January Blahs

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There's no doubt this can be a difficult time of year for a lot of people. The holidays are over-a relief for some of us, a let-down for others. By this time many people have already failed at keeping those New Year's resolutions they made a few weeks ago. The skies are grey a lot of days, and everything has gone back to a tedium to which by February we once again become accustomed.

I received an e-mail the other day from a friend-all it said was why he hated this time of year. Of course, if we hate this time of year, can't we just as easily find reason to hate every other time of year! What can we do to overcome living lives of boredom and quiet desperation?

Like so many other people, I've been facing more than the usual number of challenges in 2011. My father (85 years old) fell on the 3rd and hasn't been out of his bedroom since. My children have been dealing with their 93 year old grandmother's hospitalization and now her release from the hospital-home or to an assisted living facility? My younger daughter is dealing with relationship issues. The list goes on.

But this isn't about who has the longest, most horrible list of "things that have gone wrong." The people who I work with-my clients, my students, people on my prayer list-have shown me that for all the "things gone wrong" on my list, I've only been inconvenienced. I really don't have any problems.

Sure, I get the doldrums. When the weather is dreary, the parents aren't doing so well and the children are in crisis, I can get just as depressed as the next person. However, I am blessed beyond my wildest dreams. I am blessed with the most wonderful set of friends, each of whom brings me a special gift whenever we communicate. Some of those friends are fellow Lightworkers-we recharge each other's batteries when we are together and provide loving support for one another when we are threatened with getting caught up in the whirlwinds that are always around us. And even those who aren't maintaining as high a vibrational pattern as the Lightworkers are dear, sweet, loving individuals who are right there if I say, "Okay, I'm broke now and I need prayers."

Yes, the weeks following the holidays are different. Just as we are changed when we return home from a vacation, the changes in routine necessitated by the holiday season cause us to return to our mundane lives as changed individuals. I guess the question is, have I changed for the better? What do I have now to contribute to the whole so that even during a time of year when most people have the blahs I continue to do my part in the ascension of the planet?

I learned years ago when I was spending the holidays alone and away from my family that holidays are just like any other day, and I want to live each day well and to the fullest. I think that also applies to the days and weeks following those holidays. It's not a time to sit back and not participate in life, but to participate more fully. We are given so much everyday. What a shame it would be to miss a chance-no matter what day of the year-to give back.

Namaste!

Snow Day!

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We are enjoying a snow day here in my little Southern hometown. Although other places I've lived in this state usually had several snow days each year, I live far enough south that we rarely see snow, let alone enough to declare a snow day. Of course, the school children are thrilled, and even those who have to be out in it have slowed down their pace to drive on the ice. I, for one, am grateful not to have to be out on the ice and to be able to enjoy the peace and tranquility of this pure white blanket.

I think everyone is needing an excuse to slow down a bit after the last week. 2011 took off like a speeding bullet. Astrologically, we are experiencing a rare period of time when there are no planets retrograding-everything is fast-forward for about three weeks. And although we all want this fast forward movement, it can be overwhelming when we gain a momentum we've never experienced before. Things, situations, relationaships, etc. are playing out rapidly from the mundane to the fabulous. And even though the fast forward movement is a positive thing, we have to be prepared to deal with the not-so-positive too.

That was definitely my experience last week during the new moon/solar eclipse. (They tell you things come in threes and I sincerely hope they don't come in fours or fives!) I had my own family crises to deal with last week (three of them). I was able to be present for those who needed me here--and at the same time I was called on by more clients for spiritual guidance. There was opportunity for us to come together as community and provide what we had to the higher good of all concerned. I was exhausted at the end of each day and wondered how long the intensity would last. I could tell everyone was experiencing the increase in intensity too.

Yesterday as the first snow flakes began to fall I got my answer. It was as if the Mother sensed Her children (or at least this child) needed a nap! She reminded me that the peace we long for is found in silence. I stood for quite some time on my front porch last night, watching the snow fall. Mother Earth invited me deep within to that space where nothing is disturbed. She reminded me that even as we move through these chaotic times, there is always that sacred space within where we can never be harmed. As She wrapped her pure white blanket around me, I went to that place where I am safe and healed and whole. And in the awareness of Her Presence, I rested in peace.

Namaste!

Be Happy Now

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I am dealing with more than a few physical discomforts on this first Monday of the new year. I slept only restlessly all night and woke up with a headache and some kind of stomach disturbance. Not to mention the normal aches and pains that go along with cold winter mornings. Oh, and of course the mental aspect would like to bring me down--when, oh when will my house sell so I can pay off my creditors and be debt-free? And to top it all off, we are just now moving into the transformational part of the ascension process, so there is all kinds of chaos, confusion and fear creeping into my awareness from the mass consciousness. Wow, things look grim, huh?

I could use all of this as my own personal excuse to give up-get sucked into the fear and foreboding of things to come. Be unhappy. I certainly have been given an invitation to join in! I mean, after all, I can't be happy when I'm sick physically and my mental and emotional bodies seem to be teetering on the brink of destruction, can I? By all outer appearances I don't have much to show for my nearly 60 years on this planet. Why don't I just join the party, dive right into the fear and desperation, maybe even check out of this incarnation?

But all of that is just backwards thinking, isn't it? I mean, when have any of us had everything exactly the way we think would be perfection in our lives? Once we take on a physical body, we all face the challenge of being in this world but not of it. The world-and being in a physical body-can be a really difficult place for a soul to be. Yet all of us-ALL of us-who are here on the planet at this time asked to come now, to be a part of the Great Shift of 2012.

I am a child of the Universe-just as you are-and I have a right to be here. The world owes me nothing. But the Universe gladly provides all that I need and more. For all the things I say I want-the new car, the house, the computer, the cell phone, etc.-what I truly want when I express my desire is to be happy. I can have all of it in this moment-at any moment. So "acting as if" I am happy now is no longer "acting as if." I am either happy or I'm not. It's all my choice.

Today, as I nurse my sick tummy and my headache, I choose to be happy now. To enjoy the journey-all of it-knowing that an abundant Universe prospers me in every moment. All I have to do to have more happiness in my life is to cause others to experience happiness in theirs. Oh, and that invitation to jump on the desperation train? I think I'll pass!

Namaste!