THE BEAST

as the beast moves through the streets,

people stare in astonishment,

the beast moves in and out,

as his energy takes him everywhere,

some stop, some stare, but most move to

the other side,

as fear grips them from their chest to their head,

and their legs quickly move them in another

direction,

the beast keeps his head down,

 scanning with his black eyes from one side

to the other,

not missing a moment nor a movement,

the beast knows and feels their fear,

makes him move with caution,

in a calm and quiet manner,

as he continues down the street,

a little girl sees the beast,

and squeals in joyful delight,

as she opens her arms and

runs to embrace him,

panic erupts as her parents scream and try

to stop her,

but the little girl sees through the beast,

and with quick movement,

she opens her arms,

and gives him a loving hug,

the beast snuggles warmly into her being,

and turns his head to lick her neck,

which sends her into an eruption of

giggles,

bringing tranquility and a sense of

calm to the one they call

the beast.

Johanne Fraser

 

PATIENCE….

Patience is not a word that I can use to describe myself.  I would like to say that I am patient but if you talk to my husband he will tell you that I’m bloody crazy.  If I decide I want a room painted,  I want it  painted yesterday.  I will focus all of my energy to get that room painted and if it takes me 24 hours of non-stop painting, I’ll do it.  My husband on the other hand can do one wall one week, another wall another week and another wall two weeks later.  Consequently, we would be painting all year round at his pace.  Do we butt heads about work and how it’s done – yup you better believe it.  However, as I get older something is happening to me; I have grown more appreciative of my husband’s patient nature.  As I look around the house and all the work that has to be done; cleaning out the garage, fixing the wall in our bathroom, painting the living room, fixing and touching up the walls in other areas, fixing or replacing our kitchen cabinets, the garden work and so on and so on, I’ve become more tolerant of waiting to get things done and not everything has to be done at once.  

I’m not sure if the real culprit of this  new feeling is that I’m overwhelmed and I’ve given up or I’m just getting smarter as I grow older, but lately I’ve started to say to myself, “if we don’t get this kitchen done until a year or more from now how is this going to affect my life?  The answer is “it won’t affect my life at all.”  I will still be busy running here and there, still trying to find the time to balance work, play and family, I’ll still be making dinner every night in my kitchen and even though it would be nice to be looking at a new kitchen it won’t make any difference to my life whatsoever.  Breathing is my latest thing, the simple act of stopping and breathing.  Sometimes at work when it’s especially busy and everybody needs something now, I sit at my desk and move away from my computer, drop my head into a relaxed stance and focus on my breath, meditate a little  and think of positive thoughts.  It’s amazing how two minutes of breathing and positive thoughts can help me feel less drained and empowered to tackle the work that just a second ago was stressing me out. 

Wish I had this attitude the other day as I was cleaning the house.  I decided during my cleaning that I would change some of the furniture from one room to another.   No one was home so I found myself looking at a big arm-chair and decided I wanted it out of the family room and into the  office located on the top floor of our house.  The chair wasn’t especially heavy but awkward.  Having no patience at that moment, I dragged the chair all the way up the stairs by myself and carried it down the hallway to the office, all the while sweating up a storm because it took way too much manoeuvering to get the chair to the door of the office.  Once at the office doorway I realized that the chair was a little too big for the doorway.  Not being one to take no for an answer, I proceeded to twist and turn the chair  through the doorway, when it didn’t work from the hallway I put myself in the office and tried to twist and turn the chair from inside the office.  It came through alright but I managed to wedge the bloody chair in the doorway.  It was stuck, really stuck and I was stuck on the other side and couldn’t get out of the office.    No longer was I impatient I was furious beyond belief, plus I had to be out the door in an hour to go to the rink to play hockey.  I tried the breathing thing, didn’t work because I was too sweaty and worked up, so I did what I do best, I grabbed that damn chair and pulled and pushed and twisted and turned all the while cursing and swearing and sweating my butt off.   Finally, after a half an hour and one too many turns the chair gave and it came through the door.

I made it out of the house to join my hockey team and when I got home later that day my husband noticed the furniture changes and wanted to know how I got the chair up the stairs by myself.  I told him the story and he asked me why  I didn’t wait?  I said “I can’t, it’s not in my nature.”  I believe you can teach an old dog a new trick but every now and then that old dog does what she does best and resorts back to being herself.   I’m learning and I might get to the place of calm, peace and patience one day, until then I have a lot more yoga and breathing to do to reach the realm of yoga and meditation.    Pray my house remains in one piece in the interim!

TRUSTING THE UNIVERSE – EASIER SAID THAN DONE!

 

I’ve been following rejuvenation for a little while – the blog offers really good tips for healthy calm living.  “Trust” is from this blog – I have an issue with the word trust and it’s hard for me not to worry.

Trust Manifesto:

I’ve been collecting and creating for many years affirmations and statements on the word ‘trust”.   Thought you might be curious as to some of my favourites so I’ve shared them below.

Fingers crossed that one or more resonates with you and offers the perfect inspiration or at the very least a moment of comfort. Enjoy beautiful friends as life is all about sharing.

1. Give yourself permission to trust. Know its safe to trust.

2. TRUST you don’t need to know all the answers  right now.

3.  Trust. You can breathe deeply into any worrying thought or situation. Soon things will start to dissolve and shift with the spaciousness you give it.

4.  Trust in the 3 taps theory.  If you’ve heard or read about something or someone three times, then trust the universe is trying to get your attention.

5. Your ability to profoundly relax is in direction proportion to TRUST DEEPLYin your unique flow in life.

6. Don’t worry, plan or over think. Trust there is divine timing for everything.  Simply hold the space in the palm of your hands in complete knowing.

7. Words, silent or spoken have an energy flowing through them.  Your words create and therefore matter.  Repeating the word “I trust” will trigger a positive chain reaction.

8. If you are pushing or forcing a situation perhaps you are unintentionally blocking support from the universe. Trust.

9. Trust. Stop forcing things to go your way.  It interrupts the flow of a magical life.

10.  When nothing is working.  Do nothing.  It creates the space for flow to happen again.  Trust.

11. Just for today stop, step back, let go of the re-hashing and over analzying of stuff.  Breath space into your thoughts. Trust everything will be OK.

12. Welcome the unknown. Simply Trust.

Peace, love and chocolate, Carole

Email me anytime:  healthylivinglounge(at)gmail.com