Expanding Gratitude

Written by BB Harding, one of the Women Moving It Forward

Shortly before Thanksgiving, I woke up one morning and had the thought “How would my life be different if I focused on wanting what I have rather than having what I want?”  Ok, my first thought was well, that doesn’t make sense.  What does a person use to “incentivize” themselves if they don’t have something that they want?  How does one better themselves if they are willing to stick with what they have?  What about those who really have a lousy life – how do they put that thought to work for themselves?

Every cloud has a silver lining.  How many times have you heard that?

I easily came to realize that “wanting what you have” is akin to “being grateful for what you have.”  It has been said that gratitude is one of the greatest things that you can have.  How many famous people have you heard talk about the power of gratitude?  How many have linked happiness to gratitude; success to gratitude; health to gratitude?  How many trainers and spiritual teachers espouse journaling each night before going to bed on 3-5 things for which you are grateful that day?

I took this thought with me throughout the days that followed.  I spent time reflecting on things in my life (what I have) and looking at the level of want for those things.  Since it was already there, it wasn’t something that I spent time wanting, in fact I gave very little thought about having it.  It just was.  And, it wasn’t anything where I was particularly appreciative for the fact that I did have it.  Again, it just was.

Another aspect was if I did have gratitude/appreciation how deep and wide was that feeling?  Here is what I mean by that.  One thing I totally love is a hot shower.  I nearly always thank the warm water as it courses over me for how good it feels; how nurtured I feel as it does so.  How much gratitude have I ever given to the infrastructure and people who have made running hot water in my home possible?  Going that one step further begins to expand the gratitude that I experience.

It can then become easy to slip into thinking about the breadth and depth in other areas.  How about food – am I grateful to the fruits, vegetables, meats, grains that end up on my plate?  How about the farmers/growers, transportation, markets, banks, appliances that have all played a hand in having food show up on my table for consumption?

I come to realize just how unconscious I have become to the things that have shown up in my life and how they got there.  All with very little appreciation for the “effort” that it took to get there.  At a higher level, very little appreciation for how I am able to energetically organize my world so that they are consistently there.  How often does a person honor themselves as a powerful being?  I know I seldom do.

My reflections on “having what I wanted” took me down the road of enquiring “who is it that wants” and “why is it that it is wanted?”  What need is wanting to be fulfilled?  Why is that need there?  An example might be “I want a cookie.”  The “why” I want a cookie might include things like I’m bored, I want a distraction; I want something sweet in my life; I feel like something is missing and want to fill it; I’m feeling frightened, and as a kid, having a cookie was a sign that “all was well.”  Another want might be a new flashy car.  The “why” might be because I want to feel the sense of freedom that comes from having the wind in my hair; I want to be the envy of all of my friends; I have something to prove; I am trying to create a sense of value in my peer group; I want to make an impression on people when they see me in my new car; I want to exude success, especially when underneath I’m not certain about whom I am.  I begin to determine that wanting things that I don’t have is more wrapped up around “lack consciousness” than “abundance consciousness” – I lack something – rather than I am filled with joy at having something.

In my Human Design studies, Karen (Curry Parker) has shared that part of the manifestation process is to be signaling the universe that “this feels good, more please.”  This then allows the magnetic monopole to attract those types of experiences to me.  If I don’t like what is going on, then I can “tweak the request.”

I am seeing more and more, that to appreciate what I have, to expand my level of gratitude can be a life altering event not only for me, as an individual, it can set a new frequency for the community and planet.  Being fully engaged with what is present.  Bringing all that is present into harmony.

I went searching for a few quotes and here are three I want to share.  Each has an aspect of my own conclusions for “wanting what I have rather than focusing on having what I want.”

Oprah Winfrey:  Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.

Robert Holden:  The real gift of gratitude is that the more grateful you are, the more present you become.

Kristin Armstrong:  When we focus on our gratitude, the tide of disappointment goes out and the tide of love rushes in.

In this season, I invite you to find the things in your life that you are grateful for, and then be grateful for all that has been organized in the universe to bring it to you.

 

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What in the World…..?

Tags

animal communication, Animals, balance, cats, Centered, change, Vision

A post by Ashara Morris, one of the Women Moving it Forward.

There has been a lot of unhappy things in the news lately, it seems. Our country is becoming Fascist; innocent people are being murdered for no reason other than someone doesn’t like their religious beliefs, or the color of their skin, or one of a hundred other “reasons”; animals are being thrown out of the windows of cars, or left to die on a road, or in a backyard.

All my life I’ve loved animals. I’ve always felt that people, for the most part, can take care of themselves, and if they can’t, they should be cared for. There are millions of caring, loving people out there who do their best for the humans who cannot help themselves. But the animals have no voice that most are willing to listen to – because if they did, they would be humbled. The animals don’t have much in the way of rights, either, but that’s another blog.

Let’s talk about hearing those animal voices, and how thoughtless some humans are to those species who can’t say out loud, “No matter what, I love you.”

I saw a post on Facebook the other day about a kitten who was thrown out of the window of a car. This happened in the county and state in which I live, and I have never been so saddened by an event. Tossed away like a piece of garbage. Discarded.

A LIFE.

What must those people think of themselves? How fearful they must be that they are so without value that it’s okay to devalue another life, and as a result feel better about themselves. I can tell myself that all day, and I mostly have compassion for those people who would throw a kitten, a living being, away like a piece of trash. Compassion is winning out over other, baser instincts – the part of me that wants to rip them to shreds, to toss them out a window and see how they feel. But what good would that do? It only serves to escalate the anger, the fear, the discombobulation we are all feeling during this time of great transition. Staying centered and trusting the Universe is paramount.

So I meditate. I pray. I let go of the anger, and I send those people, and all humans for that matter, Love and Light and the hope that some day they may listen to those small voices, who love us so much that they allow themselves to be tossed out of a car window to get our attention. Those small voices, those lives, and the lives of all the humans sacrificed, saying “Wake up! Wake up! Do you really want to go down this path again? Love one another. See yourself in me, a small furred creature, or a human with another color face. We are all the same. We are all part of God. Wake up!”

p.s. The kitten, for those who are wondering, was rescued, doctored, and has found a loving home.

p.p.s Happy birthday today to my mom, who would be 93 if she were still on the planet. She loved all animals, too, especially dogs and cats.

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Ashara Morris is an Animal Communicator and Certified Equine Gestalt Coach who loves all things furred, feathered, scaled, or whatever. She is President and CEO of Harmony’s Heart, LLC, home of Harmony’s Heart Coaching, Harmony’s Heart Animals, and The WindRider Project. Find out more about her and the work being done at Harmony’s Heart at www.harmonysheartanimals.com, www.harmonysheartcoaching.com, or www.thewindriderproject.com.

Inktober

We are 22 days into October and I have drawn 22 days in a row!! Why?  Inktober, that’s why! What is Inktober? Well, Inktober was created by Jake Parker in 2009 to improve his own inking skills.  It has since become a worldwide occurrence to celebrate ink and thousands of artists participate each year. Basically,  it’s 31 days, 31 drawings.  Each day has a word assigned to it and the words are rather random.

Day 5: Chicken

Our local Chamber of Commerce tweaked the rules a bit to include pencil drawings, thank goodness!  They also added a prize!  Participants who post their drawings to Facebook all 31 days with the hash tags #Inktober and #InktoberCarbonCounty will be entered into a drawing.

When I saw the post in late September, I thought, “cool, that’ll be fun.” It’s been so much more than that!

Day 17: Swollen

You see, I’m an artist, have been all my life.  However, that piece of me was buried for many years.  My mother-in-law did not like my art and to avoid the constant judging, dirty looks and rude remarks when she entered my home, I took most of my art off my walls and stored it in the basement.  I didn’t paint and rarely even drew for the 10 years I lived next door to her.  Since moving to Wyoming in 2009, I’ve been rediscovering that piece of me, uncovering it layer by layer.

What began as a simple, fun exercise has reawakened a part of me in ways I never imagined.  I spend 10 – 40 minutes on each drawing.  Some words have been easy, others have been difficult.  I don’t “love” every drawing and I’m OK with that.  That, too, was growth as I used to expect every drawing to be perfect or I’d tear it up! Whether it’s good or bad,  I’m putting it out there for the world to see!  This simple exercise has also gotten me through some very stressful days. I’ve been able to take the word for the day and create a drawling that represents where I’m at in that moment. For instance, on day 7 the word  was “exhausted “.  By then I was several days into making my daughter’s wedding dress with a deadline of the 10th! Exhausted was an understatement! This was the drawing I created to reflect that.  I was able to smile and let go of the exhaustion in a way that allowed me to continue. The dress turned out beautiful and was a perfect fit.

As October comes to a close, I may have to find a way to continue this on my own.  I may not do it every day but I definitely want to continue to feed this part of me!

Loving Inktober!

Day 6: Drooling

How You Do Anything…

Posted by BB Harding, member Women Move It Forward blog

For years, I have heard the adage “How you do anything is how you do everything.”  Usually, it went in one ear, registered momentarily, dropped into nah, and went on out the other ear.

Throughout the last couple of months, I have been in situations where that very phrase popped up more than once.  I have a rule of thumb, that if I hear something three times (or more), there is a possible message in there for me to look at.

For the past two weeks, I started paying closer attention to see if there was any veracity for me in that statement.  It was easy for me to literally say, I don’t do everything the same way, so what do they mean?  One of the “messages” was in the context of “tell me how you eat dinner, and I will tell you how you do anything.”  Another context “how you do your homework is how you do everything.”  And yet another was literally about doing tasks – “how you do a task is how you do your life.”

Ok this was food for fodder, so I decided to take a look at this.  Obviously, it wasn’t a literal statement, yet maybe there were some common threads.

At the time of the “eat dinner message” I can say that my normal mode was to go grab something, slap it together, and then eat on the run, or while I was doing something else (aka, multi-tasking).  I frequently ate directly from the pan and seldom used “real” dishes (why waste the time and have to cleanup after?)  And I seldom took the time to make something hot (too much trouble).  It was easy to have a few take aways on this one.  I am too busy to take proper care of myself; I look for what is easy to do; I don’t take the time to press the pause button and do something else; too focused on getting things done (or not); that there were things that just weren’t that important to me; I had various notions about keeping productive and efficiency.  One of the other contributors to not sitting down to eat was the fact that I really didn’t have any place to do that.  I could have made a spot on the desktop by pushing my computer out of the way, and I did do that a handful of times.  One of my efforts since I moved to my new place has been to take the time to put food on a plate and sit at the table to eat. Sometimes I do nothing else, and much of the time, I am having some Netflix on in the background.  It is still hard to do absolutely nothing other than eat.

Last week, I was cleaning the front windows on the house.  I was removing the screens, washing down the windows, vacuuming out the dirt in the sills (I wanted to be able to see the view, afterall).  I became aware that I was really taking my time in doing the task.  Not rushing, doing a “good” job; being present to the task.  I started reflecting on this. What is it that has me doing some things more thoroughly than other things?  What causes me to deep dive or skim the surface?  Some say I am meticulous to a fault; I often feel like I am not deep enough.  Some thoughts began to emerge.  If I REALLY like something, I will immerse myself in the topic to find out more.  If I’m ho-hum about it, I will stay on the surface.  What if I have to get something done and I don’t like it?  I work on it, am frequently diverted, and it often gets done at the last possible moment.  What if I have to get something done, and I don’t know how to do it? I struggle with it.  I will research the topic –“what does it mean?”  “What have others done?”  “What can I learn from this?” I’ll fuss with it; I’ll seek answers from others and typically will be dissatisfied with their answers. Other times I will be blown away with a response that makes it all obvious.  Overall, I’ll attempt to apply various learnings and theories that I have come up with to see if I can arrive at a solution.  I know when I am struggling (like what to write for a blog), I wonder how good is “good enough?”  or “when enough is enough?”  Then there is the part under this that says “what if my best is not good enough?” What then?”

I throw out the question about what is my conditioning around this?  A couple of things come roaring to the surface – “Anything worth doing, is worth doing well.”  “Do a good job.” “If you are going to do it, do it right.” “You need to put in 100% (or more) to get the job done.”  “You should be able to figure this out on your own.” “There are times you have to do things you don’t want to do because it is for the greater good.”  “Don’t be sloppy about how you do things.”  “People will judge you on the way you do things.”  “Just get it done…because I said so!”  “Quit whining and get it done.” “A child could figure this out.”   OK, enough.

So, where am I with this experiment?  In the midst for sure.  I have learned a few things

• It appears that I generally lack a sense of mindfulness in the things that I do.  Many things are done in multi-tasking mode; lack of full attention to the activity that I am doing.
• How I approach doing something is contingent upon what s happening within me.
• I have made inroads on caring for self, and yet there is much more to do.  Allowing myself breaks; doing things only for me (e.g. a meal); slowing down and being more present.  Allowing time and space into my life.
• If I really like something, or really want to know – I will immerse myself, maybe even “work hard” to find out more.  It would be appropriate to note that “work hard,” in this case, doesn’t feel like “working” hard.
• Conversely, if I don’t like something, don’t want to do something I will allow my energy / mind to wander; allow interruptions; fail to focus; struggle with getting the task done.
• At times, I have no real commitment to doing something; this would fall more appropriately into the category of “I want to” be more committed in that area.
• I find myself curious about a couple of things – would I be willing to commit to doing something for a period of time?  Something I like as well as something I don’t like?  Taking on a mindful, self-honoring approach.  Another inquiry:  would I be willing to only do things that I really liked or genuinely wanted to know something about?  This would require jumping past doing things because “I have to do them,” “I should or ought to be doing them.“

Going forward with this experiment, I am focusing on inducing more mindfulness into the way that I do things, and see where that will take me.  This feels as if it could be something that I share about again in the future.

How do you do anything?

What or Who?

Tags

balance, Centered, change, passion, Self-Care

Posted by Ashara Morris, one of the Women Moving It Forward on this Blog.

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Our society today takes great pride in, and raises up, those who do, do, do. If you’re not doing, you’re not producing, therefore if you’re just “being” you will be passed over or ignored or even denigrated.

I’ve noticed this when meeting people for the first time, and I’m guilty of it as well – we ask “What do you do?” We want to know about what this person does in our workaday world, not necessarily who they are. But which might be the more important question?

What do you do?

or

Who are you?

Photo by Snapwire on Pexels.com

I am fascinated by people, by how they think, how they feel, the opinions they carry. They are a constant source of revelation to me, not only about them, but about myself. If I ask someone “what do you do?” they’re going to tell me about their job, and that’s fine, because certainly it’s part of who they are, and if they love their work, that will be a good indicator of who they might be. But the question “Who are you?” is much more interesting to me. And, I think, also scary for the person being asked.

We live with a lot of masks in place. Even the most authentic person has to sometimes remove the “I’m being authentic” mask to be who they REALLY are. It’s an amazing dance. So we have to learn about people in kind of a sideways fashion – mostly by starting with “What do you do?”

I’m sure those of you reading this know what you do. But who are you? Are you sensitive? Are you afraid of the dark? (I always leave a light on when I’m home alone over night, even though we have four dogs to help me stay safe.) Do you think everyone is out to get you? Or maybe just a few people? Do we live in a friendly or unfriendly world? How do you relax? Do you like to read? Do you draw? Do you enjoy just sitting?

Photo by Ary Shutter on Pexels.com

Favorite TV show? What did you think of school? Did you enjoy it? Or was it painful? And why? What was enjoyable or painful?

Those are just a few of the questions that go through my mind when I’m getting to know someone, and even when talking with old friends, because friendship doesn’t happen in one fell swoop – it is a matter of years, and layers, and the unveiling of some new aspect of a friend is like a gift wrapped in shiny paper and topped off with a beautiful bow – how amazing we all are!

If you want to know more about me, ask me – who are you? And I will tell you. Be prepared though, because I will ask the same of you. I don’t need to know about your job – who are YOU?

————

Ashara Morris is sensitive, intuitive, and laughs a lot. The glass is generally half full. She talks with animals, plants, rocks, her car quite a bit, and sometimes even her favorite green chair. You can find out more about what she DOES at www.harmonysheartcoaching.com and www.harmonysheartanimals.com.

 

 

Stellar Jay

Written by Carroll a member of Women Move It Forward

Recently the universe answered my request for a business partnership of some sort. This request and prayer is one I have been breathing for about 8 months and for several months Ant Spirit Guide has been sending the message of teamwork. Don’t go pushing all alone.

The day we scheduled our first “business” meeting I was presented with a beautiful fluffy and brilliant blue Stellar Jay feather. I looked up the meaning and the message hit home!

Shamanic Journey (some excerpts)

Website Link

Jay’s gifts include understanding how to use power wisely, warning, courage, ability to check on future trouble spots, power of presence (being in the eternal now), fearlessness, resourcefulness, adaptability.

Jay’s show us how to use personal power correctly and effectively, reminding us to pay attention and to not allow ourselves to be put in a situation where power is misused against us. If this is your power animal, bear this in mind.

The bright blue crest atop the blue jays head, connects it to the sky, reminding you true power must be applied in a balanced and honorable fashion. Jays are tremendously resourceful, which may symbolize a need inside of you to learn adaptability for survival with less effort possible.

Jays symbolize huge talent, however, this talent must be developed and used correctly. If jay has flown into your life, this may be a signal that you are coming into a time where you can begin to help the inherent wisdom that lies within you (within us all!) to mature.

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I have been receiving the message to take risks and step into my power and it looks like I have a spirit guide now…

Are you looking to step more fully into your power? If so, call on Blue Jay to help and guide you.

Strength of Vulnerability

Photo by Abhiram Prakash on Pexels.com

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

 

Written by Carroll Ellis a member of Women Move it Forward

I am finding the spaces where I am vulnerable show my places of strength. Many years ago I found out learning requires a place of vulnerability. Just look at children they are the quintessential learners and they are so comfortable in that space of not knowing.  The excitement when learning is presented with enthusiasm and passion is precious as it beams from their faces.

Now days where appearances are all important being authentic and shouting to the world “I don’t know this… I am not good at this…” requires strength of character. Willingness to accept unpleasant comments or looks of disgust because others are pretending that they know and can do everything takes lots of courage.

I am finding that courage in mother earth. When I am connected and grounded to her I feel a sense of support and encouragement that cannot be sneered away. In my last new moon meditation I asked one of the guides “where do I find courage inside of me?” And her response had me laughing. She said “in all the nooks and crannies.” Those spaces are only big enough to hold a drop of courage.  Just one drop at a time tucked away in corners and hidden all over is all I can see.  And working through this, I am finding courage is very potent, one drop will move me past the first step and that’s all that’s needed. After the first step momentum kicks in and there’s no turning back.

Voluntarily stepping into spaces where I know I am vulnerable is the same thing as me shouting to the world “I don’t know this now, but just watch I will learn it so well you will seek my council.”

Do you have things you don’t know? If you do and if you seek out your drops of courage, I will get in line to seek your council.

 

Friendships

“He who returns from a journey is not the same as he who left”.

Summer has come to end. The heat and rain of 2018 will be long remembered, but most memorable will be my 2680 mile road trip. As I mentioned in my previous blog I did not go to any exotic location. My trip was charted by destiny. It started with me placing pins on a map of where old friends, horses I knew and relatives still lived throughout the eastern US. It also included seeing old homes, special roads or views that I loved.  I learned that my bones take a bit longer to straighten out after being in a car for any length of time, but my eyes were just as bright exploring new roads and re-experiencing old trails.

The last part of my trip took me to SW Pennsylvania. The scenery; hills of green, winding rivers and forest so lush and thick they were intoxicating, brought me back home.   I visited my old work place and got caught up with my co-harts.  I rode horses down familiar trails and even went to visit my old homestead(s). It was nostalgic and a bit sad, but clearly evident to me that the home and land was no longer part of whom I was.

But one thing, above all stood out to me on this trip. One evening my girlfriend got all the other ladies together that I knew.  When I lived there I was part of a monthly “horsey girl night out” where we shared stories about our horses, training we learned about or brought a video or two to discuss. I loved this group of women but really didn’t imagine I’d be able to see so many of them during my stay. When I walked in, I briefly looked around and took note of their changes and then there I was. Again, smack in the middle of stories, laughter, crying and hugs. I had to pinch myself to remind myself that I was no longer a regular part of this group.

What made this group just like going home to family? I quickly realized that it was not necessarily the monthly get togethers that bonded us, but really quite more.  We all had been there for each other through snow storms, loss of electricity, helped each other with sick or injured horses, rode the hills together, vacationed with our horses together, lifted each one up when a job was lost, a child became sick or a family memeber died.  We loved each other just as much for our faults and as our virtues. We had seen the worse of each other, the quirky sides and even the best from time to time. Is this what binds a family, a group, a village or nation I mused about during those 2 1/2 weeks on the road?

For me, growing up in a military family and moving often, I used to believe that the wonderful places I experienced overshadowed the many, many friendships I made. I was wrong. Here was a group of strong, independent women that became my family for only 12 years and yet when we met again after 5 years, we were as connected as ever! Most other people, I suspect know and understand the value of friendship and may not even questioned or think much about it. But for me the profound ability to reconnect and not be the one looking from the outside in (as was my regular pattern) was amazing and something I will cherish always.

To friendship!

Barbara is the owner and president of Wayfinding with Horses, Inc.  She is trained in the Equine Gestalt Coaching Method, a retired Professional Engineer and Qi Gong Instructor but mostly she is a woman passionate about horses, their wellbeing and their gift of being present. The horses help her clients to trust their true nature and lead from the heart.  Clients often report a heightened awareness of their surroundings and others while experiencing a deeper, more profound understanding of their relationships and connection to others.  Barbara lives at Wayfinding Farm, located near Ocala Florida.

This is Me

Tags

Animals, Coaching, Vision

I just watched a video that took my breath away.

A little background: Along with my husband, I have a small business, Harmony’s Heart LLC. For me, that business is all about talking with people’s animals and helping them navigate things like “When is it time to put my elder cat down?” or “My dog is so nervous – I wish he’d calm down.” These conversations often take on the aspect of coaching, as over time I’ve found that our animal friends are more interested in helping us be better humans than whether or not they have the best kibble.

For years, I worked in Information Technology in large corporations. This is not even close to what I do now. It was technical. It was serious. It was “important”. It was also borrrrrr-ing.  For me, one of the best parts of the job was interpreting what was going on with a machine and putting it into words that the uneducated or technology-challenged user could understand, so they’d get along better with that application or printer.

Hmm, when I look at it that way, maybe it was a bit like what I do these days. I was an interpreter, and I still am. It’s just that now, I’m assisting a living, breathing entity (or what once was living and breathing, since I also connect with animals who have passed) be understood, much like I assisted people in understanding that printer, or that application.

Where I’m going with this is the thought that what I do can be construed as “strange.” “Weird”. Definitely a long way from what most of the U.S. considers “normal.” On my darker days, I feel like an outcast, as though my passion for the animals, and what they have to say to us and want to help us with, is something that is useless. So I’ll become frozen, and not want to make phone calls, or put myself out there. Better to be safe in my little cocoon instead of the object of ridicule or hate.

When all of my fears and insecurities have taken their rightful place at the back of the bus, and my passion and purpose for this lifetime have taken over the driving, I know that’s hogwash. What I do is what I was meant to do. It’s taken me a long time to get to the party. Now that I’m here, though, this is my gift. Interpreter of animal wisdom. Teacher of those who want to open themselves to that gift themselves. Cheerleader for a better world, starting with our relationship with the animals and nature around us.

This is me.

Watch the video. Be inspired. Remember who YOU are. In your authentic self, you are making a difference, no matter how large, no matter how small. You matter.

Ashara Morris is the President and CEO of Harmony’s Heart LLC, where she assists animals and their people to have the best relationship ever. For more information, visit http://www.harmonysheartanimals.com, or contact Ashara by phone (720-737-0495) or email (ashara@harmonysheartcoaching.com).

Universal Spring Cleaning

Written by Carroll a member of Women Move it Forward

It is spring time and I find that I am antsy and fidgety.  Lately, I have noticed the energy in and around me is shaken up and all over the place.  I do not know why or when it started.  One morning it was just there.  Thinking on it, I gain the vision that it is time to do a spring cleaning.  Not only in my home, but also inside of me.  I feel that my spring cleaning needs to be very deliberate and purposeful.  Looking around, I notice there are rooms in my home that could use some attention.  But then I notice that there are places inside of me that could also use some attention.

When spring cleaning my home, I take everything from the shelves and remove items from the counter tops.  These items are carefully placed in another room.  Then I dust and clean each item and thoughtfully place it where it feels right or get rid of it if I do not need it anymore.  To complete the task, each room needs this careful going over or the entire house will be unsettled and the home is unsettled while I go through the process.

Just like a spring cleaning in my home, I also feel I am getting a spring cleaning of myself, like the universe has decided to spring clean my life.  Thoughts, ideas and feelings need to be evaluated and shifted until I have either kept or thrown them out.  There is a dance of keep it… toss it… keep it… toss it…  I feel positive and cleansed as I go through this routine.  As I think the mental process through, it occurs to me that the state of my home and my state of mind are more closely linked than I realized.  My mental state is obvious to my friends when they visit my home.  If my home is cluttered, I am cluttered.  If the house is organized, I am organized.  This insight seems very fitting.

I am not completely relaxed or grounded right now, but this process gives me a sense of purpose behind my energy and an channel for it.  Letting this energy buzz around me without an outlet will drive me crazy so I embrace it.  April is my spring cleaning month.  My mental cleaning and house cleaning will be hard and time consuming but it will also be very rewarding.  I look forward to the positive results.

Are there places in your life that could use a good spring cleaning?