An afternoon of skiing

My wonderful day continued with an afternoon of skiing. My sons had gone to the mountain a bit earlier with their Dad, but I found them all there and got to ski with my boys. One snowboards and the other skis and I was amazed by their skill. A knee injury and the resulting surgery have meant that I didn't ski much this year or last, so I had missed seeing much of their evolution on the mountain. So I am so very impressed by them - their budding independence and enthusiasm for finding their power. Even though my younger son did bump his wrist, we iced it a bit and then he attacked the mountain again for several more runs before the end of the day.
The mountain was sunny and warm - the sky a deep cerulean. Trees near the top of the lift still shone with a cover of luminescent ice.
And tonight I had a lovely conversation with a woman who I admire and feel so fortunate to be getting to know better. We are hosting a call tomorrow night for the team we are on in our business of helping people improve their nutrition and well being. So tonight, as I prepare for sleep, I am thankful for how good life can be on a day of living consciously.
Namaste.

Great Choice!

Well, I am so happy that I made that "conscious" choice this morning, and am thankful that my blogging helped me do so. It was so beautiful and the dogs were able to run around in their crazy circles. There were wonderful little footprints in the snow - delicate little paws. At one point my dogs were in the woods and as I was pulling out my phone to take a picture (not a phrase I ever would have imagined writing 20 years ago) I noticed that there was an owl in a tree directly above them. Of course, my movement alerted the owl and it swivelled its head and looked at me, lifted itself off of its branch and flew directly towards me, swooping past my head about 8 feet away. I was breathless. Couldn't catch a photo, though. Then, as we emerged from the woods onto a big field, we saw two red tailed hawks. They glide and float on the wind so extraordinarily. Ahhhh... So great.

Sunday Morning

A quiet, sunny Sunday morning. I am about to take my dogs for a walk. I live in such a peaceful place. I am trying to decide if I should jog, or put my show shoes on and cross the large field across the road from me. I think I should grab the opportunity to enjoy the snow while I can. We can't have too many more weeks of it. Daffodil tips are pushing their way through the soil where the snow has melted. Spring will be here soon. It has been a long winter, and I am thankful for all of the snow we have had. It had been years since we have had a "real winter."
So, off I go. A lovely way to begin a Sunday. Peace to all.

"Conversations with God"

I am reading a book called "Conversations with God - An Uncommon Dialogue" by Neale Donald Walsch. It is very interesting. It concerns the concept with God being within all of us. Whatever your concept of God is. And that the way to converse with Him/Her/Whatever is to just begin. The book is basically a person's transcription of his conversations. And it is amazing what happens when one begins to just ask questions and await the answers. I have been reading the book for a while, while also reading Eckart Tolle's book, and it all fits together.

It doesn't mean that I am making perfect choices or that I have suddenly become religious, but there is enormous comfort in realizing that I can ask myself what to do when I am confused. I keep forgetting that I can do that, but when I remember, it is like I am conversing with my guide, and I don't think I have ever had such a clear sense of that.

Today, it has felt important to me to just be. I don't know why. I didn't want to go out and shop or work on my taxes(though I am almost done :) ) . I just want to be warm in my home with my silly dogs curled up on the couch next to me. Learning to blog. Getting comfortable with this new form of expression. Hoping that it can be a way for me to help others, to open my heart. To learn and grow.

learning to blog...

Okay, so I have spent much of my morning learning how to set up my blog. This is all new to me and I feel inspired by all of the possibilities that this creates. I love the idea of creating a daily habit of sharing consciousness. I also love the way that I can share links to products and organizations that I care about.
I want to learn to express myself with confidence, I want to become less afraid of saying what I think and sharing what I care about.
So many of us are on a journey to creating our best lives. We also wish to provide for and teach our children to live consciously and understand how much control they have over their inner and outer lives. We have to learn and relearn that we mush choose not to be victims - that we have much more freedom than we give ourselves credit for - especially as adults.
Eckhart Tolle's books "The Power of Now" and "A New Earth" are great guides for us. As is the program taught by the The Landmark Forum. They give us the tools to learn to separate that voice we hear in our heads - that critical and judgemental voice, the voice that tells us that we are our stories - from the true consciousness that we are.
We are beings of energy. All matter consists of energy. That energy ties us all to one another, and it both makes each one of us unique and part of the greater whole. Some of what I do professionally is bodywork, and it has taken me years to feel like I can really believe in that energy. We are taught as children not to listen to our intuition, at least, I was. We are taught not to believe in things that are not concrete, or that we cannot record on film. But there is indeed, a layer of reality(and I use that word consciously) that exists even though it is very hard to quantify or record, and to refuse to believe in it or to acknowledge it, is to miss out on the great miracle of our existence. And what a miracle it is. Imagine if we could remember about that miracle in every moment. Maybe we could try that on and see how it feels.

beginning on a path

Ahh, so it begins... a blog... a modern day journal for public consumption. I want this to follow me, or guide me on my path to living more consciously. Learning to use "that voice in my head" as a helper - a voice to bounce ideas off of - a voice to help me learn to live by making choices, not just reacting. My hope is that we are all on this path. That we all want to learn to live more consciously, to examine our choices, to think before we act. And also that we learn about human nature at its source, that we learn to love people because of who they are, not who we imagine they are. Just as we are not our stories, nor are they the stories that we make up about them. We accept ourselves where we are and we do the same for others.
What is the nature of distress? Being unhappy with what is? or not even being conscious enough to discover what really is? If we recognize what really "is" in every moment, will we find ourselves more at peace. Will I find myself more at peace? Can I help others find their peace, too?