Reflections

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  1. Kelli Smith
    Kelli Lynn
    1 day ago

    I have been surprised by the impact and change in how I think and feel after starting a new practice of centering prayer daily. I have a long way to go, but I’ve already seen answers to prayers and glimmer of hope and new intentions that have come to me.

    1. Mary
      Mary
      1 day ago

      That’s wonderful, Kelli Lynn.

  2. Robin Ann
    Robin Ann
    1 day ago

    My son scheduled a regular doctor appt and went today. This is huge to me. He tends to shrug off stuff like that but seems to be more on top of medical needs in the past year. He also bought a small motorboat with one of his buddies. I am hoping it will help him relax and enjoy life a little bit more.

    1. L
      Loc Tran
      1 day ago

      Proud of your son, Robin. Health is everything.

  3. D
    Drea
    2 days ago

    My best friend has weekly dinners with her mom, and they invited me to a restaurant to join them this week. Everything about it was exactly what I needed. Good food, a margarita, good company, companionship. I’ve been laid up with an injury, my husband is out of town, and taking care of a strong, big, hyper dog with his own foot injury. So my days have revolved around pain management and dog management, besides working from home. I didn’t realize how cooped up and removed I’d felt until having dinner with these two wonderful people. It was good medicine.

    1. Mary
      Mary
      1 day ago

      I’m glad you had a nice time, Drea.
      Very good medicine. 🥰

      1. D
        Drea
        17 hours ago

        Thank you Mary.

    2. L
      Loc Tran
      1 day ago

      Drea, it’s nice to be able to get out of the house every now and then.

      1. D
        Drea
        17 hours ago

        Oh it is, especially when mobility is limited.

    3. Patti
      sunnypatti
      1 day ago

      Oh, that evening out does sound nice. Much deserved, too! Wishing you and your dog a speedy recovery 🙏🏼

      1. D
        Drea
        17 hours ago

        Thank you Sunnypatti!

    4. sparrow51014
      sparrow
      1 day ago

      What a wonderful surprise,
      dear Drea!
      I’m sure it got you out of your own head,
      probably better
      than any other medicine . . .
      what a good friend you have. ♥

      1. D
        Drea
        17 hours ago

        It did get me out of my head, where I didn’t even realize I was dwelling, ha!

  4. Mary
    Mary
    2 days ago

    I have surprised myself lately. I have noticed that when I speak kindly and gently to my Mom, speaking to her without impatience, I have found myself speaking kindly and gently to myself. I didn’t know that one would naturally flow from the other. One lesson here- Impatience helps no one.

    My intention today is to be kind to everyone I meet, no impatience, and to be kind to myself.

    1. Elizabeth H67151
      Elizabeth H
      18 hours ago

      Wow– I am so inspired by this sharing, Mary! I am glad that you have been able to be patient with your mom, and have then found it overflowing into patience with yourself. Perhaps this can be added incentive to me to be patient with my husband.

    2. Kelli Smith
      Kelli Lynn
      1 day ago

      I have been praying about feeling impatient and annoyed by my mother. Why can I be supportive and appreciative to just about anyone else, but my own mom? It hurts to even recognize it because I know it’s true.

      1. Mary
        Mary
        1 day ago

        ♥️

    3. Joseph
      Joseph McCann
      1 day ago

      ‘Paciencia’ A word in Spanish I heard many times from Juan Lopez to me, in my early twenties, when lambing out a large flock of ewes. Patience.

    4. D
      Drea
      2 days ago

      Wishing you much patience today, Mary! (And wishing that for myself as well).

  5. Carol Ann Conner
    Carol
    2 days ago

    Absolutely nothing is coming to mind. I will say that Richard Rohr’s meditation today did not surprise me but gave me much food for thought about my own life.
    https://cac.org/daily-meditations/chasing-success-creating-shadow/

    1. D
      Drea
      2 days ago

      This hit home: “One of the great surprises on the human journey is that we come to full consciousness precisely by shadowboxing, facing our own contradictions, and making friends with our own mistakes and failings.” Thank you Carol.

      1. Carol Ann Conner
        Carol
        1 day ago

        Drea, Richard Rohr has been in my life since the 1980’s. His books have been very helpful for me.

    2. sparrow51014
      sparrow
      2 days ago

      Richard Rohr’s meditation today,
      spoke to me,
      dear Carol . . .
      thank you for posting it. ♥

  6. pkr29022
    pkr
    2 days ago

    I was pleasantly surprised when I recently found out I don’t owe the feds or the state any 💰.
    I was shocked as I figured I would have to pay them something!!!!
    I am grateful & thankful for this “surprise”.
    All my fretting, stressing & nervous stomach was for naught.
    Have a beautiful day All. Smell the roses along the way. 🌹🕊️🩷

    1. sparrow51014
      sparrow
      1 day ago

      I have heard,
      dear PKR,
      that most of what we worry about
      never comes to pass . . .
      do we remember that though,
      when the next thing comes along? 🙂

  7. Elizabeth H67151
    Elizabeth H
    2 days ago

    A few months ago, I started a practice that when I open my blinds in the morning, I try to do that in the spirit of opening the door on an Advent calendar– ready to be surprised by what I see when I open the blind. I look until I can find something that surprises me. It has just been small things, like a flower that opened, or the way that the light is shining through my neighbor’s tree, or the shape of the clouds in the sky, but it has felt meaningful to me.

    1. Mary
      Mary
      1 day ago

      I love this, Elizabeth!

    2. Patti
      sunnypatti
      2 days ago

      Oh, I love how you turned that into a ritual. I peek out of my blinds every morning when I get out of bed. I think I’ll add some curiosity to that peeking out now. Thanks, Elizabeth 🙂

    3. L
      Lauryn
      2 days ago

      Love this!

    4. Carol Ann Conner
      Carol
      2 days ago

      What a beautiful ritual! Thank you. Makes me think of the scripture that goes something like this: “May we have eyes to see and ears to hear so we can be healed”

  8. Charlie T
    Charlie T
    2 days ago

    Hmmm, well, I’m surprised and grateful that my little business is able to support two families. This was a long shot and it took a few years to get going, but here I am. Again. Making a living, or at least paying the bills, with something that my partner and I created. And they say old dogs can’t learn new tricks. 😁 woof!

    1. Mary
      Mary
      1 day ago

      Great to hear, Charlie!

    2. Joseph
      Joseph McCann
      1 day ago

      Ain’t it grand when things fall into place Charlie?

    3. Robin Ann
      Robin Ann
      1 day ago

      Congrats!

    4. D
      Drea
      2 days ago

      Nice work, Charlie! Your little family-supporting business is an inspiration.

    5. Patti
      sunnypatti
      2 days ago

      As my husband and I are both shifting into new careers at “middle age,” this is truly inspiring, Charlie!

    6. sparrow51014
      sparrow
      2 days ago

      Good for you,
      dear Charlie . . . 🙂

    7. Carol Ann Conner
      Carol
      2 days ago

      I’m smiling, Charlie. Your gratitude is inspiring.

  9. Avril
    Avril
    2 days ago

    I’ll keep you all posted—restructuring at work looks to be leading towards a promotion…

    1. Patti
      sunnypatti
      2 days ago

      Exciting!

  10. L
    Loc Tran
    2 days ago

    My life remains the same. As the old saying goes, no news is good news.

    1. Mary
      Mary
      1 day ago

      I need to appreciate that about my life, Loc.
      No bad news, is an especially good thing. 🌷🌷🌷

  11. Patti
    sunnypatti
    2 days ago

    Life has surprised me in a beautiful as well as a not so beautiful way lately. The beautiful – the Yogini in charge of the yoga studio I attend and trade desk work for (as well as where I taught my 1st class last weekend) has offered me a regular Sunday morning spot! I am so honored and grateful. The not so beautiful – my mom got mad at me over something extremely silly and has not spoken to me for over 2 weeks now. She is actually giving my sisters the silent treatment as well, but I learned because of this that she’s done that to them many times over their lives… she has only done this to me one other time and that was years ago. Anyhow, what happened was truly a petty thing, although what she did initially caused my husband some anxiety (it was regarding forgiven student loans, of which he was a recipient). But me trying to keep things light tried to make a joke and she told me I insulted her… a friend of hers likes to be in everyone’s business, and I told her (via text) that “so and so could keep her conspiracy theories to herself” followed with a smiley face. I was truly joking, but she took it the wrong way. This hurts, but after talking with my sisters and doing some inner work, I realized that I had so much built-up trauma in my body that I was still holding on to. Not that I thought I was liberated, but I did think I had moved on from my “oldest kid of 4” stuff. Nope! Life surprised me by bringing it back to my attention. I can’t control the way my mom reacts to things, but I can still work on letting go of all that old programming and pain. My back was really hurting this past week, but I attended a special Mental Health Awareness yoga class last night, and we did some kundalini-style breathwork that involved some loud exhales to release some things. I was focused on this issue with my mom, and my back is not hurting this morning!! Still so much work to do, but I’m grateful to recognize it.

    Sorry so long!

    1. Mary
      Mary
      1 day ago

      Does that old stuff ever go away?
      Things can be going really well,
      and then something triggers the old stuff.
      It sounds like the kundalini breathwork
      could be a great tool in working through this.
      Sending much love, Sunny Patti. 🥰

      PS So great that you impressed the yogini
      and now have your own Sunday spot!☀️☀️☀️
      You are doing so well, Sunny Patty

      1. Patti
        sunnypatti
        22 hours ago

        I think if we do the work, it will at least not have such an impact. We can learn to recognize triggers and do what we need to for our nervous system. At least I am at a point in my life where I want to heal instead of just ignoring things and expecting them to go away. I tried that method very unsuccessfully most of my life! I have a lot of tools these days to help me hammer thru the old stuff, but I do also believe that we will always have something to work on. We just (hopefully) get better at dealing with it as we grow and learn.

        Thanks for the love & kudos! My path is really opening up quite beautifully 🙂

    2. Robin Ann
      Robin Ann
      1 day ago

      After so many years I learned that my father “shamed” us children and the silent treatment came along with it. I called him out on it and he said he does do that. Perhaps it is something they learned from their parents. I certainly dislike it but I am glad I know so when it happens it no longer affects me or I acknowledge that he is doing it etc.

      1. Patti
        sunnypatti
        22 hours ago

        Very brave – and inspiring – of you to call your father out on giving the silent treatment. Thank you, Robin Ann.

    3. sparrow51014
      sparrow
      1 day ago

      Unfortunately,
      dear Sunnypatti,
      growing pains . . .
      I wish you well
      as you make your way through this. ♥

      1. Patti
        sunnypatti
        22 hours ago

        Yeah… life, right?

    4. D
      Drea
      2 days ago

      Congrats on your regular spot teaching! Re: silent treatment, sounds like a family pattern with its own magnetic pull. That’s hard to deal with, and I’m sorry this is happening. If you are the one to *not* act out the pattern, you’re breaking an entrenched pattern, and that takes doing heavy lifting. You deserve congratulations for that, too. Not easy! Good job.

      1. Patti
        sunnypatti
        22 hours ago

        My sisters and I are all working on breaking the pattern, and I’m grateful that we can talk to each other openly about what’s going on. They do not want to pass this stuff on to their kids, and we all want to heal, so I’m proud of all of us 🙂

    5. Carol Ann Conner
      Carol
      2 days ago

      What a beautifully vulnerable and real response to today’s question. Your sharing of your path with us is inspiring. Thank you.

      1. Patti
        sunnypatti
        2 days ago

        Thank you for your kindness, Carol.

    6. Elizabeth H67151
      Elizabeth H
      2 days ago

      Congratulations on the regular Sunday spot, Sunnypatti! And I am sorry about the misunderstanding with your mom ♥️

      1. Patti
        sunnypatti
        2 days ago

        The regular class is such a blessing! I’m not teaching this weekend, but starting the 8th and looking forward to it. The mom stuff will work out… eventually.

    7. Avril
      Avril
      2 days ago

      Trauma lurks in the body. My husband’s mother gave him a silent treatment for years. Yours doesn’t seem like it will last that long; regardless, it hurts when loved ones are unkind. You are doing all the right things to move through this. Be the example of grace for your mother. It’s interesting when get opportunities to parent our parents.

      1. sparrow51014
        sparrow
        1 day ago

        ” It’s interesting when get opportunities to parent our parents.”

        Yes,
        dear Avril . . .
        it was quite a switch
        and a very important lesson for me as well.
        We never understand this stuff
        until we get to be a certain age.

      2. Patti
        sunnypatti
        2 days ago

        Oof… years of the silent treatment sounds rough. What’s also frustrating is that when I saw my mom about a month ago, she was complaining about a couple of her sisters who are currently giving each other the silent treatment. There are 6 of them, and I know they’ve done it throughout the years. But mom was talking about how childish it was, and here she is doing the same thing. While it hurts, I’m definitely using it as an opportunity for healing, and hopefully I can pass some on to her as well.

  12. Antoinette88615
    Antoinette
    2 days ago

    Life has surprised me in so many ways. For example, migraines seem to come and go like the weather!
    Today I thought that I wasn’t going to be able to do the things I had planned. But now after teaching yoga class the migraine seems to have lifted again .
    After I used the meditation method of letting of my illusionary mind world full of wants and expectations of how things need to be or must be- it was a relief.
    I prayed/yeses the meditation method and for whatever reasons the pain is mostly gone . If I have to go in and get help like I have before then so be it . The hospital is there and my doctors are wonderful people . Km truly blessed .
    What really surprises me about my life right now is the more that I surrender and disappear. The more I surrender and disappear. This false self dissolves and dies is exactly what we are doing in this meditation method. This is me who has once, desires, fears, anger, all of the minds that I have that are false, and they dissolve because of the fact that I was able to do this method and all of the levels I am now truly disappearing my wants and my greed are truly disappearing.!
    This is exactly how life has surprised me right now that actually going to truth in this lifetime is exactly the birthright of all humans to become truth and truly be free is what is surprising me about liffe. In fact if we do not have life then we are only death. But life and death exist at the same time in order to be truly saved we must be free and go to truth- become Truth while alive ! What a great opportunity! 💯🙌🌱
    I’m so very grateful, thank you.

    1. Avril
      Avril
      2 days ago

      Antoinette, you, Sunnypatti and I all teach yoga. It’s no wonder we’re well represented in this community. I also teach meditation, too. What is your meditation method?

      1. Antoinette88615
        Antoinette
        12 hours ago

        This method is the method of discarding your false self in Oder to u cover Truth within you while you are alive. To become Truth here and now .
        https://youtu.be/B952Ivq0D18?si=K9NJohHmWPRBbcKt
        All the videos are really good on this channel. They are all about Truth and are directly from the books written about this meditation.
        Here are links of the more than 350 centers around the world : we do meditation on zoom for easy access and convenience, however you are welcome to go to any center you like even when you are travelling. I have been fortunate enough to visit many of them in the USA, Korea and all over Europe 🌱💓💯.
        https://onlinemeditationevents.com/locations/

      2. Patti
        sunnypatti
        2 days ago

        Meditation is on my list to add as an offering eventually as well! I’m interested in both of your methods.

        1. Antoinette88615
          Antoinette
          12 hours ago

          https://grateful.org/daily-question/how-has-life-surprised-me/#comment-192344
          This is going to Truth while you are alive and can actually access Truth within .
          😊

          1. Antoinette88615
            Antoinette
            12 hours ago

            https://onlinemeditationevents.com/locations/
            Sorry I guess I attached our gratitude link by accident. 😊
            Above is the link to different centres all which practice letting go of falsness- our thoughts, worries, fears etc .

  13. Joseph
    Joseph McCann
    2 days ago

    Not any surprises of late. The most meaningful thing is watching the growing season unfold. Potatoes, onions, radishes, spinach, lettuce. peas are sprouting. I will plant corn, green beans this weekend and transplant some herbs, a couple tomato plants into containers, pumpkins and yellow summer squash on about the 10th of June. I am still babying these frost intolerant plants. The Blue and Engelman spruce seedlings I panted some 26 years ago have just about shed all the brown sheaths that enabled the new growth to follow its own inner intelligence. So soft and green are those new needles. The red headed sparrows and yellow warblers enjoy those 20’+ tall trees. Peace, love and enough to all.

    1. Mary
      Mary
      1 day ago

      Your land sounds beautiful, Joseph.
      Wishing peace, love, and enough to you!

    2. sparrow51014
      sparrow
      1 day ago

      My big surprise the other day,
      dear Joseph,
      was a ground hog nibbling on my lettuce,
      followed by one this morning,
      when I found him or her in the hav-a-heart trap.
      We drove him off to the quarry
      and hope the lettuce comes back.
      Isn’t it a joy
      to see how those spruce seedlings
      have grown into those magnificent adults?
      There’s nothing like it. ♥

      ps. ‘My’ robins fledged this morning.

      1. Mary
        Mary
        1 day ago

        The robins fledged!
        How wonderful, Sparrow!!!

        1. sparrow51014
          sparrow
          18 hours ago

          I’ll miss them . . . 🙂

    3. D
      Drea
      2 days ago

      Ah, that sounds so peaceful. Thank you for bringing us there.

    4. Carol Ann Conner
      Carol
      2 days ago

      I so enjoy hearing about your garden, Joseph. Thank you for always bringing me back to an appreciation for Mother Earth.

    5. Avril
      Avril
      2 days ago

      I can envision everything—thank you for sharing.

  14. Michele
    Michele
    2 days ago

    I enjoy finding laughter every day when I can – people surprise me sometimes with their sense of humor.

    1. Mary
      Mary
      1 day ago

      I just love it when someone unexpectedly says something really funny!

    2. Carol Ann Conner
      Carol
      2 days ago

      Yes, may we all laugh more and stop to smell the roses!

    3. Elizabeth H67151
      Elizabeth H
      2 days ago

      I love this, Michele! I often get in too much of a rush to appreciate others’ senses of humor. You are giving them a gift by being present enough to enjoy and be surprised by it. I aspire to be more that way.

      1. Mary
        Mary
        1 day ago

        You already are so good Elizabeth.

  15. Rita Sowinski
    RL
    2 days ago

    It is a time of change, as this month of May draws to a close, life has brought transitions and introduced new roles. Mother / daughter has revealed new meaning. My daughter graduated, her life is blooming. I as her Mom, I feel so very happy to see her reach her goals, grow and becoming. Now I have to let my former child/ mother relationships go, she has been and still is my daughter, but now she is a sister to the world. New role, college graduate ready to give to the world her passions, she will leave our home and make her own. I see her in new ways and I see myself new as well, living the lesson of letting go.

    1. Mary
      Mary
      1 day ago

      All true, but you will always be Mom to her
      and nobody can replace Mom.

    2. Avril
      Avril
      2 days ago

      I love to see my son adulting!

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