Hold the Crying Baby

Hold the crying baby.

This is a story of LOVE.

We all know what to do when a baby cries.  

We check to see if the baby is hungry...whether it is uncomfortable…or if something is distressing it. 

If we do not find a problem, we scoop the baby up into our arms and hold the crying baby, offering it the warmth, peacefulness and security of our embrace.

Holding the crying baby is a gift of pure and unconditional love that we do by instinct and we freely extend this gift to others in need.

But it is also important to extend this gift TO OURSELVES when we are.experiencing an unanticipated and distressing reaction to something that has occurred.

 

Our earth journey is fraught with many challenges, many mountains to climb and many unprecedented heights to scale.

When we experience a dramatic and emotional reaction to something that has happened, we may not even be sure whether it is coming from a person or event.  

While we are lost in the emotions washing over us and we are trying to identify the source of our distress, it is important for us to remember that the reaction is coming from our unhealed pain. 

And because we are in pain this is when we need to hold our crying baby, giving it unconditional love and acceptance… making it feel soothed and supported and cared for.

It is so important that we give attention to the needs which are making themselves known to us with such dissonance and uneven energy.

If, instead, we berate or judge ourselves…we create an overlay on the situation and obstruct the process of gaining a soul perspective about what is really occurring.

What is needed is to hold the crying baby. 

When we receive the comfort and compassion we so desperately need we center ourselves and are better able to discern what is truly happening and what we can do to restore peace to our hearts.

Hold the crying baby.  See what LOVE can do.

image from Baby Clipart.net

Lost and Found

I just wrote a beautiful blog about ALBERT EINSTEIN and accidentally deleted it.  


Amazingly, I am not freaking out over the loss.  And, it's really amazing...because ordinarily something like this would register BIG TIME on my annoyance radar.


And I'm wondering why it's different this time. 


I found myself going to the place of asking what is the message here.  

And my daughter Rachel suggested to me that perhaps this means that I have truly integrated my goal of understanding that all of life is here to deliver messages and it is important to keep a watchful eye open for them.

That sounds really great to me....to find that my belief is determining my action.  And that I no longer have to stretch to make the connection... my body is already doing it for me.

And maybe that is why the first blog got lost and this one got written. 
 

In a conceptual sense, it's cool to see that my focus and determination (my desire to find the "messages" waiting for me) can actually prompt a default button for me...keeping my body calm and relaxed and making it much easier to carry out my aspirations.

And, in a very specific application of my theory...it's  wonderful to have your body respond in such a supportive way to the idea that everything is here to help us.




Which, by the way, was the subject of the lost blog post:   
Albert Einstein's quote that the most important question we ever have to ask ourselves is WHETHER OR NOT THE UNIVERSE IS A FRIENDLY PLACE.

Apparently, I just answered it by experiencing calm and by trusting and appreciating my body's reaction to an unanticipated and undesired turn of events.

Maybe my telling the story of the the losing of the blog is the more important way to deliver Einstein's message.  

There goes the Universe...helping me out again!

image from smileemusic.blogspot.com

The Most Unwanted Moments

We all indulge at times  in the reverie of imagining what the wonderful future moments of our life will look like...how they will unfold...the  lovely surprises, the great tasks we will accomplish...how everyone will be lining up to support and help us realize our dreams. 

Ah, yes,we can be very creative as we fantasize about our upcoming adventures.

However,

Sometimes the really big...REALLY BIG things happen to us NOT in the smoothest interactions...NOT in the most ideal settings..and NOT in the way we would prefer.


And sometimes The Most Unwanted Moments (according to Guy Finley) "can actually prove most pivotal" in the unfolding of our life.


The stinger we feel when things don't happen the way we have envisioned them is a message that the way we have been operating is NOT taking care of our needs and what we really want. 

Perhaps, for example, we are doing things  to please others or to garner validation from outside sources.  And, in doing this, we are not listening to the messages of our own body and our own heart.

And perhaps it is these old ideas we are addicted to...because they helped us survive old experiences.


Finley says...with this  realization (I call it a sting) we can stop trying to find "meaning, purpose and plans through a level of mind that can only reconfigure old ideas."

Now "we simply bring ourselves into the light of the LIVING MOMENT.  Now we are present to what reality itself wants to give to us."

And that reality, I feel, is the Divine Universe giving us the opportunity to make a leap  into  a new and better way of living by forcing us to develop the resources we need to navigate the new experience.


When things go along the way we prefer, we usually just ride the high.  We've been there before, we know what to expect, it's comfortable.  But...we don't change or grow.

 
The changing and growing are what we do when we  are confronted with bzzzzzzzzzzzz...and a stinger...something we didn't expect or invite but which has stopped us in our tracks and is challenging us to find a new way to do things... a better way because our old, familiar method  is not cutting it any more.


And that is why The Most Unwanted Moments are the GREATEST GIFTS.  They present us with the challenge of learning, reaching, growing beyond what we already know.  Yes...this takes work...hard work...but we emerge with new insight, new wisdom, empowered... and much, much stronger.



Keep in mind that our GIFTS sometimes arrive in strange packages...sometimes they are hidden in the "pictures" of our life and/or in the people in the "pictures".  But they are there, nevertheless...bzzzzzzing away..  And they require more of us than what we are used to doing...but they also hold the PROMISE of new strengths and new skills.


If we  can become accustomed to finding the "gift" in every Unwanted Moment we will have learned to use one of the most powerful ways to help ourselves grow.

The Connection

 

EVERYTHING that exists is LOVE expressing itself in the best way it knows how. 

It is easy to view happy, positive events as coming from love.

However, we may  experience difficulty connecting love with distressing, uncomfortable or worrisome circumstances. 

We may have negative feelings about the less than desirable choices we or others might make and about their consequences.  

Sometimes we have anxieties or concerns...and sometimes we have wounds that need  healing.  These moments may feel as if they are the opposite of love.

However, all of these circumstances...ALL of them...are, in reality, LOVE expressing itself in the best way it knows how...and that is why we need not abandon our knowingness that WE are LOVE...even when we feel upset or distressed or in pain.   

All that is needed is the realization that our journey includes learning...reaching...growing.  

And that learning, reaching, growing (though sometimes difficult and challenging) is LOVE expressing itself as far, as fully, as beautifully as it is able at that moment in time. 

Our earth journey takes us on the path to that learning, reaching, and growing... and, while we are doing this, we are ALREADY LOVE.

When we know  WHO we are (that we ARE LOVE) and we are BEING LOVE...what we DO is an expression of this knowledge with no effort...only peace and a joyful re-membering of our connection through LOVE, the universal principle of the Divine Universe.

EVERYTHING that exists

is LOVE

expressing itself 

the best way it knows how.  




image from flowervector.com

Hug Alerts and Compliment Showers

It has been my pleasure to have a very unique, colorful, out-of-the-box former colleague and friend in my life nicknamed (by me) Buffy. 

Although most others know him by the name Buff, I prefer the inner child version of Buffy.  

The reason is that Buffy is soooooo in touch with his wunderkind.

Let me give you some examples.

Children are unafraid to ask for what they want.  And that's Buffy.

He loves to get a hug from me and, by gosh, he goes for it.   

We used to work together and whenever he would see me coming toward him in the hallway he would shout out HUG ALERT so that everyone nearby could hear. 

After his announcement, he would enthusiastically approach me, his arms outstretched...and give me a big bear hug.   I had so much fun watching him do this that I soon decided to make this announcement, too, whenever I would spy him approaching nearby.  Before long Buffy and I became famous for our unusual meet-and-greets.

Buffy and I had collaborated on and presented a lot of workshops together and had soon become fast friends.  We could both sense each other's state of the heart and always tried to pay attention to those signals.  
 
We also learned to do one better by not even waiting for support and affirmation from each other  but rather asking for them as soon as we sensed the need.  Thus was born the COMPLIMENT SHOWER.

Buffy would come to my office whenever he needed a lift because of something that was distressing him.  He would arrive at my door and simply ask for a Compliment Shower.  Our unspoken but naturally understood rules were:  no need to even explain why the compliment shower was needed.  We just had to make the request. 

Whenever Buffy asked me for this special gift I immediately began to tell him all the wonderful things I knew about him.  As I talked I would watch his face begin to lighten.  Soon he would say..."We're almost there...just a little more."

 
I have NEVER had a problem telling  someone why I think they are special so my list of lovely things just spilled right out of my heart.  When Buffy had received just the right amount he would say,  

"There...that's just perfect...", give me a big thank you and bid me adieu with a wide flourish of a smile and a stream of positive energy following him as he left my office.

 

I also enjoyed the beauty of the Compliment Shower Buffy would give me with unconditional love and caring  whenever I requested it and without ever knowing what had caused the maelstrom to me.  Sometimes, when our schedules prevented an in-person visit we would even do this over the phone.

These delightful scenarios are just two examples of why I love Buffy and why his presence always signals a beautiful experience.

 
It seems to me that HUG ALERTS and COMPLIMENT SHOWERS given between and among family and friends are an indisputable and delightful source of high vibrations. 

They are offered from heart-centered caring and give us an oh-so-gentle nudge along the way of our rediscovering all of the wonderful things (we already know but have temporarily forgotten) about ourselves.

 
Why not consider indulging in the whimsical practices of HUG ALERTS and COMPLIMENT SHOWERS... 

even better,

why not create your own ways to give and receive love and support to your family and friends.  

What a lovely way to remind ourselves of the storehouse of gifts we can give to each other!

image courtesy of 210666-Royalty-Free-RF-Clipart

When We Are Ready

The creator gathered all of creation and said,
“I want to hide something from the humans until they are ready   

    for  it. 

It is the realization that they create their own reality.”

The Eagle said, "Give it to me, i will take it to the moon."
The creator said, "No, one day they will go there and find it."
The salmon said, "I will bury it at the bottom of the ocean."
The creator said, "No, they will go there, too."
The buffalo said, "I will bury it on the great plains."
The creator said, "No, they will cut the skin of the Earth and find it even there.”
Grandmother mole, who lives in the breast of Mother earth and who has no physical eyes but sees with spiritual eyes, said, “Put it inside of them.”
And the creator said, “It is done!”

Sioux Creation Story

by Metta



I am so excited to share this story with you.  I found it this morning in my email posted by a friend and it touched my heart so deeply.

These few, brief words give us a significant lesson about life:

The  purpose of our earth journey is to discover that we are magnificent beings with the ability to CREATE our own adventures and experiences.

We CHOOSE what we want to believe and those beliefs affect our feelings and emotions.  Those same feelings and emotions are then reflected back to us in the people and circumstances which populate our lives.


The realization of this comes when we are ready...when we have asked ourselves important questions...when we are able to view our lives as observers full of curiosity and wonder...when we look into our own hearts for answers. 
 

At the end of this pilgrimage lies this DISCOVERY. 

And this discovery empowers us to experience life not as victims...but as creators.  

We share this Divine gift which waits for our perception.  It is a beautiful flower, waiting to open and bring us joy.

Cultivate your "garden"...
water your curiosity...
listen to your heart...
feel the rhythm of the universe...

and you will find yourself right in the midst of  this breathtaking bequest.

Awakening

 

Whenever we realize that we have made a misstep, reacting to someone or something in a way that is negative or critical…

it is so easy to REPLAY OUR MISTAKE over and over in our minds, heaping blame on ourselves and sending ourselves messages about how poorly we have behaved.

And by doing this we have found the perfect way how NOT to make things better because the more we focus on (obsess over) our mistakes, the more we attract more negativity into our lives.

 

In Personal Power through Awareness Sanaya Roman says:

It is important to to learn forgiveness, because every time you REPLAY a negative memory, making yourself wrong, you are CREATING IT AGAIN in the future.  

In moments of crisis A NEW SELF is often born, a baby self, one that has just come into being with the crisis.  Like a small child it may not have the skills to handle things perfectly or beautifully, and yet that self is growing every moment.

It is NOT a gift to this new being if you go back and send it images of its wrongness. 

One of the skills we may have already developed in our life is how to be a good nurturer.  We may already be able to beautifully support and guide our family and friends in their time of need.  Now…what is essential…is to give that compassion to ourselves.

Once again…we are, in effect, REINVENTING OURSELVES.  Life is a series of reinventions and the time of recognizing, accepting and blessing our missteps is a perfect opportunity to use this process for our spiritual growth.

Sanaya Roman says we never do anything that is not in some way an attempt to bring more LIGHT into our lives. 

Therefore, we can bless the circumstances that have produced the new self that has been born.  Bless and thank them…and then nurture this new, more loving, more luminous self which is being introduced into your life.

Celebrate...

the wonder of your humanity…
this amazing opportunity in earth school…
your openness to learning…
and
the beautiful work of your Higher Self who has directed you to this EPIPHANY!




Flower image from preciouswomenproject.wordpress.com

Dreaming You

 

Whatever is happening in your life is coming from an image you hold about yourself. 

The images you send out attract situations to you.  These pictures are absolutely available to your conscious awareness.  You can change any situation by looking at and changing your vision of yourself.

Sanaya Roman
Personal Power through Awareness




I'm always so clumsy.
I can't cook.
I am never comfortable telling people what I really feel.

The descriptions we give ourselves are the source of our behavior.  Whatever we believe to be true determines the course of our actions. 

It's the biology of belief. 

And it belongs to us.  

Granted, we were influenced by our families, society and the world around us.  They all helped by providing us with some predispositions to these images but guess who made the final purchase?  Oh yes, we bought in.  And when we did that, we set a course for ourselves that would play out in a hundred different ways.

Here's the good news. 

We are NOT stuck on those checkpoints.  Even though we may think we are and give up on ourselves ever becoming anything different.

The fact is we have INDISPUTABLE CONTROL over these images and just need to choose their replacements. 

OK, maybe not JUST choose...because there is some work involved.  It includes conscious awareness, creativity, focus and follow through.  But we can handle that...we earth dwellers are constantly reinventing ourselves...we just need to reinvent in the right direction.

Instead of whining about how we are losing our touch...what if we were to SEE ourselves as bright, alert, tuned in.  

Instead of feeling we lack the motivation to realize our dream, we can begin to see ourselves full of joy and satisfaction, creating something beautiful for the world in physical form or in the beautiful love and compassion we send out.  

We already have the resource we need for this exercise...it's  our IMAGINATION.

What if...just for tomorrow...we hold this amazing image of ourselves living each moment with attention and awareness and appreciation and gratitude? And what if our new fabulous image is totally feeling JOY and having FUN exploring the glorious moments we can create for ourselves?

Sounds like a winner to me.  High vibration.  Open, aware, connecting with life...someone we would so love to be around.

Ooops....that's already WHO we are and we got there by dreaming ourselves.  Now watch  how THIS  delightful person attracts the most fabulous scenarios into her life.

website for the image

1891455-2-dreaming « The New Writers

Yes! We Have No Bananas!

  
 As a young child I remember so enjoying singing the first lines of a delightful song:

"Yes! We have no bananas.
We have no bananas today!"

The song tells the story of a fruit store run by a Greek gentleman.  Whenever he was asked about some item he did not have in the store such as bananas, for example, he always began by saying, “Yes, We have no bananas.” 

The lyrics to this song are light-hearted and paint a vivid picture of the fruit market and its owner.  I’ve included them at the end of this blog post so you can enjoy them.


However, a very important reason for me to remember the No Bananas song is serious.  I cannot even recall how I came upon it…and it’s possible I dreamed it up when I was trying to help someone solve a problem…but I know that I have used this story in my life many times to help me get perspective and have shared it with others so much that it’s become an integral part of my philosophy.


And so it is my pleasure to share it with you now.

Let’s pretend you go into a fruit store and ask the clerk for some bananas.  The clerk replies that he is sorry that he has no bananas, but he does have apples, pears, strawberries, oranges and kiwis.

You listen to his list of available luscious fruits and answer, “That’s great.  But I want bananas.”  He replies, “But we have NO bananas.”  You answer, “I don’t care that you don’t have bananas."

 

"I came into this store to buy some bananas and that’s what I want."

So you ask what is the point of this story…and it’s this:

Often in life we identify something we want from someone (not a physical thing but rather a satisfying or comforting emotion).  

It’s something we would really like to have in our life so we approach the person and either ask for it or drop hints…but…we never get the “bananas” because the person doesn’t have them.  

And, because our desire and need feel so great to us (no doubt because of empty spaces from other parts of our life), we lose sight of the fact that this person does not have what we want…perhaps because he is on his own journey and has not cultivated it yet. 

But our need for the “bananas” is so great that we have blinders on and cannot see that there are no bananas in that store.  Thus, we feel disappointed and alone and abandoned.  

The emotional need we have has blinded us to the bigger picture of what stock items (read many other luscious fruits) ARE possibly available and we stay stuck in our banana obsession.

Persistently looking for something that we know (on some level) is not there seems counterproductive and exhausting...albeit a very human reaction when we are in emotional need.

Have you ever searched for bananas at a store that doesn’t have them but insisted that bananas are what you want and must have?  

And have you ever been so upset and distressed when you couldn’t find the bananas that you missed all of the other possibly wonderful offerings that ARE available at that store?

Here’s to opening our shopping baskets (and hearts) to welcome in all of  the delights that HAVE BEEN cultivated and are waiting for us to partake of their pleasures!

Yes! We Have No Bananas!

Folk Song written By: Frank Silver and Irving Cohn

There's a fruit store on our street
It's run by a Greek.
And he keeps good things to eat
But you should hear him speak!

When you ask him anything, he never answers "no".
He just "yes"es you to death,
And as he takes your dough, he tells you...

"Yes! We have no bananas
We have no bananas today!!
We have string beans and onions, cabBAges and scallions
And all kinds of fruit and say
We have an old fashioned toMAHto
A Long Island poTAHto, but

Yes! We have no bananas
We have no bananas today!"

Business got so good for him that he wrote home today,
"Send me Pete and Nick and Jim; I need help right away."
When he got them in the store, there was fun, you bet.
Someone asked for "sparrow grass"
and then the whole quartet
All answered:

"Yes, we have no bananas
We have-a no bananas today.
Just try those coconuts
Those wall-nuts and doughnuts
There ain't many nuts like they.
We'll sell you two kinds of red herring,
Dark brown, and ball-bearing.
But yes, we have no bananas
We have no bananas today."

Own It !

There are two programs on TV today teaching us a very important lesson in 
a  high energy, 
mega-dramatic,
super entertaining way.  


They are Glee…and its companion piece about tryouts for the show, The Glee Project.

The emotional, high intensity singing and dancing of the cast members are mesmerizing.

You are going to find your feet tapping and your heart singing as you tune in to this contemporary version of musical theatre.  The zooming vibrations cannot be ignored.

 And the reason is that the kids in the show try so valiantly to do what the director characters keep reminding them of:  Own It!


Whenever one of the characters does not  Own It, it shows.  And sometimes (for story line purposes) we see this happen.  There is a disconnect between the performer and the director (and also the viewing audience).   Something has gotten in the way of direct delivery…anxiety, fear, tension, stress.


The artistic directors pick this up right on impact and talk to the performers about what they see and give them guidance about how to find the path straight into their heart.


Here’s the lesson for us.  

We are all so beautifully gifted in such wildly different ways.  Each with our own special brand of pIzazz.  Each with our own story.  And emotions.  

When we CONNECT with the truth of all of this, we do OWN IT and our life delivery shows it.

If we are suffering from an issue, we need to name it and face it and deal with it.  

Our choice to deal with the issue and follow through is real…authentic.   


WE WALK IN OUR TRUTH.  And that truth empowers us to shine…just like the cast members of these very famous shows.


We are, each of us, the star of our own story and when we  Own It, we are fully engaged with life and  the world is COMPELLED to respond.

What a fabulous way to strut our stuff!