Become The Story You Create

Posted on December 12, 2008 by lautrec

Cabbage: A Natural Mandala

Today I was doing my morning reading of the New York Times when an article by Judith Warner caught my eye that reminded me of a conversation that I was just having with a friend about her daughters and her inability to keep their problems from becoming hers. I ran across this jewel that I think has a wonderful message for us all today:

“We fuse with the words we use,” the psychologist Keith Saylor told me last week. “We become the story we create. And there’s a story being created about who your child is.”

Of course Dr. Saylor was talking about our relationships with our children but the same principle applies to how we think about ourselves and our lives and what we manifest or create in our daily lives.

I am grateful that I can now manifest and create wonderful things in my own life and that I choose to create love, peace, beauty, wisdom and understanding in my world.

I am Strange and that is Good

Posted on November 22, 2008 by lautrec

Strange . Unique . Odd . Wonderful

On my walk for the past few days I have been working on accepting myself just as I am. I have been celebrating and affirming my Self in every way. I spent decades trying to be like others or wishing that I could be more like other people or fit in better with the rest of the world. What a waste of time. I am myself and that is my gift to the universe. I choose to use my talents, my intelligence, my perspective, and my love to make the world a better place.

I am Strange and that is Good! I am grateful for who I am. All is well!

Celebration of Manifestation

Posted on November 22, 2008 by lautrec

November Sunset In New Jersey on the Delaware River

Today I celebrate the manifestation of my affirmations of the past several months in the life of someone very dear to me. I am grateful that the universe has heard my plea. I am grateful for the new opportunities and new relationships that are coming into being at this very moment in time.

The photograph above was taken on my abbreviated walk today. I got started a bit late and the sun goes down very early right now, but the good thing about it is that I was at this spot, at this beautiful moment in time, with my camera.

Life is good!

Fall Mandala

Posted on September 20, 2008 by lautrec

Fall Mandala: Infinite Orange

This mandala was made by using a kaleidoscope effect on a fall leaf that I picked up on my walk yesterday. This was done with Paint Shop Pro. At the bottom of this post, you can see the original leaf that the image was made from.

I am grateful for the beauty of the colors of fall and the ever changing quality of nature. There are surprises out there every day for me if I am willing to pay attention and to be grateful. I am grateful for the scanner which allowed me to photograph the leaf and capture these incredible colors and textures. I am grateful for the art program which allows me to transform these images into another reality. I am grateful for the technology that makes it all possible. I am grateful for the inventors that came up with these incredible tools.

I love this fall mandala and the infinity of space that it symbolizes for me.

Fall Leaf: From a walk along the Delaware River in NJ

Affirmations That Work (in their own time)

Posted on September 14, 2008 by lautrec

Rock Window

From Answers.com the definition of affirm:

To declare positively or firmly; maintain to be true.

To support or uphold the validity of; confirm.

From my own experience an affirmation is a positive declaration of something I want to see come true. It is much more than a wish. It is making a statement that this deeply desired outcome has already materialized while at the same time thanking the universe for making it so.

Sometimes it can be discouraging when you make the affirmation over and over again every day and nothing seems to budge. The situation seems hopeless and stagnant.

Last night I found out that one of my affirmations that I make every day on my walk is beginning to materialize. It is happening in a different manner than I had affirmed and in a much larger and much more positive way than I could have ever imagined or asked for. I think that the big movements that need to occur in our lives sometimes take more time than we might think necessary. We have to wait for the conditions to be right. Big changes don’t always occur on our schedule.

I am grateful for the confirmation of my affirmations. I am grateful for a changed reality in my life and the lives of those around me. I am grateful for the increase in hope and confidence that this change brings.

Letting Go: Challenges of a Perfectionist

Posted on September 13, 2008 by lautrec

Yellow Flower from the Garden District in New Orleans

I think I probably could have called this Blog “Letting Go” because on the spiritual journey that I am on it seems that I am coming up on the need to do this over and over again, each time in slightly different ways. My need to let go is very strong evidently.

I have always felt driven to always tell people exactly what I think about them and about the best course that I think they should take. The problem is that, not everyone wants to hear my opinion all the time and sometimes I just need to shut up and let it go. I have to trust the universe to get the message out without thinking that I am the sole messenger of truth or wisdom.

I may be driven to perfection, but I don’t have to use it as an instrument of torture over myself, my family, my friends or my associates. I have to learn to let things work themselves out sometimes or simply fall where they may and find their own way.

I am grateful that I am learning to temper my perfectionism. I am grateful that I am learning how to express it. I am grateful that I am learning to let go of my perfectionism. I am grateful that there is a wonder and a beauty to the world around me that is an imperfect world.

Learning about perfectionism is learning about forgiveness.

What Can One Person Do? Inderjit Khurana

Posted on September 6, 2008 by lautrec

Blue Water Abstract

Last night as we were just about to go to bed, we stumbled across the story of Inderjit Khurana on PBS. This is a heart wrenching story but it also the story of how one man or one woman can make a difference for Good. Watch the The Train Platform Schools of India video online here.

This encourages me to reach out more and to visualize change in my own community and make it happen. It also reminds of how fortunate I am to live in America with good schools and opportunities everywhere. I am grateful to live in America. I am grateful that I had a good mother and father who worked hard to give me everything that I needed to thrive. I am grateful to hear the story of Inderjit. I am grateful for her spirit and her work. I am grateful for PBS. I am grateful that we can all hear about this story on the net.

In terms of this video, it is a PBS production for the series The New Heroes about Social Entrepreneurs.

Letting Go Of Hurts

Posted on September 1, 2008 by lautrec

Stone Heart

I don’t always hold onto the good things and good times. I seem to be attached to some very bad things and horrible times in my life. It is amazing how hard it is for me to let go of these old hurts; those times when I have been rejected or ignored for reaching out to someone. It is important to remember that the hurt is something inside of me and not something that they did to me. I am responsible for my own emotions, my own reactions and my own well being. They may do something that causes me to feel hurt, but they did not place that feeling there. I did. I can choose to let that hurt reside in me and grow and set up residence, or I can choose to let it go. I guess sometimes I have to release some situations, some people, some hurts, over and over again until they disappear or dissolve into nothingness.

I am grateful this day that I am free of all old emotional wounds and that I set myself and others free. I release myself. I release those that “hurt me”. We are all free of my hurt. We are all free to love again. I can let go of my own hurt feelings and my negative emotions so that I can more fully embrace wonderful and great and beautiful things.

Now I am ready for my walk.

My Own Path

Posted on August 31, 2008 by lautrec

Verdant Pathways

I am grateful that I can take my own path. I am grateful for new ways of thinking. I am grateful for the ability to look at my old patterns and the new ways I am finding of relating to my world and the people around me. I am grateful for new friends and new acquaintances.

I am grateful for gratefulness. I am grateful for the simple gift that someone gives me when they say ”Thank You”.

In the photo above you can see that summer isn’t quite over yet [at least in this particular spot], down the path the leaves were falling continuously; so much so it was raining leaves.

I Am Grateful

Posted on August 29, 2008 by lautrec

D and R State Park

I Am Grateful For:

Not drinking to excess

Not smoking anymore

Being able to walk 5 miles a day

Thinking in new ways

New friends

Learning to release old hurts, slights, resentments and jealousies

New positive habits

New authors I have found: Louise Hay, Deepak Chopra, Salman Rushdie

New ways of publishing online: WordPress [new to me at least]

Coming of fall

Coming of Christmas

Public Parks: D & R Canal State Park [see photo above]

Walking . Thinking . Learning

Random Thoughts From My Walks Along the Delaware River

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