Yoga

This morning I am going to Yoga. 

For me Yoga is one of those things that I love the thought before, then during I wonder why I signed up for this, and then at the end I am so proud of myself for keeping my focus during each pose.  After I feel like I am moving in perfect fluidity.

It also helps that I have great respect for my Yoga teach who is also my friend.  I feel a kinship there. 

I like that they call it a practice, a 'Yoga Practice', though I don't know exactly what it means I like the feel of the words when they are expressed.

So for today, I am simplifying my morning with Yoga and the rest of the day will be left up to inspiration.

Finding Simplicity in each moment is the key I have been trying to move fast lately and it gets overwhelming.

So for now I am still on the Freedom Path, though I am taking it a bit slower for now.

Namaste'

In an Instant...

... it can all change.
Have you ever had that happen?
You get an idea then the idea starts to take form and then plans are made and people 'know' about your idea and suddenly the idea seems like a reality.
Then,
suddenly
it seems the momentum stops - dead - and it changes.
Then the child pipes in, "my pendulum says it's not the right place'
hmmm
pendulum
without warning I see the wheels turning and I know,
the the tide has shifted, even though no one will speak it.
Maybe it's not the right place.
Maybe we are going too fast.
breath
So where is the right place?

I am letting go for now, letting go of all plans, of all ideas, all hopes, all dreams.  It is said that the very best way to know what is really meant to be is to let it all go and see what comes back to you.
So I am... releasing....

One thing I know for sure is Paradise can be created wherever, whenever, and with whoever.  I have the whoever's in place - that I am positive of,
the whenever is Now in each and every moment,
so I guess the only thing that remains to be discovered is the Wherever.
Though in my mind I know that with the When and the Who in place the Where does not matter at all.... at least not to me.
I can create a mountain out of a mole hill, (so I am told) and sometimes that is not thought of as a good thing, but in my case, it's a wonderful thing because as long as I have my little molehill I am the Queen of the Mountain.  And this Queen loves her people!!!
So this is me letting go,
letting it all go,
if none of it comes back that's fine I will stay here on my mountain with my Who's and be eternally happy in my When.
Oh wait,
maybe this is the Where.

Then again, it doesn't really matter cause my Who's are here and so am I.

I have a quiet day so far today and when that happens I end up in my head with my thoughts and in my heart with my feelings.  It's a nice place to be.

What has happened to our life??  It's full of so many moving parts sometimes it's hard to keep track of them all.
We used to live a lot more simply.
We used to live on the side of a mountain in West Virginia with goats and a lamb and dogs, a huge vegetable garden, an herb garden and a compost pile that made anyone who saw it jealous.
We picked berries and made fresh jam, I would spend a week canning all the tomatoes and vegetables and we would lovingly eat them throughout the winter.
I remember walking goats up from the barn to the pen, drenched with sweat in the heat of the summer and in the winter with so many clothes on I could hardly move.
I remember mornings when the fog was so thick you couldn't even begin to cut it with a knife not to mention see 6 inches in front of your face. The air so thick you couldn't hear anything but your own thoughts.  Peace is the only way to describe it.
I remember rain for days on end and mud so thick you thought you might sink in it, but that's what mud rooms and boots are for.
I remember hiking for hours and hours on end marveling at the mini waterfalls and streams we would come across.  Floating down the Shenandoah River catching crawdads along the way and steaming them for dinner that night.  Fishing for hours and hours and coming home with a string of different fish.  Some we liked and some not so much.
I remember picking apples in the fall and making more applesauce than any of us could eat in a year simply for the joy of making it and seeing how many different tastes I could come up with.
I remember so many things,
Milking the goats
making yogurt,
Making cheese
learning to make soap
making infused Oil and vinegar
and the list goes on and on.

Don't get me wrong - I love Florida, I have loved every single moment of living here and all the people I have met.
But - -
We now have more moving parts than ever and the simplicity has gone away.  I would love to live in a town where I could walk anywhere I needed to or ride my bike.
A friend of mine said to me the other day,  "you make so many other things from scratch don't you make your own jam?"
I had forgotten I did that!  I had gotten so used to buying it at the store, never really being all that pleased with the taste or texture, I had forgotten I DO know how to make my own!

We have had goats and we have had chickens and you have never tasted an egg until you have tasted one laid by a chicken that morning.  It's almost indescribable.

I miss it. I am going to grow my own vegetables again, pick my own berries, and can any we can't eat.

I enjoy hard work and the fruits of my labor, literally.  I enjoy how my body feels after a day of work and then how it feels when you eat what you have tended and grown with your own hands and heart.

So can one find Simplicity anywhere?
Well, we will see.
until next time...

Community

Com-mu*ni*ty  : a unified body of individuals: asa : state, commonwealthb : the people with common interests living in a particular area; broadly : the area itself <the problems of a largecommunity>c : an interacting population of various kinds of individuals (as species) in a common location

part of the definition from www.merriam-webster.com

I would like to add one more.

A group of people working together for the benefit of each individual and the Group as a Whole.

Why am I writing this do you ask?  I have witnessed a community, though small, of neighbors coming together - again.

We have wonderful couple two houses down whom we have known and loved for almost 6 years.  They moved away last year, he went to Iraq in the National Guard, she went to their vacation home in North Carolina to wait for her man and discover a little more about herself.  We kept in touch though very sporadic, hey lets face it, it was a rough year for them.

Now they are home.  They have grown a lot and learned a lot but there is one thing that has not changed, our friendship and their huge hearts.  
Jim and I are the kind of people who help out.  We just do, if we can do something for someone - we do it.  

We take care of ourselves and those whom we care about and sometimes even those we don't know.  

This is how we came to know Rick and Dawn. 

They are the same.  

Yesterday I watched Rick come to our house and weld a piece of metal onto our garage door, to fix it.  He and Jim worked together, had a couple of beers and good conversation and got the job done.  Rick then went to another neighbors house to trim up their coconut tree. All before dinner, AND after working all day.  

Tonight Jim will go to their house to wire and hang a light over their pool table, not an easy task but one he is looking forward to doing.

This is our little community, a very small part of it as things like this happen on a weekly basis.

We help each other, we look out for one another, we love one another, we work and play hard.  

We don't take score.  

Somehow in the midst of a crazy busy life, and a crazier world we have a sane little community right here on our corner.

Life is Good. 

So very, very good!

Feeling good is the ONLY Option!

Originally the title was "A Bump in the Road" but in the typing of that it didn't feel good, and then as I went on the words appearing on the screen were "I am going to be REAL and tell you everything along the way."

Hmmm that didn't feel so good either.  

I have learned in the past few years; telling a story about something that you don't want to happen again in your life is not a smart thing to do - UNLESS - you really want to repeat what happened in the story.  So as I don't want to repeat what happened and really you don't want to read it either, I am moving forward.

So where am I going?      I don't know right now.  

BUT I do know how I want to feel.

The feeling I want is LOVE, EASE, FLOW, HAPPINESS, PROSPERITY.

I love the feeling of handmade things.

I love the feeling of a home cooked meal made with love.

I love the feeling of being present in where I am in the moment.

I love knowing no matter where I am I can get to where ever I want to be.  And sometimes along the way I find that where I want to be is right there, and then the 'destination' doesn't feel like it's all that important.

Life is funny and we humans are a fickle bunch.  We think we want something and we head like a bull with blinders on and miss all the good stuff in between.  As I still have my dream of living on an Island in the middle of the Ocean and growing my own food and living closer to the Pachamama, I am realizing I am missing what is right in front of me.  I have appreciated it for a while now, but maybe I need to find a bit more to appreciate right were I am.

Until next time,

I am still heading toward Freedom Thru Simplicity.

I have given up using:

the microwave

aluminum pans

overly processed food

red meat

white sugar, flour, salt.

I have found I am more present in the cooking of meals and look at it as a time to share more love with my husband and kids, and I am seeing a difference in them as they eat the food I am preparing.  

Life is good, Really, Really GOOD!
Once you let it BE.

Heading toward a Simpler Life

I have noticed I have too many moving parts in my life. I realize I have spent most of my life accumulating all these 'parts' and spent a lot of money to get these 'parts'. But in the end I am really not happy having them, maintaining them, having to clean them or worse yet listening to my husband complain about cleaning them, storing them or buying them!

So what to do now?

Downsizing seems to be the only option that gives me a sense of PEACE.
Lucky for me my husband is fully on board and so are our kids!!

But to get to that Peace I have to sell or give away all the 'stuff' and though I have already started in some small ways I am revving this up and getting this 'Simpler Life' train moving along the Peace Journey.

Along the way I am going to look for ways to save money, be more present in what I am doing on a daily basis and feel better, emotionally and physically in the entire process.

So.... if you want to read how I move toward this vision, I would love to hear your comments!