Mother Earth

'' To be a human being is an honor and we offer thanksgiving for all the gifts of life.

Mother Earth, we thank you for giving us everything we need.

Thank you, deep blue waters around Mother Earth, for you are the force that takes thirst away from all living things.

We give thanks to green grasses that feel so good against our bare feet, for the cool beauty you bring to Mother Earth's floor

Thank you, good foods from Mother Earth, our life sustainers, for making us happy when we are hungry. 

Fruits and berries, we thank you for your color and sweetness.

We are all thankful to good medicine herbs, for healing us when we are sick.

All the trees in the world, we are thankful for the shade and warmth you give us

We give thanks to you, gentle Four Winds, for bringing clean air for us to breathe from for directions

Thank you Grandfather Thunder Beings for bringing rains to help all living things grow

Elder Brother Sun, we send thanks for shining your light and warming Mother Earth.

And most of all, thank you, Great Spirit, for giving us all these wonderful gifts ''

Chief Jake Swamp - Mohawk Nation Skennenrahowi, Tree of Peace Society.

Circles of motion

Take a deep breath and open the heart of the warrior you have hidden out of fear of discovery and rejection, freely nurture it with elemental truth, the truth you have seen through the eyes and ears of your inner voice of wisdom. Be still and in your truth. Change the atmosphere of everywhere you go with your words - call in good, call in light, call in love. We prophesize the future by the words we speak each minute of every day. Our words, are always a self-fulfilling prophecy - let's start only prophesizing the good and the intention of good. 

Get out there and put things in motion - in order to receive, is to move out into the world and spread joy, bring pleasure and share gifts you have received from every experience. Encourage others to join with you in a symphony of loving support. If we all responded to the beauty around us, then we would be able to weave this beauty into the fabric of living.

Sometimes staying positive becomes a challenge. Every one of us must find our own mechanism to notice, capture and release negative thoughts - and that's not an easy task. Like everything, capturing a negative emotion or thought and replacing it with a positive one it's not a walk in the park and it takes a lot of practice and patience.

When you are dwelling in negativity, find what you love and just do it! For me, it's music, writing, skating, hiking, yoga and capturing life through my lens. Find what makes you happy and go for it. Nurturing the daily aesthetic of our inner creative nature is a way to engage with life. Only when you do things you love your spirit is lifted, vibrant and radiate positivity. Give yourself a break. Look at yourself with kindness. The journey up the mountain is challenging, but the view from the top is worth it...

Time takes care of the wounds

Today, take some time to look back in your life, go back one, two, or three years. How different is your life now? How different are you now? When in times of crisis, perhaps feeling powerless, you've had to rise to the occasion and thereby become empowered. But in life, there's also other times when although you've done all you could, tried hard, given your best, you didn't get to your chosen destination. It takes courage to turn inward and get honest about what you are really feeling and acknowledge your emotions after your journey didn't take you where you hope it would. 

The road to finding happiness is tough and if we use all the energy of the battles won and lost to let our minds be filled with high ideals, new dreams of wonders and miracles, we'll have the emotional fuel to help create a new era, for ourselves and others too. There are countless futures which exist at the same time for us. Our own behavior determines which of these futures we enter.

Time takes care of the wounds and one must take time to retreat to be nourished and rejuvenate before he can begin again. Nurture your own 'shine'. Think of yourself as a growing plant. A plant puts forth beautiful blooms when it has the energy to do so. The more it is fed, the less energy it needs for growth. If at any point our personal growth requires too much effort, we must try to find the needed nourishment. The river of life can take us to many places, we shouldn't expect to be on, creative and productive all the time. We must learn how our own light needs to be nourished and supported.

Be grateful for every journey we take no matter how simple or difficult it is. We learn. We grow. Gratitude can be absolutely transformational. Shifting perspective from playing the victim or constantly ''taking'' from life, to being grateful for  each moment as they pass, can dramatically shift not only how you show up in life, but also how life shows up for you. 

Silence, give us voice

Stop for a moment - in silence. To appreciate how far you have traveled, in a relatively short period of time. But, also stop, to acknowledge those places in your mind and heart still in need of healing. Our psyche is incredibly complex and healing takes time as we work through layer upon layer of mental, emotional and psychic energy that has been solid for years, trying to find that fluidity we've lost along the way.

Life is pushing us. Each day we face new obstacles and new challenges.This is a time to keep our focus, our intention on our prime direction. So be on it - be alert.Take some time for yourself and detach a little bit. Breathe in and out and feel the presence of the peaceful warrior inside you, get some space and really look at things from all sides, from all angles.

The magic word is 'try'. Try and observe your mind and heart open. Be curious about life. Be engaged in the magic of the moment. Be in your heart. Nourish and protect your childlike innocence and be open to new ideas and fresh perspectives. Let go of the need to criticize and judge. Don't let this or anything kill your creativity. Instead allow yourself to make mistakes. It is the only way to learn what serves you and what doesn't serve you.

Be a force of good in the world. All things are possible when you trust your instincts. Liberate the mind first and freedom will follow. Stop for a moment in silence to find your voice again.

We, together

We cannot eliminate loneliness, but we can hold each other.

We cannot eliminate hunger, but we can feed each other.

We cannot eliminate pain, but we can live a life of compassion.

We cannot eliminate fear, but we can support and encourage each other.

We grow strong when we are aligned with the power of nature and the earth. 

Expressing who we are is more than being understood, it is about not hiding our true nature. 

We. Together. 

Inspiration makes us better

Inspiration makes us better, moves our emotions, our intellect, our behavior. Every relationship needs inspiration. We need to be influenced to feel happiness and love, influenced to care for someone other than ourselves, influenced to better ourselves while we try to better all that surrounds us. Inspiration is like a seed, it can grow wildly and quickly, it can spread throughout the surface and when it truly works we feed off of each other, we make each other better, we try new things and pursue higher heights.

Nature teaches us what goes up must come down, what is full gets emptied, what is emptied gets filled. We are on a constant wheel. We are constantly moving. We need to make room for inspiration in our lives; allow it to light our spirit's fire and let this joy take many forms, leaving tears and sadness behind for the warmth of love and creation. Life is always behind us, supporting us. Everything that comes to us and goes away from us is supporting our expansion of consciousness. 

It is time to seek out an inspired vision, one that is ignited by others also catching fire with ideas and enthusiasm. We will then become something bigger than ourselves, while also sensing our unique mission, gifts to share. Stepping forth into the unknown not only demands courage and steadfastness but faith in the force inside us that guides our evolutionary steps.

Each of us is being called to rise into our innate power and potential. The key is to trust that we are equipped with the inner resources we need to get through the challenges before us. Initiate. Be the force. Be the creative one. Be inspiring. Release and keep opening and you will see with new eyes the magic that already surrounds you in this world, in this life.

Creating today

Life is a process of learning to let go. If you ride on a train that does not take you where you want to go, get off the train and take one that takes you where you want to go. Be free. Be grateful and with your presence bless everything around you. Make room for happiness. Do not linger over unhappiness. 

Take some time to just sit and contemplate, be in nature and honor the space between the past and the future as being right in the present where everything and nothing exist at the same time. Create a connection with nature and practice the acceptance of being in the right place no matter what it feels like. The more you can stay in a place of real peace, the stronger you will become. Occupy your centre and you'll be strong like a true force of nature.

Rather than trying to force things to fit a new picture of what you want, give yourself permission to release its hold on form and just be formless - just pure energy. In this place, you also become pure energy moving in and through all substance.Then allow things in your life to either adjust to that picture or not. Focus on how you want to feel. Invest in something that is truly meaningful to you.

The path in front of us is not static. Nothing remains the same, not even the obstacles. We are multidimensional - constantly shifting into higher octaves of light beings. Let's create today as we want it, don't let the world or other people decide. Don't be run by an outmoded view you may have formed last year or last month. Ask within daily to discover your present time needs, what may be missing from the equation and how to remedy. Make room for happiness. Dream different thoughts. Be powerful and not powerless. Connect more deeply with your intuition that will be guiding the discovery of your own truth. Acknowledge yourself and be in gratitude.