Submitted by Mary Martin

There is something alluring for me about standing on the threshold of a New Year. It’s a time to reflect back on the past year with all its mistakes, successes, doubts, new awareness, etc. By the same token, I also am challenged with how to embark on this New Year without carrying forward last year’s unwanted marks. Sort of like trying to make a snow angel without marring it with a footprint!

In a recent discussion with friends about making New Year’s resolutions, I admitted that I had given up making resolutions years ago because I never disciplined myself to follow through. However, I did and still do feel that embarking on a New Year is a good time to take stock of where I have been and where I want to go.

Later that week, I heard someone on the radio suggest that if the New Year’s resolutions don’t stick maybe they weren’t the right ones to begin with. This caught my attention and prompted me to reflect back to when I had decided not to set myself up to fail with resolutions.

It all began years ago when I was facilitating a spiritual discovery group at work. It was our first group in a new year and we were looking at 4-R rather than making resolutions. The 4 R’s we used were Review, Regrets, Rewards and Reset as a guide to reflect on and evaluate the past year and to set goals for the New Year. Our discussion focused on what we could and need to do for a meaningful reset to happen because without plans, strategies etc., the reset would be ineffective.

My reset that day was to fear less and love more and this reset/resolution has stuck. This reaffirms for me that I have found the right one. However, this is more than a New Year’s resolution for me – it is also a lifestyle choice. So to stay focused and committed, I need to press the reset as I embark on a pristine New Year.

There have been times when I have needed to do a reset before the year was up and that was okay too. Just as that spiritual discovery group knew that in order to be successful there needed to be action, so too must I be conscious of how or when I allow fear to limit me in any way.

So with each reset I ask for help to first recognize and then act on the fears that would hinder my ability to be authentic in my approach to life and in all my relationships (including with myself). As I move forward into 2015, I remind myself again to fear less and love more!

Feel free to join me…

Wisdom’s Way to Peaceful Relating: Welcoming in the Opportunities of 2015

It’s 2015 and something NEW is in the air, not just on the calendar. For me, subtle shifts of clarity and alignment of mission have helped me to affirm that we are always in a state of relating. Whether we are relating with family, friends, or colleagues, or to our bodies, money, to our neighbours, community institutions, religion or even to our spiritual practices – we are relating with someone or something inter-connected with us. This is an on-going activity, an evolving engagement with every and any aspect of our life, including those we encounter and reside with on our life’s journey.

So what might Wisdom’s Way to Peaceful Relating have to do with your life?

Wisdom’s Way is about the path of what is most divine and natural and follows the Universal Harmony in all things. We must listen for this Wisdom which speaks to us from within our essence, the quiet place in our hearts, the love that is shared in relating to the GREAT LIFE which flows through us all and in Nature.

Peaceful Relating invites us to be mindful, aware, compassionate, ‘sacred-centred’ in how we show up to the way we live, the choices we make, our attitudes and the nature of our engagements with others.

Throughout this new year, we will continue to share stories, insights and ancient wisdom mixed with modern tales of knowledge and discovery as we explore, experience, test and integrate the light, love and strength of Wisdom’s Way to Peaceful Relating. Stay tuned, stay engaged and invite others to join us in this creative dialogue and opportunity for growth!

Namaste,

Shirley Lynn

And now, may this blessing by D. Simone provide you with renewal, health and enthusiasm for 2015!

“May Light always surround you;
Hope kindle and rebound you.
May your Hurts turn to Healing;
Your Heart embrace Feeling.
May Wounds become Wisdom;
Every Kindness a Prism.
May Laughter infect you;
Your Passion resurrect you.
May Goodness inspire 
your Deepest Desires.
Through all that you Reach For, 
May your arms Never Tire.”

Creating peaceful relationships has been our theme and focus for this past year. Having a spiritual theme or focus helps to light the path, making it clearer and a calm place to be. When I wander off course, as is the case at times, having a theme or focus has the power to gently bring me back on course, keeping me grounded and centred.

This theme has invited me to deeply consider those relationships or relationship dynamics that are no longer healthy for me and contribute to loss of self worth, loss of empowerment, loss of inner will for what I want my life to be about, and loss of vital life force power at the core.

It has also been a year of discerning and anchoring in those relationship dynamics and patterns that promote health and well-being, those which increase self worth and self regard and indeed encourage potential and passion. The path has not always been completely visible to me or to my clients, but the theme and the habit of deep, meditative listening to my heart and to Spirit provided the way forward, and more specifically the way upward!

At last week’s Reiki practice night we took time to share stories of relationships lost or transitioned in 2014. We offered ourselves the gift of community Reiki meditation to heal and where needed, to release this grief and whatever other feelings entangled with the grief. We then moved into a Universal Peace and Light Meditation. What a beautiful way to enter into the Holiday season. By acknowledging and providing a contained and healing space to my grief and other deep emotions, they do not need to bleed into my sense of joy and blessing that may have occurred in the hidden shadows of my celebrations.

So now I have the opportunity to listen to Christmas … not the busyness or to-do lists, not the Christmas songs blasting from the radio or ads telling me what I need to be happy this Christmas, but to Christmas itself. And when I listened this year, quietly, serenely and with open heart, I heard about Love.

I heard of the Love that sustains all things in all life when we open our hearts to this GREAT LOVE. I even felt this LOVE as the foundation of my own soul. And in the moment of deep listening to Christmas, I had faith that “I am okay” in this LOVE.

I heard that LOVE gives. I heard that LOVE receives graciously, with gratitude. I heard that LOVE is EVER-PRESENT. And in that felt experience of LOVE in my heart, I knew that all that I heard in listening to Christmas was true, deeply and completely true. I just need to keep my heart and mind open to it.

As 2015 approaches, we are taking this theme of creating peaceful relationships and expanding it into Wisdom’s Way to Peaceful Relating. We will be exploring our on-going openness and relating to LOVE. I am excited to see where this theme leads us. Join me on this magical ride into and throughout 2015.

And until then, I want to deeply thank you for your participation, your commitment, your love and faith in our work together of creating new kinds of relationships – to foster peace and compassion in our wounded world and relationships.

May each of you, your family members (4-legged and winged ones included) and the Earth be blessed with moments of LOVE and your own rich Holiday message when you take a few moments to listen to Christmas with heart.

In peace, love and gratitude,
Shirley Lynn

Listening to Christmas

Have you ever heard snow?

Not the howling wind of a blizzard,

not the crackling of snow underfoot,

but the actual falling of snow?

We heard it one night in Wisconsin

quite unexpectedly

while walking up a hill

toward our cabin in the woods,

a soft whisper between footsteps.

We stopped, switched off our flashlights,

and just listened.

All around us in the darkness

we heard the gentle fall

of snow on snow.

No wind, no sound

but the snow.

Have you ever heard Christmas?

Not the traffic noises in the city,

not the bells and hymns and carols,

beautiful as they are,

not even the laughter of your children

as they open their presents–

but Christmas itself?

Have you been by yourself

and just sat and listened to the silence within,

patiently, without letting the mind

race to the next Christmas chore?

Perhaps if you have,

you felt the pulse of all humanity

beating in your own heart.

Perhaps you noticed

an outflowing of love

for all your brothers and sisters

on the earth,

a soft sense of Oneness

with all that lives.

In the silence of a snowy night,

listen intently, holding your breath,

and you may hear snow on snow.

Serene, alone,

undisturbed by thought,

listen to the silence in your heart,

and you may hear Christmas.

Copyright © 1994 by Alan Harris. All rights reserved

Yesterday afternoon at a training class with Carlie, I became aware of the freedom of being able to work with Carlie off tether.

When she was still a puppy, learning in a big room with other dogs, Carlie first remained tethered to a wall while training. This afforded each of us a safe space to work, teach and train on our own goals without other dogs or people coming into our space and causing a sort of potential conflict. When dogs are first learning skills and behaviours in the method I’ve been learning and teaching, the dogs choose to learn the behaviours through positive reinforcement. What they learn as a result of this process is emotional self control as well as an awareness that they participate in manifesting what they want and need in partnership with their person.

As Carlie developed maturity, reliability and a sense of responsibility, we progressed in learning and practising more advanced skills and behaviours. We also set our sights on ‘getting off the wall’, or working un-tethered.

Carlie is three now (already, I know!) and we work, not only off tether – we work off leash. I trust her to stay with me and ‘work’, to not go visiting and bothering other partners who are also training. Yesterday in class, she modelled for a young six month old puppy how to start a class in a down-stay off tether, but with leash on. For Carlie, that is old stuff. But for this novice dog, it was a big deal. Carlie already knows that if she goes ‘wandering’, and doesn’t respect other people’s and dog’s space, she will get tethered – if she acts like an adolescent, she will get treated like one. Not favouring this loss of freedom (responsibility), she quickly returns to respecting the boundaries of our own work space. Rarely, do I need to reinforce this line between freedom and responsibility. We are able to work at quite a distance from each other and complete rather complex sequences of behaviours. It’s a joy we both share.

On our drive home from class I was reflecting upon my personal vision for 2015. I realized that there are some limiting patterns and dynamics that I need to be free of, so I can move forward more effectively and smoothly toward my dreams and goals. I found myself saying that I need to be un-tethered!

To be tethered is not a bad thing starting out. Sometimes it may even help us to stay focused and centred on the tasks and skills we need to learn – basic life skills or emotional self control, for example. Without these foundational life skills and without any sense of self control, being given all the freedom in the world in all likelihood will set us up for failure and inability to cope with life now.

However, those youthful tethers have served their purpose and we need to release them as adults. We need to trust we have the skills and the emotional self control to be responsible with our freedom to learn, grow and be successful. We may still need a guide to show us all that we can be and do in our freedom. We may still need to be reminded that if we forgo self control of an adult and throw a temper tantrum or whine or play victim to life, we may just find ourselves back ‘on the wall’.

With freedom comes responsibility. To benefit best by freedom, we need to have a vision of who we want to become, how we want to show up in relationships, what we want to enjoy, how we want to express our passion and compassion, and how we want to contribute toward a meaningful life.

As you bring closure to 2014, what dynamics or patterns need to be un-tethered so you can move ‘off the wall’ and more freely expand, grow and realize a greater potential in you?

Freedom to be and grow into your most Natural Self, talent and purpose is an amazing and simple expression of the heart. Yet, it requires a great responsibility to listen, to respect one’s own space and that of others, to honour the partnerships with which you have committed yourself and to keep learning and growing into your potential … your best self!

I invite you to get un-tethered and start visioning for 2015! Prepare yourself to live your life ‘off the wall’. Need help? Call or email me to set up a time to move beyond the limitations of long ago. I’d love to partner with you and go the distance!

Now is a great time to get started. Take advantage of my First Year Anniversary Promotion. Meet with me before the end of December 2014 and receive a 15% discount on your next appointment in January 2015.

Don’t let winter woes keep you tethered. Ask about long-distance energy therapy and phone sessions as alternatives to in-office visits. Live your life ‘off the wall’!

Namaste,

Shirley Lynn

What is better than this? Announcing my First Year Anniversary Promotion

I have truly enjoyed and been grateful for my decision one year ago to move my office to the Elmira Wellness Centre. Even though it was a stressful time for me, this new space has generated new energy and vision for me and my business.

I have come to realize that my core mission is to facilitate clients in creating and nurturing peaceful relationships – with themselves as well as with others in their lives. This theme of peaceful relationships reaches into so many facets of our lives – how we relate with ourselves (physical, spiritual, emotional health), our relations with others (family, friends, animals/pets, co-workers, neighbours, etc.), our relations with Nature, to name but a few.

When we view our world through the lens of relationships, questions invariably arise about where and how we fit in, where we belong. As we examine these questions, we often realize that where and who we are now isn’t necessarily our true and highest self. Change and growth are in the making.

As the New Year approaches, it seems fitting to reflect on What is better than this? As I strive for more peaceful relationships in my life, what sense of belonging and connection can I create or accept which is better than this?

If you are ready to contemplate and work with these questions in the presence of sacred witnessing, I invite you to set up an appointment with me today. Let’s sort out what needs to be released from your life and courageously seek out what is better for you now and into the new year.

To get you moving toward what is better for you, I invite you to take advantage of my First Year Anniversary Promotion. Meet with me before December 23^rd 2014 and receive a 15% discount on your next appointment in January 2015.

Concerned about the winter weather? Ask me about long-distance energy therapy and phone sessions as alternatives to in-office visits. What is better than this?

Namaste,

Shirley Lynn

Although this week’s blog is a departure from my usual story-telling approach, I hope it still elicits reflection about the power of belonging (or the cost of exclusion) and the desire for change as we strive for more peaceful relationships. Whether global or personal, we must acknowledge more completely all those of our past and the events that occurred, to acknowledge what is now. To see it honestly is the door that invites us to create and choose a new future, whether personally, communally or globally.

This week we will see many celebrations that honour men and women who have served in various military capacities – in times of peace as well as in wars and conflicts – events which have affected us in more obvious but also in deeply hidden ways. Over the past year, the Record has been highlighting stories of local ancestors who have fought in WWI to commemorate the 100^th year of this war. Reading these stories of the men, women, their parents and families who were left behind, brought to life the human element and toll of this war for me.

Whether it’s global conflict or familial, we are best served when we listen and seek to understand the views of many parties because those who are excluded will always find a way to belong. It may not matter how they choose to belong – as we have seen in the recent events here in Canada – but everyone does seek to belong. It is a core and most intrinsic human need. When we fail to listen to the ‘soul or narrative’ of all those involved, they will speak from the grave through the next generations. It’s what family, communal or global systems do.

The pain and grief of the past will speak to us in our present and in our future until we listen, acknowledge and choose to act differently. Only then can ‘it’ rest in peace and bless us in the present to make new and creative choices that allow the flow of love.

Remaining veterans want us to remember what they fought for – our freedom and peace. Although I want to honour and deeply bless those who served with the intentions to forward peace, freedoms of speech and diversity of culture, human dignity to all, I equally want to remember the creative conversations and political resolutions of those who choose other ways than war to achieve change through justice and dignity in society.

We must never forget. Yes, that is true. But let’s remember as honestly as we can. Let’s listen to the stories without romanticizing and mythologizing them. Let’s acknowledge the costs and gains for what they were and remain to be, so we can better understand.

I give thanks to the First Nations people and early governance of the French and British and others for their contribution in creating a different kind of country where I can enjoy the benefits of “peace, order and good governance” meant to serve the greater good. I will continue to seek various points of understanding to gain greater perspective to the ‘soul’ of these events.

I honour and remember the Silver Cross Mother who lays a wreath at the base of the National War Memorial on behalf of all mothers who lost children in the military service of their nation. The grief of parents losing a child is profoundly deep and lasts a lifetime.

I pay tribute to the Canadian Forces personnel I sat in circle with while learning mediation and conflict resolution alternatives, even as some of them were in constant ‘shakes’ from combat (PTSD).

I pray for those who have served and now suffer deep mental illnesses that affect their own souls, their families, their communities.

I give thanks to the Canadian Generals who publicly have shared stories of recent wars in which they were commanders and now have a mission to speak on what we must do to create peace in our world.

We all seek to belong, to experience the benefit of good order and to share in the wealth and balance of give and take that life requires to sustain itself. Creating peace in our relationships, on any level, will require listening, forgiving, being honest to see more of the whole, loving and much more creativeness, but I contend that creating peace is not more expensive than the wars that have been, and continue to be, fought.

May we remember with heart and soul (the inclusion principle), so the past can rest and we can move toward creating peace in our relationships.

Namaste,

Shirley Lynn

In the Catholic tradition, St. Francis of Assisi (patron saint to animals, merchants and ecology) is well renowned for his prayer “make me an instrument of your peace.” I believe it captures the essence of cultivating harmony in relationships and gifts us with a way to develop the attitudes and behaviours for peaceful relationships.

St. Francis is equally known for how he interacted with animals, the four-legged and winged ones; the world of plants, water and trees. You might think of him as an environmentalist mystic who called all creatures his brothers and sisters, including the sun (brother) and the moon (sister). St. Francis is known to have communicated with the animals. On one occasion his communication with a wolf helped to bring peace between a village and this wolf where each creature was honoured and respected.

October 4^th is known as the Feast of St. Francis, and today many Christian congregations have adopted this day as the time to ask for God’s blessing on animals – from pets to farm animals to wildlife. This special ceremony is called the Blessing of the Animals. Frequently, people bring their animal companions to church to participate in this special blessing and to celebrate the many ways they enrich our lives. It goes something like this:

“Blessed are you, Lord God, maker of all living creatures. You called forth fish in the sea, birds in the air and animals on the land. You inspired St. Francis to call all of them his brothers and sisters. We ask you to bless this pet. By the power of your love, enable it to live according to your plan. May we always praise you for all your beauty in creation. Blessed are you, Lord our God, in all your creatures! Amen.”

I am not Catholic nor have I participated in a faith community that has honoured or celebrated our animal brothers and sisters in such an intentional way, but I do feel that St. Francis’ message and way of being in this world is still relevant and serves to encourage and show us how to enhance and respect all our relations.

In the coming week I invite you to give a special blessing to your animal companion. Share a message with the bird outside your window. Imagine listening to their message back to you and imagine that you hear and understand it. Bless the tree that provides shelter and perhaps nourishment for that bird.

Honour and respect all your relations. And like St. Francis, see and treat your animal companions – indeed all of nature – as a mirror to the Sacred. We all belong to Creation! We all deserved to be blessed. Share a blessing and take yet another step in creating peaceful relationships.

Namaste,
Shirley Lynn Martin