I've spent a great deal of the summer being self-absorbed...
trying to figure it out...
simplify...
I want this phase of my life to be gentle, balanced, creative and playful...
I don't do well with drama
I know so many women who are looking inside, in flux...
some on the verge of leaving a long standing relationship....
some trying to figure out what will feed their soul and incorporate it into their lives in a bigger way....
some ready to break out of the box that we often find ourselves in do to expectations...
some trying to simplify...
some learning to play again....we forget...
I think if someone asked me my spiritual philosophy right now
I would just say
to love and play
It's not that I'm unhappy with my life....
it isn't that easy....
I have so many blessings...
no question about that, I am often overwhelmed with gratitude....
I want a stronger connection with Spirit....with the Spirit in me
and that seems to bring me to a place of clearing out old patterns and beliefs that are no longer serving me and opening wider to all the possibilities....fearlessly
becoming more awake...
more giving....
playing more...it isn't all so serious...
more aware and much more disciplined in my spiritual practice....
and I get lazy about that...
and it is the most necessary practice for opening,
softening and experiencing more joy.....
and I have a very fertile imagination when it comes to what might be... don't misunderstand, I love my imaginings....but I also need to stay grounded and present....some of my imaginings take on a life of there own taking more energy than they should...oh my...so much work...so little time...
in joy....
“ memories flood in...
regrets tug in one direction...
joys tug in another...
how do you hold a lifetime in your hands?
and what do you do now?
maybe you do the only thing that
ever really mattered -
you love.
you offer love.
you give love.
you receive love.
you breathe love.
you live love.
you love. ”
~terri st. cloud
With love in you, your only need is to extend it.-- A Course in Miracles
from Eat Pray Love........
I keep remembering one of my Guru’s teachings about happiness. She says that people universally tend to think that happiness is a stroke of luck, something that will maybe descend upon you like fine weather if you’re fortunate enough. But that’s not how happiness works. Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it.
You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings…And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it, you must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it. If you don’t, you will leak away your innate contentment. It’s easy enough to pray when you’re in distress but continuing to pray even when your crisis has passed is like a sealing process, helping your soul hold tight to its good attainments.
On this day of your life, dear friend, I believe God wants you to know...
the time has come for you to nourish your soul...
When was the last time that you swam naked?
Or sang in the shower? Or blew bubbles?
Or held a puppy? Or kissed a baby?
Or made love all Sunday afternoon?
Or prayed really softly, not from need, but from love?
Has it been a while?
Then hurry. Do it.
Hurry.
This is life that is going by..
Neale Donald Walsch
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5 comments:
Julie,
Thank you so much for this post - I was feeling abit frazzled after returning from my visit to BC and
as one of your quotes stated....this post did nourish my soul and help to put things in perspective.
Hugs,
Sue
Nice post. I think you speak for many women universally.
"that seems to bring me to a place of clearing out old patterns and beliefs that are no longer serving me"
Would you say, then, that you're a philosophical pragmatist?
"Happiness is the consequence of personal effort."
The latest studies of depression indicate a biochemical basis. This implies that depression is a disease rather than the result of not trying hard enough. As a chronic depressive, I assure you that I do try. It's hard to keep going much of the time, but I do try. Maybe your guru hasn't personally experienced the problem. It's easy to judge that which you don't know about.
Hi Sue & Cheryl....glad you enjoyed this post....I post about happiness, love, etc. for myself more than anyone else...I require continual affirmations to keep myself in as positive state of mind as I can...life offers up some pretty heavy duty challenges...lol...staying in joy gets tricky..
Snow...I've been thinking about you since you commented here...I want you to know that I've been in the dark hole of depression...I was there for several years...such a dark place I almost never left the house...rarely dressed...I know about depression. It's been a 20 year journey to get to where I am today...a pretty happy woman...able to find a little joy in each day...and sometimes a lot. For me it really was a choice to find the way out, and today I do everything I can to never go back to that dark place which is still within me....still waiting to suck me back in...I need all the affirmations that I post here...I need to believe that happiness is a choice...that I have the power to be joyful...I surround myself with people who also seek to find, and hang on to the happiness they find and that helps a lot...I am not suggesting that my path is the only one...but the belief that I do have the choice helps me when I fall into negative thinking..... when I feel like the world is offering up challenges that I am just not up to...and who knows maybe life will serve me up something to prevent me from finding the light, but today it is still my choice as to how I look at things, my perspective, what I choose to focus on, such a blessing.....if you email me privately I have something to suggest that may help with your physical pain...hug, hug
ps...the guru is quoted from the book Eat Pray Love...
Hello dear friend, you've given me so much to think about again here. And you have written beautifully what so many of us are feeling. We are on quite a journey here, aren't we?
xo
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