Metaphysical

Synchronicity

/ still a dreamer

I’m a big believer in synchronicity, which is simply to say, there are no coincidences. I’m also of the mind that when the student is ready, the teacher appears. Or, in some cases, appears again.

I am currently reading The Four Agreements, A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom by Don Miguel Ruiz, a Toltec nagual, or shaman. It’s my own book, and this is probably the third time I am reading it, and as with most books of this kind, gaining a deeper understanding of Ruiz’s words. The synchronicity? Two different people mentioned this book to me in a space of as many days. I hadn’t even thought of The Four Agreements in quite some time, but loved it when I read it. So I soon found myself sitting on the floor in front of that bookcase starting it again.

I believe when we have such experiences, we are being pointed in a direction of something we need to know or which will benefit us in some way. So I am again reading about Ruiz’ four (seemingly) simple guides to a meaningful life: Be impeccable with your word, Don’t take anything personally, Don’t make assumptions, and Always do your best. It may seem like something you’ve read before, but written in the framework of the Toltec wisdom, it is quite different.

Some of these lessons are easier to learn than others, some have more personal meaning, and some are exactly what I am focusing on in my life right now. You might find the same. A little Toltec wisdom might be just what you need now, too. After all, you did come to this blog post, didn’t you?

Making Time, Making Cookies

/ still a dreamer

It’s President’s Day, a national holiday. It snowed just a bit this morning, and it’s amazingly quiet. So quiet, in fact, that if I weren’t at the computer, I’d think the power had gone out. So I made my trip to the vet this morning, and am now ready to begin work, but first, a small post.

I photographed the cookies I made yesterday for two reasons .. one, I do love to bake, and two, I love to take photographs. But more important, is that I made the time to bake them for myself. My schedule seems always packed, and more often than not, if I bake, it’s for someone else, an event, etc. But I’ve started on a new path. It’s not actually about making cookies for myself, but for making the time for what I want to do and figuring out what I don’t need to spend time on at this moment, and making the change.

This is all in the interest of moving forward with my writing and illustrating children’s books. We all have issues in our lives, and we all have things we need to change. Right now, I am taking a really hard look at, well … my life, and how I go about it. I am happy with my work, and grateful that I am engaged daily in creative work, but children’s books take additional time .. where will I find it? I won’t. I have to make it. And this means dealing with many more issues in my own life, my own heart, and how badly I want to reach my dream.

So after I made the cookies, I worked on a manuscript, then a storyboard, back to the manuscript and back to the storyboard. This is who I am, and who I have to make time for. The cookies are just a bonus.

Idea for New Year’s

/ still a dreamer

As mentioned about a year ago, I am not one for New Year’s resolutions for a variety of reasons.  However, in talking with a dear friend on New Year’s Eve, she had come up with a very helpful idea for the turning of the New Year … better than resolutions.

She made up a list of all she had accomplished in the past year. Before the clock struck midnight, I did the same. Let’s face it – we all know what it is we want to do and what changes we have to make. That’s nothing new. And New Year’s Resolutions, for me, anyway, just state the obvious and indirectly, point out all our shortcomings in the year gone by.

But a list of what we HAVE accomplished – now that’s a feel-good list, because whether we accomplished specific goals or not, we have definitely done many things over the year that we can be happy with. And that list isn’t just about career goals or the like. It’s about ALL we accomplished – were you a good friend the past year? a great Mom? did you donate time or expertise to a charity that means something to you? Help a neighbor? Repair something that’s been waiting forever? Finally treat yourself to something you’ve put off for years? Finish even a part of a project that’s been really challenging? Create a new resume? Leave a painful relationship behind? Exceed your own expectations of what you believed possible?

Here’s your chance to review the year and realize that you actually did quite a bit. Life isn’t measured only in “got a new job” or major milestones, though they’re nice, too. It’s often measured in day to day growth. So make a list of all that good stuff you’ve been doing – it’ll make you feel better about tackling whatever dreams you have for the New Year.

Happy New Year!

Chronos vs. Kairos

/ still a dreamer

How interesting that chronos and kairos should appear in my reading materials in so close a time frame. Not long ago, I read Madeleine L’Engle writing about it. Then on October 12th, in one of my favorite books, Simple Abundance – A Daybook of Comfort and Joy, Sarah Ban Breathnach addressed it. And as always, these “chance” messages were of particular relevance to my life at the moment, and my feelings of far too much to do in too little time all too often. Might you find yourself in here, too?

Ms. Ban Breathnach defines chronos as how we try and control time – clocks, calendars, datebooks, agendas, beepers, etc. Chronos is time at its worst and a delusion of grandeur – it is the world’s time.

Kairos, on the other hand, is time at its best. Kairos is transcendence, infinity, joy, passion, the sacred. Kairos let’s go and allows us to escape our own confines. It is spirit’s time.

We, who never seem to have enough time, are at the mercy of chronos … or allow ourselves to be. But we need kairos so desperately. We do already know it – it’s any time when we have been so wondrously involved in what we are doing at the moment that we lose track of worldly time and just are. And there we find joy, rapture, oneness with our own spirit.

But how to be in more kairos? Ms. Ban Breathnach recommends the following:

“* By slowing down
* By concentrating on one thing at a time
* By going about what we are doing as if it were the only thing worth doing at that moment
* By pretending we have all the time in the world, so that our subconscious will kick in and make it so
* By making time
* By taking time.”

She says, “It only takes a moment to cross over from chronos into kairos, but it does take a moment. All that kairos asks is our willingness to stop running long enough to hear the music of the spheres.

“Today be willing to join in the dance.

“Now you’re in kairos.”

Where Is the Joy?

/ still a dreamer

If you are a woman and you are reading this, then there’s a good chance that you are struggling to find the joy in life. Today’s pace, especially for women, is more frenetic than ever.  Many of us are working, maintaining a home for ourselves and others, raising children, and running like crazy. We are often overwhelmed and exhausted. Despite all this, we may still be reasonably happy, or … we may be downright miserable.

I do believe our natural soul state is one of love and joy. And that it easily gets lost in the pace of everyday life. As I am reading Marianne Williamson’s book, A Woman’s Worth, I find myself dwelling on this section where she writes about joy. She writes that joy is what happens when we recognize how good things are, how beautiful and amazingly powerful we are as women. And she adds that we can create joy in our daily life; we can decide to be happy. It may take our attention and some effort to focus on this, but it is possible.

I know, and perhaps you have, too, the feeling of real joy. For me, it is a distinct feeling that all is right in the world; all is well and perfect at that moment. The fact is that we can experience this feeling so much more often by focusing on the good, and on the amazing beings we, as women, are. I want more joy; how about you? Reading A Woman’s Worth is just fueling that desire for joy right now. This might be a book you’d be interested in if you’d like to discover more of your own joy and your own worth in the world.

Without ever getting into a women’s rights kind of attitude, but always staying in the positive and the uplifting, Williamson writes about how women have lost their place and been kept down throughout much of history, and conversely, of all we are and can be.

The passage that I love in this section is as follows. “A joyful woman, merely by being, says it all. The world is terrified of joyful women. Make a stand. Be one anyway.”