Take a Moment to Wonder....

Take a moment to hold this image in your mind...
Notice the textures of the colors...the dimensions of different aspects of the image...
Notice what part of the image you find yourself most connected to...
Allow yourself to move 'into' this part of the image and 'feel' it.
What kind of experience is this creating for you?
Does it make you feel good, happy, sad, fearful.....?
What stories does it bring up? What symbols does it create?

Try moving with the image...how is it 'inviting' you to move?

Do you sense any sounds coming from this image?
What do these sounds remind you of?

All of these experiences create a pathway for your intuition, your sixth sense,
to express itself.
By allowing yourself to 'wonder' and consider something in a deeper and more meaningful way, you allow it to teach you about itself.
You create a space that allows for consideration of the unseen world.
You choose to develop a relationship with those aspects of life that require a wider and deeper view.
By deepening your experience with this image, you may find yourself looking at all images differently in the future.

So it is with our life experiences...
If we take a moment to ask a few more questions and wonder more deeply about whatever we are doing, we will find a larger wisdom than that which exists on the surface.

Just as in the Ocean, the richness of life lies beneath the sea...

Balancing polarities

Within the world, there are forces...solar and lunar, masculine and feminine.
When these forces are balanced, the harmonics that result can be felt everywhere.
When these forces are out of balance, the lack of harmony can be felt everywhere.

For so many years, the solar forces, those that represent a focus on 'doing', have dominated our existence.
The natural state of 'being' associated with the lunar forces, has been in hibernation.
Our Earth, has rapidly become a land of compulsivity, always focused on 'more' and how we never have 'enough'.
We push, pull and tug to move ourselves forward, never waking up to realize that our struggle is getting us more stuck.
By quieting our minds and Spirits, we give ourselves a chance to quiet the world
around us as well...
To create a sanctuary right where we are...
To relish in 'no-thing'...
To celebrate 'no-sound'...
To make room for the still small voice of the Holy Spirit, even if for just a few moments.

Create the balance that will bring health, wellness, and vitality and abundance.
Offset the 'doing' with 'being'.
Bring yourself back into rhythm with the Heart of the Earth.

Drum Making - the Pathway of the Heart

All of us who participated in the Drum Making Workshop at Grace's House sensed that what we were doing was the work of the Heart.
As we focused on each aspect of the creation of the Drum, it became clear that this was no ordinary experience....
The Hoop of the Drum represented the Circle of Life...it gave us each an opportunity to honor our own unique journey and celebrate the challenges that we faced along the way.
The animal hide that became the 'face' of the Drum represented for many, our own skins...that which we have lived in for many moons...it was the physical part of our being, that which gets pushed and pulled on this walk of life.
As we stretched it over the hoop and began to tie the edges together, we each started to 'see' how the different aspects of our lives come together to make a meaningful whole.
As the laces crossed, so did the intersection of experiences of our lives, that were all so necessary in order to create the picture of who we have become.
Tying off each piece of the lace, represented tying off different segments of our lives and created completion for a job well done.
Creating the central handle, gave us a 'handle on our lives'...a place to connect, something to hold on to...
For each person, that handle was different...for some it was family, for some it was a job that brought meaning, for others, the search was still on for that handle to grasp onto...

And the awakening of the drum...well, that was the magic...that was the connection of the life to the heart...that which provides the emotion to energize the life, to in-spire the life, to set the life free to become all that it was intended to become.

Listening to voice of the heart of the Drum for the first time was like the sound of a little baby's first cry...it is an opening up, a coming forth, a moving out into the world.
It is a declaration that 'I am'...
It is a miracle of uniqueness, of beauty, of pure joy.

It is a new beginning...a chance to start over and embrace life fully and without reservation.

Drums - the Heartbeat of the Earth

Recently, we had the remarkable experience of being led in a Drum Making Ceremony.
Tony Robichaud, who was our guide, shared with our group the Native American tradition of creating your own drum and then awakening it.
We each wrote prayers or intentions on the inner hoop of the drum and then began the process of tying and lacing the drum from each of the four directions.
Tony explained that each time we beat the drum in the future, those prayers and intentions would be sent out into the Universe.

As we experienced the magic of creating such a wonderful instrument of peace and love, we each found ourselves moving inwards towards our own centers, reexamining why we are here, what lies deep within our hearts, and what we want to bring forth into the world.

We spoke in the Wisdom Circle, of our own unique gifts and how we would use the drums in the future.
We blessed our drums and then took them home to allow them to 'cure'.
We were instructed to turn them a quarter turn each day for four days, honoring the North, East, South, and West directions.
Then we were to awaken our drums which represented our 'new hearts'...we were to be gentle with this rebirth experience just as if the drum was a new baby being brought into the world.

The Drum Making experience was such a spiritual experience.
It gave us an opportunity to reconsider our journeys and give thanks for the life we have lived, the teachers that have appeared on our pathway, and the guidance that we have received.

The drums opened our hearts to a new way of being, full of openness, rhythm, balance, sound, beauty, gentleness, power and wisdom.

Freedom.....

Freedom is something we so often take for granted.
It is priceless.
It is what allows us to be who we are.
It is a foundational piece of the framework of the Universe.
Everything depends on it.

What does freedom feel like?
It feels like the wind to me.
It is what carries us to places unknown.
It gives us opportunities to expand into a larger version of who we really are.
It carries seeds of who we are becoming to fertile fields ripe for planting.

What does freedom sound like?
It sounds like national anthems proclaiming freedom.
It sounds like the songs of birds at sunrise as they welcome a new day.
It sounds like the 'YES' from a graduating senior student.
It sounds like the opening as one approaches a trusted friend.
It carries with it the song of openness and possibility.

What does freedom look like?
Freedom is an ever-widening ring of consciousness.
It looks like it knows that there is always more.
It looks like wide open spaces.
It can move and freely express itself.
It is constantly recreating itself.
It is never the same twice.

Freedom can be whatever you want it to be.
That's the beauty of freedom.

Cherish it always.

Could You Give Me a Little Boost...?

As we travel along life's highway, sometimes we may need a little boost.
Mentors, coaches, spiritual directors can do just that.
They can 'see', 'feel' and 'sense' what we might not be able to identify...or
they can help us sense it for ourselves.
One of the skills that they have is they 'hold space' for us.
Holding space entails just that...holding the potential of what can be in an expanded form.
It does not require them to know what specifically that might look like...
You might say they just hold the 'belief' or 'knowing' that there is something greater that has the possibility of happening.
This creates a powerful energy field that supports our own beliefs as to what is possible.
As we 'tap' into their 'beliefs', we shift our own 'belief' about all that is possible.

Sometimes, this help is like getting roadside assistance.
I remember the last time I had car trouble and called AAA.
I remember the wonderful feeling that there was someone I could call that could transform my rather unpleasant situation into one of peace.
It was amazing how quickly the AAA truck driver came...and the dispatcher called to make sure that my 'help' had arrived right away.
The gentleman was tremendous.
He knew exactly what to do.
His experience with others just like me exuded a type of confidence that was very reassuring to me.
I felt more confident just 'being' with him.
The outcome was great and it made me commit to myself that I could always know that assistance is very accessible to me.
It reminded me that there is so much help available to all of us at all times.

So the next time you are in need of a short 'tow', another opinion, more water in your radiator, just call on your guides and angels, coaches and directors and give them an opportunity to share their wisdom and give you the assistance you need.
The world is full of support for all those who will open to ask.

Your Hands Can Be Instruments of Love...

What a blessing to have hands...
Through our hands, we experience the world.
We experience other people.
We experience textures, depths, dimensions, temperatures...
We form things with our hands.
We reach out with our hands.
We create with our hands.
We speak and communicate with our hands.
We tell stories about life with our hands.
We hold things.
We support.
We put together.
We break down.
We clean.
We write.
We move.
We hold still.

Our hands are instruments.
They can be instruments of chaos and destruction and hurtfulness or...
They can be instruments of healing and repair and redesign.
Every moment we choose.
Which will they be?

What a gift they are to us.
Do we truly appreciate how amazing they are?
All the different ways they can move and feel make them agents for miracles to happen.
They allow us to enliven our existence and make every experience so much richer.

When I hold the image above in my heart and let it speak to me, it tells me about the importance of our hands communicating the love in our hearts.
Our hands can 'speak' love by a gentle touch, creating connection.
Our hands can 'speak' reconciliation by a gesture of support.
Our hands can 'speak' of unity with the Divine when we hold them up in prayer and gratitude.

Hold your hands before you...look deeply at the beauty they hold...see them as if for the first time and wonder about the miracle they are...send gratitude for the gift they are in your life...promise to take good care of them for as long as they are yours to have and hold...and honor them always in being instruments of peace in the world.