Lessons in life, during the light filled times~ Happy Thanksgiving!

It is a rare person who can pierce the veil between ordinary life, consumed with matters of physical survival, and pursuit of the empowered path of purpose and meaning unless he or she is motivated by a crisis. Most often we require the failure of some system of power that we rely on before we take action. ~Carolyn Myss

I love this quote from Carolyn, probably because it has proved right for me on many occasions. However at this point in my life, I am also experiencing the power in taking action from a space of complete clarity and peace… and not only the dark filled times when a power system falls out of alignment.

Today I feel inspired to share about the lighter moments in life, which if we really stop to think about are more often than not and interestingly less appreciated or remembered than not.  I ponder upon this and wonder why our human condition tends to dictate a need to use our hard times as leverage to do our inner work from which we grow, taking for granted the opportunities which the lighter experiences offer to teach. 

If life in its entire splendor has its ups and downs which serve a deep purpose to us all, why is it that the downs or harder experiences tend to leave a deeper impact than the ups or lighter experiences? Have we become so immersed in our self growth that we have developed a tendency to see only the jewel in the midst of the darkness leaving less appreciation for the light filled times, that bring forward experiences of joy and love. In other words, why not also learn from the light filled times, not as parameters for how things should be, but rather opportunities to learn to simply immerse ourselves in the delight and love of what is.

During this journey with Knitting Peace, I am learning that nothing is as I had expected, yet the experience of peace and purpose which I wanted to have is fully present and embedded in my daily life. I am learning to be present to all that is, especially the moments of joy that serve as reminders and inspirations to continue to walk this path of purpose and meaning.

In service to sharing my gratitude for this light filled time, during this day of Grace and Thanksgiving, Knitting Peace is sharing our work at a drastically reduced price, for all to enjoy.  We hope you love our products, which are made with enthusiasm and joy by incarcerated women, seeking moments of empowerment and inspiration.

To enjoy our Thanksgiving Sale visit www.knittingpeace.com

May this Thanksgiving season bring you blessings of true joy and peace.

~Namaste

From Rebellion to Devotion... lifes many twists

The idea of devotion was a concept I set aside when I made the choice to step away from traditional religion, and open myself to spirituality. At the time I didn’t know what spirituality meant, but I knew in my heart I needed to follow my own spirit towards a higher meaning and life of purpose. Something away from the pre-conceived concepts of a God contained within the frame of fear and judgment. At the time this felt much like an act of rebellion which perfectly suited the 20 something year old that I was. I didn’t realize until much later how magnificently wise that young woman was. She was pretty amazing and I am so proud of her.

Once the intention to live in alignment with a higher purpose was set, many opportunities for developing the needed skills for aligning with this purpose surfaced and looking back, I can honestly confess that these have not been comfortable or easy lessons to learn, some even painful. However the new relationship that has blossomed from within myself has made each hard spot softer and easier to appreciate, bringing deep purpose to each experience as I gently knit stitch by stitch the tapestry and mastery of life.

These past weeks have brought forward on numerous occasions the opportunity for me to re-evaluate my concept of devotion. At first the word devotion started to pop up in conversations with friends, later in books and soon in my yoga and meditation practice. I opened a curios ear to all of this, but it wasn’t until I lost a significant sale opportunity for Knitting Peace due to my own procrastination that I realized... uh-oh Houston, my Angels really want my attention.

The loss of this big sale helped me come to the awareness that I wasn’t devoting myself fully to what I considered to be my life’s work and this was a representation or projection of how I was being with myself and ultimatly God. Meaning I was not fully allowing myself to authentically embrace a life of devotion to something higher than myself.

During this process all the old preconceived notions of religion, God and devotion came forward for a re-visit. However this time with the skills I accumulated since my last wrestle with devotion, I was able to hear my hearts deep yearning and longing to love open heartedly, with absolute joy, loyalty, humility and fervor. To be devoted to something higher than myself, to something which I can’t see, taste, hear or feel but know in every cell of my being loves me unconditionally and wants only for me to experience authentic, the cup runeth over kind of loving, and radiate this love unlike any love imagined by my mere mortal mind.

It is from this space that I am learning that devotion is gratitude to the sacredness of life, making each breath a moment of connection and love expressed with Source. Devotion to the spirit in every form, living in devotion to something higher than ourselves and everything in between, revealing the ilussion of separation. Living in flow as ONE and part of the whole, like drops in the ocean.

To me, this is the face of pure, unconditional love.

This is my dog Nicolas, one of my favorite beings in the Universe