Tag Archives: Peace

The Good Life Quilt

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What if we could stitch a quilt of love between us?

What if we could take the values that give our life meaning and stitch them together and create a warm blanket to share?

What would you include in this quilt?  Would we all include the same things?

I would weave the common good, courage, justice, love, peace, kindness, truth, compassion, fairness, tolerance, acceptance, hope, freedom, passion, creativity, integration, justice, and connection.

  
What values would you add?

What would be the purpose of this Good Life Quilt?

I think having one would provide us warmth and something to share. It’s colors and diversity and patterns would be woven together and give us something beautiful to touch and to see and to build together.

When Charlie was born, he almost died. We were filled with fear and did not know what was wrong with him for 6, agonizing days.  We had no idea whether he would live or not  We had no control. And we just had to wait and watch and pray. We were scared and it was a very lonely feeling, even though there were so many that wanted to help us. One thing that provided comfort in the sterile intensive care unit, was a handmade quilt inside his bed. I wondered where it came from and why it was there. It was stitched by a volunteer group who gave of their time and their talents and added warmth and color and a sense of home to his little bassinet. It felt like a warm hug and provided hope of normalcy, that one day he’d be in a cozy bed in our home. Dreams do come true.

May you be covered with a Good Life Quilt and stay warm and loved.

nAMaste

Create Space

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I’m loving the idea of creating space.

What does this mean to you?

Can you create space between your breathes?  In yoga today, at the end of our practice, Melissa had us take a deep breathe in and hold it. She then told us to breathe in a little more and hold it. And to do it once again. As we held our breathe and were thinking we were out of space in our lungs, we found more 3 times. We created more space and filled it with deep, full breathes and then let it all out. This felt so good.

We also used our breathe to stretch into a deeper stretch with each exhale. We closed the space to go deeper.

What about white space? Cassie has been using a white canvas to create space to display the things she discovers each day. In creating a clean, repeatable space, we her audience anticipate what she will find and present in this beautiful, simple space.

Here’s an example of her beautifully filled, magical space:  http://www.cassiacogger.com/blog/2015/9/26/on-magic-and-participation

Do you need more closet space? Try reading the Marie Kondo book to learn about the importance of creating meaningful and tidy spaces. You can find it on Amazon: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing

What about space in your relationships? Are you giving your partner and/or yourself some breathing room? Togetherness is a wonderful thing, but so is time alone to do what you love and to be who you want to be. I’ve noticed that when I create and give space, intimacy fills it. When I try to fill the space by being too needy or demanding, the space becomes like a vacuum and connections are lost. This one is the most fascinating to me. It represents so clearly the push and pull we feel everyday, that yin and yang of tensions and desires.

How about at the end of the day? Do you leave space and time to unwind? Do you create space to snuggle with your kids or partner or pets instead of doing one more chore or checking one more email? I was resisting and practicing this one tonight. I so wanted to do the dishes and get the coffee ready, instead of indulging in snuggles and conversation. I wanted to get stuff done. I didn’t want to snuggle, yet I opened the space to the opportunity that presented itself and the space and love connection grew. I made the right choice, even though I struggled to give in to the calling. Love the little mentors in my life.

Can you do nothing? Can you sit still and allow yourself to be present and to just close your eyes and BE in the space you’re in without any expectations or worry? Sounds easy, but it’s not. Go ahead, try it. See where your mind goes and try to bring it back to the present moment again.

Enjoy the thought of creating your own space. What does it look like? What does it feel like? You get to choose. Just do it.

 nAMaste

Waiting

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Whatever you’re waiting for, I hope it comes your way in time and makes you happy. 

Cheers to my friend in Holland who has been waiting for her daughter to be cancer free and she finally received this awesome news.

To my family and everyone else dealing with grief and waiting and wading in it, I’m hoping peace finds you.

Tonight I sat on my porch and patiently waited for my sister and niece to arrive. I have been excited all day just knowing that they were coming. I am happy they chose to come our way and are spending the weekend with us.

I remember 9-11. I choose to live in the moment and create peace, joy, love and connection everyday. Never forget.

Life is good, especially with family in it. xoxo

Day 3 of Break

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hello BeLoveRs 

I just love that word –  how simple would the world be if we were happy just BEing? We could just BE Love in all its forms. We could BE Lovers of life, of ourselves and of others and of whatever we love. There’s the simple secret all wrapped into this pretty little made up word. I don’t think it’s a real word, is it?  But now it is to me and you.

Today I was happy just sitting outside doing nothing. I ate a late lunch out on the sunny back patio, all by myself. I talked to my sister about her nursing applications and was so happy that she was happy and on her way. I am proud of her. 

  

Soon Charlie came outside to be with me. We moved to the couch and just sat together for probably an hour with nothing to do and just enjoyed being. We laughed and sang made up songs and texted Juliana, exchanging pictures between what we were doing in the USA and what she was doing in Japan. 

 

He worked on putting baseball stickers all over his new toothbrush and he told me I’m the best mama and that he loves me. What more do I need?

 

I’ve learned that when you slow down and create space, really good things can happen. 

Finally on Day 3, I am happy that we are home for spring break. I enjoyed shopping with Charlie this morning and bringing Christian to his appointments and meeting Jeff for dinner in Mountain View and family FaceTiming with Juliana.  

  

These are the days that make up the simple life. These are the days that represent just being and going with the flow and create peace. These are our days.  Here I am.

nAMaste. Enjoy your days.

Clouds

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Chase died 6 months ago today and I remember the foggy day and paying attention to the clouds.

Today I couldn’t stop watching the clouds again and their beauty. It rained off and on today and was windy and the cloud formations were stunning.  

  

I even saw a rainbow.

  

I think the rainbow offers light and hope and peace.

I wish for peace for my cousin and our family and for you.

Love and light.

nAMaste BeLoveRs

xo

Love vs Hate

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I choose Love.

I celebrate Love every day.

I am sickened and saddened to my core by the hatred that (I don’t even want to mention their name here) a group of barbaric, uncivilized creatures could hurt another human being with such torture. It reminds me of the days of Hitler and how a group of people, if we were to call them that, could bring such harm to others in such inhumane ways. This is not just and I don’t understand.

I know that there is a yin to my yang, but this is hard core and hard to believe.

Sending Love to Muadh al-Kasasbeh’s family and wishing you peace.

Namaste.

Writing Is a Gift

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Jeff and I went on a lunch date today to Orenchi, an infamous ramen place in Santa Clara. We tried to get there before it opened because there is always a wait. We got there at 11:20 am and it opened at 11:30 am and we were already 31st on the waiting list before it even opened! That’s how popular and good this place is.  We were willing to wait and wait we did for almost an hour!

I don’t mind waiting because my phone is always a source of entertainment. While we waited I discovered an awesome article from The New York Times about how writing leads to happiness. I was intrigued as these are two things that have become important and connected to me.

I’ve been writing now for almost 3 years and never set out to be a full time, every day blogger. I write because I enjoy the journey of living and finding the good in every day, despite the struggles and chaos. I hope that through my living and writing to tell about it, I will learn and never forget to live up every moment of this one beautiful life, to love all I come in contact with and to laugh every day and then share my good news. I hope that I can be an example of just one way of living and that you and others might be inspired by me, and connect and perhaps see the good in your own life too.

I have found that I really enjoy writing and taking the time to reflect every night about what was important and what went right. My life isn’t perfect, yet writing about the good raises the bar and expectations and helps me to stay optimistic. When things don’t go as planned, I’m ok and am willing to share those details too and to still see some good in the crazy. Writing allows me to take the time to reflect and to really see what it is I’m doing and experiencing and gives me time to decide if this is the path I want to continue because I’m fully aware of what is working and what is not. And because I’m focusing on the good, I am happy despite the crap that is and will always be part of life. I just choose to focus on the positive and this is very empowering. I encourage all of you to do the same. If not to write and share with others, then just write privately for yourself with your own intentions and see how you feel. Just choose to focus on the positive aspects of life and lift yourself up. See the good. It surrounds each of us and this is the space in which I want to be and want you to join me.

Now that I think back, I’ve often kept paper journals. They have served as a means to understand the complexities of life at any given stage and writing has always been cathartic to me. By writing, we are able to process our thoughts and for some reason seeing them helps me to make sense of my world. Do you write and do you enjoy the process of writing? Do you look back on what you write? Do you keep what you write? So curious.

If you’re interested in learning more about the benefits of writing, here is a link to the article titled “Writing Your Way to Happiness” in the NY Times today:  http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/01/19/writing-your-way-to-happiness/

Oh, and if you’re interested in the what the ramen was like, it was definitely worth the wait. So savory and delicious we didn’t want to stop eating.

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I wish you peace, love, joy and happiness.

namaste. xo