Tuesday, December 31, 2024

New Year’s Eve 2024


 Ahahah! New Year’s Eve.  Many of us get together with family and/or friends to celebrate the end of the year, and the start of the next year.  It is a tradition.

Some of us stay home, stay quiet, and watch movies, or play games, or meditate, or, work on a list of resolutions for the upcoming year.

Whatever method of welcoming the new year that you choose,  I wish you a very happy New Year’s Eve that is complete with joy, peace, and love.

Blessings,
Judy

Sunday, December 29, 2024

Brilliance

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THIS is the way the light should be – brilliant!  The light shines from each of you.  When others try to turn your light out, then shine even more brilliantly.  -- The Angels…

The last few days, there have been flashes of light in boardrooms, in plants and warehouses, and in department stores.  It is a sign that we are flashing brilliant!  Look inside.  See how you are changing.  Let it happen.

Blessings,

Judy

Friday, December 27, 2024

Find One Thing

 

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Find one thing that makes you feel good and put it into practice. It is through this kind of action that we learn to live in harmony. We can also change others in this way. I know that some people question whether the actions of a single individual can really affect others. But do not waste time worrying about that; just do what feels right to you.

- Nikkyo Niwano, "A Cheerful 'Good Morning'"

Each morning, we go out to work, whether it is to a job or to keep our household going with running kids or with grocery shopping.  Each morning, we need to learn to do things with grace and ease for this makes the whole “getting out of bed” thing much easier on us. 

This was the lesson that I was getting the past several weeks.   The weather was getting colder.  The client projects were getting more demanding, and the day more tiring.  By the time I got home, I was finding it hard to have resources to work with through the evening.  I wondered if I was going to survive the challenge.

Then, in meditation each evening, I would hear “find the beauty in the drive to work”.  I struggled with that thought!  How much beauty is there in the movement of thousands of cars down the highway, especially when three lanes try to squeeze into one to merge on to the highway?  I simply got frustrated with all the drivers that were scared to merge or stopped on the highway, waiting for others to let them in.  This action breaks the flow of traffic.

And then one morning, I began to see some humour in how people were driving.  A few days after that, I began to see the drive to work as a great operatic dance, conducted by several novice conductors.  I realized that I could be a conductor and ask for the traffic to flow with grace and ease.  I soon distracted myself with this new view of traffic and my morning drive is now making me feel good as I drive to the office.

I have found one thing that can change my day.  If you decide to try this, let me know what changes your day.

Many blessings this day,

Judy

Wednesday, December 25, 2024

Merry Christmas 2024

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Many blessings on your house upon this Christmas Day!

This is a time of peace and of fellowship and cheer.

The best that we can do, or so the Angels say

Is to love one another more compassionately this year.

We look around at all the things we have and feel

That we’ve been wronged because it doesn’t measure up

To the things that we see and have great appeal 

To the need to consume and “fill ‘er on up”,

That the media created to get us to buy.

 

We humans are more than a consumable good.

We are marvellous and beautiful and kind.

We are laughing and joking and makers of food

That we share with our friends or anyone we find

Has need of some time to refresh and to heal.

We are the ones that see others and care

Whether they are cold or need a good meal.

That kind of need isn’t so rare

Now that the world is turning upside down.

 

Merry Christmas to one and all!

Blessings,

Judy

Monday, December 23, 2024

Ant On Work

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I am always amazed at the Spirit Animals that find their way into my meditations.  They bring such wisdom and stories.  We are all connected.  Here is today’s lesson from the Spirit Animals.

Ant marched into my space in meditation.  He said that humans have no idea, really, of what work is.  He says that if daily, we walked every where we went, and travelled the miles that Ant needs to travel to provide food and stuffs for the nest, then we would work.  If humans carried everything they needed at home with them on their back, then we would work at the same rate that Ant does.  And, if we could hear the one Ant in the hive that was needing help, and if we paid attention, then we would be truly honourable in our work.

Ant’s words were indeed humbling.

Blessings,

Judy

Saturday, December 21, 2024

Winter Solstice December 21 2024

 


Picture of Glenmore Lake Taken December 2024 by Judy Hirst

On this winter solstice, we celebrate that we are still alive and well given the terrible conflicts going on in parts of the world.

We celebrate that we are a place that people run towards, and not away from.

We celebrate our families, our friends, and our communities, for these are the anchors that hold all of us to the fabric of loving kindness and compassion.

We celebrate with food and conversation and song and quiet meditation.

Blessed be.

Blessings,
Judy

Thursday, December 19, 2024

Winter Solstice - The Longest Night is December 21 2024

 The shortest day and the longest night – the time that our Ancestors called “mid-winter” is that time that tells us that Nature is still working.  If the day remained short, and the night was long, then the rotation of the planet changed.

Our Ancestors had elaborate rituals to ensure that the planet kept turning, or, as they thought, that the Sun kept revolving around the Earth.

The diagram below shows the angle of the Sun in the north.  Now, with all of the availability of science, we no longer look to the sky to see what will happen.  We have dropped doing the rituals and doing the work to keep the Sun going.  

Winter Solstice
Sat, Dec 21, 2024, 2:19 a.m.
Mountain Time
This post should give you several days to prepare for Solstice and to invite friends over for a meal, if that appeals to you.

Enjoy the Solstice.

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Blessings, 

Judy