Right now, right in this moment, notice what is going on around you and within you. Just give yourself a deep breath, be, and really feel what you are feeling, both physically and emotionally.  Notice the room around you, and give yourself permission to really sink in and be grounded and present. Let yourself really enjoy just being and breathing here on Planet Earth.

This moment, right here and now, is such a tremendous gift, no matter where we are, no matter what we are doing.

I was reminded of this yesterday, when our group, Cinnamon Twist, played at the Flagstaff Folk Festival.  Before our second set, we had an hour or two to sit on logs and guitar cases in the woods near the barn stage and jam with some friends. How magical and fun to just be, enjoy nature, and sing, without worrying about what we were going to do on stage, or the long drive home.

We cherish moments like these as being so rare and lovely — and yet it is within our power to create them anytime, anywhere we are.  Food for thought!

Ever felt like your day is a runaway train? We live in a busy world, and it’s easy to lose focus when you have constant interruptions, and a to-do list longer than your arm.

Meditation is one way to feel more centered and grounded, but it takes time. Exercise works, but again…time.   Here are five simple ways you can feel more present, centered, and focused, fast:

1) Eat something … slowly. Chew thoroughly and really taste what you’re eating.

2) Notice how you feel. Simply close your eyes for a moment if you can, and scan your body. Where are you holding on to tension, effort, or resistance? Decide to let it go, and simply breathe.

3) Affirm your connection — with the earth, or with the Universe (a.k.a. God), or both.  When you remember that you are part of a greater whole, what you are trying to get done doesn’t seem quite so big, so it’s easier to allow it to be easier. If this sounds suspiciously like prayer, it is!

4) Find your sense of humor. Laughter raises your energy and brings you more present.

5) Stop and look around you. Really look and take in every detail of the space you’re in.

Afterwards, ask yourself “What do I need to do right now?” Or “What do I need to do next?” And notice what comes.

Namaste!

Ever notice that energy level and happiness tend to go hand in hand?

This is usually how it works for me. When my energy level is higher, I feel good and it’s harder for anyone to rock my boat. Even if someone says something negative, it’s a lot easier to laugh it off when I have more energy.

This is being in the Zone…inspiration comes, creativity flows.  It’s easier to connect with and learn from Source. And easier to receive from Source, too.

There are a lot of things that can drop your energy, but I’ve noticed most of them relate to stress. When we’re stressed, our muscles contract, we feel stuck, tired, and de-energized. We eat junk food that stresses our bodies even more, and often we revert to other habits that don’t do much to raise energy and relieve stress.

When my energy drops, I’ve noticed it’s kind of like going into a soundproof room, where I can’t hear my higher self, where I can’t easily access my creativity. And often, there can be a negative tape playing — some variation of fear, blame, guilt, worry, or sometimes anger.

If you’ve ever found yourself stuck in that room, trying to create what you want, you might notice that it doesn’t work very well. Roadblocks abound. Everything takes a lot longer and seems a lot harder than it really needs to be, because you’re trying to do it in that closed-off space rather than with energy and enthusiasm and connection with Source.

So how do we step out into the sunlight, into a place where we can create easily?

1) For me, the first step is consciously noticing when my energy and enthusiasm start to drop. When my stress level starts to increase.

2) Next up is deciding that it matters. That I matter enough to choose out of love, to listen to my inner wisdom and take care of myself.

3) Then, it’s simply doing something positive to bring about balance again.  In every moment, we can choose differently.  Choices made out of love are things like getting enough sleep, listening to peaceful music, laughing, or simply focusing on what is going right in your world.

Really, this is just choosing to release stress and have more energy, even though the “problem” is still in full view. When I can do this, I’ve noticed that it gives me more internal resources to draw from and makes the problem a little easier to solve.

Namaste!

Take a look on your bookshelves (or Kindle library) and find out. How many spiritual self-improvement books have you been reading lately?

I admit, I have a few. Right next to my library of wellness books. I’ve also attended quite a few programs, classes and so on. And it’s not to say that I haven’t learned a lot, because I have.

But here’s the question: when you are a spiritual seeker, can you seek within instead of without?

Because a really good spiritual book, teacher, class and so on, is really only a catalyst for you discovering and celebrating YOU.

You know this already, of course,  but it’s easy to forget sometimes, isn’t it?

There is nothing to fix, to improve, to make perfect. Just to be, and to revel in the experiences we choose or allow in our lives. Even things that we think are falling apart, that don’t look perfect on the outside, are really more perfect than they seem because they allow us to experience all aspects of a situation. They give us room to grow, to appreciate, to empathize, to understand.

But often we forget that (or don’t realize it to begin with) and we keep trying to be more perfect. And that can give a person a lot of gray hairs, not to mention a tremendous amount of stress.

I started out this post with the thought that trying to be too perfect in life tends to get in the way of actually doing something well and truly experiencing it, and it does. Because trying gets in the way of being and appreciating.

So the next time you’re reading a spiritual masterpiece, remember that the writer is no more perfect than you are.

The next time you’re meditating, know that just giving yourself quiet space to be is 90% of it.

And the next time you try to make something perfect, remember to see the beauty and contrast, of the imperfect. Because with all its imperfections, life is more perfect than we know.

And so are we.

Until next time…

Awhile back, I wrote a post entitled “What Stops You from Creating Your Dreams?” In it, I mentioned one of the biggest roadblocks: waiting for things to look just right. We all have “perfect pictures” about how things should be — and that can get in the way of just diving in and enjoying doing what you love, no matter what the result turns out to be.

There can be other roadblocks, too:

1) Not enough time. But is there REALLY not enough time, or is it a matter of prioritizing the time you do have?

2) Getting scared. In Conversations with God, there’s a line that hit home for me: “When you meet your greatest love, you meet your greatest fear.” It’s true in relationships, and it’s true when you come face to face with the part of you that shines brightest. It can be terrifying. But that bright shiny part of you knows exactly what to do if you let her.

3) Assuming you can’t before you even get started. If you think it will never happen, you won’t give it space to manifest. But the good news is that it’s never really too late to start.

What you love to do will give you energy if you approach it with love, fun, and a sense of humor, rather than expectations. You never know what might result.

This weekend, our band played three St. Patty’s day gigs…lots of fun all around, but I am just now finishing my laundry!

Here’s Scarborough Faire, one of my favorites from our first celtic album, Sobhlasta.  We had a blast in the studio recording it. Sobhlasta means “good taste” in gaelic…and it’s a mix of of old celtic and fun original tunes. I hope you enjoy listening.

Scarborough Faire is all about asking your love to do what seem like impossible tasks to prove his affections…making a shirt without seams, finding an acre of land on a sandbar, and so on.  But even simply trying is enough to win her heart and hand. And often that’s the case with creating our dreams as well…just getting started will open up new doors!

Download audio file (Scarborough-Faire.mp3)

Incidentally, if you like what you hear, you can purchase the album for $13 including shipping in the U.S. (email me if you’re overseas):

Right now I’m reading Living Life with No Regrets by Ed Feyereisen, a gift from our local Optimist club after I spoke at their meeting in January.

I love to open books in the middle and see where I land – this time, it was a story about a defining moment in a man’s life. Steven Beck (a friend of the author) was traveling, and suddenly realized while waiting at the airline ticket counter that he was really there to help a stranger — a very confused elderly lady who had never traveled alone before and needed someone to help her make her flight connections.

Helping Mabel get home was a defining moment in his life: “I received a very special gift when Mabel placed her trembling hands on my face, peered into my eyes and with a steady voice told me how grateful she was for what I had done and gave me her blessings. I will always remember her face and her spirit as she blessed me.”

These defining moments are really when we connect in to our deeper selves and find a larger connection with each other, with the world. Defining moments are about being fully present and sharing what we have to offer with the world.  As Beck says in the story, he came to understand that “honoring defining moments is about helping others.”

Today, a friend shared a video link to a TEDx presentation everyone in the U.S. should see.  It is about one woman’s defining moment, and what she chose to do with it on a much bigger scale.  TED (which stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design) is a nonprofit think tank that brings ideas worth sharing to the world.  This presentation by Robyn O’Brien is one of the clearest I’ve ever heard on what has happened to our food supply in this country over the past fifteen years. If you have kids, or even if you don’t, it’s well worth watching:

http://www.wimp.com/realfood/

Large or small, defining moments can plant the seed for who we will become and what we can share — if we allow that growth to happen.

What have been the defining moments in your life, and how have they changed you and the world around you? Please share below!

When you run out of steam, here are some simple tips that will help you boost your energy level (and your mood) before you reach for another cup of joe:

Kristin Kusek at Real Simple offers nine simple (and easy) tips to boost your energy fast. My favorite? Get up and move around. A yoga teacher once told me, “if you’re feeling great, meditate. If you’re feeling down, move around.” And she’s right.  Especially if you’re sitting at a desk most of the day, moving around every hour or so helps get your ch’i moving. Bodies were meant to move, not sit in one position for hours.

Over at ZenHabits, Greg Go offers 55 ways to get more energy. His #1 tip? Change your socks!  Maybe it works because in the act of sock changing, you’re stimulating acupressure points on your feet. Or maybe it’s just a mind thing. But you never know…so carry an extra pair with you tomorrow!

I like his #2 suggestion even better…rock out loud! There’s something about singing that just gets energy going in a big way. I do this every day — singing and my own version of Tibetan overtone chanting (great for the sinuses).  So better than just listening to your favorite song, sing along with it, no matter how you think you sound! Here’s one guaranteed to get you going… Katrina and the Waves anyone?  (I’m walkin on sunshine, whoa-oh!) You’ll be glad you did.

Dr. Woodson Merrill, at Oprah.com makes a case for getting more quality sleep. I don’t know about you, but without a good night’s sleep the night before, my day just doesn’t go well.  One tip Merrill suggests — get up and get some sun in the morning (or use full-spectrum lightbulbs)  to help you go to sleep earlier and stay asleep longer.

And one last energy-boosting thought … also mentioned in Kristin’s article, above: Try something new. Anytime you do something new and different, your brain fires in a different way. Sometimes we assume our minds are somehow separate from our bodies, but that’s not true. When your brain is energized, you’ll have more physical energy, too.

Now go have some fun!

Every day, we take in vast quantities of information. Most of it we’re not even aware of.

I’m writing this on my laptop, at the kitchen table. I can hear the sound of the furnace, the refrigerator, muffled hammering next door  as my neighbors finish their new deck, and the soft bell tones of windchimes on my own porch.

But there’s so much more in this moment that I am not totally conscious of — like information coming from my body as to its present state of being, or from my intuitive senses about the world around me and the things I want to do and create in my life.  Even if we put our full awareness on these things, we’re not likely to see and feel them all, because we’re only human.

And this plays out in every moment of every day for all of us.

We may not be able to pick up everything, but we can allow it to sink in a bit more.  Most of us are so busy all the time that we don’t give ourselves the time to be fully present and to integrate more of what we know, more of who we are, right here and now, where it can give us the most good.

Quiet moments, where you just breathe deeply, relax and let yourself be here now, are the times when we integrate best. We need these moments more than we know. They allow us to fully connect, to be true to ourselves, to be inspired.   These are the pauses where you let “aha’s” connect and be born.  Where you let go of stress. Where you let yourself heal and rejuvenate.

In our get-it-done world, we think quiet times aren’t important because we’re not DOING something.

We couldn’t be more wrong.

Giving yourself time for quiet meditation and reflection is one of the best things you can do for yourself – on every level. It helps you relax, recharge, be more aware and stress-free, find your inner balance, and develop wisdom on deep levels.

Namaste,

Jennifer

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“Before you do anything that might add even the smallest amount of stress to your life, ask yourself: What is my truest intention? Give yourself time to let a yes resound within you. When it’s right, I guarantee that your entire body will feel it.” 
– Oprah Winfrey

Ever find yourself saying “yes” to everything, and ending up in overwhelm and overload?

Everything we take on adds a measure of stress to our lives, even when it’s something we enjoy. Because in the physical world, everything you do takes the place of something else that you could be doing. Add too many items to your “to do” list, and you won’t finish all of them, or do them as well as you would if your list were shorter.

Sometimes what to drop is a clear choice — other times it’s not so clear. But as Oprah suggests in this quotation, it’s a lot easier to ask within first and choose to decline a task than it is to take it on and then drop it.  First, of course, there’s the guilt factor of saying no to people you care about. And second, there’s a certain amount of stubbornness and pride within us all that makes it difficult to back away from things we’ve started. Even if we are merely holding on to the idea of doing something, when we are unable to actually get to it!  And that, too, creates a level of stress. How many unfinished projects and ideas do you have in your life that you have not yet released? Each one is attached to you with a thread of energy that creates stress because you’re not able to give it your full attention.

Recently, I was forced to slow down (hence my lack of posts for the past few weeks). Events transpired that made it impossible for me to keep up the pace I was trying to manage, and to juggle all of the “to do” items I had on my list.  I had to stop.

When you find yourself stopped at the pass like this, it actually can be a good thing in disguise, as I soon discovered. Because it gives you a fresh opportunity to re-evaluate your priorities. To consciously review everything on your “to do” list, meditate on them, and make some present-minded choices. Choices that can help you reduce stress by being even more true to yourself, by letting that “yes” resound within you.

Until next time…

Namaste!

Jennifer

Saturday was a day of firsts for me. I signed my first autographs…at the first annual Chandler Folk Festival. One little girl bought one of our first preview albums and wanted me to sign it. She’d been at the festival most of the day and told me confidently that she is going to be a superstar when she grows up. How cool is that?!

It got me thinking, of course. This is how our dreams are born…before we hit the bumps in life and forget how strong and powerful we really are. Before we forget how much our own choices influence what happens to us … more than anything else ever could.

A lot of people think stress happens when you get overwhelmed by the speed of life. I believe it happens when we forget how strong we really are.

We have the ability, in every moment, to choose how we direct our thoughts. We can choose to let external happenings upset us and influence our actions, or we can choose our own road. Attitude and action go hand in hand. When you take full responsibility for what happens in your life, you also take back your ability to create. You take back your ability to make empowering choices.

When we think, feel, and do things that don’t support our dreams, we create more internal stress. It takes a lot more effort and energy to hold yourself back than it does to let yourself move forward. In effect, it puts a stopper on what you’re trying to create.

We hold ourselves back in many ways. One of the biggest ones is not taking care of the body. Most athletes understand this and pay attention to diet and exercise, but for the rest of us, the connection isn’t always so clear. If you eat junk food that doesn’t nourish you, how will you have the extra stamina and mental energy to write that book?

The first step is asking yourself … what are your goals and dreams? And what actions can you take right now to support them and give them wings?

“You are a child of the Universe, no less than the trees and the stars; You have a right to be here.” (Max Erhmann, 1927) My young friend at the festival, like all of us, is a child of the Universe, and she still knows it.