The Breath of Live

October 20, 2012
This morning I was with my daughter, Sivanna Rose, waiting for her school bus, and ever since the weather has turned cool I usually bring a blanket to cover her. We sit on the grass near the curb and she sits on my lap. I hold her tight, like a baby, tucked under the blanket. Well this morning she expressed that she was still cold, so I told her that her breath would warm her up. So, as any 5 year old would do, she started breathing heavily, underneath the blanket. I could not see her but I could feel her breath coming through the blanket. In that moment, I had a deeper understanding of the breath of life. I realized that although I could not see this body under the blanket, I could feel her breath and that I was the one who gave her the breath of life. It was truly a moving and deep experience for me. I later reflected on her birth and how much meaning this had for me. Sivanna was on a respirator for a short time and although that time was short if was terrifying. I did not know if her lungs would develop enough and I could not hear my newborn baby cry. So to my Sivanna Rose “I may have given you the breath of life, but in return you gave me the Grace of God and most importantly, eternal love". Thank you my beautiful girl.

Shifting Perspectives

An interesting idea that helps to shift your perspective is to find gratitude in something you would normally judge or complain of or about. Whatever it is, find a side of the situation that you can have gratitude for. This can free you from torment and shift your frequency to a place that actually serves you rather than weakens you. For example, if you are sick, even though it may be challenging, try switching the focus from the pain or inconvenience, to a place of appreciation that people are actually caring for and loving you. Keep your focus on the gratitude of having access to support, care, nutrition, healing, medicine or whatever is assisting you for your highest good and healing. Whatever we are experiencing we can always find something in the experience that can serve as a platform for gratitude in order to shift the persception we are having. All things flow better when we allow love and gratitude into our lives. Love and gratitude are the universal threads that support and tie together all that is, but we need to open the channel to receive.

Born to be Free

Today at my daughter’s school, I noticed on the wall, some children’s writings and one jumped right out at me. It said “They were born to be free”. Upon further investigation, I realized it was about bear cubs and returning them to the woods; however, those 5 simple words stopped me in my tracks. I reflected on human life and these mere five words. How interesting that children understand this core principal at the deepest level. We are not different than the bears. We are all born to be free. Free to love, free to laugh, free to be who we wish to be. I believe it is our core longing and most natural state; it is what we all strive for at some level. I realized that these five words had completely stopped me in my tracks . It is interesting in that we get so caught up in things outside of ourselves that we lose sight of the greatest and yet most profound gifts we possess…. the freedom to be …. to just be.

The Little Mitten & The Tracks

The Little Mitten & The Tracks
Every morning when I take my 4 year old Sivanna, to the school bus I am moved beyond words. Today we got ready and moved through our morning routine to get us to bus time. First and foremost today we must check to make sure the four snowmen she and Dad built are still standing. Yes! We carry on and finally we are out the door with snow suit, hat, mitts and backpack. We cut under the tree in the front yard (the short cut) and head for the bus. It’s the 2nd snow fall and it’s wet. When we get to the bus stop we wait and chat. Today we make footprints in the snow and compare our boots. She amazes me with the things she not only knows but points out to me. I have a maple leaf pattern on the bottom of my boot. Wow, who knew? The bus comes and as we wait for it to make its turn onto our street we start our new ritual of counting until it comes. We kiss and hug and Sivanna gets on the bus. She sits on the front seat and looks out the window at me. This is the part that moves me the most. I see her smiling face and we send kisses and hugs and she waves her little pink mitten at me until I can see her no more. I turn toward our house and see our set of tracks that led us to the bus. I follow them home and I have absolute gratitude for the gift of a family and a home filled with love, but most of all for the little girl who holds the little waving mitten......

What Is Really Important?

When it comes to life and our lives, what is really important? Sometimes in the midst of day to day living, it's easy to forget what really matters and what does not. For example, we have a society that is a host to rules and regulations, policies and procedures and it's easy to get overwhelmed and confused. Many of you that know me personally, know that one of my favourite sayings is “Garbage day is Thursday”. Yep, that's what I say. What do I mean by that? Well, the real, underlining idea behind that is that MY garbage day is Thursday and yours is Wednesday or whatever day it is, AND that the point is somebody made it all up! Life and our world is just that, a bunch of made up stuff and someone or somebodies of people made up some protocols, systems, beliefs, rules, and we follow along like Sheeple.... (sheep/people). We start focusing on the dots of life rather than the big blank background of possibilities. We argue over trivial things like fences, what to have for dinner and who did what right or wrong. We get our egos involved and we try to control and regulate and follow procedures and be right and not wrong and etc. etc. and on and on it goes. How much fun is that? Sounds exhausting to me. So, when I say to myself “Garbage day is Thursday, it immediately reminds me to be centered and grounded in what really matters. At the end of the day or even at the end of our lives, I believe that what really matters is a quote from Life Coach Cheryl Richardson, “What matters is who you loved and who loved you”. That's it. It can't get any simpler than that. So the next time you find yourself arguing with the neighbour about a fence, or correcting your child incessantly, or majoring on the minor, or focusing on the dot, remember “Garbage day is Thursday”... it's all made up anyway and it is only love that truly matters. xoxoxo

Love is Neutral

A friend of mine, Maureen, shared this thought with me recently and I thought, “how wonderful”. Before I begin, though, I want to clarify that I am not talking about neighbours as in, I have a problem with the fence, noise etc. I am referring to neighbours in life in general. So on the note of love being neutral.....
Yes, love is love and just is. If we could truly practise this we would have no judgement, we would indeed, be neutral. For example, my neighbour in life does this, that, lives their life like this or that, etc. and I think it’s right, wrong or whatever I happen to judge it as. If we are loving and in “neutral” we would not judge it as anything, just love it for what it is. We would be neutral. We would have no need to judge it, we would just observe it. How freeing this is. It is our judgements that hold us and bind us to pain and suffering and egoism. Without judgement, our neighbours, family members, friends and everyone in our world would be free to express themselves and we would not have to attach to it at all. We would be free to express ourselves and live in alignment with our higher selves and our own expressions of how we want to live our lives. It reminds me of my favourite philosophy about love “I want what you want”. To me that is truly loving someone; not loving them for what I think I need or want from them or how they affect me and my life. I love and support them in what they want for their highest and greatest desire.... to me this is the freedom of love. This is being neutral.

Cry Not

While walking home today after dropping Sivanna off at her daycare, I started to reflect on the realization that this is the last week she will be attending there before starting school. The daycare has had a special place in my heart and this is an end of an era for both Sivanna and for me. I thought I would share how interesting this experience was for me. As I started to feel the associated emotions of the transition; such as sadness, loss, change etc., I then became an observer of myself. I realized that “feeling these feelings” was truly a choice. Wow, I realized I did not have to be sad. I could choose to experience this or not. It was very freeing to realize that Sivanna is starting school next week whether I am sad, happy or indifferent so why would I want to feel loss and suffering? I chose to not attach at all and just enjoy the walk home with promise of a new era in our lives beautifully unfolding as it will.... ahhh.