Meditation Practice

Meditation is something that does take practice.  Taking time each day to silence the mind.  To shut out all of the external and internal noice.  The internal noice is the loudest when all external noise is quieted.  That internal dialogue ..how do we quiet the noise??

Truthfully, you don't.  The more you resist the more it persists.  Don't resist those thoughts as they will take you into your quiet.  Notice the pause between thoughts.  The silence before the next thought is born within you. Ahhh..peace for a moment, then chatter,chatter,chatter.

If there is a way to silence the chatter, I have not found it in the many years of my practice.
 I have learned to put a harness on my thoughts so I can slow them down.
With the outward breathe I release those thoughts .  With the inward breathe, I breathe in peace.

Sometimes, I confess that I feel anxious focusing too much on the breathe and at those times I open my eyes and focus on something within my view that has some essence of beauty for me and focus my attention there.
 Slowing down my thoughts. I know at this moment in time there is nothing else.  A deep breathe and soon peace follows.
My mind , my actions are not needed right now.
The simple present moment is all there is..sometimes I just step outside for a few moments .a deep breathe and I guess others have called it ..gathering my thoughts together.  Thoughts are very much like seeds that we scatter so be careful where your mind may lead you. For just as the tongue is hard to control so are our thoughts.  What goes into our minds does shape who we are.
My challenge to you this week is be mindful of what you read, listen to, focus your attention on.  What could you choose differently?

Falling Debris!!

The sky is falling, the sky is falling!  I was reading a bit more about the satellite that is falling from the sky this week on Spaceweather.com.  Very interesting times we live in!
Who knew as a child when Chicken Little  was just to remind us not to be listening to doom and gloom!
Now, the real news is  warning us that Yes, at the end of the week watch out!!  The sky WILL be falling.

Isn't that how life is though?  Those unexpected events with little warning flying out of the sky at us!
Of course, when those out of the blue events are blessings they are a welcomed relief!
Yet, when it is falling debris who can help but wonder about random events.

My wish is that more random wonderful events cross your skies today!
Yes, on occasion we will have that falling debris that messes things up but better yet to look to the skies for that falling love, kindness and friendship that just happens out of the blue!
As ole Willie sings in the back ground .."Blue skies, smilin' at me, nothing but blue skies do I see"

Drought

We have been living in a drought for a very long time here in Roswell.  I feel as if my soul has been living in a drought also~
Last April was the last time that I have blogged and I am so sorry for the delay.

When one is living in a drought it is hard to have anything grow in your life.  To have no rain..no moisture to calm and soothe the soil/soul.  The ground gets hard and tough.  New growth struggles in the heat.  I feel as if the heat is never ending.  Hot and dry on the outside...Hot and dry on the inside.  Waiting..waiting for the rain..waiting for relief from the grief ..waiting for that cooler day where the light is not so intense.
Just this afternoon..there is thunder..a reminder that rain is possible that I will not just dry up and blow away.  There is relief.  Yes, relief after a fire filled summer.  Cool rain on my window pane/pain.

Weariness subsides as the cool mist comes closer and closer..Sweet Rain cleanse my soul...cleanse my pain..tomorrow will come again and again but will the rain?

The Labyrinth

"To walk a sacred path is to discover our inner sacred space:  that core of feeling that is waiting to have life breathed back into it through symbols, archetypal forms like the labyrinth, rituals, stories and myths.  Understanding the invisible world, the world of patterns and process, opens us up to the movement of Spirit."
Dr. Lauren Artress, Walking the Sacred Path

When we are born, we begin Walking the Sacred Path.
We are born and at certain moments in Life we are Born Again.
There are Mystical Experiences that throw us into the birth canal of life and we are reborn.  Leaving that life that we knew into a whole new way of viewing ourselves and the world around us.  We can fight it, resist seeing what is before us.
Eventually,we are to continue on our Sacred Path. 

I was blessed with time to go to Santa Fe recently. I was surprised to find a Labyrinth laid in stone in front of St. Frances Cathedral.  It is exactly laid out like the one in the picture above which is a copy of the Labyrinth at  Chartres Cathedral  in France.

Beginning my walk, I set an intention through prayer and began my journey.
It is always easy to begin but then there are twists and turns and it seems I might have lost my way.
Surely, I should be at the center by now.  Yet, I keep the faith and  follow the path before me.
Suspending my judgements and recognizing that the same thing happens in my own life when I am not getting the results as quickly as I had hoped.
When I see that in my ordinary life, I think, "Shouldn't I be further along??"
As I  keep walking the Center appears. 
It is representative of reaching the Divine.  The Deepest level of knowing  appears!
Centering the self and connecting with that which is Greater.
Divine Love!
The Rose..The flower of blossoming Divine Love, Wisdom and Grace.
The Path leads to our own Spiritual Opening.
A humbling experience for me.
Reminding me that there is a greater plan to my own personal journey.  It is a vital path that I and all other pilgrims are compelled to travel.
Time in the Center to reach a new balance within.
Then it is time to take that experience and begin that journey outward.
To return to my "normal" life.  I turn and begin the outward journey.  Somehow I am more anxious as I walk out.  I seem to feel an urgency to finish this walk.
Have I messed up?
Will I never get out of here?
Did I take a wrong turn?
All things that we face after we have encountered a Mystical Experience with the Divine.
That was nice and all but I have to get back now to my "real" life.
Then, I am reminded that it is all a Divine Experience.
I should not rush getting back to my "real" life because the journey IS my "real" life.
A Pilgrimage.
This particular walk, I walked alone. 

Minus Twelve Degrees!!!

Wow, what a cold spell here in Alienville!
  I am just now able to see  how much damage was done to the plant life from the Minus Twelve Degrees we experienced last week.
Looks as if my Honeysuckle around the property has died and I am wondering about my roses?
  The rosemary bushes don't look too good either.
There will be a lot of pruning this spring and then we will know.
Around town I have seen beautiful cactus just wilted to the ground and also those big century plants hit pretty hard.
So much for global warming.
There is still a coldness in the air today but like the land of enchantment that it is...by Sunday we should be back up to seventy...hard to believe..but after the coldest of days ..warmth does come.

Peace

We all share one thing in common.
Search for Peace.
Those quiet moments in the evening surrounded by friends and there is a quiet knowing that all is well.
"It is well with my soul."
When suddenly circumstances in life throw a curve ball and those which we thought would always be there are suddenly gone. 
Unfortunately too..we all experence another common thing..Sorrow...Sorrow because the time of being near is gone now.
Yet, there is a quiet knowing too, that all is still well.

"When peace, like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever my lot,
Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well,
It is well with my soul"

Peace to all of my friends today.

Dale, Peace to you, my friend.

Beauty...

The Winter Wonder Land of the West is not found in crystal snow but in  warm, sunny days with a few clouds crossing a blue, blue sky!
  The trees now just skeletons against that blue sky.
Skeletons dancing in the wind free now of all that has held onto them.
  Free of all encumbrances.
Able now to send the energy down.
Down into Mother Earth so that they can grow taller and stronger in the Spring.
We also need this time to shed all that has encumbered us in the last season and strip down to what is essential to our own growth.
To send our spiritual roots deep down into Mother Earth to comfort us and strengthen us for the newness that will come with the New Year.
I would like to share a Navajo Prayer with you to remind you to see the beauty of life and particularly your own beauty that you share with the world.
Thank you family & friends for sharing your beauty with me!

Walking in Beauty
In beauty I walk
With beauty before me I walk
With beauty behind me I walk
With beauty above me I walk
With beauty around me I walk
It has become beauty again
Today I will walk out, today everything negative will leave me
I will be as I was before, I will have a cool breeze over my body.
I will have a light body, I will be happy forever, nothing will hinder me.
I walk with beauty before me. I walk with beauty behind me.
I walk with beauty below me. I walk with beauty above me.
I walk with beauty around me. My words will be beautiful.
In beauty all day long may I walk.
Through the returning seasons, may I walk.
On the trail marked with pollen may I walk.
With dew about my feet, may I walk.
With beauty before me may I walk.
With beauty behind me may I walk.
With beauty below me may I walk.
With beauty above me may I walk.
With beauty all around me may I walk.
In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, lively, may I walk.
In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, living again, may I walk.
My words will be beautiful.