Tag Archives: wellness

Joy! (and more)

Christmas close approaches, and with it a myriad of memories, feelings, and images. 2020 has magnified the importance of the people in our lives, and also our connection to our greater humanity. I started thinking yesterday of words that are most evocative of Christmas for me. The word that tops my list is: JOY

There is definitely a heightened feeling of love and goodwill around me at this time of year. This feeling gives me great joy as people take a little rest from the regular routines, worries, and burdens of every day life. I love to see joy expressed on the faces of people around me.

I think of joy is a life keyword, an evaluator of the world around me. I’m feeling that if our world was better balanced and society fairer, we’d be seeing a lot more joy on an every day basis. This is something for all of us to contemplate for the new year 2021 just ahead. How will we claim and live our joy? And not just our joy, but all of the positive aspects of life that we deserve. These are, after all, our lives. They are precious and they come around only once.

I realize that many people reading this do not celebrate Christmas. But in your own culture, you have celebrations that are sacred, important, beautiful. My partner and I lived in Thailand for some years, and I loved getting to know and taking part in the important traditions there. Loy Krathong (Festival of Light) was my favorite.

So, take a moment to think of your own culture’s sacred traditions and celebrations. What one word is evocative of how you feel as you share those celebrations with family and friends? If you would like to share in the comments, I would love to hear from you.

I send you best wishes for all the joy and blessing your hearts can hold (and more) in 2021.

Be the Light

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The battle between the dark and the light: It’s classic. Some of the greatest stories and movies are based on it. There has always been darkness and light in our world, and in fact both sides exist within ourselves. If it didn’t, our souls would have moved on to “bigger and better” things.

Is it my imagination though, that things are feeling just a tad weighted to the dark side at the moment? When I feel discouraged about it, I take solace in this: In every cycle of this classic battle throughout the ages, when a crisis of the dark occurs, humanity digs down deep to find the best parts of itself. Dark collapses and light emerges.

So, let’s keep on keeping on. Every candle makes a difference. That would be you and I, and every other person on the side of the light.

Be the light.

Inspirational Quotes:

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

“A painter should begin every canvas with a wash of black, because all things in nature are dark except where exposed by the light.” ~ Leonardo da Vinci

“All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.” ~ St. Francis Of Assisi

“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” ~ Plato

“Learn to light a candle in the darkest moments of someone’s life. Be the light that helps others see; it is what gives life its deepest significance.” ~ Roy T. Bennett

“There’s always going to be bad stuff out there. But here’s the amazing thing — light trumps darkness, every time. You stick a candle into the dark, but you can’t stick the dark into the light.” ~ Jodi Picoult

Your Smile, Your Gift

Unquestioning

Free Your Love

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Infinite love already exists in everything that is alive, including you and me. Our love lessons are about removing the obstacles to love. They teach us out how to access, express, and live it. That is, if we choose to learn.

This can feel difficult in a world that is expressing so much dissension and “un-love”. But each of us is a potential key to healing it.

Fear, anger, prejudice… we employ a myriad of padlocks to hold our love hostage. Every experience around love is an opportunity for self-examination. Our souls desire to learn how to love better.

Consider that perhaps the high tension in the world right now is a challenge to each of us to work on unlocking our own love. Together, we can collectively unleash a world of love that has never been seen before.

Inspirational Quotes:

“Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don’t know how to replenish its source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of witherings, of tarnishings.”
― Anais Nin

“If you judge people, you have no time to love them.”
― Mother Teresa

“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”
― Mother Teresa

“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it–always.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

Photos courtesy congerdesignm and zanna-76, Pexels