Aligning with Grace

There are days that are filled with good things. Those days are easy and bright. And then there are days that are challenges - filled with anxiety and fear. And perhaps without even a ray of hope or sense of possibility. And in those days, we must especially hold on to hope - grasping it as tightly as we can. Yes my friends - despite everything - we must: Hold on to hope. As I went to a park near where I live this morning, feeling all kinds of things, this beautiful instrumental piece came on the radio, and it just happened to be titled,  "Hold on to Hope."  I sensed immediately that it was a message for me sent from the Beyond. Holding on to hope may not always be an easy thing - but it is a necessary thing. Hope gives us life. It helps us put one foot in front of the other when everything else seems challenging and bleak. We can even turn it into an affirmation, to repeat over and over again until it becomes ingrained in us: I hold on to hope. I used to come down to the riv...

Recently, I heard Marie Forleo,  the marketing guru, speak about a mantra she uses that is life-changing for her.She was able to reverse all sorts of situations, attitudes, and outcomes, by simply by saying to herself, something like: "I don't do overwhelm." The key is to implement the words at the beginning of the sentence:  "I don't do..."  and then finish it with whatever speaks to you in a particular moment or situation. I immediately asked myself, what would speak to me in this moment? What do I want to most let go of right now? I had an instant response: "I don't do fear." I went around repeating this mantra over and over again, particularly in anxious moments, and I found myself slowing down, becoming more calm, and being able to handle situations that normally paralyze me. "I don't do fear." What speaks to you? What do you need to let go of? Where do you need more strength? Simply say to yourself -  "I don't do .....

A new year has commenced with a super moon, bearing better tidings, I hope. I chose to dispense with my preferred rituals for ushering in a new year and instead record my theme for the coming year in my journal, which came to me from an unexpected gift. Several friends set out to do the Camino in Spain this year. One, brought me a beautiful pendant from the region from where my family originated. It had a beautiful Celtic inscription on one side, with the the following words inscribed in Spanish on the other side: "Renacimiento Entusiasmo Salud" The moment I received it, sometime last fall, I knew that these words would comprise my theme for the coming year. Renacimiento, can be translated literally as "rebirth," or as "renewal." Both of these seem appropriate for this juncture in my life. This word is followed by "enthusiasm," and finally by "health." I noticed that many people chose a word this year as their own th...

Happiness is, more often than not, elusive. But it really depends on how we define it - or what we think makes us happy. This morning, I read an interview with Oprah Winfrey. The interviewer had to wait for her to finish a photo shoot with the esteemed Annie Liebovitz, who was very apologetic for keeping Oprah longer than expected. Oprah's response caught me my surprise. She told Liebovitz not to worry. While she was with her, she was fully present to those moments and those experiences. Later she would be with the interviewer, and then she would be fully present in that moment with him, no longer thinking or concerned with the photo shoot.  This is the first key to happiness I thought, being fully in the moment. Not in the past - and not in the future. That is not to say that this is an easy task! Earlier this week, I listened to a webinar where the presenter said something very similar. She noted the past does not exist - it is only a memory we insist on bringing back t...