Category: Life Guidance

Welcome to now. Perhaps you, like me, are back from a break and noticing that September includes new beginnings, activities restarting after the summer hiatus. Perhaps this comes with much excitement and joy; maybe your experience is more like “Shoot! I loved the spaciousness of summer and am not ready for it to end.”

Either way, “now” is here, “now” is what we have to work with and live in. What happened over the summer can be a rich source of guidance to “now” if we let it.

I spent the last two months taking a break from blogging and extraneous activities, spending more time just being in my life. During that time I received the gift of grandchild #1 and spent several days with the family. Funny how nothing else matters when new life is present! I also spent one week on sacred in-home retreat while my husband was away. What I know experientially and have more clarity on now includes:

• I thrive on balance – time for doing and time for being
• I treasure deep connection with precious people in my life
• It is vital that I serve others in the world around me AND that I love and care for myself in the process
• Time out of routine, open to the magic everywhere present is healing, transformative and so very necessary

And, if these things are important, they are important throughout the year. I dare not wait until next summer to experience them again. Therefore, my intention for “now” is to continue to bring balance, deep connection, service, self-care and time away from routine.

… and with it the day lilies in my garden:

This morning, reading on the front porch from a book that showed up this past month and said, “Read me!”, pointed me at a quotation that felt right to share with you:

Now, the first part of that quotation is attributed to Socrates and the second part may not be an original by this author. It doesn’t really matter to me. What does matter is that it struck me as meaningful today. At that moment, I knew it was time to stop reading for the morning and write to you.

So here we are. Rereading what I wrote in July, I find this:

“Taking a break, a sabbatical, a vacation is important. Getting out of routine and listening in different ways to Life renews us, heals, provides joy and inspiration of another sort. What I want for you and for me this summer is to experience freedom to choose alternatives, freedom to listen to our own inner nudgings, freedom to experience Life with our whole being – body, mind, emotion, spirit – whatever that means to each one of us. Yesterday, for me, that meant floating down the river on an inner tube with another dear friend and treasuring the sunlight and clouds, the sounds of the birds and the thunder, the conversation and the shared silence.”

Seems to me that says, “Live life!” How are you doing with that? Have you taken a break this past month from routine, from unconsciously moving through the activities of your days? Have you played, explored new places, deepened relationships? Have you noticed the flowers growing? Remember those day lilies? I now know that they are called “day” lilies because that’s exactly how long the flower lives! It opens for one day only, and then closes up and dies. Such a short window of time this beautiful expression is present. If I am too busy to pause in my garden, I miss it. If I am too busy to be present and mindful with each activity, each interaction, each precious moment I am given, I miss Life itself.

I urge you to continue this month to live – to let yourself experience life, feel it with your whole being. Yes, sometimes that means we experience pain or discomfort along with the joy and delight. Sometimes we try new things that we don’t enjoy. Yet, isn’t *trying* the only way to really know if we like it?

So “Try away!” this month! See you in September!

Recently a friend reminded me to take care of myself, that it was vitally important to take great care of myself. I quickly finished her sentence with:

“… or I’ll have nothing to give!”

My wise friend IMMEDIATELY jumped on me with:

“No!“

And I started laughing as I heard the message in me at the same time. She continued:

“Take care of yourself because you’re worth it!”

Yes, when I practice awesome self care:

• I usually have a lot to give
• I am happier, healthier and delightful to be around
• I usually want to be in service, to give, to do for others

Yet, the message here is: “To be in service isn’t why we should do awesome self-care”. We do it because we deserve to be treated that way, because we are valuable, lovable, living creatures. Do you know this for yourself?

Do you know that you are enough just because you are?
Do you know that you are deserving just because you are?
What would be different if you did?