We are All on a journey together...

We are all on a journey together...

To the center of the universe...

Look deep

Into yourself, into another:

It is to a center which is everywhere

That is the holy journey...

First you need to look:

Notice and honor the radiance of

Everything about you...

Play in this universe. Tend

All these shinning things around you:

The smallest plant, the creatures and

objests in your care.

Be gentle and nurture. Listen...

As we experience and accept

All that we really are...

We grow in care.

We begin to embrace others

As ourselves, and learn to live

As one among many...

~ Anne Hillman

Nourishing My Soul

In the last several weeks I have read articles and heard news reports about how hard American people work. Many times choosing work over taking a vacation. I listened with intent, as I heard several people interviewed about why they don't take a vacation. The most common reason is because they needed to be at work because of the heavy work load or they might be needed in case something went wrong. The people interviewed all desperately wanted a vacation, but could not imagine getting away. In many countries around the world you are expected to take several vacations a year. Having vacation and leisure time is part of the mind set of the workplace. When you have time to rest and rejuvenate you nourish your body, mind and spirit. As you read this, I will be doing just that. I am looking forward to spending time with my family, enjoying nature and nourishing my spirit. I hope you take some time this week to do that for yourself. Enjoy!

Sandy

When Your Life Is...

" When your life is filled with the desire to see the holiness in everyday life, something magical happens: ordinary life becomes extraordinary, and the very process of life begins to nourish your soul!"

This is one of my favorite quotes and it is by the Rabbi Harold Kushner. Every time I read this it reminds me that there is nothing we do that is not without meaning. Our every thought has within it the possibility to change what is ordinary into something that is extraordinary. It is all a matter of our perception. In essence it is seeing the blessings in everything, even the things that do not appear at first sight to be a blessing.

Everything that God created is holy. Sometimes we can easily see this and other times it is much harder to see. When traveling to the remote places in Africa with overwhelming poverty, I asked myself this question everyday. What is extraordinary today? Where do I see the holiness in everyday life? It would have been easy to get swept up in the extreme conditions and let that be the focus but I would have missed the beauty of the African spirit.

It is like that in our everyday life too, sometimes we struggle to see the beauty, the holiness that is all around us. I'm not sure it is about changing anything as much as it is an awareness that we each day we create our life anew. In this process we have the opportunity to choose our perspective. When we look at life with the desire to see holiness it feeds our very soul. It is as though we look with a new set of eyes.

Blessings in this extraordinary journey!

Sandy

A Common Foundation

I just read about an initiative sponsored by religious leaders in Minnesota called, A Common Foundation: Shared Principals for Overcoming Poverty. In 2004, 35 leaders signed a document that would help people have a voice to help end poverty. They are asking people to start to hold the vision of a Minnesota without poverty become a reality.

Half way across the world a man named, Muhammed Yunus is waging his own war on poverty. He believes that poverty generates hostility and anger and peace is not possible where poverty exists. Yunas is a banker in Bangladesh and a winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. His mission to to provide very small income producing or educational loans that will help people out of poverty. He is pictured above with Mosammat Taslima Begum the first recipient of a loan. She used the money to purchase a goat and now has a small business that feeds her family. In all he has given loans to 7 million poor people, 97% who are women in 73,000 villages! What I find amazing that something so simple could make such a huge impact.

What if we looked at our world from a place of a common foundation? What can you as one person do to make this a better place? Blessings~

Sandy