From the Heart

Mother Earth sighed for me today

In all of the media news of unemployment and global recession I recently heard that the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) has fallen. We have become a very un-productive nation.

And in that moment I heard Mother Earth sigh.

Our economy has been so busy producing and creating more and more. Companies are supposed to grow and expand; they have a life of their own. (Check out the documentary "The Corporation." A corporation has the same rights and privleges as a human being.)

As a society we consume and we consume. If something breaks we replace it. The new version comes out we buy it. When we create some "thing" we don't worry about its life span or how we will dispose of it in the garbage heap. We are to create products and sell them and buy them. We live a very frenzied life.

And now everything is different. People are cutting toopaste tubes to get the very last of it. New customers are shopping at thrift stores and cutting out newspaper coupons. Life is different.

And Mother Earth is sighing. From exhaustion. We have worked her to the bone, working her overtime to support our wants. And now she gets a much deserved rest from human production and consumption and waste.

As she cycles into spring we get to enjoy her work of beauty in the budding trees and bursting flowers and singing birds. I hope you will take this moment to appreciate the very ground you walk on and the air that you breathe. Mother Earth will be so grateful. Give her the opportunity to sigh in Joy.

Namaste, Ellen

Hello from Portland

I'm here in lovely Portland, OR for a 5 day class with my teacher/mentor Donna Eden (www.innersource.net) I have been an Energy Medicine student for 5 years now and absolutely love the work. So much so that I became a certified practitioner last year. More later on this topic.

So it's Fall again. And it's my birthday today! While I do love Spring and it's opportunity to plant the garden again, it's the Fall that brings out the excitement and growth for me and in me. The rich colors, the crisp cool mornings and evenings, the last bits of warm lazy afternoons. I love it!

How are you spending your days? What are you doing today that brings joy to this moment?

Well Wishes on your journey.

Namaste, Ellen

Christmas isn't always about being merry

It's the holiday season...... with shopping and decorations and parties and the busyness of life.

Yet there are those of us who aren't putting up a tree, who aren't buying presents, who are only bystanders to the lights and activities around us.

While the holiday season often brings joy and good cheer it can also be a time of sadness and grief. When a loved one dies during this time the holidays will never be the same. Even when another's death occurs during any other time of the year, that loss is deeply felt during the holidays.

Even estranged relations with family and friends can bring a somber note to this time.

So take note of the feelings of others. Listen and be where they are in the moment. Caring for each other and ourselves is the reason for the season.

And for those of you carrying grief and loss....be patient with yourself. Be with your grief. And determine what is it you feel you need right now. Define boundaries for yourself. Create new traditions.  Turn off the Christmas stress machine. Let go of the judgment of others. Be with those people that support and nourish you. Serve others in a way that brings peace and joy to you.

Honor your loved one. Write a letter to them. Hold them in your heart. Have music around you. The holidays will never be the same, only different. Your grief will come and go. Know that you are loved and cared for in this time of sadness and overwhelm and uncertainty.

No matter your religion may you bring the Christ Mind into your heart this Christmas and Hanukkah season. It's the opportunity to love others and yourself.

Namaste.......may you honor the divine in others as you honor the divine within.

Deciding to do it

As human beings aren't we truly amazing?

I marvel at how I put off doing what I think is a difficult task. Recently I had a computer project with a deadline. I had to make a decision if I even wanted to complete it. Nothing earth shattering, but it was an opportunity for some Internet exposure to my business.

Yesterday was the final day to get it done. But I kept putting it off, finding other things that "had to get done." And while I was putting it off I was thinking about it all the time........I should do it, why aren't I doing it, oh let's do something else instead, maybe I shouldn't do it, let's not do it, I will get to it, it's not that important, it could be important, I can't get it done in time anyway.......Sound familiar?

At the end of my day I sat down at the computer to give it a go and see if I could finish it. Might as well say I tried and failed anyway. So except for some trying moments with the scanner, I got the project done. And it wasn't that difficult after all.

Too often the hard part is just deciding to do it and showing up. Because if I had put all the energy that I used on putting OFF the project INTO the project........well who knows what more I could have accomplished.

Where in your life are you "putting off" and not "putting into?"

Gratitude

Thanksgiving is the gateway to gratitude as we enter this holiday season.

Isn't it a wonderment to see a black sky every night. And then one night there is a sliver of light in the eastern sky. And it become larger each night until it's yellow and glowing and shining down upon us.

What's even more amazing is that in the night it's on one side of the sky. And when we wake up in the morning it's on the other side of the sky. Where did the time go, where did the space go? What happened while we slept or worked the night away? I am grateful for the mystery.