New Year - 2014

I always try to write a nice little post for New Years, but honestly, this year, I kind of feel like this:

Ha! On one level, nothing really changes at all as one year ends and a new one begins. And the idea of setting resolutions for the new year is a nice gesture, but one that I'm a bit worn out on...it seems to have become a bit too cliche. It is definitely good to set goals, though. After all, if I didn't set goals, I would never get anything accomplished. However, setting them at the beginning of the year hasn't really been all that helpful for me. To achieve one's dreams, action and awareness really needs to be present each and every day...incorporated into our everyday routine.

I like the idea of a Sankalpa, as opposed to a resolution. Sankalpa is a Sanskrit word meaning "will, purpose, or determination." In my opinion, that  is the formula for real success anyway. Success comes from setting an intention in regard to a desire or goal that one authentically wants to achieve. This year, I'm asking myself what is most important for me to focus on and accomplish. I'll write it out or create a picture or other reminder, and post it somewhere where I will see it every day. With effort, determination and focus, we can accomplish just about anything. Resolutions often fade away because we don't put in an effort on a day-to-day basis...or we resolve to do things that really aren't that dear to us at a deep level. Sometimes we also overwhelm ourselves with too many resolutions, which are not realistically achievable. 

This year, I just want to kick ass. I want to get closer to my goals than I did last year and stay focused on what is really important to me and what I really want to achieve; things that I hold close to my heart and soul. The new year also marks a good time to reflect back on the year, lessons learned, challenges faced, the good times, the bad times, holding gratitude for it all and then letting it go to start anew. A symbolic "death and rebirth." And this is a good thing to do all year...the cycle of death and rebirth is necessary and constant in our lives.

For 2014, focusing on just a few intentions, but doing so everyday, will hopefully help me to achieve some things before another year passes and time slips away, as it has a tendency to do. Also, as Buddhism teaches, I will try not to focus too much on the future or dwell too much in the past and remember the importance of the present moment. Things are constantly in flux and impermanent, and so all of our goals and dreams become an unknown dance, in which the journey is often just as important, if not more so, than the outcome or the expectations that we may hold. Setting goals is a necessary part of the path towards reaching our dreams and desires...but it is also important to be mindful of the journey itself and not just the end result. That is often where the lessons are and where the growth occurs. 

Finally, being the "quote whore" that I am, I cannot close a post on the new year without some quotes:

“Tomorrow is the first blank page of a 365-page book. Write a good one.” ~Brad Paisley

 “For a new year to bring you something new, make a move, like a butterfly tearing its cocoon! Make a move!” ~Mehmet Murat Ildan

“The journey is the reward.” ~Steve Jobs

“Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.” ~Henry Ford

Happy 2014 Everyone!!!!

Write your life

“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.” 

~ Benjamin Franklin

Reminder to myself - at least one action a day

Winter Solstice 2013

Winter Solstice (Summer Solstice in the southern hemisphere): the event when the sun's direct rays hit the southernmost point on earth that they ever do (striking the Tropic of Capricorn). In other words, the northern hemisphere was tipped as far away from the Sun today as it gets. After this day, which is the shortest and darkest in the northern hemisphere, the direct rays of the sun begin traveling northward again toward the equator, at which time the spring equinox occurs. The sun's direct rays will then continue the northward journey until arriving at the northernmost point on earth, marking the summer solstice. All of this occurs because the earth sits on an axis that is tilted at about 23.5 degrees. This tilt is what gives us the seasons throughout the year. To me, it is fascinating and a reminder of how everything about earth, including its orientation to the sun and its tilt, has such a profound effect on all that takes place on this amazing planet. We are intricately impacted by this, but we often fail to think about it.  

 It is my belief that on some level, the human psyche is connected to all the cycles of our earth. Astronomical events and cycles have an impact on human nature and the human psyche. Not only are there astronomical events that make up the solstice, there are also many spiritual events associated with the solstice; rituals and celebrations, and I wish there were more. For me, winter is a time to reflect and look inward, to tap more into the spiritual level of my being. In contrast, I view summer as a time that is more focused on the physical. A lot of this ties back to what our ancestors have done for centuries, being so strongly interconnected to the seasons, to harvests, times of abundance and times of rest and restoration.

Below are some quotes about winter that I find quite lovely:

“If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.”
~ Anne Bradstreet

“Your path is illuminated by the light, yet darkness lets the stars shine bright.”
~ J.L.W. Brooks


“I will love the light for it shows me the way. Yet I will endure the darkness for it shows me the stars.” 

~ Og Mandino




"The winter solstice has always been special to me as a barren darkness that gives birth to a verdant future beyond imagination, a time of pain and withdrawal that produces something joyfully inconceivable, like a monarch butterfly masterfully extracting itself from the confines of its cocoon, bursting forth into unexpected glory."
~ Gary Zukav

“Look round and round upon this bare bleak plain, and see even here, upon a winter's day, how beautiful the shadows are! Alas! it is the nature of their kind to be so. The loveliest things in life, Tom, are but shadows; and they come and go, and change and fade away, as rapidly as these!”
~ Charles Dickens 

“One kind word can warm three winter months.”
~ Japanese Proverb 

“People don't notice whether it's winter or summer when they're happy.”
~ Anton Chekhov 

“Spring passes and one remembers one's innocence. Summer passes and one remembers one's exuberance. Autumn passes and one remembers one's reverence. Winter passes and one remembers one's perseverance.”
~ Yoko Ono 

** Blessings **

Tea Tag - December 20th

Choices

...I  need to remind myself of this EVERY DAY

True Love

Some may argue that nothing is forever...and maybe nothing is, but that is a philosophical opinion. It is my belief that we are energy and energy never dies, it only transforms. That is also the way I see love. If it is true love, it survives all boundaries, even the one between life and death.

Falling

“The bad news is you’re falling through the air, nothing to hang on to, no parachute. 

The good news is there’s no ground.” 

~Chögyam Trungpa

Luna

“The moon is a loyal companion. It never leaves. It’s always there, watching, steadfast, knowing us in our light and dark moments, changing forever just as we do. Every day it’s a different version of itself. Sometimes weak and wan, sometimes strong and full of light. The moon understands what it means to be human. Uncertain. Alone. Cratered by imperfections.”  

~ Tahereh Mafi

“We are all like the bright moon, we still have our darker side.” 

~ Kahlil Gibran

“We are going to the moon that is not very far. Man has so much farther to go within himself.” 

~ Anaïs Nin

“We love the night and its quiet; and there is no night that we love so well as that on which the moon is coffined in clouds.” 

~ Fitz-James O'Brien

“Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody.” 
~ Mark Twain

"What can we gain by sailing to the moon if we are not able to cross the abyss that separates us from ourselves? This is the most important of all voyages of discovery, and without it, all the rest are not only useless, but disastrous."

~ Thomas Merton

Magic

“We all start out knowing magic. We are born with whirlwinds, forest fires, and comets inside us. We are born able to sing to birds and read the clouds and see our destiny in grains of sand. But then we get the magic educated right out of our souls.” 

~Robert R. McCammon

“The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.” 

~W.B. Yeats

Disbelief in magic can force a poor soul into believing in government and business.
~Tom Robbins

Magic exists. Who can doubt it, when there are rainbows and wildflowers, the music of the wind and the silence of the stars? Anyone who has loved has been touched by magic. It is such a simple and such an extraordinary part of the lives we live.
~Nora Roberts

And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.
~Roald Dahl

“I do believe in an everyday sort of magic -- the inexplicable connectedness we sometimes experience with places, people, works of art and the like; the eerie appropriateness of moments of synchronicity; the whispered voice, the hidden presence, when we think we're alone.”
~Charles de Lint

“Children see magic because they look for it.” 

~Christopher Moore

“Music is the strongest form of magic.” 

~Marilyn Manson

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
~Albert Einstein

Tea Tag - October 13th

September Equinox

Happy autumnal equinox/first day of fall to those in the Northern Hemisphere and vernal equinox/first day of spring to those in the Southern Hemisphere!! It's a special day in regards to the Earth-Sun relationship:

On the September equinox (approximately September 22, but varies slightly from year to year), the vertical rays of the Sun will strike directly (perpendicular) at the equator. On any other day throughout the year, the axis of the Earth is tilted a little towards or away from the sun.  Also, the circle of illumination (the dividing line between the daylight half of the Earth and nighttime half of the Earth) touches both poles, bisecting all other parallels. Thus, day and night are of equal length at all locations on Earth (approximately 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness). The word "equinox" comes from the Latin language - "equi" meaning "equal", and "nox" meaning "night" -  "the time of equal days and equal nights."

“Autumn is a reminder that while the leaves die and fall, there will always be Spring, a chance to replenish and be reborn again. We all have the opportunity to replenish ourselves, to be reborn.”

~ Tao 

"Autumn asks that we prepare for the future —that we be wise in the ways of garnering and keeping. But it also asks that we learn to let go—to acknowledge the beauty of sparseness."

~ Bonaro W. Overstreet

Tea Tag - September 15

Confusion

“Any confusion you experience has within it the essence of wisdom automatically. So as soon as you detect confusion, it is the beginning of some kind of message. At least you are able to see your confusion, which is very hard. Ordinarily people do not see their confusion at all, so by recognizing your confusion, you are already at quite an advanced level. So you shouldn’t feel bad about that; you should feel good about it.”

~ Chögyam Trungpa

I hope you are right, Trungpa, and if so, I should be at an expert level by now!

expression of the universe

You are the universe, expressing itself as a human for a little while.

~ Eckhart Tolle

In the darkness - Isabelle Lake/Pawnee Pass

08/28/2013 - Hike at Brainard

The day may not have been "nice" nor the weather "perfect."  It was rainy, dark, the trail slippery, muddy, skies overcast, the forests shadowed. Yet, it all encompassed its own beauty...beauty in the darkness and in the shadows. 

It is a necessity for things to be balanced in nature. While extremes are tolerable for a time, balance is eventually necessary, it helps all life thrive, not just survive. The same can be said of us. Nature has to be dark and destructive at times in order to exist. As such, we have to get through the dark days to enjoy the bright ones...both of which are magnificent in their own unique ways. 

Below are some images from the hike that I thought captured the beauty of the day

:-)

Tea Tag 8/1 - The Unknown

 

When  you are in tune with the unknown, the known is peaceful. 

This has become my favorite thus far...

Hiking - Diamond Lake

Midnight and I headed through Boulder, up Boulder Canyon, past Nederland and up to Eldora. Just beyond Eldora, the paved road ends, and if you keep following the road all the way up, you come to the "4th of July" trail head; named such because the snow doesn't melt and the trails aren't generally passable until around the 4th of July. Within the Indian Peaks mountain range, I find this one of the most beautiful places I have ever hiked. The wildflowers are spectacular, as are the waterfalls. It is always amazingly green (for Colorado) and the skies always so blue. The air so fresh and it never gets hot up there. It was a perfect day. Since this was Midnight's first time there, I took him to my favorite waterfall. It is definitely one of my favorite places on Earth.

To see the water traverse down the mountain side is remarkable to me. It is the lifeblood of the Earth. Snow melt from the Colorado alpine provides much of the water in the state. It continuously flows through Indian Peaks all summer, nourishing plants and flowers along the way. There is nothing more beautiful. Especially against the barren, rocky landscape in the near distance.

We then hiked beyond Diamond Lake and came upon another beautiful alpine lake that was completely stunning. I had never been there before and we were blessed by the fact that no one else was there. The beauty there was magnificent and absolutely breathtaking.

In all honestly, if I didn't have places like that to go, I wouldn't know what to do with myself. Nature=Shonna's God,  period. Aside from music, it keeps me in check and keeps me sane. For some reason, it is only there that I can find clarity in thought, true clarity. When there, I try to let everything go, in a meditative way. It's not easy, but that mountain range, and many others in Colorado have an energy to them that I can't even explain in words, most notably in the alpine region. It brings me an inner peace that nothing else does. It helps me see and understand things more vividly and clearly. It speaks to me in a way that nothing else can.

Watching the billowing clouds form and head east, seeing the lush green grass, colorful wild flowers and flowing waterfalls...what a miracle that something so beautiful  can even exist. Whatever force or power that created this place is truly remarkable...and this is just a minuscule piece of the wider Universe.

Entertaining and humorous side note: I like hiking to the tops of waterfalls to see what they are flowing from. Midnight and I hiked up beyond the first waterfall and through some thick trees.

I carry bear spray on most hikes, not only for bears (which I have seen at Diamond Lake), but also for creepy people (you never know). Somehow, while walking through the trees, a branch pulled off the safety lock on the spray in my backpack's side pocket. I have no idea how that is even possible, but it happened, because as I walked through the trees, it hit me...burning my throat and eyes. It was crazy. I seriously do not know how the safety lock came undone and the trigger engaged. Actually, the more I think about it, it seems nearly impossible....hmmm. Anyway, somehow it happened. I threw all my shit down and ran out of the trees, let it air out and then turned around and headed the other way...Ha!

Contrast

Iowa - June, 2013

I've always been fascinated by the contrast of "light" and "darkness" within ourselves and within the universe.

Below are some of my favorite quotes by Carl Jung in regards to darkness, pain and chaos, none of which are bad; they give us the opportunity to evolve:

"Filling the conscious mind with ideal conceptions is a characteristic of Western theosophy, but not the confrontation with the shadow and the world of darkness. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious"

"Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word happy would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. It is far better take things as they come along with patience and equanimity."

"There is no coming to consciousness without pain."

"In all chaos there is a cosmos, in all disorder a secret order."

"Nobody, as long as he moves about among the chaotic currents of life, is without trouble." 

"There can be no transforming of darkness into light and of apathy into movement without emotions."

"Man needs difficulties; they are necessary for health."

"We deem those happy who from the experience of life have learnt to bear its ills without being overcome by them."

Tea Tag - July 25

"Work, but don't forget to live"

Tea Tags

I thoroughly enjoy tea, and good quotes/inspirations. So, I've started photographing the Yogi tea tags that inspire and resonate with me most. More to come!

"Feel good, be good and do good." 

The Earth needs people who feel good and do good. Our time is short here, it is important to do these things and exactly in that order. One must feel good in order to be good and to do good. 

Books

“If you go home with somebody, and they don't have books, don't fuck 'em!”

~John Waters

One reason I struggle making decisions...

"Sometimes it's the smallest decisions that can change your life forever."
~Keri Russell

 

Each decision is intricately connected to our future and to those who are in and have touched our lives. Decisions link us to the various chapters of our lives...dynamic and ever changing...impermanent. To me, that feels like a big responsibility. Obviously, big decisions impact the direction of our lives, but the small ones do as well. As a result, I often stand at the crossroads, wondering which way to go. The problem is, if I stay there too long, I end up going nowhere. I was once told that even though there are many paths in front of me, no matter which I choose, it will take me to where I need to be. I should probably have more faith in that.  

Thoughts

"We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make our world." 

- Buddha

Wonder beyond words

“To be alive in this beautiful, self-organizing universe -- to participate in the dance of life with senses to perceive it, lungs that breathe it, organs that draw nourishment from it -- is a wonder beyond words.” ― Joanna Macy

Sanctuary

"Remember, the entrance door to the sanctuary is inside you." 

~Rumi

Follow the heart

“Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love. It will not lead you astray.”

~ Rumi

Walk into the fear

"Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth."
Pema Chödrön

Fuck that shit :)

In my own way

The only thing stopping me is myself

Moonlit Reflections

She sits in a darkened room, in the moonlight, trying to unlock the mysterious energies 

surrounding her, felt but unseen

in her own time, she sinks into a simple but comfortable bed to slumber in endless bliss

awakened by the sunbeams of dawn dancing in the atmosphere

through the window

warming the room once filled with the cool chill of night

specks of dust sparkle

some as old as the stars

others as new as the morning dew

the wonder of the outside world awaits 

with all of her life and creatures

created by the powerful Mystery

she works her own magic by assisting nature in nourishing her

there is no time for walls 

or constructs devoid of life and joy

the time in this physical dimension is but a brief flash in time

a time so vast and wise 

a tiny mind cannot comprehend

the days and nights pass

the seasons ever change

persistent and predictable cycles 

swim in the chaos that surrounds them 

everything is constantly changing

some things quicker than others

but everything ceases to be what it once was

in the confusion my small mind weeps

only because it cannot see the larger picture

or understand the greater significance

fabricated distractions

provide endless challenge

turning a world once beautiful 

to a lesser version of itself

most storms bring nourishment 

the shining sun more brilliant afterwards 

against the backdrop of the swirling darkness

colorful prisms of light

illuminate the colorless expanse

blessings in the darkest places

unseen by our eyes, unfelt by our hearts

will the darkness overcome?

joy, sorrow, happiness, suffering, death and birth

so powerful, and yet seemingly insignificant

in the unfolding of the unexplainable

where do I go from here?