I’m all set.
Everything is purchased, wrapped, chopped, and decorated. My home is warm with cheer, twinkling lights on the tree, classic carols cascading through the soundscape, and a sense of childlike wonder in the air. With conscious intent this year, everything was easy and delightful.
Intent is everything.
But you already know this.
As I head into Soul Sanctuary today, I am saturated in the Light and in the Wonder of Living.
I am grateful to be here. On this planet and in this life with every joy and every challenge that is revealing itself at this time.
I choose this. Choice is everything.
But you already know this.
In this Season of Light, I hope you also know that You are Precious.
You came in this way and nothing that ever happened in your life could tarnish this preciousness. It is still shining and I see this in you.
You have so much potential and it has a natural capacity to emerge.
I hope you let it out – the world needs what you have to share. Life has a way of growing itself if you give it a little attention, love, and belief in your own magical abilities.
You are a creative wonder! This is something worth celebrating.
Everything in your life is evidence of this. If you don’t like what is showing up within and around you, you can choose to change this. You can create even higher good for yourself and others. Adopt a child’s playful, delighted sense of wonder. This is within you somewhere and it can be resurrected – even if it wasn’t part of your own history.
You need not earn love, only claim it. Start within, start today, and forget your history. You can choose this. I hope the Light awakens within you a desire to fall so in love with yourself that you can’t help but shine like the brightest star (even when you feel like you are underwater).
Your Presence is a blessing to this world.
Deep within you, this Truth is already known and pulsing. You are the Light of the world. When you acknowledge this, the Light begins to shine of its own accord. You can start by opening a crack in that brilliant protection system that all humans share. Just a crack – let that Light out. The Light knows what to do and this beautiful world can use a bit more Light … flowing uniquely through you.
It doesn’t take a genius to to know this about you.
However, it is more likely to be seen when you treat yourself with the type of kindness that is unrelenting and all encompassing. No matter what you think, do, have become, or failed to become (yet), you choose to treat yourself with a crazy level of kindness. Crazy, genius strategy.
Your Presence, your Kindness, your Love. This is what the world needs now.
Why not start with yourself? And then your family, friends, strangers, and those lost to their own Light. Find all the generosity buried within you to fully be with every loving person, grumpy troll, jolly elf, and irritating aspect of yourself and others. Giving leads to getting the same (it’s a brain thing).
Whether this is a happy, grief filled, busy, or lonely holiday Season of Light, I wish for you to remember the preciousness of your Being.
The greatest gift I can offer you is my commitment to grow into a better human being. One who is filled with so much kindness, love, and appreciation for myself. So full that it is easy to spill over and see your preciousness, potential, creativity, lovability, and the wonder of your existence in every moment. I choose this. Join me if you will.
May you Remember your Light and turn it up a bit.
Thank you for Being. You. Beautiful. Worthy. Lovable. Here.
Peace be with you and with all. No exceptions.
Research at Rutgers, a local NJ university, highlights the benefit of appreciating the little and big things in life. Seven aspects of appreciation were evaluated, included gratitude, awe, and connecting with the present moment. While appreciation and gratitude both seem to be strongly connected to happiness, results suggest that appreciation is twice as significant as gratitude in determining overall satisfaction with life. Twice as significant. You can apply these findings practically by savoring the positive aspects of your life, valuing friends and family, celebrating the good times, and spending time outdoors. One caveat: don’t make appreciate a rote habit. Cultivate a fluid, delightful practice of appreciation.
Learn the one essential skill that allows you to face any challenge with confidence, sturdiness, and inner calm.
More than a technique. It’s a game changer.
Three months ago, I unexpectedly entered into a relationship with a horse.
I met Zor during a visit to Liberty Stables in Florida, where I had gone to spend time with a friend’s horses. I had no particular expectations. I have no background with horses, no training, and no experience in equine-assisted therapy. I simply met this magnificent Friesian, and something quietly familiar unfolded between us.
I fell in love.
The women who arrive in my classes, retreats, and therapy sessions are sincerely looking for healing, expansion, clarity, or sometimes just a little room to breathe.
They are thoughtful women, deeply engaged with the people and work they love. Rarely do they arrive because they want another spiritual philosophy. Most are carrying something much more ordinary.
A life that has become full. Beautiful in many ways, but crowded.
About twenty-five years ago, I was driving with a colleague to a local conference. As we approached the hotel entrance, I noticed an open parking spot near the front door.
“There’s a spot,” I said, pointing to the right. He drove past it.
A few seconds later, another one appeared. He drove past that one, too. Then I pointed to a third. “There’s a spot.” Without the slightest hesitation, Dan replied, “I’ll leave that for someone else.” And he calmly parked much farther away. As we walked to the entrance, I asked about that statement.
During the Seeding the Light Gathering, I had the privilege of hosting Pascual and Jose Tomas in our home.
They feel like family as this was their second visit to New Jersey. We’ve also spent a week together in Damanhur and the Temples of Humankind in Italy. I’ve sat in many ceremonies with Pascual in Peru’s Sacred Valley. His flute playing often carried me up mountain trails in the thin air and hot sun.
I planned to work a bit, complete some projects, and enjoy slow days with plenty of relaxation.
All of that certainly occurred, but beneath it all, something else began quietly inviting my attention.
The plane had begun its slow fall toward the earth when a sharp ache pierced my ears. Half-dozing, half-aware, I surfaced into the moment just as the toddler in front of me woke with a scream that broke her open. The sound wasn’t defiance or misbehavior. It was pain.
I felt her small body struggling to make sense of something she couldn’t name.
Her mother bent over her with the tenderness of someone trying very hard to be a good parent. But her soothing came dressed in urgency, in the quiet pressure to behave, to use words, to be okay, to not disturb those seated around her. Her voice shook with the effort of managing her child’s distress and her own rising shame.
