Be Kind.
About one month ago, I added the signature to my text messages, Be Kind.Since then every time I send a text message it reminds me and whoever I'm messaging to Be Kind.
The funniest response I had so far is "Be Kind, Rewind" ...
It's a simple, powerful path to awareness, practice Kindness and see for yourself.
Peace Beth
Allowing space for Peace.
This morning I'm writing about space, something that is defined in a relative way, what is too much space for some is not enough for others... today I'm going to introduce a practice of adding "space" into your thoughts and by doing so allowing peace into your life.It's simple, yet it takes focus, so many of us lack focus, we're constantly on the treadmill running here and there and DOING all the time, even in our sleep! First we must practice being present and focusing. This takes a certain amount of slowing down that many aren't willing to allow... try this.
When you wake up in the morning, before you even stand up start by watching what you're thinking, don't get involved in your thought process, just observe.
After only a few minutes you'll see how busy you already are and you haven't even gotten out of bed yet! Take a moment to clear your thoughts by breathing and being with just this moment in time. Allow space to come between your thoughts... invite peace into that space. This is a simple practice that you can do all day long, anywhere you are... any time you begin to feel overwhelmed or stressed out. Breath, allow space to come between your thoughts, invite peace into that space.
On the subject of kindness... I began to practice with more focus on kindness a few weeks ago. I have noticed many randon acts of kindness, the latest was an elderly woman dropped her glasses in the road as she exited a grocery store, this was during the busy part of the day right around 4:30pm. A man in a big white pick up was driving along and stopped to pick up her glasses (how did he even see them?), he got out of his truck and made sure she got the glasses back before pulling off...no one beeped their horn at him, even though he stopped traffic! That small act of kindness created huge waves of NICE in the parking lot.
It is where we place our FOCUS that causes our reality to shift for good or bad... sometimes we get stuck in re-telling the BAD NEWS of the day instead of FOCUSing on the GOOD NEWS. I have witnessed that people find me to be a person who, even when faced with bad luck, can somehow come through it better off, it's because I don't focus on awful circumstances, I know they will pass - sure I have the same things happening to me that everyone else has, I'm human afterall... but by not re-telling the BAD NEWS over and over I'm allowing space for peace, I'm letting those bad moments go and I'm not stuck in a loop of disapointment! I'm moving with the flow of the moments, some are good and some aren't, I choose to focus on the good ones and wow, more good ones keep on coming! Try this...it works.
First thing is to practice focusing and learning to allow space and peace into our thought patterns.
Best to you, in Peace ~ Beth ^ TOP
Growing Peace and Grounding...
This year we began a garden, to do this we had to create a box and put dirt that would sustain life into the box.. we live in Phoenix Arizona. During this process, which started back in November of 2007, we put a few seeds into pots on the window sill... about a month or two later we had several dozen really nice baby plants, parsley, tomatos, sage, peppermint, celantro and a few we have yet to identify!About February we began to construct the outside box of cinder blocks and rebar, filling it with some garden soil, mulch and compost. After we were sure there wasn't going to be another frost we began to plant the tiny plants in the garden, soon we bought some larger tomato plants, brocoli, cauliflower, bell and jalepeno peppers - also planted from seed sunflowers, onions, and lettuce. You may be thinking, dang how big is this box?? Well, it's about 12 feet by 5 feet and 3.5 feet deep. That's all.
It's been really fun watching all the baby plants grow and thrive in the garden, we have picked lettuce and enjoy it with every meal as we have a TON of it in two varieties!
A garden really connects you with the Earth and the abundance that is available, there is enough and enough to share... this bring Peace and community. Try it for yourself!
^ TOP
Creating Peace through kindness.
I am reading a book called Transforming Your Life... You can find it here : click this linkToday's message from the book was to be kind and to share kindness, this awareness of kindness is a way to creating peace externally and internally. Today I found a cell phone in a parking lot, I called the number that was first in the contact list and found the owner of the phone, he got it back and was very appreciative. I was trying to be kind all day and the opportunities seemed to present themselves, like I noticed the cell phone laying in the parking lot at Costco. Awareness is a powerful tool, if we are caught up in our thoughts we can never really Practice anything here/now. Our energy is diminished and our perceptions dull when we are riding our thought trains. I am going to practice being aware of Kindness for the entire month of April, I hope to blog more often too!!! Peace ~ Beth ^ TOP
Creating ground...
Recently I was asked how I manage all that I am appearing to "do" and not get overwhelmed or stressed out.The answer is... I just do what comes next and I don't anticipate or project too far ahead. I stay grounded with what I am doing. I allow space and pause every day, I allow time and space to be a real part of everything I am involved with from painting to web pixels and code.
Grounding is something that can be taken for granted in a creative process, sometimes time and space are the necessary ingredients and that's hard to "do" because it requires that you "do nothing" for a period of time.
Grounded artists and creative minded persons, in general, will not be bothered with timing issues, they are part of the creative birthing process. Long delays sometimes happen, other times things come together really fast. There is no way to tell at the onset of a project which way it will go... acceptance of this fact is necessary!
In my last post I discussed the web site I built and my plan to practice energy medicine, and while that was being grounded another opportunity landed in the form of an accepted application to the RAW ARTS Festival in Los Angeles in March: click here to visit featured artist page.
This is a wonderful opportunity to persue while I'm waiting for the energy practice to ground... should it ground before March I will schedule myself accordingly. This is how I do it ALL, but not all at once!
Have a great 2008! ~ Peace ~ Beth ^ TOP