“Today, I will love you as you are. Tomorrow, I will do the same.” What if we made this pledge to each other every single day?
What if we decided to stop judging each other based on race, gender, looks, wealth, lifestyle, belief system and trusted that each of us is on the path designed specifically for our individual soul?
What if we were kind, embraced our differences and lifted each other up when we witnessed one another struggling, rather than strike each other down?
What if we acted from a place of love, rather than a place of fear?
What if…we stopped making it so hard for each other?
Today, I will love you as you are. Tomorrow, I will do the same.
We’ve grown into a species of 7 billion people living on one small planet, bumping into each other (literally), sharing the air we breathe, sharing public spaces, leaving our DNA, germs and garbage everywhere.
We are the messiest, most destructive species on earth. We dump our garbage and effluent into the land and oceans providing our food, pump tons of toxins into the air, and then, we wonder why we’re all getting sick and how we got into this pandemic situation.
Our desire to travel globally, consume and purchase goods and services from around the world, and our desires to expand our business, recreational and investment interests into the global marketplace, have changed the way people, products, AND disease travel.
Blaming other countries, other races, even other animals, for this current pandemic is misplaced. With a few exceptions, we all own this mess.
I know I’m part of the problem. I’m part of a generation that consumes too much. I travel and I want to travel again. So, I will have to make decisions that keep myself and those I come into contact with, safe. I don’t see this as an infringement of my rights, I see this as a responsibility that comes with my right to live my life a certain way.
Unless we’re all prepared to stay in our boxes, stop traveling, start growing our own food, start buying local etc., another pandemic is in our future. Not because any one person is going to do one thing wrong, but because 7 billion people move around one little blue planet spreading germs, garbage and disease. 7 billion people who as a species, have not learned how to coexist with other life on earth.
Oh what a mess we’ve made. If we spent as much time owning our responsibilities to care for the planet and each other, as we do declaring “our rights” hmm, we might stand a chance.
Until we learn how to treat the planet and each other in ways that are gentle, respectful, loving and kind, we will continue down our garbage laden road, leaving a wake of destruction that ends with our extinction.
I’ve always been curious. Asking too many questions in school and during business meetings, looking things up, turning over too many stones and exploring abandoned roads and pathways.
At one point I came to believe this was a negative trait because people were always telling me to “shut up” or to stop asking so many questions.
I know now that curiosity is a gift we’re all born with. It’s is an extension of our internal wisdom. Curiosity leads to new discoveries, new advances in technology, medicine and science.
Curiosity exercises all of our senses, awakens our minds and provides the neurons in our brains an excellent workout. Curiosity expands the imagination and takes us to places beyond the realm of every day doldrums. I feel “lit” and alive when acting on my curiosity.
Curiosity did not kill the cat, ignorance killed the cat. The more we know and the more we explore and imagine, the better off we all are.
When we ask questions we understand each other better, we begin to appreciate different points of view, we’re more peaceful, we cooperate and we’re kinder to one another.
Don’t be afraid to water your inquisitive nature and exercise your curiosity muscle. And, encourage the young people in your life to do the same.
We’ve got big challenges across this little blue plant of ours. It’s those active, creative, curious minds who are questioning, seeking and discovering, that will lead us to the solutions we need to heal the world.
And besides, curious minds have more fun. It’s your curious nature that will lead you towards new adventures, new people, new vistas, and yes maybe a bit of trouble, but that in itself is an adventure.
Life became easier when I surrendered my own tenacity and began to live with an open heart and an open mind.
There are things I’ve discovered and learned along the way, which I might never have unearthed if I had remained locked in my own stubbornness.
Our struggles often result from our inability to see the possibilities beyond our own thinking and the doctrines imposed on us.
Living with an open heart and mind means considering alternatives, actively listening to opinions different from our own, being kind before jumping to judgment and being aware of signs along the way pointing you in new directions.
Open minds and open hearts, have created more music, magic, poetry, peace, love and light in the world, then closed minds and cold hearts.
You were born to be a curious warrior, to explore, question and unearth the mystery’s of your life.
You’re here to get tangled into the magic and energy of other souls. To share experiences, make each other feel things, both good things and painful things, to take the lessons from those experiences and move on to whatever comes next.
Don’t sit idle waiting for life to happen. Exercise your curiosity. Get bumped and bruised. Feel the warmth of falling in love and the chill of heartache. Light some fires, put others out. And, face your storms, knowing they will pass.
You are not meant to be a bystander in your life. You’re meant to live in a state of passionate wonder, to gaze into the sky with a humble heart, an inquisitive mind, and question why you, we, or any of this beautiful magic exists at all. Toni O’K~🌹❤️
Once upon a time there were three little bulbs planted side-by-side in a magnificent garden.
Slowly they began to wake. Their shoots began to break through the earth. Two of the bulbs were tulips, the other, a daffodil.
As they began to grow, the tulips turned to the daffodil and said “Your stem is too thin you must make it thicker to look like ours.”
The little daffodil tried to make her stem the same thickness as the tulips. She couldn’t and she became sad.
As the petals begin to develop on each of the flowers the tulips looked to the daffodil again and said, “No, your petals must be red.”
The little yellow daffodil tried to make her petals red, but she couldn’t, and she felt even worse about herself. She didn’t understand why she was different.
The tulips demanded that her petals be wider and turn upward like theirs but the little daffodils petals reached outward and resembled the sun, beautiful and yellow.
As the three bulbs grew the tulips ignored the little daffodil because she was not like them.
One warm spring day a little girl wearing a Santa hat came up to smell the daffodil. “Why am I different,” the daffodil asked the little girl, “Why can’t I be like them?”
“You’re not supposed to be like them. You’re supposed to be like you. The garden would be boring and plain if all the flowers looked the same. I think you’re beautiful as you are, that’s why I choose to come over and gaze at you.”
This made the little daffodil smile. She now felt proud and happy that she was different.
You, me, each of us, can only grow into whom we’re meant to be. Love the bits of yourself that resemble nothing you’ve ever seen before. Yes, even your weird beautiful bits.
I woke this morning with a warm puppy snuggled into the nape of my neck. This tiny bundle of caramel coloured fur always makes me smile. As I scratched his belly, I heard the click of my coffee maker come on and smiled again, proud I had remembered to set the timer.
I wandered to the kitchen, poured a cup, turned on the fireplace, settle into my favourite chair with puppy in my lap, took that first bless’ed sip, and listened to the silence fall around me.
Most mornings start this way, calm, peaceful and reflective.
There was a time when my life was busy and noisy. I didn’t always appreciate the colours of the day, or have the time to slowly sip my coffee and gaze out the window.
Decades were spent on the move, hustling my boys to and from day-care, school, sports, and other activities. Bouncing between work, community services and my own educational pursuits, always busy, always rushing, always something to do, somewhere to go or someone waiting for something.
The “busy stuff” is the means needed to build our lives, but, the busy stuff doesn’t define our lives. It’s the simple beautiful moments that bring us joy and give meaning to the journeys we’re on.
Moments watching a child fall asleep in your lap because that’s where they feel safe, moments making messes and allowing pumpkin guts to fall on the floors and get stuck in your hair because they’re having fun, moments spent with two little guys on a skip-out day appreciating the wonder and silence of the forest or sitting in an open field, feeling content watching birds glide on the wind.
Then, there’s the quiet morning moments, when all the busy is behind you, those two little guys are grown and now its a puppy falling a sleep in your lap.
We need a balance of busy days and days when we’re able to just “be”. Days when we don’t just count our blessings, we live them, being fully present, taking in all the magic and meaning they bring. Because these are the days we will remember, these are the moments that will warm our hearts for ALL THE DAYS of our lives.
As we begin the slow descent out of the dark clouds of 2020, and prepare to launch a new year, things are still not right with the world.
Covid continues to wreak havoc across the planet and is now way to close to home. Election chaos continues to play out for our friends in the south. There is civil unrest breaking out in several countries around the world. Wind and rainstorms are keeping people hunkered. Christmas is pretty much cancelled and there will be no fancy festivities to ring in 2021.
People are out of work, many businesses have shut down, we can’t travel, and we miss our families and friends. Add to that, many of us haven’t touched another human in months, haven’t gone to a concert, a play, a restaurant or a celebration, wedding, birthday or graduation for almost a year.
However, amidst all the chaos, I’m still happy, really happy. My spirit is light, my heart is settled and my mind is peaceful. I find multiple reasons to smile or laugh out loud every day. My inner child is as goofy and playful as she has ever been. I’m truly grateful for this life despite what’s going on around me and the rest of the world.
This feeling of contentment is proof (for me) that happiness comes from the inside. No matter what is going on around us, we still have the capacity to feel joy and be grateful. What happens inside us, not outside us, is what regulates our happiness meter. In my case, having hobbies, exercising daily, eating right, meditating, spending time in nature and engaging in creative activities, all fuel my sense of positivity and well-being.
This sense of happiness and well-being doesn’t mean I’m not affected by what’s happening around me and the people I love and the world, of course I am. It means I won’t let it unravel me or get me down, because that serves no purpose.
When the weather outside is turbulent, we generally seek shelter from the wind, rain and the cold by coming inside and creating a cozy internal retreat. When the world around you is turbulent, seek shelter from the chaos by creating a cozy, peaceful place in your mind. You can do this by engaging in positive and creative activities, practicing gratitude, staying physically active, being kind and carrying out random acts of kindness, celebrating small successes, eliminating toxic people, toxic media content and toxic substances from your life. Read uplifting information and listen to uplifting music. Make your mental wellness your first priority.
Life’s storms can not rain on your peace of mind, unless you let them. Don’t let them.
When I seek answers, I retreat into the sanctuary of my thoughts. The route I take is often along a soft earthy path that leads me into the woods.
Once I enter the sanctum and stillness of the forest, the smell of autumn rain upon fallen leaves and moss-covered logs, fill my entire being with peace. My breathing slows and my steps soften.
Tall cedar and fir defenders having stood for hundreds of years, blanket me from the wind and shield me from the noise of the outside world.
Now I’m free to dream, to let my inner child loose and allow her to run free with the magic of her imagination.
Mushroom caps become hovels to small gnome like creatures, dragonflies and other winged insects transform to become fairies and elves dancing on tree branches, sprinkling dew drops on to the tips of the forest foliage below.
Rays of light stream in between lush fern, foxgloves and trillium petals creating the highway pixies, brownies and imps tiptoe upon as they move through the woodlands.
The hidden faces within giant boulders protecting the river bank, emerge and keep watch over all living things that come to sit and heal by the water’s edge.
As my inner child explores the forest and creates her own magic, my mind rests, my body heals and my spirit connects to her highest self and then, the answers come.
Most of our lives we’re busy moving fast and making noise. Allow yourself to stop, to walk quietly on the earth and trust the voice rising out of the stillness. This is the voice of your soul gifting you with the wisdom you seek.
If you’re struggling, seeking answers or want to spend time with your “real” self, go to forest, exhale and take a walk in the woods.
The Whimsey Angel 