We Each Just Want To Know We Belong

I live very close to Charlottesville, Virginia, the site of recent violence and confusion. In my personal life in the past six weeks both of my elderly parents have died within 28 days of each other! As a person who feel her feelings deeply, I have had to sort out to which event my feelings and emotions are attached. My intellectual side would like to have no attachments with the emotions to any of these events! My intuitive side , however, tells me I am being given a tremendous opportunity of the highest good!

I have listened and observed people all over the world discussing and dissecting what happened in my town, how it needs to be handled, what went right and what went wrong, and seen millions of fingers pointing the blame at others. I have also listened and observed friends and family who hear of how my parents died 28 days apart, and how hard it must be for my brothers and I to cope.

I attest and witness that all of these events have demanded I grieve. After the shock of all the experiences I have felt, I decided a few things. One, I made a commitment to myself that whenever a feeling…no matter what it was…came up, that I would feel it all the way through, not allowing anything to distract me from that intention. There may be positive  distractions such as writing, talking with friends, support groups, exercise, etc. but I know myself pretty well, and know I can let even positive things distract me. Two, I noticed that I need to know where I belong in my little world. Do I belong with those who want to place blame on the reason bad things happen? Do I belong with those who feed on fear and anger? Do I belong with those who believe in an eye for an eye, a punch for a punch? Do I belong with those who live with a compassionate heart? Thirdly, I am very sure I have to get gut level and rigorously honest with myself. I have to see the truth about where I have bias, prejudices, and dark shadowy aspects. We all have prejudices! For change to happen it has first to begin with me. I have to look at my stuff before I can effectively look at yours! You have to look at you first before you look at anyone else. I am sure of this!

People who claim they hate another for the color of their skin, sexual orientation, gender, beliefs, political affiliation, or spiritual/religious ideas can scare me at first. When I slow down, pause, and apply human understanding, I just might see that each and everyone of us only wants to know we belong and have a place in this Universe. We at some point quit listening to each other like we used to. Some of us never listened at all for we just wanted to hear our big, loud ego talk talk talk. Some of us live with the mantra: I am right, you are wrong and I am going to prove it to you! Then some of us take it further and if you do not listen to me while I am trying to prove how right I am, I will become a bully and may even inflict physical-mental-emotional pain on you if I think you do not hear me! Maybe we quit listening because we were too wrapped up in staring at a cell phone, surfing the internet, playing games, or other distractions that came with the age of progressive technology!

My silver lining is I have really began listening …listening to why people in Charlottesville and the rest of the world are angry and scared….listening to how my two brothers and other family feel about the losses of two 94 year old people who were part of our lives for a very long time….listening to how people just want to know they fit into a group, into a social setting, into somewhere where they are heard-accepted-treated with kindness! I am even listening to myself!

I am listening to how kind I am willing to be. I am listening to the words I use with others. I am listening to how often I am willing just to look for opportunities to be of service to my fellow brothers and sisters. I am listening to my pain. I am listening to my joy. I am listening to see if just maybe I can see a young person who feels they are not loved, accepted, or do not fit in anywhere….and reach out to them to show them someone really cares before they go join a group of violent haters who claim to care about them.

We really have an opportunity. We really, if we are willing ,can look at our own defective traits and work diligently on being the best example of US that we can be before jumping on our proverbial bulldozers and harming another. We really can be kind to another who disagrees with us. We really can listen to the thinking and ideas of another who believes the opposite way of us. We really can walk a mile in the moccasins of our fellow brother and sister. Is it too late to create a better world? I believe together we can do what we could never do alone.

Are you listening?

Inner Transformation Journey

You begin to view the world from an inner place when you have walked through a transformation of such a magnitude as if you are viewing life from the perception of the caterpillar as it emerges into a butterfly…you witness those who point fingers in judgment and who may make up accusations that they believe to be true…while you smile inwardly knowing the truth and knowing the other is only speaking out of their confusion and pain, stuck in their self imposed quicksand. The words and actions that at one time would have stung deeply are simply brushed off your skin and shed . Your peaceful spirit keeps walking your walk as you welcome new experiences and new faces. There is not even a need to surrender.Such is the gift of transformation.

In my journey of traveling my feet have touched cobblestone streets, ancient pathways, and fairy enchanted meadows. Journeying alone often fosters intimate conversations with seemingly strangers whose heart rendering stories create memories that all parties will hold dearly for passing times between the speaker and the listener. Sharing what was the turning point in our respective lives, we feel a gentle tear roll down the cheek of each of us. Smiling with each other, we go our separate ways, grateful for the communing of a brief, but sacred relationship.

Transformations cannot be planned or even expected. As I entered an English Cathedral I was overtaken by the silence of the multitudes of those already present. Without speaking we share the sanctity of stained glass windows, wooden pews, and unlit candles awaiting unspoken and unthought prayers. Reverence fills my changing heart as I am transported back to my future of Divine Grace filling wants and needs I was not even aware of asking. Gentle inner tears saturate my soul as I am moved to offer eye contact with the others gathered in this place.

As I open the heavy wooden door rays of sunlight pierce my vision and I know I have been lifted to another realm of peaceful existence. I notice nothing I thought before leaving my home to undertake this journey really matters now. No need to figure out a plan or to set goals to achieve success . Hurtful words spoken to me by a friend the day before my departure for this journey are irrelevant and meaningless to me now. I embrace my transformation and wear it like a loose garment around my shoulders. I have arrived to wherever this here is,  and will forever be part of the metamorphosis of the creature I have now become.

Transformations of my life…there have been many. This one, however, is gentle and soft . I walk towards a bakery lured by the seductive smell of freshly made pastries and fall into a sweet slow pace as my feet seem to float forward. I smile knowing I will never return to the who that I was, unsure of the who I have become. Really it does not matter for all I need is the unraveling of the melody of my Heart-Strings being played out as I enter the bakery. What would I like asks the clerk as I point to a cheese filled strudel. My inner child giggles at me as I welcome the warm taste on my palate. Transformations come in many forms. I will relish this one for a long while.

Why Is It Necessary To Serve Ourselves Before Serving Others?

    On a recent journey to the canyon, which always offers me new inner insights, I received the message that I may want to consider putting service to others in each relationship of my current life first. Furthermore, the internal question arose for me that if I did that how would the relationship be different, how would the other person benefit, and how would I be different in each relationship. Reflecting on this idea, I made a decision to change how I present myself in all relationships…to actually put the other person’s needs first. 

As I began putting others first and thinking about how to do this, someone whose ideas I value suggested that I look at how I serve myself. I began thinking about this concept. At first I questioned the validity of serving myself before serving others and what first entered my thoughts was how on all flights we are told in case of a emergency when oxygen masks fall down we are to put our own oxygen on before attempting to give another person their mask. Where did the idea of serving others first go? It was then that an inner light shone brightly upon my consciousness! 

It is crucial to take time for myself to recharge my batteries, to reflect on my intentions, and to check in to inventory my current State of Affairs. Self nurturing  and acts of self love may seem selfish acts …but I have come to believe these acts help me to prepare myself more fully to serve and help others!

I need ever so often to check in with myself to see if the people, situations, attitudes, and beliefs that are present in my world need to be revamped, eliminated, or partially be reassessed and tweaked. Un-cluttering my life of people, things, and situations that no longer serve my Highest Good is an invaluable tool for my emotional, mental, and spiritual well being! When I re-assess I often see where boundaries  need to be set and enforced, where new time constraint management needs to be put into place, and checking in with priorities determine if my alignments might be out of balance.

Checking in further with how I am serving myself I get to see if I am drinking enough water daily, feeding my body nutritionally sound foods, getting adequate sleep and rest, taking the time to experience nature, reading uplifting literature , exercising my body, doing memory enhancing and mentally stimulating activities, and pursuing fun and my  passions .  All these things feed me.  Choosing to being a role model to those I choose to serve and help is so important for we truly teach people how to treat us! Clearly we are living in a time when being kinder to all our brothers and sisters is important, and being kinder to ourselves is imperative . I do not have to tell people what or why I am doing acts to serve myself…I simply need to be an active participant in my well being!

By serving myself in self loving and self nurturing ways first, the best Me I can Be will then be present to be of service in each and every relationship I have! 

 

Magical Transformations Are Possible

I used to think it was a wanderlust within my soul that frequently demanded I leave my home and hit the road, and perhaps it is that! However, it has occurred to me that the land needs my presence as much as I need hers! It the connection of Mother Earth and her waters with the presence of our humanness that the ancestors knew made us whole. We have forgotten so much wisdom from the Ancient Ones!

On my current journey over the past few weeks I have driven to many places, experienced many new adventures, and with each one the magical transformations have changed me ….for the better! I cannot tell you that one place has been better than another. Each location has given me new gifts, new awarenesses, and offered me opportunities to be present with fellow travelers, lands and waters, and breathed in the newness and transformed me through magical experiences changing me forever!

One of the inner transformations that has presented itself is this: When I am willing in each of my relationships with others to be of service first, our connection with each other expands from a place of complacency to a place of peaceful freedom. This was the message that magical Chaco Canyon, a vast canyon in New Mexico, delivered to my heart and soul. 

I know with some of my relationships if I asked the other person how I can be of service to them, they would not be able to voice an answer. Therefore it is up to me to pay attention, to really listen without inserting my judgment about that person, but to make the intention to be present . If we each would set the intention to be present in each of our relationships, listening and observing  the differences and  the similarities , we would be co creating a more beautiful world and each of our relationships would benefit!

I must tell you that at first when I heard this message from Chaco and began reflecting on various relationships, I began to see places that I was not always being of service or being present, and much to my surprise was holding judgments about the beliefs-actions-ideas of certain people in my world! These are people I claim to love and care about deeply! It took me a little while to accept these things about myself for I consider me to be compassionate, open, and non judgmental with most people! Willing to go deeper and to be vulnerable requires a leap of trust that although the truth may cause me to feel uncomfortable in my own skin at first, when I am honest with my self assessments, I can surrender what I find, and take those baby footsteps into being more of the person I desire to be in each of my relationships.

When we each become aware and are willing to look at the incredible opportunities the seemingly chaotic political world we have been experiencing since the USA election has presented , we just might see that the situation is showing us our own personal truths and those things that needed to be uncovered and brought out in the open within each of us! When we can stop pointing the finger and stop blaming, and look at our own imperfections, amazing magical transformations are possible. 

Just as my journey  has opened my eyes more fully and challenged me to look at myself with courage and tenacity, I challenge you to get gut level honest with your own hidden shadow side within. The blessing can be magically transformational. 

The destination is really about the journey, isn’t it? Hoping you are willing to feel the magic!

 

 

The Art of Adapting To New Places

Traveling has always fed my soul! I guess primarily this is true because routine life becomes boring quickly for me, and I crave new experiences, new environments, and new vistas! Once someone told me boring people get bored. I think that is a ridiculous statement said by someone who has no sense of adventure!

      Currently I am in Southern New Mexico , which I tell all who know me, is my Soul Home. Most people think I will end up here permanently because I am so happy in the desert. However, wherever I go…I seem to just fit right in. I adapt and assimilate easily to the new. Seems I have always been this way. Part of it is I feed off of change. I know many people fear change…they want the world and its experiences to stay the same.For me, however, change is the very thing that motivates me to become a better representation of myself!! I look at change as an opportunity to perhaps walk away from something for good into a situation of absolute betterment! Change is the only constant that exists!!!! 

     Do I think everyone has to change personally? Well …I think each of us needs to be willing to adjust to each and every monkey wrench life throws at us! Those who resist change have a hard life to live! I have observed those who think they can control all the life situations….losses, health challenges, career changes, retirement, moving, and much more. The cosmic joke is there is NO control ever! It is simply an illusion! Therefore embracing change without resistance is , in my mind, the best course of action!

     If you are one of those who does not adapt easily, here are some key points you may want to put into your tool bag. 1. Always eat well. Make sure your body-mind-spirit receives proper nutrition during change (and traveling!). Hydrate fully DAILY!  2. Get into a healthy sleeping routine as quickly as you can. Changing time zones can affect each of us! I have many apps on my cell phone that encourage relaxing sleep such as nature sounds and relaxing music. I also never go anywhere without one of my drums so I can drum and chant myself into happiness!  3. Exercise! Walking is the easiest, and an effective way to move that body! When traveling by car which is my favorite way, I always stay at hotels that have exercise rooms. When I arrive at a new location for a few days or weeks, I find a gym I can join. In almost every town in the USA gyms are willing to offer temporary memberships. 4. Get out and meet people. Go to a juice bar, a coffee shop, a book store, an art gallery, and strike up conversations! This is my favorite connective method! I love meeting new people and engaging in a variety of topics!  5. Get out in nature! Communing with water, mountains, a forest, a grove of trees…is a great way to practice breathing and even spirituality (if that is important to you!). 6. Allow yourself to express your inner emotions! Cry or laugh aloud..whatever you need! 7. Stay connected to people you care about. I do have friends who want to completely disconnect when in the midst of change or traveling. That does not work for me. I do limit my connections but it is important when adapting to new places, for me, to touch base with those who are meaningful in my life for support and to share where I am and what I am doing.

     If you are not great at adapting to change and new environments create before hand a loose plan that you feel will help you cope. Go with the flow. Enjoy the change and the new experiences you encounter!! 

     Maybe you are like I am, and adapt like a fish out of water…learning to swim in a desert of dirt creating a new, wonderful life as you come to it! Above all…..Have fun and embrace all experiences that come your way!!!

A World Of Kindness

Traveling is indeed an opportunity for adventure! It is  my personal vision to spread a positive attitude peppered with kindness everywhere I go! I hear many people speak of the terrible world our planet has become…of the prejudices, biases, acts of terror and  assault. I know today’s world does contain this side to it. I also know there is another aspect of the world I know, and when I am traveling I get to not only experience the other side but I also have a choice of what I want to contribute!

When I am in my familiar setting of the place I call “home” I observe how people treat me and how I, in turn, treat others; however, when off on a traveling adventure I notice even more the behaviors of others and myself. It has become crystal clear to me that I teach people how to treat me, and it is my perceptions that create what I “SEE” in the world. 

On a daily basis I have a choice to focus on the positive…or to focus on the negative. When traveling I see fellow travelers as the composite of the creation of the story I want to experience. I can open my heart in a compassionate way to fellow drivers, people at the gas stations and stores, fellow foodies in restaurants, as well as all the workers who make up places I go in my travels. The other choice I have is to go through the world as an egotistical, controlling, rude traveler..believing all is about me and my current agenda. I have also in my life been this person. However, over the years awakenings have gently and not so gently rocked me into the belief that what I give out I receive back. Some call this karma. Some call it what goes around, comes around. Even some call it fate. There are people who believe that opening mouth and inserting foot, not pausing before pushing the send button on an email or a post on social media…is their right. And…of course it probably is! However, what we give out will return to us …maybe not in the same time frame…but eventually we will receive the kindness or the  rudeness that we have given out. 

I practice intentional living. Each day before I enter the world, before I pick up the phone, before I send an email or post a comment, before I leave my current lodging, I set the intention I wish to send out. This day I am making the intention to give kindness wherever I go…NO MATTER WHAT. I am hoping it will catch on. What a concept! Part of this idea is to check in with myself before inflicting any of my stuff on anyone else! If I make this choice daily during the times I may feel fearful, angry, frustrated, confused, etc. I can reach into my cosmic bag of tools and do something to either eliminate or decrease the feeling . Why would I do that?????? Only I would do that because my intention is to send out kindness. It is easier to be kind when I am not a bundle of some negative emotion. I am not perfect at this plan. I sometimes forget but know I get to start my day over once I remember I am not practicing my intentions! 

A few days ago I met a friend for a couple of days in Northern Florida. While we were together in different places  the opportunity arose to give kindness to several people….waiters, hostesses, clerks in stores. This friend and I both set intentions. We did not discuss what we were doing. We simply both freely gave the gift of kindness to others who crossed our paths. It takes practice to do this. It takes making a choice. I have noticed the more I practice setting positive intentions, the more prosperity…the more loving smiles and actions…the more at peace I have become. Does this mean everyone will exude kindness to me? No it does not. It does mean that if one of those fearful, angry people exudes meanness and disrespect, I still have a choice to respond with kindness and tolerance . 

On this day as I prepare to walk on the beach I am going to intentionally pay attention for opportunities to be just a little kinder, just a little more loving, and to practice walking a mile in someone else’s moccasins because it is not all about me and whatever plan or agenda I have for this day. We are in this world together, and I know I cannot change the world, but I can do my part as a traveler and fellow human being to be kinder. I love the vision of peaceful traveling !

 

 

A New Adventure

For about four months I have been residing in a great little town, making connections left and right, creating new friendships while continuing to maintain connections with my  tribe of support.

Having survived the most bizarre election year of my life and since cold weather is quickly approaching, my wanderlust and I passionately agree that it is time for a new adventure! So off I have begun… headed south before going west.

Did I even consider I was starting this journey during the astrological event known as Mercury Retrograde? Oh for my linear readers…a brief description: Mercury Retrograde happens four times a year . Mercury does not actually move backwards. When it retrogrades it is in a resting stage. So, while Mercury takes her nap the activities the planet  appears to dictate over (formal contracts and agreements, communications, computer efficiency, TRAVEL, etc.) tend to go into a scrambled mania. Now please know I am not an astrologer but I am basing what I am telling you on what I have read, but more on my own personal experiences! Believing in astrological events is not even necessary…just look at your own experiences.

I have also heard that when Mercury is retrograding we are given the opportunity to re-visit prior lessons and areas in our lives that are still needing tweaking and a bit more inner work. FYI this retrograde is from December 19, 2016-January 8, 2017. Perhaps you, too, have become aware of some areas in your own life that could stand to be tweaked.

Just in the past 2 1/2 weeks I have experienced allowing myself to release fears and to feel the freedom my spirit so craves on a daily basis 24/7! I kid you not…I always crave freedom of the greatest magnitude constantly. Ever so often I allow my inner Spirit to start jumping off invisible cliffs never knowing if I will land or who I will be when my feet touch the ground again!  It seems in the past two years I have been jumping off a lot more proverbial cliffs, going deeper into capturing new and exhilarating freedoms. I am feeling very free at the moment. I will share with you though right before I make the decision to jump I have this sense of fear overtake me. It happens every single time!

In addition to my feeling fear, and this happens every single time also….I begin observing many people around me jumping into their own fears. The difference between those people and me is I feel the fear and jump off the cliff anyway. Very often I observe many others, but not all, feel their fears and go ballistic. I used to live life that way or I would not recognize it so intensely! Many people are living a life of fear …afraid of health challenges, afraid of losing all their money, afraid of losing their relationships, afraid of not being in control, and it goes on and on.  Why? I have come to believe it is because many believe if they do not constantly work to manage and control their future, the bottom will drop out and their worst scenario of something horrible is going to happen will come true! The result of this type of thinking is FEAR coupled with anger, resentment, egomania, insecurities, and acting out child like behaviors.

Back to my new adventurous journey….so only two days into this current adventure plans have had to be modified. I do not have fears around changing my plans but my peaceful spirit does not really like to witness  the initiation of the fear-anger behaviors I observe in others; and I feel just a bit squirrely.  Once I take some needed cleansing breaths, I remember those acting out of their fears in anger cannot really hurt me unless I give them permission to hurt me. I remember I am a Dragon-Warrioress in this lifetime and I take back my Personal Power as soon as I make the decision to do so!. I remember I can breathe fire which represents my Passion of Freedom! I also can make the choice to be compassionate with those in fear-anger instead of wanting to slap them! I can choose to walk a mile in their moccasins. More often than I used to I can pause and breathe….WHEN I REMEMBER!

The best news of all for me is I have gathered a tribe of like minded warriors and warrioresses who also are Passionate Fire Breathing Dragons! We support each other as we each continue to jump off proverbial cliffs, live out our passions, search out deeper inner freedoms and experience incredible lives! I may travel solo but my tribe who all live within my heart and soul travel with me in our parallel worlds! It just doesn’t get better than this, does it?????

Remembering Ancient Teachings

“As I began awakening this day listening to Sister Wind speaking gently as she flows across the skies, through the brittle branches of barren trees, I feel her energy cleansing the pain of Mother Earth who has for all time held all Creations in Sacred grounding and nurturing. Mother Earth feels the anger , fear, and confusion of her inhabitants and beckons the Sister Wind to join her in alliance as they and the other elementals embrace each of us, beseeching us to release our pain, to come together in Unity as the One that we are. When we remember the ancient teachings and return to them all answers will again sing in our hearts. We will honor all water, all land, all air, all Creations and once again Walk In Balance!” (Messages From the Canyon, December 18, 2016, Jennye Zeugner Johnson)

The elders and ancestors who walked this land before us left a legacy, one that too many have forgotten. Greed,  fear, anger, confusion, arrogant egotism seems to have been traded for ancient wisdom of past sages and warriors!

I believe it is not too late. In every country of our world today there is turmoil, social injustices, abuse  of power, crimes against ethnicities/ genders/ religions/ beliefs. Political leaders and demagogues are continuing to use illusions of power and money to keep those of us from remembering …..remembering we have the answers! The answers lie within our own hearts and spirits.

More than ever we each need to embrace our fellow brothers and sisters, stand up for each other in unifying peace and love, and refuse to be manipulated and deceived! Together we can accomplish what we could never do alone.

It is important to feel our feelings, to acknowledge our anger over the abuses and discriminations present in the world. However, once we have vented and owned our emotions, the next positive step is to bond together in peaceful actions . We must protect  our planet and each other.

Make a daily intention and commitment when you witness another being attacked in any manner: verbally, emotionally, spiritually, mentally, or physically that you will raise your voice in protection and defend what is rightfully due each and every Creation!! We can and will be the change and the Co-Creators of the world our ancestors intended.

Awaken and remember the truth…that we are the people we have waited for. We can and will return to the ways of the Indigenous, the Elders, and our Ancestors. Bond with each other and remember….. as we stand beside each other in a Human Shield of Love, Peace,and Dignity for Humanity!!!

 

 

Transformational Opportunities

I crawled out of the womb and was  born into this world with a desire for peace and kindness. For many years I stated I did not see color or race…which you know was not really a factual statement. Of course I saw it….I did not understand prejudice or bias toward any race, color, creed, religious beliefs, gender, handicapping conditions or any other aspect in any culture. As a matter of fact ,even as a child I abhorred the mistreatment of anyone, spending quite a few nights crying myself to sleep over the unfair treatment of others that I witnessed in my community, my public school, and even among a few blood relatives. I wanted all of us to experience love and understanding for each other. 

I grew up in the 60’s, protested the Vietnam War, rebelled against the establishment…all in the name of creating peace and freedom of spirit! 

My world and yours is not the same world it was. Every country is ravaged with pain, suffering, and conflict. As I have continued to process the election of 2016 in the USA , and surrendered as much judgment as possible, I have arisen out of the dark shadowy ashes. I see myself as a Phoenix fueled with love for all my brothers and sisters. For the past year on a daily basis before I even climbed from my bed, I have visualized and gathered all the love, light, and positive energies available….and sent this culmination of goodness straight into the hearts of every politician, every angry and fearful person , and every Creation regardless of how they live and believe. without inflicting my biases or judgements as much as I possibly can. I truly believe with all my heart and soul Light will uncover the hidden illumination of  all Darkness.

What was once Dark and hidden is now being brought out into the open. Racial-ethnic inequality, degradation of women (and men), tortuous actions against numerous religions, hate crimes assaulting gender identities, and aggressive violent attacks attempting to ignore and destroy basic human rights is no longer hidden! 

Instead of verbalizing the fear and horror of the greedy wealthy, the seemingly gathering of the President-Elect’s team of people that many believe  will bring more harm to our world, I am vowing to practice love and kindness. I believe with my heart and soul we are each being given a transformational opportunity right now….to be kinder to each other, to lift each other up when we observe discrimination-abuse on any level-unkind acts upon humanity and our Mother Earth.

Right now in this moment we each have an opportunity and responsibility to treat our planet and its inhabitants with the deep respect we each want to receive from others. We are being given an opportunity to co-create a New World with a Vision for peace and love, even if we disagree with the way to accomplish that. It has to start with each of us. I am practicing love and kindness, especially to those practicing the opposite. I am not an ostrich with my head buried in the sand. I educate myself on what is going on in the world.                                                                                                                                                 dreamstime_m_770580I see how corporate mogols , the media,  and government officials are trying to distract the common Joe and Jill with meaningless agendas, hoping we do not see what is really occurring in the world on a daily basis. 

Regardless of what is currently happening, I have hope and Faith …that the majority of us will rise above the fears and practice the belief that Together we can do what we could never do alone. Taking positive peaceful action is an option I have always chosen, and will continue to choose. As we encourage each other and affirm we are present for each other, we can change old ideas and regimes , honoring the Divine Feminine and the Sacred Masculine in each of us to grow and prosper! We each and our planet deserves nothing less!!!!!