Yutori

The Japanese have a word for the beautiful concept of  spaciousness...Yutori. 

Writer and story coach Sally Fox describes it as: 
living with enough time and enough space to allow the world to fill you, often in simple ways.

Seems easy enough to do, doesn’t it?  But so often we find ourselves rushing to an event or appointment arriving exactly on time or, perhaps, even a few minutes late and, thereby, leaping directly into the scheduled activity, missing the beautiful ambiance of the moment.   And, yet, it is in this wondrous and mystical ambiance that the world speaks to us and fills our souls with the energy of every element that is a part of each scene we enter.

We live truly enchanting lives.  Each new setting we find ourselves in holds vibrational  character and potential personal impact.  Each setting is just waiting to interact with us having been assembled by the Divine Universe to address the issues we care about and are concerned with.

But we must trust our hearts to be the connectors, inviting them to listen, see and feel the moment.  Every living thing has an animating spirit.  Every animating spirit exists to support our journey.  All we need do is invite and engage the support we seek.  We are surrounded by thousands of opportunities, by animating spirits excited for us, joining together to help us evolve.  Everyone and everything is BREATHING this joyful ministry.

Messages are waiting to be delivered to inspire and motivate us. The scent of a beautiful flower may evoke a tender feeling in our hearts.  The sight of a child’s playfulness can remind us of the purity and power of authenticity.  The coldness of the steel we touch may evoke the memory of a news report of immigrant children sleeping on cement floors.  Any or all of these moments may stir our hearts to take action in the direction we wish to grow.

But to SEE all of this, to not pass it by we must invite each moment of our day to speak to our hearts and we must create the spaciousness for this to happen.  We must pause in our valiant efforts of DOING to choose BEING instead.  Being present.  Walking into a moment and breathing it into our hearts.  Feeling ease.  Seeing the love and support awaiting us.  Inviting the spirit and beauty of all things to engage with us in our SPACIOUS lives. 

YUTORI



                                  Marie Helena


image from pinterest

Holding Space

The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them. Thomas Merton  

It seems so perfectly reasonable to want others to be like we are…to treat us the way we treat them, to see the world through our eyes, to react and respond in the ways we find most fitting. How comfortable that would be…How perfectly relaxing…How delightful not to ever have to deal with comments or with behavior that makes us feel uneasy. 

The reason we interact with the world in the way we do is because our behavior is the product of our experiences. We have done some suffering and some learning and have come to some conclusions about the way we choose to live. And we are weary from the battle and desire to coexist peacefully with others in this very personal world we have created for ourselves.  

The problem is that the same work we are doing for ourselves…that same task of making sense out of our lives and experiences and making mistakes and finding new ways of responding is also the work of every other human being. And we are, all of us, on our own journeys about how we learn the lessons and what directions the path we choose will take us. Thus, the great variety in human behavior.  

It is so easy to question why someone can’t see what we see or do what we do…and to be annoyed and irritated by this. But if we expand our vision past the feeling of the moment, we can see the maze of life journeys unfolding and intersecting each other…each in its own rhythm and pace which may very well not be a match for ours.  

If we look to the example of a person very dear to us whom we love and care for…we can probably recognize that we want this person to do what is best for him/herself…even if it is not what we prefer.   Love prompts that understanding, that acceptance, that behavior in us. And, if we view this loved one as a microcosm of the world, it is clear that loving everyone is wanting everyone to do what feels best to them…as each individual navigates their life lessons and journeys…not on our time line and schedule but on theirs.

We HOLD SPACE for them while they do this and send our blessings.  And when we hold space for another person, we support them but do not interfere with the work of their journey. We respect and honor others as they find their way and do not force them to behave as we would like them to.  If we use the beautiful example of the way we, hopefully, treat someone we care for as a microcosm and extend it to the macrocosm of the world, we will be emitting a powerful and transforming message of LOVE as we send our blessings to every fellow inhabitant of this glorious universe.  


Just as I choose to bring into my life
the experiences I desire,
I also practice
the Art of Allowing
and
HONOR THE PATHS of others.

Mystic Marks: Bookmarks for the Soul


                                                                                    
                                                                                       Marie Helena
 

                                                

My Sibs

 NATIONAL  SIBLINGS  DAY

I have this brother.  My little brother. Over six feet tall.  Smart as a whip.  During our growing up years, he tried to convert the family to Adelle Davis' nutritional philosophy before it was even in vogue.  

He was definitely born in the wrong century.  Likes building furniture with his own hands. 

And, oh, how he loves water.  He always manages to land someplace where there is plenty of it… Michigan, Florida, Oregon, California.  He was an underwater diver and built his own underwater housing for his camera.  As a young teenager.

My brother has my dad's personality.  A little reserved but when he has something to say, it's definitely worth listening to.  Often very dry.  Very funny.

Then there's my sister.  Now there's an angel for you.  Once we had a dressmaker design a pair of wings for her. She still has them...in a closet or under her bed, I think. 

She is always finding ways to surprise and delight us.  And herself, too.  She travels the world...been to Italy, Greece, Ireland, Egypt, the Galápagos Islands, the Mayan Ruins.  I have actually lost track of her adventures but I am pretty sure she's planning to go to Iceland this October and she's just returned from visiting Hogwart's Castle at the Harry Potter Theme Park.  Her life mantra is "Who's in Charge?" inspiring the rest of the troops to seize the day!

That wry brother of ours likes to make irreverent commentsto my sister and me from time to time.  Here's one of my favorites…

"You two have no taste...you like everyone."

The really funny thing about this comment is that he turned around and married someone just like us.  I mean...how cool is that!

Though the three of us live across the continent from each other, the miles do not separate us.  When one of us needs something, we are ALL IN.  We share our everyday adventures and challenges and pass on whatever worldly wisdom we have managed to acquire.

My mom and dad must have done something very right for us to feel...and stay...so connected.

Thank you, my darling  bro and sis.  I've got your back, too.

                                                                           Marie Helena

image from pinterest.com 
otters holding hands

Easter Morning Journey

 April 2012

It's Easter Sundayand the most beautiful occasion to experience a connection with the earth and its countless earth-dwellers.   This morning I awakened to a wonderful impulse streaming into my consciousness.

 

The impulse was to spend the day in the state of EXPANSION except, of course, for the moments when I was directly engaged in a specific activity.

 First, let me give you a little background on this concept of expansion

Shortly before Christmas I was involved in a car accident and, after the physical healing was well underway, my body began to experience multiple episodes of post-traumatic stress. 

These proved to be a huge challenge and I had to learn how to embrace and work with these experiences so that my body could RELEASE the trauma it was carrying.

I did this work by  practicing sitting quietly and observing my body as the physical symptoms moved through it...observing them objectively, with no judgment...tracking their movement and how they changed their expression over time.  

This I was very willing to do and, after practicing this for awhile,  I found that when the symptoms finally abated, i naturally moved into a state of expansion (openness, airiness, weightlessness, pure peace and harmony).  

This state felt WONDERFUL...so wonderful that sometimes I didn't want to leave it.

 

As time went on, I found myself often choosing to engage this process leading me to expansion whenever I became physically or emotionally distressed. 

 
.
But this morning things were different.  

I felt a very strong impulse and yearning to engage in EXPANSION FOR ITS OWN SAKE (and not because of any problem I was experiencing).  And I wanted to enter into this state immediately.

It was soon after the recognition of this feeling that I discovered how the Divine Matrix was working to bring me to this place of peace.

And here we get into more back story.
 
Blogger statistics which are available to individual writers reveal the location of countries which are reading their blog.  I already knew from my statistics that people in ninety-four countries had read my blog but it had been a long, long time since a new country had shown up on that list. 

This morning when I went to check the stats I saw that a new country was reading my blog right at that moment and it was one I had never heard of before.


It was the Maldives, a group of about 1,200 islands, separated into a series of coral atolls, located just north of the Equator in the Indian Ocean. (Only 200 of these islands are inhabited.)

And here is the astounding thing about the Maldives showing up in my blog statistics. 

 
As I researched this country I  learned that many of the the tropical atolls and islands In the Maldives are simply gorgeous, with swaying palms, white sandy beaches and deep-blue lagoons.
 
Now, if I had to come up with a physical, earth-bound description of what EXPANSION might look like, I would say the Maldives are it.

 

Here is the exciting discovery I made:  

I felt the peacefulness of the Maldives (where someone was reading my blog) coming into me through my waking impulse to enter into expansion.
 

Wow! 

What a fantastic connection...and how wondrously beautiful...the Divine Matrix showing us yet again that we are ONE... all of us living facets of the same experience...all of us coexisting in a lovely harmony of the heart...separated by distance but ministering to each other and sharing our journey by reaching out and through time and space, expressing the Oneness of Everyman.


                             Marie Helena
  

image from naples-marco-island-florida.com

The Magnificent Licorice Jelly Bean

Sunday dinner at my daughter’s home is always a wonderful event. Sunshine streams through her home, evidenced in so many ways.  One way is through the awesome messages that appear in some form of art on her walls…

Have an amazing day. 

Listen with your whole heart.

Be the change you wish to see in the world.

Love well.

My daughter and her family are also a source of Sunshine as they always greet visitors with open arms and warm, affectionate hugs, expressing their delight to have someone enter into the flow of their day.

Another way that Light shines through in this loving oasis is in the beautiful way she decorates for each season and holiday, celebrating all events of the changing calendar In order of their appearance on Mother earth.

And, on this particular Sunday, Easter, of course, was in full bloom in all of its glory.  All of the family’s favorite dishes had been prepared and  a very special signature Easter delight could be found in the center of the table:  a brilliantly colored assortment of jellybeans had casually arranged themselves as they were lovingly poured into a glass dish to bask in their Easter springtime glory.

And, as I fondly remember the lovely occasion, I ask:  Who has not experienced and delighted in the robust yet petite extravaganza of taste that is the jellybean!

After finishing our dinner, I eyed the brightly colored, tempting gems in their dish still reigning with such pomp and pageantry in the center of all of the festivities. 

It is time, I thought.  Definitely time for me to indulge in  this Easter delight   Perusing all of the available flavors, I selected what would be THE jellybean of my day.  To the chagrin of a few individuals still nearby, I selected the licorice jellybean.  Apparently, this was not a flavor of jellybean favored by them but, as a connoisseur of licorice, I could not have been happier.  

Now here is what I find to be most significant about my spectacular Easter jellybean:   

I only needed one.

ONE solitary jellybean, unadorned by a parade of cousin jellies, burst happily into its robust flavor as I took my first bite.  ONE jellybean satisfied my search for the perfect sweet ending to the lovely meal.  ONE delicious licorice jellybean evoked my culinary adoration.

There was no need to eat a second… in fact, it seemed as if a second would somehow dim the glory of the initial experience.

To me, it feels like my licorice jellybean “moment” that day was a microcosm of all of our life experiences.  It is a fact that I had been filled with lovely anticipation of the Easter celebration and also bathed in sunshine vibrations at my daughter’s home, but it is also true that the first...and only...bite was GLORIOUS and so wonderfully and engagingly SATISFYING.

What if we could reside in that incredible state of awe where EVERY FIRST MOMENT we encountered held something magical and entertained or delighted us or

 taught us something we did not already know.  What if our first taste, our first encounter could springboard us into new wonder or knowledge or appreciation!

It so easy to move quickly past the initial moment of our experiences, missing the majesty of each and every first encounter.

 Can you imagine the  magnificent “licorice jellybeans” just waiting to burst into our lives!

                                            Marie Helena 

                                                                                    

image frjom unixtitan.net