I don’t know if you ever think like this, but sometimes I think that I look younger than I actually do. As I have explained in previous posts, last summer I was pretty burnout and my body felt old because of it. I walked around feeling ten years older than I actually was. During the past year I have learnt how to find and maintain balance in my life, and because of this I have more energy and I feel younger than I have in a long time.

This summer I decided that I wanted some family photos taken. I was able to view the photos for the first time yesterday and I am very pleased with the outcome. The only negative about the pictures was my stark realization that I do not look as young as I sometimes feel. This felt a little bit shocking and made me feel a little sad. It made me sad because I saw that I am slowly losing my beauty, and what I mean by this is my youthfulness. What makes this so scary is the fact that I live in a society where women have very few sources of power to draw from, and youth and physical beauty are two of the rare ones. 

Society already deems me invisible for being a stay at home mother, and I have to tell you that the realization of this was very painful, but now I am becoming invisible because my youth is fading. This is why it is so important to me to have a solid sense of who I am in a society that doesn’t always value what I have to offer. I have come to the conclusion that I wouldn’t take away the layers of wisdom that I have gather throughout my years on this earth, to look twenty again. It is because of this wisdom that I feel more confident and more of a woman today than I ever did in my younger years.

I have to remind myself that I live in a world that would like me to live and act small, and at the same time stay young and naive. I think I am done with that box, thank you very much. If I only looked for the sources of power that society deems acceptable for me, I would constantly be reminded that I fall short. This is why it is so important to me to find and cultivate my inner power by nourishing my spirit, so when society tells me I am nothing, I can stand tall and feel like I am somebody even in the face of that rejection. And I hope that you know that when society questions your worth, I will stand tall next to you to remind you that you are worth everything.

Namaste

I  have been sick for almost a week now with a sore throat. I decided that today was going to be a pajama and lazy day, in the hopes that I could rest and fight off this cold. I declared this information to my family at the start of the day. In response, my kids have done a whole lot of fighting in an indirect attempt to voice their objection to such an idea. I think that the boredom has made them literally crazy.

The solution to my great desire to rest and read a book in piece and quiet; let the younger two give me a pedicure. I know that this sounds luxurious in theory, but you can decide if the reality of it lived up to the hypothesis.

At least I got to read for twenty minutes without interruption. Now that is the luxury that I was willing to sacrifice acceptable looking toenails for, and today that sacrifice felt like a bargain.

Namaste

I love when I am surfing the net and I happen to come across a gem of a site. I have spent a lot of time searching for blogs that I might find of interest and I just had to share with you my most recent find. The site is called Medicinal Marzipan.

“Medicinal Marzipan is a blog about body image and unconditional self love, as well as learning to lead a positive and authentic life. Frequent topics include healthy living, body image, love, relationships, sex, and compulsive eating. If a blog was a room, Medicinal Marzipan would be a really comfortable living room or a front porch –  where there is an abundance of coffee, love, and sometimes a little gossip about the neighbors.”

Marzipan writes with such honesty and every time that I have read her posts, I leave feeling uplifted and understood. I hope that you enjoy this blog as well. You can find her site here www.medicinalmarzipan.com.

Namaste

Even if you live in the system called society, you still have the choice whether or not you will internalize it’s constraints or in turn act those constraints out on yourself and those around you. There are rules laid down by the institutions that govern our society, and many of these rules devalue the role of our spirit. Our spirit is a spirit of belonging, of inclusion, of joy, of non-judgement, of freedom of expression, and of love. All of these at one time or another conflict with the structures we have in place so we can live as a large group of people supposedly in harmony.

Many of our values come from the institutions that rule how a society and it’s people will play out, and many of these values crush the very spirit that lies beneath every person governed by these rules. The remedy is not always to wait for the removal of the rules, but to symbolically step aside and to recognize each other as spiritual beings created by the Divine. This means focusing inwards and taking responsibility for the inner work that needs to be down, so that you can become an example of what it means to be led by your spirit in the world today. Become an example of what peace, love and joy look like, and in doing so you will become one with the one who has created you.  

Namaste

To love is to be vulnerable but not so vulnerable that if rejected, you lose the love you have for yourself. Loving another human being is like adding to the love you already have for yourself and if this love comes to an end, the love that you have for yourself should still remain.  

Namaste

In order to feel the most joy we can ever imagine, we have to open ourselves up to the possibility of feeling every emotion available to us as human beings. Emotions lie on a continuum, like the colors of the rainbow, and to appreciate the magnificent beauty of the whole rainbow you must see all of its glorious colours. We have a choice, we can cut ourselves off from our emotions or we can feel it all. I choose to feel it all.

Namaste.

Where the spirit does not work with the hand there is no art.

When I see you, your tender fingers searching for a mere morsel of food on the ground, I am ashamed because in the past I have chosen to look away. How could I have turned my back. How could I have turned off my heart. It is only when I realize that your hunger is also my hunger. That you tears, that tell me the story of your pain and despair, are my tears. Only then will I be able to see, be able to act,  be able to change.  

Namaste

Joy is a present from the Divine, with no strings attached. It is yours to grab on to, and to take hold of. You can not find joy when you find yourself resisting the moment, instead you need to sink into life and let go. Take a moment and take a breath, then inhale the gift of joy.

Namaste

In order to live in peace with others, you must live in peace with yourself. You must learn to accept not only those parts of your being that exude love into this world, but you must also take responsibility for those parts of yourself you consider ugly. 

Rise above the energy that creates fear in this world and change it into the energy of love. How you treat yourself, is how you will treat others. Figure out how to love yourself, and you will spread the energy of peace to every human being that you come into contact with. That is love.

Namaste