RIGHT – WRONG

Right, wrong, good, bad these are all personal beliefs and most of these beliefs are not really our beliefs! Our beliefs were passed on to us usually from our parents, grandparents, teachers, friends and environment.

 

Our attachment to these old beliefs can cause a lot of stress in our lives. Most of our conflicts in life are created over right, wrong good, bad!

 

This week as Ron and I took time for our weekly exploration of where we are in our relationship, right, wrong, good, and bad were at the top of our list. As Ron and I came from very different backgrounds our list of what's right and wrong, good or bad are sometimes very different; this could very well lead to conflict and, I will confess, has done so in the past.

Some might say Ron is a very moral person and I can sometimes seem very immoral. You could say we see many things from a totally different viewpoint. It stands to reason as most of his beliefs , come from his mother's belief system, and I emphasize his mother here because she seems to have been the strongest influence in his life. Ron's mother was a very strong woman and she basically saw life as black or white, and she was very clear in her belief of good and bad.

I grew up in the midst of general chaos, there was very little black and white, many shades of color, and a lot of gray; therefore I am not so right, wrong, good or bad oriented. I often color outside of the lines and in the forbidden colors!

Somewhere between the 60s and 80s I began to awaken. I began to realize that most of what I had been taught did not make sense. As I began to search for something that did make sense I was led to the study of metaphysics. Metaphysics teaches us to go beyond the physical. I believe that most of you would agree that we are more than just this physical body. Therefore it seems to me that our body, our physical being, is just a vehicle that we can use for interaction on this planet called Earth. I believe that we each chose our body type, our parents, siblings and others that would present to us the challenges and the securities that would help us to complete the mission we came here for. Metaphysics teaches us there is no right or wrong; there just is what is, and the opportunity to change it to what we want it to be.

What this means to me is there really is no good, bad, right, wrong, for these are all simply judgments and usually judgments made without seeing the complete picture and most often these judgments are learned from our past. It is also true that the majority of the judgments we make are aimed at ourselves. Whenever we find ourselves judging someone else's behavior it is a signal that we need a timeout to assess how we're feeling about ourselves. For our natural human tendency is to project our feelings onto those around us.

As we open to a new awareness in our lives we begin to see ourselves more clearly and this I believe is one of the most important steps that we can take to ensure ourselves better relationships with all people.

Conflict comes first from within ourselves whenever we are feeling confused, insecure, needing to blame and needing to be right. Usually when we have these feelings we will choose the person closest to us to blame and make wrong so we can feel right. I'm sure that you will find, as I have, this doesn't work really well, but it usually results in a conflict with someone else which then helps us to feel guilty, to feel angry, to blame and feel justified and when that wears off to feel really, really bad.

Ron and I are working our way through a book I highly recommend called The I of the Storm in which author Gary Simmons quotes Hindu ascetic Muhru  “What makes us so predictable is that attention and awareness continuously reframe the present moment in the context of past influences. Who we are today is what sets tomorrow's stage . . . If consciousness is in bondage to the past or if attention is mesmerized according to ingrained patterns of awareness, the future is simply an extended line from here into tomorrow – and that's what makes the future predictable." This means then, that if we wish a different future, a different life, more love, more fun, more peace, we must change our thinking and thereby our life.

When we begin to see that we spend a lot of our time reliving and re-acting our past, still fighting the battles that we fought with our parents or our teachers or exes, on and on and on, then we begin to see a need for change.

Question is how do we change this behavior? I believe the first step is AWARENESS! When we become aware of certain behaviors that create stress in our life, understanding usually follows and we can begin to change the behaviors that no longer serve us well.

Since conflict seems to be everywhere we look in today's world, it only makes sense from my understanding that you and I must find a more peaceful way to live our daily life. A wise teacher once told us that “As it is within, so it is without.”

Trust me, 76 years has taught me conflict will come and conflict will go, however those we love may not always be here on this planet with us. So let go, turn loose of right and wrong, tune in to love, peace and acceptance and I assure you, you will enjoy your stay a whole lot more.

I share with you today from the place of much love and appreciation and a heartfelt desire that together we will make a difference. My vision is PEACE on EARTH will you join me?

Namaste’

Yoga Yaya

P. S.

Having reached this delightful older age I find there are even more colors than I knew, and many more lines to color outside! I have learned that what might be very, very right for me might not be so right for someone else! What this means in our relationships is that we each have to be aware of what judgments we are making and who those judgments belong to.

You see Ron was drawn to me because of my seeming immorality and my different way of thinking, because he was wanting to explore and color outside of some lines, move beyond some boundaries, explore what he thought was truth, and in his world of truth I seemed to be an enigma.

When we met Ron had just graduated from massage school and there I was with an established, successful healing center practicing massage in ways that were “Not Right” according to what he had been taught. He, however, was brand new in our relationship and it was to early to begin changing me.

Here we are some 23 years later and experiencing some frustrations basically because I still just won't do it right! 

But what I do, DO RIGHT is love you Ron Clark.

PEACE, LOVE! 

PATTERNS

Patterns begin probably at the time of our conception. We learn sleep patterns, eating patterns, loving patterns and even fighting patterns. Most of our early patterns are well ingrained and stick with us throughout our life unless we make a conscious choice to change them.

Studies tell us that if we can stick with something 40 days it will become a pattern. What I have experienced is those new patterns that I decide to establish, things I feel that will surely benefit me, are  difficult to stick with for 40 days. I will confess I personally have worked on a number of these 40 day plans and even completed some of them. These were plans that I felt would really improve  my life. They did not stick unless I really was ready for change!

Now there are other patterns that have stuck; that it seems took less than 40 days to stick like glue! These, as you might guess, are the ones that did not serve me well.

I bring up this discussion about patterns because I have noticed recently in my life and in the lives of others there is a pattern that often creates discomfort, DIS-EASE, and much stress. It is that pattern that  when things are going well, our life is really feeling good, we suddenly find ourselves feeling agitated, irritated and wondering why???

I call this "waiting for the other shoe to drop”. Growing up in a dysfunctional, alcoholic home it was always a given that if we had a good Christmas morning, we were going to have a disastrous Christmas Eve. This definitely applied to any other holidays or special occasions.

When I married I was determined it would be a very different life but that did not happen; the pattern was so deeply embedded in my life I took it with me.

It was many, many, many years later that I realized how well ingrained this dysfunctional pattern was in my life. I did what we all do. I lived what I had learned and followed the pattern that my parents, and their parents, had laid out so many many years before.

Thank God! For awakening and for many great educational books and teachers and especially, Louise Hay, author of Love Yourself, Heal Yourself. I inhaled this book; read it and reread it. Studied and taught it. And finally! GOT IT.

In order to have a different life, a better life, I had to first believe that it was possible! Then the next step, even more difficult to believe, was that I deserve it and then that I could do something about it. I could change the pattern; I could change my life.

I quickly learned and am now a firm believer that the first step to making a change is to recognize what needs to be changed.

The second step is to become very clear about what kind of change I want to make.

I have found that change is a very scary word. CHANGE. It used to be when I heard or thought about CHANGE, my heart would pound, my gut would tighten and I would often put it off, whatever the change might be.

In 1984 as I was experiencing my awakening time. This is a poem that came through me,

FEAR it's not always here!
Sometimes I awaken in the morning
and it's gone.
Then some time midst  the day
it stealthily slips in!

Sometimes I catch it before it
settles in and I send it out.
Sometimes I welcome it with open arms
and revel in it – cuddle with it -
hold it closely to me.

It protects me – when it's here
I am paralyzed
being paralyzed is pain
but! Movement might be more painful

Stay here fear – I don't want to move.

So yes indeed, change does often bring fear. I found another great book titled Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway by Susan Jeffers. It's another one of those books I read and reread and still read.

I know there are patterns in your life that need to be changed. I encourage you to explore and find the many ways in which you can do it differently.

It is time for change in my life, in your life, in our world. Today is the day to begin.

YOU DESERVE A GREAT HAPPY HEALTHY LOVING LIFE!

You are the Artist

When your life seems overburdened and exhausting, too much to handle – it’s time to look and  see what brushes you have been painting with, what scenes you have been focusing on.

As a novice in the painting world I often find myself experimenting with brushes, with colors, and different strokes. In the world of living I'm not always so brave.

One artist I have studied uses a brush with two colors on it at the same time and she has marvelous results, that method does not work as well for me! So it is with our lives we must each discover our own satchel of tools and experiment with our own creating. Always remembering you are a free artist and can create in any medium that you choose, you are free to use any of the different styles colors designs, sizes, shapes, the choice is yours!

Would you like more pleasure in your life, more money, more love, greater health, loving supportive parents, spouse,friends, children, neighbors? Are you interested in a world of peace, power, and plenty? Then it's time to get out your satchel and begin to create the things you want in your world.

You are an artist and the world is your canvas, your mind is your tool for creating, your thoughts and your words are the brushes you use for your paintings.Paint your world Lush and growing and wonderful, full of peaceful, loving, happy, people and places things.

Now is the time and right where you are is the place. Begin right now!

I am here to serve you, if I can help let me know.

Namaste’

Yoga Yaya

I AM AN ARTIST My meditation this morning was focused on how can I use my talents to increase my income? I suspect that question is kind of a universal pondering in our world today. What was given to me was "you are an artist and people are your canvas! Your business is about helping people find the right tool in their satchel to create their bliss. Now I have been playing at painting off and on for several years, but I had never considered myself an artist. So, getting this message was a thrill as well as intimidating. It was similar to when I was ordained and could call myself a minister, it was only after five years of ministry that I found myself believing I was really a minister. It was the same with becoming a mother, it was after seven children, a paraplegic son, and many, many years later that I knew I was really mother. Looking at this from those perspectives I see that we are all artist and the world is our canvas and our beginning creations may not be anywhere like our later creation. As we change, so changes our level of perception and our ability to create more of what we really want to see and experience. I am beginning to realize with my painting that my brushes are way more important than I knew, so I am in the process of trying out brushes to see which ones serve me best, which ones will help me create a clearer picture of what I want to create. And with this outer realizations comes my inner acceptance that I am indeed an artist and so are you! I am an artist and my world is my canvas. My love is working with people and helping them discover the tools they have in their satchel that they can use to create their bliss and then follow their bliss and discover their full potential. Realizing that we are all here on this planet earth to create our own destiny it helps to accept that The Master Creator created us all, and our purpose is to create that which will bring us joy. As a beginner in the world of acrylic painting I find myself wondering which brushes I can use to create certain effects on the canvas. I find it is the same with choosing which brush to use in creating the next chapter in my life. One of the lessons that I've learned is that I can look at what I'm experiencing right now and that will tell me what scenes I have been painting.

I have also found that acrylic painting with acrylics is a very forgiving art, if I don't like what appears on the canvas I can quickly and easily paint over it and VOILA!!!  A new picture appears!


How about taking a look at your life, is it bringing you joy? Do you like what you see? Is it time for something new?

Remember you are the artist what you create is up to you

Won’t you join me in creating a world of peace! Remember it begins with you!

Love you lots

YOGA Yaya

This is a correction of the preceding blog entry

THE SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD

Have you heard of THE SEVEN WONDERS of the WORLD?

What are the seven wonders of the world? That seems like a simple question until you go to Google!

First we find The Seven most remarkable structures of ancient times; the Egyptian pyramids, the mausoleum erected by Artemisia at Halicarnassus, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Colossus of Rhodes, the statue of Zeus by Phidias at Olympia, and the Lighthouse at Alexandria.

Most of these I have never heard of and had some difficulty pronouncing.

But that’s not all!

There are also,

· Seven wonders of the modern world

· Seven natural wonders

· The new seven human made wonders

Did you ever wonder why these things are called wonders? And did you ever wonder who make these choices?

Obviously they did not ask me, I do indeed think there are many wondrous things in our world.

Having given birth to five children and worked as a laborer and delivery nurse for a few years and I can tell you birthing a child is an incredibly, awesome wonder!

When you see what a woman endures to bring that child into the world that is indeed a wonder!

Then when you see that woman willing to do it again What a Wonder!

The first time that baby looks at you and smiles!!! That my friend is a Wonder of the World!

Having birthed five of these Wonders I’m here to tell you the fact, that they survived me as their mother is another of the WONDERS of the WORLD

Reach out your hand and gently touch the back of your other hand. TO TOUCH, now gently stroke the back of your hand.

TO TOUCH - TO FEEL these are WONDERS of the WORLD!

I am speaking to you now and you are hearing me.

I stand before you and you see me

To SPEAK, TO HEAR, to SEE, are THESE wonderful - WONDERS of the WORLD?

To smell your favorite food simmering on your stove an Awesome Wonder.

To touch, to feel, to see, to hear, to smell, to taste these are wonders that are offered to us every day !

But the most wondrous of wonders is available to you right now

TO LOVE - TO LOVE YOURSELF – TO LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR – TO LOVE BEYOND WHAT YOU KNOW –

BECAUSE WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW IS LOVE!!!

These are the Seven Wonders of the World I would like to find on Google!

Thanks for reading - tell me about a Wonder in your World,

Together we can make a difference!!

Yoga Yaya

Seven Wonders of the World

Have you heard of THE SEVEN WONDERS of the WORLD?

What are the seven wonders of the world? That seems like a simple question until you go to Google!

First we find The Seven most remarkable structures of ancient times; the Egyptian pyramids, the mausoleum erected by Artemisia at Halicarnassus, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Colossus of Rhodes, the statue of Zeus by Phidias at Olympia, and the lighthouse at Alexandria.

Most of these I have never heard of and had some difficulty pronouncing.

But that’s not all!

Did you ever wonder why these things are called wonders? And did you ever wonder who makes these choices?

Having given birth to five children and worked as a labor and delivery nurse for a few years I can tell you birthing a child is an incredibly, awesome wonder!

When you see what a woman endures to bring that child into the world that is indeed a wonder!

Then when you see that woman willing to do it again what a wonder!

The first time that baby looks at you and smiles !!! That my friend is a wonder of the world!

Having birthed five of these wonders I’m here to tell you the fact they survived me as their mother is another WONDER of the WORLD

Reach out your hand now gently touch the back of your other hand. TO TOUCH, not gently stroke the back of your hand. TO TOUCH - TO FEEL - these are WONDERS of the WORLD!

I am speaking to you now and you are hearing me.

I stand before you and you see me

To SPEAK, TO HEAR, to SEE, are THESE wonderful - WONDERS of the WORLD?

To smell your favorite food simmering on your stove is an awesome wonder.

To touch, to feel, to see, to hear, to smell, to taste: these are wonders that are offered to us every day!

But the most wondrous of wonders is available to you right now.

TO LOVE - TO LOVE YOURSELF – TO LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR – TO LOVE BEYOND WHAT YOU KNOW –

BECAUSE WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW IS LOVE!!!

PERSUADE–INSPIRE–CONVINCE - CALL TO ACTION

Several months ago Ron and I joined Toastmasters International. Toastmasters International’s mission is "We empower individuals to become more effective communicators and leaders." The local club’s mission is "to provide a supportive and positive learning experience in which members are empowered to develop communication and leadership skills, resulting in greater self-confidence and personal growth”.

That certainly sounds like an experience that would benefit all of us.

It is an experience I battled against for several years. As I look back to determine why I procrastinated the only logical reason I can come up with is our old friend FEAR!

So what was the fear, I ask, what would happen if I became a more effective communicator and leader? The answer seems pretty clear, I would have to step out of my comfort zone and begin the work I came to do.

Someone recently asked me, "Is there a difference between being called and being driven?" I like the way Ron put it, "the call is the pull, being driven is the push." I think that once you answer the call you are driven to do the work.

Many of us believe, because we were taught as a child, that it is conceited to believe that we are being called to do special work. I do not believe that it is conceit to admit to what we feel is true for us. I would call it finally getting honest. Getting honest with ourselves is absolutely necessary if we are to find peace in our lives.

From a very young age I have known that I was a leader; that I was called to be more, see more, and do more than was comfortable for me. I therefore have used many ploys to keep myself way too busy to be more than a wife, mother, excellent housecleaner, etc. { all of which I have now outgrown,}I feel sure that most of you out there can identify with all the tools we women use to hide from what we know we must do. Hiding does not make it go away, there is no busy, busy enough to take away what we came here to do! 

I recently had the opportunity to enjoy a video of a speech made by Jean Houston. If you're not familiar with Jean Houston check her out, she is a phenomenal woman, she is the author of 26 books, currently the advisor to UNICEF. "Jean Houston's mind should be considered a national treasure", said Buckminster Fuller. I bring up Jean Houston because I was mightily impressed with this statement, "that it is the post menopausal woman that will bring our world to peace." As you who know me or have read some of my blogs know that I am a firm believer in the fact that it is time for women to step out and become leaders as we find a way to move out of chaos, out of wars that kill our loved ones and into a world of peace.

As I have progressed in my work with Toastmasters I have completed the first challenge of 10 speeches which now declares me a “Competent Communicator!” It is a nice title. However I am not sure that it prepares me to step out of my comfort zone and do the work I feel called, driven, and compelled to do.

What is this work I feel called to do? I feel that it is time for women to unite, to come together and begin to step forward as leaders. It is easy to see our world is in a mess and the leadership we have today is not helping! I am not sure what the answer is, but I believe without a doubt that we as women can come together and find the solution and lead our world to peace!

As I talk about every week in our yoga classes, if we are to find peace in the world, then we must first find peace within ourselves!

I believe the first step to peace within its to begin to love and appreciate ourselves. To believe and to know that as a woman I AM SPECIAL! “I am strong, I am invincible, I am WOMAN!” as Helen Reddy sang to us in the 70’s.

 

The first step to believing in yourself is to surround yourself with people who also believe in you! Perhaps at this time in your life you do not know enough people who believe in you to surround yourself, so begin with just one or two. If you cannot find in your life one or two people who believe in you, then you have a little more work to do on you. Call me, I will get you started!

Questions to ask yourself on your journey to loving and appreciating you. What do I like about myself? What is special about me? What am I really good at? What do I really enjoy doing? - How can I do more of what I'm really enjoy doing? Who are some people that I really enjoy being around? 

There is really no need to ask yourself negative questions about yourself because you already have enough input into what is wrong with you! It is time now to find out,” WHAT is RIGHT about YOU?” 

YOU ARE ALL RIGHT!

I would like you to know and I am here to tell you,  YOU ARE INCREDIBLY WONDERFUL, YOU ARE UNIQUE AND SPECIAL, THERE IS NO OTHER LIKE YOU ON THIS PLANET! – YOU ARE HERE FOR A SPECIAL PURPOSE AND YOU ARE READING THIS AT THIS TIME BECAUSE YOU ARE CALLED, AND IT IS TIME TO BEGIN YOUR WORK!

As Alan Cohen says in his book LIFESTYLES of the RICH IN SPIRIT, "We cannot afford to wait for someone else out there to fix the world for us. That's how Hitler's anti-Christ and boogey men get born . . .

The miracle is that no one really has to do it single-handedly. Everyone is joined by many others who are inspired by love to do their part. When we were born on earth, each of us was given a certain sphere of activity to influence – some larger, some smaller, all eventually touching all."

So come on WOMEN and guys if you willing, let's step up and out of our comfort zone, let's begin a new way ! TODAY!

Remember it begins with the you! 

My title was Persuade, Inspire, Convince, and call to Action! I trust all  of these are happening in you RIGHT NOW.

I Trust you feel my sincerity and my willingness to help

THANKS

Yoga Yaya

Wolf MEDICINE

"Wolf medicine empowers the teacher within us all to come forth and aid the children of Earth in understanding the Great Mystery and life."

I ask myself, what is it I am to do? What is my purpose on this Earth plane? What is the purpose of the pain? This is an ongoing question in my life because my life, like yours, is constantly changing. Since this is a question that comes up often I have built an arsenal of tools to help me find the answers I seek. "MEDICINE CARDS" are one of those tools; today I turned to my "MEDICINE CARDS" and “WOLF” was my card of the day.

The first line under WOLF  is "TEACHER". It tells me WOLF medicine empowers the teacher within us all to come forth and aid the children of Earth in understanding the GREAT MYSTERY and life.

Now this is not a new message for me. I have been told numerous times my work here on earth is teaching, however, lately that which wants to come from me seems to be a bit radical, even for me!

Today my WOLF card was reversed, which tells me "I am being asked to expand my limited view of the present situation. Doing this may entail a great deal of courage and a willingness to look at new ideas. It could also require that you delete some old ideas to break room for the expansiveness that always comes when you are willing to learn. The gift of wisdom comes to you when you have walked enough pathways and found enough dead ends to truly know the forest. In the discovery and rediscovery of every inch of ground comes the knowledge that nothing ever remains the same."

Expand my limited view of the present situation, W0W! Now there is a concept! You mean, I should look at what's going on around me and see it differently?

I wonder when I forgot that everything is always working to move me in the direction of my highest and best good! That Good is synonymous with GOD.

When did I forget that this time on earth is all about learning how it works here on this planet.

I've always heard and followed the teaching, "We teach best what we most need to learn!" So I asked myself what is that I am to learn now? SELF says, not so much to learn, but to put into practice what you have already learned.

What I have learned is that to live is to grow, to grow is to change, and to change often is the key to peace. So why am I hesitating to speak about what seems true to me? My WOLF card says, "Stagnation or fear of asserting your viewpoint has bogged down the flow of change in your life."

I will admit that I have felt bogged down and even feared that I was being sucked under!

Then I must ask myself when have you ever let fear of saying what you think and feel keep you quiet? Well, I have all kinds of excuses, "I'm getting older, I don't need the hassle, I'll do it later when I feel better."

What I know is ,that the truth is, I will not feel better until I step out, step up and do, what I am here to do!

So hang with me as I explore the thoughts, the ideas that seem so radical:

1. You and I are unique and wonderful creations; we are perfect just the way we are.
2. We are here on planet Earth for a special reason.
3. We are to be the bringers of the Dawn, the Light of the world that the master teacher called us to be. 
4. Our mission is PEACE on Earth.

There that's not so difficult! The difficulty it seems, is this peace we speak of must begin with me, with you; we must find it within ourselves before we can share it with the world.

For me to be, at peace with me requires an acceptance of 1 through 4 above.

I believe the one that we struggle with the most is that we are unique and wonderful creations. That love is what we are!

When we allow ourselves to open and accept our oneness with all of creation then we feel the exhilaration of KNOWING our oneness with "ALL THAT IS“. This acceptance makes all the rest easy to understand.

This knowing does not come easy. It requires that we take some time out just for ourselves. Now that's a radical idea! It is also an idea whose time has come! You, like me, have too much on your plate. It is time for us to begin.

1.De-clutter our house as well as our mind.
2. Set aside time each day to be still and quiet, simply breathe
3. Let yourself be drawn to others who encourage your growth
4. Put space between you and those who would bring you down
5. TRUST YOUR SELF

If you are reading these words and you have read this far, then know that you are a part of the WOLF family. "WOLF” is the Pathfinder, the forerunner of new ideas who returned to the clan to teach and share medicine.”

Peace on earth begins as we are willing to step out, to speak out, to reach out. Our world is hurting WILL YOU HELP?

NAMASTE’

yoga YaYa

HAPPY NEW YEAR

It’s a new year, so why not a new you?

Make a decision right now to get your butt out of your upholstered rut – step up and announce yourself in a new way, to a new world.

There is more to you than you have let show, there is more to you than even you know.

Your world is rapidly changing – spaceship earth is getting ready for take off – and you cannot travel with all the baggage you are carrying.

In her book, THE ONE DECISION, Judith Wright says,

  “TO embark on this glorious challenge, you must leave and jump away from the familiar, this status quo, to discover who you truly are and can be’’

This is indeed a scary challenge. it calls for change and our culture has taught us to avoid change, stay with what you know!  Even though we're not happy

with where we are, our fear paralyzes us and we keep on plodding along,  afraid to move into the unknown of who we might be.

 

You, however, have courage beyond your knowing it's time to step out, reach out, seek out, the you that’s waiting in the wings!

 

My new phrase is adopted from the scripture where Nehemiah was building the walls of Jerusalem and when he was being bothered or distracted, he said,

“I am doing a great work and I cannot come down.”

Where ever you are what ever you are doing you are doing a great work just by letting YOU shine through!

This is your year to shine, the world needs your light. Face your fear – Do something different  - color outside the lines – laugh at yourself – and most of all

love yourself.

Yoga Yaya and the world is waiting  to applaud you!

YOU ARE MAGNIFICANT!!!