Vignettes

Sometimes the task of living the whole day in the way we aspire to feels daunting.  It seems like a lot of work lies in front of us.

We ask ourselves…Will we be able to keep centered and calm and responsive?  Will we be able to give our loved ones beautiful listening?  Will we clearly honor the paths of others even when they choose different avenues from ours?  Will we be able to fully embrace each moment that presents itself to us?

But,

What if we broke up our day into segments?  What if our day was filled with many VIGNETTES…each with its own rhythm and pacing and needs (and blessings, too)?  What if we could see our way clear to just truly embrace the vignette we are in at that moment and engage fully and be present to that context, landscape and scene?

Seems like it might be easier to navigate our day.

If we direct our attention to the segment we are currently enacting, that’s all we need to do. And consider how wonderful it will feel if we perform like the STAR our Higher Self knows we are.  How satisfying!  How motivating! It will undoubtedly give us energy for the next vignette to come.



Consider dividing your day into scenarios.

The scenario of waking and greeting the day and deciding to amp up your vibration by intending and choosing to BE LOVE in all of your encounters.  The scenario of breakfast... having your morning coffee while you contemplate the beautiful day outside of your window.  The scenario of how you interact with the persons who enter into your life, extending beautiful listening and compassion as you give the gift of attention and reveal what you are feeling at that moment.  And the many other scenarios to follow, each with its own unique vibration, pacing and energy.


Why not set the stage to always have an enriching and enlightening experience, embracing each challenge and opportunity one vignette at a time?  There will always be something to enjoy and, even more importantly, something to learn about ourselves from the way we move through our day.


                                                                                               Marie Helena

The Second Guitar

One of the coolest ways to demonstrate resonance is to use two guitars. Pluck a string on one of the guitars.  Now lightly touch the same string on the second guitar.  It will be vibrating because it has the same frequency as the string you plucked.

Paradigm Shift



Resonance is a principle of life.  We all  resonate based on matching vibrations.  And this fact can be observed very readily in interpersonal relationships.  We can be very susceptible to the vibrations expressed around us. Been around a happy person and found yourself smiling? Ever been around someone mired in gloom and found yourself dropping into that vibration?  And what about someone who’s making judgmental statements and attacking you?  How easy it is to play back the “sound of the string” you just heard!

If, however, you can take a deep breath and hold your center, cut through the outward expression you are hearing and realize that any negativity being manifested is coming from fear or pain, perhaps you can reach into the beautiful and gentle pool of compassion and ask someone if he is experiencing some difficulty…ask, perhaps, if you can be of some help…and, at any rate, listen with a kind and loving heart to what the person needs to express…even if it comes out in emotional, raw language…even if it is difficult to hear.  If the person senses your caring and concern, he may, indeed, speak his truth and, thereby, release some of the pain he is holding onto.  Perhaps your kindness can help unmask its unsettling disguise and, like an alchemist, transform the erratic energy of the moment into the soft sound of love being given and received.


When you find yourself face to face with an uncomfortable or awkward or upsetting situation, ask yourself:  What would Love do?  

 If love is your guiding principle there is no place you can go where you will not make beautiful music.  Let your “Second Guitar” play its own melody…the melody of your caring heart!



                                                                               Marie Helena

Secrets of the Universe

Spiritual author Gary Zukav tells us that when we practice acts of  
love, fear begins to disappear from our lives.

What an intriguing thought:  The on-going offering of love releases fear!

 
As I reflect on this concept, a simple, mathematical observation comes to me.

I have read authors on many occasions who say that there are only two primary emotions:  love and fear...and so it seems to me that if one of these emotions prevails, the other will only take up the space that is left.  

And, to extend this thought even further...

If Love is fully present in every moment, there will be no space for fear.  

Could it be that simple? 

Perhaps there is also something intrinsic to this equation regarding the substance of love...and fear.

Love implies a fullness of heart...generosity, caring, compassion..joy that is waiting to be shared.  Fear implies a lack...of abundance, of trust, of safety.
 

In order to feel joyful and generous I think we must first feel EASE and SAFETY and, perhaps, that is the first and possibly most important thing that love gives us...a sense of safety...the feeling of "home"...a place where we are free to be ourselves and know "it's all good".
 

So, perhaps, the question is:  Can we look at the world and sense this AWESOME FEELING OF SAFETY?

Can we find it in the order and cycle of the seasons moving through the year?

Can we see it in the way a tree takes root and grows?  

Can we feel it in the rhythm of a fetus growing in the womb and, after birth, progressing steadily and in perfect order through the stages of life? 

 

Perhaps the consideration of these beautifully orchestrated events can provide us with the sense that we ARE safe...that there is a Divine Order at work and a loving and caring Creator authoring this order.  

And, if we are, indeed, safe, we can relax into ease and naturally share that beautiful space with others.  

This, then, delivers us directly into love.
 

And, when we practice acts of love and nurture it, love grows exponentially.  And the MORE we love, the less room there is for fear.
 
The choice is ours:  expansion or contraction...love or fear?

The structural beauty of the universe seems to offer the evidence of expansion (Love).  Is the possibility of this conclusion yet another gift we have been given?


                                                            Marie Helena



image from emergent-culture.com

The Ladybug Conversion

With the heart of a child your dreams come true.

universeofsymbolism.com


Nature always provides us with the inspiration we need to move forward.  The LADYBUG is a powerful messenger to us, especially at this moment in time.  She tells us to let things flow at their natural pace.  She represents Divine feminine energy. We often prize action, logic and strategy, but ladybug highlights our intuition.


During a period of dissonance and unrest, the spirit of the ladybug guides us to a beautiful expression of faith and wisdom as expressed in the curiosity of a child.


Esther Hicks, American inspirational speaker, shares the message that we always behave in accordance with the momentum of our vibration.  Our words and actions stream directly from the accumulated effect of 
our trajectory,  When someone cannot give us a response that feels honoring to us, it is because his vibration has already accumulated momentum in a different direction.  


This is where he is and it has nothing to do with us.  We can best enter into this moment by recognizing what that person's momentum is and, with the purity and curiosity of the child, make an effort to understand what has brought him to this place. 


This expansion of our awareness will help us be instruments of love and compassion and will contribute to a global awakening of our Higher Selves.  Every intention to understand the feelings of others is a powerful wave of resonance in the process of healing.


Can you imagine A WORLD OF LADYBUGS intuitively ministering to the pain and fear-filled trajectories of wounded hearts?


                                                                              Marie Helena



image from www.pinterest.com
EmBoundArt ~ Melissa Johnson

Groundhog Day Revisited

You are here to learn from experience and create yourself over and over again.

Paradigm Shift




In the movie Groundhog Day 
Bill Murray plays a weatherman who is assigned to cover the annual emergence of the groundhog from its hole.  He finds himself enfolded in a blizzard that he didn't see coming and relives the same day over and over, experimenting with his actions and reactions each day, eventually evolving into a Higher version of himself.


On a primal level,  this is the story of every man's assignment in earth school.  We run into "blizzards" we didn't see coming and eventually learn to surrender to what IS happening...or not.  The choice is ours.  We can flow with the energy or push against it with resistance.  Our work is to choose a reaction or response to each blizzard and see if we like how it feels to us.  If we don't like the feeling we get from our choice of action or reaction, we can choose to do something different and see how that feels.


Like Bill Murray in the movie, we have unlimited opportunities.  And it is very interesting to note that after some experimenting and experiencing of the consequences, Murray ultimately decides to become a Higher version of himself.  Given the opportunity to respond in any direction, he chooses the path of generosity and caring.  This choice brings him delight, leading me to conclude in this analogy that we are happiest when we follow the impulses of the heart.


Groundhog Day is a traditional holiday celebrated on February 2nd, but we live our "Groundhog Day" on a daily basis and that is a good thing for we get endless opportunities to become the next, grandest version of ourselves.


How best to evolve and find peace and serenity?  That is a question we all live with. It is my belief that we ARE MADE from love, that we in our essence ARE love and that when we ACT FROM love, we sense and enjoy our true nature.


Dennis Waitley, American motivational speaker, writer and consultant, has a beautiful prescription for this question.  Waitley says:

Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude. 


Regardless of how entangled we get in our own snowstorms and blizzards, how lost we might feel during moments of fear or distress… the simple formula of love, grace and gratitude feels like the way of Providence bringing us home to ourselves.


                                                                                                 Marie Helena




image from mycutegraphics.com

Blow Open the Door

Navigating earth life can be a very challenging proposition. 

There's lots to be aware of physically, mentally, emotionally...and...keep in balance if we are to sustain our health and well-being.

Now imagine that on some level we choose to add another layer of concern and  "self-appointed" responsibility to our list of things to manage...

the  PRESSURE OF KEEPING OTHER PEOPLE HAPPY 

and THE PAIN OF SUFFERING when they don't land in that "satisfying-to-us" space.  

I am speaking of co-dependency...an emotional state which seems indigenous to earth dwellers because it is so widely experienced by us.


CODEPENDENCY layers our life with emotional and corresponding physical fatigue because the work of  keeping everyone happy is NOT OUR JOB but we have somehow missed that message and are trying to  squeeze 96 hours of effort (a conservative estimate) into 24!



No  wonder we are so exhausted and beside ourselves. 

No wonder we can be so easily  agitated and stressed.  

We are fettered...we have chained OUR happiness to the impossible-to-control happiness of others and when they are not OK, we are not OK, either.



It all comes down to needing someone else to give us their stamp of approval.  

We want everyone to "get" us...

to understand us...

to see it our way.  


But we don't NEED them to do this (even though it feels like it) because WE can make that assessment for OURSELVES.  

We don't need a team of consultants, a task force, a VIP to endorse the way we are because WE are the VIP and we have somehow failed to recognize this.



Did we miss our job description?  Did we miss the fine print?  


Not to worry...because that's what earth life is all about...
REMEMBERING that "WE GOT THIS".  


And, when we do remember, it is GLO RI OUS...
it is FREE ING...it is let-out-of-jail BEA U TI FUL!



We have a masterful assignment in just taking care of us and the fact is everybody has that assignment...so let's not mess with the plan.



We can all co-exist taking care of ourselves...speaking OUR truth... and also listening to OTHERS' truth.  

And it is OK if we don't see things the same way...it is actually interesting and exciting as long as we know that we have the right and responsibility and the innate know-how to make our own decisions AND change them whenever we've learned a new way to do things and want to give it a try. 


We do not need other people's endorsements and they don't need ours.
 

Let's Blow Open the Door we've been stuck behind  and let a fresh, authentic vibration power its way into our lives...

the awareness and  satisfaction of knowing WE are in charge of our happiness and our own decisions.


                                                                          Marie Helena


image from realsolutions4life.com.