“Once in a Blue Moon”

I distinctly remember waking up on 01-01-00 and immediately searching for the light on my alarm clock. I had got caught up in, but not frantically lost in, the fear of the digital world coming to an end ~ changing all life as we knew it. But I can’t really remember what my next feeling was. Relief? Dismay? There is no doubt about it, I was tentatively looking forward to a change that might really shake things up and point us, as a human species, in a new direction. But it was not to be ….. not at that time.

I am now trying to remember where I was on 01-01-01. I have been playing all week with tumbling the digits around: 01-01-01 vs. 01-01-10. It feels like there might be something important to note here, and if there is, I don’t want to miss it !?!?! I remember sitting in the hot tub with a friend of mine about ten years ago, discussing the lack of professional athletes as “really good” mentors for our children. We decided that the word for the decade should be “Accountability”. Wow, what a concept. I have thought about our conversation so many times through the years. Be accountable, quit making stupid excuses. We all screw up, but it is what we do next that more determines our character. I have been trying to live it and believe me it is not always easy.

On the morning news earlier this week, national economists were calling the last 10 years “the Lost Decade”. And there is no doubt about it, it has been very difficult for many people; some lost their retirement, some lost their homes, others lost their faith.
But I don’t want us to be lost. I want Americans to wake up and become the people that we can be, more self sufficient, not so gullible. And I am certainly not talking about taking up arms and buying ammunition. I am talking about thinking BEFORE we act and then being responsible for the outcome.

So, on this morning of the New Years Eve, what many consider the last day of this decade, take heart. It is a Full Moon, a Blue Moon, as well as a Lunar Eclipse at 12:13 MST; a powerful day. But every day is powerful. Dream your future. Take a deep breath. Remember those people that you would most like to emulate and give thanks for having them in your lives. It is our time ~ we are the leaders we have been waiting for.

And I do believe that having a strong community of friends and family is what will carry us through the hard and difficult times, as well as making the joy and prosperity sweeter !!!!
It always has.
I wish you an outrageously prosperous New Year ~ the best year ever.
And I give thanks for all of my friends.

* annette

Prose - A Christmas Memory

A Christmas Memory


This was a different Christmas for lots of people. The economy helped to change the face of it. It was more than that though, the majority were into simplicity. So with that cue I decided to give words, especially to family.

As I sat down to write, I started with my grandchildren,, the out-of-towners, because I had to get them in the mail. It opened up a creativity by first comparing them to their totem animals, and the Moon and the Sun.

As Christmas morning rolled around I was awakened by a phone call at seven a.m. It was Zachary, my fifteen year old grandson from Oklahoma. “Pisha”, he said, “I wanted you to know your poem was the best gift I received..” He sounded genuinely grateful. And I was genuinely grateful also. How often does a grandchild express his love for you so deeply? A true treasure.
Patricia
12/29/09

Priorities

The New Year is a time to consider how we are living our lives and making our choices. Priorities guide choices, putting our time and energy into what is most important to us. The One is my priority.

Priority means:
1. the state or quality of being earlier in time, occurrence, etc.
2. the right to precede others in order, rank, privilege, etc.; precedence.
3. the right to take precedence in obtaining certain supplies, services, facilities, etc., esp. during a shortage.
4. something given special attention.
–adjective
5. highest or higher in importance, rank, privilege, etc.: a priority task.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Priority

The first principle – the One, Yawah, God, Goddess, Allah , the Source (whatever name we use)-- fits all of these definitions of priority to me.

My connection to the One is my highest priority. This plays out in daily choices by allowing for spiritual practices – meditation, inner journeys, prayer, and service. It means opening up to what comes to me, being grateful, being loving. It means remembering that my ego is not the highest authority, that I am sister to all of creation and treating it accordingly. I must remember the ways to reconnect when I start to believe that I am separate from the One.

My soul is like a waving ray of sun light, unique, yet not separate from it’s Source. It’s on a path that may be reflected, deflected or be absorbed. Shining my soul without diminishing the original light from the Source is a way to meet my priority.

My earth-body is one with the Source as well, in the form of particles, appearing to be separate. In this earth realm it grows old, dies, and decays but does not disappear. It is recycled into the earth realm as matter or energy, feeding back into God-the-particle. Respecting my earth-body is a way to meet my priority.

What is more important, my soul or my body? Where soul begins and body ends is a meaningless question, like asking what is light—a wave or a particle? Each form works in its own way to manifest the One.

This is my priority.

--Terra Rafael

Another Memorable Christmas

It was just about the time when suspicions about Santa Claus being real began to surface in my awareness. I had an inkling that it was really my parents who would bring the store bought stocking and place it on the foot of my bed during the night. Well, this Christmas Eve I would stay awake and test my theory.

I lived in the corner room of our apartment in New York and so it had windows facing two directions with venetian blinds as coverings. They let in just enough light from the street that I could see in the dark. My bed was in the other corner with the door near the foot of my bed. Between the bed and the door, I had a large doll’s baby carriage. On the wall across from my bed were two closets. The one on the right was my toy closet and the one on the left was for my clothes. However, the clothes closet had a low shelf where my dolls were all lined up. They waited there (unless I was playing with them, which was often) until nighttime. Then they would come alive and enjoy their room until morning, when they would go back to their closet.

So, I forced myself to stay awake that Christmas Eve and, sure enough, the door quietly opened and my mother placed the stocking on my bed. After she left, I turned on the bedside light and examined my stocking. It was the same as every year. There were peppermint pinwheels wrapped in cellophane and activity books and crayons. Those were to keep us occupied until my parents had recovered from an all night gift-wrapping session. Being satisfied that I had uncovered the mystery, turning off the light, I lay down to sleep. In a minute, or so, I heard the unmistakable sound of cellophane being unwrapped. Raising my head, I saw a shadow rise up from the doll carriage at the foot of my bed.

“Who’s there?” I croaked, jumping under the covers and pulling them over my head. Then I heard the patter of tiny feet, going from the carriage, across the room, to the doll closet.

In the morning, when we arrived at the Christmas tree, there was a walking doll, almost as big as me. I am sure, to this day, that she paid me, and all my other dolls, a visit in the middle of the night.



Prema Rose

If I prayed...

If I prayed, I might say…
Please watch over the people who are dear to me, people who are cold and hungry, who suffer with life.
If I prayed, I might ask that the world turn toward peace in everyone’s heart more quickly.
This all conjures up questions as to whom am I praying? Why do I think there would be a personal interest in my small concerns, and do I think there would be an immediate response just for me?
Yet I do pray, even in the face of those questions, and I do what I can on my end, to help all of that. Whether it’s a list of people who have asked me to pray for them, or those under my care, I remember each one, each morning, before my day begins.
Jyoti

The Gift

No one told me this would happen
I did not know I would fall in love this way
At this time in my life

I did not know how deep the ocean
How high the sky

How lovely the light in her eyes
As she looks my way…

Nine years old
And becoming…

My heart is enchanted with love for her...
My granddaughter in candle light
At Christmas

jesse wolfe

The Morning of Christmas Eve

Blue light of pre-dawn snowscape:
Cold, Quiet, Pristine.
Erie light of TV weather forecasts.
Travel today? Ummmm. God speed.
Black tea with honey and milk,
Oatmeal with cranberries and blueberries!
Phone rings, looking out, checking in.
Indoor forecast?
Baking, cutting board, grandma’s apron
Sleepy kitty ~ purring, twitching ~
bedroom pillows on the couch,
fuzzy blanket, Hallmark movies?
Early darkness will settle in.
Chamomile tea and holiday cookies.
Peace on Earth, Good Will Towards All ....
..... still my prayer.

* annette