spirit

Quickie Meditation Tip!

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There’s a false idea that meditation is about EMPTYING your mind, and it’s not – it’s about focusing your  mind. Focus on something – whatever, I don’t care. If it’s your favorite song, that counts. If it’s your favorite physical activity, that counts. If it’s your favorite movie, totally counts! Your favorite daydream or fantasy, yup, yup! It’s in! Even if you are just actively observing all the little sounds, feelings, smells, and stimulus going on around you, that counts. It doesn’t matter what position you’re in, or even that you’re in a position.  You can meditation and walk. You can meditation and dance. You can meditate while singing. The idea is to be focused and paying attention to what you’re doing. There are SO MANY different ways to meditate – if something isn’t working for you, move on to another kind! It’s totally okay!

Different Grounding Exercise

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So, we’re used to the usual grounding exercises – imagine roots growing into the ground and your branches rising to the sky. Or maybe a beam of light that comes into the top of your head (crown chakra) and out your tailbone (root chakra) or feet. Or maybe you prefer earthing – just walking around barefoot, sitting with a tree or playing with stones, rocks, or working in your garden. These are all awesome and they can be SO helpful! But something fun I’ve done since I was a wee one that can be expanded a bit (I just left the deserts of Arizona, and after awhile, that tree imagery doesn’t resonate amongst all the cactus) is this one: Go visit your favorite tree, cactus, or stone, or riverbed – dry or flowing. Mountains can work, but they can be a bit overwhelming, so experiment there if you like. You can do this in  your mind’s eye if it’s easier than physically visiting said critter. Connect mentally with your new/old friend here – the cactus/tree/stone/riverbed/mountain – which just means “to think about inquisitively” – and think about or imagine it’s history. How long has it been here? How many creatures has it seen? How many days? How has it seen the land around it change? How has it spent it’s days? What must life be like for this feature? What must time be like for it? What must YOU seem like to it? How would it see the world and it’s … Read More

Let’s Talk About Fairies!

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Okay, so with the letter “F” coming up this week, how can I resist fairies? I’m no expert, not by any means, but there is stuff that I do know. So, let’s start with the basic. Most fairies (but not all) are nature spirits. Others are air, earth, water, and fire spirits. I’m not sure why nature gets singled out as kind of a fifth element – perhaps it’s a particular combination of the other elements, but there you have it. This means that the best place to find fairies is out in natural places. Wild places have more fairies, but that’s not to say they are rare in the city or urban landscape, because they’re pretty common there, too. Urban fairies are really very quirky. Bikers have a superstition of gremlins that cause bolts to come loose and potholes in the ground and these are, in fact, fairies. There are fairies that love electronics, machines, and just ask your dog or cat if there are any little spirits wandering around your home. The only place you won’t find fairies are in places that are extremely toxic or extremely boring (although they do like to mess with boring people).  There are small things that will evidence a fairy in your environment. For instance, in my home, every one of my glass bowls has a chip in the edge. Just one, mind you, not multiples, and they’re all about the same shape and size. Some of these bowls are 20 years … Read More