Insights – Melannie Thomas

Archive for the ‘Finding Your Center’ Category

We all are a part of community.  For communities to thrive, they must co-exist harmoniously.

“We are constituted so that simple acts of kindness, such as giving to charity or expressing gratitude, have a positive effect on our long-term moods.  The key to the happy life, it seems, is the good life:  a life with sustained relationships, challenging work, and connections to community.”

~Paul Bloom

“This world of ours…must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Given recent events in our community at large, there is a lot of work to do.  I invite you this week to continue to invest in community.

The annual celebration of our independence is here.  In spite of this year’s tumultuous political turmoil and the ongoing economic challenges, we remain among the freest people of the world.

“So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.  Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.  Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!  Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado!  Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California!  But not only that, let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!  Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi.  From every mountain let freedom ring.”

~Martin Luther King Jr.

Take a moment today to give thanks for our freedom.

Beautiful, amazing, hard to believe, astonishing, surprising, awesomely mysterious…all words full of wonder.

The magic and beauty of the world never ceases to fill me with wonder.  I wonder at the intricate, complex and functionality of the human body and the universe around me.

“Men go abroad to wonder at the heights of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars, and they pass by themselves without wondering.”

~Saint Augustine

“He who wonders discovers that this in itself is wonder.”

~M.C. Escher

This week I invite you to experience the wonder of the world; small and precious, colossal and mysterious.

Today marks the Summer Solstice, accompanied by a full Moon in Sagittarius.  The Sun and the Moon, the Divine Masculine and the Divine Feminine join together.

This potent combo of light and dark offer us opportunity to create harmony and balance.  The action, intention and motivation of the masculine,  meet the reflection, fertility and renewal of the feminine;  allowing us to release old patterns.

Supported by this Divine influence, this week I invite you through meditation and ritual to tune into your authentic self.  Bring forth your pure potential.

Resilience is considered  the ability to recover from or adjust to life change or misfortune.

Difficulties, changes and challenges are a part of life that we all will confront at one time or another.  Turbulent,  muddy rapids of change threaten to sweep away our spirit like rushing flood waters sweep away homes.

I am so impressed by the living examples of resilience that surround me.  A dear friend who suffers from a chronic medical condition, but chooses to live the best life possible.

A man in his early seventies who has suffered three major financial setbacks in his life, is starting over again.  His determination and attitude are inspiring.  His success a testimony of resilience.

“Resilience isn’t a single skill.  It is a variety of skills and coping mechanisms.  To bounce back from bumps in the road as well as failures, you should focus on emphasizing the positive.”

~Jean Chatzky

I invite you this week to honor your spirit of resilience.

Just as we all dream, we all hope.  Hoping is to ‘desire with expectation and fulfillment’ according to my trusted Merriam-Webster.  Hope is reliance and trust; hope is the promise of a better future.

“You may not always have a comfortable life and you will not always be able to solve all the world’s problems at once but don’t underestimate the importance you can have because history has shown us that courage can be contagious and hope can take on a life of its own.”

~Michelle Obama

“They say a person needs just three things to be truly happy in this world:  someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for.”

~Tom Bodett

I invite you to focus on the hope for a better future.

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

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!

“…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.

“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