Trying to sleep.
No luck.
Those pesky thoughts of things gone by
keep swirling In my mind.
Some are good, but many are bad.
How to stop them taking command.
They are uninvited guests for sure.
But …
do I have this all wrong?
Maybe they’re nothing to fear.
Just a map of my life so far
showing me where I’ve been
and where I need to be.
Standing all alone in your truth will you do what’s right for you, or give into what others choose?
Deep into your mind and spirit let the quiet calm wash over you cleansing all doubts and fears away that only weaken you.
Everyone is born with a special gift, and all you have to do is connect with it. Breathe, and see yourself free from the chains that bind you. We all get tangled up in chains as we travel on this journey, but we don’t have to keep them on.
Work with your rhythm in your own time. We are all different and flow with our own internal clock. Practice gentleness with yourself. Don’t rush, don’t compare, and soon you will see that all you have to do is “Just Be.”
“No one outside ourselves can rule us inwardly. When we know this, we become free.” ~ Buddha
We will never be free as long as we let society define us. We enter this world full of promise and then, it begins. Rules of how we must feel and believe start to mold us in whatever system we landed in. Being molded is never a pleasant experience, but living day to day with constraints is not living free, and not allowing us to be our genuine selves.
“The other side of every fear is a freedom.” ~ Marilyn Ferguson
What keeps us from living our life free is fear. We want to be accepted and loved. We don’t want to appear weird or be bullied by society, or even our family. We sometimes put up a façade to hide who we really are. But are we happy? Impossible to be. Isn’t being happy and achieving the peace of mind that comes with happiness what makes life worth living?
“By finding the courage to be ourselves, we gain the power to make a difference.” ~ Lindsey Stirling
That’s it. Finding the courage to face our fears will give us the gift of living our lives free. And in doing this, think about what a difference we could make in someone’s life or even in the world. Such a beautiful gift to give ourselves. To breathe without restriction. To be free like wildflowers spreading out in a garden.
Isn’t now the time to be free?
With so much aggression and turmoil in this world, try and practice peace everyday in your world. If you can’t smooth that frown away and replace it with a smile, at least try and keep your anger down the best you can. Hard to do when you are not having a good day and feeling upset, but so important.
We can’t control what happens in the world, but we can control how it affects us, and not be adding more hostility loose in this world. Also, if we get depressed or angry we have allowed that turmoil and the aggression going on to enter what should be our peaceful kingdom. Pema Chodron says we should ask ourselves, “Am I going to practice peace, or am I going to war?” If we don’t practice that peace we will be going to war with someone, maybe even ourselves.
Try always to stay present. Look for the beauty and goodness in nature, in things, and the people all around. We don’t have to agree on everything, but we should be accepting of our differences. Diversity is a good thing, and should not be something to fear. We add our aggression into the overflowing angry world by not being peaceful in ours. We all control what we put out.
Richard Carlson wrote a book called, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff … and It’s All Small Stuff. I have found this to be so true. In the past, most of the things I got angry about were just silly stuff that if given a few hours or a day I would have figured it out instead of acting out.
Remember, each peaceful thought that all of us can have will bring balance to our currently unbalanced world.
“If there was one life skill everyone on the planet needed, it was the ability to think with critical objectivity.”
~ Henry David Thoreau
I believe that the inability of critical thinking is the root cause of prejudice. If we would simply ask ourselves “Why” we feel the way we do toward others, we would be surprised to find that it is based on fear, preconceived ideas, our parents opinions, and the entire tribe that surrounds us.
Being too comfortable in our views and resisting stretching our minds to go beyond what we were taught will keep us closed-minded to the truths that stand before us.
If humans are to survive then we must change, and the first step is to ask “Why.”
“Too often we… enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.” ~ John F. Kennedy
“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.” ~ Mother Teresa
Sometimes we humans are mean, greedy and petty, with a penchant for violence. But when a catastrophe comes along such as Mother Nature being unhinged, we all come together in a beautiful union.
Calamity brings out the best in us. It brings out our true Spirits of love and caring humans here on this planet to help one another. This is a good thing because in times of disaster we certainly need to join forces for survival.
We are in survival everyday on this planet; we just don’t know it. Our Earth could be wiped out in a second. So instead of raising fists, or guns into the air, or being right or left, or actually thinking we are better than our neighbor because of skin color etc., how about coming together as one making life good for all.
Think of all the good things we could do if we took all that negative energy that’s fueled by the fear of losing who we think we are and turned it around to all things positive. If we came together the way we do when disaster comes a knocking, think of all we could accomplish in our world.
There is so much goodness in humans. We just need to grow up, get over ourselves and let it flow out. We need to finally learn the lessons of life.
“The idea of karma is that you continually get the teachings that you need to open your heart.” ~ Pema Chodron
Yes, it’s time for Peace.
“When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know Peace.” ~ Jimi Hendrix
But peace won’t come until real Change starts to happen, and we can actually feel and see it taking shape.
“You have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”
~ Harriet Tubman
Something will still be missing for peace to come and that is Healing.
“There is force in the universe, which if we permit it, will flow through us and produce miraculous results.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi
This force is the Healing we and our planet so need before peace will come.
Change, Healing, Peace. This will be hard for some because it’s a different way of thinking and living.
Start by emptying all the misinformation stuck in the brain that has been passed on from generation to generation. Look at life with a new perspective. Practice forgiveness, acceptance and humility. Open the door and let love in to banish hate for good. And get rid of fear. Many times when we don’t understand something or someone we fear it and pass on negative judgments.
Just like the picture of the flowering strawberries above, we too are ready for renewal that will lead us to Peace. So let’s begin.
Mindfulness brings us to this very moment which is all we truly ever have. We can’t live in the past or the future. One is gone and one is always full of uncertainty. As humans we do like going into the past and feeling the pain so we can figure things out. And we love planning for the future. But all those things are a waste of time because we are only living in the now, and that’s the way it’s always been, not just because we are in a pandemic.
We shouldn’t feel fear and unbalanced with the uncertainty of our future because nothing really has changed. Our future has always been uncertain. And life is always in flux. And that can be good even if it doesn’t seem so at the time. We just never know what exciting thing is waiting around the corner for us.
“When nothing is sure, everything is possible.”
~ Margaret Atwood
Mindfulness is empowering because we learn to flow and not fight what is; bad or good. We see things the way they are and we’re not afraid anymore.
“To think in terms of either pessimism or optimism oversimplifies the truth. The problem is to see reality as it is.”
~ Thich Nhat Hanh
Pay attention to all that surrounds you. Don’t fear the unknown, but embrace it instead. Have no expectations. Just open your arms and breathe in the life all around you.
“Uncertainty is the fertile ground of creativity and freedom.”
~ Deepak Chopra
By being mindful and living with uncertainty anything in life is possible. Mindfulness and uncertainty are a gift of freedom in our life.
“Mindfulness is a way of befriending ourselves and our experience.”
~ Jon-Kabat-Zinn
“All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing.” ~ Edmund Burke
Evil lurks deep into the crevices of all societies. The world has always had people who do evil. These people are very clever in recruiting others to join their missions and cults. Evil can wear many faces and appear innocent at first. Don’t allow yourself to get mislead and end up in a hideous plan. Check your thinking.
Don’t fear those that seem different, or fear what you don’t understand. Educate yourself, and become enlightened. Don’t get caught up blaming and hating others for how your life has turned out. Do something positive with your life. Get out of your head, and learn to think outside the box.
Draw on the love that is deep inside. It’s there; we all have it. Listen to your Spirit. Accept all beings. All of us have a right to be.
“No human race is superior; no religious faith is inferior. All collective judgments are wrong. Only racists make them.”
~ Elie Wiesel
It is vitally important that we all check our thinking. Collective negative thinking can make for a dangerous world. We don’t want to repeat our past mistakes, or start up new ones.
“With our thoughts we make the world.” ~ Buddha
The world we live in can become so much more and we have the power to make it so. All it takes is kindness and love.
“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” ~ Anne Frank
Stay positive. Choose love over hate. Be there for your family, friends and neighbors. Maybe, just maybe, if we all do this we can protect our beautiful blue planet and keep evil at bay.
“Know mankind well, don’t degrade every man as evil, and don’t exalt every man thinking he is good. He who cannot discover himself cannot discover the world.” ~ Rumi
Use your power.
“When life throws you a curve, lean into it.” ~Author Unknown
Our journey is constantly full of potholes and curves. Now with potholes we want to be careful how we travel over them, and take our time so we don’t get too beat up. But curves are better handled if we don’t drag our feet or ride our brakes too much.
Don’t let fear keep you from seeing what’s on the other side of that twisty curve. Be like a sports car and take your foot off the brake and drive into the curves of your life. There just might be beautiful weather on the other side, and you’ll never know unless you try.
Be brave and bold on your journey. You got this; trust yourself.
“I’m not afraid of storms, for I’m learning how to sail my ship.”
~Louisa May Alcott
Life as a Garden 