healing

More about living in the present

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Please do not cling to the past with all its delights and pleasures. Remember them fondly. Your job is to create new delights and pleasures in your now and be fully present as they unfold.

Step into your now! This is where your power lies!

Painted Lady butterfly on zinnia

You have come this far in life, balancing on the knife edge of each moment as it comes, lasts, passes into the next and the next.

Remember this: Worry keeps you distracted from your present. Fear of the future keeps you powerless to make needed changes to your life. Guilt keeps you stuck in the past.

Take pleasure in your now. Pay attention: masses of sun colored daylilies, a dramatic sky, your life giving breath as you inhale and exhale, your feet supporting your body so beautifully, your arms swinging in rhythm as you walk, shifting patterns of leafy shade on the grass, the summer landscape…an evening thunder storm…

Wild Lobelia

Make the most of your precious time, your precious life, your present moments. Live them fully!

Rediscover Your Inner Child

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Just be, for a moment or an hour, like a child without a care, living in grace, enjoying all that life has to offer your senses and your heart.

Lie on the earth, soaking in her familiar healing energy. See the petals fall like snow flakes from spent wildflowers. Look up into the layered treetops. Above and beyond them the circling birds of prey riding the updrafts.

Watch the clouds drift and shift and assume fanciful shapes, then morph into something new. Watch the treetops sway and dance, hear the leaves whisper, watch the dappled shade dance across the green grass, tiny colorful birds visiting, feeding, bathing, taking flight.

In this moment you judge nothing; you fear nothing. You have no worries, no doubts, no distractions, no need to hurry. You exist in the divine grace of this moment and the next and the next.

For this moment you have no agenda. You soak in life, absorb the vibrations of nature, understanding your oneness with All- That- Is. For this moment, this hour, your being has no need of words.

Let yourself relax into this pure silence and pure grace of this moment, merging with all that is.

In this way you rediscover the heart of your inner child.

More about weeds

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Invasive weeds are those that have escaped from their natural habitat and run rampant through the landscape like an invading army. They often take over those more delicate and sensitive plants, those inclined to live in harmony and balance with their neighbors.

Invasive weeds might form mono-cultures where much native vegetation is wiped out, nuance and balance destroyed, diversity and variety steamrolled, communities of living beings ruined.

They take over. They replace, they bully and subdue. To remove them, you must dig the deepest roots, tease them out of soil, and remain vigilant. One missed root can grow in the dark out of sight until it gains strength again, finally sending out more and more shoots and roots.

Encourage those native plants you wish to grow by strengthening them, providing the conditions they need to thrive.

Creeping Bellflower -beautiful but invasive

Just as invasive weeds can take over a field, a garden, a pasture, a flower bed, invasive thoughts and beliefs can root deeply into the brain, shutting down the assimilation of new information, burrowing into all areas of life, infecting, destroying nuance, new ideas, novel thoughts, creating a one-track mind, a mind that thinks in black and white, that is closed to growth.

Thoughts that served you well as a child, passed down from your family lineage may be harmful or hold you back now that you are an adult and can think for yourself.

These invasive and harmful beliefs and thoughts can be identified and questioned then rooted out with love and patience. Gently tease them out by the roots. Shine a light on them in the spirit of healing and growth.

Be vigilant my friends. Examine your minds and hearts for invasive recurring thoughts, anxieties, and beliefs that keep you stuck and your life small. Strengthen and encourage new thoughts that lift you and others up, that encourage your heart to expand with love, that help you live fully as you are meant to.

With time and patience you can bring to light and remove harmful invaders and strengthen that which you want to grow in your life.

If trees could walk and talk

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If trees could walk the Earth, we would gather in circles to shelter and protect those who suffer. With our roots and branches entwined below and above, lending our living energy which we channel from Earth and sunlight.

Spring tree

If trees could walk, we’d encircle the angry, the disenfranchised, the hurting, the lonely, the traumatized, and breathe our peaceful and harmonious energy into them so they may be empowered and calmed and find new hope.

If trees could speak, we would spin out ancient tales from the void, the time before time began, telling of the web of life that pre-exists our planet, in which all beings now find their home.

Old gnarled tree trunk

If trees could speak, our voices would carry above the rooftops and mountains, down valleys. Our voices would move on the winds, float down streams and rivers, whisper across the land through deserts prairies oceans to all living beings –

“We belong to each other. We must care for each other!”

Simple Steps

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Dear ones, you are needed on this planet now living up to your full light and power, owning and practicing your skills and sharing your talents, at your best in body mind and spirit.

If you feel dull, diminished, small, take one step toward your health and well-being today. Don’t overthink or complicate things. Start small. Start at the beginning.

Message from GCW

Change one thought. Consciously bring in a new thought that is in harmony with you and your desires in life. Little by little, day by day, new more hopeful thoughts will begin to create a lighter and more positive background to your life.

Do one physical stretch or movement or short walk that will remind your body that you are alive. Let your body move in ways that feel good to you. There is no need to break a sweat or call it a workout.

Take one mindful breath. Inhale and exhale. Pay attention to what you are feeling in your body during this breath. If you want to, take a second mindful breath.

When you are alone, let yourself feel an emotion. Name it. Notice where it shows up in your body, how it changes and moves as you pay attention to it. Let it go on an out-breath by doing safe physical movements, making sounds or vocalizing words in your private space.

Do one simple thing each day to strengthen yourself, to feel better.

A time for transformation

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Life spins a chrysalis around you right now, a container for transformation.

Like a caterpillar within a chrysalis, you must face darkness and uncertainty, let go of all you’ve known, trust and surrender to the transformation life requires of you right now.

Painted lady butterfly on gold marigold

Remember this, even in the darkest hours you are alive. You have what you need in this moment. You breathe, your heart beats. You have been given the most precious gift – life.

This period of great adversity will transform your life. You can choose how that will play out –

Will you stay in your metaphorical chrysalis and get stuck in the past, or will you thrive and adapt to the new world reality, drawing on your inner resources, your ingenuity, and spirit?

If so, you will be required to develop stamina, courage, patience, and perseverance.

Orange butterfly on elderberry bush

I wish for all humans an emergence into a soul satisfying new life when this is over, a beautiful transformation.

Calming Through the Heart

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Do you feel stuck with no escape, ungrounded and flighty? Are old addictions coming back to haunt you during the pandemic and the times of social distancing and isolation?

I offer another way to calm and soothe yourself in times of high anxiety.

Find a quiet and calm space and get comfortable. Take a few deep breaths to settle yourself. Now bring your awareness from your monkey mind with its whirring machinery of worry and fear, its endless capacity for self argument, the unkind inner critic, the constant mindless chatter, the never ending ego complaints to the peace of your heart.

Tune into the gentle beat, the quiet rhythm. You might be able to feel your pulse by gently placing a hand on your neck right below where the ear and jaw meet.

Now hold your heart with both palms on the center of your chest. Imagine that you can breathe through your heart. Feel the exhalation, the emptying. Imagine the breath flowing from your heart, releasing the stale worries, the old thoughts that bring you down, spent energy you are ready to let go of.

Now as your lungs fill, know that you are bringing in fresh new air, new energy, new possibilities to your heart, the seat and center of your life.

Tune into the steadiness the cadence of your heartbeat that’s been with you since before your birth. Even before your heart began to beat, you knew your mother’s heartbeat, and before her birth she knew her mother’s heartbeat, the underlying rhythm, the legacy of life.

Trust that right now as your heart beats you are alive. You are safe. You belong here.

Take a Memory Tour

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Dear ones, are you confined, quarantined right now? Only your body is required to be at home.

Use your senses to take a tour of your favorite places in your imagination. In this way, you can take a virtual visit to your family members, remember the loved places you knew as a child, to go back in time, or visit the future.

In your mind’s eye find yourself at the place of your choosing. See the details as you approach your Grandparents’ home once more, or that small lake cottage, the town you grew up in… your childhood friends in their homes… the life you want to live when the pandemic has died down…

Here we’ve chosen a tour of Betty’s Grandpa and Grandma’s farm to get you started.

Now I approach my Grandparents’ house from so long ago, letting the details emerge… The flower boxes, colorful and spicy scented petunias, the deeply colored coleus, asphalt siding meant to look like bricks, large trees shading lush uncut grass, wildflowers along the dusty gravel road, old red barn and outbuildings with white trim… the metal pump with the cold smooth handle…

Now I call up and feel once again the texture of the gravel lane under my feet, the worn paint and sharp snap of the screen door as it closes, the heat and glow and wood-burning smell of the pot belly stove, the beloved old dog with her doggy scent and thick fur greeting you with smiles, her wet doggy kisses… Grandma’s bottle green tightly woven upholstery in the living room,

The heavenly scent and taste of thick milk gravy on beef, the sweet-tart and delicious raspberry pie, steaming from the oven, the canned peaches floating in their cream colored bowls with lavender and blue pine cone decoration…Fire crackling in the stove, the voices of those loved ones now gone, Grandpa’s aftershave…

Coyotes yipping after dark beyond the hills, hens clucking, streams of milk hitting the bucket at milking time, the sweet smells of cow manure and fresh hay, the milk separator whirring, the cream can filling…

Cars crunching on gravel, dust flying up behind them, shared songs at dusk on the front porch, simple harmonica tunes, voices joining together in familiar tunes, wooden floors creaking at bedtime….

Taking a memory tour is another way for you to spend an hour or two during this stay at home time – You can call up those sensory details of seeing, touching, hearing, tasting, and smelling that help you remember the beautiful places the people and times of your life.

Find your own memories, take a turn around the places you loved, going slowly, letting the details emerge. Revisit your children, friends, or grandchildren if you can’t see them right now.

You can also tour your future and re-imagine what your life can be, what you want it to be when you are able to move freely once again.

A memory tour will help you remember the preciousness and beauty of life here on our beloved planet.

Reweave the Web of Life

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Tender green shoots reach toward the sun. This is life on our home, Planet Earth. The seasons turn, spring follows winter, the earth revolves, night follows day. All life depends on these ancient cycles and rhythms that we have learned to trust and depend on.

Cottonwoods at dusk

But now the web of life has been severely disrupted, threatening human life on our home planet and creating vast imbalances that magnify pre-existing imbalances and injustices. This disruption is throwing life on our blue and green planet out of tune, off true center, out of kilter, creating untold misery.

The intricate web of life has kept our planet healthy and in balance for millennia, providing conditions for life under the sun and stars. Now the damage to our web is showing up with widespread sickness and death, magnifying the imbalances that provide rude shelter and meager food for billions, a basic existence for many, abundant food, water, good health and riches for some; vast unimaginable wealth for a few.

To help reweave the web of life, begin to rethink your definition of wealth. Let your new thinking inspire new actions.

What is more precious than clear unpolluted fresh air or a deep breath that is easily exhaled? The feel of sun or rain on your skin, the beauty of thriving evergreen trees, blooming grasses and flowers, songbirds building their nests, the sight of a thin crescent moon through bare tree branches? Happy and healthy children? The tastes and textures of a simple meal to be savored? The smile of a loved one? A warm home in winter? What is true wealth?

Evergreens

Can you simplify and downsize your life and still feel wealthy?

Rethink your definition of what is necessary for you to enjoy daily life. Rethink your definition of true health. That includes health for all who people this Earth, and all life forms that grow and live their lives here on land, in sea and air.

The disruption in the web of life on Earth will help to focus your human attention on what is precious, what is true in your life, what changes you wish to make, what you can do that will help all living beings reweave our priceless web of life in which all things are one.

Rethink your true purpose here. Go beyond the surface. Dig deeper in your thinking. Tune in to your heart and spirit, and ask to know your role in the web of life and your role in reweaving the web.

We are all connected as one. We are meant to thrive together in our interconnections, to live in harmony and balance.

We all create and experience the best of life and health together, or we stand by and witness the diminishment of our lives, our families our potential, and our spirits.

We must act with compassion to reweave and restore true balance in our web of life.

Let Nature Calm You

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Can you go outside right now? Let the sounds of nature calm you- birdsong, breeze through evergreens, squirrels chuffing chattering and chewing on last fall’s nuts, water rushing downstream…

Red squirrel

Let the sights of nature bring you joy – sunlight pooling and dancing on the earth, trees casting long undulating shadows, spring blooms bursting out, green and red shoots poking out of the ground, birds flashing in and out of the underbrush, red and rust colored cardinals, bluejays goldfinches, robins sparrows, butterflies, moths, bees…

Let the smells and fragrances of new grass, fresh cut greenery, flowering spring bulbs, decaying leaves, tender soft green leaves, a sudden spring rain shower lift your spirits.

Be mindful of the feel of rough tree bark, soft feathers, tender new growth, the textured stems of shrubs, smooth or rough stones. If you can, put your hand in a clear stream, and gently stir and move the cool water. Feel the solid earth beneath your body, under your feet.

Let the tastes of simple foods that come from the earth nourish your body and bring you satisfaction – the sharp and rooty onions, peppery radishes, sweet sugary pea sprouts, the earthy potatoes and other root vegetables, the subtle lettuce, chewy chard… Savor and enjoy these everyday pleasures.

Must you stay inside right now? Find natural objects in your home or have a loved one find something nearby that will infuse your space with energy of nature.

Shells, plants, growing sprouts and herbs, photos and paintings of trees, landscapes, specimens of tree bark, flowering branches, stones of all shapes & colors – stack them up – sand in a bottle, potted bulbs, beautiful wooden carvings and objects, a small terrarium.

Arrange and display these things you’ve collected over the years, touch and enjoy them again, use them in new ways that will spark your creativity. Connect with these objects and precious living things that hold the energy of your true home, mother Earth.

Let nature heal and calm and give you peace.