Change… Preparing for Winter

Good morning from… by the brook♡

Though most of our trees are still very much green, our brook residents have begun preparing for winter. The male Mallards are molting, revealing their green iridescent headdress, doing their best to look dapper for the dames. While the deer are discarding their red fur jackets in exchange for a darker brown, double layered winter coat. All seemingly unfazed with their inherent changes, just doing what comes natural to them.

This morning as I stood feeding my insatiable feathered friends, I caught a glimpse of the falling leaves. One after the other; some twirling and spinning, catching streams of air beneath their tips, making it appear as if they were dancing on their way down. Others just free falling, as if weighted by something, allowing the law of gravity to have its way. Life is like that I guess. Some days leave us feeling light and airy and others, well you just want to fall down like a heap of bricks… defeated.

I Quickly diverted my attention with a deep, full breath to either dissipate or possibly press down the emotional sensations moving upward into my throat.
Why does life have to be so trivial at times? Why can change feel so… off? Do you think maybe it’s just old ingrained stories, and deeply rooted emotions that rise to the top when something feels different? Why do certain seemingly small situations, seem to overwhelm us, causing a battle with gravity, pulling us down as we fight to fly. Wouldn’t it be so much easier is we could just do and be what came came natural? Or maybe that’s not the answer; maybe it’s those overwhelming, different situations that push us through the old stories and uprooted emotions. It gets exhausting sometimes, but like my resident friends I’m ready to shed my old coverings to prepare for winter. Wishing you all an effortless transition in the upcoming seasonal change♡

Much love to you all,
Maureen

Where Will Your Thoughts Bring You Today?

Where will your thoughts bring you today?
What path will they travel, which road will they take?
Will you send them a guide, or allow them to stay?
What is their intention, what do they seek?
Is it that of perfection or something more dynamic that may offer peace?
Layers of experiences have brought you here today.
You have choices, invitations, and offers to choose each and every day.
Might you accept one… or will you look the other way?
There can be a newfound story; one filled with purpose and ease.
It won’t be easy; it can be scary; it may bring you to your knees.
But your body will thank you, for it’s weary with strain.
And your spirit will embrace you, as it welcomes you home again♡
Sending my love♡
Maureen

Finding Strength in the Unknown~

As I go about my day… the feeling of loneliness tries to creep in– but I ignore it knowing that something has changed in me these past weeks.  I am starting to feel the strength of knowing who I am again. The calmness and peace of truly knowing who you are in this world and what you have to offer is nothing short of a gift.  As I sit in the silence of my home sipping a glass of chardonnay and eating left over chicken salad for dinner, I listen to the sounds of spring; the melody of frogs chirping and croaking outside my open window brings an immense sense of peace and calmness. Not wanting for anything in this moment, I know that my true self is slowly emerging into place.

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It has been a long two weeks; I don’t ever want to feel even the remanence of emotions that my past has evoked, though it was a necessity for me to feel every last bit that had haunted me within. When you choose not to distract yourself with false monetary pretenses, it is then that the lessons you are meant to learn in life show themselves in the light that you need to see and feel them. There are times when you are amidst these lessons that you feel there is no possible way you will ever be whole again, but it is also at those most intense times that change is occurring deep within your being; it is important to know and hold on to the knowledge of this.

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Though my most recent changes have been the onset of this raw and all-encompassing  emotional state, it is these changes that have freed me to seek out who I am, where I belong and to accomplish in this life what I have been predestined to. –“Woman must come of age by herself. She must find her center alone.” – Anne Morrow Lindbergh

I do feel that the path we take in life creates who it is we are meant to be– though I can’t help but to wonder if some of the choices I made while traveling my path has prolonged the arrival of my destination. Destination – is there a final destination? I think I am now learning that there is not and furthermore, that there is not meant to be one. I have been on a search since I can remember, for something to grab hold of me and give me that feeling that I have arrived at the right destination. I am finally realizing and taking hold of the true meaning of a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Life is a journey, not a destination.” I find peace and excitement within these words. The fulfillment of not knowing what is going to happen and the endless possibilities that this notion creates is enough to launch me leaps and bounds ahead of where I was just one short year ago. I am grateful for my resilience and dedication to press on through all the discomfort and confusion and to be able to arrive at this very place.

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As the warmer weather has been ushered in by the onset of spring, I realize through the winter there was a sense of renewal taking place. Each year as winter approaches the trees shed themselves of their leaves so in spring their renewed beauty has a place to reveal itself and so it is with me, through this winter I was shedding my old self  to bring forth the renewed beauty of who I am becoming.

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So here I am as Memorial Day weekend is approaching, a time when families and friends gather to enjoy one another’s company. I have been on the pursuit this whole week to find a place to fit in so I don’t feel the absence of what this weekend is about to bring, a feeling of loneliness.  My Rebekah is with her father, my parents are out of town and my friends are preoccupied with their own life’s challenges. Having an evening alone is a welcomed thought, but enduring a holiday weekend for four days and nights without plans goes against my grain. I have settled into the notion that this is for a purpose; I am learning and practicing to trust the process of life. I have changed my mindset to embrace this time to have a more deepened sense of self- by myself. Becoming honest with me and trusting life’s process to guide me has been an incredibly difficult feat. My past has taught me the need to challenge and control- but within that there was a sense of responsibility that was exhausting and uncomfortable, like swimming upstream against the current. In letting go of this need to predestine my time, I am learning to feel content with not knowing. My openness to an unscheduled life is an olive branch extended toward learning to trust life, myself,others, and God.

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I will end with a quote from the book I am reading, A Year by the Sea – by Joan Anderson, “When one is freshly informed, has a serendipitous experience, one’s mood is changed. That is why taking time to see, hear, be present to images and language that arises from new experiences have the power to change one from one way to another.” – Clarissa Pinkola Este’s

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Live well xo