The sign says:
***************************************
This sign is for all the people that think they have life tough - and then try to rationalize what they are thinking. And, we have all done it!
The continuous challenge that each of us has is to speak positively and not in the negative. We are what we think and speak.
Blessings,
Judy
The poster says:
The first time I saw this sign, I laughed out loud! This explains what happens to so many people who are diagnosed with mental disorders.
We come to Earth to find ourselves, and while we are on Earth, we escape our physical reality to find ourselves. We say, “I don’t know who I am!”
We look for signs to tell us the way to ourselves. We take drugs to find ourselves. Some people try counselling, meditation, and other forms of self help, to find themselves.
Through it all, our families watch and determine that the searchers are “different” or not normal. The searchers discover that the family is dysfunctional.
The cosmic joke is that none of us is perfect, and yet, we judge others as though we are.
Enjoy the joke,
Blessings,
Judy
The poster says:
*********************************
This is the beginning of the great sleep of Winter. When the winter is done, everything is changed. We find new challenges, new roads, and perhaps, new destinations.
When it is summer, everything feels so safe and colorful. When it is winter, it feels quiet, and powerful, like a storm that is building. Even though the days are get shorter and then longer, there is a sense of a reworking of all that is.
We feel apprehension and excitement at the same time. So many things happen in the next thirty days. And it is everything that we have asked for.
Blessings,
Judy
It seems that there are days that are made for happiness and then, most days, someone needs to hand out directions for getting to the state of happiness.
How do you find happiness within your self? Do you remember happy times? Do you think of a song that is happy? Do concentrate on a particular person? Any of those things might work. The thing is, to get to how you want to feel, you set a direction.
Sometimes, you get there, and sometimes you go past what you were aiming for. Our bodies naturally want to feel happy. They want to drop off the stress from work, bad food, unhealthy relationships, and other common elements of self destruction.
This is a good day to find happiness.
Blessings,
Judy
The picture says: Believe with all of your heart that you will do what you were made to do. - Orison Swett Marden (Author of fifty or more books and booklets)
*********************************
There is a common question that many ask – the question is “What is my purpose?” It is very difficult for another to answer something that is so personal to your soul contract.
A Course In Miracles (ACIM) (written by Helen Schucman) is a book that talks a bit about life’s purpose. Summarized the ACIM definition of life purpose is to be the best human that you can be. To be that best person does not mean you have to write a book, or be a musician, or a great politician, or healer. It means that you have to be as kind, compassionate, and forgiving as you can, every day.
I think that many people confuse their gifts – singing, art, writing, leading, or whatever the gift is, with their life purpose. I think that one’s gift can help them be the best human they can be. My observation is that many people sacrifice their human-ness for their gifts, believing that they are answering a higher calling. The relationship wreckages left along the way make their calling suspect.
However, each person has the right to follow their path, and to do it without explaining it to anyone.
May you find your way.
Blessings,
Judy
Our fall has been very lovely with many warm days and lots of opportunity to walk in Fish Creek Park. Generally at this time, we have snow. That is why I was out walking with my dog when I should have been doing other things. It was already the middle of October and I had been putting off things.
The Hawk swooped down from the tree and grabbed a mouse from the field. It flew back up to the top of a tree to eat. It seemed that before it finished the first meal, it was aiming its flight back to the ground to pick up another meal.
This was the fifth hawk in the last two days that was chasing down food. Something was going on for me and Hawk was trying to help me understand the message in all the different events. The events were all related to the work that seemed to be piling up on me – yard work, house work, and dealing with fall fruit and vegetables that were ready to be processed.
I realized that Hawk is responsible for feeding itself – no one else does that. Sick or fit, happy or sad, Hawk must go out every day and hunt for food. I was doing that – hunting and preparing food. No one else will do it for me. It is the way of Nature.
Somehow, that realization was comforting. I was going with the flow of Nature. I was “seeing” like Hawk, and could see what had to be done, without emotion or stories. I had the big picture.
May you be objective and get the big picture in your view of life.
Blessings,
Judy
In September, we were still having beautiful weather. I had yard work to do but I sat down to work at my laptop on a project. As I started to open Microsoft Word, a strange message came up, telling me that I had been hit by a virus and that I needed to download a virus patch.
I recognized the message as a fake, and I immediately turned off access to the internet. I then tried to use my virus removal software. However, clever hacker had written the virus to block any program that scanned and removed viruses, Trojans, spyware, or worms.
I was very angry at the hacker that wrote this code. Coincidently, I was feeling upset about all the yard work that I still had to do, and, I was upset that my dishwasher was not working properly. I was also sitting in the kitchen. As I was thinking all these things, three Hornets flew through the open door and settled in the kitchen, at the window, close to my chair.
The three Hornets were pretty agitated that they could see where they wanted to go – the big outdoors – through the glass, but, they could not get there. The buzzing got louder and louder. The Fool in me (the Fool is the first card in the Tarot) laughed and said, “Well, isn’t that Nature imitating Life!”
I had to laugh too.
Although Hornet has a bad reputation, she is about working with the Earth, about being grounded, about being secluded, and about leaving others alone. Nothing makes a Hornet angrier than being disturbed in its work. Again, I laughed. I was imitating Nature.
Common sense kicked in, and I realized that I would need to fix my laptop, and delete the virus. I also realized that it would probably take some time.
Since all things are perfect, I knew that I was not meant to work on the project I was going to start on my computer today. I wasn't meant to do yard work, either. I needed to settle in and fix things.
I am grateful!
Blessings,
Judy
Ingredients: 4 carrots, chopped or 1 sweet potato, cubed 2 stalks of celery, roughly chopped
2 onions, sliced
1 cup parsley, finely chopped 1 cup of shiitake mushrooms,
fresh or dried (optional) 2 tomatoes, chopped (optional)
1 bulb of garlic (about 6-8 cloves), minced
1 inch of fresh ginger root
1 inch of fresh turmeric root
8 cups of water Optional: Chili peppers or red pepper flakes
Directions: Place all the ingredients in a pot and bring to a gentle boil. Turn heat down to low and allow to simmer for about an hour. Strain and sip for a mineral rich, healing and restorative broth or leave the veggies in to enjoy as a light healing soup.
Blessings,
Judy
This post comes from my journal from about ten years ago. Sometimes, writing something in the past calls me to write it to others.
**********************
The Tiger Lily always makes me think of my Grandmother who has been deceased for about fifteen years. She loved the color of the flower, its resilience to drought and to drowning, and she loved that it stands straight up, looking at the Sun. She would tell my brother and I, when we were five and six, that we should be like the Tiger Lily.
As I am processing big changes in my life, I decided that I would do some yard work. I realized that my flower beds were looking bedraggled, and decided to go to check out the offerings at the nursery. I felt like I was pulled over to the perennial section where there was a huge display of tiger lilies and other lilies. The orange, and yellow, and pink lilies called to a part of my soul, and I went home with six pots of lilies.
As I thought about my purchase, I realized that I felt happy and peaceful. I felt the presence of my Grandmother like a warm hug. Again, I could see Great Spirit’s hand in the way that I was guided out to the yard, and then to the nursery. I felt the healing presence of great love and compassion. I planted my lilies and I felt as though the world shifted for me.
Try planting a lily and see if it changes your feelings.
Blessings,
Judy
Today, we pause to reflect, honour, and remember. Blessings, Judy |
The poster says:
Silent gratitude isn’t much use to anyone. - Gertrude Stein (from Brainyquote.com)
*****************
Periodically, I do a post about gratitude. Gratitude is the action that gives each of us the ability to enjoy abundance from the Universe on a regular interval. Gratitude shows that we are aware that we cannot exist and accomplish every thing on our own.
When a person has been of service, and the person has specifically helped you in some way, acknowledging their assistance ensures that the person will continue to help you in the future. It shows that you are a person that it is grateful and is able to ask for help.
Many blessings,
Judy
When everything seems to be in chaos,
Find a place where it is calm.
Here is the center of creation,
The place where you were born.
Each of you comes from a calmness
Of the Eternal Flame of life.
It is not your nature to be angry or in upheaval.
You are Elemental. You are healing.
Remember that most things are not about you;
Indeed, most often life is not about you at all.
Find that place where in the calmness, you can see
That life happens and does not need an explanation.
Be still.
Be calm.
Blessings,
Judy
I took this picture of a mother duck and her babies in August. The whole time that we walked around the pond, I heard the word, “reflect”. I had been having some thoughts about this and that. Reflect, however, means to me that I need to look at my actions and what was going on.
Some of the actions that popped into my mind were random things that I did that I wondered, at the time, why I did them. However, I did what I was prompted to do. Then, later, one of my friends needed the very things that Spirit had asked me to research and download.
In my reflection, I realized that most things are not about me. They are about big picture things that I can assist with. The retention pond, above, caused a lot of controversy when it was built. Several years later, it is providing a safe place for the ducks and geese to nest and raise their young. The last two years the river has flooded at the hatching time. It would wash away the youngsters, and the flocks would diminish. Spirit had the foresight to have retention ponds built in the regular hatching places. It is the big picture thing again.
In my reflection, I realized that all is perfect, whole, and complete, and I do not need to spend energy on the things that do not matter. From our very small perspective, though, all things matter.
Blessings,
Judy
The poster says:
A woman’s highest calling is to lead a man to his soul so as to unite him with Source.
A man’s highest calling is to protect woman so she is free to walk the earth unharmed. - Cherokee Proverb
*********************
It seems that the Earth is in a time of rebalancing the relationships – between Mother and child, and Father and child, and husband and wife, and between humans and humans, and between humans and other animals.
This Proverb of the Cherokee rings true for me. In all the animals, the male protects the female, especially when the woman is carrying offspring. Humans more than any other animal seem to have forgotten the role of the protector. The Protector has become the hunter of women and children and the abuser of those he is to protect.
May you be protected by a champion. If you are a champion, may you walk with grace.
Blessings,
Judy
As November kicks off, people in the Northern Hemisphere are settling in for Winter with its cold and snow and Christmas preparations.
November is a good month for practicing "letting go" of things, feelings, and family/friends that no longer serve you. Note that serve does not mean in the sense that they are your servants but in the sense that they do not provide any support or encouragement in your life. If the person makes your life more difficult by demanding that you do this or that, then that person has an agenda that excludes any benefit to you.
For example, if you want to do something like take art classes and those around you tell you that it is a waste of money or that you do not have talent, then they are an example of someone that does not serve you. Their most common comeback for what they say is, "I am just looking out for your best interest". This is a falsehood because it would be in your best interest to experience something new. They don't want you to move ahead or progress so they make up reasons to hold you back.
Generally, people are competitive and are afraid that you will do better than them, or, be better than them. Therefore, individuals will try to hold you back, selfishly, so that you do not make them look unsuccessful or lazy or….
Many blessings,
Judy
In many cultures, people believe that All Hallows’ Eve is the best time to be able to talk to one’s ancestors because the veil between this third dimension and the other dimensions is at it’s weakest. This means that the ancestor (and in some areas, other ghosts and unseen things) can be present on Earth.
Many people in the Western World no longer believe that there is a connection to the ancestors at Halloween. Instead, it is a time of dressing up either for a party (adults) or for trick or treating for children. The spiritual aspect of the evening is not considered.
Regardless of your practices, stay safe and enjoy your Halloween.
Blessings.
Judy
“Think thoughts that make you feel good, make choices that make you feel good, and take actions that make you feel good. Then surrender the outcome, trusting that Life will bring you what you need to grow and be happy.”
- from You Can Create An Exceptional Life by Louise Hay and Cheryl Richardson
Picture from freeimages.com - showing male with briefcase walking and a large hand indicating that he should stop.
Motion carries you as you work through your purpose. Purpose is simply taking action, doing what you know you need to do without the prompting or without following other’s expectations. When you are in motion, you are searching. Although you may believe that you know the destination, along the way, it may change. So, watch for the signs that appear to you to changes directions. – Meditation #6 from Earth Wisdom Meditations by Judith Hirst
Every time I hear the words, “if you don’t move forward, you move backwards”, I think of the times that I have been doing some task or project, and I hear the words, ‘Stop!” I think that there are times when we must stop searching for that elusive “thing” that we are seeking – success, pleasure, closure, teaching, answers, or even love.
The “stop” is the signal to change direction and plans. Stopping is not failure; stopping is success! You have now opened another door, and you set a new path for yourself.
Congratulations.
Blessings,
Judy
“…and so the first children of the Sun could no longer stay on a plane that was cold and sterile. They agreed that, one by one, they would set themselves free of the planet. In doing so, they would become eternal, and, they would be the Watchers.” – from the first tales of the Star People by Judy Hirst
We all understand about leaving. It might be saying good-bye as you leave home to go grocery shopping. It might be leaving a lover or a friend. It might even be one’s death. All of our lives, we prepare for LEAVING. We practice on our family and friends without knowing that we rehearse our own death.
We are miraculous beings.
Blessings,
Judy
This is absolutely a story to forward
What the pictures show… a small adult dog walks down the sidewalk along a fence. She stops at a gate, and waits. A lovely black and white adult cat walks out to join the dog. He leans against the dog as though saying hello. Then both animals continue the walk, together, in comfortable silence.
*************************************
Every day - at the same time - she waits for him...
He comes... and they go for a walk
Wouldn't it be great if we all had friends like this...no words needed...they just intuitively recognize the value of each other in their lives and act accordingly.
****************************************
I hope that you enjoyed this. Sometimes, pictures do tell the story that we need to know.
Blessings,
Judy
This poster says:
A prayer of Thanksgiving and Praise
"The Canticle of Brother Sun"
The poster says, “ Done is better than perfect.”
Buddhism asks us to go beyond the self, not to perfect the self. - Dharmavidya David Brazier, "Living Buddhism"
It is difficult to really know what perfectionism is. We all seem to know what is not perfect. We constantly say, “Well, it’s not perfect!”
We are such ego driven beings – we humans think that we know what perfection is.
The Angels tell us that each of us is perfect the way we are. If this is true, then why do others wish to change us?
Maybe that is why more and more people live alone. Then, they don’t have anyone constantly telling them what is wrong with them.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could say, “Here is what is right about you….”
Blessings,
Judy
The poster says:
“It’s impossible.” Said pride.
“It’s risky.” Said experience.
“It’s pointless.” Said reason.
“Give it a try.” Whispered the heart.
*********************************
I sometimes have the best moments when I am out walking my dog. Today, I was contemplating whether to try something different in my life. I have all the reasons that it won’t work. However, my gut, or instinct, or heart, was telling me to do it anyway.
I wondered if I was being foolish. Can we really learn a lot of new things at once just because it is our will? The answer came back, “Yes, you can! Thy will be done.” For a moment, the silence was deafening. I was not in the park. And then slowly, the sound of rushing water came back. I could hear the birds singing. I saw the Sun.
I knew that I need to go ahead with this one new thing in my life.
Wish me luck!
Blessings,
Judy
The story below is a wonderful story about size. I share it with you so that you too may enjoy the motivating story of the mouse – the little engine that could…
Thank you to my friend that sent me this great story!
The extraordinary scene was captured by photography student Casey Gutteridge at the Santago Rare Leopard Project in Hertfordshire. The 19-year-old, from Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, who was photographing the leopard for a course project, was astounded By the mouse's behavior.
He said: 'I have no idea where the mouse came from - he just appeared in the enclosure after the keeper had dropped in the meat for the leopard. He didn't take any notice of the leopard, just went straight over to the meat and started feeding himself.'
'But the leopard was pretty surprised - she bent down and sniffed the mouse and flinched a bit like she was scared. In the meantime the mouse just carried on eating like nothing had happened.
.but even a gentle shove does not deter the little creature from getting his fill... 'It was amazing, even the keeper who had thrown the meat into the enclosure was shocked - he said he'd never seen anything like it before.'
Project owner Jackie James added: 'It was so funny to see - Sheena batted the mouse a couple of times to try to get it away from her food.' But the determined little thing took no notice and just carried on.'
Sheena was brought in to the Santago Rare Leopard Project from a UK zoo when she was just four months old. She is one of 14 big cats in the private collection started by Jackie 's late husband Peter in 1989. The African Leopard can be found in the continent's forests, grasslands, savannas, and rainforest's.
....so the mouse continued to eat the leopard's lunch and show the leopard who was the boss. Just proves no one can push you around without your permission.
Blessings,
Judy
Several years ago, Roger and I and the dogs spent four days in Radium Hot Springs. We stayed in a lodge up the side of the mountain. Everyday, when we took the dogs for their outings, we saw Mountain Sheep. The Mountain Sheep seemed to show an unusual interest in us. They would come down the slope towards us, baa-ing. On one occasion, several ewes chased us down the path. I use the word “chased” when perhaps all they were was curious.
I began to wonder why the sheep were so in-our-face the whole time that we were in Radium. Then I realized that they were telling me, by their actions, to be confident. They were telling me to go forward and do what I must because, like the sheep, I could be sure footed in uneven ground. I could be challenged, and not need to worry about falling.
On one outing, we were surrounded by rams. They simply walked around us so that we were in the center of their ring, and then past us. I understood that they were telling me that I could butt-heads with anyone, and be sure of victory. They were also saying that the numbers did not matter. And, they offered me their strength.
I realized that we were given a unique chance to interact with these wild animals because we were to learn some lessons from them.
I walk with the confidence of the Mountain Sheep, now.
Blessings,
Judy
