No Half Assed Meditation Here.

Throughout my life I have sort of been a half-assed meditator, meaning I would meditate when I was stressed, angry or upset. I have had some amazing paradigm shifts in my life as a result of mediation in those times of distress. I can remember shifting beyond caring about what a bully in my life thought and then reveling with delight to myself when that particular person made another attempt to bully me. What a sense of relief to move past such a consuming feeling of being small and inconsequential. I felt as if I grew 6 feet that day.

In other times of extreme pain, I've meditated to get beyond it and it worked. I'm not saying the meditation took away the pain completely, but it certainly did take the edge off. Ultimately, though, meditation did take away the pain because the clarity I gained from being so focused, opened my mind to the idea that I had choices. I could choose different doctors with different philosophies and receive more intuitive care. The intuitive care lead to resolution, so I would be completely remiss to not credit the mediation at all. Don't you think?

Anyway the point is if meditation could assist me in such times of pain or mistreatment, why was I not utilizing this amazing tool when things were going well? Doesn't it make sense if things are shitty and you want them to be better, meditate? Well, why not meditate when things are going well to create opportunity for something amazing?

Well guess what!!! Things were going well and Keri said she wanted to start meditating 15 minutes a day and I said, Hell yes! Me too. As a result the most amazing things are happening in my life. My car accident that lead me to believe that my little silver bullet was going to be totaled has been restored and returned to me. I am feeling tremendous love and adoration for my wife, not that I wasn't before, it's just going so well, I thought I'd mention it. :) I am feeling a sense of fulfillment in my job as a manager at the dental office that I am truly enjoying my work. My blog is growing and reaching more people, which is leading to my dreams coming true.

I am surrounded by random amazing strangers who really aren't strange at all. Like the Orgonite gifter I wrote about in my Happy Father's Day post and Jonna the amazing shoe sharer from my, It's just the way I see it post. Then there's the amazing dude named Ed that delivers a dose of true connection every time he frequents my office to keep our textiles fresh. We mustn't forget David from the Shimmering Pools of Butter post.

Today I had the pleasure of meeting Isaac. He came by today to repair our garage door. The spring broke, so the opener would not work and he fixed it. Thank you Isaac for the door and the true connection.

I simply can not even tell you all of the big and small amazing things that have been coming up in my life. They are too numerous to mention them all, but let's just say that I have come to believe that meditation is a life changer. It's kinda like this, when you begin meditation and clear your mind of the static and clutter, it creates space for divine wisdom. Guidance. Intuition.

I am grateful for my knowing.

Mindful Tattoos

Is that a candy corn tattoo on your elbow? I get this question every now and again and it is one of my favorite questions, because the answer is, yes. I have a single candy corn tattooed on each of my elbows. I must really like candy corns, right? No, actually I don't. I'm not a big fan of the sweets and I don't even remember the last time I ate one.

So, why do I have a candy corn tattooed on each of my elbows? Well, what I usually say is, because I'm just that corny, but I always follow-up with the real reason. The real reason is because candy corns were one of my grandma's favorite candy's.

My grandma passed away September 16, 2009 and having her favorite candy tattooed on my elbows keeps her memory alive. I am a real big fan of my grandma and energy never dies. Every time someone asks me about the tats I get to share a little bit about my grandma and that puts a smile on my face and a bit of warmth in my heart.

You will or you won't,...

I think I've said this before,...but I'll say it again, because I believe it is worth repeating. Everything happens for a reason. Believe me when I say, it certainly does NOT always seem like it though.

I mean who would think there would actually be a "reason" for me as a young mother to have a grand mal seizure while cooking boiling hot malt-o-meal, causing second and third degree burns on 4% of my body? Would the reason be some kind of benefit I just couldn't see yet, for my 2 year old son? Was the reason so I could get a break from the painful relationship I was in at the time? That seems kinda drastic, but I do remember feeling like I was on vacation, laying there in the burn unit of Baptist Hospital. It was the very most painful thing I have ever, physically endured, yes, pregnancy included. At the time it seemed very difficult to find the reason why that happened to me.

What could possibly be the reason? Right? I have wondered from time to time over the years, and never really came up with a reason, until the moment came when I was able to share my story with someone that was going through something similar. It was a connection thing and that was the reason.

I guess you can't really find a reason WHY some things happen the way they do, until you are ready to stop asking why. When you let go of the WHY, you have hands and arms available for picking up and totally embracing the knowing. You don't have to KNOW the reason, you just have to KNOW that there is a reason. The reason will become very clear, right at the exact perfect moment.

And that, my friend, is when you will begin to believe for yourself that everything happens for a reason, or not. It really is your choice.

What makes us who we are?

You know those annoying little typos that occur when texting or posting a comment to Facebook? We all do these things and that is just part of what makes us who we are and how we relate to each other. Even George Takei can relate.

I think it's interesting the different ways people react to their typo/autocorrect errors. Some people add a correction line below along with an "Ugh", some people curse autocorrect and try to correct their error and create another one (growing more frustrated), some people just don't give a shit and leave it or don't notice.

It sure is fun though being connected to so many people. I love being able to see what my family and friends are up to all over the world. I can just pop on to Facebook and for a moment interact with my friends in other states, see where my mom and son are traveling or comment on how beautiful all my nieces are and tease my friends. I can send love out into the world and have it reach a whole bunch of people. By the way, I can do that without any app or device, but I love the interaction.

I love connecting with people and allowing ourselves to affect each others lives. I love the little typos and imperfections of life, they help remind us that we are all just people out here in the world doing the best that we can with what we've got.

Let's all just take a moment to ponder that and give ourselves a freakin' break for not being perfect human beings. It will never happen and while we're at it, let's give our neighbor a break too, or that guy that cut you off on the highway, just take a deep breath and bless him on his hurried way. Sure, you can bless him with your finger gesture, maybe that's how blessings are given in your culture.

We live in a fast pace imperfect reality full of typos, cut-offs, overcharges, miscounted change and misunderstandings. We all do these things and that is just part of what makes us who we are and how we relate to each other.

The other part of what makes us who we are is love, tenderness, patience, acceptance, forgiveness and kindness. All of those things help us relate to each other as well and that part of us is where we can find our perfection. The perfectly loving spiritual side of ourselves.

So, yes it is true, we will never be perfect human beings, BUT we ARE perfect spiritual beings. Knowing that this perfect aspect of yourself exists and taking a moment to be in that part of yourself allows you to accept yourself as an imperfect human being and creates space in your reality for acceptance of other people's imperfect humanness too.

So let's leave our typos in our texts when they occur and know that when you see a typo it is an opportunity for someone to love themselves as their imperfect human self.

I live you ver much!!!