Feeding Your Spirit

Feeding your Spirit...

(An adaptation from "A Daily Dose of Sanity" by Alan Cohen)

"Sometime back, a newspaper article reported that Cuba's unusually high number of centenarians say their longevity is a result of going easy on alcohol, but indulging in coffee, cigars and sex. Of Cuba's population of 11 million, about 3,000 have lived for more than a century. Most of them are mentally alert, di

d manual labor in rural areas, and had parents who were also long lived.

These findings fly in the face of much of what we have been told about how to live long and well. You might not think that coffee, cigars, and sex are on the approved list for breaking the triple digit glass ceiling for age. But there is one factor that many proponents of health foods or austere, medically prescribed diets do not take into consideration: the JOY FACTOR." ~ Alan Cohen

In reading about this I remembered something a wonderful mentor of mine, Sonia Chocquette once said..."Sometimes you just gotta feed your Spirit!" And I remembered something else, about George Burns, who also lived to be a hundred, saying that first he set the intention that he was going to live to be 100 and also smoked a cigar, and indulged liquor and coffee, on a daily basis.
And the Buddha, after becoming enlightened in the flesh, had stated that once you have reached this state, you can take anything into your body and do anything to it, and it will have no effect upon it...

Because we are spiritual at the core of our being, it is the spirit in which we live that determines the quality of our lives. That is why the tenor of our spirit generally supersedes what we do physically. When you do what brings you joy, you release into your body life-giving hormones and chemicals. When you do what bores or annoys you, you generate toxic hormones and chemicals that hamper your life force and diminish your longevity.

A man went to his doctor for a checkup and asked him, "What do you think my chances are to live to be 100?"
The doctor asked the patient, "Do you smoke?"
"No," the fellow answered.
"Do you drink?"
"Never."
"Do you run around with women?"
"No, sir," the patient replied.
The doctor shook his head and asked the patient, "Then why would you want to live be 100?"

Now as a holistic practitioner, I am not suggesting that you continue with clearly unhealthy habits, or take up smoking and drinking heavily...like my mother used to always say, "All things in moderation."
But I am suggesting that it would behoove us to probably listen less to externally prescribed regimens, and listen more to our unique inner wisdom...

FEED YOUR SPIRIT AND DO THAT WHICH BRINGS YOU JOY!

The secret of living a long and happy life is to be IN it.

"When it comes to staying young, a mind-lift beats a face-lift any day." ~ Marty Bucella

 

 

In Ceremony ~ The Joining of Two Hearts

There is a little known concept that for any couple (or at least it was little known to me until just very recently:), who for personal reasons choose not to "legally" marry or otherwise define the relationship in traditional terms, may decide to enter into a ceremony of commitment to one another. The Native Americans have a similar ritual called a "Join

ing Ceremony"

Commitment ceremonies can be simply a ritual to bless your relationship in the presence of family and friends, or an intimate exchange between you and your partner to celebrate your love.

These ceremonies can allow you to state the reasons why you decided to make the commitment, allow you to share what you love most of all about one another, give you the opportunity to share your hopes and desires of your future together and help to prepare you for the next chapter in your lives.

Some things that make commitment ceremonies special....

~ Giving a lot of thought to writing and personalizing your commitment vows.

~ Consider the addition of a traditional cultural ritual to acknowledge and honor your family ancestry. Adding a ritual can make your ceremony richer and more unique.

~ Choose a venue that has special significance for you both, the place of your first kiss or meeting.

Here is a beautiful example of one such ceremony...

A very simple ceremony is outside and near water, at sunset, on or around the time when the moon is full. Blessing or Wishing stones and seashells are gathered at the site not just for the couple themselves but for all that have gathered to pay witness to the exchange of vows...They are held throughout the entire ceremony filling them with good wishes, prayers, thoughts and intentions.

The couple then exchange their declaration of love...One to the other...

The woman (or first party) ~
"You are and have always been my best friend, with you in my life, I will always know home. I promise to care for your dreams as though they were my own and will give you the space and encouragement you need to follow those dreams and passions. I will always try to love you for what you are, not what you have been or might become. I will hold your heart gently through all of our lives together. I will laugh with you. I will be responsible for my life and my person. With you I will dance to an equal music. I will feed you when you are hungry, give you rest when you are tired, Listen when you are grumpy, tell you when I am afraid, Hold you in your sadness and laugh with you in your joy.
I promise to always be there for you. I couldn’t ask for a more perfect soul mate, and will always honor you just as you are. I promise to share with you my innermost fears, feelings and dreams, and when cloudy, wintry, sad days come I hope I can bring some sunshine into your life just as you have brought sunshine into mine. I promise to listen to you, to trust you and to nurture our shared goals of self-awareness and living life with our eyes wide open. I promise to love you both in good times and bad with all that I have to give, and all that I feel inside, in the only way I know, completely and forever."

The man (or second party) ~
"I stand here today to start the next journey of our life looking forward to our endless days together. I give my all to you. My support for your achievements, my counsel for your problems, my remedies for your ills, my prosperity for yours, my shoulder for your tears, my ear for your voice, my hand for companionship and my embrace for our shared love. I promise to be there to help when you need me, and to stand beside you, give you support and space when you don't. I will grow along with you and be willing to change to keep our relationship alive and exciting. I want you to know that I pledge to remember the harmfulness of ignorance, anger and clinging attachment, to recall the kindness of others and our connection to them. I vow to keep close to my heart those first tender steps we took towards each other with open arms and laughing eyes. I promise that our world together will be fulfilling, full of the seasons, walks, talks and many moments of perfect oneness. I promise to always be there for you. I vow to honor you, protect you, cherish you, and to love you now and till the end of time."

After the ceremony all follow the couple's procession to the water, each person makes a wish or blessing for them and casts their stone into the water. The ripples that are made represent the love and good wishes, not only for the couple, but for all the world... as our ripples cross and re-cross one another's, so do our love and good wishes touch and retouch all around us and those with whom we come into contact.

WHAT COULD BE MORE PERFECT!!!!

 

 

Rejoice in This Day!

August 7, 2012

OMG...What an incredibly beautiful and perfectly glorious day it is out there in Rochester, NY!!!

Not sitting inside (on this thing) for much longer, going to head out into this "Perfect" Day, and enjoy it, and every "perfect" moment together, while we may!

I am so happy, grateful and joyous, from within and without, about my Life and ALL that is a part of it, that I am afraid I may just sponta

neously combust! (But in a good way:)

“Listen to the Exhortation of the Dawn!
Look to this Day!
For it is Life, the very Life of Life.
In its brief course lie all the
Verities and Realities of your Existence.
The Bliss of Growth,
The Glory of Action,
The Splendor of Beauty;
For Yesterday is but a Dream,
And To-morrow is only a Vision;
But To-day well lived makes
Every Yesterday a Dream of Happiness,
And every Tomorrow a Vision of Hope.
Look well therefore to this Day!
Such is the Salutation of the Dawn!”
~ Kalidasa

 

 

A Time for Letting Go...

“Friendship, like the immortality of the soul, is too good to be believed. When friendships are real, they are not glass threads or frost work but the solidest things we know.”...

“Don't waste yourself in rejection, nor bark against the bad, but chant the beauty of the good.”...

“The only reward of virtue is virtue; the only way to have a friend is to be one.”...

"Learn how to carry a friendship greatly, whether or not it is returned. Why should one regret if the receiver is not equally generous? It never troubles the sun that some of his rays fall wide and vain into ungrateful space, and only a small part on the reflecting planet. Let your greatness educate the crude and cold companion. If he is unequal, he will presently pass away; but thou art enlarged by thy own shining."

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

There comes a time, when it becomes necessary to understand that people enter and exit your life, and sometimes exits are for the best. These endings should not be marked as failures...but as time well spent, and now as the point of departure rapidly approaches...all that can be left to say must simply be...

Its been good...Have a good life...Walk in Love and Light...Be Happy...Be Well...Godspeed.

"Don't be dismayed at good-byes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are truly friends." ~ Richard Bach

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?

Fairy Tale Misnomers ~ Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad Wolf?
by Kris Faso

"Up and out this morning...before I leave, I must say. My writing companion ~ Spirit ~ has me to say these things, or rather inspires me.

What's with this fear in the statement of ; Who's afraid of the big bad Wolf?
Wolves are not big and bad! They are wild, untamed, you just don't walk up to a wild animal. And you teach the youngers that, that's all.

And Humpty Dumpty!
Who the heck...is Humpty Dumpty anyway? Everything can be repaired, changed or otherwise replaced.
Couldn't put him back together again?
Why this is the day and age of technology and supreme discovery!

And how many of you are afraid to roll down a hill for fear of breaking your crown.
Come on! Jack and Jill!!
How about a John and Joan went up the hill to fetch a pale of water.
John picks a flower and presents it to Joan and they live happily ever after. How about that?

How about dropping the fear out of what is for joy, fun loving and, for all intensive purpose of this message, conditioning.
And please, let your child climb.
Dont tell them they will fall.
My goodness, they are your child.
Stop what you are doing and join them.
Encourage the challenge.
You can be there to catch them ~ IF they even fall.
And if they do, you can cushion the fall and then tell them about gravity or something, something that instills wonder and investigation of the real reality ~ which of course is limitless.
Peace."

Kris is a Seer and Stone Reader and resides near Rochester, NY
www.krisfaso.com

The Cracked Pot

"The grass is not, in fact, always greener on the other side of the fence. No, not at all. Fences have nothing to do with it. The grass is greenest where it is watered. When crossing over fences, carry water with you and tend the grass where ever you may be." ~
Robert Fulghum

The Parable of the Cracked Pot
Author Unknown

A water bearer in India had two large pots, each hung on the end of a pole which he carried across his neck. One of the pots was perfectly made and never leaked. The other pot had a crack in it and by the time the water bearer reached his master's house it had leaked much of it's water and was only half full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water to his master's house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you." "Why?" asked the bearer. "What are you ashamed of?" "I have been able, for these past two years, to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your master's house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don't get full value from your efforts," the pot said.

The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his compassion he said, "As we return to the master's house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path."

Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path, and this cheered it some. But at the end of the trail, it still felt bad because it had leaked out half its load, and so again the pot apologized to the bearer for its failure.

The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of your path, but not on the other pot's side? That's because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back from the stream, you've watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master's table. Without you being just the way you are, he would not have this beauty to grace his house."

Each of us has our own unique flaws. We're all cracked pots. But if we will allow it, God will use our flaws to grace his table. In God's great economy, nothing goes to waste. Don't be afraid of your flaws. Acknowledge them, and you too can be the cause of beauty. Know that in our weakness we find our strength.

Healing and the Mind of God...

Health is my natural state. I accept it Now!.

"Who is the physician? Only the mind of the patient himself. The outcome is what he decides that it is. Special agents seem to be ministering to him, yet they but give form to his own choice...They are not actually needed at all. The patient could merely rise up without their aid and say, "I have no use for this."

There is no form of sickness that would not be cured at once..." ~ A Course in Miracles

While doctors, medicine and natural modalities can facilitate the healing process, the only true healer is God. Even the mending of a small cut is a miracle! What human being has the power to recreate it? To be healed, we do not need to add anything to who we are or what we have. We simply need to become still, align ourselves with the Spirit of God and allow nature to reinstate us to our rightful condition of well-being.

My mother always used to say that our bodies are miraculous machines, and if left in the hands of the natural process, they can be self adjusting and healing mechanisms. And if we are made in the image and likeness of God and are Co-creators of Spirit, what then is impossible to us?

Jesus has said, "Your Faith has Healed You"...and "Know Ye Not that Ye are gods?"...

If God is Perfection...and we are the offsprings of that Perfection, what then is there to even heal? Simply align, affirm, allow and accept your natural birthright as Children of the Most High Creator...

The Mind of God, can not see what it is not...And it is only Perfection...Therefore it sees only perfection...

This day Affirm to see yourself as God sees you...Perfect, Whole and Free!

Time by the Sea (A Compilation)

 

How does one articulate accurately enough what time by the ocean means, and all the emotions and inspiration that it stirs up in the heart and soul...

At the beach, life is different. Time doesn't move hour to hour but mood to moment. We live by the currents, plan by the tides, and follow the sun...

At the beach all we need is the truth in our hand. Someone to call a friend. Never fear the dar

kness. All we need is just the sun in the sky. And the hope of a summer to come with the meaning of love...

At the beach all girls, timeless and ageless, go barefoot and their hearts are just as free as their toes...

Amy Dykens wrote, “It’s hard for me to put into words why I like the beach so much. Everything about it is renewing for me, almost like therapy...Beach Therapy.”...and through the honest musings of her 5 year old daughter, Amy, “Play in the sand; splash in the water; get dirty; get wet. The beach is the only place my mom doesn’t get mad about me doing that stuff. Of course I love the beach!”

Here are some timeless thoughts by those who also understood the incredible place of Divinity and Oneness that only summer and time by water can afford...

"When anxious, uneasy and bad thoughts come, I go to the sea, and the sea drowns them out with its great wide sounds, cleanses me with its noise, and imposes a rhythm upon everything in me that is bewildered and confused." - Rainer Maria Rilke

"For whatever we lose (like a you or a me)
it's always ourselves we find in the sea."
- e.e. cummings

"The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient. One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach--waiting for a gift from the sea." - Anne Morrow Lindbergh

"My soul is full of longing. For the secret of the sea,
And the heart of the great ocean, Sends a thrilling pulse through me." - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

"The voice of the sea speaks to the soul. The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace." - Kate Chopin

“The three great elemental sounds in nature are the sound of rain, the sound of wind in a primeval wood, and the sound of outer ocean on a beach” - Henry Beston

"I could never stay long enough on the shore; the tang of the untainted, fresh, and free sea air was like a cool, quieting thought." - Helen Keller

“Roll on, deep and dark blue ocean, roll. Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain. Man marks the earth with ruin, but his control stops with the shore.” -Lord Byron

"It is an interesting biological fact that all of us have in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and therefore, we have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea--whether it is to sail or to watch it--we are going back from whence we came." - John F. Kennedy

 

"In summer, the song sings itself." - William Carlos

"On the beach, you can live in bliss." - Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys

And so, my Beautiful, Bright and Sunny Beloved Ones...Its back to the beach for me, and a day of meditating on the Beauty of the Ocean and all the Majesty of an Awesome Summer's Day with those souls who I am blessed to share my Heart and Life...

Enjoy this Day...this Weekend...this Summer...this Life, with all the enthusiasm and gratitude your Spirit can conjure up!