Category: Power of Choice

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Sometime Love Means Shouting NO!

Trump sneer

Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries.
Without them humanity cannot survive.

~Dalai Lama

I have been sitting still, watching and listening, for decades.  Writers are natural observers and I am no exception. I love watching people and events from the sidelines.  But in the past few weeks, it has become more and more difficult for me to simply sit still and observe.

I have been watching and listening for months as Donald Trump encourages his followers to act from a place of hatred and rage. In the beginning, Mr. Trump seemed like a bad joke – a blowhard reality TV star runs for president, really?! But now he has managed to become the Republican nominee for President of the United States, and this ridiculous political side show just got very very scary.

I want to run screaming into the street and stop cars. I want to ask everyone I meet if they have listened carefully to what Mr. Trump says in speech after speech.  I want to insist that they follow me home to my living room where I can show them clip after clip of Trump gleefully inciting hatred and racism and divisions between people. And I want to remind them of what McCarthy and other peddlers of hate have done to our country in the past.  I want to beg people to not let that happen again.

But I won’t do that. I won’t run into the street and stop strangers. I would be labeled crazy. I won’t make people sit still, watch and LISTEN to what Donald Trump has been saying for months.  I wish I could but I cannot.

What I can do is express my deep fear about what Donald Trump may do if he becomes our President. I can voice my concerns to family and friends, and to you, my readers. I can tell you how disturbed I am by all the vitriol and fear that Mr. Trump is selling.

I believe that love is always the answer. And sometimes love requires that we stand up and shout NO, this is NOT OK!  Sometime love requires that we step out of our comfort zone and enter the fray.  

Mr. Trump’s vision of America is NOT my vision. He does NOT speak for me or the Americans I know and love.

Polite silence is not the answer. Sitting still is not the answer. So I am standing up and shouting NO! every chance I get. I am telling family and friends exactly what I have observed in this man who wants to be my president. And I am doing it in the name of love and unity and compassion.

I hope you will stand up and join me.

“Trump came one breath short of advocating a police state tonight
(it is not an accident that David Duke tweeted such great applause)…
I pray the better angels of America will rise up and
dissolve all the hatred that was spewed
into our body politic tonight.” 

~Marianne Williamson,  July 21, 2016

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How Will I Be in the World Today?

What is Compassion?

“The problem in America isn’t just that hate is speaking so loudly;
it’s that love is speaking too softly.”  

~Marianne Williamson.

I am not responsible for other people’s happiness or healing, I am not responsible for their problems or pain. And yet every interaction I have with another person can be healing or hurtful depending on how I choose to be with that person.

Am I open hearted and authentic? Am I distracted and disinterested? Am I mean and hateful? I chose. And what I choose affects my entire world.

We ‘do’ so much to get praise, we ‘do’ to distract ourselves, we ‘do’ to convince ourselves of our own worth – if only we could relax and just BE! Just BE our big beautiful selves in this moment. Stop trying to get somewhere else or be someone different. Just BE.

The cosmic joke is that all our pushing and striving to accomplish so much matters far less than how kind we are to other people – and to ourselves. But we’re so busy pushing to finish our to-do list that we lose sight of basic love and kindness. We don’t have time to be kind, we’re too busy to stop and open our hearts. In the process of hurrying towards our next goal, we strip our lives of what truly matters.

Love is the Force that Binds the Universe Together.
Love is the Source of all Things.
Love is God. God is Love.

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I Don’t Know, Show Me

Rose
Rose by Nancy L

I have found that one of the most effective ways to shift and change my state of mind is actually quite simple.  This method is simple enough that I can remember it even when I am feeling less than perfect, upset or off-balance:

Step 1:  Pause and Get Still. Breathe. And breathe again.

Step 2: Offer Up a Simple Prayer to the Universe, “I don’t know Spirit / God / Source. I don’t have the answer here. Please show me.”

Step 3: Open Your Heart to Yourself. Open to the flow of love that is within you in this very moment. It’s not about calling or pulling in love from outside of you – because, at the core, you are light, love and grace already! Allow yourself to feel your pure loving essence. Breathe deep and open up to the essence of love that is within you in every single moment. If this is difficult, just ask for help from Spirit.

Step 4: Allow Your Love to Flow. Your essence is pure light and love. You were birthed from an ocean of love. Pure unconditional love is the foundation of our Universe. And your cells flow with that same light and love now.

Can you open your heart and accept how truly amazing you are? You do not need to move mountains, create more success or perform miracles – you already ARE a miracle, a walking talking miracle!  Allow the miraculous love that is your true essence to flow in you and through you now.

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Frog Song

Mosswood Pond
Pond at Mosswood Hollow by Nancy L

I attended a writer’s workshop near Seattle last week. I camped in a little tent in the middle of a beautiful forest. I was camping alone, but I didn’t feel lonely. The frogs of the nearby pond serenaded me nightly. I would lie each night in my tent beneath two huge old spruce trees and revel in their chorus. Here’s what I learned about frogs…

Frog timing is impeccable. Each night, one or two tiny frogs begin the frog chant and then another 2 or 3 will join in echoing the melody of the first perfectly. Then a third group joins, echoing the same melody. They join their voices and build a master symphony piece by piece, until their ultimate harmony rises and falls, undulating and echoing off the pond. Each masterpiece only lasts for one moment, maybe two. And then silence. Each serenade abruptly stops as if a maestro has cut the air with his baton to signal cease! Yet there is no maestro conductor on this pond. Only a few tiny green frogs magically harmonizing together.

At times, the nightly frog serenade would get so loud that I would literally have trouble thinking. But I was actually ok with that. Witnessing their creation up close was my compensation. It was fascinating to me that each frog sang out his piece of the symphony so loud and proud. I sensed zero hesitation and not an ounce of shame. One night as I listened to the symphony, I wondered to myself what I might learn from these little frogs. There had to be a reason my tent was positioned on the front row at this frog concert. It was too serendipitous to be an accident.

On my third night in the front row at frog symphony hall, I finally received the lesson frog was offering. I realized that I had been lying in my tent each night, debating with myself about how much of my story to write. I had been debating how much of me it was safe to share with the world. Meanwhile just outside, a tiny little frog sat on the muddy bank of a tiny little pond and bellowed out his song. He bellowed out his offering to the Gods with joy and gusto, night after night with little hesitation,  Frog refused to be silent. He just belted out his creations for all the world to hear.

Frog didn’t waste time worrying about who was listening. He didn’t worry about what his audience would think of his song. He just sang his song night after night. He sang it with gusto. Maybe, just maybe I was lying there in a tent next to frog’s pond to receive a lesson in the art of expressing myself with joyful abandon?

Joyful abandon… I love the sound of that. Juicy green joyful abandon! I could definitely use more of that in my life. 🙂

—

A·ban·don   əˈbandən/
noun – complete lack of inhibition or restraint

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Natural Gratitude

Mountains in March
Mountain Sunrise by Nancy L

“love the world as your self
then you can care for all things”
~Lao Tzu

There is an earthy Celtic tradition that I enjoy very much. This tradition is simple, healing and fun. It involves speaking or singing your love and appreciation directly to the trees and flowers, birds and animals that you encounter in nature.

For example, I might go out into my backyard and whisper to the pine trees and tell them just how lovely their green branches are today. Or I might smile at the lavender bush and praise its scent. I might stop as I’m walking the dog, and thank the sky for the amazing cloud shapes floating by. If I’m feeling especially exuberant today, I could even go so far as to sing my gratitude to the trees and flowers and sky.  Or create a little poem about their beauty and effect on me.

This ancient Celtic practice gives me a simple way to honor and acknowledge my relationship with nature. Our human lives are interwoven with the natural world in a multitude of ways. But I often forget just how important nature is to my life.  This gratitude practice helps me to remember.

“Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet
and the winds long to play with your hair.”

~Khalil Gibran

Gratitude Walk

Below I share yet another way to shift into a naturally grateful state:

Take a walk in a beautiful natural space.  As you walk, just notice what is beautiful around you. Whenever you notice a beautiful object, silently say thank you to it; thank each beautiful tree and flower and blade of grass for existing and brightening up your life.

Can you come up with 10 things to be grateful for? 25? 50? Make your list silently. And then notice what happens to your mood when you practice gratitude.

∞