Are You In Alignment?

Financial guru, Suze Orman, was on television the other day offering advice to folks facing investments in today’s tough economy. She stated, “In order to live a rich life, everything about who you are must be one, in alignment, and in pure harmony.” I sat there an immediately lapsed into my spiritual thought process and lost track of the rest of the television interview. What wisdom! And money aside, how right for EVERYTHING else in our life! But let’s not turn this quote into a book, just a blog! So how do you define rich? For some it includes money or possessions, for others it is lifestyle, family and friends and for others it is opportunities, career, and calling. Regardless of your definition think on this … in order to be rich in life, everything about you needs to be aligned, whole, one and in harmony, agreement or synchronization. WOW! What a fabulous intention to set one’s focus on.

Think back to a moment when you really did feel rich. Go there in your thoughts, think of where you were, who you were with, what the circumstances were and how you felt in your body, your mind, your heart, your soul. Now, slowly step back and look at that moment, that day, that time and check in and see how your alignment was. Odds are things were pretty much in great configuration and you were shining brightly and filled with joy and ready to leap forward!

So how do we bring these types of moments more and more into our day? Obviously, it is going to take something on our behalf to make it happen. I believe it begins the moment we open our eyes, beginning our day with gratitude to have yet another gift of a day to share with others, to be in service, to shine brightly, to interact in loving relationships, to strive towards health and well being, to inspire, to be inspired, to dream, to stretch and to reach! And we have ONLY opened our eyes!

Then there is the opportunity to connect with Source; regardless of your personal practices, bringing the sacred into the ordinary aligns our soul with our being. Taking the time to step into the realm of our spiritual self, to honor and celebrate that aspect of our selves and to unite this essence with our actions creates a spiritual union that serves us and others well.

And how shall we cherish and celebrate our bodies? Do you check in with your body daily, asking it what its needs are and feeding it foods that serve as fuels and health promoting energy? Do you move it and use it as it is designed to be used, dancing, hiking, stretching, and climbing through your day with grace and ease, delight and intention? What does your body long to do that you have not given it the time to?

Oh so many things to align, and we haven’t even spoken of thoughts and the power in them, making sure that they are in position with our intention of living a rich life? And what of our heart and its rhythm and outreach, it’s capacity for self-compassion and healing? As you can see, coming by the riches in life, takes a good amount of intention and focus, effort and insight, but oh how preciously wonderful it feels when it all comes together. And how glorious we see ourselves to be, how amazing our lives show themselves as they are, and all possibilities become an adventure to explore! Oh the beauty of it all.

Blessings ~ Lisa

©COPYRIGHT 2013 LISA MEADE

Where Do You Place Your Focus?

Albert Einstein once stated, “Out of clutter, find simplicity. From discord, find harmony. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” We often forget this piece of truth when we are struggling, overwhelmed or at our wits end. But it is vital to our living in grace, embracing happiness and in finding peace. The problem for many is the process of moving from point A to point B. How do you find the simplicity, the harmony or the opportunity when you are feeling like your life is falling apart? Where we decide to focus our energies is key. If we continue to put our focus on the negative then that will be all we see and feel. But if we can find one piece to hold onto that is lighter or brighter and invest our thoughts and discussions on that, removing ourselves from conversations about the negativity surrounding us, we find our energies begin to shift. We have all experienced it. You bump into a friend, they are in a very sour mood, feeling as though there is a black cloud hanging overhead, or feeling like the world is out to get them. Their entire conversation with you is spent spewing, unraveling and re-raveling the tired story of why their life is a mess, who is against them, how unhappy they are, how things will never change and so on. No matter what optimistic or hopeful comment you make they push it aside and insist on stepping back into the mud puddle they are carrying around with them. Almost every encouragement you offer is met with a “Yes, but…”. It is exhausting not only for them, but for anyone else who crosses their path! Focusing on the negative is hard work!

It is hard to break the cycle, to step out of the repeating dialogue and negative mantra. But once you do, you feel the energy shift. At first your mind may try to persuade you to come back, to give it more to fester over, to offer you excuses and rationales of why this or that. Continue though to place your focus on one thing that can be seen as a positive possibility, on way to simplify, on peaceful thought and you will see that your soul responds to the life line being tossed its way!

Grab ahold of this and take it with you and move yourself away from the triggers of the negativity. It could be a situation, it could be a conversation, or it could be a relationship. Step away from it until you feel you have a better balanced, healthier perspective and can embrace the positive possibilities of dealing with it, if you even decide to return to it at all. Many times once we are able to do this we find that it matters so very much less to us than we originally thought and we can just let it go. As Henry David Thoreau wrote, “It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see.” What you have learned to see in these situations is that you are in control of how you react to what happens to you. Then in response to the you choose to react, the future and how things unfold for you change. It is a beautiful equation.

Blessings ~ Lisa

©COPYRIGHT 2013 LISA MEADE

Supportive Distance

The past few days have been spent, for me, in service to others, mostly family members. It was a full week of decision-making, events that provoked stresses and feelings of vulnerability for many of my family. Each one sought me out to vent to, to share with, to inquire from and to explore possibilities with. Being a mother of five children, this is something that I have grown accustomed to, but admittedly it is these times when two or more of them need me in this manner all at the same time that I feel the weight of it all. After much good work, insightful processing, patience and gentle unfolding, each has found them selves on the other side. They were able to walk through the door of decision and lesson on their own with my tender encouragement and love. Now we can celebrate the forward movement each has made on their path. Now we can look back at the lessons that sparkle like gems for each. It is beautiful.

And for me, now I can find some time for pause. As Cesare Pavese states, “Just a bit of silence and everything stops in its actual place.” And that is what I need on this day, just a bit of silence so that life can return to where it needs to be, so that I can engage with it in the place that I am and so that my family can continue moving on. I think there are times when we become engaged in the lives of our family and friends, sometimes because we are invited in, other times because our energies are required and then sometimes because we want to be. Regardless of the reason, it is important to our family and friends that we stay present and that we remember it is THEIR story that is unfolding. We do not need to be brought into the drama of it. Loving support means we are able to remain nearby but do not become so involved that we are living it for them.

I think for some this can be challenging. There are those who are the fixers, who want to undo any hurt or wrong. There are those who are the diversion makers who try to draw away the loved one from potential pain or suffering. And there are those are the participants who become enthralled in the story, even though it is not there own. Learning how to be supportive and caring without stepping into any of these roles is sometimes challenging, but always important. It is within this space that we are allowing the one we love to learn what they need to, be who they are becoming and gain the lesson that is waiting for them, while we continue to love, encourage and witness for them with honor.

Blessings ~ Lisa

©COPYRIGHT 2013 LISA MEADE

The Deep Understanding of the Feminine Soul

The feminine has deep understanding of the power of matter. Women carry the instinctual knowing of the divine substance in matter and of how to bring this substance into life, because this knowledge is fundamental in the process of giving birth, in bringing a soul into human form. Now this wisdom is needed for the regeneration of the earth, for the earth’s awakening. ~Llewellyn Vaughan Lee There is an essence to the creativity of women that brings healing to life. The nurturing power of the divine feminine lives in us all, but it resonates with a woman’s soul. A woman is a powerful alchemist. She knows how to make gems from nothing, she knows how to bring blessings to pain, she is able to calm where there is chaos and she can bring celebration to the ordinary.

This lineage of wisdom flows through the veins of a woman. And now she is called forth to shower her blessings upon the earth. The earth is awakening and beneath in the stillness and the darkness await the seeds of our truth, reaching out are the trembling fibers of capillary like roots merging forth to find grounding. The woman knows how to tend and care with her gentleness. She knows how to fiercely guard this new growth with her intentions of care. She understands how to slowly share her wisdom, like gently rain, so as not to flood but to quench the thirst.

Our feminine understanding will empower many as we step up and hold out hearts of compassion. Our matriarchal insight will shed light to the darkness, inspire those who have not been supported and empower those whose time has come. We are the healers, the teachers, the artists, and the authors. We are the storytellers, the drummers, the medicine women and the shaman. We are the dancers, the fire tenders and the magic makers. We bring this and more to fill the gaps and chasms time has created. We bring this and more to breathe life into what is dying and should not. We bring this and more to release what is passing into the realms beyond. Because we intuitively know how to. Because we have been charge this mission and because we have seen what must now unfold.

Blessings ~ Lisa

©COPYRIGHT 2013 Lisa Meade