One of the simplest ways to create sacred space in your home (or office) is through a personal altar. Not only are personal altars significant, they are a great way to anchor your intentions in life. My current altar contains a buddha statue (a gift), a peace candle (also a gift), a metal singing bowl (another gift!) and flowers from our garden. When I walk past this altar with the my beeswax votive burning, I feel a deep connection to life, a sense of purpose and joy. All that from a few treasured objects placed together in a significant way!
Altars can contain anything that is meaningful and can represent anything you wish. For example, you may collect treasures from a vacation for an altar about having fun and cultivating play in your life. Another idea is an altar representing significant relationships with photos and objects relevant to the individuals you are honoring. If you’d like to tap into more creativity in your life, your altar may contain pencils, journals, paints, cool art…etc.
Creating an altar is an inspiring way to cultivate your creative juices and anchor your intentions. I encourage you to give it a whirl!
It’s hard to believe Martin and I have been married for 28 years….how can I be old enough to be married that long?! The years have just flown by. And tonight at dinner we will do our annual toast, “To One More Year!!!”
…..watching lots of television.I’ve noticed lately when I’m bored or feeling under motivated I turn on the television.And guess what, I become even more bored and lazy.And besides there is NOTHING on!!!Even with 100 channels I rarely find something that’s worth sucking out my brains…Okay I admit it, I like a lot of the shows on Bravo, the Animal Planet channel, the Psychic Detectives (can’t wait for the new season!) No Reservations, Dog Whisperer, Ellen Degeneres and The Daily Show (how else would I get my news?!).
I used to watch a lot more television.Then my husband and I made a conscious effort to limit ourselves.We went from three televisions down to one and moved the only television to the finished basement.That strategy was very effective….we easily cut our viewing time in half.Some weeks, I’ll go several days without turning on the tv….a huge shift for us.
This change came after my feng shui studies and a Philip Glass concert I attended a few years ago. Philip GlassThe concert was original music scores by Glass for movie shorts.One movie in particular was so striking, it’s the only one I remember.In this movie short, the camera scanned the faces of a group of young children that were sitting together.They were probably about 4 – 5 years old.Glass’s music was playing in the background and the camera just scanned the faces.After a few moments, I started wondering if the children were autistic or mentally impaired in some way because they all had a glazed, catatonic look on their faces.Turns out, all the children were normal, they were just being filmed watching television!!
Another interesting piece of information I ran across is what is called “change ups.”Television programmers intentionally use short changing sequences which holds our attention with visual bombardment.This can have dire consequences for children with developing brains not to mention a few less brain cells in my own head! Television and Brain Development
This information leads me to wonder, is this the new form of brainwashing?!
I had the great fortune to have coffee with my friend Karen this morning to catch up and bounce around some mutually beneficial business opportunities. It has been a while since we last met and we had a lot to share. I just love catching up with people. I find people’s journeys fascinating, inspiring and very motivational. Karen, like me, worked in corporate American for many years. And she, also like me, felt “strangled” by the experience. We have many things in common, but the most obvious is how we each took the leap off the cliff and created the lives of our dreams by doing the work we were born to do.
Check out Karen’s website and read about her courage to make big changes in her life. I hope you find her story inspiring like I do! Midlife’s A Trip
Lately, I’m finding myself experiencing moments of bliss on a regular basis.I don’t have a formula for it, it just seems to happen.That doesn’t mean all the “hard” work I’ve done on evolving, growing, stretching, and changing hasn’t contributed….of course it has. It does mean that some of my choices (like avoiding the media, news, books, movies and other things negative) provides a foundation for bliss to happen.I’m way too sensitive to be plugged into marketed doses of negativity.
My most recent experiences of bliss have been about laughter. (see blog from June 8th) My sister is visiting from Memphis and I’m finding it easy to have giggle attacks….it just happens when I’m around my family. And laugher shows up with my friends who appreciate that I just can’t take some things too seriously and appreciate my playful side.
I find that small, occasional doses of bliss go a really long way.Those moments can provide flow for hours, sometimes longer.On the other hand, moments of marketed negativity (like media and news) can sink me into the sewer hole for days!If this happens to you, I encourage you to cultivate bliss on a regular basis.A little bit goes a long way and creates magic. Oh, and it’s one of those things in life that can be free.
Some conscious sources of bliss: Comments on your sources of bliss are most welcome!
