Sources of Inspiration

Tags

awareness, inspiration, sources, spirituality

It is perhaps in seeking a large refill of inspiration that has made the weekly nature walk a lifestyle habit for me. This week, I happened to make a list of some of the sights and sounds that were sources of inspiration on Friday morning.

A narrow bridge between two small mounds of grass. Blackbirds showing exquisite flight control in the midst of a swift breeze. The play of light and shadows under partly overcast. transitioning skies. Remnants of last night’s campfires in fire pits. Lunch tables in the grass, arranged in a circle. A white tailed deer who sighted me and bounded away in the forest. A windmill by the water that alternates between stillness and speeding up to the pace of the wind. A hare that sighted me and scampered across the path to the apparent safety of his brood.

And there were so many more elements that filled me with inspiration in the short walk. Every single element had a lightness, a simplicity, a nonchalance, a spontaneity about it; perhaps that is what made them unique, never to be repeated sources of inspiration. It is when we encounter the unexpected in nature, when we get glimpses of the infinite possibilities of life in our daily living, that we get filled with inspiration, don’t we?

I often wonder if my weekly walks are to remind myself of the truth that the greatest source of inspiration lies within me; nature simply reflects my remembrance of that source. How about you? What are some of your sources of inspiration? What are some qualities of those sources that keeps you returning to them? How do you stay inspired between ‘refills’ from your source(s)?

Kumud

P.S. Join us for our weekly gathering and twitter chat, Sunday May 21 at 9amET / 1pmGMT / 730pm India ~ share your inspiration. Namaste ~ @AjmaniK

Friday morning walk refills me with inspiration

Our Walking Companions

Tags

solitude, spirituality, spring, stillness, stream of thought, walking

A female goose floats in the huge lake as the rain gently falls on this last Friday of April.

A female mallard sits in stillness on the inclined lakeshore as the male stands guard. I wonder if she is sitting on eggs, and if so, what defense do they really have against any attackers? Is it perhaps why they hang out by the bigger geese, who at least have some means, however limited, to ward off folks who may come near them with their beaks and demeanor? The ducks literally have no defense, other than that of the community which they reside in.

The goose has now come near the shore where I stand. Her peace is remarkable as she sits still in the rain. The father has now joined in the swim, even though he is about thirty feet away from her, which is about the same distance that she stands from me. We form an isosceles triangle whose base is the sixty foot distance between me and the father, who is slowly turning away and lengthening the gap between me and him.

The mother is now floating in the smallest of circles, virtually in place, in the clear portion of the water surrounded by heavy layers of algae. I am writing as I watch, a few feet from the water on the third of four steps, where the next step I take will put me right next to the water. I take that final fourth step and I must have crossed her line because she instantly sets off an alarm call. I step back and she is immediately silenced, as if I must have stepped back from her circle of perceived danger.

The rain keeps falling, even picks up pace for a while, and I am still standing still as I write, right next to an apple tree with the softest of white petals in full bloom on my right and a crab-apple tree in the distance on the far shore where the sun rises on my left. She has moved away from me a bit – the two sides of the isosceles are about forty feet now.

Oh wait. The father has returned to the far side of the lake to the shore by the windmill, to check on the three babies that have hatched over the past week or so. She gets a bit more trusting of me in my stillness, as she is now only twenty feet away, eyes towards where her babies are on the far side.

The rain is really starting to pick up now, but the tree that is literally growing leaves as I write is providing enough of an umbrella that I can keep writing. I am also in the company of the birdsongs coming from the tall trees lining the shore where the mallard couple is still parked. I can see that the goslings are now playing in the rain in the distance.

The mother has apparently decided that it is time to head back to the newborns, as the male of an incoming couple of geese tries to go after her and chases her out of the lake. The alarm calls go out from amid the trees that two intruders have arrived to claim the waters. Serenity turns to stress in a few seconds, and the mallard couple decides to take off. Such can be the cadence of life during a morning walk on the lake with friends.

The smallest of the newborns has now ventured almost to the middle of the lake. The rain is filling my phone’s screen with raindrops and I can barely write any more. It’s time to perhaps head back to dryness.

As I head back to where my car is parked, I’m glad, as I always am, that I decided to ignore the mind’s rationalizations and walked anyway today. On the final stretch, I remember to express gratitude to the new parents and their goslings, the mallards in their stillness, the resplendent apple blossoms, the birdsongs, the rain, and even the intruding geese who eventually disrupted the reverie.

Every walk, even around the same lake and on the same trails, is different. It is perhaps because my heart and its receptivity is a bit different in every walk. I am particularly reminded today that even though I start every walk by myself, I never really end up walking alone – companions inevitably join in.

How about you – why do you walk? What are your favorite walking paths? Who are your frequent traveling companions?

Kumud

P.S. Do join the friends of #SpiritChat as we gather in twitter in our weekly walk on Sunday April 30 at 9amET / 1pmGMT / 630pm India. We will walk, rain or shine, with some conversation and questions. Namaste – AjmaniK

Apple blossoms in the rain – my walking companions on a spring morning…

Freeing Yourself from Expectations! by @AwakeningTrue

Tags

expectations, freedom, lightness, spirituality

Over the past few months, the weight of expectations has been a frequent topic in conversations with family and friends, and in my own thinking, journaling, and choices.  Each of us has a very personal relationship with the many expectations in our lives — our expectations of ourselves, what we expect from others and, of course, what we believe other people expect from us.  

Can expectations be positive? Of course! My parents had expectations that my brother and I would be kind and compassionate, that we would study while we were in school, and that we would become “responsible adults.”  I am certain that there can be many positive effects of expectations throughout our lives.  What I have been considering recently, though, are the other types of expectations, those that become the SHOULDs that weigh us down.  Those expectations can add stress and pressure to our lives, and often result in self-judgment and self-criticism. They distract us from our experience of inner-peace and joy.  

Expectations come in all shapes and sizes, and they can be REAL expectations that have been communicated to us or by us, or they can be IMAGINED expectations that are born in our assumptions about what others want from us.  Either way, expectations can become invisible burdens that we carry with us every day.  They weigh us down, but we carry them only because we decided to carry them.  We are the only ones who can create the pressure of expectations in our lives.  It is true that other people can expect things from us, but what they expect from us can only create pressure if we allow it.  The choice is always ours.

I have decided to surrender my habit of creating unrealistic expectations for myself, and my habit of accepting the weight of other people’s expectations.  I have decided that being free of weighty expectations is a state of mind, and a state of heart.  I invite you to release the pressure of expectations, real or imagined, and to let go of what others think of you, want from you, and expect of you.

Let’s explore feeling free!  Let’s explore moving through our days listening to our heart instead of listening to that voice – ours or someone else’s – telling us what we should do.  Let’s explore a life where there is no SHOULD.  Let’s imagine ourselves as beautiful, brightly-colored balloons, floating without resistance, gratefully choosing to soar above the tethers that would weigh us down. 

Sharon Kathryn D’Agostino —@SharonDAgostino, @AwakeningTrue and @SayItForwardNow 

Author’s bio: I believe in the power of love, compassion, kindness, forgiveness, and gratitude! And I believe that each of us has an important role in shaping a kinder, gentler, more compassionate world for all.

Kumud’s note: Join our weekly twitter chat, Sunday March 26 at 9amET / 1pmGMT / 630pm India with Sharon as she steps up to lead #SpiritChat with her insights and questions. Thank you, Sharon!

Freedom from Expectations…

Photo Credit: © Blueenayim | Dreamstime.com

The Joy of Inner Peace by @JanetNestor

Tags

inner peace, journey, joy, spirituality

We are all on a journey to our sacred inner oasis. We want to connect to ourselves, life, and the divine. We want happiness, joy, safety, and inner peace. The issue is we don’t always know how to create it. However, if we find it once, we will keep striving to find it over and over again!

Our spiritual journey lasts a lifetime. When did you first become aware that you were a spiritual seeker? I was about 30 years old at the time and attending Adult Children of Alcoholics 12 twelve step meetings. Before ACOA I had no understanding of self-care, meditation, and no concept of how to create joy or inner peace.

In the beginning and throughout our journey we need teachers; people who can show us how to find the gifts of joy and inner peace that reside within our own being. And we need communities that support our journey. #SpiritChat has always been one of those communities for me. We grow together every Sunday!

There are mindful ways to learn what joy and peace feel like – how they impact our mind and body.  Mindfulness is focused awareness. We learn to witness our own body and emotions, become aware of our own inner nature, and then learn to live within our awareness. Becoming aware and experiencing heart virtues like joy and peace deepen our spiritual experience.

To really know what joy, love, peace, kindness and other virtues are, we need to experience them when they are paired with negative opposites. We all know that embracing heart virtues bring us energetically to a higher frequency. What we don’t know is what negativity takes from us.

We can use sensory awareness to make fun, laughter, joy, inner peace (and all the other viruses) part of holistic awareness, our energy system, and our heart center. When that happens, the energy of the virtues flow through our body connecting us to joy and inner peace. This activity is easy and is something we can teach our children and grandchildren.

Create a list of heart virtues that you want to adopt. The list might look like this: joy, love, kindness, peace.

Once you have your positive list, create a list of opposite emotions: sadness, hate, meanness, war.

You will need eight 3×5 white cards or pieces of clean white paper. No lined paper or paper that has been used before.

Write each of the words on the card or paper – one word on each card.

Hold the word joy between your hands until you can feel the energy of it flowing through you. You can feel the frequency of joy vibrate between the palms of your hands and perhaps vibrate through your whole body.

Then hold the word sadness between your hands and feel its vibration. Once you have felt the vibration of sadness, hold joy between your hands again. This keeps your vibration high as you complete this activity.

Repeat with each of the word pairs. Love-Hate, Kindness-Cruelty, Peace-War. Remember to hold the positive word, then the negative word, and again the positive word.

You will be surprised at what information you take in somatically, mentally, and emotionally. You intuitively know the importance of choosing a positive, joyful way of life. Words matter much more than we imagine! Words create our body’s chemistry and our quality of physical, mental, and emotional health.

If our body chemistry is positive, we experience positive emotions. which generate a positive, heathy inner environment. That balanced chemistry allows us to feel inner peace and joy.

If our body chemistry is not balanced, we experience emotions that are negative. Negativity limits our ability to experience joy and inner peace. Adding positive thoughts and actions gradually create a chemical change that results in a positive physical-mental-emotional-spiritual change.

If you try this little activity, let us know at the beginning of the chat!

Thank you for inviting me to be a guest host, Kumud. I look forward to our Sunday, March 12th #spiritchat.

Janet Nestor

Editor’s Note: Please join our long-time friend, supporter, participant and advisor to the #SpiritChat community, Janet Nestor (@JanetNestor) as she hosts our weekly chat on Sunday, March 12 at 9amEDT / 1pm GMT / 630pm India on twitter. Thank you – Kumud @AjmaniK

Janet Nestor, Author of “Pathways to Wholeness”

‘Hold the word Joy between your hands…’

On Powers of Observation

Tags

awareness, choices, observation, spirituality

Small though it was, the bridge itself had never actually moved. I thought it had been removed by human hands because it was in relatively poor shape, but the fact was that I had just stopped seeing it. I had assumed that it was gone, and in its place was a relatively small stretch of water which I could just as easily jump move for walk around to get to the other side of the embankment.

All of that changed this morning, after six odd months of getting my shoes wet while navigating the stretch of water. The bridge reappeared in my awareness, where it had always remained, slightly hidden beneath the overgrowth. It hadn’t been touched by human hands, because some of the boards were still missing and others were still broken. A few feet left long, about a foot wide, just enough to support one human’s or deee’s crossing at a time, over an invisible body of water.

My delight at meeting this old friend was instant. It wasn’t that the friend had walked away from me. I had just stopped noticing my friend by thinking that it had disappeared from where I thought it once used to be – over that same patch of water which I was now regularly jumping over or walking around. It was a beautiful reunion today, as I walked through the tall grasses, stepped on the first of the boards gently, and slowly crossed over the few feet that held me as surely they always had in the past.

Once on the other side, I looked back and said thank you for reappearing, for giving me space to explore alternate pathways to the other side. It felt like a reunion with a long lost friend who I had stopped observing because I was too busy or distracted, or because I made the assumption that they did not want to be seen by me any more. The power of observation works in many different ways, doesn’t it?

Have you have ever experienced the sense that you have been observing certain things differently within you on your walk of life? Which observations tend to come from wisdom, and which ones come from assumptions? How has the power of observation affected your relationships with others?

Kumud

As I was leaving for home, the Sun started emerging from behind the clouds above the tree line in the distance and I realized that like the bridge, the divine rarely move away from us – it is we who shift our heart’s focus of observation. The good news is that it remains within our powers to shift our focus back to divine awareness, whenever we so choose to observe it again.

P.S. Join us for our weekly gathering and conversation, Sunday Feb 26 at 9amET / 2pmGMT on twitter in #SpiritChat. We will discuss our powers of observation among friends who are with us in our journeys. Namaste – AjmaniK

Knowing our Inner Child by @merryb923

Tags

childhood, friemdship, inner child, spirituality

I was so grateful to have the opportunity recently to peruse some of my childhood moments captured on a giant camcorder from the 80s & 90s, and videos of my parents and grandparents in the 60s and 70s. There were many fascinating things about these videos, watching with my young nieces, they were so excited to see all the “olden time things” (from the 90’s!)🤣

Another thing then dawned on me, and my nieces agreed, “Auntie looks so different, but she acts the same!” I haven’t always been like this, I evolved into this person. Imagine, I have evolved into being the same as I was as a child, and I love that!

This got me thinking, how much of life is about learning, and how much is about unlearning? I wonder how much of ourselves gets lost as we navigate our lives and the world around us. I wonder how many people never find themselves again. 

A lot of what we truly are is evident in our childhood, that innocent, non-forged version of ourselves that came into this world free of cultural norms, prejudices, and shame. I was happy to find that my self exploration brought me back to the wild, weird, enthusiastic child I saw in those videos. Is this something to aspire to? What are some positive child-like qualities we admire and what are some we would rather outgrow? 

Explore with me this Sunday at our #spiritchat gathering. I look forward to hosting again! 

I attached a picture of myself and my siblings in the mid 80s. I’m the little one, and this picture says a thousand words ❤️

Meredith

It is my honor to guest host another #spiritchat and have the chance to give back to a community that has given so much to me the past decade++ The impact to my life is simply immeasurable. Thank you all and I’ll see you Sunday, Feb 12 at 9amET in the twitter chat!

Meredith (bottom right) with her siblings at age…

Let The Music Play

Tags

awareness, music, spirituality, vibration

It has been at least five years, and I remember the feeling like it was yesterday. During one of my morning walks on a fisherman’s trail by the river, I came around a bend and stepped into a clearing that was filled with hundreds of daisies. It was a clear blue-sky kind of day and there was a spring-like warmth in the air accompanied by the soft gurgling of the river as it flowed lightly. I paused, and did something I had never done before, and have rarely done since.

I took off my light jacket, and lay done on the grass, among all of the daises, face pointed towards the heavens, arms stretched out by my side, letting it all flow through me. I will never forget the coolness of the grass, the softness of the flowers, the sunshine smiling at me and the feeling of the sounds of the vibration of the earth’s hum as it held me softly. It was as safe a moment and space, an opening of the heart, that I ever remember experiencing in nature. The music of the earth and the waters, and the stillness of the sky made it feel like all the senses had come awake simultaneously.

After laying in the clearing for a few minutes, it seemed like all the sounds of the birds, the river, the breeze and the earth had merged into the one wordless harmony of celestial music. I am sure that you have had experiences with natural or man-made music that affect your heart in a way that words cannot describe. We all know that the vibrations created by music can affect our moods and emotions, and transport us to places that transcend our ordinary planes of daily experiences, don’t we? Imagine a state or states of existence where we have developed the ability to be constantly attuned to the celestial or divine music that plays continuously within us.

What would our life feel like if we were to primarily live in a state of higher vibration than we currently do? How do we develop the ability to spend most, if not all of our waking, working, resting hours in tune with that music which helps us live and love our best life?

Yes. It may takes practice, even a lot of practice, to live in that state of attunement with divine music. What do we get in return for all that practice? In my experience, once we have laid down in that field where we have felt embraced by the universe and all her elements, we never forget that state of superconscious joy.

If and when higher bliss is experienced within, we cannot then wait to wake up and walk, sing, write, meditate or practice whatever it is that brings us closer to our natural state of higher vibration, can we?

I invite you to practice to listen to the music play. We can surely all hear it and heart it, can’t we?

Kumud

P.S. Join us for our weekly twitter chat, Sunday, Feb 5 at 9am ET / 2pm GMT in #Spiritchat. Bring some of your favorite music to share. I will bring some questions. Namaste – @AjmaniK

Sunrise on the Caribbean… the playing of celestial music…

Invitations of Spring

Tags

invitation, music, reflection, spirituality, spring

It’s 10am Saturday morning and I have been up for at least four hours, absorbing all the energy flowing around and within me, from near and from 7500 miles away. This same routine has been going on for the past few days, and the energy has taken on a special frequency since the Indian ‘Spring’ festival of Basant Panchami was celebrated on January 26. Spring in the middle of winter in the Northern hemisphere, you say?

We are almost five weeks into winter, seven weeks from Spring. If we lean our hearts a little, and let our mind wander a week forward, we will be halfway there. In some ways, the festival is an invitation to the Spring that is imminent. Yes, winter may still have some questions to ask of us, but so what?

The better question to perhaps ask is — What does Spring mean to you and your heart? The calendar is simply a time-keeper, isn’t it? If we orient our energy towards the feeling that Spring engenders within us, will we not instantly evoke Spring, or any of our favorite seasons at our heart’s behest?

Over the past few days, particularly since I received and accepted Spring’s ‘early’ invitation to play, my schedule has been pleasantly ‘disrupted’ by my attendance at an online festival of ‘music and meditation’ every morning. As a result, I can feel that my internal energy has been shifting daily, slowly but steadily towards warmth, renewal and a harmony that is the hallmark of Spring for me.

As I finish writing, the Sun has literally made its way through the heavily overcast skies, the wind has been becalmed by a shift, the reflections of the trees in the pond are becoming sharper by the minute, and the geese are slowly arriving for the day. I am sensing another invitation to sing, to meditate, to raise awareness of what lies in the heart.

It surely feels like an invitation from spring to me. I guess that winter without will have to wait. Have you received any invitations of body, mind and heart lately? If so, what have you done with them?

Kumud

P.S. I invite you to join our weekly twitter chat and gathering, Sunday Jan 29 at 9am ET / 2pm GMT / 730pm India in Spiritchat over tea and cookies. Namaste – AjmaniK

P.P.S The second phase of the ‘Spring festival’ of ‘music and meditation’ hosted by Heartfulness India will run from Feb 1-3 2023 at 7amET / Noon GMT / 530pm India. You are invited to attend the Free live sessions at https://hfn.link/youtube ~ Namaste.

Spring invites us in its own subtle ways… to reflect on body, mind and heart…

On Setting Intentions

Tags

goals, guidance, intentions, obstacles, preparation, spirituality

Intention is important in the sense that it can give a sense of purpose, of meaning, of direction to our actions. At the start of every New Year, or month, or week, or day, or hour, we can set an intention for whatever time-interval we choose in the future. The New Year is perhaps the most popular time to set intentions and goals, make plans, and define how we may want our life to look at the end of the year, or maybe even at different points in the year.

And yet, setting an intention by itself is often not enough in itself. Preparation is also needed, because our intent is going to inevitably run into obstacles. What are we going to at the first significant hurdle, which will most probably be internal — fear, uncertainty, doubt — not external. We can prepare ahead by using the learnings from past hurdles that maybe heavily distracted us from our intentions or even stopped us cold.

Preparation is one key to success in fulfilling our intention, no matter how we may define ‘success’.

Imagine setting an intention to climb Mt Everest without any preparation? Or even intending to go for a simple morning walk, say a few times a week for the next week or month. You wouldn’t need much preparation in fair weather, but what if you woke up to wintry weather with sleet and frost like I did today? If I hadn’t prepared well enough by wearing adequate layers of clothing, with gloves, with a warm hat, proper shoes to navigate the slippery and wet trails, I probably would have gotten to the trailhead, parked my car, looked at all the obstacles including the heavy overcast skies and said — Nah, I’ll skip today and go back home to my tea. Maybe tomorrow!

And yet, I walked because I had learnt from past years how to prepare for such weather. As I set out on the now familiar trail, I sis meet some new obstacles in the form of fallen tree branches, water channels formed by melting snow, and so on. Preparation helped, but if I had guidance from someone who had recently walked the trail, I could have saved time and energy, and even some risk, on my walk. Can you imagine how Tenzing would have fared on Mt Everest without the expert guidance of Sherpa Norgay?

Preparation multiplied with proper guidance can help create an environment where our intentions have even greater chances of success.

What else may be needed to succeed with our newly set (or even ongoing) intentions? We can perhaps use simplicity in the setting of our intentions to create meaningful successes, which then in turn create confidence, build resilience within to set new intentions that stretch us even more than before.

What role may flexibility play in our journey with our intentions? What else can you think of and share with us — practices that have worked for you in setting, fulfilling your intentions?

Is there a specific, singular, over-arching intention that guides all other intentions that you may have set for your spiritual journey?

Kumud

Join us for our weekly gathering and twitter conversation in #SpiritChat, Sunday January 8nat 9amET / 2pmGMT / 730pm India. We will discuss intentions and more. Namaste ~ @AjmaniK

My Friday walk with Nature often helps me set intention(s) for the week ahead…

The Steps We Take by @merryb923

Tags

growth, process, spirituality, steps

I’ve been trying to find the inspiration I needed to properly convey the topic of this weeks chat. I wanted to talk about the steps we take: sometimes premeditated, and other times, spontaneous. The steps we remember as being pivotal, and those we plan to take in upcoming days, weeks… and so on. What guides our steps? And where have they lead us- or where are they going to take us? 

I found inspiration in some noisy neighbors, my neighbors in the “triple decker” house I’ve been living in for about 5 years. I talked to them a couple days ago about some ongoing repairs needed in the building, and how, like me, she doesn’t always feel like we’re taken seriously.  I’m thinking of taking a step toward being a property manager for landlords who just don’t want to deal with it. Unplanned step, spontaneous! Those can be really fun! 

One of the best steps I ever took was moving to New York. It didn’t seem like a great thing at the time, but through the struggle, it lead to a different version of me that I am really proud of. 

These steps take us somewhere- either straight forward or off to the side. Straight forward may seem like the best option but these side quests give us lessons, knowledge, wisdom which helps our later steps take good direction. 

There are so many different things that influence the steps we take- and sometimes it feels like a battle to choose which one. But, today, as we stand, what steps do we remember taking that make us proud, and where do we see our steps heading now? 

Let’s explore!

Meredith

Author bio: I’m always super awkward with bios and have no business or brand to promote (yet!), but if anyone wants to follow me I’m @merryb923 pretty much everywhere you look!

Kumud’s note: Meredith has been part of the #SpiritChat community for a very long time, and has hosted the chat a few times. I am grateful and excited that she has agreed to host #spiritchat on twitter on Sunday, Dec 18 at 9amET / 2pmGMT / 730pm India. Do join in and share… Thank you, Meredith! Namaste.

The steps we take… often take us to places of joy unknown