Hearing your dream: More on the Dragon

Do you believe that you can hear your dreams? Do you think they reveal themselves in other ways outside of visions, feelings, daydreams? I do and lately I've been really listening to my dreams and they are gently reminding me that I've been pushing aside so many parts of myself to fulfill the needs and desires of so many others that eventually those or at least some parts of myself will just completely fall away and the notion to be creative and continually crafty will no longer be part of my essence. Hence the revamping of my blog, being more outward with my thinking and creative processes, and now.......well, I'll wait until later :o)

Being a fulltime Mama and homemaker takes a lot of energy and creativity to somehow make it all work on a day to day basis. Meals, meals to go, laundry, cleaning, playing, outside time, bringing art and creativity into the lives of our children, building a rhythm, pets, diapers, piano, reading, snuggling, just being. This list is obviously yours to augment as it pertains to your world, but in mine, this is our day to day......mostly! What you see in our blog as of late is how we live our lives, regardless or not if I'm blogging about it! It just is......thankfully that won't change, but for me, blogging about it and connecting with other folks who inspire me and share a similar vision is something I find to be so encouraging and reassuring that the life we as a family have chosen to lead is not so far fetched and off kilter.

Seeing as this is a New Year, as of January 1, 2012 and now during the celebratory time of the Chinese New Year (the glorious and energetic Year of the Dragon) we've got lots of reasons to refocus and follow our hearts with more of a generous spirit and gusto!

To honor the Dragon we held a little feast. We continued to welcome the flow of energy and revitalization by eating noodles, dumplings, and spring rolls! In case you haven't already picked up from my blog.......we love food!

The Dragon is a powerful creature; strong, energetic, firey, adaptable, resilient, fearless, independent, courageous. I've been feeling that a lot lately and have been really focusing on my son (who was born in the year of the Dragon ) and watching how he reacts to his world around him, how people influence him, how he influences people, what he has to offer, what he has to gain. I've thought a lot about what all of the characteristics of the Dragon mean and have eagely begun to apply some of them in my day to day, like this blog, for example. I've really dug deep to remain focused and excited; to give myself a visual of my life and then be courageous enough to share what I have to say and what we as a family have to offer with all of you. I've been fearless in my dreaming and allowed my inner self to have the podium to tell me what she needs and then I have adapted to figure out how to make that happen, for me, for my family.

To tie this all together, while we celebrated the other evening we realized how important it was to not wait to make your dreams a reality. There is no reason to wait......only you stand in your own way. I've been standing in my way, for whatever reason (fear mostly), and decided not any more! I realized how important it was for our children to not only know that we are there for them and will do whatever we can to give them the best possible chance in this world, but it's also so important for them to see Mom and/or Dad making their dreams come true, too. To see us succeed and fail. To watch us get excited and create. To see our smiles when our endeavors lead us to a place of fearlessness and complete contentment. WOW! Can you imagine??? By our allowing our dreams to have importance in this life with children at home we are giving our children the tools and the vision to hear and see their dreams and the courage for them to make their come true!

OK, it's later now.......

It brings me great joy to introduce you to the latest addition in the It's a Simple Life journey!


Find us at our Etsy shop:: Pure and Simple Joy



Here you will find many of the crafts we've posted and will post in the future, as well as many new items. Right now we have one item in our shop, our Celebration Crown, but hope to have many more offerings within the days and weeks ahead.

This is our wish list of what we plan to offer in the near future::

• upcycled sweater pants for children and wool felt booties (all sizes)
• lotions, soaps, salt/sugar scrubs, lip balm, bath fizzies
• our special blend of teas
• our homemade hot chocolate mix and homemade marshmallows
• essential oil synergy blends, sleepytime pillows and belly pillows, eye pillows
• truffles, and our favorite mixes for cookies and muffins

Our philosophy is to use pure and simple ingredients and/or organic and local ingredients whenever possible, to use minimal and recycled packaging, to create items that bring joy and wonderment to the receiver. Everything will have a life force that can be felt. The truffles will feel good because the chocolate is fairtrade. The aromatherapy products will contain oils and extracts that have gained the energy of the sun and the moon, the herbs will have been grown either in my garden or another local organic garden, and the sweaters will have been lovingly worn and then given a second life as clothes for wee ones.

All of these items are creations I have been working on and perfecting for a long time. It brings me so much joy to offer all that I can to you! Thank you to all of you for your continued support as we hear all the dreams that wish to come true xoxo

Now.......tell me some of your dreams and how you might hear them to make them a reality in your life!!!



The Hawk has a voice

Every morning in our humble home I hear the far of song of a hawk. This is one sound that I find easily recognizable and I search for it now that I know it exists. It's high pitch screaming, signaling to any neighboring animal, whether human or non-human, that it's presence is established; it's stating this is my home, I see you before you see me. I find this music to be hauntingly peaceful.......it brings with it a primitive awareness that we are connected to, our should be more connected to, or nature family. We as a species may be civilized (debatable) but we still need that connection, that feeling of belonging as part of our natural world.

The hawk is a powerful bird....its sharp stare that pierces, not to mention it's beak and talons. All of it symbolic of it's place in the order of things.  When it comes to spirit relations the hawk brings with it messages associated with:

• Attention
• Vision
• Power
• Energy
• Leadership
• Intensity

Attention:  Where should you be focusing your time and attention? Are you ignoring or putting off things that require more of your energy? Are you unable to focus for lack of motivation? Are you so out of balance in your lives that watching T.V. or other time wasting stimulants take precedence over  other more important areas of your life? When you ask yourself these questions really think about them and be honest with yourself. Most of societies issues could probably find some resolve if more importance was placed on things that truly matter.

Vision: The hawk has incredible eye sight and can see more clearly than we can at a distance. Take in to account that the hawk is able to seek out it's very small next meal from way up in the sky. What does it mean to have strong eye sight; physically and spiritually? Are you seeing things in your physical life for what they really are or just face value? Are you looking at and seeing the whole person that your confronted with or passing of quick judgement? What about spirit; can you see your heart for what it is or do you have it all guarded and boarded up for the sake of keeping it safe? Are you willing to see beyond the outside and really look inward when seeking a solution to what ails you? The hawk's intense eyesight brings with it a clarity of deep one must really look for nourishment and awareness.

Power & Leadership: This is a big one. People crave power, whether a work, in the social circle, in their family. Having power over someone or something is sometimes the essence of what makes one tick. Is that a personality trait of yours? Are you domineering? Are you arrogant and mean? Do you belittle people because of where they stand in your eyes and feel as though you are somehow more powerful than they are? Part of what the hawk spirit brings to me is it's request for us to really look at that........to work hard to honor everyone we meet as an equal, not as someone to be lorded over. Being in a position of power makes it easy to be careless and disrespectful with that honor, are you excepting and generous as a leader? Do you listen and see wholly to all that is brought before you? It's out of respect that we hold the gift of leadership up and treat all of those with whom we might interact with the utmost respect and equality.

Energy & Intensity: Finding the energy to finish the day gets more and more difficult with time. The hawk can't cease it's energy, otherwise it won't eat or survive if attacked! We live in a society of convenience; drive- in everything (food, pharmacy, even grocery), the television is made to be more modern with it's telephone and Internet connection (so if the phone rings and your watching TV the caller id come up and then you can push a button and speak on speaker phone??!!!), food is readily available at any grocery store so the need for growing your own to eat in season or put up for winter is optional, cars and mass transit, computers. Nothing is sacred anymore.......time is something to be wasted or filled with inanimate objects, working to get paid, buying things you don't need to keep up with all things modern (and society). Life's intensity is minimal that when it becomes intense most don't know how to react........how can you handle yourself in these times without letting go of the simple sacred practice of 'being'? How can you harness your energy and use it for good rather than consumption? How will you survive if there were no way to convenience your need by driving through a McDonald's or by a boxed something from the grocery? Life is intense.......the hawk shows us that everyday is just as important as the next for survival. That the energy we have should be spent wisely and doing honorable things. Our time here on earth is precious.......having the energy and passion to go beyond the 'norm' and live your life to the fullest is our gift. How do you live you life with passion and energy?

The hawk is amazing, powerful, and honorable. Let his flight inspire you to soar to your highest being. It's in you........just fly higher.

Sing!

That's right........sing. Last night as I was up toiling away on the last minute changes to this blog I sang......until the wee hours! I hadn't done that since I was in high school!!! It was wonderful. I played a variety of stations off of Pandora (a pretty nifty website dedicated to playing music that you like based on your choice of genre/artist)and I sang! Sarah McLachlan, Paul Simon, The Cranberries, etc. Most times I wasn't evening paying attention, the words just seemed to flow and I carried a tune OK. I'm not professional but it served me just fine. It felt really great to be singing again.

I used to sing alot. All the time in fact; to my kids, in the shower, in the car.......slowly but surely all the noise that took up residence in my head made it impossible for me to even entertain the idea of music. I had so much detritus flinging around inside my noggin that I couldn't even enjoy the sound of music. My husband, a musician, of course was quite offended by my resistance to music. It just overwhelmed me so that I felt like I was swimming, aimlessly, in a cavern full of water snakes!!! OK, that might be a little dramatic but I just couldn't process any thoughts or reasoning when there was so much noise in my head and then outside my head!

Part of this journey is to realize that which doesn't work or fit with who you are. I process everything that happens in my life. I ask questions to myself to help me identify my part in things and then label everything and categorize it to the correct compartment so it all makes sense. I have even begun to contemplate what I was thinking the moment that bird pooped on me! I live by the philosophy that everything happens for a reason........Why?

Thankfully, over the past few months I've been able to accept things about myself that I would normally try to change.......like taking everything personal, resenting other when they fall short of my expectations, my weight! Now, just because I have accepted these things about me doesn't mean I allow myself to engage in these energy zapping antics, instead, I've accepted them which means I've allowed myself the space to grow and relieve myself of the drama. I've stopped taking everything as a personal vendetta against me and realized that everyone is responsible for their own actions. I understood this already I just forgot that it's not my place to try to change anybody for the sake of what I feel to be right! What's right for me isn't right for the next person......this understood as well, I just hadn't processed it! The bottom line, alot of the noise in my head was resentments and questions as to why other people behaved in certain ways that created a disruption in my life. Now, I'm happy to say, that although I still become upset at the prospect of an injustice (I'm human after all) I've learned to quit taking it on as my own problem and therefore expecting myself to fix it. Big......I know!!! This has freed up prime real estate in my head to allow for a more pleasant environment full of music and other goodies!

When the noise in your head has become so loud sit and bring up one single thought that creates this negative ripple effect. Why is it there? Do something to alleviate the noise......approach the person that is causing you this grievance, apologize, forgive, or just send love. If for some reason nothing can be done, accept that. Realize that not all mistakes or ill will can be corrected and that the space that's being wasted on obsessing over these issues is detrimental to your health. It's hard, I know, but try to let it go! Grieve and feel all the emotions that come to play but then........say good bye and allow yourself the freedom to SING!!!

My recommendation........turn on your favorite album, give yourself ten minutes and sing at the top of your lungs. Who cares how horrible you might sound. Groove to the tunes and HEAR all the sounds and intonations of the songs. Feel how your body reacts to the sound waves and how your heart flutters when you get to the chorus.

My husband will be so thrilled to see that music will be respected when it's on in our house. I'm thrilled knowing that I will finally be able to choose the noise that I hear........well, mostly!

Hearing the Silence

Welcome to the 'Hear' page. This page will be solely dedicated to engaging your hearing senses. Hearing through your ears, of course, but also hearing through your heart and through Spirit. We go so fast in the life that often times we lack the ability to hear all that surrounds us........don't forget, I'm a mother of four so I know that one can only hear so much at a time. What I mean when I say to hear, listen, quietly embracing the quiet noise inside our hearts, our minds.......our spirit. We are multi-takers to the grandest scale, for everyone else.......but for ourselves? My hope is that somehow, through this page, I will be able to pass to you the little things I think, do, and hear to encourage a deeper relationship for you with yourself by listening respectfully and diligently to your silence within.