Check out the new class that I am offering beginning the end of September. Click on the link to Classes and Intensives to see all the details.
In the meantime, here is a lovely quote for the mothers of children or the children of mothers:
βThe moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new.β
Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (Indian Spiritual leader, 1931-1990)
Last night a good friend of mine said to me, you know when you have been in a relationship with someone long enough, you begin to think that you are the same person. And you begin to speak to them the same way you speak to yourself.
After being in a relationship for 13 years, it feels like a true statement. When I am feeling not very kind to myself, I am often not very kind to my partner. When I am feeling good and happy, I am often able to share in that wealth as well.
And it goes both ways so that when my partner is unable to be kind to me because of what is happening within him, whether or not I can maintain my own state of being will depend on how able I am to stay in my center and stay in the inner love I am feeling (or not feeling).
Happiness starts with us. We generate the love we desire to feel. If we are not feeling it in our relationships with others, we are often not feeling it in ourselves. When we are feeling it in ourselves, our relationships will reflect this feeling.
So with this realization comes the ever renewed commitment to love myself and to spread this love into my life, my relationships, my children and my world.
The body is a very wise mechanism. It not only regulates and regenerates, but it also is communicating with us. It communicates through sensation, through illness, through injury, through ability or lack of. Not only does it communicate these things with us, but when we listen, really listen, we will often hear a deeper thread to our body’s communication. The thread is often of self neglect on a physical, emotional or on a spiritual level. And the body tells us, “I need something”. It needs love, care, attention, movement, relaxation, healthy choices, rest and/or your presence and all of this is communicated with you, if you are listening.
So perhaps next time your heart is fluttering, your stomach is in knots, your legs are sore, your shoulders are tense, you have a headache, you have indigestion or some other bodily sensation: stop for a moment, close your eyes and tune in to that part of your body, then ask it what it needs and then do your best to do what your body is asking you for. Your body will thank you for it and so will the rest of you.
A little walk, a little swim, good company and my
being feels nourished and whole. Standing down at the beach and watching the waves break against the rocks, slamming the water up and over, where it then pours down and over and into the sand, creating tide pools and whirlpools deep enough to sit in. And standing there watching, the happiness begins to trickle in. My desire to get in the water increases, and I am suddenly pulling my pants up and treading in. Then the smile begins to form. The pants go further up the legs and I go deeper into the water. There is no denying the smile that is now on my face. Looking down, there is a crab; small, red and brown working her way across the sand, sideways, of course. I squat down watching her making her way going with the tide as best she can, but clearly she has an intention. She is heading somewhere. I shout to my friend and we both peer in amazement. My friend picks the crab up in her hand. The crab is small and precious, even with her claws out. The crab blows little bubbles mixed with water. I take the crab in my hand and she crawls across my hand and begins to make her way up my arm, before she decides to side walk off my arm and into the water. I watch her crawl away, once again making her way, in spite of and because of the flow of the water all around her. I contemplate life’s beauty, the magic and the intensity of it all.
My friend and I walk home and I smile from ear to ear, knowing that I have given myself the greatest gift that I could have given myself today. I listened to my needs and the flow that life was carrying me in. I went with the flow and my needs were met easily and gracefully. In turn, I feel calm, peaceful and joyful.
I have spent the last three months working with some daily affirmations. On the list of things I am affirming in my life is the flow of abundance. It has been occurring to me the past few days, that the flow of abundance could mean the flow of any kind
of abundance. Indeed my life has been full of lots of things lately. I am abundantly full, but are these things what I truly desire? Are they creating an abundance of prosperity or an abundance of love or an abundance of passion in my life? It’s a good question. Some of them are creating these things some of the time and some of them are just wiping me out. The latter are the things that are just my abundant busy-ness. Not exactly what I meant when I asked for abundance.
I have also come to realize that it is about not only clarifying the kind of abundance that I am available for, but also, what my intention is behind all of this desire for abundance. Certainly I can create an abundant financial flow if I work 40 hours a week at a well paying job, but does that match with my desire for an abundant family life or an abundant flow of passion and creative energy in my life? How are these things working together and how are they working against one another? If life wants to give me exactly what it is that I am wanting and yearning for, how does it deal with the conflicting messages? So there is yet another layer of clarification and awareness being brought to the table. Life is saying clarify your intentions, clarify your desires and create the flowing abundance of whatever it is that you are truly desiring in your life, not just creating abundance for the sake of being full. It is creating a flow in order to embody the passion and the love that I am truly desiring.