I feel overwhelmed this week and it’s only Monday morning. I look at my calendar and see precious little blank space. My “To Do” lists…yes, I have two…feel daunting. Plus, I’ll be away next week in Pennsylvania visiting my mom for her 85th birthday. That makes this week feel all the more cramped.

These are exactly the times when I need an extra pause…and to remind myself to stay in the present moment. Everything on that calendar and in the list will take place in a present moment…if it takes place. Whatever will happen, will happen…and it will happen in the now. All of it.

So, my work, our work, is to disengage from all that is not now. The mind thinks that is just crazy. What? Forget what has happened and don’t think about what might happen? Well, yes, kind of. That is the pathway to now. It is the practice of being present.

And the result of that is really what I’m looking for. I don’t enjoy feeling overwhelmed. I’d rather feel at ease and be fully engaged in the task at hand. There is something wonderfully fulfilling about that. Just to be where you are with mindful attention.

The lists are still there, the calendar page is full and I’m right here…writing to remind myself of how cool it is to have my whole self present to this creation. Cool indeed!

Happy.
Paula

There is a lot of fear in the world right now. Some might describe the world as frightening. What is your word for how things are? And what will you do with that? More importantly…how will you be? In the midst of everything, how will you decide to be in life?

Your being-ness makes all the difference. What you do is secondary to how you are. Because your true power is not in doing-ness, but in being-ness. You are a spiritual being first, and second is the expression that you are in human form. Not separate, like soul and then body, but in order of existence.

Being-ness emanates from the heart. So, it is important to take care of your heart, keep it strong and supple…ready for anything. How?

In Glenda Green’s book, Love Without End, Jesus Speaks, Jesus provides the answer to how to nurture your heart. He told her that we strengthen the positive impulses of the heart through admiration, gratitude, forgiveness and innocent perception. On a daily basis we can nurture our heart by being in awe, feeling appreciation, releasing what is no longer useful and receiving the world as it is.

Pause and consider…how will I nurture my heart today?

With great love
Paula

Really, people…let-it-go. Stop holding on like you know something or you can control something. You don’t even live by your own desire or your own intention. You live by the grace of God or by permission of the Earth. You live according to your soul purpose. You have almost nothing to do with how long you’ll be here.

And another thing. There is no worldly explanation for your good fortune or your hard times. Your soul is simply saying “yes” to being here right now. Otherwise, you’d be gone!

So, soak it up. Live life. Engage in the moment.  Show up. Don’t lose a minute to doubting your worth. Look around. This is your one chance this time around. Use it. Treasure it. Feel it all. The pain and the joy. You’ll learn something from each of them. Something useful…maybe even spectacular…life-changing. If you pay attention.

Can you imagine? It’s all good…I mean being alive is good. More than good. It really is.

Rant over.
Humble.
Paula

The summer solstice passed last week. The longest daylight of the year. From now until the winter solstice the days will shorten, and then lengthen once again in the reliable cycle and rhythm of the universe. I can feel the change already…like hitting the peak, rounding the top, and starting the descent.

Here in the northern hemisphere we are in the throes of bounty. Fruits and vegetables, herbs, flowers, grasses all in their fullness. It’s a busy time. And the long daylight hours mean we rise a bit earlier and settle in a little later. Sometimes it feels too hot and our energy wanes. Sometimes we push through it…soaking up the sunshine along the way.

Before long I’ll notice how the sun hits the floor at our south facing sliding glass doors. It will slowly creep further and further into the living room. Mae, our cat, loves when this happens. I think maybe she is cold most of the summer, just waiting for the solar heat to warm her bones. In a few months more I’ll be the one searching out the warm sun spots. How exquisite it feels to soak in the rays.

By the time winter solstice arrives I’ll be in my cozy bear den mode. Lots of time to be still, consider, ponder. Blankets and hot tea and warm soup. Soon enough it will be time to begin the trek toward the peak. In the meantime, I am grateful for a slower pace.

I like the seasons and the rhythms of the universe. When I respond to the ebb and flow I become part of that same energy. This movement makes me feel alive. I like it!

Grateful
Paula

What’s really important to you…beyond the one word answers that would show up on just about every list? Think about it for a minute. What about life is supremely important? Is it a feeling, an action, an accomplishment, a style, a way of being?

It’s worth taking some time to ponder this question. Because when you are aware of what matters, you are then able to make the best choices that support your own happiness. A conscious awareness might result in shifting your attention, changing a belief, leaving a relationship, relocating to a different town, going back to school, quitting a job, shifting a priority, softening your heart, slowing down, speeding up. I could go on, but you get the picture.

I decided some time ago that my peace was worth so much to me that I wasn’t willing to sacrifice it for anything else. Peace for me is sacrosanct. Non-negotiable. So, if I find myself feeling anxious or frustrated I breathe deeply (as soon as I remember) and remind myself…there is nothing more important than my peace. If I am in a conversation and begin to feel robbed of my peace, I either step away or shift my attention in the moment to my mantra: there is nothing more important than my peace.

I wonder what that ‘thing’ is for you? What you will protect for yourself at all costs? What keeps you happy?

Always practicing
Paula

Why do we expect other people to understand us…to understand our experience and our point of view? We can get pretty whipped up when others make hurtful, uniformed comments and judgments.  You just don’t understand, we lament. Well of course not. How could they?

Other people just don’t know. They’ve been conditioned the way they’ve been conditioned and they are who they are…just like you. They haven’t had the same experiences, they haven’t lived your life. And ditto for you.

Some of us want to learn and understand better. Let’s be kind to each other. Others aren’t interested. How about we let them be? Don’t fold your worthiness into their comments or perspective. Release your attachment to their approval and their understanding. That expectation will kill you. It will make you crazy. Your judgment of them ends up being a prison you build for yourself.

Listen, I feel good when I am understood. It’s a good feeling when another nods their head and says….I hear you. I think that’s what we really want…to be heard. We want what we have to say to matter. And sometimes, with some people, that’s possible. With others, not so much.

All of this leads me to say…you have to be satisfied with yourself, regardless if anyone else understands you or not. Travel to the beat of your own drum. And be happy all the while.

Much love
Paula

Take care of yourself. Take good care of yourself. Get enough rest, eat well, stay hydrated. Don’t push too hard. Pay attention to your body. Lighten up on the self-judgment and the negative self-talk. Ask for help. Don’t be afraid to say ‘No’. Make decisions that bring you happiness. Don’t rely on the opinions of others. Don’t expect them to understand everything about your life.

Make time for your spiritual practice. Pray, meditate, journal, sit at the beach or in the woods, close your eyes and follow your breath, do some yoga, take a walk or a ride, write a poem, have your coffee on the porch. Dedicate time for stillness away from all the distractions of our oh-so-modern life.

Slow down. I mean it. S-L-O-W  D-O-W-N. Busy is not a badge of honor. When you feel that rising anxiety from all that is calling for your attention…practice slowing down. On purpose. I promise things will become clearer. You’ll be able to know the next best step to take.

Notice the little things. Feel joyful for the touch of coolness in the morning air, the smell of the ocean, a warm shower, a good book. Paying attention to those little, ordinary things helps you cultivate a grateful heart.

With much love
Paula

June is a significant month for me. June 6th holds a particular significance. I was diagnosed with cancer on this day…back in 1994. Twenty-eight years ago I found out the lump in my left breast was malignant. And so started my journey through the gauntlet of cancer treatment.

After twenty-eight years you might think that experience is faded from memory. And you would be right…but only for some of it. Other parts are fresh in my mind. And I continue to this day to tease out the lesson or the wisdom or a greater depth of understanding from that time in my life and in the years since. It’s been quite a ride.

I think grace is what allowed me to not be overcome by cancer. Cancer and other ‘big stuff’ that I’ve experienced since then. I feel that. Grace. Something in my nature, in my spiritual nature, at the core of me beyond my physical self. Something that whispered, “No matter what, you are good. Don’t be afraid. You can’t fail. Your wholeness is guaranteed. It’s all much bigger than what you can see.”

We all have it. Grace. It’s how we can keep on keeping on…especially through the ‘big stuff’. Sometimes I sit and cry and feel the release that it brings. Sometimes I distract myself with busyness until I find the strength to face it straight away. Sometimes I just sit and stare into nothing until there is a tiny spark.  Every time, grace is what brings me back. It brings me back to strength, humility, hope…and even joy.

Thank God for grace.
Paula

There is a reason hearts hurt. Hearts hurt because there is loss…because there was once love and caring and connection and joy and now the place where it all landed is missing. Our heart is confused, sad and lost. We call it hurt.

Our heart is the place of feeling and emotion in us. Although our hurt is not a physical pain, our whole body feels it. We feel. We feel hollow, sick, sad, enraged, out of control, hopeless. It’s a special kind of hurt, a deep kind of hurt. It starts out as a nasty wound and later turns into a bruise that never quite heals. Always tender when touched.

So, what to do with a hurting heart? Hold it tenderly…your own or another’s. Give it space to grieve…your own or another’s. Invite the Divine to soothe and lift you. Release blame or attachment as you are able. Eventually, it happens. You find your bruised self loving more fully and connecting more intensely to all that is good and kind and beautiful in the world.

It is possible. Through the power of Love Itself.
With deep humility
Paula

Sometimes I worry that I write about the same stuff over and over…and others will get bored. But the truth is, I write about the same things because they are calling for my attention. The same ‘thing’ comes back around in a different situation or with a different person and it’s knocking on the door, saying “Hello there. Here I am. Back again.”

When this happens, I know I haven’t yet worked through an idea, a feeling or a situation. I haven’t yet wrung out of it everything it has to offer. There is something in it for me…something more for me to know, to feel, to understand, to expand, to cherish, to release, to change, to consider.

I am better these days. I trust more about what shows up. And I am more curious than I am judgmental. That helps a lot.

So, thanks for reading my blog. I appreciate that every once in a while you might relate or maybe even feel inspired by what you read. I really hope you feel connected most often. In a we’re-all-in-this-together sort of way. That’s really the best I could ever hope for.

As Ram Dass might say…we’re all just walking each other home.

Humble and grateful
Paula