Merry Christmas, Sweetheart!

 I miss you so much. ❤️

The Age of Aquarius - for me

This week has marked several celestial occasions worth noting - the Winter Solstice, the Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, and the official start of the Age of Aquarius. 

Yes, that age long ago heralded in song by the Fifth Dimension and the play Hair. 

The Age of Pisces, which we have just left, was known for money, power, and control. The Age of Aquarius will be focusing on love, brotherhood, unity and integrity - a welcome change, for sure. 

 

And whether or not you believe in any of that, we can certainly make our own Age of Aquarius in our lives. That is what I have promised myself. 

This year has sucked. There is no getting around it. Politically, financially, medically - our Earth has borne its share of troubles and the trouble has found its way into every home in some manner. But a new day is dawning and it is bright and clear and ready for what we will make of it. We are days away from Christmas and, of course, New Year's Day is right around the corner. This is the time for looking inward and deciding what we want to come into our lives. 

I choose peace. 

If you have never had the great fortune to read Sarah Ban Breathnach's wonderful book Simple Abundance - A Daybook of Comfort and Joy, I highly recommend it. It is made up of short essays/meditations to be read on every day of the year. I have never read the book in its entirety. I have had the book for many many years and the pages are now brown and brittle. Every so often I pick it up and read it for a few days and wonder why I forget to read it every day. Life gets in the way, I guess. But at least I try and I always find a gem worth thinking more about. 

Today's gem was about the movie It's a Wonderful Life and how we should all look to see how blessed we are in whatever way we can. And I am not being Pollyanna. I know many people are suffering right now. People are very ill with Covid. Families are losing loved ones. Businesses are closing and financial stress is high. I get that. I lost my own mother to Covid this past May. She is one of the many nursing home statistics that fell to the pandemic. 

But I believe in my heart that things will get better. And I also know I have much to be grateful for. And, truth be told, I think I have made a difference here and there. 

I bet you have too. Think about it. Whose day did you brighten with a smile or a phone call? What animal has a better life because it now lives with you? What friend's burden was lifted because you took the time to listen or gave a shoulder to cry on? I'm sure you can find many instances like these and more if you think about it. 

So, I celebrate your existence - and mine. 

And I welcome the age of love, brotherhood, unity, and integrity and will do my part to add to it. 

This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius. 

Namaste.

Don't let anyone besmirch your aura!

* I wrote this post in December 2018 and I think I need it now more than ever. Maybe you do too.* 

This saying makes me smile for two reasons - because it's true and because it reminds me of John.
Many years ago, he decided to take a year off from nursing and joined an MLM company selling ozone air purifiers. John has always been a very good salesman and we believed in the product and him.
As it turned out, the year's selling proved less than successful so he went back to being a nurse and was very happy. But not before having some interesting experiences.
One in particular stands out for me.
One afternoon John came home after spending about an hour at a woman's home trying to explain the advantage of our machines. John told me how she had one complaint after another, finding fault with everything he said. It soon became clear that John was not going to make a sale and why she had even agreed to the demo was beyond understanding.
John laughed as he told me how he finally reached his limit, stood up, and said to her "You are besmirching my aura! Sorry, but I have to go." and he left.
A little background - John and I had been on our spiritual journey for several years at that point - studying Wayne Dyer, Deepak Chopra, Gregg Braden, The Law of Attraction, etc. We were becoming quite comfortable with that aspect of our life.
So much so, apparently, that John felt his inner peace was not worth sitting and experiencing that particular woman's negative energy.
Good for him!
And that is the lesson.
Our inner peace is both important and valuable. Some people are just energy vampires and it's perfectly okay for us to protect ourselves from them. No matter who they are.
I remember another occasion when John and I were in a restaurant and we could just feel the uncomfortable energy emanating from the table next to us. The couple seated there were obviously not happy about something - more than likely with each other. Regardless, it was palpable and we changed our table and immediately felt better.
There is a woman in our local grocery store who is always scowling and complaining about something. I can't tolerate being anywhere near her and will change checkout lanes to avoid her.
Sometimes, you can't avoid the situation. Do the best you can in that instance by slowing your breathing. Concentrate on a good thought. Visualize drawing your energy sphere closer in to yourself so that you are not touching the other's negativity.
Just remember, it's okay to protect yourself.
Don't let anyone besmirch your aura!
Namaste.

We are all in mourning

We are all going through a very tough time right now. And to some extent we are all mourning.

We may not all be grieving the same thing or the same person but we are all suffering a loss. At the very least, we are mourning the loss of things we may have taken for granted before this pandemic. 

I can list so many losses that I am personally feeling:

The loss of a hug. 

The loss of companionship. 

The loss of being able to pick out my own groceries.

I have missed birthdays and lunches and dinners with friends and family.

I have missed the funeral of my own mother.

Sadly, there are those who now face an empty chair at the table. Maybe the person died from Covid. Maybe they didn't. It doesn't matter. The loss is real nonetheless. And they probably weren't able to be there at the last to say good-bye. Another loss.

And now the holidays are upon us and they are different this year too. I don't feel the jolly so much this year and have told friends and family I won't be doing presents. Instead, the money will go to charities that are suffering. I have urged them to do the same. I probably won't decorate - or at the least scale it back.  Next year will be better.

But in the meantime, we mourn. And because we mourn, we should take extra good care of ourselves this season. Be less critical of ourselves and others. Let the small things go. If we have learned nothing else this year, we have learned what matters. And while money matters when you need to pay the rent and put food on the table, after that it's the little things that are important. So, maybe Covid has taught us something. I know it has definitely helped me reassess values.

So, yes, we are all mourning in some way. I pray we find peace.

Namaste.