Tag: mindful

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Use What You’re Given

Soup’s On

“Every situation, no matter how challenging, is conspiring
to bring you home to you.” ~Panache Desai

A nasty February blizzard is cooking outside – the wind is blowing so hard that the snow is not falling to the ground so much as blowing south horizontally.  I watch it blow like stink and Thank God for indoor plumbing… Can you imagine having to wade out to an outhouse in this??!

So, what goes best with a blizzard? It’s definitely den time with the family.  And I find myself craving soup. Yes, soup sounds yummy. But I hadn’t really planned on making soup this weekend. I didn’t buy soup fixin’s… what to do? what to do?  Hmmm, maybe I can use what I’ve been given and rustle up some soup anyway. I love a challenge.   🙂

After rummaging through the refrigerator, here’s what went into the soup this morning:

1/2 onion, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 cup fresh spinach leaves     I live on greens – my nickname around here is Popeye, so I always have spinach or kale or something green in the fridge

1/2 roast chicken, bones removed, skin tossed in to make broth     This is leftover roast chicken from 5 nights ago. I bought it when I didn’t feel like cooking
1/2 lime, juiced     I’ve never put this in soup before, so it’s purely experimental
1 Clove garlic     Required – my hubby LOVES pretty much anything with garlic in it
Salt and Pepper

In an hour I’ll pull out the chicken skin, add water and toss in 1 cup rice, 1 tsp. dried lemongrass and let it simmer a few minutes longer. The smell is already filling the house and making my mouth water!

 Use what you’re given is an idea from a little book, Instructions to the Cook, written by Glassman & Fields. These two Zen practitioners ran charities that provided food and housing for the homeless on a shoestring budget for years. So they know all about creating something special from whatever you’re given. And their little book has inspired me on many occasions to stop, take a deep breath and figure out how to happily use whatever life is giving me in this moment.

“Life always gives us 
exactly the teacher we need 
at every moment. 
This includes every mosquito, 
every misfortune, 
every red light, 
every traffic jam, 
every obnoxious supervisor (or employee), 
every illness, every loss, 
every moment of joy or depression, 
every addiction, 
every piece of garbage, 
every breath. 

Every moment is the guru.”

 ~Charlotte Joko Beck
 
✧
 
Use what you’re given.
Every moment can be bliss or shit – you choose.
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Elemental Gratitude

Front Range

Today I’m grateful for sun, blue sky, mountains in the distance and snow on the horizon…

Spirit dances with Fire, Air, Earth and Water and somehow the amazing alchemy of Life flows forth  Today I’m grateful for the dance of elemental Fire, Air, Earth and Water all around me. What a beautiful dance it is!

Flatirons and Sky
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Free Infinite Web on January 24th

  Calling on the Infinite

Thursday January 24th, 2013

7 PM Mountain

8 PM Central    6 PM Pacific

It’s time for January’s Infinite Web Flow Session.  These group tele call sessions are completely Free and you can take part by simply phoning in. Once connected to the group call, you will be able to listen in, ask questions and be part of the shift that the group creates. Infinite Webs take advantage of the exponential power of group consciousness, making it easier to shift and transform any issue.
 
☯

In this month’s call, I will share how you can open up and receive from the infinite pool of Universal energy, and use that energy to shift your body or mind into a balanced, calm and flowing state. If that sounds yummy to you, please register for the Infinite Web Flow session on January 24th! 

 
To register, just send an email to me at: nancy@nancylankston.com and let me know you want to join my Infinite Web this month.
 
 
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Holding Space for You

I’d like to share a potent mindfulness practice with you today.

In this 10 minute exercise, I guide you through creating and holding a sacred space for yourself. Holding space is simple yet so powerful!  It is about being as grounded in your bones as a mountain is to Mother Earth. And at the same time being as open and spacious as the sky, and as flowing and reflective as a lake.  Relax and just play with the guided imagery…

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Spacious Sky, Spacious Mind

Spacious Sky
“…it’s the opening
that’s the point. It is that lightheartedness, that bigness,
that spacious mind and love that can hold the suffering and accommodate it
and integrate it and understand it.”
~Susan Salzberg
 
✧
Advice to myself today – be Spacious, my friend.
as Spacious as the sky…
✧
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Tiny Trim Tab Ripples

Tiny Tree in Vast Sky

When I look around me, the world appears to be quite a mess; news of fiscal cliffs, disasters and every kind of human and planetary suffering abound.  I see a world teeming with negativity and fear. And many people seem to wallow in fear day after day with no way out.

If I allow myself to spiral into fear and worry, I can end up wallowing in pain and pessimism all day long. And when I get stuck in worry and fear, I can’t help myself  or anyone else; my personal angst only adds more pain to the world.

I am reminded of Buckminster Fuller’s story.  In his 30’s, Buckminster became quite depressed about how his life was going. He felt guilty about how much he drank and how he had neglected his family. He felt like a complete failure and thought about killing himself. But one day, he asked himself if he had truly tried.  And he decided to turn the rest of his life into an experiment.

“Something hit me very hard once, thinking about what one little man could do. Think of the Queen Mary — the whole ship goes by and then comes the rudder. And there’s a tiny thing at the edge of the rudder called a trim tab. It’s a miniature rudder. Just moving the little trim tab builds a low pressure that pulls the rudder around. Takes almost no effort at all. 

So I said that the little individual can be a trim tab. Society thinks it’s going right by you, that it’s left you altogether. But if you’re doing dynamic things mentally, the fact is that you can just put your foot out like that and the whole big ship of state is going to go. So I said, call me Trim Tab.”
~Buckminster Fuller 

 Buckminster went on to become an internationally renowned designer. He decided that he could be a little trim tab and change the course of the world. And he made a huge difference. Little ripples matter.

Yes, much of this world is a complete and utter mess. How do we stay calm and  keep our equilibrium when faced with such horrible news day after day? And how can one person possibly make a difference in a world that is so messed up?  What is the point in even trying?

But in every moment that we wriggle free of all that energy of worry and fear – every moment free of that tangled web, is a moment to celebrate. Every moment that  we can be peaceful is a little ripple of yummy energy  sent out into the world. And every little ripple of love and joy and peace that we create matters.

Remember the power of the trim tab and the little ripples it makes that turn the Queen Mary around. Little ripples of peace and joy and love and calmness matter whether we consciously realize it or not. Every little yummy ripple we create matters.

Advice to myself today: Breathe. And breathe again. Relax.  And whenever possible, send a few ripples of peace or love or joy out into the world.  Be a trim tab!