But change is also healthy.  Say you decide that you want to change your bedroom around. You could start by cleaning out your closet.  That is usually a monumental task for many folks so start small.  Set up 3 boxes in your room.  One for items to keep, one for items to donate, and one for items to possibly sell in a yard or garage sale.  While you are doing this remember that when you release something for give-away, you are creating space for something new to come into your life that will serve you better.  Give yourself no more than one hour to do this work.  After that stow them back in your closet for the next time you are clutter clearing your closet.

After one of the boxes is full, say the donation box, go ahead and take it to the local donation center or shelter right away.  Be sure to bless these items before you hand them over.  If your “keep” box is full then begin to put these items in their new space.  For items to be sold see what can be sold on-line or in your local papers so that you don’t start building up a huge pile in your garage or other locations in your home.

The same rules apply to cleaning out your dresser or drawers in your kitchen.  Don’t tackle the whole dresser at once.  For most women, this is at least a 2 day project.  Men usually get off with being able to complete it in a one hour session.  If you are cleaning drawers in your kitchen, just do one drawer at a time.  One drawer per day.

If you are facing changes of other kinds it could mean that you have an idea or thought that could bring about some changes in your future.  Even the smallest changes can bring about large impacts in our lives.  You may wish to start by slowly integrating a new concept and allowing for sufficient time for the new concept to be digested before releasing and onld concept that no longer serves who you are today.  You will know when the time is right for complete release.

If you have been holding on to old patterns and thoughts you may find that they weigh you down and hold you back from being your true and authentic self that you could be today.  Maybe it is time to sit quietly and ask yourself what needs to be done about this.  Listen for that quiet inner voice – it will never lie to you.  Meditate on it.  After you come out of the meditation(s) you may have a whole new perspective on life.

Today and for all the days to come I am sending prayers of love and support and angels with eternal love and compassion on their wings.

I can’t imagine what it must be like for the survivors of this most devastating disaster.  Our hearts and our thoughts of love are with you.

From your brothers and sisters around the world -

Village-Earth

Yesterday I spent quite a bit of time thinking about my son and what a wonderful young man he has turned out to be.  For the first 8+ years of his life we were on our own.  There were some tough times but there were also some great times that only can be experienced by single parents and only children.  Even today there is a close bond between my son and I that is envied by many.  I am so grateful for this relationship.

When I was young I was given a copy of a book called “The Prophet”, by Kahlil Gibran.  I loved this book and since it was kind of small I thought it would be an easy read.  If you have not had the opportunity to read this book yet, I urge you to do it now!  This book is such a classic that you will want to keep some copies on hand and give them as gifts to your most treasured family members and friends.

Anyone who has ever read this book knows that it is intense and contains a wealth of wisdom.  The fourth chapter (only a few pages long) is called “On Children” and I want to share some of it with you.

… “Your children are not your children.  They come through you but not from you, and though they are with you yet they belong not to you.  You may give them your love but not your thoughts, for they have their own thoughts.  You may house their bodies but not their souls, for their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.  You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.  For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.  The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.  Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness; for even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.”

I caught myself yesterday taking a little credit for how wonderful a man my son has turned out to be, when in truth he has turned out to be the person that God/Source/Spirit wants him to be.

There are many times when my son and I will be in discussion and he will blow me away with his comments.  I remember one day when he was only about 4 or 5 years old the principal from his pre-school called me at home and actually had the audacity to ask me what our religious beliefs were.  I asked her why.  She stated that at that very moment my tiny son was in an argument with his teacher that God was a woman.  I asked her if she was absolutely positive that God was NOT a woman.  No response.  I told her that I had never had that discussion with him and that I believed that our children are much closer to God.  She wasn’t quite sure how to respond.

Hence, “Your children are not your children.  They come through you but not from you, and though they are with you yet they belong not to you… they have their own thoughts.”

I have a feeling there is more to come on this topic.

Namaste’

Brooke

Change is something that we all experience in our lives.  However, for many of us change can be frightening.   Change can come in many forms such as emergencies, unwelcome surprises, health challenges, or in relationship crises.  These changes are usually beyond our control, and physical and emotional stress is trying to get our attention. When we are asleep to what is happening in or around us, the universe will send a loud  wake-up call (usually in the middle of the night) to get us back on track. Usually, these are not in the form of a gentle nudge, but more like a shove.  They are not pleasant, and they bring about at the very least a little discomfort.

Fortunately, the discomfort only lasts as long as we resist to change.  That which we resist, persists.  And personally I think the price is tiny compared to what it would be like to wander around in an unconscious life.

We can minimize or avoid the universal shove in two ways. First, we can develop our inner knowing or intuition so that we can recognize our lessons when they are first introduced to our consciousness as a gentle nudge rather than waiting until they become the royal pain of a shove. Become aware of the red flags when Source/universe sends you a warning whisper to duck and avoid injury.  As you gain more experience with going into the silence of meditation you will be able to open your mind and heart to hear the words of your Higher Spirit.   Through these soul lessons you will be able to play out your life the way that is best intended for you.

Secondly, we need to each be grateful for the lessons and bless them.  Remember to always look for the lesson in everything that comes your way.  Become the victor of the lesson rather than the victim.  Besides, an attitude of gratitude eases the medicine of challenging lessons.

Life will only be as difficult as we choose to make it.  We can make a conscious choice to bless the changes that present themselves to us or we can fight the whole universe and try to prove it wrong.  I prefer to avoid the drama and make life as easy as possible.

Namaste’

Brooke

After this last weekend of contemplation, some interesting thoughts and ideas have come up.  Who do I think I am in trying to help people around the world learn more about meditation and consciousness?  I am certainly no expert on either subject.  True, these topics are of monumental importance and are truly my passion.  But am I an expert?  No.  I am on the path of life just like you – shall we walk together for a bit?

As I get information, it is a conscious choice that is made to pass it along.  As I learn, I am willing to pay the experiences forward and share.  Otherwise, how is information gathered?  On a larger scale, if no one was willing to step out on a limb and pass knowledge on, then how would humanity continue?  This is what propels humanity forward.  We share with each other.  My feng shui master taught us that even as new practitioners and only newly graduated from the entry level of the art, there will always be someone who can benefit from what we share, so speak and teach with confidence.  Often times the people that we are reaching out to will have nuggets of precious information to share which makes the experience even more enriching for all involved.  After several years of practicing and teaching I feel comfortable with this.

Recently, an expression crossed my path.  “You have to give it away to keep it”.  To me that means to share the knowledge no matter how much or how little expertise we may think we have or don’t have.  As long as I am being my authentic self and coming from my heart I know that I am doing the right thing for the right reason.  It is all about making conscious choices and conscious decisions.  Sure there are lots of folks on this tiny planet that have loads more experience than I have, but I am following my passion… and it took a while for me to come to terms with this.

To “give it away to keep it” has many facets.  When you start to think about it, this is true for love.  If you want to receive love you must be willing to give it.  Then it is shared.  If you want more of anything in your life, you must first be willing to give it away.  I read a story about a man who had untold wealth.  One morning he and his wife were reading the newspaper and they came across a story about a beautiful model that had been viciously attacked and left her with huge wounds on her face and ending her career.  He offered the young woman $20,000.00 a year for the rest of her life.  He did not care what she did with the money.  She chose to have her face restored and return to her career.  There are many ways to enhance your experience of being authentic, your experience of love, and even your experience of money.  Authentically sharing your knowledge and being open to another person’s share is priceless.

Namaste’

Brooke

A friend of mine had flown in from the East coast to Northern California for a yoga retreat and month long class that she was taking up in the mountains in a beautiful yoga community.  Our plans were to meet and spend some time together on the drive up before her arrival at the retreat.  Since it would be late in the day, I would stay at the retreat with her for the first night and leave early in the morning before the first meditation.

It was beautiful and peaceful and I didn’t want to leave.

Early the next morning as I was preparing to leave my friend told me that as I was leaving the grounds of the retreat and getting back on the road out to turn right and that would take me down the mountain.  She knew that I was concerned as I didn’t fill the tank of the car before heading up the mountain.

So I turned right.  Or did she say left?  I was half asleep when she was giving me directions.  I started out early on that Sunday morning enjoying the breathtaking scenery.   The fragrance that the forest had to offer was heavenly.

The drive was a little longer than I remembered it to be from evening before.  I saw a small convenience store so I pulled up in front only to learn that they weren’t open on Sundays.  My cell phone wasn’t getting any reception.  I was beginning to feel a little anxious.  The car had already warned me that I was down to my last gallon of fuel.  And that was some time ago.  I chose to drive a bit further.  Surely this road would lead somewhere, right?  I mean, there has to be more than one road that gets you down off of a mountain at 6 a.m. on a Sunday morning, right?  I had been on this road for more than an hour now and had not seen one single person or car.  Within 10 minutes, I was feeling a little more than anxious.  The thought of panic entered my awareness.

I pulled off to the side of the road and had a monologue with myself.  What’s the worst thing that could happen here?  My mind went to many scenarios.  I had heard that sometimes some strange folk live up in the mountains.  My thoughts wandered to the movie The Deliverance.  I made sure that my car doors were locked.  They were.  My next thought was, “Wait a minute – I am not alone here.”   Why is it that I had forgotten my Higher Power?  I lowered my head and said “Okay God, I have gotten myself into a bit of a fix here and I am actually quite frightened.  I know that you hear me because you always have before.  I need some help.  Please send some help to me that will be easily recognizable so that I can GET OFF OF THIS MOUNTAIN!”

Within less than a minute – a minute, I kid you not – I saw a ranger in an official vehicle in my rear-view mirror.  As he drove past my parked car I was able to get the window down and frantically wave my arm at him.  I saw his brake lights come on.  I rolled up my window.  Then I saw his reverse lights come on.  As he got out of his car I recognized the uniform.  I was able to breathe a sigh of relief.  I cracked my window enough to talk to him.  He saw my concern.  I had begun to tell him my situation and at that moment yet another ranger was approaching from the opposite direction.  Seriously!  My internal dialogue was “Thank you, God.  I knew you heard me.  Thank You.  Thank You.  Thank You.”

Both of the rangers stayed with me as they guided me down the mountain.  We drove past the entrance to the yoga retreat.  I was supposed to turn left instead of right.  I felt so foolish.  When we got to the highway one of the rangers turned around to go back to work and the other ranger guided me to the nearest gas station.  After thanking him profusely he left.

God had sent me two guardian angels that morning.  I think of this story whenever I am feeling completely alone and I feel comforted in knowing that we never really are alone.  Even if we think we don’t believe in a Power greater than ourselves, He/She/It is there, listening and sending love and angels.

I am blessed and I am forever grateful.

Brooke

She also said something that I had heard a while back but life helped me put the thought and lessons that go with it on the back burner.  She said, “How you spend your days is how you spend your life”.  I told her about how my parents spent so much of their time just sitting and watching T.V. and not connecting to anyone around them.  I told her about how my father died and that no one came to his memorial service.  I mean NO ONE.  Then she said, “How you live is how you will die”.  He was a loner.  He isolated himself and my mother from the world.  After my father died, his remains were missing for a few days.  The family that lived in their town in Nevada didn’t even care enough to at least go look for his remains.  He had treated everyone in the family so badly for our entire lives that no one cared whether he lived or died.  No one cared about anything regarding him.  I do not want to die that way.

I started looking at how I spend my days.  Do I want to be spending them the same way in another year?  Or in 10 years?  What can I do today to ensure that I will be able to make positive steps in the direction of how I want to spend my days, my life and how I want to live and die?  I know that I have little control over how I will actually expire, but I want to know that when I finally make my exit that I am surrounded by people that I have deeply loved and lived my days and life with.  I want to know that I have really LIVED.  I want to know that I have really LOVED.

A body in motion tends to stay in motion – couch potatoes get moving!  Take your dog for a walk; talk to a total stranger while standing in line at the grocery store; join a book club; take a yoga class for a month; sit in your yard on the grass and breathe while you let the sunshine bless your face; do a walking meditation (more about that later); start connecting with actual human beings.  A few weeks ago I was on the local mass transit system to go in to the city and as I sat and looked around at the people sharing the train I noticed that AT LEAST 75% of the people were either talking on their phones, texting on their phones (or playing games), reading from their e-readers, or on their computers.  The train was dead silent.  No one was connecting or interacting.  Just a few years ago before smart phones became popular, people actually talked to each other on the train, planes, or in buses.  Now they are paying homage to their gadgets.  This needs to change.

By now you are probably aware that I really like to meditate.  One of the things that I love to do is to take an afternoon or evening and construct a vision map.  Some people call them vision boards.  One of my Feng Shui masters called them a vision seed map.  I know of one gal that even goes so far as to call them a vision quest, but that is a whole different thing in my book.  On my vision board I put pictures and statements of things and people that are important to my future.

I am looking at my current vision board right now and it is so uplifting to look at.  If I spend a little time contemplating what is on that board before I meditate, then I am letting my Higher Power and the universe know that I have goals and expectations and I trust that they will all come to fruition.

Maybe I should spend a little time talking about vision boards in the near future.  They are certainly powerful and well worth the time it takes to build one.

Everyone needs goals!

Namaste’

Brooke

I think what was the easiest for me was to take Baby Steps.  When I started thinking about becoming a vegetarian/vegan I started out with doing a vegetarian meal once more per week than what I was already doing.  An example would be to have an apple or two for lunch instead of a meat or fish based sandwich or salad. Then when you are more accustomed to eating a plant based diet, have a whole day of meatless meals.  At that point you can decide if you are comfortable staying where you are with your diet or slowly working your way into more of a vegetarian lifestyle.

Millions of animals are slaughtered yearly just in the U. S. alone so that we can continue to put meat on our plates.  Believe me when I say that animals anticipate their death every bit as much as we do.  If you watch the video “Food, Inc.” you will learn where you food is coming from.  Yes, it is a bit gruesome but this is stuff that we all need to know about.  When we become aware of something then we are able to make conscious decisions and choices that will affect not only our immediate well-being but the well-being of everyone.

You will notice many changes as you become more vegetarian.  The first changes that I remember happening were the digestion and elimination.  It is hard to believe just how your body will respond to going veggie.  There are so many positive benefits and absolutely no negative benefits… except right at the beginning as your body begins to flush out all the toxins that you have been a home to for so long.

More to share soon!

Brooke

This leads me to one of the oldest questions of humanity.  What happens to our conscience after we cease to exist on this plane?  If we are truly finished with existence when we draw our last breath, then what can explain the visits from those on the other side?  What are they trying to communicate to us?

In the case of my dad, he had Alzheimer’s.  What is happening to the conscience while experiencing Alzheimer’s or any other brain disorder or disease?  Lots of questions.  A friend of mine is currently writing a book about her experience with Alzheimer’s and her mother’s passing.  I read a book a few years ago by Neuroscientist Dr. Jill Bolte-Taylor called “My Stroke of Insight”.  Great book!  She also has a video on YouTube. Here is a link to the video.  It is informative and concise.

http://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DUyyjU8fzEYU&sa=X&ei=R94YTJKoMYHYNdjuwesE&ved=0CCYQuAIwAw&usg=AFQjCNErMFTmsE0yP947IaoXGhlFF4eEzg

At the end of the book, she provides a list of things to do with people who have suffered a stroke.  One of the items on the list hit me like a ton of bricks.  It said simply, “I’m in here.  Come find me.”  Does the same apply to someone with Alzheimer’s/dementia?  Or even someone under anesthesia?  When someone is first diagnosed with Alzheimer’s they still experience a part of their day “on-line”.  How aware are they when they go “off-line”?  What happens to the conscience when it is preparing to go “off-line”?  How much suffering is happening with someone whose consciousness is slipping away and how does it feel?  It surely must be frightening.

Those are my thoughts and questions for this morning.  Be curious, be open to all possibilities and seek answers.

There are many varying views on death and dying – almost as many differing views as there are people on the planet.  Each of us may have been taught one school of thought by our parents, religious, or spiritual belief systems, but deep down inside, we could have suspected that other aspects need to be considered when death and dying are happening in our lives – either by us or by someone we know.

Growing up with my dad was torturous.  So I found it odd that when he died, I was the one who flew in to town take care of his remains when they had been misplaced for two days.  I was perplexed while sitting in the morticians (funeral director?) office discussing what to do with my fathers remains.

While I was in the morticians office the second time, I asked her if she was a spiritual person.  She replied “No, not really”.  I went on to tell her about some strange things that had happened to me in a short period of time after my fathers transition.

The first night after he was gone I had a strong feeling that my dad was in my bedroom with me.  I heard his voice.  With my eyes closed, I saw my father standing at the left corner of my bed by my feet.  He was tremulous and looked fearful.  His entire body was quivering.  He appeared to be afraid to look me in the eye.  Then he asked me, “Can you forgive me?”  Yes, I said.  Without hesitation.  I found it easy and simple to forgive this man who was a monster in life.  It is possible to forgive after death.  And forgiving is not about the person you are forgiving, it is about you.  You forgive so that you can heal and move forward with your life.  My dad taught me that in his death.

Two days later, I was in the parking lot of the hospital where my mother was.  Just prior to my dad’s crossing over my mother fell and fractured her right hip.  She had just had surgery.  I was pulling out of a parking space when I heard my dad’s voice again.  In my right ear I heard, “This is so cool!”.  This type of lingo was uncharacteristic for my father.  In life he was staunch, stiff, unwelcoming, cold, and cruel.  For him to use the word “cool” was as far-fetched as seeing him on a merry-go-round and laughing with joy.

The next visitation came two days later as I was standing at the kitchen sink doing the after-dinner dishes.  A voice whispered over my left shoulder and in my left ear, “Thank you”.  I looked up to see if his reflection was in the kitchen window.  It was not.  But I felt his breath.

Back to the mortician.  She looked me square in the eye and said that she has heard many, many stories similar to this over the years.  I feel that life-circumstances may or may not have any bearing on the visitations that we may receive.  I have to say that I found it odd that my father would come to visit me.  I also find it odd that I am still getting gentle nudges of awareness of his presence even today.  Why?  I don’t know.  I have some suspicions, though.