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
I was walking through the park, and my thoughts turned to the idea of being grateful. I am grateful for everything, even the tough things that challenge my faith in a compassionate world, filled with love and laughter. I heard someone say, very far away, “Take it back to the basics!”
Immediately, I knew that meant that one needs to be grateful for all the basic things in life – food, shelter, clothing – all the things in Maslow’s needs hierarchy. And then the Angels, in their mysterious way, directed me to this wonderful prayer.
I share it now with you.
May We Be Grateful
I seem to be doing new things daily, a change from where I was a year ago. I wondered why I was moving forward, doing all these new things. Then, I read this poem and I realized that I was being given a great chance to be in service, for you see, I am one!
Just One
Unknown
One song can spark a moment,
One flower can wake the dream
One tree can start a forest,
One bird can herald spring.
One smile begins a friendship,
One handclasp lifts a soul.
One star can guide a ship at sea,
One word can frame the goal
One vote can change a nation,
One sunbeam lights a room
One candle wipes out darkness,
One laugh will conquer gloom.
One step must start each journey.
One word must start each prayer.
One hope will raise our spirits,
One touch can show you care.
One voice can speak with wisdom,
One heart can know what's true,
One life can make a difference,
You see, it's up to you!
Many blessings,
Judy
Cedar Waxwing – picture from www.phase.com
As the leaves float off the trees, flocks of birds hit our yard to pull berries and seeds off the trees. The last of these flocks this year are the Cedar Waxwings.
Over the past two weeks, when my dog and I walk in the woods, one or two cedar waxwings fly along with us and sing a song of trills and whistles. Since they are trying very hard to get my attention, I spent some time finding out about the bird.
First, the birds are migratory, and arrive in Calgary in the early spring, any time in March. They come in flocks of hundreds, and several flocks visit our back yard, and sit on our mountain ash, eating berries. Cedar Waxwing’s diet is pretty much always fruit and berries (it loves the sweetness of life) except at breeding time, when it will eat insects as well. In fact, the berries that it eats may affect the coloring of the feathers, making the light red/orange a much more vibrant red, and changing the yellow color to a more orangey-red hue.
Second, while their favorite habitat is woodland with access to lots of berries, the Waxwing loves to be near open, running water, such as a stream, creek, or river. Waxwing needs lots of water to help process its sugar rich diet.
Third, Waxwings mate in early summer, coming together as a pair only for the season. They make their vows as a couple by passing flower petals or some food back and forth. They may have two nests through the summer as the eggs hatch within two weeks, and the young leave the nest after eighteen days. Both parents feed the young.
Waxwing teaches lessons around going beyond the physical demands of the body (food and shelter needs found in the base chakra) and speaks to the joy of belonging, for they belong in flocks and pairs (which is what the second and third chakras, orange and yellow in color are about), and Waxwing sings of the sweetness of life. Its love of running water is about letting all emotions run off your body. Feel them to the utmost and then let them go. It is stuck emotions that cause pain and illness, for many people. Waxwing’s mask is a reminder that sometimes all that other see is the mask that they perceive. And, for many of us, our truth is hidden, even from ourselves.
Wishing you days of light and laughter.
Many blessings,
Judy
One of my friends sent this to me, and it made me think of all the times that I have heard, “Quit trying so hard! You are getting in the Creator’s way.”
This bear obviously has heard this before and knew when to get out of the way.
Laughter and blessings,
Judy
This bridge is on the Old Donner Pass Highway .
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In my meditation this morning, the two words of the day are LOVE and HUMOUR. At first, I had a difficult time putting the two thoughts together. I don’t normally think of Love as funny. Yet, on reflection, I realize that my three days with my sister and her family were filled with lots of love and much laughter (humour), because we found everything funny. We were together and we felt that hint of invincibility that comes from being one family.
I then thought back to the the last group meditation that we did several months ago and realized that the same feeling was there – Humour and Love - because we all enjoyed one another so much and we had the same, off beat, view of life. We talked and laughed and shared.
I bow to Creator/Great Spirit for once again being able to teach a wonderful lesson to me through the use of two words.
This was a very healing lesson.
Blessings,
Judy
A question came in from a reader about how to go about leaving a toxic relationship. This is a post that I did on another blog about five years ago. The problem and solutions have not changed in the past five years. I hope that each reader finds this helpful.
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Life is about exploring new things, practicing skills to become masterful at them, and its about meeting new people and having new experiences.
What do you do if your life has a toxic situation in it – for example a toxic person or toxic group? Well, you need to let go of them. How do you recognize these people?
Qualities of a Toxic Person
Life coach Cheryl Richardson describes five types of toxic qualities in people:
- Blamer (keeps complaining)
- Drainer (always needs you and contacts you only when he needs you)
- Shamer (keeps criticising you)
- Discounter (discounts or challenges everything you say)
- Gossip (keeps talking about others at their back)
If he/she is any or all of the above, you just get him/her out of your life, please. (From https://thoughtcatalog.com/surabhi-surendra/2016/08/this-is-how-you-let-go-of-a-toxic-relationship/)
Why You Need to Let A Toxic Person Go
The following advice comes from https://tinybuddha.com/blog/letting-go-of-unhealthy-relationships-and-rediscovering-yourself/.
If you, like me, have considered letting someone go, ask yourself these questions:
How do you feel in their presence: drained or alive? Does the person always have your best interests in mind? Do they belittle you when you share your feelings? Do they make promises and never follow up?
If you answered yes to the final two questions, it might be time to move on to make space in your life for healthy, happy relationships.
The Process of Letting Go Of A Toxic Relationship
(From https://tinybuddha.com/blog/letting-go-of-unhealthy-relationships-and-rediscovering-yourself/)
Focus on one relationship that’s draining you and write a letter to the person you want to let go. Pour out your feelings onto the paper. The letter can be as long or short as you want.
End the letter with, “I release you across all space and time. Thank you for helping me learn and grow.” Fold the paper, burn it, and bury it in the ground to signify a complete release to the universe. This particular ritual is magical. I instantly start to feel lighter.
Physical cleaning is so helpful when you are letting go of the past. Our physical space is a representation of what we’re giving space in our life.
Sell or donate any gifts you received, and burn any letters from the person you’re tying to let go. You’re going to face a lot of resistance; you’ll come up with reasons to hold on to these things. Remind yourself that this crucial to moving on and feeling happier with yourself and your life.
Write down how you want to feel in your life and within your relationships.
This is how I want my life and relationships to feel:
If you’re not sure how you want to feel on the whole, start with just the immediate future. How do you want to feel this month?
Now that you’ve created a safe space by releasing unhealthy relationships, write a list of activities that will help you feel and experience your desires. For example, you could join a dance group to feel alive.
Put a little time into your passion every day. Writing makes me come alive, so I make sure to write daily. Any passion that you spend time on will be healing.
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As you start dedicating time to things that are important to you, the right people will come into your life—people who see and appreciate you for who you really are.
Remember that this is information only and does take the place of medical advice from a doctor or mental health professional.
Many blessings,
Judy
Lightstationwisdom@gmail.com
