Change

The following quote is posted on the wall across from desk...

"change is...to give up what we are to become what we could be."

It's an interesting perspective on the subject - so many times, we see change as merely the denouement of the inevitable turning of the wheel. As time advances, so does change.

What if every change was for a reason? Many of you are sitting there saying, "Well of course every change is for a reason." A Universal reason, yes - I would agree - say hello to the old Cosmic 2 x 4 to the back of the head. But what about a personal reason?

Can you find a personal reason for the changes in your life? Do you see growth in change, or perhaps further stagnation? Do you look for the meaning, or just roll with the punches?

How many times have we missed the point of change?

How many times have we instigated change?

How many times have we run from change, choosing to remain tightly within the cocoon of the familiar?

Is your cocoon getting a bit snug?

Being grateful for the little things

Ever had one of those days where you just want to crawl back into bed, pull the covers over your head and not wake up til tomorrow? But you have a job, and you need your paycheck, so you drag your sorry butt out of bed, get dressed and present a smile to the world at the office while inside you're wishing you could just turn around and go home?

I had one of those days recently, and the simplest thing turned it all around for me. After slogging through the workday and driving thru traffic, I came home to a HUG. Not a big hug, not an "over the top hug ya til ya can't breathe" hug - just a hug, but it was all I needed. So simple, yet so powerful. Just a little human contact, and a gesture of love and kindness. The whole hug took less than 5 seconds I'm sure. But it completely lifted my spirits.

Am I alone in finding such a small gesture to be such a gift? Why don't we hug more these days? Children hug all the time - watch them next time you're at the park or at a playground. There's an almost constant stream of helping hands, touches on the shoulder and hugs that go on between children. Hugs of encouragement, hugs of laughter, hugs of solace, hugs of accomplishment. When do we stop hugging - and why?

Who have you hugged lately? How did it make you feel? Was it a happy hug or a sad hug? Did you do most of the hugging or did they?

I don't know about you, but I think my hubster is getting a really good hug from me when I get home tonight - just because.

Personal Responsibility

When did the virtue of Personal Responsibility become a piece of garbage easily tossed away into the nearest trash receptacle? Are parents no longer teaching their children the importance of owning up to their actions, and the consequences they bring? Growing up on a grimy street in New York City, my brother and I knew there would be hell to pay if we did something stupid - if we made a bad choice. Our parents told us, our grandparents told us - our teachers reminded us to think before we acted, our pastor told us about accepting the consequences of our choices.

Every day we make choices, both simple and complex. But when did we stop thinking before choosing? How many people do you know who blame past events for their present choices? Who refuse to see their own will at play, instead blaming the will of another who did something to them years ago. Or perhaps they blame "Society" or a bad upbringing - heaven forbid they look in a mirror or recognize that the hand causing the harm is attached to their arm.

Our world is suffering from the lack of personal responsibility people in today's society are expressing - this refusal to acknowledge their role in the destruction of our planet is hampering any efforts to reverse that damage. An Inconvenient Truth and The 11th Hour are great wake up calls that there's a problem - but if no one is willing to fess up to their part of the cause, is there really any way to fix it - or are we already doomed?

Unconditional Love

Isn't it amazing how animals can love unconditionally whereas humans cannot? Are we too evolved to truly let go and love someone completely? Or too self involved?

What is it about our furry friends which allows them to give of themselves so completely? I know there have been many days where I just couldn't have faced the world without a "kitty break" from one of our family of felines. Just those few stolen moments of a living, breathing being, curled up in fits of happiness on your lap, purring contentedly at the fact that you sat still long enough for them to get comfortable.

Why can't we do that as a species? What is it that keeps us from finding that deep sense of connectedness with each other? Are we afraid to love too deeply - perhaps victims of pain from events that happened in our past? How much courage would you need to "take the plunge" and love someone warts and all?

Allowing yourself the time to feel

Our society is such a go-go-go highway of people moving, doing, being...that we sometimes forget to stop and allow ourselves to really feel. I don't mean to stop and smell the roses or look at a pretty sunset. Instead, I mean to really stop for a moment, and ask ourselves - how do I feel? To take the time needed to really look at that - am I sad? I am. Why am I sad? To take the time to process the emotion so that you can allow yourself to move on.

It can be a pretty scary proposition at first. Think about it - if you really stop for a moment, you could have a whole list of emotions riling around in your body that you've pushed to the side to make way for "getting things done", using the excuse of "not having time now to deal with it" or telling yourself you'll "deal with it later." Well, "later" has become now.

Still mad at a friend for a perceived slight? Angry at your spouse for not changing out the toilet paper roll? Mad at the cat for clawing the furniture? Sad about the death of a writer who had a profound effect on you as a teenager?

All these emotions can get completely swirled up together into a smorgasbord of debilitating feelings - and yet society teaches us to push it all aside for a rainy day when you're alone and no one but you can be inconvenienced with it. Why is that? Why shouldn't we be able to help our friends get through these feelings? Why do we have to be alone to face them? Why don't we face them in the here and now, instead of hiding them behind our spleens until the time is right? It's no surprise our country is full of over-stressed people who have completely lost touch with who they are as beings.

Have you?

What do we mean when we say we're spiritual?

Seems like an easy question to answer on the surface, doesn't it? That's the rub...because when your brain starts to form the words for the explanation, it's at that moment you realize how many different tangents you can take.

Are you spiritual? Why are you spiritual? What constitutes being spiritual?

Does it mean we meditate every day, or stop to smell the roses and hug a tree, or just that we feel a connection to....something other than ourselves?

Is community spiritual? That great melting pot of people, beliefs and joy that meld into community would seem to be an outward expression of spirituality in it's purest sense, and yet that same community can dissolve in backstabbing, bad feelings and remorse. So fragile...

...is spirituality so fragile? Do we have to work everyday to remain spiritual? Is it something we have to renew as we wake each day or something that is always there, just waiting for us to reach out to it?

What if we don't make the choice to reach? Will our higher selves reach for us?

"Power Over" disease

Why is it that paganism today is swamped with individuals full to the brim with "Power Over" disease? They want Power Over others, power over their local communities, power over their covens, power over events in the area....where in "Do what thou wilt so long as it harm none (including yourself)" does it say...but oh yes, you can completely run someone else's life, or rule by intimidation, or evict people from a group or community because they don't believe exactly as you do? I am so tired of those petty, insecure individuals who feel they MUST be THE ONE and ONLY pagan in their area - that they have to be some kind of "clearing house" for the community at large, needing to provide their stamp of approval on everything.

Why aren't more pagan leaders standing up to these blowhards and protecting the young novices who don't have a clue? How can you sit by and allow this to continue? Why do pagans refuse to "get involved" - afraid of a witch war? scared of being "outed"? Guess what, if we don't protect our true paths, we'll have nowhere safe to walk on this journey. It's time to stand up, be heard, be fearless - and walk the walk that is our faith and belief. Time to put these overbearing dimwits on their butts and out of our communities for good.