Whole Living Today

I want to point out something that I had written back in November in an earlier post, Rhythms of Nature - Winter:

Winter should be a time of personal growth, a time to go within, a restful break, a time to replenish energy for the start of the “growing” season – Spring. The cold and dampness, a hint to stay home where it is warm and comfortable.

The shorter days that winter provide should be used as an opportunity to get more rest, sleep and dreams. Personal growth requires a lot of quiet time and solitude. Solitude is always an interesting period in our lives. It can be a time of independence, loneliness or a time of reflection and growth – the choice is ours. Winter is the time to go within. Time spent alone has the ability to open creativity. It allows us to become our real selves, true to ourselves. A time to explore who we really are; our strengths and weaknesses. We are all complete as we are but we don’t usually realize it. No one can provide true happiness for another person; that is dependency. True joy and happiness comes from within when we take the time to be ourselves, to discover who we are.

Since the beginning of the year I have been taking full advantage of my solitude and the silence. The silence is important, the removal of outside negative influences. I’ve just been letting the negative roll by me. Denial? No, negativity is just not something I wish in my life. And by the Law of Attraction, our thoughts draw more of the same to us. Wouldn’t you rather be in a state of joy and attract more joy? It’s interesting because I’ve been feeling a deep level of contentment. Yes, business has been very slow but I’m still looking towards the positive. I’m using this time to build upon myself, strengthen my foundation, challenge and adjust my perceptions, and develop a deeper understanding and commitment to my healing arts.

Many people feel optimistic that 2008 is going to be a year of positive changes and transformations. Take full advantage of this season to lay the groundwork for the new.

One project that I am working on is to create a new vision board. Although visions boards have been around for some time, the movie The Secret is what brought them more to light. I put together my first vision board a year ago, they are amazing. Just to take the time to put together your dreams or visions is very enlightening in itself. But to actually start seeing the results happen…. just one example on my board was a photo of a horse and I placed the words “whispered wisdom” across the photo. This wasn’t what I meant by it, but since then I have met a very dear friend who is a horse communicator. Has to make you think. Here is a post for more information on creating vision boards.

Thoughts are energy, we can change our lives by changing our thoughts!

Related Posts:

• The Voice of Solitude
• The Journey
• Moment of Freedom
• But this is your path
• Transcend Limitations
• I took the one less traveled by

I finished reading a wonderful novel a few weeks ago that contained a beautiful story in it which I wanted to post on my blog. But, I figured it might be a little too long and that I might be infringing on the copyright notice of “except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.”

As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, Paulo Coelho is one of my favorite authors. His book “The Alchemist” is the best read for those seeking. There is a great interview in Newsweek Magazine where bestselling author Paulo Coelho reveals how he supports piracy of his own work. I do agree with his philosophy on internet books. If people like what they read on the internet; reviews, scanning a chapter of a book, quotes, they will purchase the book. Who is really going to sit in front of the computer and read a whole novel? Libraries are still growing, books are not going out of style because of the internet. Books are like friends, they provide entertainment, company, and insight. A book is something tangible, something to hold on to and enjoy. To be reread at a later date. As we grow, we are able to see different concepts, ideas and symbolism because our perceptions have changed.

So, I’m going to take a little liberty and post this wonderful story from Paulo Coelho’s book “Eleven Minutes: A Novel“, a story of passion, desire, love, disappointment, freedom, and dreams.

“Once upon a time, there was a bird. He was adorned with two perfect wings and with glossy, colorful, marvelous feathers. In short, he was a creature made to fly about freely in the sky, bringing joy to everyone who saw him.

One day, a woman saw this bird and fell in love with him. She watched his flight, her mouth wide in amazement, her heart pounding, her eyes shining with excitement. She invited the bird to fly with her, and the two travelled across the sky in perfect harmony. She admired and venerated and celebrated that bird.

But then she thought: He might want to visit far-off mountains! And she was afraid, afraid that she would never feel the same way about any other bird. And she felt envy, envy for the bird’s ability to fly.

And she felt alone.

And she thought: “I’m going to set a trap. The next time the bird appears, he will never leave again.”

The bird, who was also in love, returned the following day, fell into the trap and was put in a cage.

She looked at the bird every day. There he was, the object of her passion, and she showed him to her friends, who said: “Now you have everything you could possibly want.” However, a strange transformation began to take place: now that she had the bird and no longer needed to woo him, she began to lose interest. The bird, unable to fly and express the true meaning of his life, began to waste away and his feathers to lose their gloss; he grew ugly; and the woman no longer paid him any attention, except for feeding him and cleaning out his cage.

One day, the bird died. The woman felt terribly sad and spent all her time thinking about him. But she did not remember the cage, she thought only of the day when she had seen him for the first time, flying contentedly amongst the clouds.

If she had looked more deeply into herself, she would have realized that what had thrilled her about the bird was his freedom, the energy of his wings in motion, not his physical body.

Without the bird, her life too lost all meaning, and Death came knocking at her door. “Why have you come?” she asked Death. “So that you can fly once more with him across the sky,” Death replied. “If you had allowed him to come and go, you would have loved and admired him even more; alas, you now need me in order to find him again.”

Visit Paulo’s blog for quotes, stories, interviews and more: Paulo Coelho

The Guest House

This being human is a guest house,
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

~The Essential Rumi