A Full Life, A Slower Day

Life has gotten fuller these days, busier and in some ways more complicated. Yet I do not feel overwhelmed or in a state of chaotic energy. I cannot help but think about times in the past when I was busy, but overwhelmed. Life was full and chaotic and I just needed things to sllllllloooooow down. SO what is different this time around. Surely, part of the difference is within me. I know over the past year I have changed greatly in how I am viewing things around me. I stand back and keep a purposeful difference energetically between me and the situation so that I can better assess it and find my truth. It is important to have a place of pause before we step forward into action. It gives us time to pull our wisdom and previous experience out of our back pocket and find what feels right, true and most meaningful for the moment.

So what else has changed? Applying this moment of pause means my decisions are better balanced. It means I have less wasted energy spent throughout my day. It means I have meaningful and enriching relationships with people around me and those are the relationships I nurture, not the unhealthy ones that bleed me dry!

Another thing that has changed is because I am living this way, it is being modeled to those around me and not surprisingly, being mirrored back. We are all each others teacher, so it only makes sense that when someone sees a positive shift in your life, they are going to take a look at what you are doing differently, and perhaps even try it on for size themselves.

So I move through my days a bit more gracefully now, I pause when I need to, I give myself permission to say, “I will have to get back to you on that” when I need to. It has had a very positive impact and I plan to keep going in this direction. There are still places on my daily path that have some stumbling stones I catch myself on from time to time. Now I have the space to work on those.

Life is good when you give yourself the time to notice!

Blessings ~ Lisa

©COPYRIGHT 2012 Lisa Meade

You Can Stop Caring

You can stop caring. Really it is o.k. The world will not come to an end. I promise. Stop caring about what, you ask? Well, for starters, let me share with you a few things that I have decided I will no longer care about. Let’s see if you agree. I have stopped caring about what everyone thinks of me. Other’s opinions do not matter so much to me anymore. I enjoy my friendships, my family’s love and relationships I have with others, but if you choose to say something about me and if you share your thoughts about me...it just is not that important to me. What has become important to me is what I think about myself. I have learned my thoughts can create my reality. So I pay close attention to what I am thinking about myself, how I am judging myself and if I am honoring myself.

I have also stopped caring about being perfect. It is an imaginary state anyway. Being perfect is impossible. Perfectionists also have a very difficult time getting anything done. It is hard to start new projects and even more challenging to finish them. Why? Because nothing is ever perfect or good enough. I have also discovered that I have some of my best life lessons when I mess up. Through my mistakes and shortcomings, I find my strengths or vulnerabilities. I learn who I am.

I have also stopped caring about things that are beyond my control. This is a fact of life I have finally come to terms with. It is the best thing I can do to prevent myself from wasting my energies or my talents. I have released the frustration and inertia that comes from being in this state! When I am faced with something that is beyond my control and I feel myself beginning to stress, I put my energies into shifting my perspective. Now, that I can take part of and care about. It leads me to a place of forward movement and helps me to decide what I will do next.

I have learned to live in the moment. To do that, I had to stop doing certain things before I could have new beginnings. These are just a few, but they were biggies for me. How about you? What can you stop caring about? How will your life be different if you do?

Blessings ~ Lisa

©COPYRIGHT 2012 Lisa Meade

The Power Behind The Story

We all have stories. We all learned how to use language to deliver the message of our view, our story. Some of us have been told stories that we allow to be incorporated into our personal story, sometimes without knowing whether it is true or not. As humans we are born with the power of creation. We have beautiful creative energies that flow through us. We use them to create life, music, art, love, and sometimes we use them to create messes, mistakes, wounds, or hardship. We also use them to create our stories. What is important to see here is the value of being mindful of how we use these energies.

With our stories, our word needs to be flawless. We have so much knowledge about ourselves, the world, the past and we want to bring that into our future. But we have to be particularly careful that we do not distort this knowledge and that we remain impeccable with it and the energy it exists in.

The real authentic you is beyond anyone you could ever imagine you to be! That is how powerful the energies are that are within you. Your truth is real, your body is real, but the beliefs you hold about yourself are not always real. Sometimes they are distorted as well. Sometimes they are not our own beliefs, they are part of that story we allowed to become part of ours, whether it was true or not. The shaman helps bring the pieces back together that have been pulled from the story. Acting as a bridge to the soul's truth and the distorted or broken story of one's life, they can help support the union the energies of the story.

So, we go back to the need to be impeccable with our words. If our words have the ability to create our story, then should we be sure we speak only the truest words. And in the process of that creation, we should speak of what we really are and really want to breathe life into.

Knowing this, our self-talk then begins to change. We have the power and the knowledge and the creative ability to make a story of truth for ourselves to exist in. No more room for talk that is self-deprecating. No more lies. No more using the power of our words to create a story that works against us.

The shaman knows the power of story. The shaman is the storyteller. The shaman knows that every word creates a symbol, holds magic and is all-powerful. When the story wounds or dis-empowers, the shaman often is called upon to help heal the soul whose creative force has been depleted, blocked or wounded. It is often in the healing of the story and the reintegration of the truth that one returns to their power.

Blessings ~ Lisa

©COPYRIGHT 2012 Lisa Meade

Celebrating YOU

I have so much in my life to celebrate, so much to be grateful for, so much to take delight in. But I have made it a priority to celebrate me first. Yup, I am first in line. Why? Two reasons. One, I have learned that my definition of celebration has a bit more depth than most. And two, once I make celebrating me a priority the power and joy, the light and peace, and the magical abundance flows and flows and flows! Before you know it, there is not a day that goes by without someone or something to celebrate! So how do I define celebrating? It is so much more than parties, cake and balloons or champagne toasts! Celebrating is honoring, and admiring. There is a recognition of the value. An accepting the whole package in its wabi sabi perfectly imperfection. There is respect, esteem, and appreciation in the act of celebrating as well.

When I bring celebration into my day I open the doors of connection. I embrace those who cross my path. I look to the seasons, the time of day, the moment with an eye of appreciation and wonder. I am looking for the spark in the moment. My whole perspective shifts from blindness to awareness.

When I take this celebration to a more personal level I look to myself and honor the spiritual being that I am. I cherish the body I have been gifted with. I value the wisdom I hold within. I am amazing! You are as well. Now, that is worth celebrating! And the beautiful thing that happens next is that our body responds. It resonates to the positive energy in which we are holding it.

I have learned to celebrate the form of my body, its role, it movements, its stamina. I have also learned to accept its softness, its vulnerabilities and its potential. The human body has taken an awful lot of abuse, neglect and hate of late. I decided to change that channel and find my own personal rhythm to move within.

And at this celebration come the relationship I have with my body. I have witnessed over time the better I participate in this relationship, the keener my sense of my value of my body and the better my body seems to respond. We are in constant communication. It is hard to believe that at one time in my life, I was barely listening and often that listening was filled with resentment, negative expectations and denial.

To celebrate oneself we need to be awake to the voice of our body. We need to be aware of the messages that are being sent to us and not make up excuses, rationalizations or refusals to what they are. We need to be responsible for our part of the relationship.

As we learn to listen we find more and more ways to honor our bodies. Whether it be through food, movement, spiritual practices, rest and relaxation, creativity or more. With each act of compassion and understanding, responsibility and support that we offer we take yet one more step closer to the celebration! Our body wants to be jubilant! Our body wants to be revered! Out body wants to serve us well...really, really well! And that is a party in itself! Imagine the gifts of that!

Today listen closely. What message is your body sending you? How will you receive this message? How will you respond? How long before you take the actions necessary for the celebration to begin?

Blessings ~ Lisa

©COPYRIGHT 2012 Lisa Meade