Insights – Melannie Thomas

Archive for September, 2013

Life is a series of ups and downs.  Suffering is part of the human condition.  We all suffer; physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.  There are moments when it is unspeakably challenging to move through our suffering.

It is a lonely walk.  Yes, we can have (and be willing to accept) support from many quarters,  but it is a solo journey.

On my path, I am often reminded of a saying from A.M.O.R.C.  It is upon the golden cross of life that the rose of the soul blooms.

Suffering is profitable as well as seemingly senseless.  As you navigate the stream of life, I invite you to let go of ‘senseless’ and embrace ‘profitable’.

It rained a good amount here Saturday, now the earth has that sweet, spicy smell I love.  When I stepped outside this morning,  I breathed deeply the aroma of Fall.

It is an early harvest in wine country. In cultures around the world, it is time to celebrate and and express gratitude for all the land produces.  As I begin preparation for Winter, I remind myself to stop and savor the beauty of this abundant season.

I invite you to take a few moments today and breathe in the aromas and let your eyes feast on bounty beautiful.

Early this morning I had one of ‘those’  dreams.  “Wow, oh wow….,” I heard myself saying as I woke.  A dream so engrossing, I knew I had to write it down.  Overcoming my resistance, I got up, found pad and pen, and, ten pages later, I am happy it won’t be lost in the stream of consciousness that follows.

Everybody dreams.  Not everyone remembers dreaming.  Unless written or recorded, even the most powerful and intense dream will  begin to fade by evening.  Sleep research has shown that dreaming occurs during the  REM phase of the sleep cycle, and is essential to our health.

Dream is both noun and verb.  A dream is a language of images, a symbolic language.  We each have a unique dream dialect.  Recording our dreams allows us to interpret meaning based on our personal dream language.  For example, a ‘black cat‘ in my dream may not represent the same meaning as a ‘black cat’ in your dream.

I am so very grateful that I am a dreamer.  My dreams guide me, teach me, do a lot of process work for me, and contribute to restful sleep and good health.

This week I invite you to acknowledge and honor your dream world.

Every dawn heralds the beginning of a new day.  We move into our routine slowly, quickly or somewhere between, depending on the day and our circumstances. The everyday grind draws us into the ordinary actions of daily living.

One foot in front of the other;  one step at a time, we navigate the stream of consciousness.  Home, work,  children, shopping, cooking, cleaning, caring for ourselves and others, commuting, resting, relaxing, entertaining, exercising,  connecting, networking, listening, learning, chores and errands…all aspects of everyday.

So too is quiet time;  meditation time;  prayer time.  These precious moments are the easiest to forbear.  Yet managing to weave these activities into the thread of everyday pays great benefits.  They center us, prepare us, help us to ‘go with the flow’.  They can endow the mundane moment with calm, with hope, with meaning.  And having this daily centering enables us to better manage the unexpected when it arises.

This week I invite you to put  some  Spirit time in your everyday .

I began reducing the size of my material goods  two weeks ago.  I am into it, I’m  obsessed.  I missed my annual spring purge and the amount of ‘stuff’ I have is weighing me down.  But this downsize is a biggie,  far beyond spring cleaning.  I am moving to a smaller space.

I started the downsize with my books.  Then into my closets.  My really large 4 drawer file cabinet is empty, reduced to 2 medium-sized  boxes.  My dresser drawers are now only a third full.  My Granddaughter took four boxes of kitchen goodies home.  And Redwood Gospel Mission is coming to pick up a truck load of goodies.

The sorting process is an extended walk down memory lane.  I found a cache of baby teeth.  Can’t imagine their donor’s would want them at this stage of their lives, so out they went.  I was sailing through my closets until I came to a beautiful dress that was a gift.  My immediate thought was, “I can’t give this away.”  Then I realized I have never worn it;  gone!

I threw out my college transcripts.  I kept years of poetry.  It feels great.  It is empowering to go to the deepest levels of this downsizing.

The basis of Capitalism is  consuming and acquiring.   Deep downsizing is making me less inclined to consume and  acquire.  Instead,  bringing my focus to what I need and what I really use.