​In winding up this series on vacations and opportunities for self-care, I want to return to an idea I offered at the beginning.  The essence of a vacation is to vacate our life in order to make room for self-care.  We vacate our calendar, our work schedule, our daily routines, and the same-old, same-old of our daily lives.  By evacuating our usual, we are prepared to experience the un-usual, the new and potentially meaningful in our lives.
 
This can take real courage.  Too often we have come to see ourselves by what we do or how we spend our day-to-day lives.  Our conversations, relationships, and sense of self-identity become dependent upon the routines and activities of the same-old, same -old.  These are important and necessary for much that is good in our lives.  It allows us to participate in the world around us.  They encourage us to reach outside of ourselves and make connections.  They help us grow and contribute to the lives of others.  Unfortunately, when we ponder vacating this place of familiarity and/or comfort, we may fear losing our connections and place in the world. 
 
To deal with this fear we may only partially vacate our lives.  We may move from the suburbs to an RV Park for a couple of weeks.  We may leave our apartment for a hotel room.  We may take a “busman’s holiday” by pursuing our work interests while on vacation.  We may take our work phone along just in case.  We may pursue the same hobbies while on vacation that we pursue in our daily lives.  We may travel with friends from work or the neighborhood.   These are okay as long as we recognize that we may not be fully emptying our lives to receive something new and refreshing.  We may not enjoy the full benefit of the vacation.
 
The more we can change things up on vacation the greater the opportunity we will have to find renewal and see new possibilities for our lives.  We may be able to relax a little when we step back a little.  But when we immerse ourselves in something new, we will have the advantage of a whole different perspective on our lives.  We will have a greater chance of discovering our “being”, waking up our minds, and resetting our senses to receive beauty into our lives.
 
I encourage you to vacate the same-old, same-old and take a break.  Whether you travel or stay at home is not important.  Muster your courage to do something new for a week or two and see where your journey takes you.  You can always “come home” when you are ready.  But you may just discover that home is not what you think it is and you may find ways to make the “same-old, same-old” into something brand new!
 
God’s speed on your journey.  May your vacation be an introduction to a new movement in your life’s symphony.
 
Blessings,
 
Bob

​Taking care of ourselves when we are out and about among our friends and enemies can be quite difficult.  We all have buttons that can be pushed and people who know where they are.  We all carry around painful memories that can bubble up with explosive force on those around us.  We have all found ourselves being manipulated into making a bad decision by people who may not have our best interest at heart.  Protecting ourselves and developing healthy and meaningful relationships is the goal for Self-Care among our friends and enemies.
 
In the last few weeks I have discussed ways to accomplish this with the face-to-face relationships as well as the relationships that we carry around in our heart and soul.  As I close this series, I want to consider the importance of taking care of ourselves in our online relationships.
 
I do not have space or the expertise to say all we need to know about online safety.  But I do want to share some thoughts for you to consider that can help you take care of yourself online.
 
It is difficult to discern who our friends and enemies might be.  It is incredibly easy to deceive someone online.  We have a very limited view of the other person and much of that view is under their control.  It is important that we are comfortable knowing who we are dealing with and avoid sharing personal information with people we do not know or cannot trust.
 
We may have a much broader range of contact via friends and friends of friends as well as strangers who prowl the net.  Once we put something on the social media, we have essentially lost control of it.  Even privacy policies cannot protect you from someone copying and posting your words.  If we find it difficult to know our online friends and enemies, imagine the vast number of strangers out there who could gain access to your online presence.  In short, avoid posting anything that could place you or your family and friends in danger.
 
We may suffer from the Illusion of safety of physical distance.  Online presence offers the illusion of anonymity and distance.  We may say and do things online that we would never do to a person’s face.  We can hurt other people by what we say from our “online” distance.  Carefully process your posts before you hit the “send” button to ensure that you are not pretending to hide behind a non-existent wall.
 
Unfortunately, many people are tempted to abandon net relationships all together and believe that they are safe.  First of all, once it is posted, it may never die.  Shutting down your accounts will not erase any information you have already shared.  Further, if you enjoy the relationships you have with the people in your online network, you will likely lose that support when you go offline.  Self-care is not as easy as signing off everything.
 
For these and many, many other reasons, we need to accept that we are responsible for managing our relationships with friends and enemies (and strangers) online.  We can use many of the ideas I have shared in previous posts.  There are other resources available to help you take care of yourself online.  I have posted a few in the FYI section.  But none of these will help if we do not accept responsibility for our relationships, online and otherwise.  Do they enhance your well-being?  Do they add unnecessary stress or worry to your life?  Do they help you grow or prevent you from reaching beyond the moment?  These are personal decisions that each of us will have to make.  There are no “one size, fits all” solutions or easy “cliched” short-cuts.
 
Take good care of yourself in all of your relationships.  Each relationship can enrich your life in unimaginable ways.
 
Blessings,
 
Bob

Online Safety for Kids
 
Online Safety for Teens
 
Staying Safe online
​

​For the last few weeks I have been exploring ways to take care of ourselves while at work.  One of the reasons this topic is necessary and timely is a false distinction we draw between our work lives and our lives at play.  (I know that most of us would not define our non-work time as play time, but this is the crux of the problem.)  We have compartmentalized our lives between work, chores, family, recreation, vacation, etc. etc.  We have established different expectations and modes of operation for each.  This sets the stage for role conflicts, time conflicts, ethical conflicts, and divided loyalties.  As the old wisdom says, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”  And many of us are sliced, diced and divided so much that we have to figure out which hat we are wearing before we can answer a simple question.
 
As you consider your self-care at work, I will ask you to consider giving up the false distinction between work and play.  This may require a different way of thinking about both.
 
Traditionally, we consider work to be the time when we “earn our living.”  This is an interesting turn of phrase.  It is not “earn our paycheck” or “earn our keep.”  We have to make ourselves worthy of our living.  To quote a very old TV commercial, “We have to earn it!”
 
This creates a degree of seriousness and priority that sets the time at work apart from the rest of our lives.  We may believe that it is too important to treat lightly.  It demands special treatment on our calendar and in our relationships.  We may have to look past people and situations that are offensive to us in order to preserve and protect it.  We may feel that we have to “put up with” ideas and actions that go against our ethical code.  Why?  In order to earn our living, our place in life.
 
Contrast this with play, by which I mean everything else.  Play is something we discover in childhood.  It is a “growing into.”  We may play at keeping house or going to work.  Play is a time to put on a new look and discover how it fits.  Play, in childhood, is a growing into you.  Many definitions say play is the opposite of engaging in serious and practical activities (work).  But, have you ever watched a child play?  Play can be very intentional and practical.  It is all about exploring and discovering, a growing into the you of your future.
 
What would happen if we took some of our play insights and applied them to work and likewise applied some of our work to play?  It might look something like this.
 
We would spend a major part of our day discovering how our employment helps us discover and grow into the person that we are becoming.  This may mean learning new skills and building healthy relationships with the people around us.  It may mean truly appreciating an employer that is concerned about you and wants to help you grow.  It may mean not being willing to “sell your soul” in order to make more money than you may really need to live as you truly want to live. 
 
We might then spend the rest of our day intentionally seeking to discover and grow into the person we really want to be.  If we want to be a great Dad or Mom, then we will engage in practical activities to live that intention out with joy.  This may include cleaning the house, helping a child with homework, or attending a PTO meeting.  If we also want to have a beautiful garden, we will dedicate our time and energy toward that end.  This may include mowing the yard or trimming the shrubs.  The activities are a means to a chosen end.  The important element in this is our intention.  Regardless of whether we are at work or play, we choose multiple places where we want to grow and become and then we discover ways to achieve that hope.  In the process we cultivate joy in living our lives whether we are being paid by others or not.  Our total lives are guided by joy and hope.
 
This represents a different way of seeing our lives.  It avoids the struggle of living with conflicting roles and expectations.  It will lead us to take responsibility for our daily living and to see each moment of the day as an opportunity for becoming.  We are the same person whether we are at work, working in the yard, at the ballfield with our children, or sitting in our easy chair enjoying some time alone.  Being intentional about ourselves and accepting responsibility for ourselves lays a solid foundation for good self-care.
 
Blessings,
 
Bob

The Cost of a Toxic Job
 
Making Work and Play Coexist
 
“Work and play are words used to describe the same thing under differing conditions.” ~Mark Twain

“Self-care is how you take your power back.” ~ Lalah Delia

​When circumstances force us into a new journey, we often feel victimized.  We may feel that we have little or no control over our lives and that our options are few.  We use a great deal of energy blaming, resisting, pouting, shouting, and throwing temper tantrums.  None of which help us deal with the challenge at hand, making the best of the journey ahead.  Victims claim such behavior is claimed as a birthright.  But we can do better!  Self-care demands that we find a healthier way to deal with the new journey ahead.
 
In the last few weeks I have shared several ways to deal with the challenges of a new journey.  (Follow this link and you can read or review these self-care tips.)  But these tips and any other strategies you may discover will not be helpful as long as you maintain your victimhood.  Every new journey brings both challenge and opportunity.  When we open ourselves to both, choices begin to present themselves.  We discover that we are not powerless.  We may not have absolute control over the destination, but we have meaningful choices that will affect the journey.    But this only works when we claim our journey and the gifts it offers.
 
If our new journey is prompted by a deep loss, we will need a season of lament where we make our loss part of our lives.  But there comes a point when we can set our face to our future even while remembering and cherishing the past.   This is true whether the loss is of a companion, a job, our health, or other major life change.
 
If our new journey is prompted by an external need, we will need time to sort through and discern whether the path merits our energy.  Our spouse takes a new job or family responsibilities call us to move closer to parents or children.  Our boss wants us to take a promotion that will demand more time.  Our children are not doing well in our present situation.  We are still able to make choices.  The circumstances may raise the emotional stakes, but we will need to claim the choice and make the journey one of our choosing, even if we do so reluctantly.  We are accountable for how we respond to new journeys. 
 
We have two choices whether the journey is voluntary or involuntary, welcome or unwelcome.
 
The first is to claim our journey and the gifts it offers.  Even if it is involuntary, the journey will offer opportunities for good or ill.   By making the journey our own and accepting it as part of our lives, we will be able to use it to GROW in spirit.  We will emerge on the other end of the path having grown in body, mind, and soul.
 
Second, we can resist the changes that the journey offers and walk in misery.   We can carry all the baggage from the start of the journey along with us.  We can refuse to learn new ways for new situations.  We can refuse to engage with new people along the way and lament the loss of friends and family that were left behind.  We can live with regret and refuse to replenish the emotional energy through self-care.  In doing so, we will WITHER in spirit.  Our capacity for love and trust, joy and hope will diminish.  We will lose our resilience and stumble along dreading the next turn or fearing that we have made a terrible mistake.
 
But such dire circumstances are not inevitable.  We have a choice on how we receive new journeys.  They can be burdens to be endured or blessings to be uncovered.  They will not be easy.  They will not be simple.  But how we respond to them is our choice and in that choice, we can find the seeds of self-care that will help us find our way.
 
Blessings on your new journeys.
 
Bob

Choosing Joy
 
Avoiding Misery
 
Make the Most of Life
​

​We have made it through the Holidays, almost!  One more week and we will close out the year and complete our holiday journey.  Most of us are feeling some relief.  We made it, so far!  There may have been moments when stress began to grow, but we were able to manage them.  Regardless, few will have lasting scars.  But we may have memories of what we could have done better.
 
It is important to remember that the holidays have not caused the stress we have experienced over the last month.  They may have provided the opportunity, but we are the authors of our own holiday stress.  Sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph, and page by page we have scripted stress into our lives.  We invited it into our holidays with unreasonable expectations, unrealistic goals, refusing help, and fighting our way through on sheer determination and grit. 
 
The holidays are intended to be opportunities for celebration, honoring something important in our lives.  The holidays are times to honor the families that surround us, the faith that sustains us, the year we are completing, and the year that is waiting on the doorstep.  For some there may have been moments of renewed grief over loved ones who are no longer with us. For some, there were moments when we tried to make everyone happy.  There were moments when we leaned heavily on our faith and may have felt like it was not enough.  For some there were moments when we felt regret for past disappointments and anxiety over an unrealized future.  The honoring became difficult as the stress began to build.
 
We cannot control the circumstances, but we can control the stress we experience when grief, disappointment, regret, and anxiety show themselves.  The ancient spiritual leaders of many traditions talk about “letting go” and “detachment.”  These words recognize that holding on to something is a choice we make.  When we hold on to disappointment, regret will grow.  When we hold on to anger, fear will take root.  When we hold on to our losses, grief will take root.  If we fight to resist these very natural responses, stress will spread like Kudzu over a Southern Forest. 
 
But letting go is not as simple as opening our hand.  It takes a deeper awareness of how “holding on” and “attachments” create our sense of being and purpose.  Letting go and detaching demands a growing sense of who we are in our body-mind-soul.  Once we come to see grief, anxiety, disappointment, and fear as a part of who we are, the stress begins to melt away.  We no longer fight against the currents and allow them to carry us to new lands of living and self-understanding.   By letting go of the desire to control them we find new lives dawning with the new year.  That detachment makes all the difference.
 
We have one more week of the holidays.  As we prepare to enter the new year, let go of your need to control the life that awaits you.  Acknowledge your companions, even those that cause you pain.  Allow them to help you become better acquainted with your body-mind-soul.  Leave stress behind and celebrate the person you are becoming.  Honor your grief, anger, disappointment, fear, and anxiety.  They are teaching you wondrous things about the new you in 2019.
 
Happy New Year,
 
Bob 

Next week I will begin a three week break as I take a vacation and open an office for Spiritual Direction at First Christian Church of Pasadena.  I will see folks on Thursdays by appointment only.  Email me for more information at [email protected].  See you on 1/23/19 when we will begin exploring Self-Care when we begin new journeys in life.  Happy New Year!  BD

Whenever we heard these words as children, they were seldom the result of our making a good choice.  They usually followed a very bad choice that had negative results for ourselves or others.  They generally came before some sort of punishment that was intended to increase the discomfort of the negative consequences themselves.  Being held accountable and responsible for our actions was never a good thing when we were children.
 
But we were lucky if we had parents who helped us accept responsibility for our choices even though we probably did not always appreciate their efforts.  Bring held responsible for our choices is not a negative experience for the “grown up.”  It can have one of several positive outcomes for the “woke” person. 
 
We can celebrate well-made choices.  It feels good to know that you made the right choice in a difficult situation.  It confirms our positive self-image and encourages us to look back and see what went right.  It offers a good dose of energy as we move into our next opportunity to choose.
 
We can also celebrate the opportunity to learn from less than good choices.  Having a negative consequence can also offer a bounty to our lives.  Once we acknowledge the disappointment, the fall-out from a bad choice offers us the gift of insight.  We can look back and see if we based our choice on bad information, misreading the situation, relying on unreliable circumstances, or simply screwing up.  Perhaps we just did the right thing at the wrong time.  A bad choice allows us to learn from the best teacher of all, life itself.  But this only works if we are grown-up and not trapped in self-justification and ego-satisfaction.  But the grown up can celebrate a bad choice as an opportunity to move forward with greater insight and understanding.
 
We also learn to live and appreciate that others struggle with in their choices and sometimes make poor decisions.  By having failed we can become less judgmental about other’s bad choices.  Again, this does not work for the man-child or woman-child.  They are unable to acknowledge their responsibility and thus see themselves as always making the right decision.  They have no empathy for others who come up short in life.  But for those who are grown up, our own struggles make us sensitive to the struggles of others and able to encourage others to learn from their mistakes and bad choices.  Adults celebrate the gift of empathy that comes with bad choices.
 
Finally, the grown up who makes bad choices can find themselves in good company and on common ground with others who struggle to be responsible.  We can find companions who can help us grow through the difficulty and embrace life as something more than “winning.”  We will find that we are surrounded by a great host with whom we can find love and trust, joy and hope even when we fall short of our own expectations
Therefore, I encourage you to celebrate the responsibility that allows us to claim our choices and grow through even those that may bring pain or heartache.  If such celebration is difficult or impossible for you, recognize that you may have some growing to do.   Seek out a spiritual companion who can help you “wake up to yourself.” 
 
Have a Blessed and Happy Thanksgiving!
 
Bob

The Gift of Mistakes
 
Walking with a Child through Failure
 
The Gift of Failure
​

​“I just want to go home!”
 
These words were spoken by an 85-year-old woman who had spent the last two years going from hospital to rehab to home and then back to the hospital to start the cycle all over again.  After 5 trips to the hospital she was tired.  Her lips trembled as she spoke the words.  Her eyes betrayed a deep sadness.  Her hands, crippled with arthritis, were held together as if in prayer.
 
“I just want to go home!”
 
She became one of my hospice patients when her family listened to her pleas and brought her home to live out her life.  Notice that I did not say they brought her home to die.  She and they knew that she was going to die very soon.  The doctors had already told them that there was nothing more they could do.  But she did not want to go home and die.  She wanted to go home a live her life as best she could.  Her family wanted that for her as well.
 
She spent the next six-weeks surrounded by familiar sounds and aromas.  She saw her family and neighbors every day.  She ate food that was familiar and comfortable to her, though she ate very little.  She could close her eyes whenever she wanted knowing that she was surrounded with everything she needed and wanted in her life.  She was home.
 
As the end approached, she withdrew from interacting with her family.  She went inside herself and seemed comfortable and content.  He pain was addressed by her caregivers.  She relaxed into her dying and slipped away, at peace, surrounded by the people she loved.  She got her heart’s desire.
 
“I want to go home!”
 
This woman and many like her have taught me about real homelessness. 
 
Too often, when we think of homelessness, we have images of a beggar pushing her grocery cart filled with bags and cans along the streets of our major cities.  They may or may not be homeless.  Many of these people are perfectly happy with their life on the street.  Some are not, but others like their life on the “urban frontier.”  Having a house does mean you have a home.  And having a home does not mean you must have a house.  Homelessness is something far deeper and far more devastating.
 
Homelessness can afflict us body-mind-soul.  Last week, I spoke of dying well.  My patient experienced what hospice folks call “dying well.”   This means she was able to relax into her last days by letting go and embracing the gift that each moment brings.  We are homeless when we are constantly yearning for something more.  Homelessness is an unsatisfied spirit striving for the “not yet” while unaware of the gift of the present or presence.  The homeless spirit cannot relax.  They cannot find a place to lay down.  The constant waves of worry and desire create a rip tide that pulls them away from the safety of the beach.  They feel like they are drowning in their own neediness.  There is no refuge.  They are homeless.
 
When I was talking with patients and families about the possibility of hospice, I learned to listen for the “magic moment.”  Generally, these conversations would begin with my asking, “Why have you called hospice?”  The patient and the family would begin telling their story.  It usually began with the words, “The doctor said there is nothing more they can do.”  From there they would describe the medical history including their hospitalizations.  I could see the family and patient struggling with all the emotions that had come to the surface as they told their story.  I could hear and see anger, frustration, resolve, disappointment, despair, resentment, and even shame.  I listened as the story unfolded, sometimes in remarkable detail.  It was clearly a story that had defined and was defining who they were and how they had reached this point.  And then I could see the “magic moment” approaching.
 
Gradually, the energy in the room would begin to calm.  Sadness replaced a determination to fight on.  And hope began to wrap its arms around the patient and the family as the patient said, “I want to go home!”
 
For all who are homeless, I pray that you can find someone who can help you reach your “magic moment.”  Going home is not always easy, especially for those who have been away for a while.  I pray that you will let go of all the things that keep you from making that journey.  I pray that you will rediscover the place, the people, the presence, and the inner peace that will allow you to find your way home.  I pray that you will hear the voice of one calling out to you from a distance, shouting your name with great joy.  And that when you feel their arms enfold you, I pray that you will hear the words, “You were lost but now you are found.  Welcome Home!” 

​Getting stuck is one of those inconvenient truths about life.  We all “end up in the ditch” from time to time.  Sometimes we do not plan well enough and sometimes we are blindsided.  Sometimes we zig when we should have zagged and sometimes, no matter what we do, we just get stuck.
 
Marlene and I have done a lot of beach driving in search of those little brown and gray birds that scurry along the surf.  I usually do the driving so that she can keep an eye out for our critters.  We have driven the beach along a good part of the upper Texas Coast, and yes, we have gotten stuck!  Despite being a very cautious driver, I have miscalculated my way into soft sand.  When I had a 4-wheel drive jeep I was not as concerned, but I learned that any vehicle with tires can get stuck. 
 
Beach driving has taught me that getting stuck and getting unstuck are two very different things.  It is very easy to blame our getting stuck on someone else.  But, such blaming is ultimately self-defeating.  We do not have much control over “someone else” and so in blaming them we are giving them the power to hold us captive in our stuckness.  And we may then blame them not only for getting stuck but for being stuck.  “They caused it.  They have to fix it!”  I learned this while sitting with my truck wheels sunk up to the axles in soft beach sand.  The facts were, I was stuck and I was not going anywhere.  The only real question was do I want to stay stuck or do I want to get unstuck?  Blaming had nothing to do with resolving this question.
 
This is where we need to take responsibility for our stuckness.  Not necessarily for getting stuck.  Stuckness happens.  But we need to accept responsibility for our remaining stuck.  Responsibility means we have the ability to respond.  If we can change the situation then we are responsible for doing so.  This may involve digging yourself out or getting help.  If you are remaining stuck in your life; if you just cannot seem to get ahead; if you are not happy and feel frozen in place; it is time to accept your remaining stuck and begin doing what is necessary to get yourself free from being stuck.
 
Simply to reiterate, getting stuck happens.  Staying stuck is a choice.  Choose well!

Career Stuckness
 
Getting the Energy to get Unstuck
 
Beyond Stuckness

​This week I will conclude the series on dealing with headwinds in life.  One of those inconvenient facts or life is that headwinds happen.  We cannot control their presence or intensity.  We have limited control over how they affect our hopes, plans, and dream.  They simply blow where they will and we have to find a way to live with them.  They are not unlike the inevitable, unwelcome guest.  When they show up we have some decisions to make.  We must decide how we will deal with and make room for them.   They are coming whether we like it or not.
 
The headwinds will change our lives.  In the short-term they will make our lives more difficult.  We may have some longer term impact but we cannot know what it will be.  They may make us angry, anxious, vulnerable, or overwhelmed.  What can we do to make their time with us endurable?
 
Too often we see ourselves as their victim as soon as we see them coming,.  We are convinced that they are out to do us harm and we cannot stop them.  When they arrive at our door these feelings grow in intensity.  Our relationship to them is poisoned from the start.  We can become their victim before we open the door.   
 
The word “victim” has an interesting origin.  It originally referred to a creature that was killed as a religious sacrifice.  To be a victim was to be a sacrifice, one who suffered unjustly for others.  Seeing ourselves as victims of our headwinds allows us to console ourselves with martyrdom.  We didn’t deserve it but we endured it.  A victim goes headlong into the coming storm and simply hopes to survive.  It seems to me that when we see ourselves as victims of the headwinds we have already determined their impact on our lives. 
 
I began looking for another metaphor.  At first I thought I would go with the opposite of victim.  I found two words that serve as opposites of victim, perpetrator and survivor.  Neither of these seemed to capture a healthy way to deal with headwinds.  A survivor is one who has endured and come out on top by beating the odds.  A perpetrator is often a victim who has gained the upper hand and commits the same violence they endured themselves.  The second is just wrong.  The former tends to continue to identify themselves as perpetual surviving victims.  And so I searched farther afield and returned to an old metaphor that continues to speak, the sailor.
 
The sailor knows how real the headwinds are and does not discount their power.  The sailor adjusts their sails to use the headwinds to get to where they want to go, though it may not be the most direct route.  But sometimes, the sailor knows they have to hunker down and wait the headwinds out.  We need to let go of the idea that we are victims of life.  We are sailors on the sea of life.   We can and should accept responsibility for our own trip in our own little boat.
 
Self-care offers us tips on the “how” of sailing, but knowledge is useless without the resolve to unfurl the sails, set the keel board, and take hold of the tiller.  The sailor learns from every trip.  The sailor makes mistakes and struggles to learn from them.  The sailor endures by acknowledging the headwinds, making room in their life for them (when possible), and then sailing on.  They celebrate the small victories but do not lose heart in their defeats.
 
Do not allow the headwinds to embitter you or turn you into a perpetrator?  Do not allow them to fill your soul with a permanent self-concept of victimhood.  Both are breeding grounds for a hubris that looks down on others who are struggling with the same headwinds.  
 
Humbly acknowledge the reality that $&^% happens, even to you.  Do your best to deal with it, using it to learn or achieve your hopes, if possible.   If not, do your best to limit the damage it may do to you and those around you (hunkering down.)  And lastly, when the headwinds have blown through, move on.  You have a life ahead of you and when the winds die down you are still responsible for your own little boat.
 
Good sailing!

Learnings from Victims of Crime
 
More Than a Survivor
 
The Courage to Move On
 

​For the last few weeks I have been exploring how we can take care of ourselves as the Summer routine begins.  I have talked about engaging, reflecting, and finding joy in this season.  None of this will be helpful if we let the Summer slip by, unnoticed and unacknowledged.  Therefore, my final word about self-care while rolling into Summer is “Celebrate!”
 
Celebrate means to acknowledge with joy.  It means to open up the body-mind-soul and rejoice in the season.  The word originates in the idea of bringing honor to someone or something.  Honoring in word only is an empty gesture.  But when we honor in body-mind-soul, we truly rejoice and are filled in the process.
 
The following quote speaks well of our celebrations of life.
 
“I truly believe we can either see the connections, celebrate them, and express gratitude for our blessings, or we can see life as a string of coincidences that have no meaning or connection.
For me, I’m going to believe in miracles, celebrate life, rejoice in the views of eternity and hope my choices will create a positive ripple effect in the lives of others. This is my choice.”  ~ Mike Ericksen
 
Make your choice this Summer.  Celebrate Life!
 

Open your senses to the little surprises, like the sweetness of the watermelon or the dripping of a Summer shower through the trees.  Celebrate the glorious sunsets and the vast canopy of the Milky Way. 
 
Open your mind to new insights taught by chance encounters along your path.  Listen carefully as the shade of the Pecan Tree offers you a respite from the Summer heat.  Revel in the ideas that come together when your mind has the time to relax and “ponder the universe.”
 
Open your soul to the love of those around you.  Spend time with family and friends.  Share and accept the gifts of love and friendship and companionship.  Let the moments together bind old wounds and open up new vistas to be explored together.
 
Choose to Celebrate Life this Summer!

A Celtic Blessing to Celebrate Life
 
Bless this house and those within.
Bless our giving and receiving.
Bless our words and conversation.
Bless our hands and recreation.
Bless our sowing and our growing.
Bless our coming and our going.
Bless all who enter and depart.
Bless this house, your peace impart.

~ John Birch
 
For More Celtic Blessings