Being In Stillness

The poster says:  He sat in the stillness and listened to the wisdom of his soul.  It was there in the quiet he could feel his connection with the beauty of the universe.  He was home.  —- Unknown

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In all the chaos that is today, and in the madness of commuting to work and rushing to hockey practice or soccer practice, take time for stillness.  It will renew you!

Blessings,

Judy

Healer, Hero, And Leader

The poster says:  True power is living the realization that you are your own healer, hero, and leader. -----Yung Pueblo

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What a marvelous idea that we are everything that we need to be... healer, hero, and leader!  How is it possible?  Is there a course that I might have missed?  

The answer is No - there is no course.  As we learn and grow, we acquire knowledge of self healing, and the growing in to values like protecting someone who is bullied and that makes us a hero, both to the person being bullied and to ourself.  If you are the oldest child in the family, then you have been leading since your first sibling was born.  You were learning the skills.  Single children learn leading early by playing sports or being involved in a group. 

Being these three things does not mean that one is isolated.  Every person needs to ask for help.  Leaders, heroes, and healers. 

Blessings,

Judy

 

Lammas August 1 2026

 

Lammas or Lughnasahd is the first day of August and a sign that summer has moved into harvest time.  Garden stuff is plentiful and most of the fruit, both tame and wild, is ready to harvest at the end of July.  August marks the time of jam making, pickle making, and harvesting seeds for next year.  Garden produce is eaten with the surplus canned or frozen.  

Lammas is about gratitude to the Universe for the wonderful abundance.  Remember to share some of the jars of jam or fruit because in giving we open up for more abundance.

Blessings,

Judy

Buddha Says “Be Still”

The poster says:  The practice of stillness

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If you wish to cultivate absolute stillness and clarity of mind, right here and now, sit down and imagine yourself on a peaceful shore or by a tranquil lake. If the mind is a snow globe whirling with thoughts, images, memories, and inchoate feelings, then the winds of internal energy and self-seeking—analyzing, evaluating, pushing and pulling, based on likes and dislikes—are what keep it stirred up and the snowstorm in motion, obscuring the inner landscape. Let the snow globe of your heart and mind settle by relaxing, breathing deeply a few times, and releasing all the tension, preoccupations, and concerns you’ve been carrying—at least for the moment. Let the gentle tide of breath carry it all away like the ocean’s waves, like a waterfall washing your heart, mind, and spirit clean, pure, and bright.
From Buddha Standard Time: Awakening to the Infinite Possibilities of Now by Lama Surya Das © 2011. Reprinted with permission of HarperOne, a division of HarperCollinsPublishers

Blessings,

Judy

To Be Happy

The poster says:  If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.  If you want to be happy, practice compassion. —— 14th Dalai Lama

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Compassion… does it make you happy?  I find that this works for me.  It is part of what makes me smile at people, and laugh at myself.  If you are feeling blue, go out to a mall, and sit and watch the people.  Surely you will find someone to feel compassion with.

Blessings,

Judy

Apologize And Feel Better

The poster says:  Apologizing:  does not always mean you are wrong and the other person is right.     It just means you value your relationship more than your ego. ——- Unknown

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“I wasn't saying whatever they're saying I was saying. I'm sorry I said it really. I never meant it to be a lousy anti-religious thing. I apologize if that will make you happy. I still don't know quite what I've done. I've tried to tell you what I did do but if you want me to apologize, if that will make you happy, then OK, I'm sorry.”
― John Lennon 

“In this life, when you deny someone an apology,
you will remember it at time you beg forgiveness.”
― Toba Beta, My Ancestor Was an Ancient Astronaut

“An apology is the super glue of life. It can repair just about anything.”
― Lynn Johnston 

“Never forget the nine most important words of any family-
I love you.
You are beautiful.
Please forgive me.”
― H. Jackson Brown Jr. 

Blessings, 

Judy

Expressing Gratitude

The poster says:  I am happy because I’m grateful.  I choose to be grateful.  That gratitude allows me to be happy.  —-Will Arnett (from Country Living Magazine)

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 Thank you Universe

Thank you, Universe,for your grace and guidance.
For intuition, luck, hope and dreams.
Thank you for the ever-present abundance
that is reflected in each moment of my life.

From the former site, www.my-thank-you-site.com.  

###Note that this site no longer exists but was wonderful when it was active.  

Blessings,

Judy

Grow Old Gracefully

The poster says:  Beautiful young people are accidents of nature,   But beautiful old people are works of art.  —— Eleanor Roosevelt

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 I was in a seminar a while ago where the facilitator talked about most people in developed countries will live well into their nineties or into their one hundred years plus.  He said this is due to lifestyle, changing medicine towards aging, and, the new belief that we do not have to die in our sixties or seventies.

I found his comment on the ‘belief’ of dying quite profound. I started wondering about what other beliefs are limiting us.  And, it struck me that we all have a belief that youth is the ideal.  It is shoved at us in movies, on media, and in style.  

Today, make peace with your age and what is ahead for you.  It is glorious!

Blessings,

Judy

About Bliss

 

The poster says:  Bliss lies in balance.  — Buddha Groove

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In my Qi Gong class the other day, several of us had a discussion about what bliss is… a concept, a state of being, a type of energy, or even something that is drug induced.  We did not arrive at a conclusion and agreed that each of us had a  different experience of bliss.  The writing below summarizes bliss in a wonderful way.

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                             The Ultimate Bliss

Blissful is solitude  for one who’s content,      who has heard the Dhamma,      who sees.  Blissful is non-affliction  with regard for the world,      restraint for living beings.  Blissful is dispassion  with regard for the world,      the overcoming of sensuality.  But the subduing of the conceit 'I am'—     That is truly      the ultimate bliss.

- Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche, "Do Nothing"

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May you find bliss in your life.

Blessings,

Judy

Walking In Energy

 

So many people have their own view of what energy is.  In some cases, the view may be incorrect, but as you see from the quotes below, energy is important to all of us.  And, we need to have an understanding of it.

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In essence, everything is energy and cannot be destroyed. ~~Ted Andrews 

It is important to remember that we are energy. Einstein told us that. And energy cannot be created or destroyed, it just changes form. ~~Rhonda Byrne 

You can use your life in a very useful and intelligent way. You can very well transform that negative energy into a positive energy that empowers you and makes life meaningful. ~~ Thich Nhat Hanh 

You let the energy go wherever it wants. I have such a rich spiritual life. Most people take drugs to experience that. ~~ Shirley Maclaine 

I can tell you that anything that happens in the physical body will happen in the pattern of the energy fields first.  So you actually create distortions in your own energy pattern that have to do with unforgivingness towards your self. ~~Barbara Brennan Quote 

Blessings,

Judy

Talking About Control

The poster says:  When you try to control everything, you enjoy nothing.  Relax, breathe, let go, and just live.

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Each of us has been taught the need to control what is around us.  We learn it from parents, from school, and from our work.  Control comes in many forms, usually in ways that deter our growth emotionally and spiritually.

When someone is learning a new task, yes, there does need to be some controls in place to help them stay between the lines.  We watch, check, and offer feedback.  However, when that person has learned the task, then we must let them go.  For if we do not, they will never grow beyond what we let them learn.

Breathe out your need to control today, and everyday.

Blessings,

Judy

The Dynamics of Giving

 

The poster says:  Better to give a little in love than a lot for recognition. — Boyd Bailey

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Understanding and accepting who you really are right now is as important as the commitment to become someone more open and generous. Whatever the quality of motivation, when we intentionally reach out to others in giving, some degree of transformation occurs.  - Dale S. Wright, “The Bodhisattva’s Gift”

Walking this world is a lot of work!   There are many ways that we feel we must protect ourselves.  One way we insulate ourselves from others is to judge the other person.  For example, we see someone who needs help – food, shelter, or what ever – and we can say, “ It is not my job to help that person.  He/She should be taking better care of themselves.  They are lazy, or drunkards, or…..”  

Often, we cannot know what path has led a person to the place where he/she needs help or needs clothes, food, shelter, or safety to be given to them.  

What will you give today? 

Blessings, 

Judy

Living With Grace

The person who is a master in the art of living makes little distinction between their work and their play, their labor and their leisure, their mind and their body, their education and their recreation, their love and their religion.  They hardly know which is which. They simply pursue their vision of excellence and grace in whatever they do, leaving others to decide whether they are working or playing. To them, they are always doing both.  ~~~ from Zen Buddhism

This passage on grace really zinged through me as we are halfway through July.  It seems that many things that I go to do or try to do are minefields of issues or tasks that have to be done before I can actually do what it is I wanted to enjoy.  I was not feeling the flow of things.  I was not moving with grace.  I had to figure out my block, in me, and release it.  It is a work in progress.

Moving through this month, and through life, try to remember that you can be graceful in what ever you do.  It is born in us.  We forget it, and then forget how to be graceful.  

May your life flow with ease. 

Blessings,

Judy

Be Your Best Self

 

The poster says:  Your best life comes when you commit to being your best self.  —- Cheryl Richardson

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Over the years of working and coaching people, I have had many people question what it means to be your best self.  Their concern is that a person is so busy learning their job, taking orders from a boss, and working long hours along with trying to cope with a family and parental tasks that they do not have time to think about best.  They do as good as they can which is mostly not their best.

The concern is valid.  All of us have outside pressures on us that can interfere with self learning, contemplation, and reflection.  The pressures interfere with how we see ourselves and our values and interfere with us setting boundaries.

To be our best self, we need to slow down and take a breath.  We need to think about the things that we want to do as our best self.  For many, this may be about being the best self as a father or mother or brother or sister or child to a parent.  It may be about learning everything one can about a hobby that fascinates and fulfills them.  There is no right answer.  It also means that one must let go of trying to be perfect in other things.  In other words, one must set boundaries around what is the best and what is okay, and how one splits their attention and time.  It is a complicated life!

Blessings,

Judy

Solitude

 

Sometimes, we simply need a place to be by ourselves, in the stillness of nature, so that we may find ourselves.  Solitude is about learning to be alone with one’s self. It is our choice. We need to be quiet.

It is not about being cut off from others, by others.  Being cut off from others, by their choice, is isolation.  

Today, when you meditate, quizz yourself on all the times you felt like you needed solitude.  When you have your list of recurring instances, look at it to see when you need to schedule some solitude time. You then begin working with the flow of your life.

Blessings,

Judy

You - The Universe

 

The poster says:  Remember you are this universe and this universe is you.  — Joy Harjo

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This poster sent a zing through my system when I saw it.  It brought up so many memories of my teachers telling me that our physical body is part of the earth.  Our soul is part of the Universe.  

One reason that they had to keep explaining it to us as students, is that on the path of learning, one tends to forget the bigger picture.  The bigger picture is that the Earth and the Universe have existed long before mankind hit the scene and, according to astronomers, the Universe has kept expanding beyond what we can actually understand.  

My teachers would say that man/capitalism/corporations have this belief that they can control and manage the Earth and thereby manage humans.  And yet the Earth and the Heavens create weather that is not manageable, earthquakes and volcanoes that are not manageable, and the introduction of new species that come from Nature, which is not manageable.  The teaching is that we are to be caretakers of the Earth to help her in her creation.  

If the Earth is constantly changing and the Universe is changing (stars die and new stars are created) then we as part of the Earth and the Universe shall be constantly changing, expanding, and creating.  Life is a wonderful gift.

Blessings,

Judy

Talk of Values

 

The poster says:  My worth is not determined by the price of my clothes.  ——India Arie

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I am noticing the way people talk about values when it comes up in conversation.  The word - value - can have so many different meanings such as the value for the money paid, the value of the type of cloth vs another type of cloth, the mathematical value, value of a good or service, and the moral or ethical value of something.

The conversations usually center around moral and ethical values.  A good definition of this concept is: In a social or personal sense, values represent the core beliefs, principles, or standards of behavior held by an individual or group. These are the abstract concepts that dictate what someone deems right, worthwhile, or desirable.

Generally, the discussions seem to talk about how values in Canada have changed over the last twenty years.  One of my favourite conversations is around “doing good” as a value.  People in the discussion talk about how most of the people and the government a different concept of “doing good” then standard of good that the individuals grew up with.  Doing good also has different meanings such as being a good neighbour, helping out someone with troubles, volunteering, and the list goes on.  

Everyone needs to decide for themselves what values mean to them, and which values are worth while and which are not.  

Blessings,

Judy

Loving

 

The words on the picture say:  Love is like the wind, You can’t see it, but you can feel it.  -  Nicholas Sparks

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The feeling of being loved is the most generous, all encompassing, delightful feeling that I know.  It comes from our family, our very good friends, and our pets.  It helps us get through the terrible times when we suffer grief, pain, anger, and even life threatening situations.  When people do not like you, it is the absence of love.  It does not matter.  Why associate with anyone that does not know how to love?

Blessings,

Judy

How Do You Choose?

The poster says:  You have two primary choices in life:  to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them.  —- Author Unknown

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When you walk through life, each decision is a fork in the road.  We all know this at an unconscious level.  However, we all need to be mindful that each choice is like the stone hitting the water; waves ripple across the pond and move the lily pad, splash the frog on the rock, or lap over the shoreline.  Our choices always have consequences. When we accept that we must change something, we can pray to move through that change with grace and dignity.

Blessings,

Judy

Canada Day 2026

Picture of July 1 celebration in Banff, Alberta, Canada,  - from the Banff website

There is nothing like the feeling of celebrating Canada Day in a crowd of Canadians filled with pride about their country.  Several years ago, my husband and I and our dogs were in Banff for the celebration.  It was awesome!  Several elk even made an appearance.  There were bands, dancers, First Nations folks with ceremonial dress, displays, hot dogs, and drinks. 

 Now, the crowds are so huge, that wildlife stays away, and people fight for sidewalk room and for line ups at restaurants and pop up vendors.  There are still bands and dancers and entertainment.  It is an experience.  

Whatever you decide to do today, enjoy it.

Happy Canada Day,

Judy