Denying the Truth Doesn't Make it Go Away.

 

The difference between dwelling and ruminating on the past (and feeling like a victim), and being willing to get clarification (and expose our truth), is that the latter gives us peace.

Many of us don’t address things with others, as many of us have experienced being shut down when trying to discuss our truth with others. But the truth does not go away by ignoring it or shooing it away. It stays, and it gets stronger and stronger, as a callous on our foot does after we step on a splinter. And similar to a callous, our hearts and relationships can’t heal.

Talking through our truth allows us to come to an agreement and a reconciliation, and that strengthens trust. No matter how uncomfortable, reality is reality. We are not living in a perfect story, facades are shields trying to protect us from our pain. As we know, the human experience can be challenging, messy, ugly, painful, and heartbreaking. But that is only part of it.

Life is also beautiful, and once we get clarification, we come to terms with the truth, and we decide what to do with it. Whether we choose to look at it, address it, ignore it, or put a band aid on it, the truth will still be there.

Playing charades dishonors us, our relationships, and the truth. And from there, we can’t heal. Being in pain encourages us to go against one another.

We are all different, and we’re all impacted differently by the same situation. Opening up our mind and heart gives us empowerment. Remember, life is not a competition. We are all enough as we are.

Every opportunity gives us a chance for joy or growth, and from there we decide what to do with it.

We feel what we feel. Having the courage to speak up, we can be who we are in the best version of ourselves. The truth shines light on everything, including our magnificence.

If you would like to see more, please subscribe to my blog by sending an email to HolisticSpiritualLiving@yahoo.com. 

Follow me on Instagram for daily posts and subscribe to my YouTube channel (my links are on the side bar).

Keeping the Holidays Sane, Simple and Real 🎄🕎🙏🏻

With the holidays coming at the end of the year, it’s great time to be reflective and thankful, and share with others what they mean to us. Sometimes with the holiday rush though, outside pressures, and need for everything to be perfect, can result in things getting costly, exhausting and frustrating.

Holiday Gifts: Instead of buying expensive gifts, maybe suggest token gifts and enjoy time together, even if it needs to be after the holidays. Instead of offense, you may just hear a sigh of relief! Some cool things to consider gifting are: 

🧶Something homemade 

💌A letter or poem letting someone know how much they mean to you

💍A family heirloom passed down

📺Subscriptions to websites, apps or streaming services

🎭Events or movie tickets

👟Association memberships

🥘Classes

💅Professional services

🥰You, and your time

Entertaining and Holiday Decorating: Truth is, people want to be around other people in order to feel a connection, not be bestowed with their decorations (at least that can be said for the people we want to be around!). And if there is an impression, it can be fleeting. What they will remember is the time with you. I used to worry endlessly about menus and setting everything up to impress, but now I enjoy the moment and the people I am with, and allow myself to be human. If you enjoy doing it and it’s fun, great. If you are doing it to impress, it may be something you need to re-think. Some of my best memories are being with people in one of our homes with no fanfare, just creating memories. When cooking recipes, things sometimes don’t come out perfectly, and that’s okay. It doesn’t matter. Just have fun with it and don’t let your need to be perfect stop you from trying new things. As Julia Child once said "One of the secrets, and pleasures, of cooking is to learn to correct something if it goes awry; and one of the lessons is to grin and bear it if it cannot be fixed.” Good advice for cooking, holidays, and life.

Schedules: To help keep holiday events and invites organized, I like to keep everything in my calendar, color coordinated, so I can see what I need to prepare for, and how many things I have scheduled. I get an overview of what my days and weeks ahead look like in order to plan new events. I am then able to manage my time without over-scheduling or missing commitments. 

Eating Healthy: When I eat out, I like to check out menus beforehand, so I can get a sense of what will be a good option, both in terms of taste and health. When going to a buffet-style event, I do the “food tour” before piling anything on my plate. I see what is available and then pick my favorites. When going to events at people’s homes, I take a little bit of everything to be respectful and appreciative of the host, and then enjoy what I am eating in moderation. 

The holidays are a great time for us to be present and connect with others. As people remember the way that they feel, (as opposed to the taste of the meals, the decorations, or expensive gifts) it’s great to focus on the experience and time well spent, and savor the moment as a result. The holidays can be a great reason to get together with people you haven’t seen in a while, and reflect and enjoy what can be the most wonderful time of the year. My wish for you is to enjoy, in whatever ways your holidays are spent.

 

If you would like to see more, please subscribe to my blog by sending an email to HolisticSpiritualLiving@yahoo.com. 

Follow me on Instagram for daily posts and subscribe to my YouTube channel (my links are on the side bar).

Is it really Mercury in Retrograde’s Fault? 🤷🏻‍♀️✨💫

Photo credit: NASA

When things go wrong, you might hear someone say “Well, it is Mercury in Retrograde!” But what does that mean, exactly? It means that there are multiple times of the year when it appears that Mercury is going backward in its orbit. It isn’t actually going backward - it just appears that way because Mercury has the shortest revolution and takes a quarter of the amount of time to circle the Sun as the Earth does. Because of this, it can appear that Mercury is going backward, but it is an optical illusion. All being said, this is the time when communication, intellect, memory and transportation can go awry, as these are the areas that Mercury is known for.

So when we see Mercury “going in the wrong direction,” computers won’t work, travel plans get delayed and we may start having miscommunication with people.

Being mindful that communication in all of its forms can be affected, including writing (articles, emails, texts and contracts for instance), presentation of ideas, and conversations with people. We may want to be cautious of signing any important contracts that we are not super clear on, read and review any outgoing texts or emails, and double check reservations are booked. Perhaps even give our loved ones a bit more wiggle room than usual if they offend us by saying something hurtful, or don’t get back to us in timely fashion. They probably didn’t mean it. 😇

Regarding transportation, long distance trips, or simply catching a local bus, subway or hailing a taxi can be affected. Plan accordingly and expect that our GPS may not work correctly, and know that we may hit lots of traffic or construction delays when we need to get somewhere in a hurry. 

Not that we can always avoid these things, but remaining flexible, calm and patient, knowing Mercury will “get out of its Retrograde” will help us feel more steady and grounded. 

So for that sake of planning, here are Mercury in Retrograde’s upcoming dates! 📅

December 13 to January 1, 2024

April 1 to April 24

August 4 to August 27

November 25 to December 15

* And thank you Niki for the idea for this blog! 😘

 

If you would like to see more, please subscribe to my blog by sending an email to HolisticSpiritualLiving@yahoo.com. 

Follow me on Instagram for daily posts and subscribe to my YouTube channel (my links are on the side bar).