wish Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends in the United States!  This has been a difficult year for many, and my hope for the next year is:

• good food for all
• great housing for all
• great jobs with great pay in a great company
• time for walks in the park or out in the country
• time to read a good book, or play with your kids
• friends that love you and support
• family that respects you and cherishes you
• warm houses for those that live in the snowy climates
• healing for all that are ill
• peace as you go about your day

I wish you all abundance this Thanksgiving Day

Feeling Kindness

Picture from unknown source

Over the last several months, I have been going through some health challenges.  I have been so grateful to the doctors and clinic staff for the kindness that they show me.  Nothing we do is a rush and the feeling in each specialized clinic is quite warm and friendly.  When I commented on the atmosphere, the nurse said that friendliness and kindness were easy to do and that she wished all people were kind.  

For some reason, her words stuck with me and I started looking at different articles online about kindness, and goodness, and compassion, and balancing one’s problems while being kind to others.  I love the article below, and hope that it helps you.

The following information came from an article on LIFEHACK at http://www.lifehack.org/387767/15-quotes-about-kindness.  It seems that we are lacking kindness and compassion in the world so I thought it was worth sharing. 

15 quote about kindness

1. “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” – Aesop 
2. “Our human compassion binds us the one to the other – not in pity or patronizingly, but as human beings who have learnt how to turn our common suffering into hope for the future.” – Nelson Mandela 
3. “There is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.” – Vincent Van Gogh 
4. “Those who make compassion an essential part of their lives find the joy of life. Kindness deepens the spirit and produces rewards that cannot be completely explained in words. It is an experience more powerful than words. To become acquainted with kindness one must be prepared to learn new things and feel new feelings. Kindness is more than a philosophy of the mind. It is a philosophy of the spirit.” – Robert J. Furey 
5. “The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the greatest intention.” – Kahlil Gibran 
6. “How lovely that everyone, great and small, can make a contribution toward introducing justice straightaway. And you can always, always give something, even if it is only kindness!” – Anne Frank 
7. “Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you.” — Princess Diana 
8. “A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember you when forget-me-nots have withered. “ – Charles H Spurgeon 
9. “Treat everyone with politeness, even those who are rude to you — not because they are nice, but because you are.” — Author Unknown 
10. “During my second year of nursing school our professor gave us a quiz. I breezed through the questions until I read the last one: “What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?” Surely this was a joke. I had seen the cleaning woman several times, but how would I know her name? I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank. Before the class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward our grade. “Absolutely,” the professor said. “In your careers, you will meet many people. All are significant. They deserve your attention and care, even if all you do is smile and say hello.” I’ve never forgotten that lesson. I also learned her name was Dorothy.” — JoAnn C. Jones, Guideposts, January 1996 
11. “By swallowing evil words unsaid, no one has ever harmed his stomach.” — Winston Churchill 
12. “Sure the world breeds monsters, but kindness grows just as wild… ” — Mary Karr, The Liars’ Club: A Memoir, 1995 
13. “The kind of beauty I want most is the hard-to-get kind that comes from within; Strength, Courage, Dignity.” – Ruby Dee 
14. “I’m convinced of this: Good done anywhere is good done everywhere. For a change, start by speaking to people rather than walking by them like they’re stones that don’t matter. As long as you’re breathing, it’s never too late to do some good.” – Maya Angelou 
15. “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” — Plato D

Many blessings,

Judy

Healing Grief - A Process That is Different For Each Of Us

 

                                               - Picture by Judy Hirst along Highway 40 

 Generally, we associate grief with the death of a loved person or pet.  For some reason, and it is different for each of us, we feel angry that the person/pet had to die at this time.  At some point, many of us are angry at God for allowing the disease or illness or even age to take the object of our grief.  And with our grief, we internalize it, until, one day, it simply needs to come out.  The release happens by way of tears.

I was at a funeral recently where this poem was in the program, and I found that these words helped me heal some grief that I felt.  For some reason, thinking that the person would become an active part of nature gave me solace. Our Ancestors have known this for centuries.

NATIVE AMERICAN PRAYER

I give you this one thought to keep --I am with you still – I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow,I am the diamond glints on snow,

I am the sunlight on ripened grain, I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you awaken in the morning’s hush, I am the swift, uplifting rush of quiet birds in circled flight.

I am the soft stars that shine at night. Do not think of me as gone – I am with you still – in each new dawn.
——Author Unknown

Sometimes, we just need to sit in a quiet place and let the grief come out of us.  What if, however, the grief is for a different reason than loss of life?  What if it is a personal grief over the loss of a job, or lover or whatever?  Grief is a mental or mind activity.  In the book, “The Buddha and The Way To Happiness” by Tien Cong Tran, Ph.D., one finds the Buddhist definition for grief on Page 44.  It reads, “GRIEF: “And what, bhikkhus, is grief? Whatever mental painful feeling, mental unpleasant feeling, painful or unpleasant sensation results from mental contact, – that is called grief.””

The meaning of this passage, seems to me to say that grief is what we make it.  The opposite than is that we can unmake grief. While that may be true, it is very much an individual action.  Just as each of us will heal a cut on our body in different ways and times, each of us will heal our grief differently.

I know that I am still grieving – it just does not hurt quite so much. 

Blessings,

Judy

Feeling Grief

 

"Puff ball in a field" picture by Judith Hirst-Joyeux June 2008

When practicing any healing, the emotion "grief" seems to show up with regular frequency. I think this definition from Wikipedia says it all - "Grief is a multi-faceted response to loss". The loss may be for any thing or person or animal. It may even be a perceived loss, and not a loss that we would normally associate with grief. Since grief is a personal or unique response, it is hard to gage how deeply it does affect the individual. Grief carried too long without release takes the form of physical dis-eases or illnesses. Grief will manifest in lung problems. Louise Hay in her book You Can Heal Your Life talks about grief/lung problems as "fear of taking in life". 

Since grief is an emotion, and in Shamanism, emotion is associated with water, the body filling up with water - lungs filling up, water around the heart - indicate that grief may be at the root of these illnesses. It seems too that grief may be inherited. When an event happens and the grief is not dealt with at the time, the grief seems to be captured and passed on at a cellular level.

Grief is very prevalent in the world and a large topic of conversation. I say "large" because the number of web sites containing the word "grief" total 28,600,000 web sites, when I did a search. It is the topic of books, prayers, poems, stories, songs, and has become a whole counselling discipline. One solution to heal grief is when the individual recognizes that it is grief they are feeling and they decide to deal with it and ease it. 

The Buddhists call this part of the practice of "Mindfulness". When one is aware of the feeling/energy and stays with it, and judges it not and lets it be, it has a chance to take shape, and then the energy can be released. The saying "time heals all things" really means that we, by our choices and actions heal ourselves.

I have been mindful of the sadness that I carry over the loss of my nephew very recently.  I throw the emotion to fire, in a traditional Incan Fire Ceremony, and I cry when I feel the urge to do so.  I do not stop the crying until it stops itself.  I feel it to completion.

I wish for you to have the time to feel your emotions to completion.

Blessings,

Judy

A Story About A Ghost

 This story comes from Zen Buddhist teachings.  There are several different lessons in this story. Which lessons are apparent to you?  Post your thoughts in the comments section below the blog.

                                     Picture from J Hirst -taken of Elbow Falls in August 2021

 Banishing a Ghost

 The wife of a man became very sick. On her deathbed, she said to him, "I love you so much! I don't want to leave you, and I don't want you to betray me. Promise that you will not see any other women once I die, or I will come back to haunt you."

For several months after her death, the husband did avoid other women, but then he met someone and fell in love. On the night that they were engaged to be married, the ghost of his former wife appeared to him. She blamed him for not keeping the promise, and every night thereafter she returned to taunt him. The ghost would remind him of everything that transpired between him and his fiancée that day, even to the point of repeating, word for word, their conversations. It upset him so badly that he couldn't sleep at all.

Desperate, he sought the advice of a Zen master who lived near the village. "This is a very clever ghost," the master said upon hearing the man's story. "It is!" replied the man. "She remembers every detail of what I say and do. It knows everything!" The master smiled, "You should admire such a ghost, but I will tell you what to do the next time you see it."

That night the ghost returned. The man responded just as the master had advised. "You are such a wise ghost," the man said, "You know that I can hide nothing from you. If you can answer me one question, I will break off the engagement and remain single for the rest of my life." "Ask your question," the ghost replied. The man scooped up a handful of beans from a large bag on the floor, "Tell me exactly how many beans there are in my hand."

At that moment the ghost disappeared and never returned.

Remembrance Day November 11 2022

                                                  

Today, in Canada, is Remembrance Day.  It is a time of quiet remembering of our family and friends, and for many of us, of our Ancestors, who believed in their faith and in truth, and have fought in different wars around the world, to help keep democracy strong and to protect others from dictators.  

Blessings,

Judy

Like Yourself!

 In the Oneness of all things, we are all loved and liked.  It is only in the human world that we get attached to whether people like us or dislike us.  Where does that come from?  Usually, it comes from the expectations that our parents set for us around whether we are “good” or “bad” and whether our parents like us or not.  That expectation of being liked is transferred to our new friends outside of the family, and then to school, and so on.

What I have learned is that no one will like me if I do not like myself.  If I am constantly harping on what I see as deficiencies in myself, others will pick up on that energy, and they will mirror my feelings.  I will feel lambasted by my shortcomings.

Know that you and I are perfect.  What we see as imperfections are in fact things that we use to help us learn and grow.  We actually are moving through time and space as we learn to love ourselves.  One of the tools that I use to help me grow and to move through the self questioning and self criticism is the Ho’ponopono meditation.

                                   

This beautiful meditation allows you to forgive yourself and others, and to move past the behaviour that is slowing you down.

May you find yourself beautiful!  May you become your best friend!

Blessings,D

Reflection - Passion In All Things

 

 

Cartoon by Hugh MacLeod at www.gapingvoid.com 

Check out his work in the blog – it is brilliant!

 

The main concern that my clients have in their lives is “how do I stay in balance?”  This is a valid concern for most people because of the hectic pace of work and how much work time moves in to our personal/family time.  As a former consultant for Microsoft, I can tell you that when I travelled, my family time was limited to weekends, and the phone calls home.  That is definitely not balance! 

What I have learned, however, is that if what I am doing is my passion, then the life force that the passion provides my mind and my body helps to keep me in balance because I am excited and joyful about life.  In that excitement, I share with my family and friends. I take time to rejuvenate. I separate work, home, and “me” time. I connect more easily with Spirit.

If you are feeling drained and out of balance, perhaps you need to identify what your passion is?  Are you living it? Does passion show up in your life currently as rage or seething anger?  Do you yell at your employees and your family? 

Take a deep breath!  If someone is pushing your buttons, remember that you installed the buttons – they did not.

Steps to Harmony

 

Did you know that the word "harmony" is really a word used to describe music where the notes that are played together provide a sound that is absolutely pleasing to the ear (depending of course on one's taste in music). The harmony also implies that either the music or the singers are in tandem with the pitch of the notes or the pitch of the voices.

When we say that we need to find balance or harmony in our life, what exactly do we mean? Most people mean that they are doing too much of one thing and doing it too frantically. It means that they don't have time for themselves or for others they consider important in their life. Like the lyrics in Harry Chapin's song, Cat's In The Cradle - "When you comin' home dad? I don't know when, but we'll get together then son You know we'll have a good time then..." we tell others that we "don't know when" we will get together to do the things that we want to do.

Harmony then begins by knowing when we will do something. If we don't know, who will know? It is our life and we need to be responsible for it, and not leave it to others to run. If you look around, the "others" are not doing very well at running a lot of things.

Harmony is about watching where one spends their time. If you are spending two to three hours a day commuting, is it time to look at the harmony of the time spent working, the time spent traveling and the time spent eating, sleeping and with family. Could you do better? Do you need to change the job or the commute?

Harmony means that you are important! How are "you" important in your life? Or are you just a player going through the motions. Do "you" get excited about something? Is it sports, crafts, or yard work? What do you do just for "you"?

Harmony means that the music is not discordant. Is your life discordant? Do you have many dramas, and shouting, and hostility around you? This is not harmony! Harmony is a peaceful flow that does not provide stress in one's life. When one tries to control the people and events around them, then you will have disharmony. We are not meant to be controllers. We are meant to be guides and helpers. When someone feels controlled, they will react. Without giving up your freedom to be, try to bring harmony into your life by dealing with people and situations in a suggestive manner rather than a commanding manner. See if this helps take the drama out of your life.

Those travelers who have been on the journey to become happy, healthy, peaceful, joyful, and loving (anyone on a spiritual path) will tell you that achieving harmony is a process. Find a step, work on it, and then move another step. And, don't be surprised if the steps are years apart.

Blessings,

Judith