Stepping into Charlie

There's a reason why they call it "puppy love"!

I picked up Charlie, our new puppy last Friday evening, and of course, nothing has been the same since.  He is adorable and a very good pup. Still, he is a puppy and quite a double handful. 

Those of you who have "survived" the puppy phase know the choice to move forward with a dog, starts with this demanding, exhausting responsibility.  Other than very little sleep and a lack of personal accomplishment , this little guy has already blessed our home, and me.

Charlie will meet Bryan tonight as he gets home from his annual trip to Cancun with his father and brother.  It actually has been a good opportunity for Charlie and me to bond and to begin to get into a structured schedule.  HA!, Charlie is doing a fine job of structuring me and my life around his schedule.

Making the decision to expand our family has been a process. Our beloved Ernie made his transition a year ago last December. He certainly lives among us and we are reminded of him daily in so many ways.  Yet our home and our lives became too quiet, empty, perhaps too convenient.  Not unsatisfactory by any means, just not filled with that daily unconditional love and joy that only a canine partner brings.  Ernie came to us at a time when our family yearned for a balancing, loving companion, and needed a source of comfort and entertainment.  Along the way, he served each one of us when we needed him the most.

During our search for the next perfect dog, I saw a photo of Charlie.  On paper, he met all of our criteria. Yet it was his eyes that called to me.  As I studied and stared into his eyes, I saw a familiar spark, a reminiscent light of love ... I sensed Ernie reaching out from that photo of Charlie. 

We made the decision.....to step into Charlie.  Almost immediately, the lessons and gifts began.  

So, this is what I have learned:

Even life's positive contributions can challenge and activate us.  Self doubt, insecurities, fear, and judgment run rapid in those early days of stepping into a new role, a new routine, a new way of being. 

No matter how tired, confused or frustrated we feel, it is still within us to do what is necessary. Each time I crawl out of bed, fumble to put on my boots, somehow attach his leash and successfully get him out to pee in the cold backyard,  I recognize my contribution to Charlie's health and success. And it's a good thing. (especially as I crawl back to bed for another 2-3 hours surface sleep.)  

Caring for another, no matter how small, is an act of kindness and compassion.  The passage of time has been altered and my heart has been cracked open to again, express itself.  That part of me that is selfless, loving and accepting shows up for Charlie. Similar to my experience when caring for my Dad, our new little puppy provides new meaning and fulfillment to my life.

Getting outside of ourselves, brings us back home. The priorities of the day have definitely shifted. My focus and  activity revolve around Charlie's needs and well being. He gets me out of myself and invites me to stretch to a broader perspective while focusing on what's in front of me. 

There's nothing like a puppy to give new meaning to living in the present. Charlie's energy and curiosity  are exhilarating.  Yet he is so fast at grabbing and chewing everything in his path, all I can do is attempt to keep up with him.  There is no room for my own distractions, activities, or electronics!

Adopting Charlie into our family has been both life challenging and enlightening. The quiet moments of connection, the sacrifice of my agenda, and the forced slower pace, fuel my awareness of what truly matters and celebrates my sense of connection and love.

February is the Month of LOVE

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY 

For some, observing this holiday can trigger depression or resentment, as we look outside of ourselves ~ for Love. As long as we hold on to any resentment, we deny ourselves our ability to receive love or to be loving. 

Think about someone in your Life (it could be you) that you have been harboring resentment toward. There may be several, yet focus on the first person that comes to mind.

What specifically about them do you feel resentful? How long have you felt this way? Did these feelings originate with this person or have they been suppressed in you for a long time? Your answers may surprise you.

The origin of resentment is to "re-feel", a continuous re-feeling of an emotionally disturbing experience felt over and over again or relived in the mind. When we feel resentment toward another it can be identified in negative emotions such as anger or spite. Resentment toward ourselves expresses itself in bitterness and remorse.

If you were able to forgive this person, how might that make you feel? 

What would change as a result of your forgiving them?

To forgive...is to set a prisoner free

and discover that the prisoner was you.

~Lewis B. Smedes

Forgiving frees us from the past. It frees us from our limited thinking and false beliefs. When we forgive ourselves and others, it unlocks the chains that bind our hearts. Forgiveness allows us to reconnect with ourselves, to the light and love of who we are.

FORGIVENESS is our pathway to LOVE

LOVE is a state of being.

Right here. Right now, in the present moment ...

where LOVE resides.

Journey Home to You

"The on-the-spot practice of being fully present,

with an open mind can be done at any time;

feeling your heart, and greeting the next moment

with an open mind 

can be done at any time.

When you wake up in the morning, before a difficult

conversation, 

whenever fear or discomfort arises.

This practice is a beautiful way to claim your warriorship,

your spiritual warriorship.

In other words, it is a way to claim your courage, 

your kindness,  your strength."
                                                                                                                                                            ~Pema Chodron

From Buddhism, a spiritual warrior is a person who battles with the "universal enemy" self-ignorance; the ultimate source of suffering. Warrior,  a brave or experienced soldier, and the suffix "-ship" denotes a skill in a certain capacity. 

So, how do you claim the evolution of  your Spiritual Warriorship?

With the closing of  January, I reflect on the theme for this first month of 2014.

In our Soul Sisters Journey group, we focused on reconnecting & aligning with others, in Freedom to Change Stems from Within, we shifted from blaming sources outside of us to taking personal responsibility for the world we create. 

 And throughout the month, there has been a steady gentle whisper, to live in the moment, to express gratitude, to slow down,  to just...Breathe.  We can change our thoughts and reclaim our power by going within, listening for and trusting;  the voice of our "inner wisdom".

However, Life in the fast lane is addictive and we must continually remind ourselves to slow down and smell the roses.  The beauty of social media and of immediate, unlimited access to information, is that we experience such an abundance of choice.  The other side of this freedom, is the overwhelm and distraction that too much data can deliver.  One minute, I will be looking up a subject on-line and two hours later, my surf has morphed into topics and sites out of sync from where I started.   

So again, I come back to this simple message of truth, as I understand it, practice it, and vow to live it.

There is nothing more fascinating or fulfilling than journeying inward to discover ourselves!  

The really cool thing is, everything we ever yearned for, is available 24/7 ~ just like on the internet!  Only the data revealed, the direction defined, and the freedom granted,  have been uniquely created~ custom designed ~ just for you!

As I think of being the heroic pioneer of my own Life,

I find myself humming a tune from Jana Stanfield, a favorite folksinger of mine...

"I'm Not Lost, I am Exploring"

Success in Gratitude

Without gratitude, you may focus only on what's lacking in your life, rather than what you appreciate.

Gratitude 

keeps you optimistic, and evidence shows that optimism improves your health."  ~ Lissa Rankin, M.D.

It is the New Year and January is already over!

What emotion does this statement conjure up for you?  For many of us, we experience a twinge of panic.  Whether we made New Years Resolutions or just pretend we did, this opportunity for a fresh start, to change something in our Lives and the pressured hype to be successful can be a powerful impetus for feeling frustrated and disappointed.

When did the turning over of a New Year ~ trump, living each day to the fullest? Whatever happened to "Today is the first day of the rest of your Life"?  Many of us remember that slogan and the Smiley face of the same era:  Have a good day!

Changing for the better is the preferred, positive, direction.  Yet when we set our focus on someone else's plan or version of what "better" looks like,we set ourselves up for chasing the elusive butterfly.  We separate ourselves from our own power, guidance and direction.  We waste our promise of infinite possibilities.  To feel better ~ we put our faith into something outside of us.

What if you turned your attention, within?  What if you decide to stop chasing, anything?  What if you slowed down a bit ~ to hear your own wisdom and see your own direction?  What if you focus on feeling and being Grateful?

Gratitude is an acknowledgement of something greater than ourselves, not outside of ourselves. Perhaps it is a broader perspective than cherishing our limitations or holding on to a belief ~that we are alone in this world.

 Let's list the 7 top aspects of our Lives, for which we are Grateful. 

Let's focus on those each day.

Let's allow the other stuff to just~ slough off from lack of attention.

Let's Celebrate all our Successes that come to us daily... when we Live in 

Gratitude! 

The Power of Focus

Yesterday I took a saliva test.  For those of you who have done the same, you know what it entails.  For the rest of you, I'll spare the details.  It's actually a very handy test for acquiring information. And in my case, specific to my adrenal and hormonal function.  

I proudly completed the test. My biggest personal challenge was the requirement I sustain from coffee, tea, and chocolate for the 24 hour period.  Emotionally, I let go of needing my morning coffee, afternoon chocolate, and evening tea.  Yet the physical reactions I experienced from their absence were surprising and unsettling. I had low energy in the morning and felt out of sync all day.  At work,  I felt fuzzy and lethargic.  My day felt confusing and difficult.

 What I really wanted to do was nap or perhaps hide from the public. As I plowed on, I developed a new awareness -        I was tired.  I had been "burning the candle at both ends"as my Father would say.   It took the break from stimulants to acknowledge how much I push myself, how little I rest, and how much energy I expel on the stress of     my Life; the stress that I create!

I became aware of something else I have been doing to myself.  I've misdirected my Focus.
I have been concentrating my time, attention, and energy on my "human-doing-ness" rather than being the human; I am. For me to change, I must first become aware and then accept, rather than fight, what I discover.   Buddha says, "It is the resistance to what is,
that creates the suffering."

There is a Universal principle that states, whatever we focus on ~ expands.  Slowing down allowed me to see the direction and quality of my choices.

Why is it, that I require uncomfortable reminders that I am not living from my authentic place? That I am racing to compete, complete, and to be acknowledged from the outside?  Why do I choose to experience dis-ease, confusion, and self punishment when I could choose to listen within, and live out ~ happy, joyous and free?

 I have the power to change my Life.  I am the power and the one responsible for my choices.  No matter at what starting block I stand, it is my choice which direction to jump, or whether to jump
at all.

As this Holiday season encroaches,  the traditional celebrations of my Life and memory, have transformed.  And so I have a choice. I can look longingly at the past and what was, or choose to be present and embrace what is ~today.  Shifting my focus engages my energy and directs my power to create the experience I want.  

My focus is Love.

Being present~ acknowledging, listening, trusting
and loving, myself.  
Loving my neighbor as myself.
Doing on to others as I would have them, do onto me!  

And in the words of John Lennon and Paul McCartney:

Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be,

There's nothing you can know that isn't known,

Nothing you can see that isn't shown,

There's nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be 

 It's easy.

All you need is Love, Love is all you need!

Love is.