Settling In To Who You Are

by with No Comment DESIRELIGHTLOVESPACEYOU ARE

Settling in to who you are is not an easy thing.

We live in a world where things move fast, and, never stop moving.

So  we don’t stop moving!

            Settling Into Who I Am

We feel like we have to attack, conquer and finish all the 1,000 things on our To-Do list.  Every day!

It is no wonder we cannot make the space to do the things we love.

We always put what we think we should be doing in front of our desires.

That’s when we start feeling like that hamster running in circles on a wheel that never stops.

My suggestion:

STOP THE DAMN WORLD AND GET OFF!

You do not have to keep up with the Joneses.

Life is so much more rewarding when you begin your day settling into who you are.

You are unique, amazing and chosen.

You are not a carbon copy of any one else.

You move to your own rhythm.

At least you should be dancing to your own music.

That cookie cutter approach to living is why so many people are stressed out the way they are and do not feel good.

We move so much we never stop to check in with our OWN DAMN SELF.

We are not machines.

We are creators!

So….about checking in with yourself.

The moment the alarm clock goes off in the morning, most of us jump straight up, and take off running like our hair is on fire straight into the business of stuff.

I promise there is so much more value in easing into your day.

In checking in with yourself!

In Settling Into Who You Are.

My suggestion:

Decide to make you the most important item on your To-Do List.

Make you your number one priority.

I would devote my first 30 to 40 minutes to myself.

Yes.  I would set my alarm clock to go off 30 to 40 minutes before I have to begin the rest of my day and start with Settling Into Who I Am.

We do have to  make time for what is most important to us.

What could be more important than you?

You take care of everybody and everything.

When do you take care of you?

Who can be more important than you?

Self-care is how to live a rewarding, peaceful, centered, balanced, healthy life.

There are many ways to incorporate self-care into our always busier lives.

The most powerful and effective form of self-care, as I have suggested, is to invest your first 30 to 40 minutes of each day to Settling In To Who You Are.

What should you do with that time?

I’m glad you asked!

Set a timer for 15 or 20 minutes.

I would begin with meditation.

Meditation is the practice of connecting with God, with The Universe, with Your Inner Being, with your Spirit, with your Self.

Sit comfortably for these 15 or 20 minutes and  consciously let go of all thoughts.

You know the thoughts never stop.

They’re usually thoughts about all the stuff we need to do.

Outside thoughts.

Settle In To Who You Are.

It might help you to focus on breathing.  You can’t really focus on breathing and on the outside thoughts at the same time.

You might want to use this meditation time acknowledging your Blessings by giving thanks and appreciation for all the things you have in your life and for all the things that are working out for you.

I feel like you can fill 15 to 20 minutes giving thanks and expressing your appreciation.

Did you wake up this morning?

Start by giving thanks for another day of life.

You may even want to use this meditation time to ask for answers to questions you have.

But be careful, this is not a strategy session!

What we are doing here is opening ourselves us to connecting with our higher power.

Meditation, as simple as it is, ain’t easy at all.  To me.

I’ve been meditating for years and I still can’t consistently keep the thoughts away!

That’s okay.

Even if you connect with the quietness, with God, with the divinity inside your self for only one minute, you reap the benefits of well-being in your life.

Always.

Every time.

Meditation is a powerful practice.

It is still a practice for me.  And I do it every day.

When your alarm goes off signaling the end of your meditation, I would re-set it for another 15 to 20 minutes and use this time to journal.

You can use a $1.00 Composition book from your nearest office supply store.

There are several journaling techniques you can use.

I do a combination of these techniques.

I do what I (and many others) call Stream Of Consciousness Journaling.

Just start writing.

Don’t work about grammar, neatness, or if it makes sense.

Just write.

Many times, especially after coming out of meditation, you will receive answers you have been looking for.  Ideas come through in your writing,  Maybe you explore how you have been feeling.  This is a sacred space to let go and release if you need to.

You can do a Purposeful Meditation.

Bring your agenda here.

Write about what ever is on your mind.

You are free to use this as a strategy session if you choose to.

These are some of the ways I jump start my day.

I make myself my own priority first thing every morning.

I Settle Into Who I Am.

First.

Every day.

Peace, Love And Blessings!

Heart-Base Sharing For You Here At Fruitfull Vine!

JOIN MY FACEBOOK GROUP:   https://www.facebook.com/groups/783186216094652

FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK:   https://www.facebook.com/yaminah.yisrael/

It Was A Dark Night In Charlotte

by with No Comment LOVEMORNING PRACTICEPEACE

While I laid peacefully sleeping in my bed last night, all hell was breaking out in north Charlotte just hours ago.

I would not have had any clue except that I decided to take a quick peek at Facebook.   Not something I usually do until I have done all the things important to me.

I have a morning practice which sets me up for my day.

I saw what were live video after video not just showing the aftermath, but these videos were taken just before, during and after a mass shooting in north Charlotte on Beatties Ford Road.

Black-on-black shootings!

I started counting shots after I realized they wasn’t stopping.

I counted 61 pops before it was all done.

Before the shots started, I heard several cars screeching , and revving.

It sounded like the beginning of a drag race.

It was the beginning of something.

It seemed like a normal night in the “hood” where people just hung out not doing much besides just being there on the streets.

Shots rang out but the people stayed.

Some were looking for family members because people were shot and killed.

I guess there really was no where to run to since many people live here.

Then again, maybe there is safety in numbers.

Not really.

People were shot in their head sitting in cars.

People on the street were gunned down.

Innocent people?

Random people killed.

Why?

I don’t have the answer.

This is the first weekend of the summer.

This was also the Juneteenth weekend.

Juneteenth is a celebration commemorating announcement of the end of slavery in the United States.

There is nothing worst than mental slavery!

The shackles have been physically removed yet that vice grip chained around our mind is difficult to remove.

My people!

You are a brilliant, creative, amazing force to be reckoned with when you can see this about yourself.

Without this knowledge about ourselves, we are a lost people wandering in the wilderness, frightened, lashing out in our fear.

It is true my people die for lack of knowledge!

So sad.

So true.

I pray and preach continually for the empowerment of my people.

Those I know and those I will never meet.

Guns may be a source of power in a reckless, superficial not real way.

Why are we so afraid to talk with each other.

To just have a conversation.

Brother you made me feel like this.  Can we talk?

Sister, why can’t we just get along?

I would wave my magic wand over those of us who are confused and lost as a people.

But I don’t have a magic wand that can touch my people who so badly need to know this truth about who we are.

Guns are not the answer.

Guns are not the way.

Even a good ole fashioned ass whupping is a better choice to at least start the conversation about why you may feel like you have been wronged.

Facebook bought this up close and personal into my life on this otherwise bright, sunny, peaceful day in my life.

Although the news media will have a field day with this, they were not there while this for real shit was happening.

Why are we so filled with hate?

I understand feeling and being challenged.

I know life seems hard sometimes.

We got through the worst parts of slavery and still we stand.

I know the emotional, mental, spiritual scars our history in America can leave deep inside of us.

At the same time, our history should be that guiding light showing us how to be the resilient,  industrious, proud, achievers we are as people who have always made a way out of no way.

No matter how you look at it, we are all family.

At the very least, the golden rule everyone is taught is “Treat Your Brother And Your Sister The Way You Want To Be Treated!”.  

          Love Your Brother And Your Sister!

It really can be as simple as this!

My heart is overflowing with love for those of us lost in the abyss of not knowing what a powerful people we are.

I am thankful I get to share my message of inspiration, love and empowerment.

I am thankful these really are isolated incidents, which does not lessen the pain and the loss.

I am even more thankful and appreciative of the protection surrounding those of us not directly affected by these choices and behaviors.

Yet there is no way not to be affected.

Stand up my people and remember you are a chosen people.

You really are!

No matter what you are facing, you were built to overcome, rise above and conquer everything.

No matter what, you are designed to be, have and do any good thing you choose.

Choose life!

Heart. Based. Sharing

Peace. Love. Blessings

JOIN MY FACEBOOK GROUP:   https://www.facebook.com/groups/783186216094652

FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK:  https://www.facebook.com/yaminah.yisrael/

There Is Nothing Lazy About Enjoying The Juiciness That Is Summer!

by with No Comment ABUNDANCEJOYJUICYLOVEREBOOTREFLECTION

I love bright, sunny, warm, Summer days!

Summer feels like freedom to me.

I love how I feel outside in the Summer time.

For me Summer is all about being outside in the abundance that nature is.

My back yard is my own personal portal to possibility, wonder, surprises and Blessings!

Especially in the Summer time.

It feels like juicy, sweet watermelon juice dripping down my chin.

The watermelon juice used to drip down my chin as I enjoyed eating it as a child.

Enjoy The Delicious Juiciness That Is Summer!

It no longer drips down my chin any more because I dig into the same juiciness now as an adult with fork in hand, but the feeling is the same for me.

It brings me back to the beingness I was as a child.

It feels  refreshing, delicious, satisfying.

Satisfying feels perfect to me.

I feel satisfied and happy.

 I love all the  ripe juiciness Summer feels like to me.

No limits.

No boundaries.

I feel free and expansive like the wide open, clear blue skies.

Perfect.

Filled with possibility and things to explore.

Not just the Summer, but in my everyday beingness.

There was nothing I had to do, as a child, so I did everything!

When I think of the expression “The lazy, hazy days of Summer”, it doesn’t quite feel right to me.

I understand what is trying to be expressed here.

Summer days are longer so we can find more time to just be.

Life is not supposed to be a constant, non-stop to-do-list of gotta get this doneness.

Summer is the perfect time to grab some don’t have to do anythingness.

It allows us to surrender the chase we are always on.

It frees up space in our lives and minds.

There is nothing lazy about time to stop, reflect and relish all the goodness.

In fact, there isn’t anything more important than time to re-connect with all that we are.

Nothing is more important than connecting with the God and Goddesses we are!

There is noting lazy about lounging by the pool, or at the ocean (one of my favorite places!), or taking a stroll, or sitting in the shade enjoying the cool caresses of the breeze.

Summertime is like the Shabbat.

The Shabbat is a weekly day of rest set aside to give thanks and praise to the Creator for all the goodness the week, and your life,  has been filled with.

Grab a book and a cold, almost frozen glass of lemonade and enjoy some of the “full, ripe days of Summer”.

It is expressions like “The lazy, hazy days of Summer” that make us feel wrong about letting go of the reins.

We do not have to constantly be on, at, and about the stuff in our lives.

It is desirable to go sit down somewhere, turn the things off, spend some time looking at the natural wonders around you, and allow God to whisper into your ear, your mind, your Spirit, your heart, and your body.

Summer stillness, not laziness, is the time for re-booting, adjusting and refining our lives.

Let go of the iron-clad control you feel like you have over your life, and let something greater than yourself gently guide you to everything you think you want, in flow and ease.

Let go of the constant push.

Give yourself the abundance and the luxury that is “you” time.

Allow yourself the pleasure of enjoying some of this Summertime juiciness to fill you up in a way that is revitalizing, rejuvenating and filled with inspiration.

You will feel re-charged, energized and ready to go when you get back to the business of being about what you do, and that which you intend to do, now fueled by the ideas and imaginings you received in time and communion with your Higher Power.

Even if you don’t know that is exactly what you were doing.

Bottom line.

Find time for fun simply by letting go of the ever growing To-Do-list that is your life.

Enjoy the simple pleasures that Summertime is filled with like relishing the sweet taste of some juicy watermelon in the Summer sun, or in the shade, if that is your preference.

Thank God for Summer!

Heart. Based. Sharing.

Peace. Love. Blessings.

JOIN MY FACEBOOK GROUP:   https://www.facebook.com/groups/783186216094652

FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK:  https://www.facebook.com/yaminah.yisrael/