Mindfulness
Vacation or time away from home and the day to day routine is very healing and much needed in our overly scheduled lifestyles. It can can also be challenging just to carve the time out and make the preparations but then you can breathe…the holiday has begun! Or has it?  Read more “Reality Bites”
Wellness
Sandy beaches, elegant swaying palm trees, a cool light breeze and the sun playing peek-a-boo with wispy clouds is one of my imagination’s ideas of a perfect stress free get away. As I continue to daydream, other natural environments come to my mind including; hiking under foliage covered trails in the mountains, dancing amongst trees so tall I can barely glimpse the top branches as they touch the sky, and camping under stars so bright and visible, I share in their joy of not competing with light pollution. These are the places I enjoy escaping to for even a few hours to reset, decompress and reconnect with who I am. Just envisioning being out in nature, no electronics and time to just experience life, brings a peace to my soul. Read more “Vacation and Reset”
Mindfulness
It was rather a serendipitous happenstance that I found the gift of Yoga. I was aimlessly browsing through some ‘close-out’ items just after Christmas at a bookstore and a Yoga dvd with instructional book caught my attention. After a very brief consideration and on a whim (at least it seemed at the time) I purchased the item. I really had no knowledge of Yoga other that it was a mysterious exercise practice from a world far removed from mine. My best explanation for this purchase was that as a child I had taken traditional tap (my favorite!), ballet (because it was good for me) and jazz (just for fun!) dance classes and despite wanting to return to them as an adult had found my obligations to my family out weighed my obligations to myself. I rationalized to myself this purchase was my way of filling that desire.
Reflections and Lessons
We all have expectations of ourselves and others. In many instances it is a function of being a part of society, filling the roles that have been structured for survival of the community. I don’t know about you dear friend, but, the expectation to be some one other than who I am has been an influence throughout my entire life. Either to present a more professional presence, be more fun and impulsive (I tend to be serious and introspective in nature), to be more outgoing with new people, more forthcoming in large groups of people or to not be sooooooo sensitive. These are some of the areas I have often fallen short in, receiving criticism and judgement consistently through my life, to the point I believed that who I was was not okay. I believed I needed to be someone else and so I changed as best as I could. Â
Mother Nature
A few weeks back, dear friends, I shared with you a shift in my perspective about how I chose to honor Mother Nature.  By simply choosing to share my love and gratitude with her, the activities that had once seemed a burden, became a regular part of my daily activities with no resentment. With this change in perspective I also began to make more mindful choices about purchases or how I was doing things. I was wanting to mitigate my personal impact on our beloved planet as best I could. As a part of this change I began seeking other sources for items that I knew were detrimental to the environment and testing them to see if the replacements I found would fit into my lifestyle with minimal impact and frustration. And, as promised, I am revisiting this theme today with information I have found to share with you.  Read more “Loving Mother Nature-Please Suck Responsibly”
Mindfulness
Something I have been challenged with in my relationships more often than not, are not responses of a nature I didn’t expect like anger, judgement or not understanding, but rather the lack of response. The silence. The non-acknowledgement. The lack of follow through on a commitment made and then no communication.Â
Reflections and Lessons
Labor Day is a day that was established to recognize the achievements of the American worker and was officially observed as a national holiday beginning in 1894.  It is a day that we often celebrate with picnics, public gatherings and parades, or shopping Labor Day sales which ironically are not tied to the meaning of the national holiday in any way. Having been established so long ago and with the changes in working environments brought about by unions and protests, the meaning behind the holiday seems to have been lost. For most people today, Labor Day signals the end of summer. The end of sun filled days spent frolicking outdoors, the beginning of shorter daylight hours and the approaching cold weather of winter.  Read more “Celebrating Changes”
Reflections and Lessons
Sometimes the journey is easy and joyful, some times it is challenging and back breaking. It is the back breaking ones that teach us how to grow, to uncover the parts of us that are in hiding. It was one these paths I found myself on unexpectedly (and probably how it should be) more recently.Â
Reflections and Lessons
If you have children, especially of school age, summer is quickly coming to a close. Mornings of sleeping in, not worrying about having lunches packed or if school clothes are clean and homework is done are soon too be a distant memory of luxury. Though my children are grown I remember those times well and I recall hanging onto those last few mornings of peace. No rushing to the car, no tears or harsh words for not being ready as expected. Every year I would hope it would be different but, like groundhog day, the process would repeat itself to a great degree. Invariably the protocols I had put in place to help prevent the mad dash out the door on school mornings seemed to work only when they wanted. And, invariably, it was myself I would hold accountable. Other mothers seemed to have it much more together.
Mindfulness
To anyone that will listen, I have championed the practice of meditating daily after discovering for myself how healing and peaceful it can be. Mindfulness meditation, the type of meditation I had stumbled on, leads to living a more mindful life, experiencing the present moment for what it is thus leading to less anxiety and more understanding. However, the question came up recently from one of my friends and a recent convert to meditation, what is transcendental meditation? I knew there were different forms and while familiar with Yoga and Tai Chi (both moving forms of meditation) as well as the type of practice I so enjoyed, I wasn’t sure how to answer. So in true Robin fashion I told her would find out.Â