Miracle of the Heart

There’s always a special something in the air during the holiday season. For some it inspires a permanent grin affixed on their face, rouses a kind deed amongst the hustle and bustle, or motivates nonstop humming while going through daily tasks. So what exactly is inspiring all this behavior? I believe it’s because people live with more of an open heart this time of year.

Living with an open heart is one of the leading causes of happiness. When we live with an open heart we express gratitude easily, are quick to forgive, and continuously wish others health and happiness.

I just finished listening to a great interview of Marci Shimoff, author of Happy for No Reason. She told a great true story that supports the power of living with an open heart. A woman had been living with Lupus for 15 years. Bound to a wheelchair and constantly in pain she was very depressed. She came across the concept of meta meditation, which is the act of silently wishing everyone you meet a wish of health and happiness. While she was skeptical she decided that she had nothing to lose and so she made a commitment to herself to practice meta meditation for one year. She would wake up every morning, sit up in bed, and say silently to herself, “May I be safe, may I be happy, my I be healthy, may I live with ease.” And then with everyone she would meet through the day, from the people in line behind her at the store, to the fellow drivers on the road, she would silently send them this wish, “May you be safe, may you be happy, may you be healthy, may you live with ease.”

It has been a year and doctors are now calling her a medical miracle. She is completely symptom free, out of her wheelchair, and exercising three days a week. The only thing that changed in her life was the openness of her heart.

After hearing a story like this you have to ask yourself, “is it possible to heal by wishing others well?” I’m not exactly sure myself, but one thing if for sure; I’ll be trying this meta meditation out for myself! What do I have to lose, right? What a beautiful act of self-love and a generous gift to others…and what better time of year to try it out than during the holidays?

Becky,
Sister of Soul

Soulspiration of the Week:
“Today, see if you can stretch your heart and expand your love so that it touches not only those to whom you can give it easily, but also to those who need it so much.” ~Unknown

Giving Thanks

My sisters and I are busy preparing for this week’s Thanksgiving holiday, which has a significant meaning to us. It might surprise you to know that we are actual descendants of the first Pilgrims who joined the Wampanoag people at Plymouth for the harvest celebration we now know as Thanksgiving.

Yes, Francis Cooke and his son John (you can Google them if you like), are our relatives from way back. They came across on the Mayflower, leaving Portsmouth, England in September of 1620. After several storms and close calls they anchored at Cape Cod on November 11.

It wasn’t until the next year that the first Thanksgiving was celebrated. It was a hard year and nearly half of the Pilgrims had died. Thanks to the local Indians, and their ability to speak some English, peace and trade treaties were established and special guidance was offered by the Wampanoag regarding the ways of the land.

In early autumn 1621 the 53 surviving Pilgrims held a celebration, which today we refer to as the first Thanksgiving, to show gratitude for their bounty. The local Indians attended and the event lasted three days.

I don’t mean for this blog post to be a history lesson. Dates and figures aside, the story of the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving is inspiring.

First of course is in keeping with our theme for the month; gratitude. After enduring a horrendous journey across the ocean, a harsh winter of cold and disease, a land that at first glance may not have appeared as bounteous as they had envisioned, and the loss of many close friends, the Pilgrims were grateful. They saw through the hardships and thanked God for His many blessings.

And then there is the reason these people even considered leaving the security of their homeland to begin with. Enduring religious and political persecution became unacceptable to them. Instead of conforming or continuing their futile protests they chose a form of peaceful action. They would set out for a new land where they could live in alignment with their own values and beliefs. They become empowered! How many of us would do the same?

While hopefully not to the same degree, we often face similar adversity in our lives each day. How many times do we endure living out of alignment with our own values and beliefs because of the views of our work (or boss), church (or church leadership), friends, and family? Do we choose to take peaceful action and move on to our own new world? Do we choose to become empowered? Or do we instead conform to the popular views in an effort to keep the peace, or complain from under the radar? Hmmm, where might we be doing this very thing in our lives right now?

Thanksgiving…Yes I’m looking forward to the turkey and stuffing and a day off work to spend with family. And, of course I’m proud to be part of the Pilgrims’ brave and hardy lineage. The Thanksgiving story however is really one of gratitude and empowerment, and for that I give thanks.

Kim,
Sister of Soul

Soulspiration of the Week:
“Heap high the board with plenteous cheer and gather to the feast, and toast the sturdy Pilgrim band whose courage never ceased.” ~ Alice W. Brotherton

Face Your Light

One of the few plants I have sits on my kitchen window sill. It has always loved that spot as it gets plenty of southern sun there. Every few days though I need to give that plant a full turn. As most of us know, a plant’s foliage cheerfully grows towards the sun. And unless you want a crooked plant you need to spin it every now and then. Plants turn their attention constantly towards the light to reap the full benefits of the sun. This natural process is very important for the plant to grow and reproduce.

We are born with this same innate tendency to turn our attention to light. It is natural for us to be drawn to positive emotion; joy, happiness, gratitude. But as we go through life we are constantly trained in noticing what’s wrong. We focus on areas of our lives that need improvement instead. We put attention on our children’s weaknesses, notice the annoyances in our friends, and criticize our spouses.

But just as plants need to focus towards the light in order to grow, so do we. Constantly putting our attention on negativity can hinder our growth towards living our best life.

Gratitude is a perfect way of bringing all our life’s gifts to our attention. It’s simplistic enough for everyone to understand and it’s easy enough to start today! When we consciously think about all that we have to be thankful for we retrain ourselves to notice all that is right, instead of all that is wrong. Even though gratitude is quite a simple idea, it isn’t effortless. It requires diligence and practice to create a gratuitous life!

So start an attitude of gratitude today and face your light!

Becky,
Sister of Soul

Soulspiration of the Week:

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” ~Howard Thurman

Join our Virtual Gratitude Appreciation Month Event!

You can win these fabulous prizes!

Thanks to all our wonderful friends, fans, and followers, it’s been an amazing year! To show our appreciation we let our creative juices flow and planned a fun “appreciation event” that everyone can participate in, regardless of the miles between us.

For our “virtual” Gratitude Event, we’ll be connecting via the internet and thanking you all with give-aways and fabulous prizes! Here’s how you can play and win…

On Saturday, December 5, 2009 we will be holding our “Gratitude Event” prize drawing. Winners will be drawn at random. You earn entries in the drawing by completing the “Gratitude Event” activities listed below. The more activities you complete, the more entries you receive in the drawing and the greater your chances are to win! All activities must be completed by midnight, Friday, December 4, 2009 to qualify.

GRATITUDE EVENT ACTIVITIES LIST

1. Become our “fan” on Facebook. Yes, all our fans, both old and new, earn an entry in our drawing.

2. Post a “Gratitude” comment on our Facebook Wall. Type, “I’m thankful for…” and then just finish the sentence. Very simple, very easy and earns you an entry in our drawing!

3. Use the “Suggest to Friends” feature of Facebook to recommend your Facebook friends become fans too. Then post a comment on the Soulspring Facebook Wall stating you did so, and earn 2 entries in our drawing!

4. Subscribers to our monthly Soulspiration e-newsletter receive 2 entries in our drawing. Not yet a subscriber? Register for your free subscription here. We’ll be announcing our winners in the December issue and it might be you! You don’t want to miss it!

5. Become an “official” Follower of this Soul Sisters Blog and earn 2 entries in our drawing. Just click on the “Follow” icon (in the middle left of this page).

6. Follow us on Twitter and earn 2 entries in our drawing.

So there you have it, a fun way to share, give, have fun, and win…all online! If you complete the entire Gratitude Activities List, you will have earned 10 prize drawing entries!

PRIZES:

1 First: Flip Ultra Camcorder
The easy-to-use pocket-sized camcorder, featuring one-touch recording and digital zoom. Capture all those amazing life moments! A $149.00 value!

1 Second Prize: Ipod Shuffle 4th Generation
The world's smallest music player! Take your inspirational music and podcasts with you wherever you go! An $80.00 value!

3 Runner Ups: Soulspring Journals
Our Soulspring Journal is designed to inspire, motivate and provoke reflection. What’s your dream? What’s your passion? What mark will you leave on the world? This journal helps to make your vision a reality! A $30.00 value!

Good luck ladies! Stay tuned as we announce the prize winners
in the December issue of our Soul-spiration newsletter!

Be Grateful for the Journey

As we go through life we tend to put our main focus on what’s waiting for us at the end. We rush through our weeks, just to get to the weekend. We can’t wait until we are done with school, so we can finally get that dream job. We wish our newborn would sleep through the night, so we can get back to a “normal” life. And, we hold out for that someday when we have enough money, so that we can be out of debt, then we can be happy. But, it’s the in between moments, that when put together make our life what it really is, and what it will be.

Think of the hundreds of thousands of still pictures it takes to make a cartoon. When all these pictures are put together in a precise sequence and transitioned at a high rate of speed, the result is a cartoon that tells a story. The cartoon has seamless movement. The images flow together so exactly that it gives the picture a natural and realistic look.

Now think about making a cartoon of your life. How will your “Life Cartoon” look? Will you recall all the details of your journey to give your cartoon that seamless flow? Or, will there be huge gaps between your major accomplishments, resulting in a severely edited version of your story?

It’s not too late to start adding material to your “Life Cartoon”. Open your mind, and heart and you will begin to notice all the blessings you have in the here and now. Being grateful for what we experience during the journey is one of the secrets to a happy life.

Jenny
Sister of Soul

Soulspiration of the Week:

"The journey is what brings us happiness; not the destination." ~Dan Millman (Way of the Peaceful Warrior: A Book That Changes Lives)

Love, Gratitude & Giving

It’s November and I’m excited! As anyone who knows me can attest, this is my favorite time of year. To me it’s the beginning of the holiday season; a time of love, gratitude and giving.

You see, I believe that love and gratitude are the most powerful of all emotions, easily trumping fear, anger and negativity. Is there any other time of year when love, gratitude and giving are more freely expressed than during the holiday season? I think not!

So while I try to do my best throughout the year to make love, gratitude and giving a daily focus, for the holiday season I intensify my efforts. Here’s how…

Practice present time consciousness. With every activity, instead of just going through the motions, I make a conscious effort to think about what it is I’m doing, why I’m doing it, and how it’s impacting the world. For tasks like wrapping gifts and sending holiday cards, this may seem like a no-brainer. But what about paying bills and running errands? While maybe a little more challenging at first, it is possible to find the giving, love, and gratitude at their core. This practice can actually make the most monotonous of tasks quite inspiring!

Believe in divine timing. They say there are no good and no bad experiences; they are all neutral and it’s our own thoughts and beliefs that label good and bad. Try to tell yourself that while you’re stuck in traffic and late for an appointment! Yet, you can certainly look back on any “bad” experience and find some speck of “good” that came of it. At this time of year I practice trusting in divine timing; everything is as it should be at this moment in time, and all will be revealed at the perfect moment.

Be thankful for everything. Instead of complaining about the cold, be thankful for the crisp air and frosty beauty. Rather than lament your busy holiday schedule, give thanks for the friends and family who want to spend time with you. As you roll out of bed each morning, start your day with a “thank you” as your feet hit the floor, and set the tone for a wonderful day!

Be of service. It would be wonderful to spend time volunteering or somehow serving the less fortunate this time of year; it’s what the season is all about after all. But what about the everyday simple acts of service, like allowing a hurried mom to go ahead of you in the checkout line, opening the door for a stranger, shoveling the walk for an elderly neighbor. They take merely a moment, yet when given with love the ripple effect from these simple acts of service is far reaching.

They say that the holidays can be a stressful time, and I admit it certainly can be hectic. Here’s my holiday stress-busting tip just for you: Place your focus on love, gratitude, and giving, and make this time of year your favorite too.

Kim
Sister of Soul

Soulspiration of the Week:
“The single greatest thing you can do to change your life today would be to start being grateful for what you have right now. And the more grateful you are, the more you get." ~Oprah