What Would You Like to See and Do?

Posted on May 16, 2008 by Pat

IMAGINE…You may say I’m a dreamer… But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us…and the World will live as one~~John Lennon~~
Do you have some things in mind you would like to do or some place you would like to visit before your time with this life on earth is over? I have a small list of things on my frig and now and then I add to it.

I’ll share them with you and I’d like you to comment and share some of the things that stand out for you that you would like to do. Here are mine:

1. SEE THE NORTHERN LIGHTS (AURORA BOREALIS). I’ve read about them and have seen glimpses of them on TV shows now and then. But, I can only imagine how mystical they are in their greens and blues swirling around and moving with the currents of the air.

Credits Go To Carlos (RioMondego) On YouTube

2. PARAGLIDE. I once saw this TV spot on Colorado Getaways of a woman and her friend trying out the adventure of tandem paragliding. If you have someone with you on the first time out, you may feel more secure. What would that feel like soaring like a bird?

3. VISIT SCOTLAND. I have ancestry that came from Scotland (both grandparents) and a friend that has frequently visited the Findhorn Foundation. I have my father’s 100-year old book written about my great-great-great Grandfather, Thomas Edward, called “The Life of a Scotch Naturalist” by Samuel Smiles, LL.D. He was given an award from Queen Victoria in the late 1800’s and one of the people who gave him tribute in the book for his work was Charles Darwin. I would love to visit and explore some of the places talked about in his book and do a genealogy research as well as take in the sights and get to know the people.

4. SWIM WITH THE DOLPHINS. I met a woman who practices Reiki a few years back who took regular trips to Cancun, Mexico to swim with the dolphins. She invited me to go with their group but I wasn’t able to go at that time. She talked about the spiritual and therapeutic benefits her clients received and the wonderful experiences.

5. VISIT THE GROTTO OF LOURDES, FRANCE AND TAKE PART IN THE EVENING PROCESSION. Dr. Wayne Dyer talked in one of his lectures about participating in this procession in the small town of Lourdes, France. He said this procession takes places every evening from early spring to the fall. No one advertises, there aren’t any real instructions as to what to do. Ten to fourteen thousand people from all over the world show up every evening with candles. There’s a strong peace and energy force somehow orchestrating the event. There are wheelchairs and people with crutches and no pushing or shoving. It all seems to move and flow so effortlessly. It was a powerful experience for him.

6. SEE THE TULIPS IN FULL BLOOM IN HOLLAND. I love flowers and can just imagine the fragrance in the air as you take in field after field of brightly colored tulips.

This is my list so far. I know there are many other wonderful things on this God’s earth to discover and explore. As I learn about them, I’ll add them to my list. I’m excited for the time when I’ll get the chance to visit and do these things and cross them off my list. How about you? What are some of the things you’d like to do – places you’d like to see?

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Blessings To All Mothers

Posted on May 11, 2008 by Pat

(Photo by Microsoft Clipart) ~~ Mother’s Day – a special day honoring all mothers far and wide. I didn’t want the day to end without sending warm thoughts and best wishes to all of you out there privileged to be mothers.

I hope your day is filled with laughter and sweet sounds of children at play.

I hope you are honored and treated with respect this special day with much gratitude for which you so deserve.

I hope you are reminded of days gone by of times where all you did was run here and chase there making treasures of memories for the wee ones now grown.

You are a Mother – a role to be cherished for having the awesome responsibility of bearing children and taking part in keeping them safe, watching them grow and passing onto them your wisdom and stories.

On Children
Kahlil Gibran

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
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 our 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.

God bless you on your special day – Mother’s Day.

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Alone

Posted on May 9, 2008 by Pat

~~ ALONE ~~ What does that feel like? I wondered about that after viewing an hour-long documentary last night on PBS. The show was about Dick Proenneke alone in the wilderness in Twin Lakes, Alaska.

It started out with him wanting to see if he could live one whole year in remote Alaska. It turned out with him finally leaving at the age of 82 after 35 years.

Here is a compressed 9-minute glimpse of this amazing man and how he worked using simple tools to build his cabin living in harmony with Nature and the elements.

I have been feeling reflective lately. I suppose it’s the energy of Spring coming on and noticing the changes all around. This was another one of those introspective times in viewing this video.

I wondered what does a man think of in his quiet times when he is alone in a remote area like this. What keeps you there – for 35 years? In the beginning, long days and months are spent in building your shelter, as it was for Dick, and preparation for food and water and in exploration. But when that is finished and life settles in to routine maintenance and chores, do you ever miss companionship or the sound of someone’s voice? Or, maybe because you are so one with who you are from within the need is not there for companionship because you’re content and satisfied wherever you are.

As I watched this video, I was in awe how a cabin grew, a moss roof and fireplace emerged, doors were hung with wooden hinges. He created everything with the resources around him. Just watching made me realize the incredible ability and potential a human possesses.

In our culture, we are lured into believing we need this or we need that or else we can’t survive. What a different world compared to the wilderness Dick Proenneke lived in. He used his God-given talents and strengths fully carving out a life in harmony with the energy of Nature and the resources given him. Why are we any different in the lives we are living? We all can’t go to the wilderness but I believe we can let our own individual strengths come through in the same way everyday in our lives.

ALONE – what would our thoughts and feelings be in a remote wilderness for 35 years? I feel that peace and contentment. It’s learning to let it shine through every day in whatever we’re doing – right here, right now.

Pat from the ol’ kitchen table

Music Between the Notes

Posted on May 7, 2008 by Pat

(Photos by Microsoft Clipart) ~~ We just started to get a rain shower tonight. What a wonderful break to have rain instead of snow.

As I sit listening to the patter of drops pondering what to write, I think of the beauty and wonder of this world and how most of the time we’re unconscious and miss so much of it. Just a little thing like a gentle rain can remind us to stop and listen to life that is going on all around and within us.

We miss it because we’re looking only with our eyes and ears and if it’s not obvious we move on. The essence – life – is the pause of your breath before you exhale, the feel of the air and expansion of the sky as you step outside, the sound of your heartbeat and the music between the notes.

Herein lies the key to a New World. The changes you’ve been believing in and praying for is already in our midst and in our presence if we would only look and listen with our soul eyes instead of our physical eyes.

Moment-to-moment and hour-by-hour, we can learn to be aware of the unseen and unspoken nuances around us and bring them into whatever we’re doing at the time allowing that energy to flow through us.

As Eckhart Tolle quotes from Hafiz, a 14th century Persian poet and Sufi master, as translated by Daniel Ladinsky in The Gift:

“I am a hole in a flute that the Christ’s breath moves through. Listen to this music.”

The answers we are looking for cannot be found in thought or form. We can’t use the same physical eyes and ears to understand. It’s as if we have to put that aside and listen as the animals listen. They are in tune with the energies and unseen forces of life and nature. That’s why they knew to move to higher ground when the tsunami hit in 2004.

Listening to the gentle rain connects me to the whole and I feel complete. For a little time, I’m conscious and sense the awesomeness of life. Sweet.

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One Hundred Posts

Posted on May 2, 2008 by Pat

(Pictures by Microsoft Clipart) ~~ Woohoo! This is my 100th post. I’m dancing around happy – ecstatic of this accomplishment, for me. You have to understand that this is the last thing I ever imagined I would do is write.

As a child growing up, I didn’t like to read. My father read all the time to the point it became a pet peeve to me. It would be nice outside and he would sit there with his nose in a book. I thought it was the biggest waste of time.

In school, when book reports were due, I would read a few chapters in the beginning, middle and end and look at the front and back inlays for a summary of the book and write my report. Then, I would pray there would be no test or called upon for questions and answers. It worked some times but most often it didn’t.

Then, I married and, guess what, my husband loved to read and more than my father. So, it was then that I thought I’d better get serious and read a book or two. It was a slow go and over the years I developed a love for reading. In fact, my husband has his bookcase with his favorite books and I have mine. I’ve actually filled up a bookcase with my favorite books. Now, I love to read and look forward to quiet times on the weekend, when the weather is stormy, curled up with a good book.

I have a lot of ground to make up for all those lost years but the books are not going anywhere. In fact, with this discovery of writing, I may one day add my own contribution to the volumes already published. I never knew you could write and feel so fulfilled and amazed as the story unfolds. It’s like something talks through you and words pour out on the screen. When I’m finished, I’m in wonder as to where it came from.

So, in light from where I’ve come, what I’ve learned in the process and what I have accomplished, I thank you for coming along on this journey with me, reading and sharing your thoughts and wisdom.

I INVITE YOU TO JOIN ME IN THIS CELEBRATION OF MY 100TH POST

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