Friday 7 March 2014

Community Unity

This post is inspired by my late Grandmother, Mrs. Julia Higgins. A strong supporter of community, living on the same block for 89 years and giving selflessly time after time. You are missed…. Like a spider needs a web, or a monkey needs a tree, we need habitat. We need a safe place to move about, connect with our tribe, collect food, and sleep soundly. Humans also have extra needs that the animal world may not ever think about, spirit. We need to ignite our spirit in order to live a healthy and fulfilling life. Use your community to massage your soul and work away the problems that may be holding you back from true happiness. Think about signing up for a community garden plot, giving your empties to the neighbourhood bottle drive, offering to mind the neighbour's dog while they are away on holidays or simply exchanging smiles with a neighbour while you go to collect your mail. Your home reaches far beyond the four walls of your dwelling and out into the streets and parks and trails of your community. Take a moment to list some ideas for your future community connections. What can you contribute or create? Maybe you have an apple tree with harvest you could share or a backyard fire pit that might be warmer with more bodies around it. I would love to hear your ideas!

Thursday 6 March 2014

Tree that

Find a tree, any tree to look at today as you go about your many tasks. Reflect on its ability to simply let go in the winter, shedding leaves and sitting dormant, waiting for the warmth of spring to come again. Wonder at its amazing ability to filter the air around us as it breathes out fresh oxygen and locks carbon dioxide into its cells. Imagine how much water is held within its leaves, its trunk, before the sacred liquid is released to the air where it will dance with the clouds. Trees are places we used to climb and rest when we were young. Innocent play turned into wonder and connection and imagination. Our senses ignite when we smell a pine tree after a summer's rain, its perfume kisses the air as we inhale and gradually forget about our stresses and worries. Sound is different among the trees as they soak up the traffic noises like a sponge, letting us tune our frequency in to the birds and the wind through the leaves. At the same time, laughter seems to bounce of its branches inviting us to stay in its presence and let the world float away. Trees are alters to the soul, thank a tree today as you breathe in all its wonder and breathe out your worries of the day.

Wednesday 5 March 2014

Too much truth

Sometimes…sometimes…it is ok to be too much, to do too much, to say too much, to eat too much. It lets us know where our thresholds and values lie. We learn what we will accept and what we simply will not tolerate. Some people may get hurt, but in the name of science and growth, isn't that ok? Perhaps no, but should our goal be made to make everyone around us happy twenty-four seven? Sometimes we are too much for others to handle, but maybe we can allow that to flow because we are evolving and shifting our old skin, making room for new perspectives, new breath. What have you done recently where you gave, showed, shared too much? Did you survive? Was the situation painful or refreshing?

Monday 3 March 2014

Float your soul

While spending time swimming in water we have witnessed that struggling in the liquid can burn us out and makes it hard to keep our head above water. However, if we choose to relax all our muscles and just be part of the environment, we float. We can bring this practice into our daily lives by choosing to accept what is rather than fight against it. Perhaps you are hoping for cereal but your milk has gone sour? Have some fruit and toast for breakfast instead. Maybe you are travelling and your flight gets cancelled? Take a trip to another city and explore the wonders of a new perspective. Accept the new scenario with an open heart and see what happens. Struggling will keep us in one place but if we can just be a leaf on the water, we just might travel on.