Thank you TinyBuddha for this truth that resonates to our Souls and Spirits.

We often hear our friends, family and colleagues say they feel stuck or do not know which way to turn. When we are reminded of this simple truth, that we have choice not to be stuck, make a change or course correct, it is encouraging and inspiring.

Some analogies I have used for my clients and colleagues are, think of the gears on our car, we think we only have park, drive and often forget we have a reverse and neutral gear. I inform them, we can put our car in reverse and go a completely different direction and what a powerful choice that is. We are not limited to just 1 gear. We also have neutral for a pause moment or for a period of time. Having a pause or time out as a choice, offers us time to listen on what is the next best direction or action to take from the Divine.

To be open from the Divine for guidance is a powerful choice.

When making your choices, it is good to ask yourself the following:

• Does this inspire, uplift and energize me?
• Does my energy elevate with said choice?
• Does this choice move me in my overall goals and dreams?

On July 11th, 1992, I married my best friend, husband and life partner, Mike Schienle.

We are celebrating 32 years of marriage and what an amazing journey, filled with love, inspiration, hope, challenges, joy and miraculous accomplishments.

Our journey is one to celebrate! 32 years of inspiring one another to go and be the best we can be for ourselves and as a couple.

When we faced health challenges, life altering obstacles, it was our love and perseverance that pulled us through. The vows we took were truly taken to heart and we have been fulfilling them from day one.

As a professional Wedding Officiant/Interfaith Minister, it is a privilege to witness another couple beginning their journey. When they exchange their vows, promises and pledges, it is their steadfast love and inspiring one another, this day and always, that makes for a wonderful foundation to a marriage.

Every year, I celebrate my couples on their anniversary and now we ask you to celebrate with us. Please lift your glass, cup of coffee or tea and share in this Cheer with us!

Happy Anniversary to my Love Bug and cheers to many, many more on our journey!

On December 29th, 2023, our cat, Lily Adele, transitioned over the rainbow bridge. Today it has been 6 months as I write this inspirational message.

Mike and I have felt so very privileged to have our pets and this term “Kahu” actually expresses more of what we believed and felt with each one of them.

After reading this further and its definition, we can see how this applies to our children, loved ones and including when we are holding sacred space for our beloveds.

There is a saying that people remember how you make them feel. So as we are walking alongside of a child or someone who they entrust us with, are we inspiring, protecting, guiding and nurturing them on their journey?

I hope this message inspires you in your daily spiritual practice of mindfulness and being someone's “Kahu”.

Sacred Time

Make your alone time Sacred.
We need our solitude.
Embrace the stillness to connect with your Inner World.
Truly take time to feel and tune into your body.
Reflect on your choices and if they are aligned with your purpose.
Let your peace be your compass.

by Tara Isis Gerris

The timing of this beautiful sentiment and starting my day off seeing this fawn safely nestled in the corner of our home was my gentle reminder of sacred time, solitude and reflection.

I had just asked the Divine for guidance on my path and next steps and it was given to me with the much needed spiritual direction.

Just about every word written in this excerpt above from Tara Isis Gerris, gave voice to my current needs and purpose at this time in my life. When “peace” is your compass, it becomes a wonderful spiritual tool in one's daly practice.

Intentionally living “Yutori” is something I learned around 2007.

I have had people over the years ask me, what if anything do you feel you can share about going through stage 3 breast cancer, treatment, NDE and radiation? My answer has been something that seems so simple and easy, yet not so easily done. That is; live this moment. We truly have no power to change yesterday and tomorrow we really don’t know what it is to bring. What we already know with certainty is this very second and moment.

Some refer to this as “Living the Now”. As a Doula, Minister and Friend, when asked for any words of wisdom or nugget of advice as I face this journey and diagnosis is this: do not go too far ahead into tomorrow or what was done yesterday, come back to this moment.

I pause for a moment and let them process that. I tend to hear back with sentiments like, well, this is very true ... all we have is right now!

Reserving energy anytime is good and important. If we are giving important energy to anxiousness of the unknown of tomorrow, that is where that energy goes. A helpful tip is to come back to center. Visualize your core of your body (belly button). If you can, cross your hands over your chest and heart area, breathe in and out while saying, I come back to me and my center.

Doing this is consciously creating that space as the Yutori mentions, it then also creates your sacred space.

I have learned over the years within my personal and professional experiences of how our thoughts affect us on so many levels.

Our Mind, Body and Spirit are listening in and responding according to our thoughts and ultimately releasing the corresponding hormones.

They say the good thoughts, expressions and feelings release the "feel good" hormones such as; Dopamine, Serotonin, Oxytocin, or Endorphins.

Cortisol on the other hand; is one of many hormones that will produce an opposite effect than the happy hormones. It is said that Cortisol may play a part in weight gain and other health issues. It is helpful to find ways to offset the overload of Cortisol and one of those is how you think.

Reciting this wonderful mantra below often and pausing a few moments is a great way to reduce stress and minimize an excess amount of Cortisol.

This is a beautiful Buddhist expression: Satori

I was inspired by its meaning and learning how the definition goes on to say that it simply means “returning to the original, natural condition of the mind.”

In reading this additional meaning, it helps remind us as to what takes us off course, or in a place of not at peace within?

Then we are enlightened by a thought, synchronicity or lesson of a profound realization or breakthrough, that puts us back into a place of peace and proper perspective.

Gratitude!

Thank you Family Today for sharing this wonderful reminder and inspiring us to be present with our loved ones. To have our words and action meet with compassion, is a gift to another Soul.

It does not take make much to show care by listening to someone, acknowledging them, offering a glass of water and meeting them where they are in their lives.

This beautiful poem, that touched my Soul, was given to me in 2016 while in the South of France on a sacred Pilgrimage. It reflects my deepest and most heartfelt gratitude to God/dess in my recovery from stage 3 breast cancer. It was 10 years ago at this sacred location of Rennes Le Chateau in the South of France that I begged for my life and healing (the picture of me in the Grotto). I asked God to heal me and Mary Magdalene to comfort me during my healing process. I have returned a few times to the South of France; it had a profound affect on me while visiting these sacred locations. To return to the Grotto at Rennes Le Chateau and allow others to lovingly hold space as I reflect and impart gratitude for my life is beyond words and expressions.

I walked this hidden path of gratitude
till there was nothing left but light

I walked the hidden path of gratitude
and time was no longer step by step

I moved into this white blooming garden of sweetness
hanging from the winter sky

and the moon walked before me
in magic circles of grace

Loving kindness
and Gratitude was her name
and every darkness that came my way
she unfolded the petals of my heart one by one
till there was nothing left but light

I walked this path
a life-time or more
until I returned
to my own doorstep

and all was new
all was ancient
shining

as it always is
as it always has been
I see it now!

and this will be my prayer:
may the stillness of gratitude
be a silent movement

a precious dance
that brings us back home

in every breath
in every wondrous moment
of this mystery that we call life
what a gift! what a miracle! what a bliss!

Eternal Spirit, living God,
in whom we live and move and have our being,
all that we are, have been, and shall be is known to you,
to the very secret of our hearts
and all that rises to trouble us.
Living flame burn into us,
cleansing wind, blow through us,
fountain of water, well up within us,
that we may love and praise in deed and in truth.

New Zealand Prayerbook