Insights – Melannie Thomas

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We all make decisions; snap decisions, thoughtful decisions, tough decisions, simple decisions, good decisions, bad decisions, informed decisions, intuitive decisions.  

We don’t spend too much time or give too much thought to dozens of daily decisions: what to wear, eat, read, watch, clean, cook, etc.  These are routine, almost automatic choices we make frequently throughout our day.  

Then we face the more challenging, sometimes difficult and often out-of-the-ordinary decisions: A new car or used car? Where to live?  Expensive shoes vs. cheaper shoes? Stay on budget or splurge?  And then there are philosophical decisions: Do I believe in God?  If so, what kind of God?  Do I decide to affiliate as a Republican, a Democrat or an Independent?

When facing difficult decisions, exploring and widening our options, consulting wise counsel, curbing our optimism or pessimism, and seeking Divine guidance are useful strategies.  Ask yourself what advice you would give your best friend, your partner, or your child.  If possible, use the 24 hour, sleep-on-it rule.   Accept that you will make decisions that you regret as well as ones that make you happy.

I invite you this week to look at how you make important decisions. 

My internal chatterbox is particularly active these past few weeks.  Thankfully,  I have developed some fruitful strategies for managing the glut of unwanted messages.

Opening an email from Spirituality & Health, (Sept/Oct 2013) not only reminded me to continue being diligent in managing my internal chatterbox, but listed five Apps to help quiet the mind. To wit:

At Ease.  Guided breathing exercises aim to ease anxiety, a journaling option allows you to track how well each session reduces stress. $2.99 both iPhone and Android at meditationoasis.com/smartphone-apps.

Optimism.  This action plan app helps you develop and monitor strategies for improving overall mood and monitoring symptoms of conditions like depression and anxiety. Free for iPhone and Android at findingoptimism.com.

Relaxing Nature Sounds.  This popular app features 70 relaxing sounds to help with meditation, sleep, or physiotherapy. 99 cents for iPhone at rtstudio.net/ProductsRelaxation.html.

Chakra Meditation.  A beautiful interactive animation allows you to follow along visually while listening to a calming narration.  $2.99 for iPhone or Android at saagara.com.

Relax and Sleep Well by Glenn Harrold.   Narrated by the well-known author, this self-hypnosis app helps to alleviate stress and soothe you to sleep.  Free for iPhone at i-mobilize.com/relax-sleep-well-by-glenn-harrold.

For me a quiet mind is a peaceful mind.  I invite you to try these apps.  Allow yourself to intuitively choose your selection(s).

In the wee early hour, looking heavenward, my breath catches as I view the crisp, starry morning sky.  It is a perspective; a stunningly visual affirmation of how small I am in the greater scheme of things.

Absorbed in the starry spectacle, I wondered what the view will be from my new home.  Although still a rural location, I will be closer to city lights.  And what about the other views that have become so familiar?  I know what I am leaving; I don’t  know what I am moving toward.

I like it very much; the look and feel of my new home.  It is a sweet little place.  Perfect for me as I begin the twilight journey of my life.  But it will be different.  I will adapt to the change;  I will wonder at my new vision of the early morning sky.

It will be different.

To read this week’s Blog, you will have to go to www.melannie-insights.com, and click ‘Morning Sky’.

Thank you all for your patience and ongoing support!  Wishing everyone an awesome week!

Melannie

Google’s top two definitions of ‘miracle’ are:

– a surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divine agency.
– a highly improbable or extraordinary event, development, or accomplishment that brings very welcome consequences.

Magnitude is only suggested.  We are all aware of miracles both  magnificent, and so small we may not take notice. There are life-changing miracles such as meeting your true soul mate, landing that perfect job, having the perfect home just drop into your lap. And then there are smaller, ‘day-changing’ events like the chance salesclerk who treats you like royalty, the car repair that turns out to be minor, the traffic that moves quickly when you thought you were running  late.

Let’s be on the lookout this week for miracles, miracles, miracles!

Change is inevitable.  For mortals it begins at conception.  We grow in Mother’s womb for nine months, and then we’re expelled.  This is the beginning of a lifetime of change.

Changes range from small and imperceptible to enormous and overwhelming.  Our bodies, our minds, our environments…all are constantly shifting.

There is joyful change, unwelcome change, little change, big change, traumatic change, ecstatic change, simple change, complex change, seasonal change, climate change, and aging.  The only constant is change.

Although change is an essential part of living and dying, we often rebel against it, try to avoid it, outsmart it, and just plain not face it.

I invite you this week to look at the nature of change in your life.  To make necessary adjustments; to find acceptance; to embrace change.

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 .