Compassion

The Chips Have Fallen Where They May [Have]…Clean-up Time!

March 22, 2017 / / Life and Living

I love this picture of myself – some may recognize the area of the country, Sedona, Arizona.  It represents who I am to ME!  I love horses, days of the Old West, and above all, I feel FREE in the Wide Open Spaces!

I’m recognizing a space within me that is trying very hard to emerge…a place where I want to feel more compassion toward others as well as myself.  We all have this wonderful emotion, but for some of us, it lays deep, almost dormant.  Why?  Because the art of survival closed off this place as we worked our way through more difficult times of our lives – Speaking for myself, of course.

All these many years later, I am fully aware I no longer have any need to survive, but instead,  have a NEED to unearth my compassion and love so I can envelope my own Self in this warmth of my soul.  I’m realizing that even though I have forgiven others as well as myself through the years, there are ‘chips’ … residue of certain downed trees of my life… that have remained.  This blanket of chips restricts me from  living out complete inner warmth toward everything within and without and around my whole being.   It is only now that I have been able to get in touch with this part of ME.  It is the place where all of the daintiest, most intimate of my experiences have been kept for safekeeping – until now –  when I am capable and willing to resurrect them so they may take their sacred place in my heart where I may nurture them in the sunlight of my privilege of living my life.  This desire to enlarge my heart space toward compassion is  compelling, and I am deliberately  drawing my awareness to these wonderful feelings.    Clearly, this destiny outweighs all else.

I recently spoke in a video of the place of joy that I discovered within myself, and this is yet another awareness toward fulfilling a joyous aspect of human existence, and I’m touching my essence.  I feel my connection with Self.

I have no axes to grind, I want no chips on my shoulders that weigh me down from the pleasures of my full life.  I am demanding release from my emotional blindness.

My Open Spaces are Wider and I  savor this newly introduced Freedom. Blessed Be.

 

Platitudes!!!!! ….Words of Air…Not Action!

February 10, 2016 / / Life and Living

I’ve never liked platitudes…they’re so wishy-washy, don’t really say anything to any point…just words of response with no sincerity or comfort or solution behind them.   They  miss the mark of Action and Feelings and Understanding and Compassion.  They’re so aloof and cold, so general.   Of course, this is My Opinion!

I had a friend years ago who said to me she never worried about me because I was so strong and a survivor, and I could always take care of myself..  All true, but what was the point of saying anything?  I wasn’t comforted…my life hadn’t magically changed because I heard her words of supposed encouragement and understanding.  I already knew everything she said!  She had known me for years, but what she DIDN’T KNOW was she  had  set my bar higher so I had to appear even stronger and more capable as a struggling young single mother of two who constantly worried about having enough money, or even food sometimes, and who prayed my rattletrap of a car would not break down.  To me, her distancing comments were sideways, and allowed her a wide berth to not have to ask me how I was doing, or if everything was going okay.

Time heals all wounds…Don’t worry, things always get better…He’ll grow out of it..You can handle it…Life isn’t fair…Life isn’t what it’s cracked up to be…They’re always thorns with the roses…You can’t always be a winner…No one ever said life was easy…It’s a great life if you don’t weaken…Smile and the world smiles with you, cry and you cry alone…You made your bed, you sleep in it…forgive and forget….This always happens…When it rains it pours…Another day another dollar…Into each life a little rain must fall….It always gets better….Don’t worry, you’ll get over it…and too many more!

I don’t want to be a person who uses platitudes in response to another’s difficulty in their life.  I want to be part of a solution to any problem someone might be having…. or, at the very least, show my interest and concern to their plight.  I want to try to relieve or soften, if I can, a person’s suffering or sadness …I want to reach the heart of another to show them how deeply I care…  I want to touch the shoulder, hold a hand, look at the person straight in the eye, to show them my level of caring and sincere inquiry, how can I help?  What do you need?  I want to make the effort to listen and try to understand.

It has always been very easy for me to speak to a stranger…I really don’t have much fear of contact.  I am proud to say I have had wonderful conversations with “David”, my homeless friend whom I run into from time-to-time in front of my store.  But, I don’t think I’m doing enough to show to my “World Island” how interested I am in another’s world.  I want to be a human being who is connected to others, not disconnected.

The next time I ask someone “How are you?”, I’m going to listen very hard and long for the answer.  “Fine” will not do it!…I’m going to ask another question, I’m going to make sure that I have an exchange to show my sincere interest in this person, OR WHY HAVE I ASKED THE QUESTION IN THE FIRST PLACE?  After all, when I am asked a question, I give an honest straightforward response.  I will spend those few minutes valuing the experience of this human connection, and if nudged, ask  “Is there anything I can do?”…. I will  extend myself.  I think this is the very least I can do.

Everyone counts….and I never want to be ignorant to another who has been counted out!  To my mind, the act of omission is far greater than the act of commission.

There are  times I must put my nose in someone else’s business!

Stepping Stone of My Life

September 1, 2015 / / Life and Living

My interpretation…  my “nod”, if you will…. forms who I am and what I think.

All these many years I have anointed a select few with my ‘respect’ and credited them with enlightening me, correcting my path,  and caring enough for me to bother to  ‘try’ to reach me.   I now know that it is every single event, happy or sad, devastating, painful or joyful, and every single person in my life, that  are responsible for bringing me to  who I am today and whom I will become in the future.  I am a fluid being, growing all the time, learning all the time and loving all the moments of the student/teacher circle of my life.

I now can feel compassion, forgiveness, and am moving toward love, for those who did not have my best interests at heart and I feel sorry that they had to go to such lengths to fulfill their path of learning, and at the same time, I am grateful they were the teachers in my path of learning.  By the same token, I forgive myself for having strode my path at anyone else’s expense and I’m saddened I was at such a low ebb in my life at those times.   I have suffered my own pain as a result of my choices, and I’m more than aware I’ve experienced myriad life’s learnings the hardest of ways!

No question, when I began to trust my own intuits, I entered the world of my Spirituality, my Quest for meaning of my Creator, my Universe, my Being here, my Lessons , my Joys and my Gratitude, as they all relate to me and those I encounter in this world… in this time.

Keeping my own counsel is a huge intention for me because I’m a talker and a writer.  I know this is the right time in my life to present my Blog.  I’m experiencing a wonderful journey of expressing and receiving new learning.  I’m finding out I am who I am  for TODAY.    Life is about change, and I’m experiencing great comfort as I open and explore  unknown horizons.   I now trust my heart and my soul….my all-knowing Essence.

My friend is an artist….she painted a rock for me when she was here.  I see  Sun, Sky, Clouds, Seagulls, and Water.

I feel, ENLIGHTENMENT and FREEDOM!

 

Enlightenment and Freedom.

Not Your Ordinary Rock!