Mindfulness – Page 2 – Join me on a blessed and heartfelt journey of discovery!

Dear Trees, Thank You for Your Gift of Shade

August 30, 2021August 30, 2021
by admin

It was a Saturday, and we had committed to spending the day with our granddaughter so her parents might have time to just be themselves instead of parents, if only for a short while. Fortunately, while breezy, it was a lovely sunny day, and I had planned activities that we could quickly pivot to as a toddler’s attention span seems to adjust every few minutes. From playing chase outside, giggling with each other as we lay on the grass gazing at the sky, to more structured activities like playing golf with the golf set her grandfather had gifted her, we were keeping her busy. Read more “Dear Trees, Thank You for Your Gift of Shade” →

Reflections and Lessons

The Curiosity and Wonder of A Beginner’s Mind

May 13, 2021
by admin

Dance has taught me many things in my life. The need for balance and positioning myself so that I am ready for the next steps to be executed. It has taught me how to move to the music of the world and how to be flexible, not just in the movement but in adapting to a change in rhythm or a prop suddenly in the way. It has taught me discipline and hard work bring their own rewards. More importantly perhaps, it has taught me that in approaching things from a learning perspective with curiosity and wonder, a beginner’s mind, the world of opportunity opens up.

Reflections and Lessons

Self-Improvement and Growth or Something Else?

January 27, 2021February 1, 2021
by admin

Being an HSP in a culture that doesn’t value kindness (Nice guy finishes last!) or the other traits we tend to have is challenging. I have often felt like I was the odd one out, a square peg trying to fit in the round hole, and I had no one with whom to share these similar experiences. So I adapted.

Heroes Among Us

The Hero and The Little Fishes

January 14, 2021
by admin

It is always interesting to me how the people that make the greatest impact on my life are brought into it and for John McReynolds it was a skateboard competition that was the catalyst. A unique setting for two adults that were not proficient skateboarders. He was a sports reporter for the Lompoc Record and was the tasked with promoting Lompoc’s first skateboard competition at the new skate park. I was just trying to figure out how to run a skateboard competition. And so our paths crossed. What initially struck me about John was how he cared about the human element of the event. The tricks to be performed, the venue itself, what type of boards or wheels were not important in his approach. It was the participants, the competitors, the persons involved in making the event happen that he focused on and wrote about. I remember observing this with interest and realizing later this tells you much about who John is fundamentally.

Energy Flows

Change is Potential-Change is Hope

January 7, 2021
by admin

Change for me has been a scary concept far too often. I am slow to relinquish where I am and slow to embrace the new. Slow to take the next step and move out of the comfort of the known. Yet change is one of the constants in life. It is with us everyday from the hands on the clock moving to each breath we take. Each moment is different from the next, each inhalation and exhalation different from the one before.

A Heartfelt Journey

A Word to Journey With for a Year

December 29, 2020
by admin

No New Year’s resolutions, just a word. A word to guide, to inspire, to help me walk the path that is mine. Read more “A Word to Journey With for a Year” →

Energy Flows

A New Thanksgiving Day Tradition

November 23, 2020
by admin

As Thanksgiving Day approaches my feelings about the celebrations surrounding it are very different than they have been in the past. I have come to understand the history I was taught surrounding this day is a bit skewed, having been presented from a very narrow point of view. A view that represented a small portion of the people inhabiting this place we call America and while it may be how some experienced their arrival and celebration of this new world, it is not representative of all the inhabitants nor even the majority. And so I question, what does Thanksgiving Day mean for me this year, a year in which the world I once knew no longer exists?

Reflections and Lessons

Being Comfortable with the Uncomfortable

August 20, 2020August 20, 2020
by admin

My husband has joked with me through the years about my visits to the beach. Though I enjoy the beach I had developed a very particular experience that I wanted to have when there. It couldn’t be too hot or too cold. Too sunny or too cloudy. I did enjoy a slight breeze but definitely not something that could be called wind. I enjoyed the sand when it was warm to walk on, too hot was definitely not preferred and too cold was not fun. He even teased me that there was too much sand. (Sad to say there were a few times when I would bemoan the amount of sand that kept finding itself on my towel.) I was Goldilocks personified.

Energy Flows

When the Door Closes on Childhood Memories

August 6, 2020
by admin

My childhood is long past and is but memories, catalogued like still pictures in a picture album. Rather ephemeral and elusive most times, I don’t give it a lot of thought in my day to day activities. Then something happens and portions of it solidify, eliciting emotion that I thought was long gone, reminding me of experiences forgotten and buried. Reminding me that in getting on with the business of growing up and becoming an adult, my childhood didn’t go away and is still very much a part of this grown up version of me.

Reflections and Lessons

The Delicious Ambiguity of Life

July 14, 2020
by admin

It was a beautiful sunny day with just a bit of a breeze and my husband wanted to go for bike ride up one of the trails near our home. I was hesitant as the hill he wanted to climb was rather steep for about a mile and I was not confident in my ability to make it. He assured me we could turn around at any point so we embarked on our little adventure. Surprisingly, I had requested only one brief stop midway up the hill before resuming our trek. Soon the top came into in view, teasing us with its proximity, and we continued until just a few hundred feet from our destination. And then I stopped. Not a rest stop, but a full on my lungs were burning and my heart felt like it would leap out of my chest at any moment stop. As I stood gasping, straddling my bike with my feet firmly planted on the ground, my husband encouraged me to rest and catch my breath. He maintained we could make it, which really meant he knew he could and was trying to make me believe I could as well. As my breathing relaxed he instructed me to begin riding by heading down hill first before turning back up. Crazy idea I thought and stubbornly hopped back on the bike with the tires pointed straight up hill attempting to pedal. Making no progress other than spinning my wheels in the sand, I stopped, completely defeated and gave my husband that look of ‘I’m done and knew I couldn’t do this’ at which time he again encouraged me to try riding down hill first. Shrugging my shoulders I gave it a try. Then the magic happened. Heading back down hill gave me enough momentum that I was able to turn back up hill and made it to the top of the trail. Progress!

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