"You are confined only by the walls you build yourself"

                                                                                        author unknown

I call this blog Spirit, Soul and Work because I feel Spirit working through my Soul a lot of the time. I am paying attention to the whispers of Spirit most of my waking moments. It is important to me to live in such a way that honors and allows time for quiet talks with the Master.

For the last few days I have served on jury duty. The process was long and arduous (because of the constant sitting and waiting) but I held my self open to the experience. After some time I was placed on a jury.

Our case was relatively cut and dry. A man robbed a bank, was caught with money a short time later and admitted his guilt. The defense attorney had hoped for guilt on a lesser charge. We, the jury, found him guilty to the letter of the law. 

At first two of the jurors thought he should be guilty of theft and for a few minutes during closing arguments I leaned that way. But it was clear that this man robbed a bank. After the verdict, the judge told us that this man had just gotten out of prison after 16 years for the same crime and had been incarcerated many times before.

I walked away saddened for this man. He has been in prison his whole life and would likely die there. He never opened himself to the possibility of freedom from his own demons. He just couldn't do it. I sent a silent blessing to him I pray he feels the love surrounding him. I am glad he is no longer on the street and will have food and a regular place to sleep.

My Soul knows that we all create little prisons for ourselves...little imaginary cages that keep us confined. The only way out is to notice that they are created by our own thoughts about things and are not really holding us back, unless we choose to believe they are. There is so much love here, so much joy.

Choose to love your self, to take care of yourself in the most loving way possible. Step out of self imposed shackles. Is there something in your life that it's time to let go of? Give it some thought and know that there is a loving Presence with you now. You can notice or not...still there...helpful, loving, encouraging...

Until next time...

Namaste

Work As Play

"I will act as if what I do makes a difference" 

                                                                                     William James

I continue to work for an internet company doing mostly customer support. What I find amusing about this is, I am the least technical person I know. 

If the world around us is a reflection of the world within us...what does this mean?

My yoga practice is becoming more important in my daily life. For the past few years I have practiced yoga at the Y. I began with an incredible instructor who breathed us through entire classes and rarely took a pose except to demonstrate when necessary. This gave me a foundation, an inner awareness of each asana and the breath that accompanied it.

After this instructor left to open her own studio I continued classes with other instructors using the awareness  I learned from her. This week I have begun an at home practice and a renewed strength is building inside me. I will be writing about my practice and the changes taking place both inside me and outside. Because, as we know, when something changes on the inside it will become noticeable in the rest of our lives.

I am excited to journey into these changes finally allowing my Self to "come out". Not in the way so many athletes and actors have been lately, with their inner gayness, but with my own secret...my inner hippie! :) I am not woo woo. I just know that there is a loving energy that pervades all things...I have always seen it and felt it and hid my knowledge of it to fit in. But where do I fit except into other peoples ideas of what is real?

Journey with me, if you like, into your own awareness of the pulse of life beating within you. Breathe in this life force, God, this Spirit that has always been with us and stays with us until our last breath.Then lovingly escorts us to the next phase of our Soul travels.

Until next time...Namaste

"Yesterday is already a dream, and tomorrow is only a vision;

but today, well lived, makes every yesterday a dream of happiness,

and every tomorrow a vision of hope.

Look well, therefore, to this day!

Such is the salutation of the dawn."

Sanskrit Proverb

When I come downstairs in the morning and walk into my kitchen, this is what I see. These beautiful cats came into my life about thirteen years ago. They live mostly in the yard but sometimes come in to sleep if it is rainy or cold.They follow me around the garden adding a quiet contentment to my day. I pour a cup of coffee then walk into the garden to feed them. Roxy, my doodle dog is always by my side during this morning ritual. Animals add certain elements to our lives...Roxy exudes joy! She teaches me to let go...to allow my happiness to unfold. We had another dog before her, Dartanya, whose energy was wisdom. I learned from her to pay attention...to slow down and really see.

                                                                       

.
It isn't only the animals in our lives who can help with learning on our journey, of course, the people we live with or encounter can do that also. Lately I have noticed that my husband's silly antics which lately have irritated me are now beginning to make me pause and smile and laugh! Why do I feel so serious? Where did this shell of irritation come from? My yoga practice has given me space around my thoughts. I can look out now and see how I am living in the world and create a shift if I want to by conciously allowing myself a different point of view.

Life really is very good. Choose joy today.

Until next time...