the 'simple' life......

I'm sure I've blogged about this before but it seems to be something that is calling to be written about again. At least in my world right now it seems that way. I'm not writing out of a great need to put this into type on the computer as we sometimes need to do when we journal per se, but instead it seems to be resonating with me in a great manner lately. For myself the 'simple life' is something that I have been moving and working towards for a long, long time for many reasons. My life in the past was filled with being a single parent with lots of demands on myself and often by my own doing. This created a life which was fraught with overachieving efforts, a far too busy life day to day and large levels of stress. Did I say large?? Well, that would be more like HUGE. Sad to say (or rather 'thank goodness') my physical life began to deteriorate and I was bordering on chronic illness according to my naturopath. Funny how it occurs to me now that if I was seeing a naturopath that I did at least hold some regard for my health and welfare, but obviously not quite enough. My biggest problem was in fact my own ego and the thought process that I in fact would be someone who could live this hectic lifestyle and not be affected by it. I was sorely wrong about this. I remember sitting in her office and hearing her say those words that rang in my ears and knowing right then and there that I needed to make changes in my life. I had told myself this all before but this time was the clincher....there were going to be no more chances. It was time.

So the 'simple life' came into effect and I can say that it is something that I work on each and every day. My biggest issue was that I was in fact addicted to my former lifestyle. Yes, addicted. It's not just a matter one day of waking up and deciding to change the entire way you live your life. You have habits and patterns that reside deep inside of your being. It is almost like having to extract or remove these characteristics from who you are. An extraction might have been easier in fact. Quick and effortless and then life would be good right? No it's never that easy. I needed to change and of course we all know that change is something that we often resist or can find hard to accept. The 'old' me thrived on my previous lifestyle and somehow received silent accolades from the part of me that resonated with these now all knowing poor lifestyle choices. Yes, it's that inner rush you get from doing the impossible and yet there you stand having done it. Never looking at the damage you are doing, but just reveling in the moment. How filled with ego is it when you think that you and only you will be able to live this kind of life and get away with it not affecting you? Now, there may be others who can live this kind of life and it doesn't affect them in an ill manner, but I will predict that they have something in their life that helps to balance all of it. I didn't. Mine was all one-sided and ready to tip over.

So 'simple' for me remains to be a challenge each and every day. It may sound silly but I need to remember things such as making the effort to speak, walk and even look more slowly. I try to 'think' less quickly in terms of really understanding that which I am trying to process. Being in the present moment is one that I really enjoy in terms of where I am and what is happening right then and there. I make sure that I don't overextend myself and like to block time out for just me. I can tell when 'simple' is getting away from me because I will begin to feel irritated and my agitation meter will begin to rise. But that's my signal to slow down so I take stock and sort of rewind. All emotion ends up residing in our body and mine is no different. And of course the emotions that I am concerned about are the negative ones. I have studied the effects of stress for years and am finally applying it to myself. I know that every thought I have and each emotion I feel will express itself in my physical body. So I am the driver of all actions and reactions and am responsible for how this unfolds.

I need to sip a cup of tea and truly enjoy it. I need to look with my eyes and really 'see' all that is around me. I need to speak words and really hear what it is I am saying. I need to be with my family and really be in their presence. I need to go to my job and be able to keep a balance for myself when I am in an environment that is filled with high energies. I must make the right choices if I want to live with good health mentally, physically and spiritually. There is no more time to wait on this one. Each day is a challenge but each day I get better at creating a life that has softer edges and allows me to live 'simply'. For this I am grateful.

I hope your life can be a 'simple' one and that you can look back at the end of each day and be proud of how you chose to 'be' in it.

Namaste...........

the year's end...........

A year has gone by and we soon will be welcoming 2012 into our lives. Well, for some it may be a welcoming feeling and maybe not for others. It's different for everyone and how they look at the prospects and the offering of a new year. It's somewhat likened to a 'new slate' for many and that's OK. That may in fact be a good thing for some, allowing themselves to 'begin again'. It may be exactly what they need. A new slate is good in terms of allowing ourselves to look at how we want to make different choices that will help to build the architecture of the life that we are in fact creating.

I'm not so much about New Years resolutions, but in fact like to resolve to make a resolution each and every day to live the best life possible. That might sound too over the top' for some, but for me its easier than making a big set of resolutions once a year and then feeling let down if or when I don't follow through with some of them. It tends to feel too 'big' for me at the beginning of each year so I choose instead to make it a daily ritual. It feels like a smaller 'bite' to take on and you always have the next day to try again or live differently.

For me the year has been one filled with many personal accomplishments. I have done a lot of inner work and been able to see inside of myself better than I have ever been able to in the past. I think the difference for me was that I was willing to 'look' inside and really 'see' myself without any judgements. This was key for me. When I finally really set out to 'learn' about Maggie that was when it all started to come together. I was able to shed certain thought processes and also retrain my brain to think and choose differently. I was able to look at my 'mistaken beliefs' and understand how they came to be and how they adversely affected my life. None of this work was easy. Some of it was relentlessly painful to look at and work through, but the rewards of letting them go was the goal that I saw in front of me and I was determined to get there. Part of that goal was to feel free from all that weighed me down and was essentially holding me back. Anyone who knows me might think that I look pretty all together and for the most part that is true, but we all have things inside that could use some work and the inner freedom that you get from doing this is the greatest reward ever. It doesn't mean that I don't have days that are challenging or days that I think maybe I should just go back to bed and start all over again, but on those days I now know better how I need to navigate through them best for myself.

For as many years as I can remember I have been saying to myself and those who have worked with me on gaining personal insight, that what I wanted most in life was 'peace and contentment'. And that sounds so simple doesn't it?? I think it is simple, but we so greatly complicate our lives in so many, many ways that the peace and contentment that we strive and look for is but a mirage in the distance. Something that we keep running towards but we never get there because of the roadblocks we construct. I wasn't putting things into place to allow that for myself and one of my mistaken beliefs supported that. I didn't really believe that I deserved a peaceful existence so I kept thwarting my efforts to achieve it. And I must remember that this was in my subconscious mind and tied to so much from my past. So much of this I didn't even realize and when I learned more and more about myself all the pieces of the puzzle started to come together. My life's self portrait no longer looks like a distorted Picasso painting but rather a beautiful landscape that I know has come about because of the careful tending and nurturing that I have afforded it.

So I can truly say that I look forward to this next year that lies ahead of me with great anticipation. For me it will be a year filled with 'days' where I can make choices that will continue to tend to the garden of my 'self' and provide the nurturing that I need. It's the only life I want to choose because I know that for me it's the best one.

May you transition into 2012 and be able to reflect on how you have grown in the last year. May the New Year hold for you all that you desire and bring blessings to your life. That is my wish for you.

Namaste to all................

for all to suffer less............

I read this morning that the Dalai Lama has a new book being released today. I always admire what he writes so it will undoubtedly be on my reading list. In a review that I read there was a phrase that jumped out at me and gave me cause to sit back and reflect on it. It read 'to bring peace to a suffering world'. Yes, this is a simple enough phrase but all that it says is so huge in the world that we live in and it occurred to me that it resonates on so many levels. Suffering is all around us and we seem to simply accept it. I believe that can be changed.

We are not at peace as individuals, communities, countries, societies, cultures and as a planet. We can see that all around us if we look closely. We are all suffering at some level and this has increased over the years to a height now that is almost too tall to reach to begin to make a change? I think it is on the brink of being just out of our reach, but that this has it's own purpose also. We often may not notice the depth of a problem until it reaches these huge proportions and only then are we are faced with the reality of what needs to happen. The whispers have run out and the volume has been turned up quite a bit.

We have a 'sadness' that reaches deep into our core and when that sadness faces outward it comes out in ways that spell our behavior. Mother Earth also has a sadness in her and only recently have we begun to realize that this has been by our own hand that she cries. The really devastating part of all of this is that we think we are fine and we think that all is fine around us. It's just easier to live this way because then no one has to take responsibility for any of it. We can all be in denial. This has become our normal way to live and experience life. I believe it can be different though.

 I have believed for a long time that a person can choose to live a life without suffering and that it will make a difference not only in their life, but in the lives of many. This is not necessarily easy though because it will give cause first of all for us to make changes that we need to make and we know how unsettling that can be. But when we can understand and look inside of our own suffering, then solutions are available to us and we can implement them to build a life that is less stressful. As we choose this for ourselves we begin to live a life that is blessed with greatness on many levels. If we set out to try to 'change the world' we will find the task ahead of us overwhelming and probably sign off on that challenge pretty quick. But instead if we simply look at our own life and make changes that will work for us, it will transcend to others as needed. It will be effortless for us in terms of not intentionally setting out to change the world, but the effects of our changed life will be witnessed by others and they will observe and then possibly absorb this for themselves. It will have a 'silent' impact on many and for others it may resonate largely. We just need to live our best life possible. I understand that not every day will be free from suffering, but how we deal with our daily challenges will be observed by others and the 'silent' teaching then has the possibility to cross into their life also.

One person's life can impact many lives. Let's choose to live our best life and in turn ease our own suffering and possibly the suffering of others also. These efforts will bring about changes in the world. I believe that.............

Namaste