Permission to Play

May we all be as the little child coming out to play.

Coming out of our composed, adult, responsible self for a bit of wild mad playtime!

I wish you less stress and more joy.

Pure spontaneous joy!

Give yourself some permission to play this holiday season.

Give this gift to yourself.

More blessings

I am grateful for the library because that is where I am now.. no computer for now and that may be a blessing in disguise. I found a "computer guy" in town.. he came this morning to pick up the computer and get rid of a virus and clean her up...
A big change in attitude today even with a packed laundromat.
It was an opportunity to be pleasant amongst the chaos.
Picked up a new color for the bedroom too.
A good day

Open Arms

I find it amazing how some days one wakes and just feels great and other times.. not so much.
I feel good today, and I am sure it is because I am aware of life's blessings. This is where my focus is.. the good stuff, all those wonderful things that are going right in my life.
The students I work with, watching them produce some amazing, creative work - a big blessing. I love it when I am giving a student the opportunity to express themselves in some way and it "clicks".
I am feeling good that I was able to help someone special financially and in return it came back to me four-fold!
Today is a day I want to open my arms and take it all in. I want to embrace each moment and because this is what I WANT and focusing on that, that is what the Universe provides more of.
Placing your focus on the good stuff and more good stuff is what appears.
Namaste'

Today I appreciate assistance

Gratitude Exercise here

Today a very nice man helped my mom with the wheelchair, went to the car with us to help some more and brought the chair back to the office... So many very kind people :-)
Thank you to all of you out there that hold doors open, are patient with others that are disabled, and do it all with a big smile.

being grateful

If you read the comment underneath this post, you'll know where the inspiration for this came from. Laura inspired this idea for me to post my gratitude for the many things I am blessed with. "If the only prayer you said in your whole life was thank you, that would suffice" is one of my favorite quotes from Meister Eckhart.
Yesterday, while at class, a previous student came by with her mom and dropped off a HUGE bin filled with art supplies. Paints, paints, paints... feathers, wood, beads, chenille, gems, foamie stuff... and empty oranizers! Thank you .. Thank you.
I will not have to buy paints for awhile and those sculpey molds are just the things I was looking for. I am soooo very grateful!
Life is good :-)

Bowing before the moon

Another doodle to comtemplate.

I thought about it in the shower and while driving to class.

What came up is the unpredictablness of life and how I deal with it. We expect certain things done in a certain way, other people's behaviours, just because it's been this way... and when something comes along to disturb the peace... well, here's where the challenge comes.

How present can I remain.

I tried not to react, but I did. I fell into victim mode,

"Why me, Why me, Why me... wwaaaaaaa, wwaaaa, wwwaaaa"

yeah, I could easily had a full blown out temper tantrum :-)

and then I remembered,

"don't shoot the messenger"

and I looked at it much more deeply.

I looked at my habitual behaviour. Stuff we repeatedly do from our past childhood.

Then, I looked at what was really happening behind all this. What was the REAL issue here and... Why is it pushing my button?

I began thinking about my habits, my rituals, my addictions... all those things that bring comfort to me, and the things that help to bring ease into my life.

Take astrology for instance.

Every day I read my personalized horoscope for the day right along with the general ones.. These include planetary aspects, rising signs, what house the moon is in...

It is ritual... and most likely an addiction andI wondered if I could be more intuitive without it.

This caught my attention:

It is from The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. -Shraddha: Faith, trust. We need to trust in the intelligence of the Universe and welcome any experiences that come our way. It is about accepting and loving what is, rather than what we think should be.

This message spoke to my heart about the matter and I began to relax into seeing there might be other alternatives, other options, solutions to be had (instead of pouting).

It's been my ongoing intention to remain in the present moment and allow life to unfold, not always to my whim, not always how I think it should be, but delve into the unpredictableness of life and see what the Universe has in store for me. Sometimes I blow it.

I must say, I see growth. I bounce back more quickly, look at where the resistance is and cut through it easier... faster... but of course, some instances are more challenging than others, and I forget.

It's an interesting concept, bowing. It is a sign of respect - humbleness. And we bow from the gut. Maybe I need to bow, to honor my gut, follow my gut and see where that takes me.

Hopefully I won't bump into any walls :-)

Dancing on the Edge

Balancing act.

My Sunday doodle while relaxing with hubby. He coloring (took my markers) and me doodling and mandala-making. Although the "should-haves" danced around my head, I relaxed.

Doodling is the art of allowing.

It's later that I "see" what my subconscious wants to say to me.

The image is on the edge, but it's not very high, so if I fall off, I won't have a long way to go.

It's not a big risk.

I noticed a mitten (winter) on one side and a butterfly on the other (summer).

The extremes again. The duality of life.

As a body, water is at the level of the throat chakra. To me it's symbolizing my emotional expression, something I have been more comfortable with, but still need to conscious of. To express my feelings has been a challenge for me, but I am working with it.

The creative eye, the third eye, is peering through two mountains. Two obstacles.

One I know, the other I'm not sure about..

Snow behind me, falling into the water. Coldness melting into the open seas.

Ah. That is my cold, seperate-self, the one that can push other's away.. it is the self that gets caught up in ego stuff, the need to be right.

melt away... melt away...

I am not seperate, but part of the whole.

I am the ocean and the drop.

We all are.

And it is through love, that the realization happens.

We each carry our light and that light is to be shared with others.

It is the talents we have that are to be spread out into the world, the light of our true self, the light of the divine within us, each of us, that needs to be given away in order for it to be returned to us.

see, the doodle can tell us many important things :-)