Bless This Mess?

My Sacred Life, Day 13

THIS is my laundry pile. It is my offering for today. Perhaps it isn't quite sacred, but the intention is: I offer this image to all those out there (and we know who we are) that may bemoan their lack of housekeeping skills. I was once offered the advice (cut throat as it may be) that if you're feeling bad about yourself and your life just take a look at someone who has it worse than you. (Not exactly spiritual but it does work.) So take a look and may you leave here feeling a little bit better about your own mess.

What mess could you embrace, and maybe accept, just for today?

Another view, just for good measure. Feeling better yet? I am, though The Hubby is going to kill me for posting these!

A Perfect Cup of Tea

My Sacred Life, Day 12ish

I'm under the weather today with a summer cold that kept me up half the night trapped in dreams about messed up bead orders that I really wanted but wouldn't arrive. I now have the perfect cup of tea - just the right temperature to drink, just the right amount of sweetener. That's about all I can muster for today, and it is enough.

What's your perfect cuppa?

Story-Beading...

My Sacred Life


This is where I've been doing my bead work lately. The location changes but the basic set up is the same - seed beads, crimps, wire...

My altar cloth is a gift from a very dear friend of mine and is always underneath the beads I'm working on. The pliers in the foreground were from my grandfather; they're what caused me to stop and look at what I was doing today and realize that this was today's My Sacred Life post. I carry a bit of the man who taught me all this cool stuff with me into every set of Story-Beads I make.

The set in pretty blue is the Transitional Butterfly set. Somewhere in the space is a Fairy Godmother Set, almost finished, and way in the back a set of Clarity & Balance to complete someone's order. I'm proud of all that I put into each of the sets of beads I make. I watch my energy and keep it neutral, mindful of the fact that these little babies are off to support people in changing or improving their spiritual practices and maybe even their lives.

What is your offering to the world?

Gifted

I bought myself a gift yesterday. I can't decide if I should go that extra (new age-y) step and wrap it up and mail it to myself with a little note of appreciation like my self-help books suggest. (I kinda want to dive right in.)

They look so nice together - the brown fuzzy socks and the colors on the book cover that so far I'm just enjoying looking at them.


What gift do you long to give yourself? What extravagant gift would you give yourself if your fairy godmother were to come along and grant that wildest wish?

Soot and More

Today's gratitude is Miss M's creativity and the way she makes me laugh. She has been working on her own blog about her Stupid Sock Creatures and she is just making me laugh hysterically.

What makes you laugh?

Static on the Line

Today was a day where it was hard to settle on what to post. It isn't that there aren't things to be grateful for; plenty is still sacred. It was just that after a weekend of entertaining and running around it was harder to feel that sacredness. Being tired and worn down, it was harder to connect with the feeling I've come to associate with connecting with Spirit.

So when my brother announced that the box turtle was back, I grabbed the camera and snapped a couple shots.

On some days maybe its OK to settle for out of the ordinary instead of stressing about not hearing that "still small voice" quite as clearly.

When do you have trouble hearing the "still small voice"? How do you respond when the voice isn't as clear?

heading home, under Miss M's watchful eye
(did you know that a box turtle has a territory as big as a football field?)

Miss M's sense of...humor?

The sacred Menthos. ?

Foots

My Sacred Life, Day 7




Today's sacred moment is brought to you by Miss M getting in on the action. My brother up visiting and a cousin sleeping over are reason to celebrate.

Who shares your sacred moments?

i wish to grow...

“Think of the ways that questions illuminate the world around us. Questions tune the soul. The purpose behind questions is to initiate the quest. . . . We need to be introduced to our longings because they guard our mystery. Ask yourself what mystery is being guarded by your longing.” -Phil Cousineau from The Art of Pilgrimage: The Seeker’s Guide to Making Travel Sacred

Claire, over at Anna's World blog, sent me the above quote and I love it.

The above set of Story-Beads were designed around questions and the importance, not of answering the questions, but of asking them in the first place. For me living with the questions is more important than finding a concrete answer. An answer is small; a question is big...

What questions are you living?

Knowing What You Want

When we bought this house a little over a year ago I knew one thing: I wanted SPACE! Lots of it. I wanted airy and roomy and somewhere to put all my precious stuff. (Its time you knew - I am a lousy buddhist; I love all my stuff!)

When I set up my office I had that thought in mind - airy and spacious and so I left room on my shelves and kept some stuff packed away...and spent no time in the room.

It wasn't until a week ago while watching a documentary on the Muppets that I realized the problem. Looking at their workshop, stacked to the ceiling with things to create with, piled high with "potential" I literally got goosebumps. That was what I wanted.

Thinking back on other offices that I've loved, I really like ordered chaos. There is great comfort in feeling all that potential pressing down on me. I've got the dining room table to work at if I want space. I've got the kitchen table to write at when I want light and airy. For my office I want my stuff and I want it all around me. Now I feel comfortable working in there.

What kind of a space do you need to do your best work?

Good Night

I keep three journals by my bedside and I try to write in them every night before bed. I call them my gratitude journals, an idea borrowed from Christina Baldwin. One is for my son, one is for my daughter and one is for life in general.

Last night, for the first time in almost a year I wrote in each of them - three short anecdotes of things that happened during the day that I remembered or was grateful for. One day I'll give the books to the kids and they'll have a record (albeit a spotty one) of what they were up to and, more importantly, of those aspects of their personalities that I gave thanks for.

I end each of the entries with "Thank you."

What would you write in a gratitude journal today? Thank you.

My Sacred Life

Carla, over at Zena Musings has started a new project and invited us all to come along. She's calling it My Sacred Life. I'm picturing it mentally as a sort of visual gratitude list. My only problem is where to start! How do I narrow down my choices?

I find it a miracle that when I look at my life with the intention of finding the cool stuff I want to share, it isn't the difficulty of finding any one thing but the overwhelming choice of what one thing today do I want to share.

I wonder, is the intention of looking to find them that causes me to see the multitude of the blessings of my life? Or is it the thought of sharing them, of being a part of a community that cares about seeing the blessings of my life and sharing their own?

For a long time now I have found "God" to be the interactions I have with others; "God" is the mindful, heartfelt connections that I make with people, especially in circles. I find it absolutely mind blowing that I should find God on a blog.

What unexpected places do you find "God"?

PS Want to check out some of the others participating in the My Sacred Life Project? Just click on the side panel...

Free and Clear

How wonderful my counter looks when it is free of clutter. It feels really good.


Why is it sometimes so hard to do the things that we know make us feel better?

The Virtuous Gratitude

Ideally, the spiritual practice of keeping gratitude lists should be a simple and easy one. Anyone can come up with 5 things to be grateful for, can't they? They can be broad and general (like hot showers) or small and specific (the flower that bloomed outside the front door.) And 5 isn't too many, either.

But what about something that ends up on your list that you judge less than virtuous? #1 on my gratitude list fits that description - "the distracting qualities of TV." Not exactly spiritual and... well, spiritual.

But I'm grateful for it. There are times when my anxiety is buzzing mildly around and careful use of television is just the self-medicating I need. And there's nothing like two hours of guilty pleasure TV when there's a huge pile of laundry to get through!

So, maybe being grateful for mind-numbing TV isn't virtuous, but its honest and honest trumps virtuousness every time (at least in gratitude lists!)

What's on your "less than virtuous" gratitude list?

Gratitude List

I'm grateful for:

1. the distracting qualities of TV
2. Miss M's sense of humor
3. free summer shows in the park
4. Lima Bean's seemingly innate ability with the computer
5. sweet sleeping kitties...




What are you grateful for?

What's in a Name? Part II

Miss M. She's got other nicknames around the house: Boo-Boo ('because I love you so much it makes my heart hurt,") Boo-Boo Kitty and Missy (just because) and several references to a Celtic death goddess (but only when she's being really wicked!)

But she's growing up and simpler is better. Besides, she tends towards undefinable anyway. There's that sense of humor that led to her version of herself as Satan's child on Christmas morning - how do you put a nickname on that?

So, "Miss M" it is.

Do you tend towards being undefinable? Would you like to be? What would a mysterious you be like?

What's in a Name? Part I

Many culture's believe that to know someone's true name is to have power over them.

It would seem my husband agrees with this, and so doesn't want true names used on the blog. Still, I feel the need refer to my kids by some name and so here are two anecdotes to "name" them:

When my son was born we had to change from our planned hospital to a different one which had a predominantly Hispanic clientèle. The professional photos were taken of him when he was a few hours old and the paperwork offered the option of printing his name on the photos. We took them up on the offer.

When we got the pictures back there was a slight printing error; his middle name was printed as "Lima" - as in Peru...or as in the bean. We sent them back to get corrected with the proper Scottish name but the damage had been done.

He was my "Lima Bean" from that day on.

What are the origins of your nicknames?

A Slice of Life

My perspective has changed slightly since starting this blog. I see things not just with an eye towards marketing but towards promoting others.

Carla Blazek writes Zena Musings and runs Zena Moon candles which are out of this world! Just look at them on my birthday altar in the photo above. She does a lot of referencing local places that reflect her experience. She also mentions blogs that touch her. I check out these references quite often, not just in the hopes of stumbling upon a great site but also because of Carla.

As curious as I am about what my life looks like, I am equally curious about what other people's lives look like. Carla's references offer me a slice of her life and in that way - a slice at a time - a story at a time, we become a community.

What would a slice of your life look like? If you were to take snapshots of your day what would the scrapbook look like?

The God Jar

Back in February, when I committed to getting the website up and running, I also made a list of all the things I wanted to accomplish in the upcoming year. Little things and big things from entertaining more, to losing 60 pounds, to remembering to wash my face and brush my teeth twice a day.

Sometime over the last 6 months most of the things on that list (which I wrote on pretty paper scraps) became "shoulds." Even the ones that I wanted to do had merely become activities that I was agonizing over not doing.

Coming from a place of agony isn't a good place to come from.

Journaling yesterday on a mini-retreat I realized I wanted to let go of all these shoulds but how to do it? Then I remembered a nifty practice suggested by Julia Cameron that she calls a God Jar. The idea is to use a container and place in it prayers, or worries, or hopes. Anything that you might look to free yourself from, anything you can bring yourself to ask for help on.

All my pretty pieces of paper which were so helpful a few months ago are now folded up and living in their new home inside the God Jar. They aren't for me to worry over any more. For me now, my focus will be on what I want. I want to write because I want to write, not because I "should;" I want to eat well because I enjoy making and eating good food, not because I "should" be doing it. I am focusing on moving from a place of agony to a place of awareness, with help from the God Jar.

What would you put in the God Jar?

Story-Beads the newsletter

There's a line from the Mel Brooks movie, Spaceballs, that I can't get out of my head. The Yoda-like character, Yougurt, is talking about merchandising. He says something along the lines of "Spaceballs, the toilet paper; Spaceballs the lunch box; Spaceballs the flamethrower (the kids love that one!)"

I have been struggling with the weekly newsletter for my main site, Story-Beads.com, and all I seem to be able to think is "Story-Beads the ezine; Story-Beads the flamethrower...

"The kids love that one!"

What have you struggled with lately? Did humor help or hinder? How did you get unstuck? (no really, comment on this one 'cuz I can use all the help that i can get!!)