Thanksgiving as a portal to a peaceful & joyful season.

Several of my Reiki friends have asked for tips to manage mindfulness during the holiday season. Just from the way I used to be crazed and resentful of the holiday expectations (all self-imposed, I assure you!), I know this is something many need to re-frame and refocus on the peaceful and joy-filled purpose of the season. Here are a few of the tips I shared - and don't forget to check the practices page for a few more. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and eat whatever you want - mindfully and slowly - then you won't eat too much and will truly be thankful for the food and traditions we have to be grateful for!

Reiki helps me stay focused and centered during the holidays - here are some of the ways I use it for myself and my family/friends:

1) Before I write my holiday cards, I bless the stack of address cards with Reiki, asking that those who receive our greetings be peaceful, joy-filled and blessed for the season and next year.  As I seal each envelope, I use the power symbol to seal it with divine love.

2) Whenever we do holiday baking, we gather all the ingredients and ask that Reiki blessings be given to everyone who shares our goodies. Then we bless them as we put them in the oven and again when we make the cookie trays or boxes we share with others.

3) Every day, I take 5 minutes to sit in front of the Christmas tree and give myself Reiki while also being grateful for each of the ornaments we have had handed down, gifted or created over the years.  This is different than the Advent meditations we do around our traditional advent wreath, though we use it to remind us of the peaceful reason for the season too.

4) We purchase gifts for the giving tree or angel tree programs at our church.  I bless each gift with a little Reiki so the recipient will feel the genuine concern and care we are sending with their gifts. 

The best explanation EVER...

I love Fr. Richard Rohr.

Today's Daily Meditation is just awesome. It's called Wholeness and talks about Connection, Reflection and all the stuff I've mentioned on here lately. I believe there is a huge shift toward a more universal spirituality happening worldwide and I am excited to be a part of it and share it with anyone who's ready. 

If you haven't signed up for Fr. Rohr's daily emails yet, they are what keep me grounded and focused on what's really important. What I love is that they are open to any tradition or philosphy.

Part of his message today: We are all little flickers of a Big Flame of Love. Here's today's link tiny little flickers!!
Have a wonderful Sunday and a great week.

Happy Saturday Practice....

Here's a great way to wrap up your week from BustedHalo - a gratitude retreat! You can download a printable .pdf to go over when you're not at your computer. Click the link to access the page. You will also find the link on the Practices page. Enjoy! 

Also, sending birthday wishes to a dear friend - may it be a wonderful year of blessings and abundance for you! 

Reflect & Connect (aka Women need Goddess Circles)...

When I was growing up, I was fortunate to be raised in a close and loving family with lots of relatives, visits, holidays and church.  I am one of the few people I know who had a good Catholic education all the way through. My all-girls high school isn't there anymore, but it was my first in-depth exposure to feminism, the feminine divine and contemplation and meditation practices. Yes, it was Catholic - there is a huge contemplative movement and many female mystics through the history of the church that seem to get overlooked when people think of spiritual practices.  There is a reason all cultures have some type of contemplative and reflective practices - it connects us to each other and to our Creator.

I think one of the biggest holes in our amazing, modern society is connection. I know, there's Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Blogger ;) etc. etc. I get it, but it's not giving us the ancient practice of conversation, discussion and connection. 

I am an Usui/Tibetan and Karuna Reiki Master Teacher. In my search for stress management and ways to deal with a lot of anger and hurt from my past life (note: I did NOT say liveS), I discovered this wonderful, complementary healing practice that is the center of my mindfulness and health practices.

Through this practice, I have met the most amazing women, and men, who have brought back the deep conversations and gatherings I needed to find. We call one of these gatherings a "goddess circle" because we realize our connection to the feminine divine is also our connection to each other and to the Great Divine. The other group I am blessed and grateful to be affiliated with is The Reiki Share Project , who share Reiki with cancer patients, caregivers, first responders and others who need to learn Level 1 Reiki.

Just today, while leaving work, I ran into some co-workers and the course of our conversation (very synchronistically) went to Goddess circles, Reiki and the need for support and loving friendship all women need. I think I freaked a couple of them out, I don't talk much about this side of my life, but there was recognition and agreement from others that this is an important missing component of our age. Spiritual practices, natural healing and gatherings with story and sharing are what we need to grow peace in the world - and in ourselves. So it emphasized to me once again that we need to reflect, connect and cherish all our opportunities to help each other and get some more Goddess Circles going! You are amazing, let's share that energy. Pax.

By the way, I'm fat...

For some reason, people have an issue with getting healing and life balance advice from a fat person. Well, it's a journey and we all have to discover things in our own, right time.  I've been fat forever, always looking for the perfect (there's that word again) "eating program" to quote my mom.  Spent too many years obsessing, counting every calorie, failing, feeling bad - start cycle again.  Then I discovered Health At Every Size® . I finally realized my body was doing exactly what it was supposed to do - when you eat more than you need, it grows adipose tissue.  When you have a genetic history of metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance and diabetes in your family, you will never be a size 2, but you CAN be very fit, healthy and balanced.  It just took me a while (50 years) to get it together.

Last November, I discovered 5:2 Intermittent Fasting and it kind of pulled together all the things I've been working on for decades.  I have finally started losing fat, practicing a much healthier life style and feel a lot better. I now have the energy to share this part of my journey with you through P3.  I stay PRESENT and mindful while I PRACTICE my HAES® philosophy and note my (very SLOW) PROGRESS through a forum called FastDay .  I have learned so much about myself over the past year through just fasting two or three days a week, having a 500 calorie dinner on those days and eating to my TDEE the other 4-5 days a week.  If you haven't seen the documentary "Eat, Fast & Live Longer" by BBC Horizon with medical correspondent Dr. Michael Mosley, check it out - changed my life.  

So, I know how hard it is to stick to anything. I know biology is always trying to outsmart you and now, I know there is a very slow, but effective & sustainable way to get and keep my health a priority without it being an obsession. Now, that's PROGRESS.

Let it go...

If there's one thing Disney's Frozen© has done, it's to add "Let it go..." to the lexicon of mainstream America.  This is a good thing, because frankly, we are all way too uptight.  Our life journeys lead us to realize NOTHING MATTERS, but that's usually in our second half of life (Richard Rohr, Center for Action and Contemplation).  Please don't spend your young adulthood living in perfection world. I spent a lot of time there and it made me miserable, it made everything a dramatic crisis and it made the people around me walk on eggshells.  My poor husband and kids...

In 2003, I was diagnosed with uterine cancer. This was my "hand of God" moment. If I had been one day earlier or later with the doctor's appointment that found it, they wouldn't have found it so early and I might not be here today. One of my mom's friend's daughters was the same age as I was and was diagnosed with the same thing at the same time. She's been gone for 10 years, I celebrated my 11 year survival in September.  It was then that I realized that all the stuff I was watching on Oprah was correct. We needed to be grateful (Sarah Ban Breathnach - Simple Abundance), we needed to be mindful (Joh Kabat-Zinn - Wherever You Go, There You Are) and we needed to count our blessings with every breath.  

If you haven't gotten to this point in your life yet, if you're still angry, resentful and feeling victimized, let me tell you, you're only hurting yourself by carrying that stuff around.  I carried mine around as extra weight. I was just always so MAD. Then, I learned I wasn't mad at all, I was hurt and it expressed itself as anger because I felt the hurt so deeply.  One of Oprah's shows was about forgiveness - I believe it was Iyanla Vanzant - but the message was that forgiveness opens the door to a peaceful, joyful life.  I really think carrying around all that toxic goop is what caused my cancer.  Today, while I still have to PRACTICE mindfulness, those who know me now would never recognize the person of a dozen years ago. I'd say that's PROGRESS.

So, here's a quick activity for you: Breathe in - really deeply, all the way to your toes.  Now, blow it out and state out loud "I forgive myself, I forgive everyone I've ever perceived as hurting me, and I am going to LET IT GO instead of carrying it around - all of it". Great, don't you feel better?? Don't forget to check out the "practices" page for some quick and helpful PRACTICEs as you PROGRESS. Pax