You Know Them Because Their Hearts Sing

When I think about the future, sometimes I am giddy because I don't know where I will be or what I will be doing in ten or twenty years.  I just know that if I do what makes my heart sing now I will be on the right path because God* wants us to be content NOW.
Of course I don't always get that giddy feeling because fear sometimes sets in and I think "What am I thinking?  How is this ever going to work out?"
And then I think about the people whose lives sing.  You know them.  They found their calling doing what they love.  Maybe it was a first career, maybe it was a second.  I think of my friends in the professions of PT, OT and nursing who love their jobs. I think of myself.  I think of the teachers who have made the biggest impact on my children because they love what they do.
And then when I worry about the future I think about the retirees who have found rewarding times because they did hobbies that they loved along the way.  You know them.  They are the men and women who created woodworking shops in their garages or took every nature walk possible and now they are leading tours around the world.  I see them and can tell that their hearts sing.
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Now for the reflective questions which you can journal about or if you'd like to share your story, I'd love to hear from you and the community 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.

Reflective questions:
1.  What is worrying you today?

2.  What makes your heart sing?

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, etc. better suits you today.  It is not for me to decide. 

God Weight

On Tuesday I posted about information versus knowledge versus wisdom.  So here's an example of what's become knowledge for me.  I used to be able to control my weight through exercise alone and not really worry about what I ate.  As I have gotten older I have gained weight even though I am always pretty active.  It became evident that eating well AND exercising are paramount to maintaining my weight. This is not new news but something I personally took in as information only, Now it has become knowledge.
Where the wisdom (knowledge that is proven over the ages) comes in is during my journal look back.  What my journals show is that sometimes I am happy with my weight and sometimes I am not.  When I am not I sometimes write down a goal weight in my journal.  In one of my recent looking backs, I discovered that I miswrote "goal weight" and actually wrote "God* weight.  The wisdom, then is that God is in my everyday living including my weight goals and that every one of my weights, even the one I don't want to be, is my "God weight".  After all, God wants me in whatever shape I am in the present moment.
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Now for the reflective questions which you can journal about or if you'd like to share your story, I'd love to hear from you and the community 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.

Reflective questions:
1.  What are your every day struggles?  How about the shape of your mental, physical or spiritual weight?

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, etc. better suits you today.  It is not for me to decide. 

Seek and Find Patterns (Be a Pattern Hunter)

I thought today would be a good day to remind you about what I am teaching.  Specifically it is a way to use journaling to develop your inner spirit wisdom.  It's quite simple really in terms of the steps:

1.  Use a journal and write down whatever is on your heart on a regular basis.  I do this almost daily now but when I started years and years ago it was something I did every once in a while, then once or twice a week, and now I hate to miss it.  I am a morning person so I do it first thing or after a few chores.  It often starts off with what I did the day before or what's coming today but then I also get into what's bothering me or what's making my heart sing.  I might also write my gratitude list in my journal but not always.  You decide what time of day is best for you and what you include in your journal.

2.  When you think you have written out what's most pressing on your heart, write out the question "God*, what do you want me to know?"  

3.  Then write down what comes to you.  If you feel compelled to use a tool, use a tool.  Tools include things like meditation cards (I like the ones with one word on them), a book that you open up randomly and read what's on that page (I often use the Bible or Psalms for Praying by Nan Merrill but nonreligious books work too). If you're not sure what tool to use, let the Spirit* guide you.

This is the daily practice.  It can take as much or as little time as you have.  Doing it often provides value because it gives the opportunity to look back over your journey.  You can look back over a period of time to see what was happening in your life and what your Higher Power* was telling you, often repeatedly.  Maybe you want to look at the last week, the same week from a year ago, the last whole journal.  Whatever timeframe is on your heart is right for you.  Be a pattern hunter:  was the same thing on your heart last year, have you pulled the same meditation card 3 times in the last month, did you write about the same place or person?  Write down what you uncover.

The hard part is making the time to do the work.  For me, it has made a significant difference in that I have found an easier way to live, allowing the Great Spirit* to be my guide..  

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Now for the reflective questions which you can journal about or if you'd like to share your story, I'd love to hear from you and the community 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.

Reflective questions:
1.  If it's not journaling, what else are you putting off?

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, etc. better suits you today.  It is not for me to decide. 

Sometimes Crazy Works

Some of the stories I tell about my journey make me think "Wow, people must think I am a little bit crazy."  I might have cared when I was younger, but now I know that "the crazy" is what makes me sane.  It's because I believe that many thoughts that come to me are Spirit* inspired.
One example is that when spiritual direction is something I was seeking, I was recommended to find someone using an international directory.  I followed the sites cues on how to narrow my search but it was still too wide and daunting.  So I went the crazy route.  I know that it wasn't the rational way, I can only say that I am a bird nerd and God often speaks to me through nature.  What I did is I narrowed my search by adding "bird" to the criteria.  Where it led me is to someone who had this word as part of their email address.  It turned out that this person was exactly the right person for me.
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Now for the reflective questions which you can journal about or if you'd like to share your story, I'd love to hear from you and the community 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.

Reflective questions:
1. Do you have a similar story, a "crazy" story?

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, etc. better suits you today.  It is not for me to decide. 

Noble Characters

Ruth was my grandmother's name.  I have been hearing the name a lot lately so it has given me pause.   In October I read Into the Magic Shop by James R. Doty and have been recommending this book ever since.  The woman who taught him how to relax the body, meditate and place desires on the heart was named Ruth.  One of the esteemed birders in my area is named Ruth.  I just went to Delaware Bay with her.  On Sunday a seminary student told a story about his Aunt Ruth who was full of life. I watched the movie Race last week about Jesse Owens going to the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games.  His wife's name was Ruth.
If you google "Ruth" what comes up first is the Hebrew biblical character Ruth.  The entries say things like "protaganist" and "noble character."  This fits the description of my grandmother and all of these women.  All of these women have either left a legacy or are leaving one now.
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Now for the reflective questions which you can journal about or if you'd like to share your story, I'd love to hear from you and the community 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.

Reflective questions:
1.  Is your name one you hear often?  How do you feel when you hear it?

2.  What kind of legacy are you leaving?

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, etc. better suits you today.  It is not for me to decide. 

Career Pivotal Point II

As my kids grew they had daycare and then before care and after care.  But once they got into middles school they would be coming home to an empty house unless I made other arrangements. Although I don't remember the exact time (because I didn't journal then), my guess is that my hope was to leave the working world when my son started middle school.  What happened instead though is that as the time kept slipping by my answer was always the same:  "In three more years I will quit."  However, if the same number of years remains your target time frame, the end time never comes.  So for me, time kept moving forward with no change.  As a result, my son started middle school and came home to an empty house.

In 2008 I had outpatient surgery for melanoma.  It was considered phase zero meaning it had not invaded the skin, but it did eventually give me a kick in the pants because a few months later my sister in law was diagnosed with end stage melanoma.  She died about 8 months later.  As her illness was progressing my mantra of "just three more years" became "you only have one life to live." Within a month of her death I gave my notice.  To this day I still can't believe I resigned, but man am I glad that I did!

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Now for the reflective questions which you can journal about or if you'd like to share your story, I'd love to hear from you and the community 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.

Reflective questions:
1.  Is there something that you keep putting off?

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, etc. better suits you today.  It is not for me to decide.    

Career Pivotal Point I

     

In 2000 I was still working in Human Resources.  I had a love for recruiting people to places I enjoyed working.  It was still fulfilling, but the work was getting away from me because I had other demands.  I had two small children, endless resumes to look at, and constant turnover of staff who left with the experience I worked hard to give them.
In October that year I went to a conference where the keynote speaker was life coach Cheryl Richardson.  Her message contradicted the working world but was so much of what I wanted to hear.  She spoke about how we each needed to take time for our lives.  When I look back I think about the irony of the situation and I have to laugh.  Our companies sent us to this professional conference to hear a keynote speaker who said we should work less; indirectly, of course, but the message to me was loud and clear. Her question that so resonated with me was where and with whom did we spend the most time and would those people be at our death beds?  I worked in a hospital and my answer was even "no!"
For me, it didn't mean leaving the profession but one month later I did leave that employer to work for a company that had more resources which enabled me to work smarter.  I also signed up for Cheryl Richardson's electronic newsletter which gave me a checklist surrounding things like self-care and creating the life I wanted.
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Now for the reflective questions which you can journal about or if you'd like to share your story, I'd love to hear from you and the community 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.

Reflective questions:
1.  Who do you spend the most time with?

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, etc. better suits you today.  It is not for me to decide.