Quote of the Week

Wednesday, August 17th, 2016 | Quote of the Week, Reflections | No Comments

Gone for an age again…life is so distracting! But here is a lovely quote that I wanted to share again…happy summer’s day, all!

Fridays and Joy

Friday, April 22nd, 2016 | Joy, Reflections | 2 Comments

A Writer’s Resolutions for the New Year

Monday, January 4th, 2016 | Reflections, The Writing Life | No Comments

A Writer’s Resolutions for the New Year

By Christy English

When I first thought about this post, I was torn. Make a joke, or tell the truth? Well, I decided to do a little of both. Though of course the best jokes always contain the truth, so I’ll start with the category of Amusing Resolutions.

Amusing Resolutions

1) I want to cut back on sugar. For those of you who know me already, you know why this one falls in the category of a joke. I adore all things related to sugar: candy, chocolate, soda, chocolate…This adoration has been with me all my life, and I fear it will always stay with me. Of course, you never know.

2) I want to cut back on drinking Coca Cola. Again, notice that this is listed in the joke category.

3) I want to stop reading in the middle of the night. I am a middle of the night insomniac. Instead of meditating on my breath or freaking myself out about all the things I need to do but haven’t gotten done yet, I read. And when I am reading a book by Lisa Kleypas or Grace Burrowes, I am up for at least two hours, sometimes more. Those women write addictive romances, but it is an addiction I don’t want to be cured of.

4) I want to exercise three times a week.  I know that this resolution sounds perfectly reasonable. I personally know people who work out much more often than this, and live happy, healthy, productive lives. I admire those people. I am not one of them, but I admire them. I also know myself well, and at this point this goal is a lofty one.

Resolutions I Might Actually Keep:

1) Keep a gratitude journal. My friend Donna Russo Morin does this, and has done it for years, and it brings her joy. The few times I have done the same, it has made my personal world a better place. It changes the frequency of my thoughts, from all that I have to do and have failed to do, to all that I have been given. Reminding myself of all my blessings is a practice I can develop daily.

2) Go to Yoga Class. Now, I know myself well, so I know that this is very unlikely to become a weekly habit, but if I would resume my yoga practice even once every two or three weeks, the benefits to my mind and body would be enormous. That sounds good to me.

3) Be Kind to Myself. This sounds odd, no doubt. But I think we are each our own worst critics. I think we expect a great deal of ourselves, and are cruel to ourselves when we fall short. So compassion for myself is a vow I am going to renew this 2016. I can and will treat myself with love, the same way I treat my friends. I deserve it. We all do.

Happy New Year All!

Friday, January 1st, 2016 | Reflections | No Comments

I love this idea! I think I’m going to do it…Happy New Year All!

Light As A Choice

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2015 | Reflections | No Comments

 

“The planet does not need more successful people. The planet

desperately needs more peacemakers,

healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of all kinds.”
His Holiness, the Dalai Lama

 

 

 

We get to choose whether or not to be light bringers. In every moment, whatever actions we take,

we can bring light or darkness. Of course, it is often easier to focus on ourselves, our petty problems,

our losses, our defeats.

The shadows are distracting to the point that we think they’re all there is. But light makes shadow,

even if the Source is unseen.

The Light that came into the world on the birth of Christ has always been with us, and will always be.

Like the green, verdant, ever-living Viriditas that Hildegard von Bingen wrote of, this light fills the world.

We carry it in our hearts, whatever our faith or lack thereof. We are a part of this river of light that is

moving through the world, whether we know it or not. In every moment of every day, we can choose

to bring light to a situation, or not. In the quote above,

I think His Holiness is asking us to think of our daily lives, and how we can do better in each moment.

It is an imperfect world, and we are imperfect, but that does not change our responsibility,

to ourselves or to each other.

 

In order to express this light in our lives, however, we must find it.

Every tradition has it own path into this river of light. Prayer, meditation,

a walk in a green wood,

facing the ocean, the desert, the sky. Any or all of these might work,

or they might not.

Only you can discover your own path into the light that lives within you.

Even to look is an act of faith.

Even to look is to begin to find it.

 

Our breath is the simplest way to open ourselves to

the possibility that this light exists,

that it is not a fairy tale told by fools to quiet the masses.

Our breath is an ever-moving

river, a mirror of that divine grace that lives within us all. You might choose to sit, to let

everything else go, and to follow it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This perhaps is the hardest thing for us to do in this modern world, to simply sit and

follow our breath wherever it leads. But know that this task was hard for every man and

woman who did it before you. You are not alone in this. You are a link in a chain of seekers

that leads from the beginning of time, to now, and onward into a unknown future that

none of us living today will ever see.

So you might find a spot, indoors or out. You might choose to stand in place, or sit, and

simply breathe. You will find that the breath is not simple, that the shadows are there

as well, but keep following it. The light is there, too, behind this world, supporting it,

nurturing it, waiting until we all decide that we want to come home.