January 7--Take Time

Time is the greatest innovator.  --Francis Bacon

    I am personally quite fond of the eternal truth, "This, too, shall pass." It gives me hope and encouragement to be resilient. No matter how awful things may appear to be in the moment, humanity does move forward, seemingly at a snail's pace mostly, but forward nonetheless. If adversity truly does make us stronger, I'd say we should all be pretty mighty by now. I'm counting on time, and a very clear understanding of how we DO NOT want life to be, to bring our focus to what we DO want to innovate. 

    Leta

January 6--Take a Step

What saves a man is to take a step. Then another step. It is always the same step, but you have to take it.  --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

    This idea of taking a step applies both to the big lofty life-time dreams and the routine of daily self-care. "Baby steps," if you will, get us going, keep us moving. 12-Steppers refer to this as doing the footwork. 

    I can think of numerous examples in my life of taking steps without knowing the end result. I went to a workshop many years ago where I was introduced to some specific stretching exercises which my friend indicated was yoga. I found a beginners yoga class at the YMCA, committed to that, and fell in love with yoga to the extent that I wanted to become a teacher. Those "steps" continued, and in October 2011, I completed yoga teacher training. I've been teaching ever since, and I love it. 

    Then there's the day-to-day steps. I have a list on my phone of the things I strive to do daily that are my baseline for good self-care.  These include such exciting things as taking my vitamins and flossing my teeth, but also spiritual practice, which includes this blog writing. I keep the list to help me remember all the items, not to beat myself up if I don't get all of them done on any given day. The list is fluid. "Hip exercises" is an item now as I strengthen my left side after surgery; that one will drop off the list soon. I know that it is the daily steps of self-care that lead to a contented life. I am worth the effort. 

    What step can you take today to value the unique expression of Spirit that you are?

        Leta

January 5--Change (not coins)

Progress is impossible without change; and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.  --George Bernard Shaw

    If you think life is outside you, happening to you, guess what--not so. It's all in your head. We attract somehow everything that comes into our experience. I don't know how it works, and I don't always like the fact. Who wants to take responsibility for attracting "bad things"? Our thoughts are creative, be they conscious or unconscious. And they are magnetic, attractive. 

    Logically it follows that if we don't like what we are experiencing, the place to start for change is in one's mind. As Shaw states, if we can't change our minds, we can't change anything. No one but me has any control over the thoughts in my head. We may argue that we have been influenced by outside circumstances, but that is because we have allowed the outside situations to affect our thinking. With such an understanding of our creative ability, blaming becomes a useless, self-defeating tactic. 

    The ability to change our minds gives us both great power and great responsibility. We tend to dig having that power, but the responsibility--not so much. There's a perfect glaring example in President Trump, who clearly digs his power, but has repeatedly shirked responsibility. Note what a mess that mindset has created. It goes directly against the laws of nature and can never be successful long-term.

    The pandemic has generated much consideration of how we have been thinking, and great opportunity to change our minds for progress. That's a blessing. 

    Did I say changing one's mind is easy? Nope. Control of one's thinking is a practice, like everything in this life. 

    Change is not a dirty word,

        Leta

January 4--What IS Waiting for Us?

We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.  --Joseph Campbell

    Flexibility is the name of this game. "The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry." (Robert Burns) This is not necessarily a bad thing. I have found that when I relax and give up on how I would demand life be, life often hands me something even better. The big example from my life is my plan in my 20s to get a handle on my eating, lose weight and be thin for life. When I gave up that plan in exchange for a 12-Step program, I found the life waiting for me to be one of extraordinary richness, personal growth and health on every level.

    The events of 2020 really did a number on "the life we've planned." And now we wait with anticipation for "the life that is waiting for us." We're still not "out of the woods" yet, but I feel the general sense of new, better, kinder, more creative and more compassionate life ahead. Mercifully, we can't go backwards. 

    This writing by Rev. Christian Sorensen describes my practice for implementing the Campbell quote in my life:

Prayer too often ends up being directed at something outside of the self with a request for a change in conditions. Imagine the difference if your prayer was a communion with the Infinite. You would no longer be petitioning for anything to shift. Your only desire would be to know God better. When practiced in this manner, you are no longer looking for an answer that fulfills a limiting question that fits nicely into one of your preconceived rooms of thought. When you are in tune with the Infinite, you experience the unfoldment of an expanding consciousness that blows the walls out from your box. There are answers to prayer that your requests can’t even begin to articulate, Divine Connections ready to deliver the goods beyond expectations and a love that brings a peace and security only the soul could know.

    Que sera, sera,
        Leta

January 3--Choose to Pursue

There is a joy in the pursuit of anything.  --Robert Henri

    Setting the mind to something, with total focus, truly is a joy. My younger son is in the midst of studying and creating plans for customizing a van. I can feel the joy in him as he talks about it. I feel that joy when I get into painting, gardening, traveling, golfing or teaching. My husband and older son experience great joy in cooking and also discussing their efforts with each other. 

    I believe this joy is a result of connecting with our inner flow of creativity, an aspect of Spirit within us. Doing what we love opens wide the channel, and our life energy is super-charged. It feels good. It is wonderful that just as I get joy from the things I mentioned above, there are folks who get great joy from fixing car engines, performing surgery, inventing technology, playing music and studying the galaxies. We wouldn't have the convenient lives we have today if it weren't for humans finding "joy in the pursuit of anything." 

    As we enter a new year, we have the opportunity to figure out those personal "anythings" that we can pursue with joy. What will they be? 

        Leta

2020, by Leta

January 2--Seeking Balance

True progress quietly and persistently moves along without notice. 
--St. Francis de Sales

    I am so grateful to be alive at this time in evolution. There is an energy shift happening on the planet, bringing more feminine energy into play, seeking balance between the masculine and feminine energies. The reference to "incarnation" in the following passage means (to me) the presence of Spirit/God/Universe coming alive within each of us. This is from Richard Rohr of the Center for Action and Contemplation:

No incarnation can take place without a very real feminine presence and polarity. We’ve forgotten that reality for far too long, which is why we are witnessing such an immense longing for relational, mutually empowering feminine qualities at every level of our society. Left primarily in the hands of men for most of history, our politics, our economics, our psyches, our cultures, our patterns of leadership, and our theologies have all become far too warlike, competitive, individualistic, mechanistic, and non-contemplative. 

    I would add that our planet has also suffered from extraordinary abuse "in the hands of men." This poem is from the medieval mystic Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179):

The earth is at the same time mother,
she is mother of all that is natural,
mother of all that is human.
She is the mother of all,
for contained in her are the seeds of all.

    Please note that I am not "anti-men." Men and women both bring good to the world. Both energies are needed in moderation and balance. Such "true progress" will be good for all. I do, however, like to remind those men who continually attempt to abuse the feminine and take away women's rights, that if it weren't for the generous efforts of a woman, they would not be here. 

    Yes, progress is slow. It may seem like it is "two steps forward, one step back." Evolution, however, is unstoppable. 

    Grateful,

        Leta

January 1--New Month, Year and Theme

There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.  --C. S. Lewis

    It's so very appropriate that the theme for January in the "Daily Peace" book is transition. Even though it seems like "just another day," we have flipped the calendar to a new month and year. 

Welcome, 2021, and all it has to offer!

    I finished off 2020 with a tour of Illuminations, the annual light show at Botanica, Wichita's botanical gardens. I LOVE Christmas lights. They make me so happy in a squealing-little-kid sort of way. My inner youngster had a bonus last night with a carousel ride. Surprisingly, there was no line for a ride on the indoor carousel, so I went for it. And I didn't just sit on a bench--I got on a horse, which I could not have done had I not had hip-replacement surgery. Comically, I got on a very low horse, but when the carousel stopped, my horse was at its highest. I had no problem getting off. What a joy to do something that I hadn't done in decades. What a fun way to cap off a most interesting year!

    Looking ahead, I paraphrase one of my favorite lines from 12-Step literature: Each day we live well, we are well, and we embody the joy of living, which attracts others who want what we've found. Let's live this day well, shall we?

        Leta

Botanica 2020