Spiritual Organizing

Spiritual Organizing

Organizing is a spiritual process.  We have many things we can organize.  We can organize material possessions: our clothes, homes, and even money. We can organize time: schedules, events, and activities.   We can organize thoughts and emotions:  peace, love and joy.  We all do this, every minute of every day without much conscious effort.  Yet, organizing can be a mindful practice as much as yoga, meditation and prayer.

There was a time when meditation and prayer were a chore for me.  I knew I needed to do it but I often didn’t want to or would find excuses not to do it.  Today, thankfully meditation and prayer have become a priority in my life.  It is a requirement for sanity.  Every morning before I start the day I spend time with spirit, which includes Creator, my angels and guides along with myself.  Without this critical piece of the day, my mind is filled with excess anxiety.  It is a confused and chaotic mess ready to uproar at any stressful moment. 

As important as it is to have a spiritual practice in order to connect with the Divine and calm your worries, it is equally vital to have “spiritual organization” in your life.  This summer I have been on a spiritual quest, if you will.  The quest has been to seek spirit unity through organization.  Whether it comes from releasing unused furnishings, carpet cleaning or fixing broken fixtures I am finding spiritual fulfillment in the practice of “spiritual organization”.  Not only is my home more open, clean and functional but my mind is as well.  I can stay focused, think clearer, and respond quicker when my mind is not concentrating on my “to do” list.     

At this mid-year point, in the heart of summer, I challenge you to not only develop a daily spiritual practice if you haven’t already, but also to create a “spiritual organizational” plan for your home.  Start with one drawer or one room.  Each week, if not each day be mindful of “spiritual organization” in your home and select an item or space to clear, clean or fix.  As you begin this process, you will start to feel a new sense of energy.  Your home will feel free and light and consequently you too will feel freer and lighter.   

As you “spiritual organize”, fresh thoughts, opportunities and items will come into your life.  Make room for the new by “spiritually organizing” today.        

Susan J. McFarland

July 2014

 

Weekends to Mondays

Weekends to Mondays

“Monday Monday”, as the song goes.  It is Monday, the day after Mother’s Day.  After a beautiful sunny, hot day enjoying the company of birds, my girls and Mom I awoke to a stormy, rainy day of school and chores.  There is work to be done, schedules to follow after a rather relaxed free flowing weekend.  We are back in the scheme of life.

Life needs balance, a bit of Monday and a bit of weekend.  Feeling too comfortable in one or the other throws us off kilter.  I tend to find the scheduled routine of known tasks comforting and calming.  Cleaning and organizing throughout my day brings a sense of control in this chaotic world. 

The unknown of the weekend, with the flexibility to choose at any given moment brings a constant anxiety to me with every possible option lying at my feet.  This freedom can bring on terror.  Yet, when I open the space up in my life for such choice, I can often just relax in the experience, ultimately finding a true sense of joy.

Is this the reason we are all so busy, filling every moment and void unable to have a clear thought and a peaceful second to connect and nurture ourselves.  Yesterday as I chatted with Mom outside, we watched the birds continuously fly around the back yard and occasionally stop at the feeder.  I enjoy taking a second to observe the wildlife, whether it is birds, bunnies or even deer.  Through this natural connection I engage nature, myself and Spirit.     ow        

It can be frightening when we connect to find aspects of ourselves that perhaps need a review or adjustment.  Is this the reason for the avoidance?  We create schedules and routines, never sitting long enough in the silence to capture our inner world.  In this uncovering, our darkest selves are revealed but also our Light.  Without these open and free moments our True Light cannot shine.  

Be still.  Be silent.  Schedule it.  

It will bring you lasting comfort and peace.

Love, “with a heart of peace”,

Susan J. McFarland    

May 2014

Honored to Write

Honored to Write

Your creativity is a gift from God;

your use of your creativity is your gift back to God 

–Julia Cameron, Letters to a Young Artist 

A rainy quiet Friday, it’s a day of the calm after a hectic few weeks of traveling, school and Gala preparations.  Today, I am feeling an intense pull inward.  In my house, in my inner self, and by myself, I write.  Honoring the need for silence and quiet I find myself wanting to venture inward not outward.  My foundation work is complete, the time has come to relax and enjoy the experience whatever it brings.   

This week I read a book by Julia Cameron, a writer.  The book formatted around the idea of letters to a young artist.  Her advice, to rid yourself of the illusion of writing and writers, such has finding time to write, needing inspiration to write or being an interesting writer.  She offered practical tools to assist any and all artists, whether your craft is writing, painting, or perhaps music. 

Her ideas included: 

• writing daily for at least 15 minutes(no exceptions)
• walking to clear your mind
•  giving up reading for a week to become in touch with your own thoughts
• traveling on small daily adventures to observe life
•  writing authentic 

Write your life.  Write to write for your own needs of expression and ultimately for personal healing.  In your authenticity others will find interest.

Today is a day of honoring.  We spend a lifetime honoring others, honoring our country, our church, our family, our friends, our job and especially the needs of our children and spouse.  Honoring my need to be by myself and not attend my daughter’s field trip.  By honoring myself, I honor God.  By serving myself, I serve God.  This is not a selfish endeavor, on the contrary.  God made each of us unique.  We need to honor what makes us unique. 

“When you place your creative nature first, you are placing God within you first” -Julia Cameron, Letters to a Young Artist

For me I require a balance between doing and being.  Sensitive to the imbalance life often brings recalibration is in order.  In the honoring of my soul, honor comes to those in my life.  On her field trip, the needs of my daughter today are self-reliance and independence, which I am gifting her at the same time.  We are all connected.  By listening to and respecting your requirements, you sometimes unknowingly mirror those same qualities to those around you.     

Love, “with a heart of peace”,

Susan J. McFarland

April 2014

The Treasure Inside

The Treasure Inside

In less than a week I leave for vacation, out of the country, to Costa Rica.  Costa Rica translates as the land of the rich coast.  Within the country I am hoping to encounter treasures of sunshine, warm temperatures, rainforests, waterfalls and a variety of wildlife not found in Michigan.  While it possible to find beautiful and bountiful treasures outside let us not neglect the treasure that lay within our own walls.

Before leaving I gather our belongings, imagining and planning for the every need of a family of four.  At the same time I am compelled to continue my spring cleaning efforts.  

My focus continues to be on my office.  Here is a place where “head” and “heart” need to merge.  In the past it was solely a “head” place.

After moving my desk into the power position, facing the door and creating an altar on a shelf I set my intentions on my book shelves, two sets of eight shelves side by side, a built in structure.  I love books.  My collection consists of books on: nutrition, herbal medicine, angels, yoga, Buddhism and Native America, to name of few of the categories.  I also had old folders from classes long since passed.  There was a selection of mementos and some outdated pictures.  It was muddled at best disordered at worse.  It was time for an energy shift.

As I began to maneuver through each book and artifact I began a spiritual journey.  The books represented different times in my life where I was working on a particular issue.  It was healing and comforting to hold each book and decide whether it was time to “let go” of it or keep it in the collection.  As I moved through the shelves and made stacks by genre I felt an openness and freshness.  The chi was moving. Among the treasures, I found items long forgotten, such as a travel journal and Spanish CD’s, which I actually needed at the moment.   

There was a time in my life where I had to read every book, take every class or workshop, and buy spiritual icons   My overfilled book shelves pay the price.  Today, I no longer feel the need to search out the latest spiritual idea buy the most beautiful angel or even attend all classes.  I now know that all the treasures I could ever want I already have.  I no longer need to search, struggle or strive to find the key to my spirituality.  It is within me, right where it’s always been. 

Here’s to finding your treasures.

Love, “with a heart of peace”,

Susan J. McFarland

April 2014