138. The Staff Of Life

No I’m not talking about bread. Not even food. Sorry, maybe next time. What I’m referring to is the staff of unseen people that are assigned to you before you are even born.

We all have the best group of people working behind the scenes to help us achieve everything and anything we need to do in our lives. The biggest problem they face is the fact that many times we don’t even know they exist. Depending on how you grow up, you are either told about these people, or not told. Or maybe you are told about some and not others. If you are really lucky, or maybe I should say, in tune, then you figure it out on your own. Some people can even see their staff of people and spirit working with them. Me… not so much!

You’ve probably all heard about a supposed guardian angel that watches over us. But, did you know that there are a whole host of angels there for you? I knew they existed, but I never knew that you could talk to them and they will hear you. Maybe I was told but I just never did it, I don’t know. They will intercede on your behalf and help you if you ask. Only if you ask… something about that pesky free will thing!? Not only can we call on angels, but we also have someone who many would call, a spirit guide. That is someone who is with you your whole life just guiding you, or helping in any way they can. What is important to know, is that we should probably be talking to them too. I mean, why not? You’ve got this invisible spirit / person following you around wherever you go, with you no matter what you do. Why not talk to them? Ask for guidance. Need help with a tough decision? Ask your guide!

Did you know that you also have what is called, The Body Elemental? This is kind of like an angel, from what I have read. It is your entire body’s intelligence responsible for physical maintenance and upkeep. Its main job is to link your healing potential with universal healing potential. I never knew there was such a thing! I don’t know about you, but I think that is amazing!

Then, of course you have every person you ever knew in this lifetime and others, who have died, croaked, crossed over, or however you want to put it, just out of view, but still there for you to talk to, or if you are really fortunate, talk with… I’m in the former category. Just like your spirit guide, why not? They’ve done this thing called life, and I’m sure they would have some tips for us. I just like knowing that they are still around enough to share in our special days and events with us. I am still waiting for one of them to pop up at the end of the bed or something to say, Hi! Probably good for my heart that this hasn’t happened, yet. I did have a few visits from my cat that died, but that’s a whole other blog post!

I’m probably forgetting to mention some members of our staff (besides the obvious, Jesus / God), but the point I’m trying to get to, is that we have so many people out there, both former real life people, and spirit, that we don’t ever need to worry about anything! The Universe, or the Great Spirit, or whatever name you use for God, has set things up so that we have all the help we need for every situation we find ourselves in. Whether you have health problems, money or relationship troubles, or you are trying to survive a pandemic. Whatever it is, all we really have to do is decide what we want, and concentrate on that outcome and sit back and let it happen. Sure, you might have to put some effort forth, but if we trust in our God given staff, we don’t need to worry, or have fear. They are there for us to help, to provide support of every kind. Just tell them how they can help.

137. It’s A Sh#@ Show

It’s dark out there! A real poop show, if you know what I mean! All this change in the world is creating the biggest pile of collectively energetic sh#@ we’ve ever seen! Can’t you feel it piling up? I know I can, and it doesn’t seem like it’s going to stop anytime soon.

The planet seems full of all kinds of crap right now. People are at, what seems to be, an all time high of mean spiritedness right now. With the war over masks or no masks going on, political arguments, riots, protests, people being killed right and left, and on and on it goes…it’s all just A LOT right now! Remember, that all this poo or waste, or darkness is needed as much as the light. You’ve heard the saying, we wouldn’t recognize the light without the darkness (or something like that)? What we have to remember is that the darkness or the waste can be used to create. All of this discord between people today is being used to create change. Change in thoughts, and change in beliefs, change in behavior and change in action. Change, or light, coming from or using the darkness. Similarly to plants using our waste (carbon dioxide) to create oxygen. We use the plants waste (oxygen), to create carbon dioxide for the plants. Without that co-creation life as we know it would not exist. This process goes on constantly, we don’t even notice it. Life is usually churning away, creating from waste and darkness constantly. It’s just at a point now where we are aware of what is happening. We can see the dark side, and we need to watch for the goodness that will come from it.

Make sure you don’t let all that poop and negativity pile up on you! It will all be used for good in the long run, but in the mean time, don’t get stuck in it. Don’t get bogged down in the social media wars on Facebook or Twitter. Try to stay away from too much negative or bad news, whether it’s online or on TV, or even in your own home. It all just drags you down. Don’t let it! Find a way to flush that poo out of your life on a daily basis and know that, just like fertilizer in a garden, humanity and societies are growing and need that sh#@ to create.

136. Ask And Ye Shall Receive

It was a few minutes past four in the morning.  The television had just been turned off minutes beforehand and I was still wide awake.  So, as I often do, I started talking (in my mind) to my loved ones who have crossed over.  My thoughts always go to my grandparents first.  Then, I think of all the other loved ones in the family and say hello, and ask what they have been up to.  It’s not like I ever get a reply, but it seems like the polite thing to do.

As I was chatting away, the light of my clock and the little light at the bottom of my TV were the brightest things in the room.  Annoyingly so.  You know, that little light on some TV sets that have no purpose, other than to let you know your TV is plugged in and is receiving power?  It flashes when you turn it on or off, other than that, it just stays on.  It occurred to me that it flashes, so it could flash even when it wasn’t being turned on or off. So I asked my loved ones to let me know they were there, by making the light flash.  Isn’t that what they do on all those ghost hunter shows on TV?  I waited and waited.  No flashing.  I waited a few more seconds (I was getting tired), then I gave up, apologized to them for asking them to do stupid ghost tricks, and said it didn’t matter anyway, I didn’t need a sign, I knew they were all there.  I knew they checked in on me and heard me when I talked to them.  So I closed my eyes and waited for sleep to come.

A minute later, I had the urge to open my eyes, and before I could even focus on anything, I noticed the light on the television flashing away as fast as it could.  Over and over and over again.  It went on and off for, I don’t know how long.  I thanked whoever made it flash for me.  I told them I appreciated it, and I knew they were there listening, but it’s nice to know for sure!

One of my favorite authors, Pam Grout has written books about just this sort of thing.  Her books are all about asking God, or (fill in your chosen name here), to give you a sign that he/she is there and paying attention to you.  I know I’ve talked about this before, but her books are really just the best.  E-Squared and E-Cubed are both filled with fun experiments to do to prove to yourself that someone out there really is listening to you when you say your prayers, or talk to God.  I know many of us don’t need a sign to know that.  Just like the saying goes, “Seeing is believing “, now I know what they meant by that.  You won’t understand how exciting it is to see proof until you try it.  I even felt a little odd just asking for a sign, but I can tell you, no one else felt bad about it, because I got signs over, and over and over again!  Every time I asked.  I will also say that it doesn’t always happen when I just ask, but when I go back to the book and remind myself of a few tips (like not dwelling on it after I put a request out there), it always happens.  It is amazing to ask the powers that be, to show you a blue butterfly, and then to see a blue butterfly!  I try not to make it too outrageous, but from what I’ve read in Pam’s books, it really doesn’t matter.  You get what you ask for!  So, don’t be afraid to ask for a sign.  Have fun with it, and get the proof that your doubting mind wants to see.

 

135. Don’t Rock The Boat

Don’t stir the pot!  Don’t rock the boat! Have you heard of these sayings?  It’s sometimes important in life, not to stir the pot, not to rock the boat.   Yet, other times, you need to stir things up!  These days it seems everything has been stirred up from each and every direction.  The proverbial poop has hit the fan!

Let’s think in terms of a pond.  If you have a murky pond, and you let it sit, you leave it alone and stop stirring up the muck, after a certain amount of time, the sediment will settle down, or dissipate, and it will become clear again.  Life is similar.  You have a certain amount of gunk in your life.  If you want to see your way through it, and you need some clarity in your life, try some medi-tae-she-ohn (meditation), that I discussed in my last blog post.  Stop stirring up your gunk.  Quit going over the details of it in your head.  Stop thinking about it and you will see things in your life with a new clarity.  Your perspective will change.  You will still have the same problems, but you may perceive them in a different way, or see your life in a new light.  So, you will still have all that gunk in your pond, but if you don’t stir it up, does it matter?  You can work on getting rid of the gunk when the time is right.  You may find that all that gunk disappears on it’s own, as your life changes, your pond will become clear again.

 

134. Medi-tae-she-ohn!

Meditation.  What could be more simple?  Just sitting and doing nothing at all.  Nothing at all with your eyes closed.  Nothing….. No Thing.  I can hear Doug Heffernan (The King of Queens) talking about it in my head, calling it, “Medi-tae-she-ohn“!

If meditation is so easy, why do I have such a tough time with it?!  Me, and a million other people. Meditation used to be easy for me.  When I was a kid, I could wander, walking through the fields and woods, for hours and hours, doing nothing and thinking about nothing.  Nothing much anyway, just picking berries and flowers, watching birds and animals. Nowadays, I guess my brain gets in the way.  My brain hates to be quiet.  It’s always thinking.  But, maybe that’s ok.  Maybe there are different ways to meditate. I know there are.  We just have to find what works for us, individually.  I mean, when I was walking for hours, I obviously didn’t have my eyes closed, and I wasn’t sitting still.  I wasn’t trying to meditate.  I mean, I think that was a form of meditation, but I didn’t know that at the time.  So, anyway you just have to find what works for you. Maybe you can sit still and focus on a sound, say the air conditioner, or a ceiling fan.  Sometimes I focus on the birds outside my window.  Right now, there are two Bluejays talking to each other, not so very quietly by the way, I think they might be arguing.  They could use some meditation!

Maybe it’s the word that makes it hard?  If you have it in your mind that you are not good at meditation, maybe just changing what you call it would help.  I like to call it focusing.  It’s easier to focus on something (a ceiling fan) than nothing.  I don’t like to focus on my breath, because I have trouble with my breathing.  So, that just stresses me out right from the get-go.  I heard someone suggest to call it, being satisfied.  Just sit somewhere and focus on feeling satisfied for 15 minutes, no matter if you think about things or not.  If you do, make sure they are satisfying thoughts.

When you tell your brain not to think, what does it immediately do?  It starts thinking!  If my mind tells my brain to take a break from thinking, I immediately think, ” Stop thinking about what?  Everything, or just certain topics? ” Before I know it, I have a conversation with myself going on, which inevitability leads to thoughts about, who knows what, and before long, my fifteen minutes of quiet time is done, and I haven’t been quiet!  At least in my head.

Sometimes it helps to have someone telling you what to focus on, and what to do.  Headspace.com is great for that.  It’s cheap and they even have many recordings for free.  It’s a great place to start.  They even have super fun and cute little cartoons to help describe how meditation works.  It is so great to have your brain slow down and take a little break.  I believe it’s a big part of keeping up your mental health.  Unfortunately, we don’t learn much about mental health in school. We have health classes in high school, and that special ” meeting ” in 5th grade.  You know, the one where the boys and girls are separated, and taught about what to expect your body to morph into?!  But, I don’t remember learning anything about mental health. Meditation is a big part of every day life in some parts of the world.  Not so much in North America, although it is becoming more and more a part of some people’s lives.  In some places, like in India, mindfulness is taught and a part of a child’s education (ed-u-ca-she-ohn... Are you starting to see why it’s so hard for me to meditate?).  It would be so much easier to have grown up with this type of practice, rather than to come to it later in life, I believe.   If you meditate, or even attempt to quiet your mind, then good for you!   If you have never tried it, I would encourage you to give it a try.  Remember, if at first you don’t succeed, try try again!

 

 

133. Relax

I lived through the 80’s, so when I hear the word “relax”, I think, Frankie Goes To Hollywood.  But, that’s not what we’re talking about here, so I went with the relaxing water flow / Zen type music video.  It is relaxing, unless you have to pee.  In that case, sorry about that.

We could all use some relaxation these days!  The world is a mess.  Relax. It will all be okay.  Relax. Take a break from the madness.  Relax.  That’s the secret to how you get what you want. Relax. Just relax into it.

Breathe in through your nose, and take a deep breath.  Out through your mouth.  Three times.  In through your nose, out through your mouth.  And, once more.  What is it that you really want right now?  Think about it.  Does it make you feel tense?  Are you worried you might not get it?  If you’re worried about it, know that worry is a feeling, and you can change your feelings.  You change your feelings by changing your thoughts.  If you are worried about your – – – – ( fill in the blank), you can change your thoughts about it.  Just knowing that you could have different thoughts about it makes you feel a tiny bit better, right?  It’s just as easy to think happy thoughts about – – – – ( fill in the blank) as it is to think worrying thoughts about – – – -.  It doesn’t matter if those thoughts are accurate, or if they are just what you wish were true.  Thinking happy thoughts is soothing.  Thinking happy thoughts is relaxing.  Even the word, “relax”  is relaxing.  Relax, relax, relax, relax, relax. Say relax ten times, s-l-o-w-l-y.  No, don’t scream at yourself to relax!  Just say it slowly.  I do mean s-l-o-w-l-y.   Don’t you feel better?  Don’t you f-e-e-l relaxed?  Good things flow to you when you are r-e-l-a-x-e-d.  The more you relax, the more you allow flowing into your life. Relaxing allows more of – – – – (fill in the blank) to flow into your life.  Relaxing allows abundance to flow into your life.  Just relax, r-e-l-a-x, and allow good to flow into your life.  Relax.  It is that simple.  Just relax.  You don’t need to worry about how.  Just r-e-l-a-x about — – – (fill in the blank), and it will flow to you.  The more you are calm and allowing, the more it will appear.  A-a-h-h-h-h-h… Doesn’t that feel good?

 

132. Expect Amazing Things To Happen

I recently read a blog post, inviting people to expect and look for a miracle every day for a week. It sounded like fun, and I almost commented with an, ” I’m in!”  Although I quickly had second thoughts, wondering if I could really notice something amazing happening every day, so I didn’t comment. A few minutes later, after a visit from a couple of goldfinches,  I was having third thoughts (that’s a thing, right?).

I sit, every day, in my chaise with my laptop on a table in front of me. Across the room, directly in front of me are two big windows and outside the windows are several bird feeders. I use my laptop all day and watch the birds on and off throughout the day.
They are funny, interesting and beautiful.  I have a huge list of all the different types of birds that have visited my feeders. Today though, there were two goldfinches that found me interesting, maybe funny, and dare I say it…  beautiful.

Although our windows are made to look like they have separate panes, our birds sometimes don’t notice those lines in the middle of the window, and sometimes fly into them.  I don’t think any have been seriously hurt, but they do get the wind knocked out of them. They hit the window, and quickly fly off like it was the window that attacked them!  I sometimes wonder if they are going for the feeders and overshoot and hit the window.  Today I heard a bird hit the window again and looked up to see what happened. That’s when I saw a goldfinch fly away and circle back around to hit the window again, just enough to make a noise, not enough to really bother him.  He did this a couple of times and then landed on the feeder. I started wondering if he was trying to tell me he was out of food or something because our birds eat a lot!  Just then, a different goldfinch hit the window and hung onto the screen. He stood there for a while looking around inside and then flew off. As soon as he left, he was back again, and again, and again, each time hanging onto the screen to have a look around inside. This went on about fifteen minutes as he landed in different places on the screen to get a really good look at me, the dog, and the entire family room, twisting his head from side to side, and up and down, over and over again. It was hilarious!  This all happened just minutes after I had read the blog post.  I choose to believe that he was my sign that I could see something amazing happen, each and every day if I paid attention, and even if I don’t, someone will make sure I don’t miss the awesome miracles in my life!  If you pay attention, you’ll see that miracles happen on a daily basis. What amazing thing or awesomeness have you noticed?

 

131. The Pollyanna Experiment

 

Dictionary.com defines Pollyanna as: “an excessively or blindly optimistic person.”  How did being a Pollyanna become such a bad thing?  Or maybe I should say when?  Who was the poor girl who had her name stolen to become something that no one would ever want to be named again!? Novelist Eleanor H. Porter wrote Pollyanna in 1913.  It was about a little girl who was taken in by her gruff aunt, Polly.  The girl wins over, or changes, her aunt through her positive attitude, including what was called, the Glad Game.  It was a game she learned from her father and the rules stated that the players must use the word, “glad” in their sentence.  For instance, upon receiving a bad grade on a spelling test, you might say, “I am glad I studied so hard for my test and did the best that I could. ”

People have come to view Pollyanna as a term for someone who ignores the ills of the world, and the general consensus is that that is a bad thing to do.  For instance, not watching the news is considered bad or somehow irresponsible.  Heaven forbid if you don’t care about the news!  I really don’t understand it, but I know people don’t like it when you behave as maybe someone named Pollyanna might behave. If the world is spinning out of control, then we should all be aware of it, which seems to be the thought of the majority of people.  If they are miserable, then you should be too.

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”  ~ Winston Churchill,

I guess I would be considered a Pollyanna.  That’s fine with me.  I know what is going on in the world, I just don’t think I have to dwell on it.  We can be aware, but we don’t have to watch the news constantly to maintain awareness.  There is so much going on in the world, we can’t possibly keep up with it all.  Never before have we been bombarded with so much bad news from so many sources, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  Is it any wonder that so many people are diagnosed with depression, and other related illnesses?!  I think it’s the perfect time to bring back The Glad Game.  It could go by many other names.  How about just call it, being grateful for what we have, and being grateful for whatever is going right in our world at this moment?  When we are glad or grateful, we find more and more good things show up in our lives.  So what do you say?  Are you in?  Let’s try it!  Try the Pollyanna experiment with me.  Just for one day, when you find yourself thinking about something bad, turn it around and add “glad” to your sentence, or your thoughts.  Or, add gratitude to your thoughts or sentence.  Let me know how your day goes.  If you find it helpful, maybe try it for a few days.  Once you do it for a while, it might just become a habit.  There are definitely worse habits to pick up than becoming glad and grateful!

130. Butterflies

I love butterflies.  I love going to butterfly sanctuaries.  Butterflies seem to like seeing me too. Whenever I go to a butterfly enclosure, they always land on me and don’t want to leave me.  I went to one last year.  This year, outside around my home, I haven’t really seen many butterflies yet.  Probably because I don’t get outside much. I only get out when I’m actually going somewhere, and I haven’t gone anywhere this year!  You know, because of the whole plague situation (I know it’s a virus, but plague sounds much more dramatic).  In fact, I don’t really ever get out much, nor am I able to get out and about on my own.  Literally.  If you know me, you know I have ALS.  I’ve had it since 1998.  It has slowly taken away my ability to do anything on my own.  So, I basically sit in my comfy chaise and watch television, or read books online, or use my laptop all day.  Anything that can be done with a laptop and no movement, that’s what I do, all day every day.

So, anyhoo… I woke up today and was laying in bed, chatting (in my mind) with God/The Universe, my spirit guide, my angels… pretty much anyone who can hear my thoughts directed towards them, when I decided to ask if I could see a butterfly today, or sometime soon.  I explained that I hadn’t seen one in a while.  So, I started to finish up my chat and was just starting to wonder how I would even see a butterfly when I knew I wouldn’t be going out today, when all of a sudden, a big butterfly flew in front of my bedroom window.  Up and down, and up and down, like butterflies fly, and then back again, and back and forth.  He /she definitely wanted to make sure that I noticed it.  I just started to have the thought that I hadn’t expected to see one so soon when there it was again!  Then, another one a little further away. Then, yet a third one even further in the distance.

I was thankful and surprised, but in a way, not at all surprised.  The Universe / God is always there, always listening. Sometimes we just need a reminder.

 

129. Love Is The Answer

Love is the answer.  It doesn’t matter what the question is.  Love is always the short answer.  Sure, you can go into detail and use as many words as you’d like, but it all boils down to love.  At least it should.

We are living through, how should I put it…… tough times?  A pandemic, and so much death.  Lives have been taken due to illness and lives lost for no reason at all, lives taken in anger and hatred.   Is there any way to find reason in it at all?  No, not that my human mind can fathom.  We could really use a Martin Luther King Jr. right now in our world.  A Desmond Tutu, or Mahatma Gandhi.  Things in the U.S. seem to be getting out of hand.  We can do better.  We must do better. How do we do better? Love is the answer.

We do have wise ones still among us who speak up and offer words of wisdom.  Sadhguru comes to mind.  What must  we do?  We must never give up.  We must keep on keeping on.  Desmond Tutu said, “Do your little bit of good where you are ; it’s those little bits of good together that overwhelm the world. ”  So do what you can to spread the love and kindness in your little part of the world.

I would like to see music used to bring people together.  Music has always been a source of strength, and a way to communicate our feelings.  Even if we have to stay six feet apart, we can come together and support and love one another,  We need a bit of the 1960’s brought back to life, that feeling that we are all brothers and sisters, all connected as one.  That message that all you need is love.