New Year Treasures- 5 R’s For a Good Life

Who said the New Year begins on January 1?  What if every day represented a New Year, filled with infinite possibility, healthy wishes and resolution? Could the ultimate resolution be to value the continuum of life, as a daily treasure?

On New Year’s throughout many global traditions, we reflect on the past year, and conjure what would make for a truly good life. We feel gratitude for friends, decide to exercise, eat healthily, be there for those we love, live with purpose, and the list goes on. During this soul-searching contemplation, we see what we need to change, we see what we want in life, we ask for guidance, we ask for direction, our purpose for being here…we tune-in to what matters most.

After making that New Year’s resolution list – we begin on January 2^nd, full throttle, planning how to do ‘what our heart and soul’ calls out for. But, why do we falter so soon, lose or commitment, become weary of continuing our noble quest.

Celebrating renewal is one thing; living it requires steadfastness, awareness, and commitment to growth- embracing our successes and failures, and learning the life lesson.

New Year’s Every Day - 5 R’s –

Rest in Renewal- In the rush of life, we forget to breath, to enter into the calmness of the heart, where our true being resides. To rest, or pause throughout the day, brings clarity to the moment, lessens the drama of life and helps us balance into equipoise and authenticity.

  Reclaim & Restore- Is to gather’that what serves our highest good and to make that our habit. Our highest feels right; it serves others, as well. We bring to the world that which we feel, think, say, or do.  We bring our truth, our best when we have reclaimed the essence of ‘who and what we truly are. The still place within that resonates a  ONE-ness with all.

 Reboot Resolute- Our core resolution is not mysterious. Most simply, it is the ‘Love of Self’ – Knowing we are one with God. We are connected, as a thread of life to all creatures and we are spirit flowing outward – as a unique expression YOU. Expressing that Love- Living in LOVE.

Remember- You are responsible for all your actions and the results that occur. There are no earthly awards or penances that alter or change infinite intelligence, that pulsates in every particle of the universe and in every vibration within our body, mind, and spirit. It is our duty to remember:  we  create our experience.  Drop judgment, sorrow, fear, confusion, all doubts- and remain anchored to the truth of ONE…the calm in the eye of the storm, the peace that dwells within.

 Rejoice- Celebrate life as a gift, filled with blessings. Having Gratitude for what we have, who we love, as well as for our challenges that help us grow to wholly – brings us into balance.  Laughter and Play becomes life’s sport. We keep the light heartedness of childlike innocence as we grow each day into wisdom and truth.

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Deck The Halls – 5 Tips For Jolly Folly

Who said Xmas is filled with HO HO HO and laughter? Maybe you’re sad, lonely, not in a celebratory mood. Maybe prayers are solemn and wishes are waning into ashes in the fireplace. How grim can it get? Even Scrooge seemed happier being grumpy. So what to do?

Tips for bringing the Jolly Folly back on Deck

1. Go on a Give Spree- Donate to a needy child/family. Find a child’s toy, sweater, cool cap. At the grocery store, add extra pie,turkey, veggies or treats – to place in donation bins or shelters. Donate funds for meals at shelters. Help in the serving lines.  Thinking of others will get you out of your sorry- self.
2. Give Gratitude for all in your life. It’s all in the attitude- How about visiting the elderly lady down the street, show appreciation for her- all alone and getting through the night. Bring her flowers, home-made brownies. Do for other’s what you wish for yourself.
3. Visit your place of worship. Maybe it’s the Xmas candlelight service, or a meditation at home lighting a candle. Nourish your soul and remember the reason to worship. Peace on earth good will to all… imbibing God’s creatures, as One.
4. Folly is a jolly a gift- If you’re in a snowy climate: Make that snowman, throw those snowballs. If not, dip your toes in the surf, hike that mountain, play hide and seek. Go Xmas Caroling.
5. Drop the Scrooge bit – no more Ms. or Mr. Naysayer- Give a shout to neighbors- have a toddy together and mend fences. Call the relative you ordinarily avoid, wish them cheer. Give the mailman a gift, he takes care of you everyday. Remember to Give – Igniting the spirit of enlivened being-ness.

MerrieWay Muses: Jolly is a grateful state of being. See the bright side, the light side.  Bring the humor on, it’s the soul’s way of saying, “Love Life Now, this is all there is.”            www.merrieway.com

Release Cherub Kid Within -5 Tips Have Fun

Dreaming: I was on a train riding next to a very tall man. He wore a long-coat ,trimmed goatee, top hat, reminiscent of day’s gone by. He nodded pleasantly, and I got off at my stop.
That evening coming home the same man was on the train…intrigued I deboarded when he did and followed him up the winding cobble stone street to where he lived. Sitting on a bench nearby, I pondered why I had done such a silly thing as to follow someone I didn’t know.
Moments later, a tiny man, less than three feet tall bounced out the same house…filled with joy, he approached me and literally jumped into my lap. “Merrie Lynn, I am so happy to see you. Where have you been?” Smiling with a cheerful glee he hopped back onto to the ground sparkling with joy and laughter.
I felt a free childlike energy fill me with wonder. I could see he was the same man, the one on the train and the cherub child before me.
How amazing…. A reflection of the adult…over riding the joyous child within.
Think how you don a persona, an adult, an appropriate human, who enters the daily world and carries on as YOU. Inside our heart,  this cherub is dancing, singing, having fun. Yet, the restraints of our long coats keep us from experiencing that exhilarating joy.
Overtime our cherub hides, shrinks, and maybe we ignore its essence. It acts out to get our attention: with an occasional temper tantrum, an over the top exhilaration, popping the lid off of our repressed self.

 Where is your childlike wonder now? Is it at play, alive and well in you? Are you balancing responsibility with joy? If not, how could you?

1.  Laugh out loud everyday. Watch funny movies.
2.  Hang-out with people, who have a sense of humor, like to have fun, like to do fun things.
3. Get off the serious, onto the real. Life is not a drag, we make it so. Give yourself permission to do the ridiculous; hula-hoop, belly dance, balance a ball on your nose. 
4. Do what you love.  From catching butterflies to rollerblading, or catching the wave on a boogie board.
5. Eat the cotton candy, blow bubbles…Who is squelching the Cherub kid within? Got it…Let’s bring on the FUN.

www.merrieway.com

Holiday Blues? 3Tips- Get Over Yourself

Oops! How to make that bread pudding, just like Grandma did, slips your mind. And, that’s the dish you committed to bring to the family dinner. Triggered already, knowing Uncle Charley will be there puffing his cigar in your asthmatic prone face. Suddenly as if on cue you are in the midst of a coughing jag. How rude, you rant in your mind, thinking of a comeback to your cousin, Judy’s anticipated remark, “You still single…must be lonely?”

Get over yourself. None of this pre-planning has ever worked so why not just kickback and take a new tact.  Take Gandhi’s advice, the best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in service to others. But that doesn’t mean being a doormat for your nerve-wracking family, it means having a glass of warm milk and a cookie before you get there, and to pretend you are ten- years- old,  all jazzed up to open the  presents. What does that have to do with giving or serving others? 

Think like a kid- a beginner’s mind You drop judgment and accept people for who they are. You are not going to change anyone over dinner.  What is guaranteed, anyway? “Uncle Charley smokes big cigars. So, stay clear of him. Or bring him a piece of apple pie and put the cigar out for him, at least offer – to diffuse a stand-off in the dining room. Want to change your MO forever in the eyes of your cousin and your eyes, as well. Bring a hunk with you (rent one if necessary) and let her drool over dinner, while he kvells over you.

Kids have fun…so amp up your Funny Bone
 Holidays are celebration, not a sentence at the North Pole. The only one who can freeze out your humor is YOU.  Find the light-hearted moments, share them. You’ll outlive the Scrooges, complainers, and wailers. Our funny bone is an emotional safe-guard, laugh at what bugs you, laugh at your mistakes, laugh at the idiosyncrasies of your wacky family. Pretend you are writing a sit-com and these are the weird characters. Be creative, allow yourself to get out of the box of hang-ups that keeps you from having fun, relaxing and enjoying life.

MerrieWay Muses: Time spent laughing is time spent with the Angels of joy.

www.merrieway.com

Search For Enlightenment

To be En-light…is a piercing of what is temporal, lifting the veil that keeps us bound in illusion. Who said we are a vibrational frequency with multi-dimensional facets and that we are playing with other’s frequencies in an eternal dance? Who said self-realization takes days, years, or lifetimes to arrive?

Near a babbling brook, a young maiden stood alone in the moonlight.  Her reflection glowed in the water as light-beams danced in and around her.  From the depth of the darkened waters, a voice called out, “You have finally come, you can see me.”  Alarmed by the intruder, she looked out into the night. Seeing no one, she uttered in a questioning tone, “I only see me…shining in the water’s light.”   

“Then why do you hear the voice, whose voice is it that you hear?”   Ever curious, she was drawn closer to the water; her reflection twinkled back at her.  The voice beckoned, “Who is it that you see?”                                                                  Unable to control her longing, her desire to see truth, she dove into deep into the water, seeking and searching for the source….eternally… wanting to Know the Knower, the speaker of truth.

Each moment in the life-dance is an opportunity to see what other’s don’t see, to Know the stillness permeating our being, that is timeless.  In the NOW moment, a joy filters through differences, pain and suffering and we can touch a ONE-ness inside, flowing with LOVE.

MerrieWay Muses:  I have had these moments; simply breathing in that delicious nectar…a nameless state, some may say is… En-light.

www.merrieway.com

Can Meditation Save The World?

Holding your breath? Waiting for something special? Will mediating change the world? YES! Me, you, one by one tuning into the TRUTH, the essence that we are all God: One Force influencing each other, influencing every particle in the Universe.
What is the universe? Universal intelligence, God, Buddha, higher self, names of ONE. The core of all existence draws us through our life experience, evoking a spiritual connection to KNOW that ONENESS, that LOVE.
Acceptance of ‘what is’ NOW, rather than resisting or misusing energy begins a cycle of TRUST, an awareness of our inner truth, our greatness. It matters not; where we go, what we do- if we connect to that precious goodness. It sets us free to be and to love.
I choose to breathe into that Stillness, not passively, but actively to embrace what is happening. And to choose what serves my highest good. Trust whatever is happening, no matter how challenging, it is a gift, a lesson mysteriously unfolding, delivering what we truly need. Exhale, smile, divine good permeates. Meditation is life itself…t­he immutable, beyond the temporal, the fire of transformation of one and all.

www.merrieway.com

Volunteer’s Ages 8 to 80 – Tutor Kids

Bravo Texas Teachers for volunteering extra hours to tutor. ..Our kids need your help. In order to serve more children, we have trained older students to help younger ones, in an after school tutoring program. MerrieWay Community’s “Morph America” program, a nationally recognized curriculum for grades 6-12, was instituted in San Antonio school system to engage the gifted and talented, as well as at-risk youth.

Youth who give back to kids challenged in an area of math, reading, science, history, etc. gain the benefit of leadership qualities, awareness of knowing what they know, and the joy of sharing it. The Country School in California starts this process in kindergarten in the arts and sports: first and second graders help younger students to shoot hoops, play volleyball to painting murals. Interaction and co-operative learning are also part of the benefits.
Teachers that are stressed to the max, need support and volunteers in the classroom, as well. Many parents, seniors giving time are helping to make a difference in the lives of our children.

From 8-80 years old, the tutors are sharing a bit of knowlege that keeps learning in the forefront of their minds, building life-long curiousity, and joy of learning.

MerrieWay Muses: Bring radiant sunshine into your day…Volunteer. Enjoy the happy spirit of our kids shining- when they know someone cares.  Morph America curriculums are available at www.merrieway.com ( products).

More Troops, More Rotations, More PTSD: Will Positive Psychology Save Our Soldiers?

Your assessment is profoundly true, in an area that is so grey, by its very nature. When I saw a photo of a young soldier with his head drooped over a bible, trying to make sense of his life in Iraq, my head drooped in shame. He was so young, just at a time in his life was beginning to blossom.
How can positive psychology/thinking override the anguish of war?
The VA has expanded the mental staff in their hospitals.­..hopefull­y some of the techniques you mentioned will become part of the healing process. We can’t expect a Veteran of War…to go back to who they were before they left. We all are a sum total of our experience and how we respond is not calculable or predictable. Learning to cope, to go on and find a purpose for living life is often the greatest challenge.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Finding The Courage To Be Grateful

There are no words to say…at the loss of a child. There can hardly be the depth of understanding the unspeakable, unless your have experienced it. I know from losing my precious son. If someone shows too much pity, it hurts. If someone says “I know how you feel”, more than likely they don’t. So the gratitude we can feel during these times, is knowing that we care for one another.
Living  joyous moments, in times of grief comes from within. In the spirit of life, of living in your loved ones memory, going on.
We can learn from all children. The physically disabled child, who reached out to you demonstrating both appreciation and gratitude that you visted, that you cared. Why do we complicate what is so simple, so natural? We can dance when we hurt, we can sing in the rain, we can love one another through our differences, our good times and our troubled times. We can show gratitude.
We are all growing, learning, and discovering our true nature. “Be still and Know”.  And, it’s okay not to know…the hardest lesson of all. 

www.merrieway.com

Who Do You Trust? 3 Tips for Authentic Living

 Stimulated my brain had a rash of ideas: is it this or that? What can’t the intellect do? It debates, pontificates, gathers and sorts info’, etc. What can’t intelligence or the intellect answer, Aha! “Is there life after death?”

Body, mind, and spirit are the wholly parts that need correction – to be in balance and to find true happiness. Intuition and universal intelligence, a knowing, wisdom transcends doubt, the fear of moving forward, when are in touch with it.

Naysayers are correct when questioning the positive thinking approach as a panacea. Referring to the James Ray tragedy; that we need to take responsibility from who we choose to seek guidance, and to discriminate ‘what’ is our truth: guiding us to a positive life.

Unless, vital corrections are made at the level of the underlying cause of negativity, the duff-sitter, no matter what they do: jog, do affirmations, acting as ‘if’; they will end up back on the potato couch, unable to move forward.

How do we correct erroneous judgments, our pain and hurts? How do we come to terms with what life is offering? How do we gain honesty within our self to live a noble life? Great sages have repeated the simple truth, “Be still and know you are God”. This is not a passive stillness; it is aligning with the ever present life force.

How to connect with your true essence…to be real and flowing.

1. I sit quietly, or fidgeting, it doesn’t matter. Taking a deep inhalation, allowing the breath to circulate my entire being there is a sensing of relief, a calm presence. On the exhalation, I release the calm. And, continue a series of breathing in that presence. This essence is familiar, kind, gentle all encompassing. Whatever is troubling, resistance melts away.
2. In this state I may ask a question…the answer may come instantly, as a feeling or a bodily sensation, or a voice, my true resonance, not colored by limiting thoughts, may answer. The profound is not complicated, it is simple, it is truth.
3.  What is bothering you now? Follow the first two possibilities…Seek and you shall find what you are truly seeking. A One-ness: knowing that you are part of the world with everything and everyone in it; and the world and all its glory,  is a part of you.

MerrieWayMuses :  Everwhere you go, whoever you meet will reflect a mirror of that truth. You will never be alone…when you travel your day in your true essence.

www.merrieway.com