It's snowing in Seattle

I'ts snowing in Seattle this morning. It happens on occassion.

And then we shut down the schools and everybody is happy.

In Consideration of World Peace

I am not and never have been an entrant to any known or unknown beauty pagent. So it is not in my area of expertise to express my supreme wish that we achieve world peace. However, I am not going to let this stop me from expressing this wish.

Today's post comes about as I've been thinking about the joys of "guided meditation". I mean really, it is so cool to have someone speaking gently modulated into your ear. They say wonderful things such as, "Relax" and "Go high above yourself, leave yourself behind". Now I'm sure the last one can be a little unnerving if you have any kind separation anxieties. Regardless, I had a particularly inspiring guided meditation this month that I want to remember. It was a Sharing Your Personal World Peace Meditation (my title, not theirs).

Thing is, that is what the meditation was. It was a guided, imaginative, walk-through of what sharing world peace can feel like.

This is an Oprah and Chopra Meditation. I'm sure you can find it at

In any case - the meditation requests that as you relax with your eyes closed imagine a light eminating from yourself, a brilliant gleaming white light just pushing its clear radiancy from you. Then take this light, hold it in your hands. Know with the depths of your true self that this light, that you now hold in your hands, is world peace. Know that it is truly world peace. Now turn to the soul that is to your left and give to this soul next to you, give them world peace. And as you give them this light, this world peace feel them accept this gift from you. Feel their acceptance and joy in receiving your gift. Enjoy these feelings.

And then, still relaxed and in meditation, turn to your right and accept the brilliant beautiful gift that the soul next to you is giving you. Accept the world peace that is being gifted, given, handed to you. Feel the beauty of this gift. Send your own acceptance and joy in receiving this gift to the soul on your right that has gifted you.

I noticed that as I was in meditation I found myself 'looking up' at the throng of individual souls - as far as I could 'see' - passing glimmering, sparkling beneficient white light among themselves. It was astounding that so many souls were sending out and accepting in this stunning display of world peace.

I love guided meditation. Maybe that is why I like books so much.

The Meditations are Done

The meditations are done and the results seem to be a particular longing to be working on last year's NaNoWriMo submission and to get a car that allows me the peace of mind to see my friends. My current $100 car, though absolutely grand and running now for over a year and a half, is not a car that instills peace of mind. I am sure that the next time I drive it it will break down. And if not that time, then the next. It's been like this for a year and a half. Maybe I should stop baby-ing the car and drive it as if it has another 18 years of life in it. It's only a 23 years old car. I do wonder that I can get parts for it.

The Challenge Winds Down

The Miraculous Relationships Mediation Challenge is winding down. Tomorrow is the last day. I'll be sorry to hear it end. I may not have blogged about each day, as I had intended. But I certainly participated. It was a nice challenge. I love meditations, prayers, quiet/stillness each day. It still has the feel of luxury. I imagine tomorrow's guided meditation will tell each of us what a great job we've done, how miraculous it is to have taken these steps to better our lives, yadd, yadda, yadda. And yes to all that, and thank you. the guided mediation will also touch on keeping up this new habit, now that we've been at it for 21 days. Let's see, what else...if it were smart it would tell us to review the journal entries that we each wrote describing what we wanted from this challenge. From here I remember wanting to feel the freedom and the motivation to write. To me that IS a relationship, an healthy one. I may have to meditate on this yet some more. hahaha

Challenge of Travel

As challenging as it is to meditate at home every day, meditating on the road is a difficulty of it's own. We are in Oregon near the Columbia River for Salmon Fishing this week. It has brought its own pleasures. Walking through the campground roads this morning I found a small bridge over a dry creek in the back nine. The bridge lead to a narrow path between trees and ferns and general underbrush. It is idyllic. And yet, this is the Great NorthWet. That means it was drizzling, and has been drizzling since we got here at 2 a.m. The world here is wet. I meditated standing today. I will gladly meditate standing again tomorrow.

In the meantime I would like to say thank you. Thank you to every one I have ever known, in person, over the Internet, on the phone, by mail. Everyone has brought me something. Some people came in packages with lousy gift wrapping. But as I remove the wrapping each one is a gift. Sending love, Sarah

Let your light shine in - day 9

I've made it to day 9 of the great meditation challenge. Today's word of the day was to let your light shine on. It was a nice meditation. I wasn't able to get to the guided meditation until after work. I tell you it all loses a bit of punch when the day is practically done. The meditating itself is getting difficult to get around to. Interesting how I can't seem to find fifteen minutes in the morning to sit quiet. Well, I can but only in spurts. Twenty-one days in a row is proving more difficult than I would have thought. And I like meditating and prayer in general. So, yes I meditated. And yes, I feel the internal light pulsing away just fine. But, I really liked when the meditations struck a chord and then stuck with me all day. It's like carrying fireflies around inside me all day. Hoping tomorrow contains fireflies.

Day 7 meditation challenge update

I have to admit that meditating each day is good for my soul. It's been a week now and the meditations are actually more fulfilling. These are meditations on relationships, even if here in the beginning they are meditations for self. I have seen an easiness in all my transactions with people become the new normal. I feel more genuine. Not that I ever felt disingenuous. My interactions just feel more genuine. Today's meditations explored the ultimate eternity of my soul, of every one's soul for that matter. Even though these thoughts fit no where in my day, as an undercurrent it was nice. It lightened the entire day. I'm looking forward to tomorrow. There are miracles in the pipeline of my life right now. It's a great feeling. It may be a miracle with myself. It may be a miracle with those around me. Paulo Coelho wrote, and I'm paraphrasing, "give us this day our daily miracle, whether we can see it or not." He goes on to write, Let us speak the language of angels among ourselves.". Notes to self: I must buy his book, Manuscript from Accra.

Day 6 - Meditations update - Reminders are good

Today has been an eye opener.  I mistakenly deleted the usual Mediation e-mails that I receive each day.  this lead me to sign in to the website to retrieve the information.  I find I am looking forward to these e-mails.  Hey, hey...on the webiste there is a  bunch of great information.  There is a soundtrack of guided meditation that lasts the entire 15 minutes.  There is a journal area as well.  Today I used the journal and it was such a confirmition of how I feel.  I can only reinterate that things happen for a reason.  It was a great time to find out all the tools available for signing in to a website.

The meditations themselves are still focusing on self and on self-esteem.  The focus is still on the self and feeling well enough to put this good feeling out there to the ones that matter in our lives.  Today I was struck by rememberences of things I have let slide for myself.  I feel I'm getting my mojo back.  I didn't know I had lost it.  I still have dreams to make come true.  I still put those things on the back burner.  I still feel amazingly well when I bring these goals back up to the forefront.  I can tell here that I love reminders.  These last 6 days of mediation have been a great reminder.

Miraculous Challenge Day 5

I think we are at Day 5 of the wonderous Miraculous Relationships Meditation Challenge.  I get e-mails each day that let me know how far along we are.  As I suspected it is difficult to take any block amount of time to meditate, but I do find myself ruminating and contemplating the day's focus several times throughout the day.

Day 4 was actually pretty interesting and amazed me again how true it is that our thoughts become things.  Day 4 the focus was on the usual loving oneself (how can one have caring, loving relationships if one is not caring and loving to oneself?  The answer is - one can't.).  To be fair the focus phrase read, " As I love and honor myself, my relationships blossom."  Well, duh.  I hope you can all see how seriously I am taking all this mumbo-jumbo.  For me it is all so incredibly basic and pitiful that we are still trying to talk ourselves into loving ourselves, and being kind and gentle and keeping the spirit within us always, yadda, yadda, yadda.  AND YET - and yet, I was sitting on the bus thinking my guided thoughts about honoring myself and how this will strengthen my relationships in general (Yes, I tend to stray from every guided path) and pretty much just smiling through it.  The bus reached downtown and I opened my eyes to enjoy the city, as I do every day that I ride the bus.  As I checked my phone for e-mails and texts I found myself, as if I do this every day (because I most certainly do not) sending texts to my son and my daughter and my other daughter just wishing them a good day.  Just sending hugs and signing, Mommy. 

But, it didn't stop there.  As if hypnotized I pulled up my son's girlfriend's number and I wished her a magnificent day and just to let her know I was thinking about her.  And it kept going.  I texted my sister in law, who I haven't spoken to in months, positively months - only because I am a generally thoughtless individual, and I wished her a positively wonderous day.  All the exchanges took the entire ride through downtown to my destination.  Each one felt great, and random and spontaneous.  So me, the one who thinks so very little of guided meditations (but still loves 'em) and feel good phrases - well, this one felt good.

And darn good timing too.  Football pre-season game was last night and my sister in law was at the game.  I got the inside track. 

I Shoulda Put Money On It

I knew it.  I absolutely knew it.  Any grand ideation for wonderful relationships has to start with oneself.  So Yep, here we are at day 2 of the 21 day Meditation Challenge and the focus today is (drum roll)..."Miraculous You". 

Now I'm not going to argue with the wonders of treating yourself well, being kind to yourself, giving yourself permission to be happy.  These are truly wonderful things.  In fact I have no qualms with today's meditation focus at all.  The more I breathe and relax into now the quieter my internal head gets and it is just easier to smile - for no good reason.

But I shoulda put money on it that the "Miraculous relationship" expounded would be the relationship with you.

Miraculous Journey

Today is to start a 21 Day Meditation Challenge.  I don't find it particularly challenging to meditate.  It comes pretty naturally.  The theme of this grand 21 Day Meditation is "Miraculous Relationships".

I've been MIA as a blogger now for at least a year and a half.  And I can confidently state it is because of miraculous relationships that I have been missing from the blogosphere.  When there is life to be experienced, there is very little time to sit and write about it.  Besides, the server on these work computers is so old most of the Blogger features do not work any longer and it makes for a rather messy posting.

Nonetheless, I've been fishing and making sausage, pickling cucumbers and crabbing.  I've been meeting a vast plethora of people and attending graduation parties and visitng casinos.  I've been out for dinner and in for football games.  I've attended baseball games and dug for oysters.  I'm riding motorcycles and towing boats. 

It's all been pretty miraculous considering that I spent my last 8 years blogging and writing and staring out windows of various apartments and back doors.  It's as if life has invited me to join it.  I have no time to write.  I barely have time to DO all the things that have been offered up for me in this life. This is my miracle.

A 21 Day Meditation Journey/Challenge may actually be a challenge.   As far as relationships go, I know I would like to foster the relationships I have already in place; my friends in the mountains (that is a vehicular challenge), my family in New York, the people that have gathered for my daughter's wedding, etc.  Relationships are never perfect, that's why we work at them.  And this is certainly one of those times that the words "work" and "play" may be interchanged at will.

Today's assignment for the challenge is to "Set one intention for your journey toward miraculous relationships."  I am considering spending the meditation time today exploring what that intention will be.  The posibility exists that my intention is simply to continue, to extend the miraculous relationships I already have.  To continue to watch the roots of friendships grow.  I'll be considering this.