Oneness

The ritual is One

The food is One

We who offer the food are One

The fire of hunger is also One

All action is One

We who understand this are One.

                       - Hindu Blessing

Ahhhhh, Oneness ....such an important reminder for me!
Sometimes I have moments where i really "get" oneness ...
and sometimes I struggle to wrap my brain around it!
For example, when someone says to me: " everything you have
is already there within you" ... I can't help thinking  about taking a look
in the mirror to see I see a brand new car shining through my belly button!  


Ok, seriously, when I remember Oneness, I remember that
my thoughts and deeds effect everyone and everything!
I learned something watching the Rosie show tonight ...
she was interviewing Patti Blagojevich,
and she began by pointing out that no matter what,
there is a family struggling here, 
children being separated from their father
and a wife separated from her husband.
People in pain.


I realized how many times i have poked fun at that man,
as if he is less than human because of his role or his alleged crime?
Wow ... that is an eye opener that I needed today.
That is not compassion.
That does not support Oneness.
I am sorry.
Cate

I bless them all

I am grateful for and bless the act of creation and all

my loving creators.  To be alive is the greatest gift one

can receive.  Life, with its mystery, joy, love, pain,

difficulties and opportunities.  I bless them all as I bless

the wonder of our existence and I bless all who use the

gift of life to increase the quantity of love and healing

we shall require to survive.  Peace.

                                     - Bernie Siegel, M.D.

Blessings come throughout a day from so many places and spaces ...

as long as I am living in awareness ...

the sun warming the earth and brightening this day a few moments longer each day ~

the warm smile of a client who pokes their head into my office door just to say hello ~

the mail service that delivered a book that will delight my little friend ~

the team at work that joins in common mission to promote dignity and choice ~

texting back and forth with my niece, communication of this age ~

playful little kitties greeting me at the door ~

a compassionate vet working hard to help heal my kitten ~

people all over the world seeking to live in truth and love .... thereby

changing the world around them.

No matter what ... the blessings are countless ... 

there is love and healing and life all around ....

and I get to celebrate that and feel the joy ...

as long as I am living on awareness!!

What are you aware of today?

Cate

Play and BE amused

Blessed are we who can laugh

at ourselves

for we shall never cease

to be amused.

                - anonymous

It is the winding down of a seemingly  ordinary day ...

the sun was shining,

I worked very hard at the office,

I got a chance to talk to my sister and connect with 2 of my nieces,

I had wonderful a chat with a friend,

my beautiful kitties are laying here beside me,

the academy awards are showing ... a favorite of mine for decades!!

Hmmm ... did I laugh and enjoy myself through it all ...

was my heart at play?

For the most part I think the answer is YES!

YAYYY!!

How about you?

Cate

Life is generous

It takes courage to ask a question and truly pay heed

to the answer ... From the highest level to the most

practical level, all real questions come about  from the

pain of separation, the separation from the answer ...

We are merely instruments through which the question

can be asked and through which the question can be

answered.         

                           -RESHAD FIELD

Do you have the patience to wait

     till your mud settles and the water is clear?

Can you remain unmoving

     till the right action arises by itself?

                                  - TAO TE CHING

Life is so generous ... not that I am always so willing to receive the generous lessons it sends to me. lol lol   It is amazing how life on life's terms sets the scene for me to take big steps of faith or growth or awareness.  I softly smile tonight when I realize the pattern has just played out again over the past few days.  Funny how I never notice until after the fact.

It happens like this ... I am in some sort of big struggle ~ either physical, emotional, spiritual or social.  And, I struggle and struggle and drip with misery , seek  instant answers, and trip and fall multiple times until finally .... I surrender.  

Finally, I just let it go, most likely because I can not hold on any longer!  Giving up the illusion of control is never easy.  And then ... in those moments of grace ... a new awareness, an invitation to let go, a nudge to face something i did not want to see ... whatever it is, it arrives when I no longer have the strength to do anything other than quietly receive whatever it may be.

And then, suddenly, I can see something so clearly!
It is a life changing gift.
I am ready,
I am grateful.

And so it goes ... ...

life is generous.

cate

If not now ... when?

If I am not concerned for myself, who will be for me?

But If I am only concerned for myself, what good am i?

And if now is not the time to act, when will it be?

                                                   -Hillel

I can't believe it is so late in what was a crazy day, and I am finally blogging, and this is the quote for today!?!  God sure has a sense of humor!

I remember hearing a speaker at an open AA meeting once who recalled a very stressful day, and said the only thing  that was good about the day was that he made it through sober.  For some people that didn't mean so much, but for him, it meant the world!  It meant that he chose LIFE, he chose to stay on the road to recovery no matter what ... he knew that one small step away from his recovery could be the step that carried him out the door and into the disease once more.  And then, he would be lost to himself and to all those he could help with his life.

I had an exhausting emotional overwhelming day. I am so grateful to have also been given the chance to choose LIFE.  I am up a little bit too late, but I ate a healthy dinner, did what needed to be done in my evening, and talked to several recovery friends who shared solution and faith and their God with me.  I stayed on the 12 step road today, this one day, one day a a time. 

We each have this one day ... and this is the time to act, to do the next right thing, this one day.  If we do that, we will still be on this road tomorrow ... and then we will have that day too :)

How grateful I am to be this grateful at the end of a day like this!!      Cate

Be Merry

Eat your bread with joy, drink your wine with a merry

heart.

                                          - Ecclesiastes 9:7

What a funny reading this is for Ash Wednesday ... a traditional day of fasting!!  

Of course, who says you can not enjoy your bread and wine ,,, even when fasting!

lol lol 

Of course, this refers to so much more than bread and wine .... since we are all the bread of life ~ 

what a lovely reminder to enjoy EVERYTHING!  

Life is generous indeed!!!  :)

in-Joy,

Cate

In Their Season

Just as sunset is as beautiful as sunrise, all things

are beautiful in their season.  So tonight we give

thanks for age, and pray that we may hold in honor

all those who graciously come to the winter of life.

 

I have reached the age where there are fewer years left ahead of me than  those that have already been lived ... that becomes more apparent as I begin to move into that time in life where the the experience of losing friends and their spouses replaces the 

experience of losing our parents.

More and more, I begin to notice the beauty of the winter years ... 

just like the incredible lace of spaces of sky woven between

barren winter branches ... so is the beauty of graying

hair and wrinkles woven into our bodies.

Unexpected, surprising, softening...

and with each new wrinkle ... 

and each letting go ...

I become more and more aware of the wonder of each day ~

and I desire to cherish it and live it well.

Normal day, let me aware of the treasure you are.

Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you

depart. Let me not  pass by in quest of some rare and

perfect tomorrow.  Let me hold you while I may, for it

may not always be so. One day I shall dig my nails into

the earth, or bury my face in the pillows, or stretch

myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky and want,

more than all the world, your return.

                                        -Mary Jean Iron

Cate