Monday, April 24, 2017

LINKS OF SELF-REFLECTION





Have you ever stopped to think about who you would be today, had you not gone through what you have?  

Have you ever underestimated your own strength within?

Re-evaluation of one’s own life is something we usually only do when we are tested once again.

We may believe that we are going through something difficult or challenging and often wonder WHY this is so. 

However, if you shift perspective as to the event being ‘for purpose’ we begin to see and realize we can get through anything because we went through something equally as challenging and we somehow made it through.


It is moments like this, we see our own strength.

It is in this realization; we can find our truth, our faith, our hope, and our wisdom, which comes from overcoming obstacles.

It is in moments like this, we also understand that our ability to overcome anything is possible if we just happen to get out of our own way for a few minutes to stop to evaluate progress.

However, we cannot see this, or realize this, without tapping into our own LINKS of Self-Reflection.

You may begin to believe that you lack strength, endurance, or the ability to overcome obstacles, because the process itself is daunting.  

Of course, it seems even more overwhelming when you do not sit still long enough to take the time to process or use self-reflection as your power tool of rediscovery.

What are some of the things you learn about your own stress when you sit still?

When you honor your own fatigue and use stillness as a way to regroup, how do you feel?

Where your thoughts about anxiety are, worry or concern when you stop long enough to reflect? 

We as humans often underestimate the power of introspection, however it is in sitting still long enough, we can appreciate what growth actually is, and how much is happening when we are in the process whether or not we are on the other side of it. 

WHY aren’t there more moments of stillness in your life? 

We claim there is not enough time to be still because we are too busy to see that it is possible. 

However, we have to make time.  If we do not, the Universe makes it for us.  

Don’t believe this is true?  How many times during a week do you have to “wait” for something (traffic, microwave, public restroom, bank, post office, public transportation, your computer to download something, your wound to heal, your wishes to come true…..) ???

It is in this waiting time you are given moments to be still, only most humans are too busy pre-occupying their time multitasking other things with their phone or something else.

It is human nature to overload your schedule or 'busy yourself' by way of distraction in order to get in your own head.  However, getting in your own head to reflect is also very healthy and necessary at times to regroup with your thoughts, feelings, ideas, and goals.

How often do you regroup?  Once a week?  Month? Year?

Most of us look at the New Year as a time for re-evaluating, clearing the slate, setting new plans in motion. Those who consider going back to school use the summer as fall semester schedule approaches in order to plan for the undertaking of making educational changes.

At work, your employer may have weekly or monthly meetings depending on what it is you do for a living requiring collaboration of ideas or strategies or safety checks/drills with new policies or procedures.

What if you were to do something similar with your life - to meet with your mind once a week instead of getting into a habitual routine of waiting to reassess only when you have time?

When we take time to be self-reflective we ultimately improve our lives by being able to access more energy within.  This is the energy which usually gets depleted taking care of everyone else from work, school, family and home to friendships and relationships.  

When we deplete this, there is usually nothing left of us to take care of the things we need to.  Sometimes getting still can refuel our tanks to begin anew with a second helping of energy to help us keep going.  

We often "forget" about the fine art of doing nothing can sometimes be something we actually need for ourselves, our soul and our spirit. 

Take a moment to just be still.  Shut out the external noise, along with the internal committee in your head and you will be surprised just how a few minutes can improve your ability to reconnect that LINK of self-reflection and appreciate just how far you have come. 

Namaste.

Friday, April 21, 2017

LINKING TO THE EARTH – THE BIGGER PICTURE




Earth – We live on this planet.  We call the place home.

Quite often, we take this lovely planet for granted, pausing for moments like Earth Day to recognize our own carbon footprint and ways to protect Mother Earth.

Whether you recycle, reuse, repurpose, conserve electricity, gas and water, and carefully monitor every bit of paper, plastic, glass, aluminum you use as a consumer or drive a hybrid, EV, use solar panels, low-flow water devices, or volunteer with the many nature conservancy organizations or plant a tree – your daily actions to help the Earth do make a difference.

We talk a lot about the actions we all can do to improve this planet from our own individual homes to larger efforts in groups to do clean up for the sake of climate change. 

However, what we do not talk about is how our own personal human individual energy is affected by our own connection or disconnection to Mother Earth.

In a previous blog, we talked about S.A.D. – Seasonal Affective Disorder https://linkronicity.blogspot.com/2015/10/your-link-to-seasonal-holiday-emotions.html
It is true how the seasons affect our moods, emotional and mental health, and well-being. Blues don’t just happen in winter, there are also spring and summertime blues.

Studies have shown that being inside all the time and not connecting with the outside world, nature and Earth, affect emotions and health. 

We need the Earth. We need to be connected to it on more levels than we understand until we actually immerse ourselves into the medicine it provides. 



Therefore, what we do in our part, even daily small actions – ultimately we are helping in some way not only to protect the Earth, but also to consciously within this ripple effect, preserve human health.  

We consciously understand how in taking care of Earth, we help nature, animals and insects to protect our food resources so we can continue to feed ourselves and millions of others on this planet. This is the major focal point of doing our part, along with saving lives from natural disasters, which come about because of daily-compounded carelessness. 

Still, humans have a LINK disconnect from Earth in many aspects from the habitual routine that is called the treadmill of living life.

·         When was the last time you visited a national park?

·         How often do you get out in nature to appreciate the beauty and all the seasons?

·         Where was the last place you visited to take in a mountain view, the tall majestic trees, the surf, sand and sun or an open field of flowers? 

·         Have you ever gone apple or berry picking? 

·         Where was the last place you visited where you appreciated just watching or listening to birds, or watch squirrels play? 

·         When was the last time you opted to be outside when given a choice? 

·         How many flower scents can you identify immediately after catching them through a breeze?

·         How many nature hikes or camping trips have you accumulated in your life?

·         When was the last time you took care of a garden or plant from seed?

·         What is the number of times you actually looked up from your cell phone to appreciate nature other than taking a selfie with it? 

·         When was the last time you put your hands in the soil of the ground and calmly held an Earthworm in the palm of your hand? 

Humans miss appreciating and enjoying what Earth has to offer and in essence, this disconnected link further separates our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual connection to Earth.  This creates a distancing of our being to where we live, and pushes our gratitude further away each day that we do not take a moment to appreciate what is HERE NOW.

Earth Day… is not just one day, but also a day which should be appreciated EVERY DAY so that we can be mindful of the greatness that is here.   

We are very fortunate to have this beautiful place to live out our lives and dreams. 

Be sure you take a moment each day to enjoy the beauty you can continue to maintain on this planet with your daily consciousness to not only protect it, but to realize all that it is.

Namaste.

Monday, April 17, 2017

THE TIMING OF YOUR CONNECTED LINKS




 


Each day as we go about our lives, there are things, which happen that are part of a daily routine.

Some days go as expected.

Other days throw us curveballs.

Yet, none of the curveballs are by accident.

Timing.  It is a difficult thing to understand when we are impatient.

Although, when we are on the other side of timing, we begin to see that the old cliché of ‘everything happening for a reason’ is truer than we once thought we believed.

Upon accidentally eavesdropping on a conversation in a grocery store, a little boy asked his mother WHY he was not the same height as the other kids in his class yet.

The mother quietly said to him, “It’s not your time.”

The boy took a deep sigh trying to digest this piece of information as best as he could, but it still did not resolve his human question he asked his mother, as she did not provide the context he was hoping to hear, an actual reason.

We are conditioned as children to sometimes accept things, without understanding WHY.
However, even if we knew WHY, we may not yet have the proper tools to process what the reason behind timing might be.

As human adults, our daily lives consist of schedules, agendas, calendars and reminders of where we have to be, what we have to do and where we need to show up.  We are given immediate gratification within this ‘calendar’ to know WHY we have to be somewhere and WHY it is important we are there, and for the most part WHY we are going.

However, as we take a step back in life to examine LIFE itself, we may be like that little boy still not fully comprehending WHY all these things are necessary in our own life’s context as to where we are going, what we will be doing and WHY it is necessary to our own life’s process without goals or destination. 

This is where we become impatient with our journey.  It is not easy to come to grips with the ‘unknown’ for most humans.  

In our higher consciousness, the soul rests in the seat of understanding the bigger picture and the process, though we don’t always access this ‘place’ when looking at our life from the human perspective.  

How can we sit comfortably in the “It’s not your time” answer of WHY things are not happening NOW?

We learn the art of patience.  


They say patience is a virtue.  Though most impatient people loathe this cliché, there is much truth behind it.  The only way we can truly embrace it is to understand how much this can be a true gift in our well-being.


Let’s take a look at it from the place of that little boy once again but through your adult eyes.
You are an adult now.  Maybe you were the shortest person in your class or the last to have puberty hit in your teen years, but the fact is as an adult now looking back, you can see that in your adult life – you evolved.

What would you tell your child self? 

What would you tell your gawky teen self?

Today, as the adult you would probably tell that younger self that everything would change eventually, right?

If we apply this concept TODAY, we learn and understand the process of patience and waiting.  Sometimes we can go ahead and try with all our might to force things to happen faster than they are ready, but it is in the life lessons of knowing this won’t always speed things along we have learned that everything happens in its own time, right? 

Timing is part of our life chain. It is an essential LINK to be gentle with, for what it represents.

It is like letting your hair grow.  Sure, you can wash and condition it, eat all the right foods, massage your scalp, try not to damage it… but your hair will grow at the pace your hair grows no matter how proactive you are in participating in the process.  This requires patience, right?

If we take this situation as an example and pick it apart we can see that during winter and summer months, our hair grows at different speeds.  Sometimes you may have to get your hair cut more frequently during specific seasons than you do others.  That is also for reasons you may not realize.

Perhaps having to bump up an appointment sooner or push it back later provides you an opportunity to have a conversation that would not have taken place otherwise.  Maybe you run into someone you have been meaning to get in touch with for a long time, and run into them unexpectedly.  Or maybe you have had a problem resolve itself on the day of this changed appointment that wouldn’t have happened if your hair grew at the same speed and the appointment happened to be kept at a status quo regularly scheduled time.

This may appear to be farfetched, but it is not.  If you examine your calendar to process the timing of conversations, unexpected meetings, random acts of kindness which have peppered your pathway, finding the right thing at the right time or hearing the right words at the ‘right time’ – you’ll begin to see that the timing of EVERY EVENT in your life has served a purpose.  The more time that passes from your past, you are able to see its relevance in your present life today.

Sure, these silly examples may seem crazy… but EVERY SINGLE THING that has happened in your life’s journey has had reason for delays, or reason for obstacles in order to open the door to chance things which would not have happened otherwise.   

From random friendships you have made, business associates you met in unexpected places, even thinking about adopting a pet and you find out randomly your co-worker’s pet just had a litter.  

That little boy may find that having a growth spurt later was for purpose. If he was not tall enough to be on the basketball team, he might have discovered an alternate interest in computers, art or see that he was more agile with his stature for soccer.  Perhaps it would be in these activities he would make friends he would not have made or he learned skills, which would later give him insight to his career he would take on later.  Or maybe in his adult life as a father, his first born child would have an immediate passion for said activities, and he could have first-knowledge experience from having done them himself to be a better father.

You get picture.  We don’t know what we don’t know.  Only until we are physically on the other side of reasoned timing do we see the purpose. 

Timing is everything and your own connection to your awareness of your present moments can provide you many gifts in understanding the great art of patience.

So the next time you find yourself impatient with life, pay attention to your TIMING LINK within your lifeline and know that your highest and greatest good is right there waiting to happen for you at the exact perfect moment with many gifts which will benefit you later when the timing happens to be on point with where you are in your life. 

Namaste.