Hello to Russia!

Sending love and light to my Russian friend who is reading my blog RIGHT NOW!

Share YOUR Music!

This is a Celebration of You!




Please accept my thanks and appreciation for sharing your beautiful energy by accessing this blog, reading the blog entries and reflecting on the thoughts contained in them.

Blogger statistics indicate that people have found their way to the Mystic Marks blog not only from the United States but also from Germany, France, Australia, Chile, the United Kingdom, Poland, Russia, Denmark, Slovenia, the Netherlands, Ireland, Canada, South Africa and other world locations.

You are so very welcome here. And so appreciated.

I would like to invite you to bring your consciousness into the mix in still another way…and, that is, by leaving comments at the end of this or any other entry so that we can all share in your responses and reflections.

Make the music go farther…and last even longer!

If you feel comfortable with this invitation, please join in with a word or two... or more... if you are so inclined…and please be sure to let all of us know exactly where in the world you are.

Blessings, light and love for a most beautiful day!

Marie Helena

The Tipping Point*

The World English Dictionary defines tipping point as the crisis stage in a process when a significant change takes place. Whenever we do powerful emotional work on ourselves, we are preparing for the possibility of reaching this tipping point. I have recently been reflecting on this process and consciously striving to achieve it. Most recently, an experience I had led me to believe I could feel it close by.

When the possibility of a sudden change in plans for a very significant social event occurred, I found myself having an unusual response. Instead of feeling anxious or concerned about the prospect of this possible change, I felt like embracing it, with an underlying trust that all things happen for a reason and for the greater good and, most importantly…for the healing of my soul. I felt as if all is well and would continue to be well for I, like everyone, have the beautiful gift of being Divinely guided as I move through my day.

I had read all of these reasons many times before in the works of significant authors but somehow at this moment I was ready to take the leap from theory to embracing of the heart. I’m not sure how this happened but I think it was a long series of small steps that moved me in this direction. When I made this leap, I was amazed to find how calm I felt. It was a relief to be in this new place and I wondered how I could expand it.

Of course, the Divine Universe proceeded to help me on my way. Within a day or two I read this message in my emails.

The more I listen to the sounds of my body, of the wind, of the day around me, the calmer I feel. Interesting...as I allow the day to flow through me and be in me, my being naturally harmonizes and I am peace.

Meredith Murphy

What I took from this message is the importance of not being attached to anything in particular...not having assumptions and expectations of my own…but, instead, KNOWING that everything is as is should be and enjoying the gifts of the day (even though they may sometimes arrive in strange packages).

We are constantly being given important messages through people and events and, if the circumstances of our lives change, we can trust that the message we need to hear requires that particular change in the environment to be perfectly delivered.

Perhaps this feels like such a profound change because we are altering our genetic makeup by consciously choosing this belief. Bruce Lipton, leading edge scientist and author of The Biology of Belief, points out that our DNA is controlled by signals from outside the cell, including the energetic messages emanating from our positive and negative thoughts.

If we choose to positively embrace what is given us and honor it as a Divine spark offering us guidance on our life path, our journey promises to be the amazing adventure we have dreamed of!


*Title borrowed from a book of the same name, The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell

The Magic of Flow

People are seldom happier, says psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, than when they’re in…flow. You know the feeling…you are blithely unaware of time passing…or the knee that’s been acting up…or even the sound of a dog barking in the background. You aren’t noticing anything but what is directly in front of you. There is no To-Do list hammering at your brain nor any worries or concerns. Only the joy and bliss of doing something you love.

Perhaps your flow comes from getting lost in the paradise of nature…or from teaching a child how to pass the ball…or from tinkering with a recipe…or creating a painting…or dancing Zorba style. Whatever it is that brings you to that fascinating place is a Divine gift that you have recognized and received.

We are beginning to find out how very important it is to regularly put ourselves into the entrancing and magical splendor of flow. When we are there, our highest selves are shining. We work tirelessly. Our creativity abounds. We are indulging in one of the greatest states we can access as humans.

What fires our desire to move into flow? Joy…and…Love. The Joy we feel and the love we give to ourselves by indulging in something that is so wonderful and satisfying to us.

When we love ourselves enough to make time for flow, we are building a supply of love that overflows to others. What a beautiful gateway to opening our hearts and sharing the bounty of the talents and gifts we have so joyfully cultivated!

On the Way to the Light

There is a vase of flowers sitting on my desk. Baby white carnations. In a very tall, (actually, too tall) glass vase with a square opening. The interesting thing about the arrangement is that most of the flowers peek out the top a few inches and a few of the flowers, the shorter ones, are actually under the water.

The carnations crowning the vase are expressing their joy and enthusiasm, coexisting together, sharing their “home”, brushing one another’s petals…making the bouquet even more radiant.. They look like love expressing itself.

The carnations under the water level seem to be nourished by the liquid around them which is clear and translucent and seems to be holding some mysterious message. It’s as if they are exactly where they need to be and are getting just what is required for them at this moment in time. Their stems touch the bottom of the vase just as do the taller ones…each flower is grounded, regardless of its placement.

I can’t help but feel there is a lesson here.

On our way to the top of the vase where we shine in all of our glory…we may well need to stop and be nourished by the water of others’ kindness. We may need to be open to receiving the care often given to us with such love and compassion.

I think sometimes we don’t recognize that we need to be immersed in the water or even that someone is providing it for us…but it is life-giving and so powerful…a step  on the way to the Light.

Perhaps, like the flowers, we need to pause in our day, experience our thirst, let ourselves be satiated and recognize who is sustaining us with this beautiful gift.

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

Mum's the Word

It’s almost Halloween and I am a holiday junkie. The front porch is filled with scarecrows, corn stalks, bales of hay, a black cat and some very big (and I mean big) pots of chrysanthemums in purple, yellow and white. And though I love the color and texture of everything on the porch, the really big deal for me is putting my face right into the flowers and taking in their essence… the touch and smell and coolness…in other words, their vibration!

I take breaks during the day to go out and do this. It connects me with nature’s bountiful gifts and beauty. It lifts me out of my everyday tasks and says, “We’re right here…just waiting for you to enjoy us.” Yep, those flowers are smiling. I know it. They love to have someone get right in their faces.

Which reminds me…I am also addicted to hugging trees. I have a particular tree in the neighborhood that lets me feel its roots straight down into the earth. I used to look around before I approached the tree, but, naw…I don’t look around anymore. I just see that beauty and go for it. I hug bushes, too. And have been for many years.

Although I am no gardener, I think that this is exactly the kind of high that gardeners feel when they do their thing. Now here’s a really interesting fact I learned recently about plants and gardeners. If you are raising plants that you will eat, when you tend them with personal, loving care they produce for you whatever your DNA requires.

Now that’s mind blowing. And it sure tells you that the universe is alive and wanting to spread its goodness everywhere. So have at ‘em…pumpkins, flowers, trees….the whole works. They’re just waiting for your perceptive eyes and glowing attention.