It is the innate desire of all living things to grow towards the direction of light. We see this in the curve of plants  as they reach towards the energy of the sun. Our own intuition pulls us towards the Divine, and our sole purpose in life is to follow.

Namaste

At our deepest level we are so connected, that to see where you start and I end would be impossible. We are entangled like the roots of forest trees. On the surface these trees stand stoic, but underneath  their roots are beautifully intertwined creating a masterpiece of life. When I look into your eyes, I search to see those roots and in doing so I see myself, and my deep connection to you.

Namaste

I got this picture off the internet, and I can guarantee you that these two children are not related. If they are, they were probably bribed with huge amounts of money and candy, to act as if they were not born with the sole purpose of making the other one’s life miserable.

You’ve got to love the discrepancy between reality and what society projects to us about how our children are supposed to behave. Everybody seems to want the candied version of how life should be when we are being entertained but when life doesn’t quite turn out that way in reality, we feel like we have then done something wrong to have net such opposing results. Every veteran mother will tell you that kids fight and they will still fight, even if it is in more subtle ways, when they are adults.

I have now changed my goal from trying to get my children to stop fighting, to at least make sure that the least dominant one in the situation doesn’t get creamed. My family has become a microcosm exemplifying Darwin’s theory, Survival of the Fittest.  Boy oh boy, are they trying to test my position in the clan. I think all this summer break togetherness is making my children feel like they are the children right off the pages of The Lord of the Flies, who try to outsmart each other as they try to vie for the position of top dog. 

I started off the summer break using yelling as my tool to control the masses and their squabbling, and the only thing that did was give me a sore throat. I then tried my old, “You can work it out”, trying to instill the confidence in them that they could indeed act like human beings when forced to spend more than one hour together. I am not quite desperate yet, but the summer is not yet half way over. Let me get back to you in a week or two. Desperation has a funny way of bringing out my worst but also some of my best parenting ideas. I will let you know which way the fork in the road takes me.   

As I was writing the end of this post my seven-year old daughter came running upstairs to inform me that her older brother was putting his butt in her face. I hope for her sake that his pants were on when he was torturing her. I don’t want to know.

Namaste

When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.

Today the clouds parted and I swear God was patting me on the back. The moment that deserved such praise was that all four of my children ate what I fed them for supper, without a moment of hesitation or complaining. Although they were verbally silent, the empty plates were evidence enough for me and I will take what I can get.

As any person who cooks for more than one knows, to please the taste buds of the whole crowd can seem like an impossible feat. I have slaved in the kitchen, making meal after meal, only to have most or all of my children stick up their noses in disgust as if I was asking them to eat the warm eyeballs of a cow that I just killed in the backyard (Don’t worry there are no roaming mammals in my backyard, I barely can keep my tomato plants alive.). I think that I finally get why my dad would always say when I was growing up, that he understood why some animals eat their young. I think four would prove to be a pretty hearty meal, do you?

I used to get so frustrated with this scenario, working hard to please my family through cooking and in return they would verbally pick apart what they were served. One time, after a particular hard day with three needy children and one crying baby, this scenario sent me stomping and crying upstairs, feeling quite sorry for myself (and might I add I think quite rightfully so). 

The more kids you have, the less the odds are that the same meal with be a hit with everybody. I have grown as a person, one might say matured, and those crying bouts over rejected meals seem like distant and silly memories. I just don’t take it personally anymore and basically tell my children when their noses are turned up so high, that I think that I can actually see straight up into their nose cavities, to eat their supper and that the chef is not interested in comments from the patrons.

Curious to know todays big hit……grilled peanut butter and jam sandwiches. What can I say, I had to make a quick supper and it turns out that what they really want to eat is sandwiches rather than the pureed curried sweet potato soup that I tried to feed them this winter. Who knew.

Namaste

This song, when I first heard it, inspired me to see people in a whole new way. I was so moved by the vulnerability in this song, that when I listened to it for the first time, I began to cry uncontrollably. This song taught me that at our deepest level, we are all the same. I was in my late teens and hearing this song shifted my consciousness at such a spiritual level, that I have never been the same since. That is the power of music. The song is Philadelphia by Neil Young.

Namaste

We often think that we will find inspiration looking to those individuals that have walked further than us, on this path called life. What I have found is, that many times life’s wisdom comes from those who have spent less time being conditioned by society. Many times it is through the innocence of the youth in our lives, that the real meaning of life is so poignantly expressed. This poem is one of those examples of when someone so young has so much wisdom to share. My niece (who is fourteen years old) shared a poem with me that she has written, and I am proud to share it with you.

Namaste

Live every moment
 like it’s your last.
 Hurry or this time
 will pass.
 The life you have now
 could change in a second.
 Unscheduled, unplanned
 but never regretted.
 Change can be good
 or change can be bad.
 Either way you might miss
 what you once had.
 Live your life the way you want to live.
 Give to others.
 Share.
 And just don’t forget to live.
 For if you love to rush through life
 not knowing what’s going on.
 Stop, take a breath.
 Before life it’s self is gone.
 If your always busy
 and never have the time.
 Stop and take a moment.
 And just remember why.

by Abby Lidster

I love you Abby. Love Aunty

At some level we have all agreed to follow the rules of society. I now feel like I am stepping back and deciding that if some of these rules starve my spirit, that I am going to follow my heart instead of dying from the inside out. I don’t want to just live, I want to feel alive.

Namaste

Intuitively we all know that we are connected at a deep level. This dog knew this and instinctively put another dog’s life before his own. 

Namaste

Have you ever met somebody who was completely into themselves? Some might describe this behavior as conceited or selfish. It doesn’t matter how you describe this type of person, how they behave is simply unattractive.

If the levels of self-esteem were on a continuum, an overinflated sense of self-worth would be at one end and an underinflated self-esteem would be at the other. I think that both of these ends of the continuum are unhealthy in how self-focused they can be. It is easy to accept that when somebody has the ability to overestimate their importance, that they may appear to be self-absorbed. I think that this also can be true for somebody who has  low self-esteem.

We have all had moments in our life where we just did not feel like we measured up. When you are continually thinking that you are not good enough, it takes a lot of energy that is focused on one’s self. This type of behavior can seem just as self-absorbed as conceit can. Many people use low self-esteem as a crutch, so they don’t have to take a chance in life. No one benefits if you do not like yourself but when you do, everybody reaps the rewards.

I am challenging you to move out of the box labeled “low self-esteem” and make a new choice in the way you are going to view yourself in relation to your life. You will be amazed at what will start to happen.

Namaste