A New Year’s “Light” Show

After the magical days of Christmas holidays…when pine-scented boughs and cranberry candles perfumed the air and glittering lights whispered their grace-filled secrets into our happy hearts…decorating our spaces with joy and celebration…

after these magnificent days have passed and things have grown so very quiet and restful the steady, sure-footed march of the New Year alights on our doorstep, enters our homes and slides into our hearts.

It’s time…to renew and redirect our energy to the wonderful life we have imagined and make the changes that were placed on hold as we made merry and felt merry and loved the "merry" of the holidays.

Now, there is a NEW JOY that awaits us and it is born of reflection and inspiration and discipline…our New Year’s Resolutions.

Much has been said and advised about NYR’s…suggestions that we examine our lives, compiling a list of every changewe can imagine…suggestions that we make NO resolutionsand not place ourselves under that kind of stress... even a suggestion that we only try to improve ourselves by one percent in the category we identify as “most needed” or, even better, “most desired” and, thereby, let our accumulated steady, slow progress become its own source of motivation.

This morning in the quiet moments when I found myself awakening a different thought occurred to me.  

I had been searching for a simple resolution…one that would be easy to hold onto and yet would change my perspective and this is what arrived in response to my request:

As you go through the day and encounter many moments…some relaxing and some difficult and challenging…as you go through the day, just take a moment and imagine how your Higher Self would respond to what is happening. Do not put any pressure on yourself to do what Higher Self would do. Only imagine it and take note.

This sounded wonderful to me…and it feels instinctively that just choosing to put myself in the place of imagining a Higher Response would do some subtle, behind-the-scene work for me even while I went busily about my day, impressing my consciousness with a more beautiful, more loving, more joyful way to navigate it…and, most importantly, a way to be my own SOURCE of happiness and satisfaction.

And it actually sounds and feels quite practical, too, to become, on a continuing basis, the ANCHOR for my joy.

So I am going to give it a pop! This means I may pause a few seconds before I react and respond to what is going on…allowing myself the time and perspective I need to call up a Higher inspiration than what would automatically appear on my default button.

It will be very interesting to take this journey and, no doubt, it will have its own BRILLIANT LIGHT SHOW as I enter into this universe!

                               Marie Helena

Santa and the Phone Booth

The Divine Universe is always sending us beautiful messages and often through the most amazing avenues. This Christmas I received an exquisite gift. I did not realize how truly extraordinary it was until a few days after I opened it.  It was a facsimile of Santa Claus standing in an elegant phone booth (which, in itself, is an interesting concept). However, the breathtaking thing about this gift is that when turned on, the phone booth immediately flooded with  infinitesimal, dazzling gold lights which circulated unendingly  throughout the booth.

A couple of days after Christmas I placed this curious Santa on the top ledge of a high bookshelf built into the wall where it overlooked several other beautiful lights arranged on the shelves below:  alabaster fir tree candles, a three dimensional figure of a yoga with a lotus flower adorning it and several small battery operated candles in lovely shades of pale blue and green. The  effect of the luminescent ballet was stunning but my eyes were constantly drawn  to the top shelf where Santa in his phone booth continued to shimmer and glisten in Aurelian splendor. 

After a while I realized something extraordinary about this gift.  Santa, of course,  is a symbol of generosity and love.  And the glistening lights in the phone booth were clearly there, I realized, on special assignment.  They were drawing my constant attention in masquerade, a celestial reminder of my Higher Self, I realized, always there connected to my heart, available for  consultation and guidance.  Whether I can see her or not, my Higher Self  is clearly shining brightly through every moment of my day.  

   

There have been some  challenging  moments for me this holiday season and now, for Christmas, I have found myself being given the gift of remembrance of what is already waiting for me

EVERY time I have looked up at Santa in the phone booth I have seen it glisten and sparkle.  There is no question in my heart that I might be left in difficult moments without heavenly resource and support.

I am wondering...Is there something glistening on your metaphorical bookshelf or perhaps tucked away in a subtle corner of your life  that can help you also remember the   energy that is circulating so vibrantly, ready to envelop your life with the wisdom and beauty of love.

What a lovely reminder I have been given with this gift:  MY Higher Self is always present, energized, sparkling… ready to share its glorious energy of love.

Take a moment and check in to the beauty and wonder of the season.  Perhaps you, too,  have been a messenger this Christmas of an important message or even a recipient of a very special delivery just for you.                                                                                    

                               Marie Helena

image:  Original watercolor painting "Telephone" original painting,collectible postcard,red phone booth,snow in town,sidewalk

HeartSounds

The Voice of an Angel...Andrea Bocelli...

my go-to place for heart connection!

Italian tenor and singer/songwriter Andrea Bocelli is a very important part of my morning ritual.  I am not by nature a morning dove...rather a night blooming jasmine.  But when this jasmine awakens to (very slowly) acclimate to the morning, Bocelli's music is what begins the process of my energizing.

I've been listening to and loving Bocelli for quite some time.  His voice connects with my soul and though I studied a little Italian in preparation for a beautiful encounter with Firenze several years ago, the fact is I do not understand what this impressive tenor is singing.

And it makes no difference to me because it is ONLY the words I do not understand.  

The FEELINGS expressed by his beautiful voice ARE  the MESSAGE and they SPEAK to me.  And they do MORE than that...they vibrate with the sweep of my heart.

And I am mesmerized by this vibration...it SUSTAINS me.   This impulse tells me it is my HEART that is designed to direct the music of my life...not my intellect (though I dearly love to exercise it).   

   

I believe this is true of everyone.

In some individuals the heart may be sleeping...hibernating...because of unhealed pain, protecting itself from life's countless and often unpredictable adventures.  But the desire to FEEL is a human need we all share.

And the OPPORTUNITY to feel and to have the feeling RECOGNIZED is a Gift of Life.

The Divine Universe is unendingly creative in the way it sends its messages to us. Just this morning I realized I had received another tapping of this awareness a few days ago when I attended a planning meeting in Florida with David Webber, Chief Operating Officer of Practice Technology, Inc., who commented to me that he always reads his email for the FEELING of the writer, not for the words.  

It is not the words of Andrea Bocelli that affect me so profoundly.  It is the WAY he sings those lyrics.  And it is not the words of an email that David Webber "hears"...it is the message of a heart.

Is your heart vibrating with emotion?  Have you given yourself permission to feel this primal longing?  And do you "hear" the HeartSounds of everyone around you?                                                                                               

                                                                                                  Marie Helena 

image of Andrea Bocellil from sonbab.deviantart.com 

Andrea Bocelli by sonbab

Loving OURSELVES

How can we tell that we truly LOVE ourselves?

Do we:

Welcome and experience our feelings and recognize the importance of expressing them?

Speak our truth (even when it is difficult and awkward) in the best way we know how? 

Fully accept ourselves, the dark and the light, with the clear awareness that the dark parts of us are just lessons waiting to be learned? 

Extend love and compassion to ourselves when we go through difficult times?

Honor the messages of our body regarding our health and well-being?

Forgive ourselves when we make mistakes?

Acknowledge our mistakes, knowing that they teach us what we need to know?

Freely enjoy the gifts of life, knowing they are our birthright? 

Trust that the universe is a friendly place?

Take risks to help ourselves grow, even if this means the possibility of being hurt? 

Know that we are unconditionally loved by the Divine?

                             Marie Helena