There’s no right or wrong, but there IS your perspective.
Reality is reality.
How are you reacting?
How strong is your reaction?
Inquire.
Sit.
Be.
Know that you are OK.
Know that IT is OK.
Peace.
Love.
And all is well.
Namaste.
Category: Uncategorized
Goat Lake
One of the best things about spending more time in Washington is that these beautiful mountains and trails are literally in our backyard. For example a quick 1 hour drive and I’m deep in Mt Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.
This past Sunday was spent hiking up to Goat Lake. Let me tell you… it was GORGEOUS.
As I made my way through the trail I decided to head up to Goat Lake via the lower trail and come back down to the trail head via the upper trail. The pounding pulsation of the river and numerous waterfalls making it’s way down the mountain was incredible.
The hike was approximately 11 miles round trip, and it was 11 miles of fresh air that I desperately needed.
The night before I got into a sneezing frenzy due to allergies which always zaps the energy out of me; to the point where my throat is sore and my energy is just depleted from me. When I woke up the day of the hike my nose was so stuffed I couldn’t breathe!
Miraculously when we got to the mountains it was as if the body knew how good the air was and decided to clear the nasal passages for all the fresh air. As soon as this happened I started to breathe DEEP. Deep into the belly with each and every inhale and I could slowly feel my energy coming back.
I don’t know if it was the allergy attack the night before but not only was my energy low, my mood just wasn’t as upbeat either. Honestly, it could have been a whole RANGE of things:
- Was it hormonal? Time of the month?
- Has weeks of stressful work hours impacted the adrenals and thus neurotransmitters?
- Was it the tossing and turning from being unable to breathe last night?
- Maybe it’s the days of overcast skies that finally got to me.
- Did I not eat enough breakfast and this is just a dip in energy?
- Am I putting too much pressure on myself at work?
- Is it because the weekend is almost over and I didn’t get a chance to eat at my favorite Indian restaurant this week? 😉
I’ve written about this before but it’s so easy to want to place meaning behind everything. Our minds find it inherently necessary to analyze the who, what, why, when, and how, but sometimes that takes us down several chases down several rabbit holes!
Instead I took some time to mindfully investigate each and every thought that came up and most importantly to allow and to BE WITH the emotion behind every passing thought. Fear, sadness, anxiousness, stress… were a few of the emotions that arose with each thought.
I took time to ask, is this really true? And if it is, what would that mean? Who is the one having this thought? What am I reacting to (or what do I think I am reacting to)?
Then silence. Step by step, breath by breath.
And when you’re surrounded by beauty like this how can you not begin to feel shifts as you fall into the wonder, awe, and gratitude of mother nature?
Sometimes it takes a good long bit of time to realize reality from reaction, or a place like this to put you in the present moment. The true present, moment by moment, breath by breath.
How about you? When do you find yourself having ah-ha moments? What helps you bring your awareness to your thoughts?
Cheers to a beautiful start to your week.
Namaste.
Mirror Image
Saturday morning reflections… may we recognize the power we have, beginning with the mind.
In wellness,
S.
Friday Focus – 6/2/17 {It’s JUNE!}
JUNE. JUUUUUUUUUUNE.
Can you believe it? I can’t…. we are half way through 2017!
In the previous seasons I would be revisiting goals and/or intentions I had set at the beginning of the year, but I find myself in a space where the focus is truly on NOW. The present.
Some of the questions I find myself asking this season include:
~ Am I enjoying the day? Right now?
~ Am I being with what is?
~ Can I open up fully in grace, love, and light?
~ Can I connect openly and deeply with myself and others?
~ What seeds am I planting in the areas of love, relationships, community, and deep connection?
~ Can I open to the breath, and the next breath, and the next, and the next?
This season I am loving this gentle opening and space for the present. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with re-visiting goals either! I am just noticing what is needed for me in this moment. How about you? Are you in a season for more opening? acceptance? love? ambition? speed? dreaming? harvesting?
No matter the season may this be a moment to reflect on what is needed most in this moment for your heart, body, mind, and soul.
Namaste.
Take The Time: Watch It Come And Go
I’ve been really meditating on yesterday’s post, Watch It Come And Go. I find that it’s a lot easier when you’re in ‘total’ alignment or when everything is humming along smoothly in life. But how about when it is really put to the test!?
- When your routine is thrown off
- When there’s a crisis at work
- Or how about when your flight is delayed 6 hours?!
You see, over the holiday weekend I took a long road trip from San Francisco to Seattle and so the body is a bit more tired and same goes with the mind as well. I had all the feels, from relief that I finally have everything in one place to urgency around organization and completion (of letting the physical things go).
As the feels came and went I took a moment to watch it come and go. I took a moment to watch the reaction, be with the emotions, be curious about what was going on… and then I watched one emotion come and go, and another emotion do the same.
I practiced this pretty much all day yesterday and it took me a day to write this as I was doing more the practicing and observing than the writing 😉
So what about you? What tends to throw you off and what have you noticed coming up for yourself?
In wellness.
Namaste.
Watch It Come And Go
No matter the situation, no matter the emotion, no matter the thought – just remember watch it come and go.
Accept the resistance.
Accept the discomfort.
Accept the need to escape.
Accept the subtle need to want things to change.
Watch it come and go.
Love where you are.
Love yourself.
Love every emotion and thought that comes by.
Love the tiny awakening inside you.
Love the fact that you are OK right here, right now.
Watch it come and go.
This is the practice…
Friday Focus – 5/27/17 {Regrets Of The Dying}
I’ve been noticing a lot of subtle and not so subtle shifts/emotions/energies circling around me and others lately, and it’s been a mixed bag. New creative ideas, looking at what patterns need to be broken, noticing the most recent recurring thoughts (good or bad)… and throughout all this what grounds these shifts for me is being aware of WHAT’S MOST IMPORTANT.
While I’ve seen this list by Bronnie Ware before, it’s always a welcome reminder and I thought I’d share it here:
1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
2. I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.
3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.
Just remember, no matter what you’re feeling, thinking or doing, let this be a gentle reminder to yourself to be a little more softer, loving, accepting, and forgiving.
May this provide you a little more space to breathe today.
Namaste and happy LONG weekend!
Lightness
I can’t get enough of this word.
Lightness. Lightness. Lightness. Lightness. Lightness. Lightness. Lightness.
There is something about the meaning behind this word that provides such strength, peace, and clarity.
Is there a word that does the same for you?
For me, this word is a simple reminder to not give a d*&# (excuse the language) or so much of it away to things that simply do not matter! It reminds me to put a smile on my face. It reminds me that ALL is ok and WILL ALWAYS be ok. It reminds me that life is meant to be lived with the highest sense of connection and freedom. It reminds me of what is most important in this moment.
So here it is again:
Lightness. Lightness. Lightness. Lightness. Lightness. Lightness. Lightness.
Lightness. Lightness. Lightness. Lightness. Lightness. Lightness. Lightness.
Lightness. Lightness. Lightness. Lightness. Lightness. Lightness. Lightness.
Lightness. Lightness. Lightness. Lightness. Lightness. Lightness. Lightness.
Lightness. Lightness. Lightness. Lightness. Lightness. Lightness. Lightness.
Lightness. Lightness. Lightness. Lightness. Lightness. Lightness. Lightness.
Lightness. Lightness. Lightness. Lightness. Lightness. Lightness. Lightness.
Lightness. Lightness. Lightness. Lightness. Lightness. Lightness. Lightness.
Lightness. Lightness. Lightness. Lightness. Lightness. Lightness. Lightness.
May lightness find you wherever you go on this beautiful new day.
Namaste.
Walking Into Fear With All The Feels
I got into San Francisco yesterday evening. It’s funny, as I was waiting for my Uber at SFO I smelled SF. Yes, I didn’t realize until this moment that SF/Bay Area had a distinct smell. Doesn’t sound too weird to me though because that’s how I feel every time I land at ICN too 🙂
Upon getting to the hotel and settling in, while it was late I wasn’t ready to go to sleep just yet. As I was sitting in bed pondering whether I should read or try to sleep suddenly I got hit with this incredibly hard feeling that I needed to cry. Out of nowhere this feeling left me feeling bewildered. Where is this coming from?
A quick mental calculation later I realized it would be the time of the month soon, but still… was there anything else going on?
I waited. I listened. I sat. I laid. Nothing happened. I’ve always been a hard crier, meaning the tears just wouldn’t flow without a good reason, so I let it be and turned down for bed.
The evening was long. And I mean loooooooong. The heater in the room made a loud clanky noise every time it turned on/off, plus, it wasn’t my bed. At around 4am I finally fell into a deep sleep and suddenly found myself lucid dreaming. Towards the end of this dream like state I realized the tears that were flowing from my face were actually streaming down my face IRL! I decided to wake up the moment my hands came up to wipe my tears away.
Was I surprised? Not really. A little? Yes.
I wasn’t surprised that the tears had finally come out, but what I was surprised about was the fact that it came out from a dream and that I felt deep emotions in this dream. I am by no means a dream interpreter but I had heard once that you can find meaning behind your dreams by getting a feel for what emotions came up.
So what did I feel in this dream? Oppression, hurt, sadness, nonacceptance, anger.
Without going into the why, because there could be a million reasons why (i.e., somatics, energy, the phase of the moon, a woman’s cycle, etc.), what I do know is that I began to sit with the emotions.
In my waking state I took time to be in silence, to just breathe, and to be in awareness.
My key takeaway is this:
- It happened
- Listen to what you feel
- Feel it
- Will I personalize it?
- Or will I walk into the feeling, be with it, and practice self love?
You see there’s a million ways of going about it but it all comes down to bringing light to dark. What will you do and where will you take it? Can you let it go after you’ve had enough time to process?
So here’s to all the feels and the moments following the feels to be with them in self love, acceptance, and surrender.
Much love.
What Are You Creating?
As humans we are constantly creating. Whether it’s our job, our relationships, our feelings, our next “fill in the blank”, our social media, our goals, you see… there is always something in motion.
The most critical part of creation is this ➡
Are you creating from a place of lack or a place of abundance? Fear or Love? Resistance or Flow? What is the main foundational emotion running YOUR engine?
When you really think about it, what emotion would you rather have running through you while you are off creating in this world?
Namaste.