.....what's in for 2019

Yogis,
I’m starting to come off the Christmas high (although when I want to bring it back, I simply eat another peanut blossom cookie 😊). What an absolute whirlwind it is preparing for this holiday. The three weeks leading up are a total blur.  Shopping, traffic, noise, lists, wrapping and planning. The actual Christmas celebration is something I wouldn’t give up for the world, but the pre-frenzy……..perhaps.

On Christmas Eve morning while looking at something in the paper I came upon the horoscopes. I read mine which cautioned me to slow down and not become overwhelmed. Now that seemed accurate, so I read my son’s and my husband’s and noticed the word overwhelmed in theirs as well. Hmmm. I glanced through them all and if that word wasn’t in there, it was replaced with stress, family drama or something similarly anxiety provoking.

Then I went to a yoga class and the teacher started out by asking us all to let go of the tension of the holiday and of all the togetherness it brings. The word ‘family’ was used as well in that ‘wink wink’ sort of way.  I was noticing a trend.

Later that day this quote arrived from a friend in her Christmas greeting……..

I often hear myself saying that Christmas has become to big. Too much. Too stressful and too complicated. But after reading the quote I realized that poor Christmas had done nothing of the sort and was taking all the blame.  We are the ones who did this to ourselves. Yet again……. We humans sure know how to mess up even the simplest of things.

This quote struck a chord. Each year we see the what’s in and what’s out, but how could any of these ever be out. We only need to recognize them. Live them. It sounds so simple and profoundly true but definitely isn’t easy. Can I feel successful in this world if what I have achieved is inner peace? Do I feel wealthy when I am healthy? Can I wrap and give kindness as a gift?

Yesterday I opened the new wall calendar that arrives on my front stoop each year without fail from my aunt. The title of this one is Simplicity.

Sigh. Yes, yes, yes, yes. This holiday, this life is simple if I can allow it to be. I head down for a walk by the river and I see it everywhere I look. In the river. In the trees. In the way the deer run. How the clouds float through the sky.  Simplicity. I think simplicity should be added to the ‘what’s in’ list as the new must have for 2019. We would all surely benefit.

Happy New Year’s Simplicity to you all!

Hi moon,
SARAH

......give what you want

Yogis,

I have a friend on my Christmas list that I couldn’t figure out what to give. Someone then mentioned a particular gift that they knew my friend was giving to two of their relatives. A light bulb went off.  Ah, I now know what to give them!

We give what it is that we want…….

I notice it in myself all the time. As I shop for gifts, I find things that I love (and wish I had) and find myself trying to think of who might like it. And how many times have you gotten a gift that you know is a favorite of the giver? It makes sense. If something makes us happy, we assume it will of course make the receiver happy as well.

It reminded me of one of the laws of the Universe. Give what it is that you want. Now I don’t think the spiritual law was intended for Christmas gifts.  It is a law that says once we uncover what it is that we want in our life…..our desires….our longings, we must give it. Where we feel there is lack, we should act from a place of abundance.

For example, if I want more love in my life, I should spread love wherever I go. If I want to be heard, I should sit and listen to others. When money feels tight, give to those in need.

It is like a current. The flow must be kept open. When we hold or hoard because of a feeling of not enough, the energy only becomes stagnant. It must flow through. Giving and receiving. Two sides of the same coin.

It’s been a year now since I retired from Xerox and the good steady monthly paycheck I had come to expect. At times I find myself holding my money tightly, especially at this time of giving. But focusing on lack will only cause greater lack. I know I will be financially fine, but this week I found myself stressing during those shopping days when it seemed that for hours at a time all I did was enter my credit card number. Expiration date and security code.

But as I walked under the magnificent full moon last night (which I hope you saw), she reminded me that there is enough. Enough of everything for everyone. I live in a state of abundance. We all do. So I went back in and put some cash in a Christmas card.

Blessings of abundance to all of you!

Om,
SARAH

......Moon 101

Yogis,

The moon is a powerful force. With the strength to move oceans, she also moves our lives and moods. We are 95% water so it’s a good idea to understand how the moon works!

Let’s begin with the new moon……the beginning. On that night the sun and the moon travel as a pair. Hand in hand they both rise in the eastern sky in the early morning. Together they travel across the sky throughout the day, the sun’s bright light keeping the cooler light of the moon out of view, until they both set at sunset. Throughout the night the sky is dark. Quiet. Still. Empty.

Moving forward, each day the moon rises about one hour later and appears slightly larger. This is the waxing moon.  For the first few days the sun and moon are still so close that again we don’t see the moon since it is above us during the sun’s time to shine. Only if you are out during the first couple of hours after the sun has set in the west, will you see the crescent moon there as it follows close behind.

Eventually with about a week, and therefore seven hours between them, as the sun sets, the moon is sitting directly above us. With the darkening sky we can see the half moon, referred to as the first quarter, as we are now one quarter of the way through her cycle. We are now entering her time to shine.

So it continues with more and more hours between them…..until about a week later there is enough space that as the sun sets in the west, the moon is seen rising in the east.  This would be the full moon. Her most powerful time of the month. Fertile. Bright. A time for celebration.  She shines over us the whole night as we dream.  Setting just as the sun rises.  Ahhhhhhh……..

Then the waning begins. She continues rising an hour, then two, then three……later.  Each night smaller.  Each night a little less bright. During this time the moon pops up from the east late in the night lagging way behind the setting sun, her crescent now facing the other direction.  When we wake, although she still sits above us, her glow is again outshined by the sun. Until finally, just shy of a month later, like old friends the moon and sun unite once again. Another new moon.

Think of them as friends running track together. The sun bigger and faster than the moon gains more distance from the moon on each lap. Until finally he catches up to her again. The moon has been lapped.

We can work with this cycle to flow more effortlessly with life. The waxing moon is a time to move toward what you want. Visualizing, stepping forward, active. The full moon the time of manifestation. Creating. Then as the moon wanes, we too can let go and release. Slowing down. 

Finally, the new moon is the time for quiet. To go inside. A time of introspection and uncovering what it is that you want. Planting seeds which are once again watered, fed and fertilized through the next waxing moon. And so it is.

Know her, watch her, learn her ways. In return she offers to make you feel more deeply. I will take that deal any day….and I do.

“And the sun and the moon sometimes argue over who will tuck me in at night. If you think I am having more fun than anyone on this planet, you are absolutely correct.”
               ― Hafiz

Dropping from the thinking mind to the feeling mind,
SARAH

.....wonder

Yogis,

The other evening at dusk I was taking Phoebe for her dinner time walk. We had crossed the front yard and were starting down the street when the view over my left shoulder caught my eye.  The darkening sky was now deep blue, dotted with thin clouds backlit by the setting sun, glowing a magnificent shade of coral. My neighbor’s holly trees framed by this setting, their shapes outlined in black.

It was quite cold and thus very quiet. No one but me. I stopped to notice. To listen to the silence. To see.

For that moment I was seeing with new eyes. The world around me appearing like an incredible stage set up waiting for the actors to arrive. How could something so beautiful be real and be here each and every day. I decided I wanted to walk through not only this brief outing but my week in this state of wonder……..

‘Wonder’ is defined as – to be filled with admiration, amazement, or awe. Awe. Yes, that was indeed what I was feeling. Awe at something I pass several times a day but somehow witnessed differently that night.

As children we hold wonder naturally. Everything new and each sighting a cause for joy. As adults though we become numb to how incredible the world is that sits right outside the door, needing to venture further and further from home to find that much longed for ‘wonder’.  Standing under the hundred-foot tree, having furry little creatures scurry by, buckets of water falling from the sky and twinkling lights floating in the sky all become ho hum.

What if we could rub our eyes and see it all fresh again! That was my practice for the week. To remember to be childlike. To see anew.

This picture is from a walk on a path nearby. As I rounded the bend and saw the tunnel created by trees it spoke to me.  I again was awed. 

Friday night as I leaned my upper body out the bedroom window into the frigid air, the sensation against my skin awakened me once more. How amazing that we have these bodies, with aches pains and all, that allow us to dance, run, jump and hug another.

Tomorrow when you walk out the door, remove the ‘been there, done that’ glasses and see the world like you have never seen it before. See like a child. See with wonder…….

Om,
SARAH

.....I thought I let it go

Yogis,

So I’m driving down into the city recently to help with the grandkids on a very early weekday morning. The sky is only beginning to hint of an approaching sun. I’ve got my tea latte next to me and am looking forward to the day ahead. Rush hour traffic is starting to build as I put on my blinker and slow to change into the lane that will take me in the direction I am heading.

Out of nowhere a car flies up behind me and lays heavy on the horn. I am waiting for the car next to me to move a little more forward, so I can slide in, and in those two seconds I felt accosted. I never saw the driver in the dark but felt their energy pour into me.  Their rage. My heart pounded and my muscles clenched tight. The expression ‘I was shaken’ rang true.

As I continued along, it took a considerable amount of time for me to regain the peace that had sat within me only moments ago. I exhaled and told my body to ‘let it go’. To release what happened in the past as it no longer exists. Mentally I thought I had succeeded, but the next week while making the same trip my body’s memory shifted into high gear as I approached that spot in the road. 

I clearly had not let it go……..

In reality this was a small incident with no consequences. The type of thing we all encounter each day as we make our way through this human life. For some this wouldn’t have even registered, but as an empath who feels others deeply, it was exactly the kind of situation I struggle with the most.

When we hear about letting go we often think about the big things.  That grudge held onto for 20 years. The blame placed on parents who didn’t nurture enough. Or the shame over something done as a teenager. Yes, those all should be let go, but the practice begins within daily living. With the little things.

Everything that comes in must go out. When it doesn’t, it forms one more small thread that weaves into an inner web and eventually leads to ‘issues in our tissues’.  Illness, injury, upset stomach.

As you walk through your day, take note of the things that cause you to contract.  A rude email, an inconsiderate neighbor, the cashier at the store who hasn’t been properly trained. Being put on hold, the way your spouse doesn’t make the bed, or your concern about not being good enough. Become aware of not only the thoughts you have, but what happens in the body. The two are intertwined and where one goes…..the other inevitably follows. 

Then take a deep breath and as you slowly exhale imagine your muscles melting. The jaw dropping, eyes softening and what just happened pouring out through the soles of the feet. Emptying. Consciously letting it go.  Freeing up space for new!

It’s a practice………  I will keep practicing.

Aaahhhhhhhhhh……….
SARAH