Insights – Melannie Thomas

Archive for the ‘Finding Your Center’ Category

Again, devastating wildfires scorch California, wreaking havoc and bringing tragedy and losses unspeakable.  You will be reading this on Monday morning if we have power.  Sunday’s unprecedented wind event will have passed.  Hopefully, our losses will be minimal.  Your prayers are needed and welcome.

“Whoever speaks in primordial images speaks with a thousand voices; he enthralls and overpowers…he transmutes our personal destiny into the destiny of mankind, and evokes in us all those beneficent forces that ever and anon have enabled humanity to find refuge from every peril and to outlive the longest night.”  ~C.G. Jung

Stay safe!

Mitigation is used to reduce hostile or harsh situations, to reduce the pain, severity and seriousness of troubling circumstances.

To mitigate is to find compromise, to take positive action, to find creative solutions for very stressful experiences.  It is healthy compromise, not co-dependent justification. Mitigation helps to prevent further loss or degradation.

“There are lots of things, including changing the kind of inner dialog, that can mitigate anxiety.  And yes, there are people who have the glass half full and glass half empty, and I’m afraid the glass is going to break and I’ll cut myself on the shards.”  ~Scott Stossel

“How any person decides to emphasize strengths and mitigate weakness is something people have to figure out for themselves.  I’m wary of the self-help literature that suggests there are certain rules.”  ~Daniel Tammert

“You can never protect yourself 100%.  What you do is protect yourself as much as possible and mitigate risk to an acceptable degree.  You can never remove all risk.”  ~Kevin Mitnick

Blessings!!

“Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.”  ~Thich Nhat Hanh

The 9 Superpowers of Your Smile, Psychology Today, May 25, 2016 lists the 9 as:

• Smiling can make you look younger.
• Smiling can make you look thinner.
• Smiling elevates your mood and creates a sense of well-being.
• Smiling induces more pleasure in the brain than chocolate.
• Even a forced smile can lead to a mood boost.
• Smiles can predict fulfillment in marriage.
• Smiling makes you seem courteous, likable, and competent.
• The span of a person’s smile can predict life span.
• Smiling is contagious.

“What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity.  These are but trifles, to be sure, but scattered along life’s pathway, the good they do is the inconceivable.”  ~Joseph Addison

Many blessings, many Smiles!!

Friends are a priceless treasure throughout a lifetime.  From early childhood until our golden years, friends share our joys and sorrows, our intimate thoughts and secrets and support us through the vicissitudes of life.  To have a good friend, we have to be a good friend.

“I cannot even imagine where I would be today were it not for that handful of friends who have given me a heart full of joy.  Let’s face it, friends make life a whole lot more fun.”  ~Charles R. Swindoll

“One of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand and be understood.”  ~Lucius Annaeus Seneca

“Remember that the most valuable antiques are dear old friends.”  ~H. Jackson Brown Jr.

This week I invite you to connect with your beloved friends.

Blessings!

Last week’s equinox marked the change of the season.  It is said that change is the only constant.  There are things we can change, and things we cannot change.  Wisdom is knowing the difference.  Growth comes when we commit to the process of change.

“Growth is painful.  Change is painful.  But, nothing is as painful as staying stuck where you do not belong.”  ~N.R. Narayana Murthy

“We cannot change our past.  We cannot change the fact that people act in a certain way.  We can not change the inevitable.  The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude.”  ~Charles R. Swindoll

Blessings!

The autumnal equinox ranges from the 21st to the 24th. This year it occurs on September 23.  Although there is some debate about the exact date, an equinox is about balance…12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness.  It is a time of releasing burdens, ‘letting go’ of what no longer serves us, hurts or restricts us.  Finding our balance is finding solid ground upon which we can stand.

“At no other time does the earth itself let itself be inhaled in one smell, the ripe earth; in a smell of the sea, bitter where it borders on taste, and more honey sweet where you feel it touching the first sounds, containing depth within itself, darkness, something of the grave almost.”  ~Rainer Marie Rilke

Equinox blessings!

“Withstanding the tension between opposites until we know it is “enough” releases us from the swing between one extreme and the other.”  ~Helen Luke

Many blessings

My happy hiatus has ended, leaving me with some refreshing and valuable insights.

I seriously considered ending my blog-posting, however I found myself unwilling to pull the plug.

In a prayerful meditation I asked for direction and guidance about what to do; an answer came in a couple of days.  Hence beginning Monday September 16 and continuing weekly, I will be posting a quote, a poem or message of inspiration, which will be accompanied by a complementary picture.

I want to take a moment here to thank my Webmaster for the amazing photos/pictures she adds to the weekly blog.  And, I am thrilled that she has agreed to continue.  It is a very special gift she will continue to share.

I want to thank all of you who have supported my blog-posting, and will continue to do so.  You are greatly treasured!

Many Blessings for your week to come.

Melannie

…a temporary pause or absence; a break from routine.

My first blog-post, Intuition, was published in February 2010.  I have been publishing weekly since then.  The time for my six week hiatus has come.  I will resume posting on September 16, 2019.

During my hiatus, I invite you to visit the archives, which are listed by month and year, not title.  Exercise your intuition!  And if you are inclined, share your experience with me, send an email to melannie@melannie-insights.com.

Looking forward to being back with you in September!

Blessings!

A client gifted me with this wonderful book.  It is written by Mark Nepo, poet and philosopher.  Author of several books, he has been teaching in the fields of poetry and spirituality for more than 40 years.

The Book of Awakening is subtitled, Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have.  It is arranged as a daybook.  The author says, ‘In truth, over the last twenty-five years, the daybook has been answering a collective need and has become a spiritual sonnet of our age, a sturdy container for small doses of what matters.’

Each of the 365 pages begins with a topic/title like Sabbath Time, The Hearts Blossom, Outlasting the Fog, Against Our Will, One Drop of Truth at a Time, and Giving Up What No Longer Works.

Next is a quote by various authors, including Nepo, expressive of the topic.  For example the quote for Giving Up What No Longer Works is:

‘Burning your way to center

is the loneliest fire of all.

You’ll know you have arrived

when nothing else burns.’

A brief text follows, concluding with meditation instruction allowing us to digest…”small doses of what matters.”

I am so blessed and grateful for this gift, an amazing introduction to Mark Nepo and his work.

I invite you to check it out,  it is well worth the effort!

Blessings!