gift of life

Life is all we have

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What really matters?

Tiny new plants claim hairline cracks in stone to spread their roots. Small mammals survive on discarded crumbs. Insects hatch in a dribble of water. They choose life. They cling tenaciously to life. They do what is needed to survive and thrive. They apologize to no-one for living!

Grasshopper on purple coneflower

Life will find a way.

When you have passion for life you will find a way to live fully. You are stubborn, a survivor. Even if others wish to impede your right to life, to instill fear, to diminish you, you will find ways to carry out your life purpose and be who you are meant to be.

Your dreams desires and plans all depend on you being here now in your body. On your taking your rightful place at the table, partaking of nature’s gifts, breathing deeply of Earth’s fresh air, walking freely upon our beloved planet.

You belong here in this vast teeming web of life. I repeat. You belong here. You are meant to be here. There is no mistake!

New grass shoots after a fire

Life is the spirit’s way of experiencing what it is to be in a body– plant, animal, insect, or human, and receiving an education like no other. Life imposes limited conditions on the body while teaching perseverance, endurance, and making the most of what you’ve been given.

Make your life count. Live in your body. Open your heart to those you trust, sit in the sun, breathe deeply and give thanks for your gift of life in this body at this time.

Life is not easy, your days are not guaranteed. You may suffer, you may hurt you may grieve. Yet, even still, life is the most precious gift of all.

Live fully within the conditions of the life and environment your spirit has chosen for you.

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.

In this moment

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Take a moment to celebrate the fullness of your life. Know that all is well in this moment.

Your heart beats in your chest, your in-breath expands your lungs, the out-breath releases and contracts, the slow and sweet rhythm of life flowing and ebbing like waves on a beach.

You have been given the simple yet miraculous gifts of sunlight, fresh air, birdsong, eyes, hands, ears… the senses through which you experience life in your body.

Robin in late winter

If you are a worrier, anxious, fearful or regretful, you might miss the perfection of this moment here and now, the still point between breaths, the simple yet most precious gift of life.

Bring your awareness to your now. Yes, life here on our planet can be difficult and dangerous, fragile, fleeting, unjust, and heartbreaking. Please do not allow fear grief and anger to steal the fullness of this moment here and now as you partake in the beautiful mystery of life on Earth.

Let your mind rest and bring full awareness to the perfection of this particular moment. In this moment, you are safe, you are alive.

Allow yourself to enjoy and appreciate the most precious gift you’ve been given. Life on Earth in a human body.

New Beginnings

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Note from Betty:

Dear friends, Grandmother Cottonwood is coming out of retirement.  Since leaving my day job and working through some health issues, I’m feeling a strong pull to begin channeling GCW again and sharing her words with you.

This connection with the magnificent cottonwood tree lights me up and inspires me – so by doing this blog, I am practicing what she preaches! 

May her words inspire and bless you.

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GCW in summer

     On this day, you begin again. You start fresh with a clean slate. You live here and now in this flickering light under my canopy, your heart navigating the journey, your feet bringing you here, step by step.

Now past and future dissolve into this one present moment.  It is the breath, filling and emptying; the breeze stirring my leaves in silver shimmers high above, touching the summer sky.

We are alive!  We have been given the most precious gift of all – Life here on this beloved green planet at this time and in this place.  We each have our place in the ancient circle of life that has sustained our planet for millennia.

If you think your presence here is an accident, a mistake, think again!   A billion or more coincidences, factors, and conditions had to line up perfectly to allow for your creation.

If you think you are helpless, think again! When you align your energy with source, you are a powerful force to be reckoned with

If you think you can’t make a difference in the world, think again!  Every choice you make, every thought you think sends ripples into the universe, creating patterns of energy that interact with others and form what you know as reality.  Choose those thoughts, ideas, feelings, and words that you wish to see made manifest in the world.

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All- that- is desires and needs your presence here, shining your light fully, sharing your unique gifts, your loving energy with clarity, grace and joy!

Tapestry of spirit

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You are all connected, yet all on your own, so to speak. You are not permanently joined like paper dolls physically connected at hands and feet.

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Tapestry of summer grasses

Each of you may stand alone, act alone, live alone, feel alone. Yet each of you is connected, a thread in a tapestry, the most exquisite, complex, delightful tapestry that is constantly growing, expanding, and morphing into new and yet more beautiful forms and colors, more joyful expressions.

If you focus on what you consider the ugliness, the mess, the unpleasantness of life around you, you miss the infinite beauty love and uplifting joy that is available to you through this fabric you belong to.

Are you one who sees the only drop of dirty water in the infinite ocean? I ask you to refocus your attention!

This life you’ve been given as the most precious gift imaginable is to be lived in concert with the spirits in all things, and your own spirit, the invisible life force that animates your body. Your spirits know a higher perspective, seeing many lifetimes, knowing the larger patterns of your existence; seeing and knowing the vast sea of light and peace and love that is not always apparent to your physical senses.

Get to know the part of you that is invisible, the part of you that is one with all things alive, all stars, all planets, every blade of grass – All that is.  Get to know the expansive spirit that makes possible your physical presence here on this sweet green earth.

Extend your awareness to include your invisible energy, your spirit.  Feel the power!