Opportunities

We were watching 'Evan Almighty' last night.   One particular scene has stuck in my mind.  When 'God' is talking to Evans wife in the show, he mentions that "when people pray for patience, does God just grant them patience, or does he give them the opportunity to be patient? 

When someone prays for courage, does God grant them courage, or the opportunities to be courageous? 

If someone prayed for the family to be closer, do you think God zaps them with warm, fuzzy feelings, or does he give them opportunities to love each other?"

How are the opportunities in your life right now, helping you grow the things that you most want?

Me?  I'm finding opportunities to work on maintaining balance and inner peace; as well as opportunities to radiate love. 
I am grateful for all of the people in my life and for their part in helping me learn these things.

Attachments

I often talk on here about living with more Joy in the moment....living without attachment to material things....living with depth and connection to Love, to people, to nature, to Spirit.

I thought I was pretty good about living without attachment, and for the most part, I Am.  There are some material things around me that I enjoy either because of sentimental reasons, or the fact that they just delight me.

Last week we were at a BBQ / swim party at a friends place.  I was having a lovely soak in the hot tub and Cary offered to get me a towel when I was finished.  As he brought me the towel, I noticed that, out of the bag of towels that I had brought for us, he had chosen the towel that my brother had given me for Christmas when I was about 16 years old.  He held it out and I saw the rainbow of colours and I thought of my brother.  I remembered what great friends we were when we were living at home, how he was my idol, my mentor, my best friend.  I was full of gratitude for my brother and for what we had shared when we were children / teenagers.  As I wrapped that towel around me, I also wrapped myself in that love.


We went over and joined the others. I got changed into warmer clothes and left the towel hanging over the back of a chair.


There was a metal pole fence between the yard and the pond on the other side, with plenty of room in between the poles to be able to see the pond and the birds that live or visit there.  My children noticed an ibis that was being attacked by a bush turkey.  The ibis was limping and it was obvious that its leg and wing were broken.  Several of us went through the gate to shoo the bush turkey away and to see what we could do.  A lady volunteered to take the ibis to the bird hospital nearby.  Someone found a box, but it didn't have a lid so someone went back to the swim area to get a towel to put over the top.  Yep, they took my towel. 

I knew that the ibis was covered in lice.  I thought of my towel, now covered in lice.  The towel that my brother had given me.  That just a short time ago I had wrapped myself in, and through it, I had also wrapped myself in memories and love for my brother.

I whispered to Cary "they took my towel".  He said that he had given it to them.  I said sadly "that's the only thing I have that my brother ever gave me".  I watched the lady walk away, happy that she was helping the bird, but sad in my heart that that 'thing', that old towel that was starting to fray in the corners, that trigger to what my brother had meant to me....was leaving my life.

I sat with that feeling for a few moments, it wasn't long, but it was deep.  I realised that I really didn't need the towel to remember my brother and those early feelings.  I could revisit them any time in my mind and my heart.  I laughed with delight, and I let go of my attachment to the towel.  I was more concerned about the ibis and I was grateful that the towel could be used in such a noble way.

I forgot about the towel until the lady returned from the bird hospital with the box she had left with.  I saw her and thought that it was odd that she returned the lice-infested box.  But she had brought the towel back in the box.  Cary had gone to her when he heard that the towel had been special to me, and he asked her, if at all possible, to bring the towel back. I was touched by his effort. He even soaked the towel in boiling water to kill the lice. The towel though, was now just a towel to me, it no longer held attachment, but it did signify a good lesson, and a reminder that the material things around me can serve as triggers to memories, but those memories are always inside of me and the only thing that I need in order to access those, is the desire....a simple thought.

Make Every Moment Count

I've had some powerful dreams lately that keep reminding me to Make Every Moment Count.  I hear that phrase in my head at random moments during the day.   There is a sense of urgency for me to really understand and implement that message.

Make Every Moment Count.

There is an emphasis on the 'Every Moment Count'.  Each word.  Every single moment.  Make them matter.  LIVE them....LOVE them....IN JOY them! 

The message is a reminder to be fully present in each moment.  To not wait for opportunities to live in Love and Joy.  To choose that Right Now!  To give Love to each moment.  To allow Joy in every moment.   Doing so makes our life feel so much fuller and deeper and richer.

Yeah, I know...you've heard it before and probably thought "yeah yeah...I know that".  But do you DO it?  Consistently?  Or just every now and again when you've finished the housework?  Or when the kids are quiet?  Or when you get home from work?  Or when the planets are aligned?

 How distracted are you from yourSelf?  How often do you take the time to stay connected to You?  It's no wonder so many people can't connect to other people on anything other than a superficial level....it's because we are not even connecting with ourSelves first!

So just how do we stay connected?  When there is chaos all around us?  When there is just too much to DO?!

We choose to.

We make it a priority.

We act AS IF we would if we knew that this was our very last day here.  Not in a morbid way, just in a reality way because come on...we just don't know when our driver is going to come and get us.  "Time's Up!" they will say...."But I'm just not ready" you may argue, "I still have things to do".  

What....what would you do if you had an hour left to finish your business here?  Or a week?  Or ten years?  Would that be enough time?  What IS the most important thing in you life? 

Only Love.

There are all kinds of practical ways of Making Each Moment Count.  Doing things that you enjoy, making the things you don't enjoy more pleasurable by playing groovy music, spraying essential oils around the place or having some tea brewing, ready to enjoy when the task is done.  Whatever works for you.

But it always always comes down to slowing down the mental chatter. 

To living in a state of gratitude for every single thing in your life. Even the things we don't like or understand.

To making Love THE most important thing in EVERY moment.

Remembering that. Over and over and over.

And gradually, we realise that we are starting to live in that state more often. 

Yes, there are a lot of practical things we do have to DO in this life.  It's the mindset that we choose to do them In, that makes all of the difference.

We make it so very complicated!  It's really not!  And when you realise that....then you feel like you've discovered the biggest secret in the world and you just have to laugh!



storage..stuff...spiral...

It's kind of funny...we live simply, but sometimes it still seems like we have too much stuff.  It's usually when things start to pile up...too many library books, other things not being put away properly.

We have found that keeping things fairly organised helps things run smoothly around here. 

We recently downsized our storage unit from a 6 x 3 meter to a 3 x 3 meter.  When we moved out of the house last June, we put everything we still had into storage while we went camping.  I know, storage costs money and was our stuff really worth what it cost to store it?  Yes and no... yes to the photos and sentimental stuff, no to everything else.  But we were running out of time and needed to do something with it all so we made a decision and there you go.  When our big caravan arrived, we got a lot of things out that we moved into the caravan - books, craft supplies, clothes, practical stuff etc.  We brought over our washer, dryer and large refrigerator too, just to make it really comfortable here (they are all in the outside area).  We are happy to sell the fridge if we get a buyer though.  We sold off some larger items such as our couch and we took our mattresses to the tip as no charity will take them and they didn't sell.  It feels good to pay much less for storing our extra stuff.  Every time we shuffle our stuff around, we need to reorganise.  Every time we reorganise, we get rid of even more stuff.  It feels like a spiral, going around, up and down, in and out, but always moving and getting lighter and more focused as needs change.

In the past week we've been having another sweep through and it's surprising at how much excess we were able to take out of the van.  Some of it was donated, and a little of it will go back to our storage unit.  Mostly extra books and toys that the kids aren't using or needing at the moment.

We are all enjoying the lighter feel of the place, and the smoother flow of energy.  I remember a time when accumulating material stuff was fun for me.  Now, getting rid of it gives me a thrill!  Just living with the things we actually use and that delight us suits me so well.  I've realised that I get overwhelmed fairly easily and too much stuff probably added to my stress.  I don't like it when there is too much to do and I need to pace myself during those times.

I am grateful that my children have gotten into the mindset of keeping a couple of  boxes of their  favourite toys and really enjoying the things in there.  When they are ready, we rotate stuff in and out from some of the extra stuff we have in the storage unit.  Summer loves clothes, but she is very aware of only keeping clothes that she loves and that she feels great in.  When something no longer feels great to her, she will easily let it go. 

I doubt that we can ever totally get rid of some kind of storage unit for a little excess and sentimental stuff.  I do fantasize that we can though.  For now, I'll continue to enjoy to gradual lightening of our load, a little ebb, a little flow....it's all as it should be.