Category Archives: Sweet Breathing

Compassionate Boundaries

Brene Brown has a depth of vision for creating more loving kindness in herself, and in the world.  She has a lot to teach, and this short video on the importance of boundaries, to sustainable compassion, love, and empathy is profound.

Boundaries are not walls, not separation, but simply and powerfully, they create respect.

Expect the best from everyone, and assume they are absolutely doing the best they can with the tools that they have in this moment.

Let’s bring more love and compassion into the world!!

https://www.facebook.com/theworkofthepeople/videos/10153967066765682/

Winter, Pasture, Fence, Sunrise

 

On this new Winter day….

I hope you can take time to savor these sumptuous words from Matt Licata, and absorb with wonder this new winter day…

Winter Morning, Snow, Snow in Trees

“On this new winter day, it is so easy to take for granted that tomorrow will come – that another opportunity will be given to witness a sunrise, to breathe into the heart, to be astonished at the crystals in the newly fallen snow, to share a moment of attuned connection with the bunnies on our morning walk.

But another part of us knows it is so fragile here, so tenuous, and that this opening into life will not be here for much longer. Recognizing this, let us surrender the dream of postponement by doing whatever we can to help others, by being fully here and entering into the dark and into the light with them, no longer apologizing for our uniqueness, our sensitivity, and the gifts of our embodied vulnerability.

At the end of this life – which is sure to come much sooner than we’d like – it is unlikely we’ll ask if we accomplished the tasks on our to-do lists, completed some mythical journey of ‘awakening,’ perfected ourselves, ‘healed’ our past, played it safe, got all of our ‘needs’ met, made it big, ‘manifested’ everything we wanted, or achieved all of our goals.

Inside these hearts there may be only one burning question: how well did I love?

Did I pause each day to behold the wonder of just one unfolding here and now moment? Was I willing to take a risk, to feel more, to care so deeply about this life, to let another matter, and to honor *this* very experience, exactly as it has been given?

Did I stay close with the mysterious movement of both sweet and fierce grace as it took form as the others in my life, and as the wisdom flow of feeling, of emotion, and of sensation in this body? Was I willing to fall in love, to truly fall in love with this life, exactly as it is? Was I willing to provide a home, a sanctuary, and safe passage for all of me, an environment of wholeness and integration to dance, rest, and play in?

Was I willing to set aside the unending need to make this moment different?

What is it that remains unlived… for you? How have you been holding back? What are you waiting for? What are the feelings you must re-embody to in order to fully come alive here?

The bounty and the harvest of this world is upon you. It is always already here, erupting in the here and now, and is not waiting. The spell of the ‘next moment’ has been broken.

I hope I make it all the way through this sweetest of ever winter days, but if for some reason I do not, this would have been enough. I have been given so much more than enough.”

-Matt Licata

January Sunset2, Snow, Pasture View

A Breeze is Stirring

“As you move through these changing times… be easy on yourself and be easy on one another. You are at the beginning of something new. You are learning a new way of being. You will find that you are working less in the yang modes that you are used to.

You will stop working so hard at getting from point A to point B the way you have in the past, but instead, will spend more time experiencing yourself in the whole, and your place in it.

Instead of traveling to a goal out there, you will voyage deeper into yourself. Your mother’s grandmother knew how to do this. Your ancestors from long ago knew how to do this. They knew the power of the feminine principle… and because you carry their DNA in your body, this wisdom and this way of being is within you.

Call on it. Call it up. Invite your ancestors in. As the yang based habits and the decaying institutions on our planet begin to crumble, look up. A breeze is stirring. Feel the sun on your wings.”

-Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers

Raven, Glacier, Snow

Sweet Solstice

December 21.

Breathing in, the earth surrenders to the shortest day of sun’s light, and the longest dark of night. The wave of light and darkness crests and the sun is welcomed back. Its journey is lengthened each day.

Honoring the earth’s process brings beauty and attention.  Deep comfort is found in the unfolding of the unending seasons.  The lovely flow carries us, and each day we absorb more of the increasing light.

These gifts of winter solstice are here to be freely embraced.

What precious gifts nature gives.

Winter, Snow, Small Tree, Glistening

 

Walk in the Sunshine

“None of us are getting out of here alive, so please stop treating yourself like an after thought. Eat the delicious food. Walk in the sunshine. Jump in the ocean. Say the truth that you’re carrying in your heart like hidden treasure. Be silly. Be kind. Be weird. There’s no time for anything else.”

-Keanu Reeves

Baring the hidden treasure of your truth, celebrating and not hiding from life, walking in the sunshine (and in fresh snow), yes,  I heartily agree with Keanu Reeves, that life is to be lived with vibrant awareness and passion!

This morning I am attune to the radiating trees in their snow clothes, the sun embracing every fiber of them and me!  The peace of silent footsteps in newly fallen snow – so many gifts this day has already given.

Snow, Trees with Glistening Sun, Winter

 

Today I Rise

“Where are you

little girl with broken wings but full of hope?

Where are you

wise woman covered in wounds?

Where are you?  Where are you?  Where are you?

Today is the day I will not sit still and give in anymore,

today I rise.

I am bruised but I will get up and walk again,

today I rise.

I don’t care if you ignore my beauty,

today I rise.

Through the alchemy of my darkest night, I heal and thrive,

today I rise.

I move through the world with confidence and grace.

I open my eyes and am ready to face

my wholeness as a woman and my limitless capacities.

I will walk my path

with audacity,

today I rise.

I reconnect with the many aspects of myself.

I am in awe of the reality I can create.

I am a queen,

I am a healer, a wise woman, a wild woman.

I will rise and be.

I am a rebel I will wake up and fight.

I am a mother and I am a child.

I will no longer disguise my sadness and pain,

I will no longer suffer and complain.

I am black and I am white.

There’s no reason to hurt.

Where are you? Where are you?

I call upon Kali to kiss me to life.

I transform my power and anger,

no more heartache or strife.

The world is missing what I am ready to give,

my wisdom, my sweetness, my love

and my hunger for peace.

I weep with the trees and the rivers

and the earth in distress.

I rise and shine and am ready to go on my quest.

Today I rise without doubt or hesitation,

today I rise without excuses, without procrastination.

Today I call upon my sisters to join

a movement of resoluteness and concern.

Today is my call into action,

to fulfill my mission without further distraction.

Today is the day,

today I will start,

to offer the world the wisdom of my heart”

This beautiful short poem of a film  (by Films for Action; filmsforaction.org) and the accompanying words were perfect music for the celebration of my birth day…..

http://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/today-i-rise/

And then of course, Maya Angelou’s “And Still I Rise” is immediately

brought to mind…

Sunrise, Snow, Treeview

 

 

The Most Valuable Currency There Is

“My soul is not contained within the limits of my body, my body is contained within the limitlessness of my soul. I’ve often said that I wish people could realize all their dreams and wealth and fame so that they can see that it’s not where you’re gonna find your sense of completion. I can tell you from experience the effect you have on others is the most valuable currency there is, because everything you gain in life will rot, and fall apart, and all that will be left of you is what was in your heart.”

-Jim Carey

Fence, Snow, Pasture, Sunset