Ponderings #36

 

Dear fellow travelers,

Another happy New Year, we didn't dissolve in 2012, we are still here, stronger than ever! For me I am here to be a better friend, to all.

I went to a beautiful interfaith World Meditation Peace Service yesterday morning. And one of the prayers that were read was the Christian Prayer of St Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred..let me sow love

Where there is injury...pardon

Where there is doubt..faith

Where there is despair...hope

Where there is darkness...light

Where there is sadness..joy

Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled...as to console

To be understood...as to understand

To be loved...as to love

For it is giving ...than we receive

It is in pardoning, that we are pardoned,

And it is in dying...that we are born to eternal life.

Has to me so much meaning.

Have a great life today and in the coming days, and remember today is a brand new day!

We have choice!

What are you choosing?

Pondering on meaning

Linda Patton, ENTC

Ponderings #37

Dear fellow travelers,

Thank you for your wonderful emails. I'm so grateful for you!!!

Now that the new year is well on its way. I have taken all last years paid bills, calendars, checking info etc., all that stuff of last year, to their new home, away from my desk. Obviously the desk is much less congested now. There is actual empty space!

Then I didn't stop there, I went to my bathroom, under the sink cabinet. I had eleven cans of spray mousse!! Really! not to mention the hair sprays, shampoos and on and on it went. Needless to say there is more room there now also. How could I just keep buying all those products!!

Then came my computer area. I had misplaced my center's directory. How could I not find a ringed notebook?? That is what actually started my decluttering task.

I spent half a day going thru old files and notebooks, and cleared out everything I hadn't looked at in years and didn't even remember I had. At the moment, to me, the shelves look neat. A rather large bag of stuff went out the door.

I actually even found the ringed notebook!!

How good it feels to see my computer table!

Now I'm really ready for the new to come! Decluttering is a good thing, maybe not when it may seem overwhelming to start, but in the end to me it is a relief.

I know I cant really enjoy the new, if I don't have room for it, wondering where to store it, or I'm still attached to all that old stuff.

Is there anything you are ready to unload? detach from? clear out?

Of course this could be a metaphor for anything mentally also that is dragging us down. What is not serving us anymore? Is it time to let it go?

Its time, I think for our lives to be lighter! Have fun this year or more fun!

Just pondering on decluttering,

Linda Patton, ENTC

http://Ponderings-everyday-spirituality.blogspot.com

Ponderings #34

Dear fellow travelers,

Today is a beautiful day! Trust you are taking advantage of it. Maybe a walk or just to be or to do something wonderful outside.

It was just a few short weeks ago that we all hopefully enjoyed a great Thanksgiving and now in just a few short weeks it is the holiday season of the Festival of lights and of Joy and Peace.

The old saying of make a list of what you want to the little kids was and still is popular but what if we as big people changed that from want to what can I give?

What does that list look like?

For me

I give more in service

I give more to LISTEN

I give more to be with family and friends

I give more to assist others

I give more to my talents

I give more to learn something new everyday

I give more to exercise

I give more to call someone I haven't talked to lately

I give myself to step up

I give myself more to meditate

I give up judging

I give love and gratitude

I make healthy and good decisions

I JUST MAKE TIME and not excuses!

WO W this sounds like New Years resolutions!!

But just think what it would be like if I really did all, everydaythru the year!

If we all did what we made a list to do everyday!!!

What does your list read?

Joy and Peace!! is ours.

Just pondering on gifts to give

Linda Patton RScP ENTC

Ponderings #35

Dear fellow travelers,

I'm glad I know you, and you are a blessing to me.

I had the privilege of hearing a concert last night and one of the songs that was sung, is my sentiments to you. (with just a little paraphrasing and editing)

"I wish you starlight on fields of snow,

The winter's morning light and evening's glow:

I wish you candles that shine from ev'ry tree,

So all the world can see the light that you shine and the light that can be

I wish you music, I wish you song,

With happy voices echoing, joyous and strong;

I wish you a happy holiday season,

A season to be remembered all thru the year.

Old friends smiling and new friends abounding

Spirits are bright, and hopes are high.

I wish you loved ones around you all year.

May this season bring you all your heart desire and anew.

I wish you blessings, I wish you love.

I wish you laughter, I wish you happiness and cheer

I wish you a happy season,

and may it be joy and peace and continue all year.

I wish you harmony your whole life long

The warmth of good memories that long remain

I wish you the best for all and thru the new year

And may you be blessed beyond

til we talk again.

Wishing you happiness

Linda Patton RScP ENTC

http://Ponderings-everyday-spirituality.blogspot.com

Ponderings #33

Dear fellow travelers,

Thank you for being you and
Welcome to a new day!
The morning after...........................the election that is!!!
What a winning strategy the winning party had!!
Listening to one strategists, she said, "If a young person votes for the
same party twice they are set for the rest of their lives"
Well, also a quote.....There are lies, damn lies and statistics!!
As for me I did change political affiliations somewhere along my way, I
have changed husbands, houses and careers.
What I don't want to change are my family, my long term friends. And as
my good qualities, (we all have them) I want to enhance them more. And
yes,change the ones that aren't serving me now.

But our country or what I see of as our country is that it is changing, to
me for the better,
Not too long ago, I remember someone of one Christian faith wasn't to
date someone of another....let alone marry out of the faith.
Gays and there preferences were hidden away.
Women were not to work, or just be secretaries, teachers or nurses, a
few did manage to walk their own path in others levels.
Most blacks were also not to work above a certain level.
And when a Catholic was running for president, it was feared the Pope
would run the country......

And now the lines are more blurred..A good thing to me.
Four more years of a Black president,
Not only are religious and interracial marriages happening, but gays are
in most states allowed civil unions!!!! Women are CEO's and world
leaders!! Who would have thought even 30 years ago.

Change does happen. We are becoming a more harmonious, oneness society,
a society willing to accept difference. See beyond the form!
A society which is willing to change attitudes and willing to grow to the
oneness I think we all are.. for me, a good thing. A really great thing...
We are really an example for the world.

Its a brand new day. I choose to live it, not exist in it, learn
something I haven't known before and Yes, maybe even change another opinion.


What have you changed?
What are you willing to change?

Just Pondering on change

Linda Patton RScP ENTC
http://Ponderings-everday-spirituality

Ponderings #32

Dear fellow travelers,

Thanks again for being who you are!!

In all honesty I had had two yin and yang weeks. A lot of good (then everything is good, when we look closely at it) and then those challenges.

It seemed like I had information coming from many directions that I allowed to upset me and take me off my center.

I had to go back to most of my tools that I had learned over the years to really be able "to change my thoughts", to get back to the peace and calm that I aspire to.

I wrote gratitude lists of the wonders around me and the wonderful experiences I had had over the same time period. That really helped. There was so much to be grateful for!!!

The things I observed about me during those last few weeks, is that I allowed myself to be abrupt, and agitated with other people. Not a good thing for me to do.

Then I remembered, something we all know, that when other people are acting and being in the same way, maybe not as kind as we would like them to be, and they are allowing themselves not to have a great day; then this is when I need to be kinder to them instead of letting them push my buttons-- they may need more kindness not less.

This is an opportunity for me to show caring, no one really knows what is going on behind the masks we sometimes allow ourselves to wear.

I also allowed myself to find out, that when I really was letting my humanness come forth in not great ways, my good friends loved me anyway. Wow, imagine that!!

And guess what, hills do follow valleys!!!

I just needed to turn all my not so great imaginations and thoughts over to the"higher power", get myself out of the way, and to center on peace again.

Fall is beautiful, people are beautiful, we all are beautiful, even when we allow and maybe because we allow, our flaws to come forth to be looked at and changed.

We are all in process, never ending evolution, and its all good. I just always need to remember that and focus on the good.

Just Pondering on being human

Linda Patton RScP ENTC

http://Ponderings-everyday-spirituality.blogspot.com

 

Ponderings #31

Dear fellow travelers,

Thank you for reading and responding to my Ponderings. You are the blessing.

Today with a few people the topic came up about retiring, a new life. Now I know you are not old enough to consider such an option but many years ago, I also "never" was going to retire, that word "never" again. I would work until they carried me out! How's that for a proclamation?

Then as fate had it, one weekend I went to an ashram, with no agenda. We arrived very late on a Friday night, the next day I was totally disoriented, I was exhausted, hungry, lost and alone. The other attendees were at an intensive.

I finally found the main center and a meditation cave, very, very dark. I slumbered around a bit and found a spot on the floor and stared into the candle on the altar.

After a while, I heard a voice, inside me say,

"Who are you without your job?"

This really rocked me. "What? and who was I?"

I left the cave totally shakened and walked around the grounds the rest of the day emotionally depleted.--- I was my job, I always identified with my job. After all I forged ahead during the EEOC in an man's environment, I was a trail blazer!! I was......

Who was I?.........................Who would I be without my title, without my job?...........

After much purging and the rest of the weekend to process.................................

On Monday I went into the office and resigned. Much to everyone's shock.

But I was Clear.

Fast forward...I have survived, actually thrived. I do have a life, which has manifested in several areas. I haven't looked back except to be grateful for the great skill training I had been given.

Now when someone asks you "What do you do?" What do you say?

What is your identity? and who are you?? You may be very surprised at to who you really are.

I was surprised, and I still am because I am always evolving. I still am discovering other avenues to explore. That's life for me, always ready and to learn something new. And to serve, even if thru the tiny titbits I have gleamed along my way.

Just Pondering on identity.

Linda Patton, RScP, ENTC

http://Ponderings-everyday-spirituality.blogspot.com.