Full of Life

As I watch a hummingbird fly quickly into sight, and listen to its wings beating, buzzing, like a tiny helicopter as it hovers nearby, I remember the long hard winter so many of them had and wonder if my feeders helped to get this one where she’s at. A big hurry for such a little bird, but sustaining life for its babies tucked nearby in a nest, and for its very existence is what its life is all about. The hummingbird and all of nature instinctively knows how to live life. They know what to do and how to do it. Can we humans say the same?

Spring is bursting with life right in our own backyards, and soon summer’s sun rays will be shining, and life in the wild will be in full bloom. All the creatures are busy and fully engaged in the life they’ve been given. Are we?

Do the creatures in the wild have a secret to living life? They don’t appear to take time, or even have time to fret, fear, or hate. They’re all living in the present and don’t seem to know of past or future. How wonderful to be so mindful. Can’t we?

Just because we are humans shouldn’t mean that we can’t be fully engaged in the life we’ve been given. It may mean we have to shed some of our old ways, but how freeing and light we will be.

Take a deep breath and then let it out slowly, feeling free and light as a feather. Feel the warm sun on your neck. Did you smell the clean air? The flowers? Now, don’t you feel like a bird who wants to take flight, soaring above the clouds?

Nature is full of life and we humans should be too. The secret to life is just letting yourself live your life to the fullest, but that really isn’t a secret. Sometimes it’s just forgotten as we think everything in life is a struggle. Shed your old ways and be committed to living your life.

Lost

Are you feeling lost? Sometimes that just seems to happen, but don’t despair, you will soon get back on track somewhere. Become very still, silent, letting all thoughts cramming through your brain dissolve into nothingness. Let yourself bond with nature through a window, or find a door and move yourself right out.

In nature is where you’ll find your lost yearning little self. It’s hiding in the trees along the busy highway. It’s sleeping in the flowers, or being carried by that bumblebee. Hey, that squirrel over there scurrying along the leaves just found it! Hurry before he buries it deep beneath the earth.

You are somewhere floating in the streams, or lakes, and can even be found roaring in the ocean waves. Look up, and see your lost self in the sky just hanging out with the clouds so free.

I think that soon you will come to realize that you are never really lost. You are always somewhere simply waiting to connect. Still doubting? Then by all means go outside and you will see that you, my friend, are part of everything!

Don’t Fear Saying No

As you travel on your journey not everyone you meet or even those you are related to will have your best interests in mind. Treating everyone with respect and loving kindness is an important virtue, but so is being aware and being able to tell when opportunistic people are knocking on your door.

People who tend to be opportunist find kind, loving people, easy prey. And you, wanting to be a good person, can find yourself saying “yes” to so much more than you bargained for. I’m not talking about being asked for a little favor, I’m talking about the big favors that could turn your life upside down. But since I mentioned little favors, they too can get to be annoying.

So how do you protect yourself from being taken advantage of, or simply not really wanting to do what’s being asked of you? Just say NO. Sounds simple but it ISN’T because nice people have trouble saying no. It makes them feel bad. You don’t want to let anyone down and you sure don’t want to come across as selfish and uncaring. But sometimes you just have to protect yourself and you do that by simply saying No.

It’s much harder after you agree to do something to try to undo it. That’s why a loving person needs to think a little bit about themselves and stop worrying about how it might look if they don’t do what’s being asked, or hurt the other person. Yes, someone might get hurt and that someone might be you!

The closer the person is to you the harder it will be to say no. Ask yourself what’s the worst that can happen? So they get mad and stop talking to you and the relationship ends. You have to ask yourself what kind of relationship would end because you said no? I’d say it’s not the relationship that you thought you had and probably isn’t worth keeping.

Be the kind of person that’s not only kind to others but also kind to yourself. Don’t fear saying No when that’s what you really want to say. It’s been said that No is a complete sentence, so use it and set yourself free.

Laughter

Have you ever really listened to the laughter of others? I was working at my computer the other night and my neighbors were sitting on their deck visiting with friends. I could hear them laughing really enjoying being together. I stopped working and thought, “what an inviting sound that laughter was.” There’s just something so warm and sweet in the sound of laughter, and then I wondered why we don’t do it more often.

It seems like we get caught up in the battle of life–always wanting to win. But battles are such mindless and stupid little things and they don’t contain laughter and certainly no one really wins. Maybe laughter is what life is all about because it’s so light and infectious and certainly brings joy, and knocks the socks out of pain.

The best laughter of course, is that of children. When their giggles get out of control and turn into full-blown crazy laughter–now that’s pure music, isn’t it? You hear that kind of laughter and think how wonderful to be so free.

Once in a while all of us should give ourselves a break and not be so uptight and hard on our souls. We should throw caution to the wind and learn to laugh at ourselves and all the ups and downs our life holds. The benefits of such naughty behavior would be endless indeed. Maybe the way to have more laughter is to choose our battles more wisely, or not have them at all.

When was the last time you really had a good belly laugh? Go ahead, don’t wait, for it might end up being too late.

“Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face.”
~ Victor Hugo