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The Urgent Call

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Recently I picked up my new glasses and it’s funny how I see life differently than before. It’s actually just new frames, the glasses themselves have stayed the same. It’s funny because I clearly see how this life is framed. I clearly see Who framed Roger Rabbit and that Jessica was a booby trap. Yeah, I clearly see that now. (By the way, strange word, eh? Booby Trap. Jessica Rabbit sure embodied that one.) So I look around with my new framed glasses and I see all the booby traps this life of superficiality has to offer. Climbing up that ladder, that TRAP, to go to “better” and “higher” places. It’s a con - which is a trap in reverse. You see that ladder and you trap yourself thinking I need to climb up there and when you’re there you are convincing yourself that this is what you wanted. Other people are convincing you that this is what you should want in life. While your spirit knows, it’s been a trap and a con all along and it’s quietly, sometimes, desperately trying to tell ...
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Salt Water

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When your soul chakra is aligned with the stars and the moon, you will be directed to your life's purpose. Salt water will brace you through this journey. - CCN  Last year around this time I dove into a journey that opened me up in so many levels, which showed me again, how amazing this life is. Teachers appeared I didn't even know I was looking for and I just went with it, made a commitment to myself to grow and learn from what life may bring at me. Choosing to see things as a gift rather than an obstacle to overcome, I embraced life in its fullest. This shift in consciousness ended the resentment I felt towards my father for years and allowed me to have a relationship based on loving kindness with him. I'm so grateful that through this shift I spent the last months of his life with him in love and acceptance. Which made our relationship after his passing in April this year , not into a future regret, but rather one that has been healed and lead to having closur...
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The Fortitude of Forgiveness

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At the end of last month I got a text from my oldest sister "Dad asked me to tell you, he wants to see all his children as soon as possible, because his health is getting worse. He has some things he wanted to discuss." I haven't  seen my dad in a good three, almost four years. Ever since he chose not to attend my wedding day (not without an excuse, he's always good at giving those) Up until that moment I gave him every opportunity to be willing participant in my life as a father, but when he didn't show up on that day, something within me hardened and I had set a firm boundary. If he wanted to see me, he had to make the effort as I wasn't going to visit him anymore. My dad's health has been getting worse from this year on, his heart condition had gotten worse. One of his heart valves is not working properly anymore and with the bypass he had, the medicine he is taking for it, well let's say, it's not getting any easier for him. The doctors sa...
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The Formality of Form

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A post shared by Cheetarah (@present_and_connected) on Sep 1, 2017 at 1:35am PDT Last weekend my husband and I had an introduction to Zen-meditation as I wanted to know the form this meditation had to offer and the difference between other meditation forms I have tried. Mindfulness and loving kindness meditations being a few of them.  As the instructor was explaining the origin, practice and form she said jokingly "But don't worry, we won't hit you with sticks!" and I was like "Excuse me, what do you mean with that?!" And she explained that in the Japanese ZaZen tradition when you are learning this form of meditation, you really have to learn the form - when you are not sitting up straight enough, you'll get hit by a stick in your back to re-position your posture! The shock showed on my face and she said "yeah, Zen-meditation is not for wussies! But like I said we won't hit you with sticks." And gosh I just laughed and lau...
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The acknowledgement of suffering

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Loving Kindness Metta Meditation Every morning before going to work or starting my day, I sit at my desk with a cuppa coffee and write my  Morning Pages . This morning was no different. All the crafty stuff are pushed to the side and it's quiet time with me, my thought, my deeper self. In the past week I have been writing down transcripts from "The act of Forgiveness, Loving Kindness and Peace" from  Jack Kornfield . I finish, as I usually do, with writing down the Loving Kindness Metta Meditation and set the tone for gratitude and compassion for the day. the state of my desk this morning Later at work I met a colleague whom is going through chemo therapy from her second encounter with cancer. She was exhausted and was heading for another round of chemo this afternoon. But she was at work for an hour because she wanted to feel she was doing something useful and did some research for an article she wanted to write. I said it was so good to see her again and I w...
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The process of thought collecting

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When I leave my home I always try to bring a notebook and a fountain pen (or two) with me. I've had my midori travel's journal for work appointments and day to day planning, a little notebook here and there for when a random inspiration hits me and need to write it down, I have a notebook at my PC at home for making notes during podcasts I listen to, a gratitude journal and a quote journal... on a random day, this would be what my desk looks like, a multitude of notebooks on my desk going on at once. The looks of it can be quite over-whelming to the outsider, but I have my own system I am working with and suited me fine. But then I wanted to look up something I knew I had written down somewhere, but I couldn't find it. All these loose journals were serving me well as brain dumps, but it wasn't providing the structure I needed when I wanted to follow up on things. I was looking into Bullet Journaling  some years ago but decided that that was a "difficult structure ...
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The Gift of Gratitude

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Today I am sharing a personal story in correlation to cultivating gratitude and how that can open new possibilities in your every day life. Yesterday I had a craving for Risotto and went out with my husband to Den Haag to eat at the place I really wanted to eat. Sadly the restaurant was so crowded and a due to a technical malfunction only cash payments were accepted. Who carries cash with them these days?! Anyhow, a bit of a disappointment there, but then my husband, the darling he is, google searched for Risotto and Italian meals. We ended up in this beautiful little restaurant, (which was a 30 minute walk from where we were at the time and I experienced Hangry symptoms all the way, my poor husband can attest to as I asked 'are we there yet?!' like a 4 yo toddler every 4 minutes), which had a gorgeous turquoise canopy (yes, turquoise is my fave color, not sure if you noticed ) and thought "hmm, maybe this day won't suck after all.." and oh, what a wonderful...
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