Insights – Melannie Thomas

Archive for the ‘Health & Healing’ Category

I love the word Autumn.  All the seasons have their unique qualities and special flavors.  I want to say that Autumn is my favorite, however I have come to realize that my ‘favorite’ seems to be the current season.  Having said that, the special qualities of Autumn or Fall that I relish, are the rhythms of harvest, the colors, the crisp cold morning air, the brilliant early morning sky, and  gathering around the bounty to celebrate and give thanks.

Granted there are some things I don’t particularly enjoy.  Beginning the descent toward the darkest part of the year (marked by the Autumnal Equinox on September 22); the bumper crop of falling leaves, all the necessary preparations for winter and the return of bitter cold..  However, I strive to stay with the season, looking forward to Indian Summer and to celebrating the harvest with friends and family.

As the Equinox approaches I invite you to enjoy the depth and breadth of this beautiful Autumn.

Resilience is the capacity to adapt easily to change; to recover from adversity.  I am not so sure about the ‘easily’ part, but I am confident in the process.  My personal experience and the experiences of countless others who have adapted to change, often radical, in a positive way is  substantive and inspiring.

As we enter third-stage-labor in the birthing of a new age, change is most often abrupt, abrasive and dis-heartening.  Added to the normal constant, adapting can become overwhelming.  Finding strength in body, mind and spirit is essential for experiencing resilience.

To those of you whose stories I know and whose struggle I witness, I salute your resilience.  Your ability to keep moving forward, to smile in the face adversity, to weep when sadness intrudes too deeply, to find beauty and humor in the daily conundrum.  You inspire me!  I thank you!

Late seemed like a good word for this week.  Monday is the day I post the Word for the Week and it is now Wednesday.  I don’t like being late.  Matter of fact the challenge for me is being chronically early.  I am happy to say I am getting better.  Fortunately for me and my blood pressure I am rarely irritated by the lateness of others, although I am occasionally disappointed.

My reason for being late this week is ‘due to technical difficulties’; sort of….  I was out-of-town and I had every confidence that I could use another computer to access the admin side of my Website and complete my obligation in a timely fashion.  I did not expect that because I was operating from a different computer that I would be asked for my password, which I didn’t have; not on paper, not in memory.  I tried a few times to put the right sequence together ( I do have some idea), but alas, it just would not click in.

So I am late.  We are all late at times for various reasons.  My plane was late yesterday because of a persistent headwind.  I am dashing around this morning so I won’t be late for my 9:00 appointment, which I ‘m intuiting is going to go overtime and then I will be late for the 10:30.

How do you handle being late, being too early, waiting, waiting and sometimes waiting some more?

I use Kathy Tyler and Joy Drake’s Angel Cards in my work.  At the end of each session my clients reach into a bag full of these little cards and they pick one.  It never ceases to amaze us all at how relevant the chosen card is to the theme of the consultation just ended.

Although I rarely choose a card myself, I was moved to do so this morning.  The card I chose was Education.  Curious about this choice, I opened the little Angel Card book to the following definition: “Cultivate your ability to learn from life’s rich patterns. You may not be able to establish the curriculum, but you can elect what courses to take at any given time and how to apply your knowledge.”

This week I invite you to meditate on the wisdom of this definition of Education.

As you may know from past blogs, I am a fan of sky-watching.  Every year between the end of July and mid-August the Perseid Meteor Shower puts on a great show.  Sadly, I don’t always get to see the best and brightest it has to offer.  The full Moon and a good layer of Fog are the culprits.  (Oh, and sometimes I don’t wake up and get outside by 4:00 am).  In the past I have been known get at 3:00 am and head for any local ridge-top that will afford me great viewing.  Now days, I am out in the yard early,  head tilted up, eyes scanning like radar to catch sight of the  streaking meteors.

It is hard to describe the feeling I get when I watch this cosmic display.  It is wonder, awe, and giggly excitement all rolled into one.  It is humbling and renewing all at the same time.

The Perseid Meteor Shower is peaking now in the Northern Hemisphere, with activity at 60 plus per hour today and tomorrow.  If you are inclined and able, I invite you to star-gaze with me.  Truely a mystical experience.

Sitting on my desk  is a ‘renewal Request’ for a magazine subscription.  The word Renewal caught my ‘Word for the Week’ attention, and I reflected on my Saturday guided meditation.  Experiencing, in little less than an hour, a deep relaxation and a profound energetic centering is a rich renewal.

To make new, to refresh, and to make strong, these are the primary definitions of renewal.  A vacation, a mental-health day, a lunch break, prayer and meditation, restful sleep, exercise, bathing, deep breathing, all these are some of the ways we renew our whole being.  However, to have the fullness of these experiences requires focus and intention; mindfulness.

It is not easy to achieve this renewal in a world, culture and society that is moving at breakneck speed, and, which is more often than not, chaotic and dissociative.  All the more reason to take a few moments to focus, intend, be mindful and renew.

While reading the Crystal Light Newsletter in the midst of this powerful Mercury retrograde (ending August 7) the word relinquish caught my full energetic attention.  I have always believed that Mercury retrogrades give us opportunit to see more deeply into some part of our selves.

Astrologically the Sun is in Leo, leading us with fiery wisdom to strengthen the connection between our heart and soul.  As we continue in the labor of birthing a new age, the strengthening of our core being is imperative; hence relinquishing.  The task here is to examine our ‘stories’ and our ‘old beliefs’ and to give up the ones that no longer serve our personal growth.  Through this process we allow new possibilities to enter our lives.

With so many words  passing through my mind and my mouth in a day,  it shouldn’t so hard to single out one word to be the word of the week.  But, alas, Monday is here and I am fretting through a list of words (about 400), perusing my surroundings and combing through my mental storehouses for the word.  Almost an hour has gone by.  Finally I have a resonant response to sustain.  To provide nourishment and to endure are the definitions that engage me.

My mind drifts to a documentary I saw recently about sustainable farming; how logical, how natural, how healthy.  But it is meaning ‘to endure’ that fully draws my attention.  To sustain in this way is to be unbelievably patient, to tolerate what seems intolerable, to manage time and circumstances as best we can, and to be faithful.  Indeed, I believe that enduring is essential to the building of faith; sustainable faith.

There are a variety of definitions for float. The one I am focusing on is  “…to move gently through or over….”  I chose this word today because I want to re-frame my feeling, my attitude from ‘trudging’ to something lighter.  ‘Trudge’ was the word I was entertaining posting in the Word of the Week.  However the energy of a laborious but steady march through my chores, appointments and other obligations is not how I want to feel.

Because visualization is not a strong point for me, I need to find other ways of bringing the energy of re-framing to fruit.  I have always loved to swim; love  to be in the water, and I have always been able to float really well.  So, when I feel the ‘trudging’ energy flowing through my consciousness, I imagine myself floating in my favorite lake.  I am totally supported by the warm water.  As my ears are underwater, my mind is silent.  I am lifted above trudging and I am able to float through the weekly demands.

Are you ‘trudging’ or ‘floating’ this week?

I recently saw the last part of  a Charlie Rose show where he was interviewing Phil Stutz and Barry Michels.  I saw and heard enough to know that I wanted to read their book, The Tools: Transform Your Problems Into Courage, Confidence and Creativity.

I am almost half-way through the book.  I am cleaning out my ‘tool box’, getting rid of some that are out-dated, adding a couple of new ones: stream-lining my process resources.  Personal growth and emotional/spiritual maturation is no easy task.  However the rewards are priceless.

So this week I invite you to inventory your tool box .  If you don’t have one, create one.  You won’t regret the effort!