STEPPING INTO LIFE

SEASON OF CHANGE

Recently I passed a milestone..... 500 days with home being wherever my feet were that day. It has been that long since I sold my condo and life served up a great adventure. Amelia Earhart, explorer extraordinaire, once said "When life offers a great adventure, you don't refuse it." So when life presented an opportunity, I decided instead of doing the safe thing, to embrace the situation and see what might unfold. So far, my feet have been in the Adirondacks and Finger Lakes regions of New York, a monastery in Pennsylvania, the Massachusetts coast, various points in Maine, New Brunswick Canada, Nova Scotia Canada and back to Ohio. Parts of myself have been left scattered along the way, and I've taken and kept little bits of all those places and people with me. I've kept the journey and the growth and changes that have happened pretty close to my heart. But I feel it's now time to begin sharing the writings and voice journals I've been making during this time of journey. I'm not sure where to begin with them all, so I'll just begin with my thoughts at the beginning of this year and go from there.

I walked out of 2017 giving thanks for such a beautiful year so well lived. My heart was brimming and overflowing with happiness, gratitude, and love. All the people & moments from this past year are wonderfully stitched into my heart and soul. I’m bringing that tapestry into 2018 with a hopeful spirit. I won’t have a word of the year which I will have forgotten six months later, or resolutions that really don’t matter. Instead, I’ll do more of what worked and improve upon that… Yoga every morning, meditation every day, keeping kindness in my heart, living simply but richly, living fully in each wild wonderful riotously beautiful moment, loving deeply and nurturing friendships. My mind will stay open to possibilities and I’ll continue to say yes to life. When I’m in new uncharted territory or fearful or uncertain about the situation, instead of running away I’ll turn and take a step toward it to see what might happen.  I’ll create every day and seek inspiration everywhere. Each morning I will greet the day with a thankful heart for this gift and adventure that if life.

THIS MOMENT

 This moment.  It is all we really have. Whether it's happy or sad it is all we have.  We create our life second by second and day by day. This moment builds upon other moments and each moment & each day is sacred. It is life. It is living. It is worthy of being the best it can be.  And in that way life becomes the best it can be.

 Last January, I began a yoga practice. I came to realize it was about more than physical flexibility. It was about focus, about confidence and strength of body and inner soul.  During my current travel adventure, which began this past September, yoga became difficult due to space constraints in many places I was staying and with the long drives. This January I began meditating. I discovered meditation brings me an inner calm and clarity. It grounds me to life & to my self. It brings me a feeling I have always found in nature, a connection to a higher power and the infinite. 

 Through meditation, I am living so fully in each moment of this riotous glorious beautiful life. 

Recently I discovered Insight app. It offers both a timer method and wonderful guided meditation and music.  It was through this app that I discovered Sarah Blondin and her Live Awake podcasts. They are inspirational, full of beautiful insight, powerful & moving. 

I often joked that I wish I had an "off button" when my brain kept going. All I had to do was sit with my breath. 

** This fine art print and home decor are available in my Society6 shop. Click the SHOP tab the top 

Don't Blink

It seems time is running a race with itself lately. I blink and 5 days have passed. There is a song that says "don't blink..." I get that now. Each morning I have been doing a yoga flow where I start the day being present - mind, body, heart all right there - present with the new day. Then I set my intention to guide me and focus on for the day. This practice seems to have slowed time a bit - I'm more aware and present during the day which is awesome - no mindless chatter or random thoughts racing through my mind, or me racing through the day. Sunday was my birthday - I won't say which one since my spirit is young, but I feel wise in living! It was nice to stop all else and give myself the gift of time wandering up to one of my favorite destinations to get away from the city and just relax in the moment. I took my camera and let creativity show itself. What a wonderful day in the sunshine exploring Kingwood Gardens. Not much was in bloom yet as Spring is late this year. But I did find much to photograph in the greenhouses. It was nice to take the time to see the beauty and uniqueness of each plant and slow time a bit even if just for a day.