Touch The Earth

Humans, and mothers especially, have a love-hate relationship with dirt.  Yet, dirt grows what we eat.  The minerals in it are part of us.  We need it!  Sometimes, the quickest way to ground absolutely is to touch the earth.  Sometimes, getting down in the mud brings a relief to a time filled with stress, grief, and worry.  

So, today, if you are having a difficult time with family, work, relationships with friends or lovers, go and find some dirt.  it will make you feel better. 

Blessings,

Judy

Truisms That Made Me Think!

 

Picture of Lake Winnipeg taken from the shore at Victoria Beach in August 2023 by J Hirst

I get a Daily Motivational Message in my email every morning.  I enjoy the ideas and thoughts that pop up from time to time.  On Sunday, I was having a discussion with a friend about the purpose of life, and how some folks become so focused on what they think their purpose is that they let a lot of wonderful life pass them by.

Then, on Monday, in my DM message, the following thoughts showed up that seemingly emphasized the discussion of Sunday.

See what you think and what you feel when you read these thoughts or truisms.  They deal with balance, life choices, stress, control or not, and the need for calmness and gentleness.

• Sometimes we become so obsessed with achieving our goals that we forget to cherish our lives.

• You've beenrunning, and working so hard for years. Make the conscious choice to slow down. 

• You have to let yourself relax. 

• You are allowed to take a break. You need it. 

• Your thoughtsmay tell you that things will fall apart if you take a break or let go of trying to control everything, but deep down you know it's not true.

• What's meant to be will happen. Invite gentleness and calmness into your life.

Many blessings,

Judy

Relaxing by Stressing

Meditation picture from www.ehow.com

 

 

 

One of the things that I have learned about meditation is – there are many more ways to meditate than one could practice in this lifetime.  I quite enjoy the Buddhist meditations.  Here is one that I thought would be a good one for these times that seem to be creating a lot of stress for people.

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RELAXING BY STRESSING 

A very effective method to relax the body by stressing all the muscles, holding that 5 to 10 seconds, and then releasing the tension.

1.  Sit or lie in a relaxed way.  
2.  Put an extremely tense expression on the face, straining as many face muscles as possible. (If you practise Yoga, then you might use the Lion’s Pose here.)

3. Take a deep breath and forcefully hold it. (Use a count of three to start with, and then, as you practice, increase the count for holding the breath to ten.)  
4. Now slowly release the breath and the tension of all the face muscles, feel as if you breathe out all stress.  
5.  Inhale deeply again and stress all neck and shoulder muscles, and then let go. (If you feel slightly dizzy, simply keep breathing until the feeling passes.)  
6. Inhale, make fists and stress the arms, and then let go.  
7.  Inhale, stress chest, belly and back and then let go. 

8.  Inhale, stress buttocks, legs and feet and then let go.  
9.  If you still feel tension at some places, just stay relaxed. Don't hold the breath now and slowly breath out, and release all the tension while breathing out. 

Now, sit in this moment of relaxation, and ask your body to enjoy the feeling, and to remember the feeling, so that your body can recall it at will. Note that this will take some practice.  

Let me know how this meditation worked for you! 

Blessings,

Judy

Choose Peacefulness

The noise around us all the time creates a disharmony in our bodies.  Some of the noise is silent to our ears, yet continues to bombard us.  If you are at work, there is a constant hum from your computer, your desk phone, your cell phone, the ventilation system, the heaters or fans, the sound of the people around you, the radio, if it is on.  We have learned to adjust to this noise and we cope.

Every once in a while, you need to refresh your body and go where there is not any constant man-made noise.  Going to a park or out into the country will refresh you, and ease the stress in your life.  The noise pollution causes our bodies to be out of balance.  The best place to return to balance is in Nature where the sounds are natural, where electronic noise is minimal (there always may be someone talking on their cell phone), and where the air smells so clean.  It is here that you will be healing.

Many blessings

Judy

Walking Meditation

  

Walking beside the Bow River looking onto Poplar Island where the beavers have chopped down a tree in the summer of 2020.

When I first learned to meditate, based on all the instructions from teachers and from books, I thought that one had to sit quietly, in a lotus position, and push all thoughts out of one’s head if you were going to meditate properly.  Over the years, I have learned that there are many ways to meditate, depending on what belief system you follow and where you are when you want to meditate.

I have learned to love the walking meditation which is an active meditation practiced in Buddhism and in Shamanism.  Walking meditation is not limited to these traditions.  Meditation while walking may seem like a contradiction of activity versus focus.  However, one must be extremely mindful while walking in meditation.  You concentrate on your steps, your breath, and on the world around you.  Mindfulness is part of the strength of the walking meditation.  The steps one takes bring clarity of what needs to be dealt with, or what emotion needs adjusting, and, gives space for a different point of view.  For many practitioners, the walking meditation is a prayer to Nature and to the Universe.

When something troubles me and I cannot seem to get a grip on it, I leave the house and do a walking meditation.  I focus on my steps and my breath and leave the troubled thoughts behind.  Sometimes, it takes a half hour before the soothing peace covers you as you walk.  It make take an hour or so for a simple solution to appear as you walk.  The physical activity helps you work off the tension and stress and walking is just a good health strategy anyway.

Blessings.

Judy

Lightstationwisdom@gmail.com 

How Do You Deal With Storms In Your Life?

Poster is from an email from a friend.  The original source is unknown.  It is beautiful.

We all have challenges that come up in our lives from time to time.  It may be illness in the family, job or career issues, or mental health challenges, to name a few of the challenges.  Often, we are so busy living that we have no way of coping with the challenge.

There are different ways for us to deal with problems and the stress from these problems.  Sometimes it is by fighting the problem.  Sometimes it is by waiting it out.  Sometimes we choose a different path.  What makes it easier is having faith that everything will work out the way it is meant to be.

Often, it is in choosing a different path that we find that the problem was actually a blessing in disguise.  I came back from an overseas trip with malaria. And, yes, I took all my recommended drugs to prevent malaria.  However, the strain that I had was a strain not covered by the drug.  So, I was too ill too work.  The company that I was working for terminated me as soon as I got home because that way they did not have to support me with any benefits. Fortunately, I was able to find help through the Employment Insurance case worker that took on my claim.  She directed me to infectious disease control who got me on some control drugs.  As I was off work for several month, I had a chance to reflect on my career path and whether I should look at a different line of work.  Be assured that I did lots of meditation during the time I was off because I thought, like many people think, “why me?”.  I did healing meditations, and worked on chakras, and how to balance my chakras.  I did a lot of  anti stress work.

While I was off, different friends and colleagues learned that I was probably looking for a new job and I received many suggestions for new jobs and invitations to interview.  When I was finally cleared to start job hunting, I was offered a term position for six weeks.  I took the job because it was with a former client and it was fun work (for me) designing an information database.  I had to create a proposal and quite a few supporting documents as well as a project plan of the work to be done.  When the contract was completed, I was invited to a job interview with a major software company.  The interviewer wanted to see samples of my work.  With the permission of my contract employer and with major identifying names replaced with a false name, I used the documents that I designed over the six weeks.  The documents and the work experience landed me a wonderful job.  The storm - illness - led to something wonderful for me.

If a storm is affecting your life right now, I wish you peace with it. I wish you balance.  And, I wish you success in weathering the storm.

Blessings,

Judy

Process To Release Things From Your Life

                         

Some folks have asked for help in releasing things.  Sometimes, we need to release work, or a person, or a situation, or even a habit that causes us distress from our lives.  Releasing is difficult because our body/mind sees this as “giving up” something that we have control over.  And, we humans hate to give up control.

This brilliant short prayer is about releasing from your life and asking to be released from other people's lives.  

It is a prayer of creativity and expansion that allows you to heal parts of your life that seemed beyond healing.  At the end of the prayer, you can add the phrase – With harm to no one – and know that this request is in the highest and best interest of all.

Many Blessings,

Judy

Mindful?

                            

Where do we find time to be mindful?  All the time!  It is a choice to be mindful.  It is a choice to be distracted.  It is a choice to be at one with what you are doing.

When you hear the phrase, "be with me now", then you know it is time to let go of the busy-ness that piles up on our shoulders.  Shake it off!  Breathe! Let it all go.

This is your day to be mindful all day, in everything that you do. 

This time of year, our mind is full and we need to be able to breathe through the stress so that we can accomplish what we need to do without getting all stressed out.  It is difficult to change our behavior. Three deep breaths in and out and you will feel the tension lesson around your shoulders.  Let it go.

Blessings,

Judy

Peace and Calm

 

       Picture on Peace from a friend’s email

It is December and our thoughts turn to Christmas… staff parties, buying presents, family gatherings, and a demand on one’s time to meet all the obligations.  It is a time of stress!

A common Christmas carols says – Peace on Earth, Goodwill to man – I think it is from "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day".  The song was on the car radio.  I started thinking… peace.  For many it means no war or persecution.  For others, it means not having to deal with anything that is drama or is negative.  

I like this poster that says, and I paraphrase, peace is being calm in your heart.  That feels right.

Many blessings,

Judy

Finding Peace When The Day Is Stressful

 

This picture is of Fish Creek in the summer in Fish Creek Provincial Park.

Many folks carry a lot of stress around with them…from work, from family, from financial worries or health worries.  When stress is building up, even those things that are usually seen as “normal” add to the stress. 

I worked with a teacher for two years in the early 2000’s. One of his best lessons for me was to teach me to deal with stress by finding peace.  He would lead me through meditation to different places to see where I felt the most comfortable….a beach on the ocean, a lake where animals come to drink, a mountain ledge easily accessible, a cloud, beneath a tree, and we tried different trees, on a rock, up a tree, by a creek, in a forest glade, by a waterfall, in the middle of a meadow, and even on a monastery.  Each meditation relaxed me and gave me shades of peace.  The place where I felt the most peace was by running/moving water with a forest close by. 

For years, as I felt stress, I closed my eyes and went to that place where the water was running with the forest in the background.  As time passed, the vision of the place changed.  Sometimes it was an ocean with waves rolling up on the shore and the forest in the background. Sometimes it was a large lake that was mirror still with a forest growing almost to the water’s edge.  The vision slowed my thoughts, cooled anger and frustration, and relaxed my muscles, especially in my shoulders.  

In the beginning, it would take up to 25 minutes to get peace.  If it was a tough day, then it took longer.  Eventually I could find peace in two to three minutes, and what a difference it made to my work performance!  

The lessons that my teacher taught me about finding peace in a stressful day are:

• In meditation, people will tell you to go to your comfortable or safe space.  One does not know what that space is until all the options are explored.
• Finding one’s peaceful, safe place is a process and the safe place may change over time.
• There is not a magic time that it takes everyone to get to their peaceful place.
• Like many actions, getting to the peaceful place takes a lot of practice.
• Arriving at the peaceful, blissful state is worth the work.

Blessings.

Judy