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.

Season of Light

Christmas time is here once again!  This is my little tree that I put up a few weeks ago.  It has been such a
 long time since I have had a tree in the house.
I had forgotten the warmth and beauty that the Christmas tree
provides.  A reminder of the tree of life that supports us and moves us forward in life.

At this time we are reminded of the best in people.
A Spirit of Good Will. Unfortunately, the light shining in the darkness also reminds me of how Dark it really can be.
  What would the evening sky be like without all those tiny little sparkles reminding us that even in Darkness
 there is Light?   Our souls can sometimes be filled with such darkness but it is amazing when there sparkles a little star within us. Maybe it is a smile from a stranger or a hug from a long lost friend or simply opening a book and reading something truly inspiring.

   The other evening I was sitting by my little pot belly stove gazing at my Christmas tree and picked up an old book of poetry that I haven't touched in aeon's!
What a blessing to read old familiar words and maybe that is what is so comforting about having a Christmas Tree. It is old and familiar.
When there is so much change happening so quickly it is nice to be surrounded by the old and familiar.

I have sent off a few Christmas Cards and today it is cold and cloudy.  Feeling more and more like Christmas all the time.  As usual there is the hustle of shopping but this year I am not so much concerned with finding that perfect gift but finding my own perfect attitude to what and why I am giving this year. 
Birthing within myself that simplicity of a child-like attitude of Acceptance of what will be.
Not understanding or knowing what the future may bring but a Divine Grace that whatever it may be that
Love will be my Star that leads me to true Peace.

"And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.........Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."

Glory to You..

This morning as I was contemplating Thanksgiving in the quiet morning hours I was drawn to read some Poetry and thought it would be nice to find something inspiring to share with you about Thanksgiving.  This Prayer inspired me and I hope that it will bless you too!

Glory to You!

O Lord, how lovely it is to be your guest.
 Breeze full of scents, mountains reaching to the skies,
 Waters like a boundless mirror,
Reflecting the sun's golden rays and the scudding clouds
All nature murmurs mysteriously, breathing depths of tenderness.
Birds and beasts of the forest bear the imprint of your love.
Blessed are you, mother earth, in your floating loveliness,
 Which wakens our yearning for happiness
that will last forever in the land where,
amid beauty that grows not old, Rings out the cry:
Alleluia!

What sort of praises can I give you?
I have never heard the song of the cherubim,
A joy reserved for the spirits above
but I know the praises that nature sings to you.
In winter, I have beheld how silently in the moonlight the whole earth offers you prayer, clad in its white mantle of snow, sparkling like diamonds.
I have seen how the rising sun rejoices in you,
how the song of the birds is a chorus of praise to you.
I have heard the mysterious mutterings of the forests about you,
and the winds winging your praise as they stir the waters.
I have understood how the choirs of stars proclaim your glory as they move forever in the depths of infinite space.
You have brought me into life as if into an enchanted paradise.
We have seen the sky like a chalice of deepest blue,
Where in the heights the birds are singing.
We have listened to the soothing murmur of the forest
And the melodious music of the streams.
We have tasted fruit of fine flavor and sweet-scented honey.
We can live very well on your earth.
It is a pleasure to be your guest.

Glory to you for the feast-day of life.

Glory to you for the perfume of lilies and roses.

Glory to you for each different taste of berry and fruit.

Glory to you for the sparkling silver of early morning dew.

Glory to you for the joy of dawn's awakening.

Glory to you for the new life each day brings.

Glory to you O God, from age to age.

Gregory Petrov

Turning over a new leaf....

With this Fall weather has come a desire within me to "turn over a new leaf". 
Yesterday, I took another large load to the Good Will.  Cleaning out closets, going through old papers and continuing to release the past.  It is strange how there is this tear within me.  Wanting to hold on yet knowing just like the trees surrounding me..it is a time to let go.  Let go of those leaves.  Sweeping out the past in preparation to hibernate for the winter.  Winter being a time of going within.  Time to dream.  Reflecting and lying dormant.  Quiet.  Listening.. Making time to listen within to that still small voice that is calling to us for more in life.  More love, more laughter.  More recognition of the preciousness of each day. 
As the trees, let go of their leaves, the view changes for me.  There is more sky to see.  Clarity seems to flow more easily through the breeze.  I have to admit though that I am not much of a fan of the holidays but that too I am turning over a new leave.  This year, after many , many years I am going to put up a Christmas tree.  All new lights and ornaments.  A new beginning and opening myself up to more beauty. 
Now, that I have cleared more things out of my little home, I have more space for new love, new friends, new opportunities.  "They" say that change one thing in your life and everything in your life will change.  I hope so!
I know that circumstances are fickle..but family, friends, Love and God are not!!
Yep, I am turning over a new leaf.  

Fear & Anxiety

Halloween is almost here.  Everywhere you turn on TV there is a spooky movie on..even at the movie theatres!
There seems to be a need to face our deepest fears and the darkness in our lives.  If we see it on the screen maybe we don't have to live it in our lives!
I have been at the point in my life that I only want Drama on the Big Screen ..I don't want to live with it day in and day out but we do live in a world with high anxiety.  Even right here in Roswell.

 There is an anxiousness sometimes that seems to invade the whole world.
It is  difficult to shut out  and take a deep breath and know that this too will pass.

As day follows night so too our world shifts and changes.
There is always something in life to be anxious about.
I wonder if worrying and anxiety become a habit of responding to the world?
We hear so much information  and it is almost as if the world feeds off of our fear.
Fear controls.
So, how do we stand up ..turn around and fight this terrible thing?
Faith maybe?
Faith that there is a bigger plan to it all?
Faith that God will give us the strength to handle what ever setback may come.
Faith is believing without seeing.
Faith is waiting...
Faith is a gift!
Hold on to your Faith..whatever it may be..
Be strong and know that better times are ahead!!

Looking out the window..

Looking out the window this morning on this Monday morning I am reminded of all the beauty in the world.

 We now begin to transition into what I think of as Snuggle Season.  Colder nights call us to snuggle in warmth in our homes.  Safe from the troubles of the world.  Sipping on something warm and glancing back at the year and how it unfolded before us.
  It is a time to be Thankful for the fruition of the things that we planted in our life and to notice the abundance and beauty that is before us today!
Taking a moment of Gratitude helps us realign ourselves in the Scheme of life.

In Roswell, after the Parade & SENM Fair it seems as life in town settles down a bit.  It is quieter.  Kids are settled into school and there is a rhythm that is soothing to my soul.  We all need this time..this quiet time to re-evaluate ourselves and life.
  Pumpkins have been hauled in by the truckload.  Time to search in the big skies for the Big Pumpkin!  Oops..or is that a UFO???  All things to ponder..Today, though, wherever you are..I hope you find a little beauty within yourself and your world...

Turn, Turn, Turn

There is a season...as the song goes, so goes life!
I can't believe where this month has gone.  I have completed a few home projects and this weekend I finished a 1000 piece puzzle that was given to me for my birthday this year.  Not that it took me 5 months to finish it but it seems like it.  It is a nature scene of two hummingbirds swarming a trumpet vine.  Very pretty and now completed.
I have had a few friends comment that I should glue it & frame it. When I say "No, I don't want to do that"..then the next is "Well, what are you going to do with it"  I tell them.."Tear it apart and put it back in the box and pass it on"  They have looked at me in horror with all the time I have spent working on it.  I laugh.

Many years ago, I went to a Mandala workshop where I was honored to meet my teacher Judith Cornell.     It was a week long class and on one particular day we went to class at 8am.  We were instructed to take a vow of silence for the day.  Set an intention of something that we were ready to release and then ask the Divine for a symbol to draw as a Mandala and work on it all day till about 4 in the afternoon.  We were to pour our heart and soul into the drawing and then we would do a releasing ceremony at the end of the day.

Now, I can't remember what my intention was but I do remember pouring all of my energy into the drawing and also how hard it was for me to keep my big mouth shut..hahaa.
Well, the ceremony was held outside where we were instructed to say a prayer of release and burn the drawing we had worked so hard on all day.  Wow.  What a lesson on attachment.
I had only worked one day on that drawing and the first thought of panic was incredible.  Makes me think how much longer I spend on whatever difficulty I want to release!
I have to confess that I wasn't one of the first that volunteered to burn my drawing.  Some even refused!  They did not want to let go.  But isn't that how it is in life.  With whatever we have invested so much time and effort to ...it is hard to accept that it is time to Let It Go...
So, I will wait a few days, maybe even a week and then I will pull the puzzle apart and Let It Go...

Non-attachment does not mean a lack of love ..it just makes one aware of the impermanence of everything in life.  The more you hold on, the harder it is to move forward and accept the next puzzle of life!

***Blessed be My Teacher and Friend, Judith Cornell who passed to the next life this past May.
Thank you for sharing your wisdom and and profound vision with us all.  I am forever grateful for your presence in my life!***