Life is precious.
Remember to smile.
Pets giving unconditional love.
Remember to smile.
Family and friends, and few strangers now.
Remember to smile.
Birds singing Hu-u-u
Remember to smile.
Sun in the Sky.
All is Love,
Remember, and Smile.
images (except Sri Harold Klemp) from pixabay.com
I walk with my dog Sophie three times a day since she was diagnosed as diabetic last December. Her condition is now “well managed.” Our walking has been a major factor benefiting her health as well as my own.
This morning on our walk through a light rain in Ithaca—our new home—I was thinking about Dick Van Dyke. He wrote a book out recently called Keep Moving (2015). Here is a Youtube clip of Dick Van Dyke in motion:
At over 90, Dick Van Dyke lives his credo to always keep moving; that is, not to slow down or become sedentary; not to settle.
What a great credo for our “better endings” theme with this blog:
Always Keep Moving.
While reflecting on this theme I also have opened to a quote from the Dalai Lama:
“Once a year,
Go somewhere you’ve never
been before.”
So I have relocated across country with my cat and dog and within a month life here is already in a state of perpetual motion. People to visit with, some new friends, a new job and continuing work from an earlier teaching post; a new and very rich, expansive locale with endless opportunities for adventure…certainly by no means slowing down after my so-called retirement!
Nor would I wish to slow down. I love this life and am eternally grateful for the richness of every phase, of every Life Chapter. Living Your Dream, Now! (which is the focus I offer to YOU with my new book, Your Life Path/ see sidebar) does not mean reaching a static goal. Rather, it propels you ever further to Always Keep Moving!
Leo is the astrological sign of the Golden Child persona archetype according to Dr. Charles Bebeau, the archetypal psychologist who founded the former Avalon Archetype Institute. For the month of August I will focus on exploring the Golden Child archetype with you. I invite you to participate by practicing some of the self discovery tools I will be sharing here.
The Golden Child is associated with positive traits of being charismatic, generous, and outgoing, with a flair for trailblazing and talented performance. Shadow traits could include a potential for being overbearing, controlling, vain or or self absorbed. Everyone has a bit of the Golden Child in our unconscious makeup; it is a dominant character mode for some and might show up in a more inhibited or in a situational manner for others.
When does your Golden Child persona express itself (or would if you’d but let it)? When are you most in your “on stage” best? Do you feel yourself ‘slipping into’ a more extroversive role when you feel most called upon to do so, or is this a more typical, normal public persona for you? Many other archetypal personas can benefit from aligning or combining with this ‘mask’. As a professor for instance I have a dominant Teacher archetype mode, and before a large class of students sometimes my Golden Child shows up to buttress my Teacher role. Then I find myself able to be more humorous and outgoing than is characteristic of my core, rather introspective nature. It’s almost as if I step aside in a large group environment to give ground to this talented sub-Self of the Golden Child persona. I am so grateful it is there!
images are from pixabay.com
I invite your own insights and stories!
I am reblogging two passages about how the Lover archetype in us all can help us attain happiness and be of service to life. These are from a daily message my sister, Rev. Lee Ireland, received and posted in Facebook last week:
There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love. When we are afraid, we pull back from life. When we are in love, we open to all that life has to offer with passion, excitement, and acceptance. We need to learn to love ourselves first, in all our glory and our imperfections. If we cannot love ourselves, we cannot fully open to our ability to love others or our potential to create. Evolution and all hopes for a better world rest in the fearlessness and open-hearted vision of people who embrace life.
– John Lennon
This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.
– Dalai Lama
Since the Nourisher is associated primarily with the sign of Cancer and the month of July, as we move toward August let’s pause to celebrate Nourisher energy and form. This is a heart energy; a nurturing, supportive form.
Mother Theresa is an example of a person expressing a dominant NOURISHER persona; Julia Child is another. Masculine NOURISHER examples would include St. Francis of Asisi and the Dalai Lama.
To give, to share, to support, to feed, to gently nourish another’s heart or mind or body is a fundamental facet of the human Spirit and of the Universe as a whole.
Allow me also to re-blog this excellent Daily Quote (7/27/2015) as posted by Theresa at Soul Gatherings, from His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama:
If you want others to be happy,
practice compassion.
To be happy,
practice compassion.
Better Endings 