HO!HO!HO!
More Holiday Wisdoms and Universal Love
O my good friends, this post finds me content and surrendered. I hope that for you as well that you continue to find ways to let go and let your higher power, your unconditional Love, take care of the puzzle/details. . . while you LIVE life, Love, laughter, full and ever expanding.
~With this winter post, I want to share with you some of my lessons in reflecting on the recent cycles that have found completion in my larger life cycle. Wisely considered resolutions begin first with contemplative reflections, if the resolutions are to hold any water or staying power. Why make resolutions in the first place? except if you have a commitment to self evolution. By that intention, one may define resolutions as matrices or conceptual structures for one's efforts through which creation or manifestation is possible.
~So then, in reflection, cycles become visible to your objective mind. You perceive possible repetitive lessons reoccurring for your consideration and discernment regarding what is being taught by your life experiences. Once recognized, one may then comprehend a reason or reasons for the repeated circumstances or situations or obstacles perceived. Once comprehended, one may act to know: how may I test this concept? what actions might reveal options to the circumstance? what next? what avenues are open if I take a step back and look with this new perspective? And so on, these suggested questions attempt to describe one of many ways to direct one's personal investigations of one's path.
~Back to the original purpose of this post, reflections on my recent circles.... at this point in my life, large circles are completing! One could feel unnerved by this; am I that "old" or is this a grand personal apocalypse about to occur? Bring it on! if so, because these closing cycles reveal the potential attainment of wisdom...finally. Probably the most important wisdom I am gaining is that the truly valuable lessons in life are NOT overnight handouts. In my life, maybe in yours as well, there have been some seemingly life-long hardships... some are so simple a child could see them (but I did not because I was a child when these issues initiated); some have been completely self inflicted! and others have been seemingly unfortunate circumstances that I had to endure.. . . that I "endured" over time by finding something very strong within mySelf to hold me still and comforted, and therefore nurtured, while the outer circumstances played themselves out. The primary lesson turns out to be the attainment of solid and humble self confidence born of a sense of knowing that we are all in this to grow and evolve, that accountability is each one of us beginning with ourself as the patient to heal.
~These contemplations bring this post full circle, in fact, to Lifestyle Modification Support's ongoing matrix: to assist you in Balance and Harmony within your own life. What is your course of evolution? Are you at the helm yet? I encourage you to stop, pause, and really give yourself the gift of reflecting on the bigger picture of you and where you are going, and why, and how you might take part in the creation of this amazing gift we call "your life".
~For an example to perhaps get your imaginative juices stirred and flowing, I will share a simple lesson cycle. Separating the small cycles within the bigger cycles is challenging. I have come to experience a beautiful serendipity in my life due to the circles on circles turning into a sense of my life's BIG circle. Sharing what most come to me for, how about the example that people often share with me their desires, and frustrations with realizing their desires, as a jumping off point for this example? The desires or goals might be in many areas for the different people, such as personal health issues resolved, or changing wasteful habits into healthy habits, or teaching their children to make healthy choices independently. I, too, found myself consistently frustrated by my own illogical interferences with achieving my personal goals over my adult years. Yet all the time, I kept after said goals with something like a vengeance! In truth, that sense of vengeance, or my personal stubbornness, to "push" for my goals rather than allowing myself to discover where my strengths are best used and where my weaknesses are best supported had a tendency to slow down or even halt my efforts at times. Do you see where I am going with this? Every time I caught myself forcing change, I failed. On top of that discovery, I poured salt in to the wound by subjectively beating myself up over this...time and time again! At some point, due to the calm and patient, gentle and unconditional Love, of my personal spiritual teacher, I began to simply practice celebrating my ability to recognize my own mistakes. Simply put, I began forgiving myself. . . immediately, upon recognition of my failure. Eventually, this practice of self forgiving led me to perceive a grander more universal Love.... and in this curious unexpected perception, I actually began focusing on "fixing the problem, not the blame"...
~Ahhh, yes! the problem! And back my attention would go to reflecting on how it was a problem and what the solution might be versus how it got started and who to blame, myself; then the energy of frustration transformed into applying the cure (the solution). In time, and yes, remember time heals all, this practice became natural, inherent. Not only did this practice resolve individual issues of personal concern but this practice became a life way.
~This example reminds me of raising my children when they were very young. I set the goal to parent consciously and not fall into doing things as I imagined they had been "done to" me. So, I went about my days applying the various theories I read on parenting. My focus was: what works? as a mother of four, I had little time to give to working out why something did not work. If it did not work, I threw out that methodology and moved on to the next. One theory I tried was around the effect of the word, "no" and the purpose of negative, punitive, or remedial discipline. I remember watching the effect that shouting, "no!" had on a child's behavior versus the effect of calmly redirecting the child's behavior to something safer or healthier. Needless to say, I found that sometimes shouting no does have its purposes, but mostly, lovingly redirecting and using the moment as the ever elusive "teachable moment" held far more effective and long lasting potency.
~Now this description calls to point that there is really no solution that is isolated. Have you ever considered how an imbalanced habit or behavior or thought process has likely been applied repeatedly because that is the nature of mind? Once one has resolved one simple perceived problem, that particular problem turns out to be a gift! What? Why do I say that? Because it is highly likely that you just solved several, if not many, "problems" by successfully changing the way you approach problems in the first place. The effect or impact of this personal solution in my life: simply and lovingly changing the way I approached my subjective dialogue and opening up to the solutions rather then remaining cramped in the self flagellation; this solution has created a gentle Love, an open universal sense of connectedness versus the stressful experience of forcing myself to change, which never worked in a lasting way. What a wholly different way to walk within life! By living from a place of willing expansion into the world, I manifested something I desired greatly: inner peace.
~Now I do not see the world as sharp edged boxes thrown at me randomly and without prediction, I experience the world as amazing in its surprises and full of possibilities for continued evolvement. More importantly, I perceive that I am a co-creator ....that with my own willingness to try something new, I open the door to learning and thereby manifest more of me to share.
~May this posting find its intention of sharing, gifting more possibilities of evolving, giving what has proven valuable to me to you. As I continue to grow and evolve, and as circles open into expansive spirals, life becomes richer and fuller. Regardless of ongoing hardships, and please understand I still have plenty of hardships to deal with! I still genuinely discover that a purity of heart and desire leads me to even greater desire of purity...and this leads me to discover that truly openness to expand is what provides the experience of enlightenment. What is life, if not a grand exploration of what is possible?
~Blessings to you and yours. Please feel free to share with me your respectful reflections on my post as well as anything else for which you could use a kind ear to bear unconditional witness.
Eat Whole Fat, Real Fat, for Health
This post has taken far too long to be written! because my mind had the idea that one post could contain this topic. Then I recognized that this piece of the nutrition puzzle today continues from the previous posts about junk food addiction. And this topic regarding "good fat vs bad fat" is more than one post. So here we go - - -!
