Archive for May, 2016
Sanity
As our world plummets into the abyss of transformation, it is more important than ever to maintain our sanity.
It is vital to stay aware of the changing times. Staying connected with friends, family, and the Divine is the ‘plug-in’ that allows us to stay balanced.
Whatever your belief system, keep it active, fresh and alive through daily practice. It is a true and trusted path to sanity.
“In short, chronological connectivity puts us in touch with the holy. It is at once humbling and exhilarating. I say this as someone who has never followed any formal religious practice. Connection with the past and the future is a pathway that charms us in the direction of sanity and grace.”
~James Howard Kunstler
Birthdays
Birthday Season in my family peaks in June with six direct family birthdays, and an equal number of close friends. Add graduations, the occasional wedding, baby or bridal shower and it makes for a busy month.
I am blessed to have a large, close, nuclear and extended family and a beautiful garden of friends. And as the years go by they grow… so do the birthdays, minimally averaging three a month. I buy a lot of Birthday Cards.
Birthdays are a celebration of one’s entry into the Earthly plane. Birthdays and birthdates are celebrated in some fashion by virtually all cultures and religions. Buddha, Christ, Mohammed, Gandhi, George Washington, Martin Luther King and the Queen of England are a few of the better known.
Many cultures have rites of passage birthdays. The US and Canada celebrate Sweet Sixteen; the Upanayana or ‘thread ceremony’ in India; the Quinceanera in Latin Cultures; Japan’s ‘Coming of Age Day’ celebrates all who are turning twenty; and Judaism celebrates the bar mitzvah for boys at age thirteen and the bat mitzvah for girls at twelve.
At certain ages, birthdays confer upon us freedoms and responsibilities: registering for the draft, securing a driver’s license, marrying without parental consent, purchasing and consuming alcohol and tobacco products. At the age of majority, usually between eighteen and twenty-one, we become responsible for our own decision-making and our own actions.
Birthdays and birthdates are important markers of time. They are also opportunities to celebrate the company of our loved ones.
Wishing you and your families many Happy Birthdays!
Enrich
“…to improve the quality of (something), to make (something) better.” Merriam-Webster
There is so much around us that enriches our experience of living on planet Earth. And many opportunities to enrich the lives of others.
“You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.”
~Woodrow Wilson
“You will enrich your life immeasurably if you approach it with a sense of wonder and discovery, and always challenge yourself to try new things”
~Nate Berkus
This week I invite you into enrichment.
Unselfishness
“The man who practices unselfishness, who is genuinely interested in the welfare of others, who feels it a privilege to have the power to do a fellow-creature a kindness – even though polished manners and a gracious presence may be absent – will be an elevating influence wherever he goes.”
~Orison Swett Marden
May
April showers bring May flowers. The Earth awakens from winter’s sleep and moves into action. The Green Goddess unabashedly displays her beauty, alluding to glories yet to come.
Gratefully, winter rain has fed our parched landscape; the deep, rich colors of Spring vibrate with renewal and regeneration.
May is a perfect time to launch our plans for the rest of the year. A time of planning and planting. A good season to shed trite and stagnant energies. Spring cleaning is not confined to the physical aspects of our existence.
I invite you this week to relish the opportunities for cleaning and clearing making way for expansion and growth.
“The naked earth is warm with Spring,
And with green grass and bursting trees
Leans to the sun’s kiss glorying,
And quivers in the sunny breeze.”
~Julian Grenfell
