Movement and Stillness - New ideas, new avenues, different foods or cultures, we all experience as we travel on our path in life. We can instantly be quickly drawn toward words or creations that spark a place inside us and just as quickly be completely turned off by another. Our world and communication is moving at a faster rate than ever before. In some instances this is wonderful! We can find people quickly who need assistance, reach more humans with new innovations in health and science. My Great-Grandmother would find it challenging to believe some of the things we accept as commonplace today.

We are becoming accustomed to this pace in some ways, and yet a part of us yearns for stillness, sitting, pausing and relishing the moments. Deep at our cellular core as humans we remember a slower pace of sitting around a fire, using our imaginations with storytelling, listening to Elders who challenged our new young minds with ancient questions. So different from the sound-bite world of quick answers, disposable things and even people. So necessary to have these times for our inner compass. Stillness brings us a relief from the fast pace. Even if we only find 10 minutes in our day to sit quietly and breathe, at our home, by a tree, in a park, in our car or our backyard. Welcoming in the beauty and simplicity of life with breath and quiet is a respite from the storms and chaos around us.

Two Wings

Observe the qualities of expansion and contraction

in the fingers of your hand:

surely after the closing of the fist comes the opening.

If the fingers were always closed or always open,

the owner would be crippled.

Your movement is governed by these two qualities:

they are as necessary to you as two wings are to a bird.

RUMI

Maybe you might wonder how you can find a place of quiet stillness from your movement, so that your

Two Wings can fly in balance in your life!

Blessings,

Bobbe

As the world's current events happen around us, confusion, fear and inhumanity seem ever present. In these times my practice of seeing a larger picture of the universe I live in brings a perspective of hope, understanding and truth.

"You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops in the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty." Mahatma Ghandi

Finding the silence within! Remembering with each breath the ocean/universe in which I exist includes so much more than my physical body. The rekindling of this deep connection brings me to balance and understanding beyond what my eyes and mind see.

Gratitude is my guide, breath is my vehicle and Love is the fuel.

May our continued practice of presence lead us to bringing more expansion to the whole and understanding to calm fears renewing Love in the hearts of those we touch each day and beyond.

Blessings and Love,

Bobbe

For the raindrop, joy is in entering the river---
Unbearable pain becomes its own cure.

Travel far enough into sorrow, tears turn to sighing;
In this way we learn how water can die into air.

When, after heavy rain, the stormclouds disperse,
Is it not that they've wept themselves clear to the end?

If you want to know the miracle, how wind can polish a mirror,
Look:the shining glass grows green in spring.

It's the rose's unfolding, that creates the desire to see---
In every color and circumstance, may the eyes be open for what
comes.          Ghalib (1797-1869)

As I learn from the children in my life. The gift I see is them being the raindrop, moving through the tears, embracing the miracle and living in the moment.

 Thank you for showing me the joy of living and feeling. I want to remember how easily I once also responded to life in that manner. Don't give up on me when I get stuck in my mind and the business of my "important" life and forget who I truly am!! Remind me gently to smile and breathe, sometimes I miss the sweetness of the simplicity of jumping, laughing and stomping in mud puddles.

Blessings,

Bobbe

one

The power of gathering in a circle of friends and family to support the challenges and transitions in our lives was brought to my attention, once again, as I attended one recently. The group was small,  only five women. They came together in support of one of the women, who is facing a very big shift in her life on many levels.
 We gathered in a circle, with a blazing fire at the center, each woman brought a blessing or offering. The place was adorned with a dozen of the most gorgeous roses, tea lights on the perimeter, fresh raspberries, bubbly water in an elegant glass, and a beautifully decorated chair for the woman to share her journey thus far.
A lovely song brought the circle together, followed by simple words of gratitude from each woman. There were moments of quiet with only the fire crackling as the backdrop, which brought all in the circle to a deeper connection. Wonderful poems with words reminding all participants of the richness, despair, excitement and acceptance life brings. The powerful moment came as all present listened when the honored woman shared her feelings, thoughts, stories from the past and focus for the future. Some of her writings and images were burned in the central fire as the process of letting go unfolded and an invitation for more healing and expansion was invoked. Each woman stepped forward and blessed their powerful friend with words from the heart and cleansed her hands and face with a cloth of warm rose water.  Feeding her raspberries helped bring awareness of the sweetness surrounding her as she walks into this challenge. The evening was completed with songs and simple gratitude for the chance once more to be together. Each woman returned to her life with a bit more power and connection to each other and the source that holds us together. The incredible depth of love and understanding for all in the circle and especially the woman facing the challenge was undeniable.

A simple space, words of truth, gentle touch, songs from the heart and gratitude. Ceremony is something we know in our hearts and souls, handed down from generation to generation until it was somehow lost and only just remembered in our longings.

 When you have leaps and challenges you are facing in life, maybe you can tell one person a bit of what you need. If you tell them clearly and ask for support you might find yourself around a fire, or table, by a river or under a tree having a simple ceremony of sharing, blessing and understanding. Anything is possible!! This I know deep in my bones!

Blessings,

Bobbe

Thoughts!!! How quickly they can take a moment of life and turn it around. The morning is feeling wonderful! Just moving along in a groove and beginning a wonderful day!
 ENTER A THOUGHT: I wonder why (my partner, mother, sister, brother, child, boss/ take your pick) doesn't tell me how much they appreciate me for all I do for them.
YOUR MIND ADDS TO THE THOUGHT: It has been such a long time since I have heard anything supportive from them.
YOUR MIND ADDS ANOTHER THOUGHT: I bet they don't even see all the many things I bust my buns to do all the time! Really! They are so blind and maybe they/he/she doesn't even really think I am valuable at all or even really love me!

Looking at the clock you then realize you are behind and not going to get all the things together for the next scheduled part of your day. You hurry to throw things into a bag or briefcase. Don't even have another moment to spare! Walking out to the next thing in your day you feel OK, and yet not as great as when you were in that groove.

Thoughts come!!! It is how we move with them and how much we are invested in believing them, feeding them or observing and noticing them. We have a choice in each moment to feed the thought or allow it to come and go without engaging. When camping in wild areas we see signs that say:
PLEASE DO NOT FEED THE BEARS.  The reason being if we feed them they will return and be more demanding and relentless for food.   I have often thought it would be helpful to put up signs in my world-  PLEASE DO NOT FEED THE THOUGHTS!!  AS THEY WILL RETURN AGAIN AND AGAIN!!!

I have clients who name their thoughts Bus #22 or Airplane 707, they let them go on by not stepping on board, Sometimes the bus or plane comes around for another try, just to see if you will engage. I have noticed that how deeply invested I am in the thought keeps me participating in this dance. The GOOD NEWS is as you allow the thought to pass by it becomes less powerful. When you become the observer of thoughts, the dynamic of your life changes. Life becomes a journey of freedom and truth about what is really going on in your relationship with yourself and others at home and in your outer world. Take a step toward you and away from allowing thoughts to rule your world!

Happy Observing,

Bobbe

Days come gently, softly touching us as the darkness of night  unwraps its grasp and reveals once more the treasure of light. Memories of sitting by a fire all night and witnessing the beauty of the birth of a new day fill me with wonder at the gifts I am given continually without having to do anything to receive them.

 Being human on this planet gives me so many opportunities to receive treasures. Just the other day I was gifted a wonderful walk in the rain with my daughter and grandson. We did not have to buy a ticket for this "walk in the rain", nor did we plan ahead to experience this gift. We just walked to our destination together and the gift came right on time! The conversation while walking back home in the sudden rain was priceless. "Do you know Nonna if you were thirsty and didn't have a water bottle and it was raining like this you could just open your mouth and drink all the water you want until you were not thirsty anymore?"   Seven year old wisdom comes from an uncomplicated place. It just appears naturally out of observing and noticing. Moments like this are the diamonds of life dropped into the pockets in our hearts on a chance walk on a rainy day. Oh! the treasure we can mine in life when we begin to become a bit less complicated.

I am noticing how sweet it feels to simplify, observe and be grateful for the small things in my life. It is a practice I have not fully graduated into embracing in every moment, and yet one that I love  welcoming to be at the forefront. I am changing my stories about the problems and burdens of life. In the midst of whatever my mind brings to chew on there are also treasures to receive. and I am delighted to be present more often to say Yes to these gifts. My heart feels lighter remembering that darkness is always followed by the light!

Blessings and simple treasures to you,

Bobbe

Looking at the beautiful reds, gold and orange colors the trees are bringing to my attention everywhere I go these days, I am reminded of the shift that is happening once again. Mother nature letting us know change is happening! Change is something we all experience consistently in our lives. It can be something that makes us very uncomfortable. Do you think the tree starts worrying about the beautiful green leaves changing color in October at the end of August? "It is just too soon, I'm not ready yet to change to red. You know what a big adjustment that is for me every year."  or how about this "What do you mean I am going to lose all my leaves! I am not prepared for that to happen!" This sounds pretty silly!  Yet change in nature is happening all around us and teaching us to adapt and notice what is occurring and how natural the flow of change can be. Also how quickly a gusty fall wind can swoop in and take all but a few leaves from a tree!

Worrying about the future and being immobilized by the thoughts of how and what might happen or that it will happen too soon, brings stress to a situation which may never actually happen. We see this kind of thinking modeled all around us everyday. "What if's" are easy to find in most situations. Many learn to think that worrying about a person we love is a form of loving them. We think worry thoughts are normal and they really aren't. They certainly are thoughts and get our attention. Worry comes from our fears. False Evidence Appearing Real! We convince ourselves through believing our stories and we are so good at adding to the stories with more thoughts.

Go through a day and start noticing all the little changes you are experiencing all day long. This is a great exercise to see which ones make you uncomfortable, which don't bother you at all, or maybe they all bother you at varying degrees. You will get to see the level of your ability to shift and roll through transitions and changes. I like to do this to see how many changes can happen in a day before I start to really feel irritated and not able to deal with them. When I have reached my threshold, I usually try to sit and meditate or stop and relax with a few breaths.

 Can you imagine if everything in nature reacted the way humans react to situations?  It would be quite an experience for us to be the receiver of the fear and confusion we project. I wonder if the animals, trees, mountains, streams, oceans had a voice what would they say about all the stress and worry we send out into the world each day. Projecting balance and harmony could be a gift to yourself and those in your life. Change is definitely something we can count on to show up! It is a great teacher!

Breathe, Pause and Be Still,

Bobbe