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Grounded … or not!

What grounds you? What is it in your day-to-day, or in your greater life experience at this time, which provides stability, home base, that place to land when upheaval happens?

Or perhaps, unlike me, you don’t need that tether. You are able to fly freely, go with the flow, flit from here to there endlessly – without losing site of direction, focus, dreams, visions, or goals.

There is no “right or wrong, good or bad” of course. But it is vital that we know our personal needs and honor them. So I ask again:

What grounds you?
What needs to shift so this grounding presence will expand?

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The Unexpected

“If you do nothing unexpected, nothing unexpected happens.” Fay Weldon

I am struck by this quote today as I ponder what it would be like to do “non-Christmas” next year. Each holiday season, I shift something up in order to create an experience that feels good to me and those around me. Yet, I have fallen short of doing something so unexpected that magic actually happens which, for me, would be a depression-free, joy-full season. And it might take “non-Christmas”, actually not celebrating, for me to delight in it.

What is your unexpected action?
What would rock your world and reveal the unexpected?

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Come Back Into Your Skin

Welcome to December 26. What does that mean to you? Let me try that again. What does this day, this moment, this opportunity mean for you?

It can be too easy during this time of the year to compare, to have expectations, to forget our individuality in the presence of so much tradition, family, and societal messaging. It is easy to think, “I should feel …” or “I should want to do …”. Today, I invite you back into your skin to wonder:

What do I feel?
What is important today?
What possibilities align with my deepest values now?

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When it’s all too much

Today, when I sat down for my morning centering time, I found my brain busy, my body a bit tense, and my heart space a bit teary. While the tears held a message of gratitude, the rest of my being didn’t feel like a place from which I could enter the day ahead.

Stop. Close your eyes. Slowly, mindfully, take 10 deep breaths through your nose. Follow the breath as it flows down into your lungs, expanding your chest. Imagine it flowing through your entire body to the tips of your finger and toes. Easefully hold each breath a few seconds, then release it completely, again noticing how the breath feels in your body. From this place, where nothing but the breath fills your awareness:

What can come off today’s to-do list?
What else?
What else?
What single intention will you carry with you this day?

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The pace of pause

‘Tis the season when we’re often busy, racing about, and completing the items on the day’s to-do list. And for some, this is energizing and glorious! For others, not so much. For many, when the list is driving, so is the head. Other sources of wisdom: body, emotion, spirit, desire, passion, intuition are ignored.

Wherever you find yourself today, consider a pause. Stop. Close your eyes. Take a few deep breaths. Invite your awareness to shift from the external and your mind, to the deep, inner source of personal wisdom in your heart and soul. Allow the “pace of pause” to take over your being. Then simply listen as you offer these questions:

What is my body trying to tell me?
What am I really feeling?
What energy pervades my spirit?
What do I intuitively know that I am ignoring?

Take a few more deep breaths. Smile. Express your gratitude. Gently redirect your attention to the day, the activity, the stuff of life with fresh awareness.