Sunday something

I've never been very good at giving things up for Lent.  Not because I don't have willpower (although sometimes less than I would like).  Not because I don't have vices in my life that I should give up (at least for a little while).  It's more that I always think of Lent as a time of reflection and connection to both our soul and core and also the higher power that is God.  And giving things up doesn't make me do that.  Maybe it should?  What does connect me to that higher power is making space in my life for contemplation and quiet and peace - something that hasn't naturally been in my life since September or so.  I feel like ever since Gran got close to her final days and then left us, life has been spinning really, really quickly.  So much that it's all been almost a blur.  Happy moments.  Sad moments.  Moments of feeling full to overflowing.  Moments of feeling empty.  Not really a bad blur, but a messy blur that I'm just now starting to make sense of. 
What does all of that have to do with Lent?  Well, I decided that my Lenten commitment would be to add something rather than give up something.  So I've added in quiet and spiritual movement and a willingness to step into the new and a practice that clears space for me and makes me press the "slow" button on my life - yoga.  Daily.  Each and every day.  Even if it's just for 10 minutes before bed.  My whole perspective changes when I spend time in yoga practice.  (I had aimed to do this starting in January 2013, but it soon became easy to crawl into bed or read in my armchair rather than rolling out my yoga mat.  After even just a week or so of Lent and daily yoga, my mind is clearer.  My body feels better.  And I'm more connected to all that is around me - big and small, tangible and intangible.  There's time for meditation in yoga.  There's time for practicing trust.  There's time for reflecting on what is and what is at my core.  And it helps sweep away the clutter that keeps me from connecting - with those here on earth and those up above.     

friday quotation

 

 

 

"You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough."

- Mae West

sunday something

I've been thinking a lot lately about how so often when things don't go our way, when the plans we make for life crumble beneath and around us, when the people we thought we could depend on remind us that they are human and might fail us, too...when all of these things happen, so often we tell ourselves "well, it just didn't work out."  Or others tell us they are sorry it didn't work out.  What if it did work out?  What if the way that it did work out is the exact way that it's supposed to work out in that big, grand, more-awesome-than-we-can-imagine scheme of things?  Better than we might have imagined or asked for.  More of what we need than what we thought we wanted.   
I don't know why tonight this simple thought (that I'm sure I've heard/read/conjured up before) struck me like a thunderbolt.  And not one of those thunderbolts that shocks you a little bit so that the pulses quickly leave your body.  But a big old thunderbolt that literally leaves you standing, unable to move, in your kitchen over a pot of red lentil, tomato, and coconut soup.  Maybe the creative energy in my kitchen tonight opened the way for this idea to stick.  I'm not questioning it...just grateful for the reminder that we are being cared for even when it doesn't look, feel, or seem like it. 

friday quotation

You have two choices: you can come down from the mountain and spend the rest of your days thinking it was so beautiful there, or you can create a vision, look upward, see the next mountain, and start the climb all over again.
~ Oprah

So  grateful to have had the support throughout my life to create those visions and climb those mountains.  With each adventure I've gained more confidence and a truer sense of self.  And now...it's time for a new vision to begin to be formed.  I'm eager to see what unfolds as I let the universe show me new things! 

familiar but new

How do you see something new in the familiar?
How do you experience something new in the everyday activities of life?
How do you learn something new about someone whom you know so well that you feel as if you could finish his/her sentences?
And can you imagine something old in a new way? 

That last question sort of sums up my week.  A week of interviews and ponderings.  A week of non-stop activities.  A week of sweet conversations.  A week of soul-searching.  And then today in yoga, Vic challenged us by taking us through familiar poses...with a twist.  Sometimes literally a twist.  At other times, just a twist on an old pose.  His point: can you see something new in a very familiar pose? 
Such a good lesson for life.  Can you see someone you've always known through a different lens?  Can you see a mundane chore or activity from a new perspective?  Can you imagine yourself in a different role?  Can you bring excitement and newness to a situation?  I hope so...I hope I can.  It's what makes each day full of opportunities. 

friday quotation

 

There are times when we stop.  We sit still...we listen and breezes from a whole other world begin to whisper.
~ James Carroll

friday quotation

"...community is first of all of quality of the heart.  It grows from the spiritual knowledge that we are alive not for ourselves but for one another.  Community is the fruit of our capacity to make the interests of others more important than our own.  The question, therefore is not 'How can we make community?' but 'How can we develop and nurture giving hearts?' "
~ Henri Nouwen