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
