Yellow Wildflowers teach me an invaluable lesson

This morning I woke up and looked out of my bathroom window only to be greeted by a bed of beautiful yellow wildflowers that had bloomed seemingly overnight under my Poinciana tree. Their sight instantly put a smile on my face and filled my being with joy. I was infused with energy and felt I could tackle anything that came my way today. I felt so happy seeing those bright yellow flowers. So much so that I went outside and took the photo below to share the beautiful and unexpected sight with you.

The sight of those wildflowers dancing in the breeze has been vivid in my mind and as you are probably guessing about me by now I take everything as a sign. So my mind was telling me surely those flowers were there yesterday so why was I not ready to see them until today? With this thought, I went to the computer to find out what the colour yellow means spiritually and found this,

“YELLOW relates to the SOLAR PLEXUS chakra, situated below the ribs. The organs to which this chakra relates are the liver, spleen, stomach and small intestine. The endocrine gland is the pancreas.

“On the psycho-spiritual level, yellow relates to self worth. How we feel about ourselves and how we feel others perceive us. This is the area of the personality, the ego and the intellect and of self confidence.

“Yellow is one of the three colours in the lower half of the visible spectrum It is known as a "warm" colour and has a stimulating effect. It is the colour of the intellect and can be very helpful with study and where concentration is required.”

I was amazed by this because it told me instantly that I am coming out of the doldrums and really starting to embrace me for who I am and that’s what that glorious bed of tiny bright yellow wildflowers is telling me. I am so grateful that I followed my instinct to understand what their message to me was because with each message that I decode, I am learning on a daily basis that my answers are there in front of me as long as I take the time to really see, hear, and decipher them.

The Charles Schulz Philosophy

The Charles Schulz Philosophy 

 
  
The  following is the philosophy of Charles Schulz, the  creator of the 'Peanuts' comic strip.
  
You don't have to actually answer the questions. Just ponder on them.

Just read the e-mail straight through, and you'll get the point.  
1. Name  the five wealthiest people in the  world.

2. Name  the last five Heisman trophy winners.

3. Name  the last five winners of the Miss America pageant.

4  Name  ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize.

5. Name  the last half dozen Academy Award winners for best actor and actress.

6. Name  the last decade's worth of World Series winners.    


 
  How did you do? 
The point is, none of us remember the headliners of yesterday.

These are no second-rate achievers.

They are the best in their fields.

But the applause dies..

Awards tarnish..

Achievements are forgotten.

Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners. 


  
Here's another quiz. See how you do on this one:
  
1. List a few teachers who aided your journey through school.

2. Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time.

3. Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile.

4. Think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and special..

5. Think of five people you enjoy spending time with. 


 
  Easier?
  
The lesson:

The people who make a difference in your life are not the ones with the
most credentials, the most money...or the most awards.

They simply are the ones who care the most 


'Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It’s already tomorrow in Australia !' 

''Be Yourself. Everyone Else Is Taken!"

 

 

Welcome to Facebook

“WELCOME TO FACEBOOK... The place where people add you as a friend & walk past you in the street. Where relationships are perfect, affairs are started, & liars believe they are telling the truth. Your enemies visit your profile the most, yet your friends & family block you, & even though you write what you are really thinking, someone always takes it the wrong way, & people think your status is about them...lol Repost if you agree!!”

I lifted this comment from a Facebook page because when I read it; at first, I thought it was funny. But after I thought about it, I realised it was poignant and I felt compelled to explore it more. Has our society become so impersonal that this comment is actually true?

Are we more likely to open up when we are able to hide behind a faceless “social network” such as Facebook? Isn’t just the term “social network” something of a misnomer? Didn’t socialising used to mean that we actually went out and met people face to face, looked them in the eyes to determine whether they were trustworthy or not. But now we are forming relationships with people based on what they write on their Facebook pages. Pages that can be forwarded from one person to the next without the knowledge of the original author. Pages that contain more poetic license than truth. Pages that are meant to look glamorous and perfect.

Let’s take the first line, “The place where people add you as a friend and walk past you in the street.” What does this statement really mean – that people can only be brave and full of themselves when they are hiding behind the avatar or the image they create on Facebook. Sometimes when I read the comments posted, I am surprised by the content. Sometimes I am amazed by the lives some people are leading – so beautiful and flawless and carefree that it makes me think I’ m missing out on the finer things in life as I’m sure it does to many others. Are we becoming so antisocial because of this so called social networking community because it encourages many to create fictitious identities so their lives can be as exciting as their “friends”?

“Where relationships are perfect” – if anyone has been in a long-term relationship we all know they are far from perfect and neither are they meant to be. Relationships are meant to challenge us to be the best people possible – to force us to dig beneath the surface and come face to face with our inner most selves. They are not meant to show that we are perfect because we are not. Could this social network be one of the primary causes for relationships being destroyed so quickly because people expect relationships to be like the perfect fantasy they create through their Facebook lives?

“Affairs are started”- I have to admit this one stumps me because how can an affair be started in such a public forum? Everyone reads what everyone is posting so everyone knows what everyone else is doing so if anyone is fool enough to start an affair on Facebook in my opinion they must be looking to get caught!

“Liars believe they are telling the truth” – again this goes back to the whole false world and images that people are projecting on Facebook.  Sometimes when I look at some of the photos that are posted I am amazed by how perfect they look but we all know that photographs just capture the moment. They are not ongoing and don’t show what happens before or after the photo is taken and this is what Facebook captures – a moment. It is not ongoing. It’s not for real.

“Your enemies visit your profile the most, yet your friends and family block you”– why do they want to do this and if we know this to be true why would anyone post their most intimate details? And didn’t our mothers always tell us to keep our enemies close? So why lock anyone out from your Facebook page when it will make them that much more determined to find a way in because then they will believe you are trying to hide something. 

“Even though you write what you are really thinking, someone always takes it the wrong way”, welcome to the world of writing. Writing is a very personal thing and is always open to interpretation by whoever is reading it. Writers, as I well know, are often writing from their perspective and can only write their innermost thoughts without realising by doing so they often expose something about those who are the closest to them. Writing is meant to draw readers in to make them believe that the author is writing about them. Consequently when someone reads something, it may trigger something inside them – something they were not even aware they were experiencing until they read what was written. And at the end of the day, writing is like walking down the street naked – you are out there bare and exposed so you have to have thick skin if you want to write. Facebook has only just brought this fact to the forefront because now everyone who has a Facebook page is a writer and has opened themselves up to be admired, attacked or vilified so be careful of what you post because it can come back to haunt you.

Believe me I know and it’s not always the response you crave. The written word is forever. Is your Facebook page something you will be proud of when you’re older?  I have nothing against Facebook. I truly believe it is great for reconnecting friends and for discovering what’s new.  It’s a great forum when it is used correctly. Remember that always. 

The Wonders of Nature

Whenever I wake up in the morning and see the clear blue skies, dew on the grass and a bright sunny morning, I am filled with hope and wonder.

Hope because it is always amazing to me to see how crisp and fresh everything looks after a period of drudgery and rain.

Wonder because it is amazing to see the vividness of the natural colours in our environment. Colours that we are blind to on a clear day because we do not see or appreciate them because we take them for granted.  Only when they are gone and reappear do we really see their grandeur.

It is these perfect days after periods of imperfection that I am grateful for those grey and dull days because without them I would not understand their power and how they relate to my everyday life. Those dull and grey days directly correlate to my dark and sad days. They teach me that even though they may feel oppressive and weigh me down; once they clear there are beautiful, clear and sunny days before me.

Just the kind of day I woke up to today – a day full of hope, wonder and awe. A day that lets me know that even after my darkest and most trying days, there will always be days when the birds are chirping, the flowers are blooming, the sky is perfectly clear and the air is fresh and crisp. Leaving me with the belief that my possibilities are limitless if I have faith to believe that dark days are necessary to allow my soul the time to replenish, regroup and learn so that I can go out into the world with empathy, clarity and a little more wisdom but more importantly armed with hope and wonder. What could be better than that?

Nature, our natural healer, needs to revered and appreciated for what it is every day because it provides our souls with everything they need...

Reiki - The Art of Balancing Energy

Have you ever started walking down one path only to find yourself on a completely different road, in a completely different place and most certainly not where you had planned?

Have you ever wondered how you got so off track? Where you took the wrong turn?

Have you ever been baffled so much by life that your head is spinning and you can’t stop it from spinning?

That’s how I felt the other day and I knew I needed to get myself focussed and balanced again so I called my dear friend Deryn at my favourite place in Bermuda to have Reiki done.  I walked into her room feeling out of sorts, stomach churning, mind scattered and my whole equilibrium was off balance.

I lay on the table and Deryn asked for permission to do a treatment on me then the rest is history. As she placed her hands above my crown chakra I could feel my energy calming. As she moved over my third eye and crown chakras I could feel my body saying thank you as it began to rebalance itself, relaxing under the shifting energies.

My mind emptied of all of its conflicting messages. It then encouraged me to meditate more. Take time for myself. It reminded me over and over again that in the midst of chaos sometimes I  just have to stand still, stop, and allow myself time for me without feeling guilty.

So I let go and allowed myself to slip into a state of bliss so much so when my Reiki treatment was done, I felt rejuvenated, whole, light hearted, and ready for whatever was to come next.

Reiki the practice of balancing energy. I highly recommend when you are feeling out of sorts and if you’re in Bermuda all the better go to see Deryn at My Serenitea (www.mysereniteabermuda.com). Tell her Cathy sent you.

Author’s note, if you don’t know what Reiki is, I found this definition in the online medical dictionary, “Reiki is a form of therapy that uses simple hands-on, no-touch, and visualization techniques, with the goal of improving the flow of life energy in a person. Reiki (pronounced ray-key) means "universal life energy" in Japanese, and Reiki practitioners are trained to detect and alleviate problems of energy flow on the physical, emotional, and spiritual level. Reiki touch therapy is used in much the same way to achieve similar effects that traditional massage therapy is used—to relieve stress and pain, and to improve the symptoms of various health conditions. The basic concept underlying reiki is that the body has an energy field that is central to its health and proper functioning, and this energy travels in certain pathways that can become blocked or weakened. This idea of energy flow in the body is also a central concept in Ayurvedic medicine and traditional Chinese medicine, including acupuncture.

Reiki practitioners believe that everyone has the potential to access the universal life energy, but that over time most people's systems become blocked and the energy becomes weakened in them. A reiki practitioner is trained to be able to detect these blockages, and practitioners will use their hands, thoughts, and own energy fields to improve the energy flow in a patient. Reiki is one of the more esoteric alternative medical practices, because no one is sure exactly how it works on the physiological level. Practitioners claim that it works on very subtle energy levels, or possibly works on the chakra system. The chakras are the system of seven energy centers along the middle of the body believed to be connected with the nervous and endocrine systems, as defined by yoga and Ayurvedic medicine..” www.medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/reiki

Attitude is Everything

Just read the column written by Sir John Swan, the first black Premier for Bermuda, one of my mentors, in our daily newspaper , The Royal Gazette.  I got goose bumps because I felt as if he was speaking to me.  I felt as if he was affirming something I always knew but had forgotten– pulling it to my forefront reminding me of the power of positive thinking which translates to a positive attitude

I echo his sentiments totally; people can be whatever they want to be based on their attitudes. Doors open. Life changes. People want to be near them. Why? Because people sense they have a positive attitude because it shines through something so invisible to the naked eye but very visible to our basic instincts - our aura.

What is our aura? According to the free dictionary, aura is “the distinctive atmosphere or quality that seems to surround or be generated by a person, thing or place.”

Our auras are the essences of our beings. It is that which we radiate out into the world without even being aware that we are doing so. It is this that either attracts or repels people or things to or from us. It is our aura that determines whether we will be successful or not.

Therefore even if someone is the most intelligent person in the world but has a lousy attitude, no one will ever truly know of that person’s intelligence because they will not be interested in anything about that person.  And this is why we see so many people that we thought would never succeed in high school succeed as they become adults.  The simple explanation is their attitude.

Book knowledge will only take you so far. Attitude will take you everywhere.

What’s even more interesting is the fact that people who have faced the greatest adversities when they were young and survived, tend to be the ones who have the best attitudes. They know that no matter how dark the day may be, there is always sunshine. It’s just hidden behind the clouds. No matter how blocked the path may be, if they have faith and remain focused the path will clear. They also know that above all else if they have a positive outlook, they will attract positive things into their lives.

I just read the classic, The Little Princess, to my daughter and I would highly recommend this book to anyone who needs to be reminded of the power of a positive attitude.

Attitude can make or break you. I know which one I would rather project even on the worst days. Try it. The outcome may surprise you.

Affirmation of my Too Many Choices Blog

My dear friend in England sent this article to me so  I thought I would share it because it affirms my theory about us having too many choices.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/relationships/divorce/8733385/Why-marriage-is-worth-the-effort.html