Allowing Your Story to Unfold of its Own Making

I'm not done yet.  I like that I probably still have more time on this earth to play, to learn, to grow.  I also like to watch the days unfold of their own accord.  I can fathom some of it from the outset simply because of the intentions I set.  They're not goals, really, but the way that I want to feel when I go to bed at night.

Last night I went to bed content that I didn't over-manage my day.  I considered rearranging my dinner plans so that I would not have to wait for my companion and so that I could be closer to home at the end of the evening.

If I had done that, I would have spent time texting to change the plans and phoning for a new reservation.  Instead I enjoyed the person who was driving as I was the passenger.

When I ask God* what else I should know, God reminded me that I still need to get outside today and that daylight is fading.  What a simple request.  They usually are!
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Now for the reflective questions which you can journal about or if you'd like to share your story, the community and I would love to hear from you!  Your comment could have a major impact on someone else.  Most likely it will be just the right thing at the right time for one of the readers. For me, God* wanted me to know that helping even just one person is wonderfully impactful.
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Reflective questions:
1.  What are your goals for today?

2.  What does God* want you to know about this (ask directly, "God, what do you want me to know?")

* I use the term God as a universal term.  You may decide that Great Spirit, Allah, Higher Power, Sensibility, etc. better suits you today.  It is not for me to decide.

Photo by MH

Note:  These posts are part of a broader call to do spiritual journaling which is simply journaling what's on your heart and mind and then asking God* what else you should know (read more at CardinalTouch.net).

Nature for Nature's Sake, a Turning Point

My current journal is a lovely hardbound one with the title Nature Notebook from Northwind Press, Inc.  I found it in a stack of free stuff from a gardening club and I am thankful to be the benefactor.  It has loads of lovely printed animal and plant drawings as well as quotes about nature.  The one that stays with me today is by Khalil Gibran:

Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet 

and the winds long to play with your hair.

It's a reminder of something I don't remember learning until well into my forties; that is, that it's not all about me in a man versus nature sense.  Sure, I can delight in nature, but I also need to remember that nature can delight in me.  For example, the great blue heron which eyed me as I stood at my window was possibly delighting in me, too.  I know he saw me because its neck turned as I moved from one window to another.  I wonder how long before I am able to recognize that it is the same or a different heron returning to my yard.  I wonder how long, if it is the same heron, before it recognizes it's the same eyes looking at it?  I wonder if it will sense that I am wary of it eating all the frogs and fish.  I wonder if it will be surprised when I let go of my man versus nature instinct and trust that not all will be taken?  When I ask God* what else I should know, God tells me that the heron will drop some of its feathers and leave me with beautiful memories if I let it.
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Now for the reflective questions which you can journal about or if you'd like to share your story, the community and I would love to hear from you!  Your comment could have a major impact on someone else.  Most likely it will be just the right thing at the right time for one of the readers. For me, God* wanted me to know that helping even just one person is wonderfully impactful.
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Reflective questions:
1.  How do you delight in nature?

2.  What does God* want you to know about this (ask directly, "God, what do you want me to know?")

* I use the term God as a universal term.  You may decide that Great Spirit, Allah, Higher Power, Sensibility, etc. better suits you today.  It is not for me to decide.

Photo by MH

Note:  These posts are part of a broader call to do spiritual journaling which is simply journaling what's on your heart and mind and then asking God* what else you should know (read more at CardinalTouch.net).

Slow Down Said the Apparition

Hi Readers, I'm back!  I've done the work to self-promote my book and now I'm releasing my energies to get back to writing (the blog, just once per week, and my next book) and letting God* get to work to have the right people find it.  Thanks for all your support and please enjoy the blog again. Post a response when you feel moved to do so and happy journaling.
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SLOW DOWN SAID THE APPARITION:  This morning I was having a late breakfast, looking out into my backyard.  Behind a five-foot blue spruce moved a whitish figure that appeared to be doing tai chi.  I was mesmerized and also so excited when I realized it was a great blue heron moving very slowly and deliberately.  I was so grateful to have been sitting there at just the right moment to see it.
This sighting and slow pace fit right in with what is missing in the world for many right now.  I see, read and hear it all around me.  Examples:

1. People don't have time to read books anymore.  "I'm still reading my summer beach read," one person said to me this week.  It's the third week of October.
2. The New York Times just published an article about a young thirty-something journalist who died from sleep deprivation and heart issues attributed to the amount of overtime she chose to work (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/05/world/asia/japan-death-overwork.html). 
3. In between periods at the pro hockey game yesterday, everyone around me was on their cell and one woman even had an iPad with her.  Sadly, some people were plugged in to their phones the entire game, including children.  In these cases, they were missing out on opportunities to slow down and at the same time, be an active participant in their own lives.

As I type this, I see a hawk alight on a branch up high, two frolicking blue jays and many morning doves.  I sit still as I reflect on what to write. 
I hope I can convince people to stillness.  It's hard because when it comes to specifics, I don't have answers for each individual person, but it's because I don't need to know.  I only know to put my own desires on my heart and be very watchful for things in front of me, including a ghostly-looking great blue heron, to give me hints at the right direction. Fortunately, I can say that it takes very little time which seems to be exactly what people say they have.  But don't ask me, ask God*. 
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Now for the reflective questions which you can journal about or if you'd like to share your story, the community and I would love to hear from you!  Your comment could have a major impact on someone else.  Most likely it will be just the right thing at the right time for one of the readers. For me, God* wanted me to know that helping even just one person is wonderfully impactful.
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Reflective questions:
1.  Are you being called to unplug from this blog site or to follow the prompts?

2.  What does God* want you to know about this (ask directly, "God, what do you want me to know?")

* I use the term God as a universal term.  You may decide that Great Spirit, Allah, Higher Power, Sensibility, etc. better suits you today.  It is not for me to decide.

Photo by MH

Note:  These posts are part of a broader call to do spiritual journaling which is simply journaling what's on your heart and mind and then asking God* what else you should know (read more at CardinalTouch.net).

The Gift of Having Been Lost

Hi Readers, I'm back!  I've done the work to self-promote my book and now I'm releasing my energies to get back to writing (the blog, just once per week, and my next book) and letting God* get to work to have the right people find it.  Thanks for all your support and please enjoy the blog again.  Post a response when you feel moved to do so and happy journaling.
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THE GIFT OF HAVING BEEN LOST:  What I am finding from my clients is that since having left corporate America in 2009, people have more work responsibilities than ever - ever greater numbers of direct reports, unending emails, routine task management once done by secretaries (scheduling, coordinating, responding to routine tasks).  People are getting lost in carrying through the to-dos.
What God* wants me to know is that getting to the top of the mountain after having been lost is so much sweeter because we can appreciate the struggles.  I wrote this after writing about my meditation experience.  Part of that experience is I teach meditation to people who are seeking peace from their chaotic worlds.  Meditation is a perfect way to help us find ourselves (to recognize our thoughts).  It's a way for us, in the words of Gautama Buddha, to find enlightenment.  Enlightenment, more specifically, is recognizing that we can experience peace and joy even amidst suffering and dissatisfaction and then experiencing the joy amidst the suffering and dissatisfaction.  The first part is simply acknowledgement.  The second part is by putting it into practice.  Meditation is one way to do this.  Spiritual Journaling is another. 
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Now for the reflective questions which you can journal about or if you'd like to share your story, the community and I would love to hear from you!  Your comment could have a major impact on someone else.  Most likely it will be just the right thing at the right time for one of the readers. For me, God* wanted me to know that helping even just one person is wonderfully impactful.
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Reflective questions:
1.  What is your definition of joy?

2.  What helps you to feel the joy amidst the dissatisfaction and suffering?

3.  What does God* want you to know about this (ask directly, "God, what do you want me to know?")

* I use the term God as a universal term.  You may decide that Great Spirit, Allah, Higher Power, Sensibility, etc. better suits you today.  It is not for me to decide.

Photo by MH

Note:  These posts are part of a broader call to do spiritual journaling which is simply journaling what's on your heart and mind and then asking God* what else you should know (read more at CardinalTouch.net).