"Nature" isn't always GREEN!

According to Free Dictionary.com, nature is defined as "The world of living things and the outdoors: the beauties of nature." So connecting with nature can be connecting with animals (and I guess, technically speaking) other people, too. But in particular, animals can have a very positive effect on our spirits. Whether they are cats or dogs, fish, hamsters ... or the outdoor kind of animal that you might have on a farm, just being around them makes you feel more alive.

And then there are people like Bobby Tall Horse, who's new blog, Homesteading and Homemaking with Bobby Tall Horse just makes you feel the joy of being connected to nature as you read her words. I borrowed this great photo from her blog ... it shows you just a small piece of her wonderfully "in touch with nature" lifestyle. I'm going to be following this wise woman ... and I hope you will, too! What a great life she leads!

Thanks for being here and now.
KT

Connecting with Nature

The EPA says that Americans spend 90% of their time indoors!! That is just wrong in so many ways!

This week, make an effort to get closer to nature. At the very least, buy a few plants for your home and/or office. I have discussed some of the benefits of plants in a recent AC article, but they are so much more important to our lives than just as toxin removers. A walk outside will not only provide you with beneficial exercise, but will calm your spirit.

Get outside every day, even if it is just to sit in the grass or on the hood of your car during your lunch hour! Buy some flower or vegetable seeds and try your hand at container gardening. Throw the ball or frisbee to your dog. Take your cats out on a leash! (I DO ... and they love it!!!!)

Thanks for being here and now.
KT

No time?

When someone says they "don't have time" for something, it generally means that they either don't really want to do it at all, or they are subconsciously afraid of doing it for fear they might fail.

What don't you have time for? Writing, exercising, getting organized? Put one thing in your journal that you don't have time for, and think about it every day for a month. Then be honest with yourself - do I not have time because I don't really want to do it? Or am I afraid that if I do it, I will fail? If it's the former, let it go and quit beating yourself up about not doing it!! If it's the latter, let go of the fear and just try!

Thanks for being here and now.
KT

Ready, Set, Go!

READY?
Have you got that list completed of things you would do if you had more time? Are they sorted by how much time they will take to accomplish? There are several ways to do the list, depending on how you want to spend all that extra time:

a little bit each day:
1. Organize photos - 10 minutes a day for 30 days
or
dig in and don't stop 'til it's done!
1. Organize photos - 1 hour a day for 6 days

SET?
Now we start making that extra time! Do whatever feels comfortable to you. When I started doing this, I would SET my alarm clock back ONE MINUTE each day. Sounds "wussy", I admit, but it worked for me! Keep going back one minute each day until you decide you've gained all the extra time you need to start making some headway on that to do list. For me, it was 1 hour. That's 5 extra hours a week (yeah, you should do it on weekends, too ... I'm still working on that one!) ... 20 extra hours a month ... 1000 extra hours a year!!!! 1000 extra hours!!! That's 42 days!!!!

GO!

Start working off that to-do list!

Thanks for being here and now.
KT

What Would I Do If I Had More Time?

It was very spooky to stop by the "One Minute Writer" website today and see that her one-minute exercise was on what we would do with one extra hour each day. The reason it was spooky is because I've got this pre-existing list of topics that I want to talk about each week on this blog, and my topic for this week was just what you see above in the title!! Serendipity?

I truly believe that most everyone wastes a lot of most of each day by not focusing on doing what they want to do. It's hard to focus if you only have a foggy idea of what you would do with some extra time each day. The key to resolving that foggy focus is to write a list in your journal of what you would get accomplished if you had more time in each day. It can be small things - like brushing your hair an extra 100 strokes each day with that extra 5 minutes - or big things, like starting on your great American novel, which would probably require at least an extra hour or two a day!

But until you develop that list, and make a note of how much time it would take to accomplish each item on that list, you don't have a starting point to work from. So start today!

Next week, we'll talk in more detail about getting those "extra time" goals accomplished.

Thanks for being here and now.
KT

What to Do When the Words Don't Come

Is there anything worse than having someone tell you you're going to have a certain experience --- and then you don't have it?!! That's the way I felt when I was first told about "the voice". I didn't hear any voice when I meditated, and so I decided to stop meditating because I must not be doing it right. Don't do that!

Meditation is a journey, and one of the stops along the way may be that you hear your intuitive voice more often, but hearing that voice is not the "destination", and if you don't hear it when you are meditating, you may hear it when you are journaling, or when you first wake up in the morning, or when you are focused on getting that assignment out for your boss at work! The key is to recognize it when it comes, and write it down, whether it makes sense or not at the time.

For example, while I was journaling in my planner this morning (more on this concept later), I heard the title of this blog post --- "What to do when the words don't come". I wasn't thinking about, or writing about, blogging at that time. And maybe these words will mean something even more to me later on. But a few seconds after I wrote them down, I realized "that would make a good title for my blog post!" ... and the rest is history, as they say!

Don't try too hard --- just let it be!

Thanks for being here and now.
KT

Image of the Day

The incredible photography on the Stream and Fencerow blog will take your breath away!! And that's why I chose this particular photo out of all my choices - it would be very easy to "Find Our Breath" if it always looked like this, wouldn't it? :)

Wondrous breath - warming our bodies as it enters, turning to beautiful clouds of white as it leaves them to rejoin its Source.
MM

Thanks for being here and now.
KT

Hearing the Voice:

If you've been following along each week, you are now sitting in silence for 15 minutes each day, taking deep calming breaths and quieting any random monkey brain thoughts. As you have been practicing these changes, you may have already begun to notice an occasional different kind of “voice” – not the monkey brain chatter, but something else.

This week, you are consciously going to listen for that voice. What? Isn’t that undoing what we did last week when we quieted the chatter? No, this voice is much different than the random monkey brain thoughts. You will know the difference when you hear it. These thoughts will come to you unbidden and may be very profound. They may be a picture rather than a voice. A flash of knowing so true that you cannot deny it. What is this voice? This is your intuition. This is the voice that few of hear anymore because of the constant noise in our lives. This is the reason for the silence.

This voice will speak to you of truths in your life. It may give you the answers to questions that have been plaguing you. It will show you the way to happiness. When these voices come to you this week, focus on them enough to remember them, but try not to let your monkey brain begin thinking about them. Just let these intuitive thoughts come and go. Your only mission this week is to take conscious notice of these thoughts so you will remember them at the end of the 15 minutes.

This week, you will write in your journal every day at the end of the 15 minutes. You will write down those intuitive thoughts. You will make notes about what these thoughts might mean. If you think there are actions that need to be taken, you will make notes about those as well. And if you don’t hear this voice, you will not worry about it. You will simply continue your exercises daily.

Thanks for being here and now.
KT