Women Who Thrive, Change The World!

Archive for the ‘Awareness’ Category

Arbitrary Moments of Nearly Painful Happiness

“…..This is my true religion; arbitrary moments of nearly painful happiness for a life I feel privileged to lead.  Think of the way you sometimes see a tiny shaft of sunlight burst through a gap between rocks, the way it then expands to illuminate a much larger space – it’s like that.  And it’s like quilting, a thread surfacing and then disappearing into the fabric of ordinary days.  It’s not always visible but it’s what holds everything together.”  From The Art of Mending,by Elizabeth Berg, page 148

I was taken by these few sentences in the novel I just finished reading.  As the summer stretches out before us it gives us time to consider those “arbitrary moments of nearly painful happiness” where we are touched deeply and often irrevocably changed.  These moments are within everything that we do, even those seemingly endless tasks that we set before us.

Isn’t it these experiences that wake us up……. pausing to take a  breath and simply becoming quiet enough to appreciate the moments of pure art, magic and beauty that pour themselves in and through our lives every single day.

What would you miss if you weren’t here?   Transformational coach Cheryl Richardson lists a few of her things below.

…..”I thought about the little things that bring me joy that I’d miss – the things that often go unnamed as important.  Things like a bird’s nest under construction that captures my attention each morning while I enjoy a cup of tea.  The way my cat Poupon covers his eyes with his paw when he naps, making me smile every time, regardless of how many times I see him do it.  Or, trees billowing in my backyard like soft sheets on a clothesline when a strong breeze blows.  And, of course, the beautiful, nuanced moments that occur when I connect with others. ” Cheryl Richardson

Now is the time to pay attention….sometimes they sneak up on you when you are least expecting it!  Embrace….they are woven into the fabric of your life…

WEBSITE:  www.ResonanceWithLife.com

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:

www.BreathingSpaces.net
www.NaturalWealthJournal.com

Give Us This Day Our Daily Breath Preview and Reviews can be found here:
http://resonancewithlife.com/daily-breath-book/

Category:

Awareness, Vital Health & Well Being

Tagged with:

Make A Way For Yourself

Photo by Marisue Mullins

Listen.

Make a way for yourself inside yourself. Stop looking in the other way of looking.

~ Rumi

Sometimes we are enveloped in darkness and shadows and can’t see clearly enough to find our way back on the path.  A woman often thinks that once she gets older (and wiser presumably!) that her path will be well lit always.  That may not be the case however.

Yesterday Austin had powerful and passionate weather.  I had my first taste of hail the size of – well no, not golfballs, but about half that size anyway.  My patio was filled with these white orbs from the sky.  One minute I was engrossed in a book that I was reading and the next thing I know thunder rocks the house.  Soon following that the hail started and it was the most amazing thing as the temperatures here have been in the high 70’s and up through the 80’s.  How is it possible to have hail with such warm temperatures?  I know there is a scientific explanation for all of this, but sometimes we just have to admit that it just is and marvel at the diversity of it all!

After this great storm (in which tornadoes touched down in other parts of Texas!) it was like it never even happened.  The sun was uncovered and light came streaming in.  The picture above represents one single stream of light amidst the gloaming after the storm shining on the Buddha statue.  Notice the shadows as well.

These are the areas that are not clear to us as we walk along our unique paths.  What possibilities lay in the shadows and in the storms of life??  Arising from the inside.  Listen.

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:

www.BreathingSpaces.net
www.NaturalWealthJournal.com

WEBSITE:
www.ResonanceWithLife.com

Give Us This Day Our Daily Breath Preview and Reviews can be found here:
http://resonancewithlife.com/daily-breath-book/

Category:

Awareness, Divine Inspiration

Tagged with:

You Are Not Crazy!

This weeks post will be brief as I am giving you, the reader, a link to a recent Huffington Post article written by Yashar Ali – a man who has women’s well being at heart!  The title of this article is “A Message to Women From A Man: You Are Not “Crazy“.

You will find a well written insightful article that explains something that Yashar calls “gaslighting”.  This term, used by mental health professionals, explains a form of emotional manipulation “to describe manipulative behavior used to confuse people into thinking their reactions are so far off base that they’re crazy.”  This most often happens to women, but everyone experiences a form of it at times in their life.

As women it is important that we understand and be aware of anything that may take our voice away. That has the potential to diminish the authentic expression of who we are.  One more awareness to leave any remnants of “victim” behind.

Your comments would be appreciated as we learn from each others stories!

WEBSITE:  www.ResonanceWithLife.com

(Newly revised website! Take a peak at my book preview – Our Daily Breath –  due to be published in e-book form January, 2012!!)

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:

www.BreathingSpaces.net
www.NaturalWealthJournal.com

Category:

Authenticity, Awareness, Finding Your Voice

Tagged with:

Give Us This Day Our Daily Breath

ANNOUNCEMENT!!  I invite you to go to the Natural Wealth website to see a Sneak Preview of my upcoming book: Give Us This Day Our Daily Breath expected out in e-book and soft cover by 12/1/11!!  Go to the page Be Breathed – Our Daily Breath.

Would love your feedback as the book is not quite finished yet…and your comments would be most welcome!  Also check out the video that took me so many takes….and laugh along with me.

REMEMBER –  Laughter is a series of exhales expressed with uninhibited joy!

Thank you for taking the time to take a peak at the Sneak!

Gaye Abbott           Give Us This Day Our Daily Breath

Category:

Awareness, The Breath, Vital Health & Well Being

Tagged with:

Looking Past Limits

I turn 63 years old in just a matter of a couple of weeks.  Two days before this day of my birth celebration I am taking flight by heading off down the road to visit family, friends, and new places all on the way to my new home in Austin, Texas.

Unhooking from a “conventional job” with all the trimmings, leaving my little cottage in the Oregon countryside, saying farewell to friends, and generally being aware of letting go of perceived limitations there is an excitement that is building inside.

There is no “job” to greet me on the other side, home to put my belongings in,  man to greet me with open arms, family to be closer to, or known territory to feel “safe” in….yet there is possibility, mystery, and new territory to open to and explore.  Is this what looking past limits is made of?

Mary Oliver said it in her poem, A Summer Day, with the line – “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”  I love this line!  Do you know?  Well, it is never too late to breathe wildness into that precious life and find out!  We may not know how, but believing in the innate gifts we hold inside is essential.

“Whether a woman knows it or not, she is a vessel of great magnitude born capable of reshaping humanities destiny if she only knew the true depths of her innate gifts. Be prepared now to see the fierce face of the feminine rock as her inner geographies of volcanic strength erupt from a love she has held in her belly for life all of her days. This is not a gasp of her last breath. It is her birthing cry into her wise leadership on our planet.” ~ Alisa Starkweather

Each of us as women need to hear of others that are doing this same thing as we leap off into the passionate expression of our deepest longings.  Below is a very powerful TED video with Caroline Casey which is well worth the time spent to listen to it in its entirety.

How will you spend the next days/months/years of this one wild and precious life?

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:

www.BreathingSpaces.net
www.NaturalWealthJournal.com

Category:

Authenticity, Awareness, Courage, Creative Expression, Empowerment, Manifesting Your Dreams

Tagged with:

Living From Source

As adult women we sometimes realize in open, aware, and quiet moments that we have come far away from our Source – that remembering and living of the magnificent, loving, confident, wise, knowing, connected, and creative beings that we are.

When my 3 year old granddaughter Sorenna told her mother, “Mommy, there is a baby in there!” and her mother said “no honey there isn’t” having no idea that she was pregnant, Sorenna was coming from an innate knowing……a sense of the sacred energy of creation felt by those that are consciously connected and not distracted by the stimulus that daily pulls us away from our Source.

In fact, upon Sorenna’s insistence, her mother decided to get a pregnancy test, and guess what?  Yes, I will have a grandson in September, Sophia will be a mother again, Sorenna will have a brother, and my son will have his long awaited son.

Just today I watched a video (which is below) of one of the wise ones still connected to what is important in life.  I don’t know how old Sadie is, but I do feel that each of us should take what she says (and is!) to heart!

In addition, I have added a short video, put out by the Awesome Women Hub of women who are sharing what they feel the world needs next.  This could be you or me on this video…and I do believe that Sadie and Sorenna have a place there as well.

Remember who you are….live it daily…..and remind each other!!

Sadie tells us “Believe In Yourself”!

Awesome Women Hub Asks Women What The World Needs NEXT

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:

WWW.BREATHINGSPACES.NET

WWW.NATURALWEALTHJOURNAL.COM

Category:

Awareness, Be The Change, Creative Expression, Empowerment

Tagged with:

Trusting Your Natural Inner GPS – Be The Change

This last week I was in Austin, Texas exploring the possibility of relocating there from Oregon.  What has led me to check out this particular place has been an innate guidance system inside that has consistently informed me when I am on track for what is sometimes referred to as the Divine Design of ones life.

I haven’t always trusted this innate system, which is often called our intuition, or guidance from the heart – our feelings.  In fact, on this very trip there was a choice that I made that was completely separate from my own GPS – and it was made vividly clear that I was “going the wrong direction”. ( For more on this experience go to NaturalWealthJournal.com to the post “Negotiating The Overpass – Creating Another Game” )

Wouldn’t you pay attention if the GPS in your car came on and said “What the heck do you think you are doing??  I told you not to go here and you didn’t listen!  Now you are lost in a game that is not of your own creation.   You weren’t supposed to be here in the first place, and I insist that you pay attention to me NOW!”

Well, we all know that the GPS system in our cars (and within us) is  much more polite than that, and when we do make errors in the direction that will get us to where we are to go, it kindly (yet sometimes quite strongly!) gives us alternatives to follow.   We are always well taken care of in that way and we trust that we will always get to where we want to go when we are paying attention. Lapses in this attention pay off in lessons well learned – like course corrections.

I am here to tell you that your own inner GPS system is just like that if only listened to and trusted.  This guidance comes from the messages of the heart – our feelings – and our intuition which never – I mean never – steers us wrong.  What if you trusted that your life is unfolding in a natural manner and you took all actions from that inner GPS?

Here is what my friend Richard Cawte says about this:  “Keep driving.  Trust the pilot.  The pilot is the part of you inextricably in tune with the brushtrokes…as well as the pots of gold…and the seamless electrical circuit that brings health to your cells…It’s you, God, everything.  At the same time, it’s each atom in each cell of your body.  Trust in that intricate design, much as you trust your lungs to inflate with the next breath, and the next…There is PLENTY OF OXYGEN for us all…”

So, I leave you now to play with your own innate GPS.  In order to Be The Change we must listen, trust and take action from this unique wise inner director….or have an experience that reminds us what it feels like to be “lost” in someone else’s game.  It’s all good!

Be The Change by Gypsy Soul

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:

www.BreathingSpaces.net

www.NaturalWealthJournal.com

Category:

Authenticity, Awareness, Be The Change

Tagged with:

Don’t Forget The Magic

When we were children magic was a natural part of our everyday life.  We looked upon the world as an unending place of adventure, surprise, and magical moments if we grew up in a loving and caring family.  Not everything could be explained, but we knew without a doubt that it was somehow connected with us, and we were connected with it.

Sorenna Making Bubbles

Recently I found that I was to be a grandmother for the second time.  My sons partner Sophia had no idea that she was pregnant until my very connected and wise 3 year old granddaughter Sorenna told her one day as she was cuddled up with her – “Mommy, there is a baby inside of there (pointing to her belly), and it is my sister!”  Of course Sophia denied that, but Sorenna insisted.  Soon after that a positive pregnancy test revealed that Sorenna “knew” – she is connected!  Whether it is to be a sister or not is still in the unknown.

The point of this post is a reminder of the magic that is indeed all around us and the wisdom of interconnection and knowing that we all have deep within our cellular structures – our heart and souls.  Might it be a boring life indeed if this awareness was lost completely…..and it is NOW when we most need to remember the delight in the simple moments of interaction with life playing out around us and within us.

Here are a couple of videos that were passed on to me this week.  The first is showing some very magic bubbles – be certain to catch the small girls delight near the end of the video.  After viewing that one then sing along with Curtis Mayfield as he sings the great soulful gospel song “It’s All Right”!

As you go through your week find the magic moments and stay open to wonder.  Pass it on!

Giant Stinson Beach Bubbles

It’s All Right with Curtis Mayfield – Have a good time!!

 

RESOURCE: Tilly Greenway & The Secrets of the Ancient Keys/Book 1: Watchers

Pure magic and brilliantly written for the times we find ourselves in now!

Come back to the remembering of a world where all was intimately interconnected with the natural world, and magic prevailed throughout the land.  Travel with 12 year old Tilly and 13 year old Zack in an adventure of a life time – an adventure that reminds us of who we are and how far away from that we have fallen to.  You won’t be able to put it down…I couldn’t!

G.A.

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:

www.NaturalWealthJournal.com

www.BreathingSpaces.net

Category:

Acceptance, Authenticity, Awareness, Divine Inspiration

Tagged with:

WOMAN TO WOMAN – SISTER TO SISTAH

Fear is the cheapest room in the house. I would like to see you living In better conditions. ~Hafiz

This post is important.  Important because women are being called to step up into their full expressions as the awakening on our planet spirals out globally, and as we build a new world with very different foundations.   We as women have an important purpose in all of this – to foster collaboration from the heart and soul; to speak out on behalf of the planet, our children, communities, and each other; and to express every bit of the creative genius that we are holding onto inside letting go of the fear that no one will recognize it for what it is – wisdom much needed right now!

Given all of this we cannot proceed, or pass GO as the game of monopoly states, until we heal the relationships with the women in our lives.  I believe that if we do not have closure or understanding with those that we have had challenges or break down of relationship  with, then we are bringing our wounds to the table, and not releasing those that have been close to us, and ourselves, into fullest expression.

As women we bond easily, fiercely, deeply, and often tenderly.  Relationships with other women are at the core of our thriving and full acceptance of ourselves.  Without healthy relationships with women we fall apart within and without.  Our culture, community, and world suffers…and so do we.

This week, as many of you know, there was a repairing of a relationship that took place

Iyanla Vanzant

between two very powerful women – Oprah Winfrey and Iyanla Vanzant. Feminine Power hosted that very same day a conversation with Iyanla on “Woman to Woman: How to Heal Our Relationship Breakdowns with Each Other”.

I bring you the link here to listen to the conversation as I feel that it is vitally important that we do this work with each other first!

Late in 2010 I lost a friend that was very dear to me.  She simply stopped communicating with me after 2 years of a meaningful friendship and many adventures.   At first I attempted to create story – in other words think of the ways in which I might had offended her, or figure out why she did not want to relate any longer.   I left phone messages, wrote e-mails and left a letter at her doorstep at Christmas time…but no response.

Then I realized that she was not going to respond, and that it was time to do my own internal healing around the loss, move out of any story, recognize that there was no longer a resonance which kept the relationship alive and growing, forgive myself and her, and let go.   There was of course sadness around the loss of the relationship…but what really hurt was that we could not come together, face our fears, and deeply listen to each other with an open heart and mind – either for closure, or for expansion of relationship with each other or with ourselves.

This is what Iyanla speaks to in the conversation on this link.  Take the time to listen in and reflect on whether there are any relationships with women in your life right now that require letting go of the fear that you carry and with courage (action taken from the heart) telling your truth.

Here is the link:  http://instantteleseminar.com/?eventid=17780457

“Woman to Woman: How to Heal Our Relationship Breakdowns with Each Other” with honored guest, Iyanla Vanzant

Welcome to the recording of our special Women on The Edge of Evolution event with Iyanla Vanzant, who shares the challenges, lessons and blessing of healing the relationship breakdowns with our sisters. Iyanla Vanzant is the author of five New York Times bestsellers. Her most recent book, Peace from Broken Pieces: How to Get Through What You’re Going Through is a masterpiece of hard earned wisdom and a tribute to the resilience of the human heart.

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:

JUST LAUNCHED!  www.DivineWealthJournal.com Recent Post: What Is Divine Wealth?

Recent Post: Dancing Breath Rap – Do It Now! www.BreathingSpaces.net

 

 

 

Category:

Authenticity, Awareness, Courage, Self Love

Tagged with:

Falling In Love With The Journey – Being Utterly Alive!

True Identity of a Carousel - Photo by Dewitt Jones

Falling in love with the journey is what makes life juicy!  Otherwise, we put off living, as if there is something better around the bend, tomorrow, next week, next year, or in the next moment.  Before we know it – our lives this time around are finished.

Time seems to be flying by these days.  It is not just me that is aware of it.  There are many of us that are feeling our way into a new reality.  Perhaps a different location to live,  the gathering of a tribe (community) to play and create with that aligns with our inner desires, dreams and values;  coming into the expressions that we have kept in that silent place inside of ourselves because of fear or self doubt; or as Lone Morch states below in a quote from The Feminine Fad: about power, truth & the new feminine, perhaps finally seeing ourselves as sacred, co-creators of the world.

“On the societal, cultural level, maybe that means we move from seeing ourselves as mere consumers, sex objects and advertising targets to seeing ourselves as sacred, co-creators of the world, because, in our hearts, we know that for every action (thought, feeling…) there is a reaction. We don’t live in a vacuum, everything affects the collective, and each person’s choices matter. My sense is that when we can tell ourselves the truth of who we are, we can also love ourselves, When we love ourselves, we begin to trust ourselves, and naturally a lot of hole-filling choices, masks and needs might just fall away. We might see more clearly. We might feel closer to our self-authority. We might actually begin to feel utterly alive and begin to breathe with Mother Earth. A sweet thought to behold.” www.divinelyfurious.com

We all know that the journey can hold deep holes we at times fall into, mountain tops where we can see clearly, and the everyday one foot in front of the other where you never know what is going to show up next.   The potential for being utterly alive is constantly present in all of these places.

Will we take a breath and step into the aliveness on the unknown path,  or will be choose the “safe” and deeply rutted route?  There is a vivid dream that I had several years ago now that pointed me in the right direction and that I draw upon even now when I forget – which is often.

In this dream I am attempting to get to a destination of “higher learning” and many are on the path in front and in back of me.  I reach the cliff ledge and see in the distance the “place” where I wish to get to.  My attention is totally focused on “how to get there” thus I am assessing and watching how others before me are making it down the cliff side – including ropes, climbing gear, negotiating narrow and dangerous paths, just jumping with parachute (or without!). 

“Living at risk is jumping off the cliff and building your wings on the way down.” ~ Ray Bradbury

As I stand there in indecision I take a breath and turn my head to the left – my feminine side – and see before me a path that gently winds its way to this place that I seek.  Ahhh – it has been here inside of me all along!

Now there is choice! An adventure down the dangerous cliff side by finding our own unique way to traverse it is possible, but not the only option.  It would be the journey from that ledge of possibility that teaches about life.  It is the falling in love with it from a place of trusting, and letting go from within that informs us.

Kerri Lake, in a recent piece entitled “Once You Are On The Freeway, You Can’t Back Up” speaks of a pivotal moment in time when mind became dictator and the voice of the universe, disguised in sheriffs garb, brought her back to her senses.  You will find it HERE Thank you to Sherryl Fraunenglass on A Woman’s True Voice, and Kerri Lake for this inspiration!

Sometimes it feels overwhelming to take life full on, yet the alternative is to live imprisoned in a game that doesn’t excite us.  Maybe, just maybe, we can fall in love with the journey no matter how dangerous or difficult it may seem, become sacred co-creators of the world,  move forward in spite of our fears and doubts, and immerse ourselves in the gravity of love.

Ashes and Snow – THE GRAVITY OF LOVE  – Enigma

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:  www.BreathingSpaces.net

Category:

Authenticity, Awareness, Courage, Creative Expression, Manifesting Your Dreams

Tagged with: