finding sacred moments

finding sacred moments in your life discuseed by elizabeth sterling on the mindful connection.

(these are just my notes, i recommend listening to the webcast over at the mindful connection.)

sacred moments

right now

just as you are

there are sacred moments you are meant to experience

to be the changing one to see in the world

- weave sacred moments throughout your day

- shifting an attitude or how you approach a problem

tools for finding sacred moments 

tools to bring connectedness and wholeness into your life

1. mirrors in our lives - opportunity for us to start looking at the world around us a little differently and open our awareness to the idea or the role that we have in co-creating the world in which we live and we realize that we have help in doing this

- use people in your life as mirrors and messengers

- we co-create the world in which we live

- who we are, what we need and where we might want to go > everyone is our guide

- children are great guides, they tell it to us straight

- if you recognize something in someone it is a reflection 

- example, you come across someone hostile person, acknowledge that what i see in this person is a reflection of some small thing in me that i can choose to release at that moment by engaging with that person in a more positive way or taking a few breaths to release that energy. it can have a profound impact, you do not know that type of impact that might have in the world

- will you look at the sign or listen to the message?

- if we start approaching the people in our lives that way, we become empowered and begin to make positive changes in ourselves that ripple out into the world

2. spiral of gratitude - a cycle for manifesting intention in small steps in using gratitude to see as a way to see that sacred is always revealing itself in our lives and that it is always there

- step 1. put out intentions, dreams or desire for change in our life

- step 2. we have to become aware and alert, looking for signs, guidance, opportunities are going to start coming our way that are going to help us on our path to this bigger dream that we have

- step 3. give thanks for each one of the signs or opportunities

3. keeping your vessel open - gentle reminded that we are given a lot of opportunity to make conscious choices everyday and a lot of times the choices are in unexpected ways and unexpected packages. if you could allow yourself to be open

- step 1. expect unexpected

- step 2. remove stagnation, stagnant chi from our energy system, ie. house organized or not organized, hanging onto stuff that we do not need anymore, even emotional things or routines not serving us any longer. shaking things up can be a good thing

- step 3. get out of the rut of habitual choices with simple changes. view all of our choices and everything we do as a conscious choice. a powerful way to create new opportunities for us

4. grounding and maintaining a balance - requires time and dedication

- step 1. seek our balance in nature

- step 2. using mundane activities as opportunities for mindfulness, repetitive activities, opportunity for mindfulness, focus attentively on task at hand, perform task with sense of purposefulness and mindfulness, like hanging laundry, weeding, washing dishes, folding laundry

- step 3. meditation, focus on breath, walking mediation with baby, walking mindfully focus on each step
- step 4. mind/ body practices. yoga, qigong, tai chi

9 sacred moment practices
1. tree of gratitude, root of tree as breath. be grateful for breath. limbs of tree reaching out for the light
2. breath prayers and mantras. choose a couple of words to focus on. love and gratitude. love and peace, ommm chante ommm, ahhh
3. savor sipping = a practice of sipping a beverage mindfully. with each sip give thanks to people, plants, animals that made the beverage possible. use tool of gratitude to make it a more mindful experience. fosters a great sense of connectedness to the world in which we living in
4. mindful cooking and eating. take time to prepare the meal from local growers or grow yourself. interact with growers and give thanks and visualize people, plants, animals and send them a little blessing
5. listening to gratitude's voice.
6. shifting our focus. so much beauty, joy, magic all around us. children can be wonderful to look at the world differently if we open up to them. view our intention as seeds we plant
7. use power of written and spoken words. expose ourselves to more life enriching words
8. meridan tapping, emotional accupuncture. emotional freedom technique. tap gratitudes
9. mandalas = universal symbols of wholeness. they can help us to create sacred spaces in our lives.

*workshops beginning on summer solstice. sign up on the threading light blog

websites mentioned:

so wabu sabi
threading light

tadpole check

:: checking in on our tadpoles and seeing how much they have grown from our first encounter, when only a few tadpoles had hatched from the frog spawn. along the way, we discovered a frog, dragonfly larvae and watched a salamander patiently fish for tadpoles. we found some snail shells, a crystal and a hickory nut shell, which serves a sunhat for the little one's pocket doll. such a wonderful hat, if i don't say so myself.

:: i picked up a pocket full of small acorn caps that i needle felted with this vibrant green color and was inspired by the dragonfly larvae we discovered. i just love the color. they are up in my shop

jar of sunshine

:: i will say that my days have been pretty great lately. i've been packing up a picnic and heading out to enjoy the outdoors, parks, nature centers and local watering holes. i've been allowing more time for creative opportunities and i've been keeping the words from the mindful connection webcast from jennifer louden accessible, "there is nothing to do and no where to go." 

obviously, there is always something to do within the home, whether it is the laundry, dishes, preparing meals, cleaning, etc. and to be honest, i feel like i have a never ending list that i never manage to complete before another week of duties gets piled on. it has been exhausting. so for me, for my family, i needed to get out, get out of my house, stop thinking about all i have to do. 

as mothers we tend to take on everything ourselves. we tend to not take a break until our "work" is complete. initially, i felt guilty taking some time off, but now i need the time. and when i come back home, i have more to offer my family.

:: and while the chilly, rainy weather kept us inside, my daughter set out a picnic for us today. it was lovely to take a little break. 

the mindful connection - children as healers

i listened into the mindful connection webcast with kristie burnes of earthschooling. she discussed "children as healers"

at preschool level - parent modeling natural healing
- reflexology to heal headache
- calendula for healing burns
- herbal teas for stomach aches
- lavender essential oil on pillow to help them sleep

- use lavender oil on doll that is hurt
- plants herbs in garden and harvest them
- tea tins in play kitchen, mortar and pestle

at kindergarten level - bridge between family and school life
- play creatively, poems and songs
- snacks they help set table and light candles, seasonal crafts
- simple stories that feature healing or herbs ie. 3 bears>porridge is healing food, little red riding hood>basket of goodies with mint tea and herbal remedies, peter rabbit> chamomile tea
- adapt stories to be closer to home
- offer healing properties of food and herbs with meal, ie herbal tea, alfafa, berries, dandelions, salads with violets and clover you find in the yard, apples with cinnamon and honey, carrot juice, spearmint tea, hibiscus tea, chamomile tea
- drops of essential oil in watercolor paint
- simple sewing or make potpourri
- teach them to make herbal infusion - tea - certain amount of time and certain measurement

1st grade (7 years)
- complex fairy tales, Rapunzel, name of herb
- german fairy tale, children searching for herbal remedies or healing plants
- stories from nature, talk about plants
- when painting, beginning color therapy, how do the colors make you feel? what do you think about this color?
- form drawing, circles, iris, iridology chart
- advanced finger knitting, every 3rd one add a healing gemstones
- stories with the personalities of the elements, wind, fire, earth, water
- make aromatheraphy candles
- make your own herbal block crayons
- natural dyes


2nd grade
- fables and saint stories
- model for overcoming adversity
- how plants help overcome advesity too
- stories of healers
- painting plants, talk about what plants resemble
- form drawing, reflexology
- talk about how does the fire effect you? what is your relationship with the fire?


rules of safety
1. use only what is safe and you know
2. heal only small injuries and aliments
3. ask for adult help or guidance
4. ask permission before healing another person

3rd grade
- children wonder where they belong
- old testiment, spiritual literature
- learn about higher power
- healing garden
- edible flower garden
- make herbal syrups
- explore temperaments, painting and drawing, how the colors interact with each other


4th grade
- history / geography of their locality
- local environment, local herbs, farmers market, nature center, plant identification walks
- eating seasonal local foods
- visit local healers
- human/ animal kingdom, more advanced reflexology 
- Norse mythology, a rich history of healing
- teaching temperaments, does hot pepper relate to wind, fire, earth or water


5th grade
- botany
- complex herbal identification
- kids to use herbal identification book
- what element do you think this person is?


6th grade
- temperament theory
- south america - rainforest and how it relates to healing
- geology, how healing gems are formed
- answer questions about how things relate in a scientific way 


* it was said to start with what you know. begin at the preschool level and build from there

websites mentioned:
the BEarth institute

wip - old blue jeans

:: i borrowed my mother's sewing machine months ago. it sat there. i looked at it. i was afraid of it. i wondered it i would remember how to use it. i have not used a sewing machine since the 8th grade. i set out on a new adventure. i had to use the seam ripper a few times, but we're having fun.

there is nothing to do and no where to go

jennifer louden spoke on the mindful connection 

 she started off with a poem by marc nepo

"...there is nothing to do and no where to go

 excepting this,

we can do anything and go anywhere"

living our soul's work

be present to what is

let me be with what it

what could i do in this moment right now to feed us

are you going to order out

what would i really love right now

this is our life to shape

this is our life to create

mindful questions remind you that you have a choice

remember that you have a set of glasses on at any set time

and you are seeing the world in only one way

but you are just a little fish to experience

you are a creator

you create your life, you do not have to around reaction to it

you have nothing to do and no where to go

what your natural strengths and talents

and strength them, repeat for positive benefit

build your lives around your strengths

a lot of freedom that comes from living your life the way

weaknesses are things that weaken you

drain your energy, exhausts you

come up with some creative things or simply don't do it

who says i have to cook dinner? who says i have to iron?

mindful questions 

what do i want?

what would i love to do next?

what are your desires?

self-care becomes more of a way of life, not just at the end of the week after your "work" is done

i want to live a life that cares for me

what do i desire

what is interesting me

what is calling to me? what do i desire? pay attention to your desire and following it

let yourself be nourished by it

follow your desires, they nourish you

what our soul is hungry for

self care are simple and available and free

if you get 15 minutes, grab onto it whole-heartedly

1. if i am in hyper alert mode

dialogue with the parts of yourself that is hyper alert

these parts of you are afraid, what are they afraid of??

2. start at the level of the body

choose relaxing music to calm your brain down

choose something physical to transition yourselves

giving yourself mindful transitions

3. keep log or chart for taking care of yourself

how you felt before you took care of yourself

how you felt after you took care of yourself

exhasted?

if you need rest, get to bed early, make up your sheets, use lavender soap in the shower

do it with love and intention

yoga nigeria= relaxation technique

how do you handle something that exhausts you that you have to do, ie cleaning?

so much of what exhausts us in life is the conversation that it should be different than it is

get curious how you could lower your standard around "cleaning" and asking for help

we assume that there are things that need to be done by us, why?

sandwich it between things that strengthens you

what makes you think that the world will need?

get curious

self care = an attitude of lightness

get to a place where we can be deserving of pleasure and kicking back in the middle of the day, make a 3 column list

1. what do you have to do?

2. what could you do?

3. let go of?

(buddism) the problem is you think you have more time than you do

today may be the last day that you get

let's show up for it, let's enjoy it, let's stop and reflect

let's reflect , have a cup of tea, catch up with our souls, and then go on to do the next thing

i trust that the choices i am making right now are based on (what i know in this moment)

trust in your deepest experiences of meaning

i am living my purpose

my purpose is unfolding through these kids (homeschooling)

i am engaged and strengthened

i did something, i feel engaged with life

i feel alive

deflect negativity

websites mentioned:

thelifeorganizer.com    52 weeks of mindful questions,

the comfort cafe   monthly subscription

comfortqueen.com