This poster says, “I’m so tired of people needing a reason for doing everything in their lives. Do it because you want to. Because it’s fun. Because it makes you happy.
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Great Spirit says that all actions should be done with grace and ease. Especially if it is fun! Life is to be in balance. If we are too serious all the time, then we skew to anxiety. We balance seriousness by having moments of unstructured fun.
Do something fun today!
Blessings,
Judy
To my friends and blog readers in the United States, “Happy Thanksgiving!”. These are my wishes for you on this day.
On this special day, I wish to each of you,
All the best of everything!
May each of you have much abundance in your life.
May each of you feel laughter and have fun.
May each of you connect with all your loved ones.
And, may each of you find the time to say a prayer
for all those who do not have anything.
May Great Spirit smile upon each of you today.
Blessings,
Judy
Fall is here, and the robins are gone. I miss their happy chirping in the morning. I miss how they follow us around to see where we will be digging in the yard or garden. It gives them a chance for good worms. This story happened at the beginning of August.
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As my dog and I completed our morning walk the other day, we rounded the curve at the big maple tree, and came upon a flock of robins – at least twenty. They looked mostly young, and they were sitting on roots, and low shrubs. In the manner of a Professor addressing his class, was what appeared to be a much older Robin, sitting on the ground, addressing the youth around him. Some of the young robins were fluttering at each other – typical kids!
I caught all of this at a glance. I told my dog to wait and the two of us stopped to see what would happen next.
The Professor Robin gave a sharp chirrup, and the robins got quiet. He started to speak. It sounded like he was telling them about the long journey south, and what they would need to do to prepare. Some of the young robins still had spots on their chest. He flew up and then back down. He kept chirruping, and flapping his wings. And then, as he turned to look around, he spotted us. He let out a squawk, and all the robins took off.
I was laughing at the remarkable resemblance to our school system that I saw in the Robin Academy. I even thought how Professor Robin looked like the Dean of the English Department in university.
It was a fun morning, to see how robins prepare their young. I am grateful for the experience.
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Blessings,
Judy
Sea gulls live in seaports and around big water. There are many gulls in Calgary as they follow the river system.
What do we know about gulls? Well, many of us are fans of the book “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” because it was about following your heart and achieving as much as you could achieve. It was inspirational and a heart warming story at the same time. Yet, Sea Gull is often chased away and regarded as a nuisance bird. Why is that?
Sea gulls live in seaports and around big water. There are many gulls in Calgary as they follow the river system.
What do we know about Sea Gull? Sea Gull eats rubbish, pulls apart garbage bags if they smell good, eats dead fish as well as live ones, eats dead meat that washes onto shore or is road kill, eats vegetation, and makes messy nests out of whatever garbage it can find. Sea Gull is noisy – she talks all the time to all those in the flock around her. There is a very loose social structure in the flock, and yet it is honoured.
So, if Sea Gull shows up in your life, what message is she bringing you? It may be several messages or one message that will resonate with you. Sea Gull shows up because:
Enjoy the teachings of Sea Gull. She does not usually show up often.
Blessings,
Judy
Picture of "Cardinal" from Wikipedia....
As I was writing Christmas cards, I noticed how many of the cards have a picture of the "Cardinal" on them. I looked at the cards I had accumulated and realized that I had not really bought a box of cards on birds. Yet, several cards in a row were showing me Cardinal. Therefore, there must be a message for me.
First, the brilliant red Cardinal is usually found in through Ontario, Quebec, and some of the Maritimes, and then down into Maine and the eastern States. In western Canada, the Cedar Waxwing is more orangey-red than red in colour. When the early explorers and settlers saw this bird, the crest reminded the people of the red robes of Catholic Cardinals, hence the name. Cardinal, then, does have significance for people on either a religious or spiritual journey - and often the two are exclusive of each other.
My task is to figure out what Cardinal was trying to say to me. The colours of Cardinal - black and red - are about the base chakra, and a reminder to be more in touch with Mother Earth and to stay grounded. The base chakra is about survival - having food and shelter and feeling secure from harm - the very issues that our Ancestors faced when they ventured out from their cave or their village. Cardinal is very much about survival and she knows which seeds to eat, summer or winter, that will benefit her. At this time of year when over indulgence may become a habit, Cardinal reminds us to eat healthily and to avoid harmful foods. I paid close attention to this information about food and eating because we have many social eating situations over the next several weeks.
Cardinal has a very high, loud whistle that echoes through the air. Cardinal may be singing to its mate - male and female sound alike. The message is to integrate our masculine and feminine traits and then use the combined skills of intuition and logic to achieve a very large goal. Only by moving forward with our being totally integrated will we achieve the steps on our life mission. This message is especially true for me right now as I am working on new workshop materials. I see the message that my communication must also be loud and clear!
As the colour of Cardinal is red, one often associates attributes of life with the colour. So, Cardinal's message in this area is to live with assertiveness, courage, and to be pioneering in the areas of work/hobby that one does. Cardinal may also imply that one is insecure, or fearful, or even self pitying or a victim, and urges the individual to be more like Cardinal - full of fun and life.
Again the message of courage and pioneering struck a chord with me as I am working on several things that go beyond the information that I have learned, and synthesizes ideas into something more - in fact, being a pioneer. That message of pioneering felt good and right, and was affirming the steps that I am taking. I am grateful for the message.
Blessings,
Judy
We were talking about what makes people join groups and volunteer. Her experience over the years is that people are happy to volunteer and help with an event when the end goal helps a lot of people and when the event is fun to participate in. She says that she has been very lucky to have strong volunteers that are generous with their time and that have great ideas and throw their whole effort into being part of the event.
Recently, however, some of her staunch volunteers have had to pull back because of ill health or simply ageing and not able to do the level of energy that is required. She has taken on new volunteers. Some of these volunteers, she says, are simply unhappy all the time. They find fault with the event. They find fault with new ideas. They say that they are happy to help and yet they do not want to put a lot of effort into their volunteer-ship. They complain about the timing of the event, the length of time it runs, about the customers that come (and spend a LOT of money), and about the venue. She says that these folk are simply unhappy with life and want to take their unhappiness out on her and the others that love the event. She finally suggested that they may not want to volunteer at the event since it did not meet their standards. Then these folk were incensed that she suggest that they were not good enough to help out!
Our discussion was around how she could meet the requirements of these six volunteers. My thought was that you cannot make unhappy people happy because happiness is not a validation that comes from outside of people - it comes from the inside - from the enjoyment and self satisfaction of life in general and doing things that makes the person feel happy inside. It is a losing battle to try to please an unhappy person. My suggestion was to give each of them a very limited role that did not touch on too many other people because an unhappy person will work to make everyone unhappy.
My friend reworked a schedule around that idea and parsed them out so that none of the six worked at the same time or in the same group. She met with them individually and walked though what was expected for their short volunteer time. She said it worked to minimize the problems. She expects to have another successful event.
Many blessings,
Judy
