Showing posts with label spirit.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spirit.. Show all posts

Friday, September 10, 2010

My Prayer for You.

Right now, you are in for surgery.
I am scared, and sad, and friggin' pissed off this is happening to you.
In that breath, I love you and I love the universe that created our lives side by side one another's.
I trust in God.
I trust in whatever this is, this Crappy McCrapperston that is in your body, that there is a bigger purpose, that you will be strong enough, that well, shoot...I don't even know what to trust in because it's in you but the good news is I trust you.
I pray the surgeon is guided with knowledge, intuition and ability to rid your body of those bad cells.
I pray the nurses you encounter treat you with shining love, concern and beyond-competent nursing care.
I pray your body will flourish with strength to heal post surgery.
I pray your heart will be rampant with courage and trust.
I pray your friends will be exactly what you need.
I pray your children will be surrounded with laughter and love during this time, so your heart and mind won't worry about them--any more than you already will, I'm sure.
I pray your husband will be exactly the support you need and his own concern will be assuaged.
I pray for you, friend. In that breath I surround your name with
Courage.
Strength.
Love.
Light.
Healing.
Strength.
Strength.
Strength.
You live an authentic life full of passion, joy, and sweet giving.  It is such an honor to know you, to be around your amazing children, and to see you glow during this time, and each of the moments that have comprised the past three years I've known you.
Thank you for illuminating Grace.
I pray for your recovery and your increased trust in the physician's supervising your Cure.
I pray for you.

I love you and can't wait to hug you on Sunday.

Thursday, September 02, 2010

things i love.

Happy September Everyone!
I'm overcome with love this morning---

I love

  1. coffee
  2. serendipity
  3. green leaves 
  4. Morning Edition on npr
  5. Sonja
  6. a freshly made bed with clean sheets
  7. successful list making (it's successful when things get crossed off!)
  8. blogs
  9. children
  10. iTunes Genius
  11. Gorilla vs Bear
  12. XMU on Sirius Radio
  13. being part of a community
  14. being a good friend
  15. having good friends
  16. having enough
  17. loving God
  18. not knowing how to answer the question, "Layla, where do you go to church?"
  19. physical activity
  20. not stressing out if I don't get to work out today.  well, not totally stressing out
  21. applying for jobs
  22. envisioning my future
  23. feeling a deep and sweet love for myself
  24. learning all about cancer so my knowledge can be power. 
  25. turning over cancer to God
  26. trying not to hate cancer, even though sometimes I really do, and really, cancer is just cells gone a little wayward.  I can appreciate waywardness---I just don't appreciate waywardness in the lives of women I love. 
  27. dancing
  28. yoga
  29. Switzerland
  30. Hawai'i
  31. my mom
  32. Prescott, Arizona
What do you love?  

Sunday, August 22, 2010

this is more than just a music blog...

I know it is.
I love more than just music.
I have so much to catch up in the blog world that first, i feel it appropriate to read the blogs I've been missing out on the past few weeks.
And, then I got hit with this gem. Gorilla vs. Bear has become one of my favorite blog stations on XMU on Sirius Radio and just like Aquarium Drunkard they do an amazing job of passing on some amazing tunes!!

Home by Glasser.
So perfect for where I am right now.
Exactly the song I need to hear to post again after nearly three weeks of not posting.

I am home, in Prescott, enjoying the song of the cicada and cool of the evening breeze.  I have the I'm Not There soundtrack playing and I'm enjoying quinoa with basil, sautéed mushrooms and a Dr. Praeger's veggie burger for dinner.

I've visited a spirited and lovely friend in the hospital and had an amazing day.
I'm home.

(blog note:  I promise to post more to catch up life to date. Music is always a nice segue)

Saturday, March 20, 2010

I've Got Dreams

Dreams to Remember.
Posted by Picasa

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Good Orderly Direction.

From today's Daily Reflections


It is when we try to make our will conform with God’s that we begin to use it rightly. To all of us, this was a most wonderful revelation. Our whole trouble had been the misuse of willpower. We had tried to bombard our problems with it instead of attempting to bring it into agreement with God’s intention for us. To make this increasingly possible is the purpose of A.A.’s Twelve Steps, and Step Three opens the door.TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 40
All I have to do is look back at my past to see where self-will has led me. I just don’t know what’s best for me and I believe my Higher Power does. G.O.D., which I define as “Good Orderly Direction,” has never let me down, but I have let myself down quite often. Using my self-will in a situation usually has the same result as forcing the wrong piece into a jigsaw puzzle–exhaustion and frustration. Step Three opens the door to the rest of the program. When I ask God for guidance I know that whatever happens is the best possible situation, things are exactly as they are supposed to be, even if they aren’t what I want or expect. God does for me what I cannot do for myself, if I let Him.

God is soooooo good it wells me up with tears.  I am beyond grateful for my relationship with my Higher Power.  So grateful.  

Sunday, February 07, 2010

last quarter moon

sleep oh glorious sleep.
rest full of dreams about sliding rocks and concrete covered in mud
woken in the night with wind hitting windows and thought of snow covered morning.
waking restfully and tired
knowing i have a plan but can be flexible with myself.
greeted by a happy puppy loving early morning cuddles
she's rather be pet than relieve her full overnight bladder.
kisses on my ankles and sleepy dog eyelashes.
music with xylophone sound and clouds moving so fast
the sun is off on off on off on
the snow melts quickly and the air is so fresh
peace and serenity overfloweth heart and soul


Wednesday, January 13, 2010

ghost story.

When I was little, my brother made fun of me a lot.  I think it's a requisite chore of older brothers--make fun of younger half-sibling.  Especially when she doesn't live with you and you have to have her pesky little self around every other weekend.

He was terrible about my clumsy ways.  I was such an awkward child.  I had bruises all the time (not much has changed there; still clumsy and easily bruised!) and would drop things often.  You know that ohmygosh-almost-had-it-feeling where you're holding something and it just nearly slips out of your hands? I feel growing up that happened to me a lot.  Or, I would just plum drop things.  It happened often!  And, let's be honest.  It just still happens.

My brother died in 1995.  It's been 14 1/2 years since he's been on this planet.  And, since he's been gone, something has come up for me.  When I have that almost drop something feeling, and I catch whatever was about to go plummeting from my grasp, I think it's Andy helping me.  I feel like it's his little self catching my clumsy and being there for me.  It may be silly, but I've thought this for so long that it's hard to think differently now.  It's become my way of remembering Andy as a mean big brother and then thanking him for being there for me.

Well, this morning, I had a soap situation in the shower.  Scrub scrub scrub, lathering up to wash my face.  The soap slipped from one hand to the other and then near fell from my hands to the tub floor, but I caught it.

I thought, "Right on, Andy.  Thanks, Bro."
Then, I giggled, and I said, "Dude. Get out of the shower! Sheesh! Can't a sister get some privacy?"

I've had a really great morning and wanted to share my little ghost story.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

the story.

Had a great conversation tonight where I said this and believed it:
You know, sometimes I have to grieve the story I have in my head so I can wake up a bit and actually live the life I have in front of me.

It's amazing the attachment I can have to what I want to happen and how I want it to look.  And, I'm getting a little tired of the want talk in my life.  I'm looking forward to setting aside the stories I have in my mind of how I want my life to look so I can get busy living the life I'm privileged to live.

I did go ahead and have a great day, and that's just awesome.

Sunday, December 06, 2009

birds.

The alarm went off at 615 this morning. eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwww.....I didn't fall to sleep til near 1215 and man....how much I didn't want to get up this morning! So Tired! I lied (layed? laid? lay? oh English, you lovely trickster!) there for a while, listening to Liane Hansen on Weekend Edition.  I thought, gosh. Why am I up so earlllllyyyyy?!?!?! The plan was to head to a meetin' at 7a for some early goodness this Sunday. And I had a study sesh scheduled for 9 anyway, so I thought, well, I'll just freakin' get up for this meeting, I'll put my game face on, I'll put my butt in a chair.  FINE.

I washed my face and started waking up a bit...Then Will Shortz did the puzzle this morning and I got most of them right! (YAY GOD!) And, I piled on my layers--it's a cold one this day in Prescott, Arizona!--and met the fella for a meeting.

And how great is God, you ask? OH SO GREAT. The meeting was on staying in Prescott. And how much I've been struggling with the future lately...With the choice I'm making tomorrow about where to serve my preceptorship for my last semester of school; man, does it feel like a loaded choice!  It feels like this is THE choice to dictate how I feel about nursing and where I want to spend my first year (or more) nursing.  It feels WEIGHTED.  At the same time, my gut is calm, and I don't feel stressed internally about this choice.  I feel oddly serene and certain that my choice is to stay here.  That God will provide for me so powerfully as God always and continually has.

So to sit a room with people in recovery talking about the power that is this town, the blessing of a recovery community feels so GodGodGod. Exactly what I needed to hear.....

From Daily Reflections, December 6 : 


When we developed still more, we discovered the best possible source of emotional stability to be God Himself. We found that dependence upon His perfect justice, forgiveness, and love was healthy, and that it would work where nothing else would. If we really depended upon God, we couldn’t very well play God to our fellows nor would we feel the urge wholly to rely on human protection and care.TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 116 
It has been my experience that, when all human resources appear to have failed, there is always One who will never desert me. Moreover, He is always there to share my joy, to steer me down the right path, and to confide in when no one else will do. While my well-being and happiness can be added to, or diminished, by human efforts, only God can provide the loving nourishment upon which I depend for my daily spiritual health.
How amazing is God? It blows my mind with gratitude the lessons I learn daily.  The joy I feel to hear things, to be reminded how well I am taken care of, how much I am reminded I am soooo never ever alone, despite the trickster mind games I have teasing me that 'aloneness' is my punishment.  
With regard to my staying in Prescott, Hope For Today for December 6 offered quite a lot, too: 
I try to remember that as long as I make decisions in the context of seeking my Higher Power's will, whatever I do will be the right thing.  "Do" is the operative word here.  I once heard, "Without God, man cannot; without man, God will not."  If I don't take some sort of action, my Higher Power doesn't have anything to work with.  Because decision-making is a self-correcting process, I can use any mistakes I make along the way to eventually guide me in the right direction.  Even if I "decide" myself into a corner, I'm not alone.  My Higher Power is with me everywhere I go.  
I am so blessed.  It makes me shake my head and put my hand on my chest and sing praise! As long as I'm praying for God's will in the choices I have before me, being of service, being of use to my Higher Power, my choice is exactly RIGHT. There are no mistakes!  
I'm grateful I decided to wake up this morning and work on my spiritual fitness. I'm grateful to be apart of a community focused on a spiritual solution.  I'm grateful my Higher Power provided this avenue for my life.  I don't know where I'd be without it, and to think eh...I just won't go there.  Where I will go is intense gratitude my God knows the Steps, the meetings, the solution the program offers me is soooooo a good fit for me.  And it's so wonderful. 


Sunday, October 26, 2008

some things i've learned since being single...

Hi there BloggerLand!
Oh, it has been soooooo long.

I've been busy.

Since my last post, my gramma died, nursing school started, Macallie & I started therapy and promptly broke up a quick four weeks later. Macallie moved out. We fought a lot, made up a little bit, and now we're on somewhat surprising terms: possible friendship and even a little bit of civility. It's nice.

Now, my birthday is a short five days away. I'll be entering my 30th year on this planet, which is a fancy way of saying that I have one more year of my twenties and am not yet as cool as all my older friends entering that world of the thirties. I will indeed be just 29.

With all this change, I'm in the mood for some serious reflection, and in need of an outlet to express all this internal chaos....Welcome back, Lily Potter Mansfield, from Manchester, NH. (My stage name...it worked really well in Vegas last summer when I was getting hit on by all these older dudes. Wow. I am so gooood at lying.)

Now, for some of my lessons learned.

1) I am a control f.r.e.a.k. I have this issue with needing to be in charge, in the know, aware (but sooo not in the good sense), up to speed, in the dish about everything. When it came to Macallie, I had to know what he was doing, where he was going, why he wasn't home, who he was with, who's calling him, where did all his money go? Yes. This was me. This was horrifying to realize upon retreat from the relationship--that I was engaged to a person I didn't trust able to manage his own life so I had to take it upon myself to manage it for him. Very hard to realize. Also, in this realization, it became obviously clear that my safety somehow was linked to how in control I was. Some sub-category lessons I've learned on this subject:

a) There are three inherent instincts we are all trying to maintain as humans.
our sexual relationships
our social relationships
& our security.

b) I have somehow linked my security instinct with this illustrious illusion and perception of control.

Another thing I've noticed about this control thing....if I don't have a dude in my life to somehow micromanage, I'll find the littlest things upon which to put my magic control touch.

Are you ready to hear about my insanity?
Well. Too bad. I'm not ready to divulge.
Ha. Just kidding.

Some things I do: I recycle my dishes. Now, I don't mean that I'm a good girl and recycle the glass plates or mugs if they break. No. I mean that if I used a plate then I put the plate, once clean, under the stack of clean plates so it won't be used all the time. Yes. I am admitting my obsessive insanity.

Also, I compulsively organize my netflix queue. For no other reason then it's something tangible to organize and be in control of. I don't even know what movie is coming next; I do know that it is fairly organized and is the movie the list is going to send me. Ohmygod. I am sort of, well, not that embarrassed because I'm getting this all out, but this is the real me.

It is becoming deliciously obvious to me why I am not in a relationship anymore. And, I've only started with control.

2) I am a professional procrastinator. On that matter of instinctual security, I feel safe when I feel the impending doom of what needs to be done and how incapable I am to do it all. It makes no sense to me this need to not do, but to just sit and ponder all that needs to be done. It is a safety to go right into old Layla behavior and explain explain explain how fabulously unique I am to not complete the tasks that are before me to do. I chose to be a student. I am terminally reminded that October is just a really tough month for me and it's hard to accept where I'm at because right now it's just not the perfect place to be. With this understanding, I chose to accept myself as not a perfect human. And, at times like these it's hard to accept....Very wordy sentences to say this: I need to just get some homework done and I know I'll feel better. I'm finding that I'm putting things off to the ever present 'tomorrow' and I'm wondering when tomorrow is going to get here. This idea of tomorrow is spanning more than just the understood calendar day.

3) I am a hopeful faithful little bugger. I have developed this ultimate amazing wonderful relationship with this great and powerful huge force in my life I sometimes call God and sometimes call Hugh Patterson. I get stuck on pronouns when it comes to talking about g-d (how my sweet Jewish friends refer to the power) and I don't know if this energy force is a dude or a cool girl or just this force. So, I find myself often referring to my higher power and HP (hence the Hugh Patterson and often times, the male pronouns get used.)

All that talk for this: God is doing for me what I can't do for myself. And, I see this daily. It is such a blessing to be in relationship with this powerful god of mine. It is amazing. I am sleeping better than I have since I moved to this house (April). That is god doing for me what I cannot do.

I am NOT in control of my sleep, I have recently discovered. I am aware of my procrastination and control tendencies and only slightly allowing these awareness to put a dent in my growing esteem and worth--that is god doing for me what I can't do for myself.

I normally would be under the covers lamenting my worthlessness and become a swirl of isolation, still not doing anything about the impending things I need to get done. Now, I am not doing the things I need to get done, and noticing my control, but there's this peace about it all. Very weird. And very divinely god giving me a little push to take it easy on myself and love what I am, cause oh great Popeye, "I am what I am."

4) My mom googled me, and this blog came up. And, she read it. And, it scared me. Here's a little god thing, though: I didn't run to this site and see if I wrote anything about her. Ha! I love that!! I still haven't even looked. I guess my safety isn't totally completely wrapped up in what others think of me.

5) Since breaking up with Macallie, I haven't once been interested in being with another dude. Well, I take that back. For the first week or so, I was super interested in this great idea of a guy....and g-d sort of woke me up to how important being single is for me right now. I am totally amazingly grateful for god's time for my life. I am blessed to not be in the relationship I was just in. I am a little lonely but at night when that loneliness creeps in I remember how well I've been sleeping and how if I were still in that relationship, I wouldn't be sleeping well, and I would be marinating all over the place about someone else's behavior, instead of looking at all my own stuff....

I have a lot of stuff to look at. I am a glorious woman creature. I have loads of good qualities...divinely and wonderfully, g-d created me with these wonderful defects, shortcomings, faults, *bad* qualities to look at and be aware of....I'm very grateful for this process of growing and understanding where I'm at. I'm really happy to be single. I'm happy to be giving poor Macallie a break. I'm happy to be giving myself a break, too. I'm amazingly happy despite all this stress, grief, and loneliness that could easily permeate my every breath. And, while writing that last statement joyous how well god does for me what I cannot do for myself.

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

just when i want to throw in the towel....


Reminders from God (part two)


Never lose sight of the glorious work to which you have been called. Let no riches entice you from the path of miracle-working with Me.


See the photo?
That's what I want to be doing. Laying in bed with Sonja, reading books and relaxing. I don't want to do this work stuff that God has called of me. I don't want to participate. I just don't.

Thankfully.
It's 10.37pm.
And I get to go to bed.
And, tomorrow is quite busy. And, I have a babe that I love, who reminds me to stay present with the task at hand. So, for tonight, I pout. I grunt. I am disgruntled. I feel aware of the glorious work before me, and quite aware and how much I am disinclined to participate.

Phew.

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Reminders From God (part one)


My igoogle page has this gadget called "Reminders from God." Every day it changes and it coincides with readings from God Calling by the Two Listeners. Each day the readings are really powerful and enlightening. Today's was most poingnant:


"Rest more with Me. Alone, away from noise and activity, from these times you come forth filled with Spirit."

Today was a big day. I had the option to work and chose not to. It was more important I have a day filled with ME. A day for ME. It's been a while since I had the opportunity to just sit and do things that are important to my calm, my quiet, my serene state of mind, and today proved to be one of those days.

When I opened my home page and saw the listeners telling me God found my quiet day admirable I was immediately validated.

It is amazing when I open myself to validation from God how quickly it comes...how willingness and reception are directly proportional.

I am very lucky. I am very blessed.
I am grateful and excited about listening to what my Higher Power says.

Glorious.