Ray of Sunshine: Unexpected Places

Sometimes, while you're busy planning your life, you find your heart in unexpected places.

Blessings for your day and week. Spread sunshine. Be the light.

Sunday Sunshine: Listen with your Heart

We're constantly told that we're a divided country. The messaging we receive all around us seems to encourage that division rather than unity.

Divisions fade away when you actively listen with not only your ears, but also your heart. 

You become new when you open yourself to new perspectives.

What might you learn about yourself and others if you listened with your whole being? 

What might you learn about yourself and others if you listened with your heart? 

Our minds put all kinds of filters in front of us through which we tend to absorb new information. As our minds construct and reinforce those filters based on memory and judgment, we can lose grasp on opportunities right in front of us for greater understanding and loving responses. 

When you listen with your heart, the lens through which you feel the world becomes one of love.

Today, this week: Listen with your heart.

Sunday Sunshine: Connect with Your Heart

There are times when the path seems shrouded in fog, a needed decision just out of reach. What to do? What direction is the right direction?

Take a moment to grow silent, to grow still. When you intentionally empty the din from your head and allow yourself to relax, the answers come. The more you apply pressure and add to your stress by hearing only the chatter in your head, the harder it is to hear the answer that is right for you, the one that is based on possibility instead of fear.

Short-circuit that judgmental, fear-based chatter in your head and listen more deeply to the wisdom of your heart. 

Today, this week: When the way seems unclear, grow silent and still, and connect with the messages from the heart.

Queen of Hearts

I got my husband a quirky Valentine featuring Alice in Wonderland's Queen of Hearts on the cover.  The inside of the card was blank, which gave me all kinds of opportunity to write a silly Queen of Hearts-theme message to my beloved.  On this Valentine's Day, I think about hearts and how often I know I wear mine on my sleeve, how much I lead by my heart (as well as my head), how often I've felt as if I've suffered from a broken heart, and how much I care about the health of my physical heart (as well as my husband's).  To celebrate the day, I attempted to replicate the heart trees that Mom used to make when I was a child.  A clear canning jar filled with curly willow is now trimmed with red construction paper hearts traced with a pencil and a cookie cutter.  The arrangement graces our dining room table, making me smile every time I pass by it.  So, although I don't believe I bear many of the traits of Lewis Carroll's "Off with her head!" character, if just for today, I'll call myself a Queen of Hearts.  Happy Valentine's Day!