Changes in the Season

The other day, on a rare hike in the morning, I was observing the fall colors and how some trees have changed quicker than others.  They all know their rhythm.  Nature has its timing.  I often wonder if there is a stubborn tree out in the forest that says, “I ain’t changing!  I am staying green.  I’ve decided this year to surpass all the seasons and just remain still. Y’all go ahead and do your thing.”   There isn’t.  Nature has a process and the trees, soil, leaves, water, and everything else complies.  They don’t question change.  We do.  We fight as long as our egos can dictate.

How many times don’t we resist?  And as that old saying, “What we resist persists!”  Our human nature is to make things more complicated, to question all, and to resist against changes.  It would be too easy to just go with the flow.  It is always difficult to battle with resistance from our human perspective.  Our ego’s main job is to make certain that we continue to fight.  What we want is not always what completes us.  We seem to deviate from our original wants and then blame the universe for not getting what we think we deserve.

In my walk I noticed that some trees have not only turned bright red, but others have already lost all their leaves.  The fall season has arrived early this year in the mountains.  It also began extra early in me.  I tend to start going inward as the cold sets in.  I don’t like winter.  I don’t enjoy a single minute of it…the gloominess, the short days, the freeze, the moving inward.  I just don’t like where it takes me.  I need sunshine, being outside, and interacting with the earth.  I understand that I need the time to slow down and take care of me.  I get the whole philosophy about seasons changing.  It doesn’t mean I have to like it.  I tend to resist everything about having to move inward.

We spend our lives not feeling the truth of who we are, and not really knowing consciously what we want.  When we come in alignment with our desires through Divine wisdom we must take a look at the reflection realizing that whatever we manifest is exactly who we are meant to be. This year I plan on being extra gentle with myself.  I hope you follow your heart and wishes to comply with the rhythm of the earth this season.  Fall is beautiful.  It allows for letting go (without resistance) of the old just like the shedding of leaves.  Have a blessed day!

Welcome Home!

As things wind down this week, the holidays upon us, the stress of it all created by the commercialized sensationalism of the media I step back and breathe.  All I want is peace and love.  It doesn’t matter what day or month or year.  All I wish for is the serenity of waking up and feeling the lightness of the life I have chosen to live.  It is beautiful.  In spite of challenges along the way (because that’s what makes it interesting) I can accept that simplicity is underrated.  I crave for it even more during this season.

My boyfriend, Matt, shared with me months ago that he did not celebrate Christmas.  I wasn’t going to decorate this year.  A few weeks ago he said he wanted a Christmas tree.  He hasn’t put one up in eight years.  How can I disregard this?  I used to go all out and put several trees in my old house.  It looked like a miniature Biltmore Estate.  Garland, decorations, lights…the pages of Better Homes & Gardens and HGTV seem to vomit everywhere.  So, here in this simple new life I looked at this man that loves me and he asks for a tree.  You better believe there is a tree going up and he will be the one to decorate it!  Yesterday morning we bought a real tree.  As we went up to the shed to get the boxes of decoration he became overwhelmed, “Babe, I only wanted a small tree with some decorations.”  I respect that.  I told him to pick whatever he wants and enjoy the process.  I want him to enter our home every day and feel welcomed.  I want him to find the peace and love I find each time I come home and snuggle in his arms.

“Welcome home!”  I want my life to say that.  I want it to salute every person who enters my space, not just my home, but my presence and feel the simplicity in those words.  I want to create the atmosphere of love, blessings, comfort and peace.  Whether they enter our home, the retreat center, or I enter their own space, I want to believe they feel those words.  Home is the heart of our spirits.  A house is a building, but home can be anywhere your spirit welcomes another.  “Welcome home!”  Welcome home to that place of simplicity, love, serenity, joy and communion.  Welcome to the life your spirit craves to share with you and others.  I am learning that the purest form of an authentic life is in allowing others to love and feel loved no matter where they are.

I will never forget a famous quote by the author Toni Morrison:  “At some point in life the world’s beauty becomes enough. You don’t need to photograph, paint, or even remember it. It is enough.”  The beauty of arriving to the place of love and salutation is the best legacy you can leave for another…especially in this season that has been forgotten.  Welcome home, my friends, welcome to your life. Find the joy in the simplest of things.  I promise that the spirit of divinity projects an amazing light from that place.  I invite you to come and enter as you share the story of you…!

Holiday Strike

I’ve always had mixed feelings about the holidays.  I raised six children through many celebrating times – in great moments and in difficult ones.  This year I have not decorated the house.  I used to go overboard with designing and decorating rooms to make them as enchanting as possible.  My two youngest will be leaving to visit their father after three years.  This will be the first time I celebrate Christmas alone without children.  In twenty-four years of raising youngsters it is the first holiday that will come and go and have no expecting face looking forward to “something” in the morning.  I am more than fine with it.  Truth be known, I am exhausted from the catering of a month that seems to be turned into a mass-media chaos of gift giving.  The entire significance of these celebrations has been lost to past traditions.

I remember when I first watched, “Four Christmases,” with Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn.  I thought, “These people have the right idea…running to an island to celebrate the holidays without having to cater to their crazy families.” (Even though they never got to leave their families) I think the concept is the perfect way of spending these stressful days.

This year I will be enjoying the seven days with quietness.  I get to pick and choose who I will visit.  I can take on my Christmas day tradition and go watch a marathon of new movies.  I have no expectations.  I am not depressed by the idea of this solitude.  I will miss my kids…all of them.  But, I do know that I will see them after the holidays. Santa Claus received my memo and he is static to have one less place to visit!

My father walked out of my life the day before Xmas when I was nine.  He went to get a pack of cigarettes in the other side of the universe.  Never returning for the festivities, I spent many Christmases in my youth waiting to see if he was going to show up around that time.  Somehow I had programmed my little head that if he left in Christmas time he would also return during the season like some sort of festive-boomerang.  Raising my children, an ex who hated the holidays, and making sure everything was just perfect sucked a giant space out of me every year.  I would cringe when I started to see the holiday decorations in the stores right after Halloween.  And now it seems that Christmas is starting even earlier.

The holidays shouldn’t be about stress.  They should be about taking those precious moments of sharing, eating, relaxing and loving those close to you. They should be about gratitude, reflecting and spending time in a spiritual connection with others we love.  We, as a society, have added so much strain into those days.  Just go into any airport during the season and see people yelling, chaotic frenetic behavior, horrific energy everywhere, as they have to appear in some other location that will cause the inflation of any pharmaceutical drug stock on Wall Street to hit all time highs.  Depression is on a rise during these days, and the entire experience of being with those we really don’t want to see is just depleting.  It is what it is because we have created it.  We have created a monster out of the holiday season while missing out on the importance of unity, community, and spirituality.

My children’s father will get to spoil these two teenagers after such a long absence.  I am being spoiled by just the act of him having them.  It is a precious gift this year.  They need this time with him, finally.  I need this time alone, finally.  I love being home.  I love waking up and having a bathroom to myself, clean kitchen and the quietness of my mountain home.  And at the end of the seven days, I will be missing them and wanting them home ASAP.  I will relish the laughter they will provide when they come home to their spaces.

The holidays need to go back to simplicity.  We need to return to the moment of joining in each others’ presence and being present without the craziness of over indulging in material presents.  Setting boundaries seem to go out the window during these times.  I, for one, am ready to dive into a few new novels, some old movies, and the beauty of sharing with those I love.  Have a great holiday season, my friends.  My holiday strike is well deserved for this one time.  I look forward to next year’s bombardment of decorations and chaos.  For now I refuse to let the stress squander the real meaning of these days.  Share, give and receive in spirit.  Much love to you all…Millie!