Allow Yourself Time to Play

All of us can easily rhyme off a list of things we need to do, should do, have to do...but what if someone asked you what you want to do? Would your answer include one thing, or a few things?

That want to list is probably shorter but it rarely gets checked off. We put everything else ahead of what our soul wants to do. So instead of feeding our soul, we suppress it and essentially tell ourselves we're not allowed to do what we want until...

Well, that's no way to live. What if until never comes? What if today was your last alive? Even without getting that dramatic, at the end of the day are you satisfied or do you experience regrets? Do you wish you would have just...?

I know there have been many days, I've been guilty of these types of regrets. But, life is too short, and it's meant to be about the journey, about meeting new people, making new friends, feeding your soul. Follow wherever the prodding takes you. Stop making excuses for not doing them. 

Feed your soul first, follow your truth, and the rest will fall into place. In fact, if you take the time to do what you want to do, I bet you'll accomplish even more of the have to-do list. You'll be invigorated and recharged to face these responsibilities.

I have promised myself to do just this, and so far, I'm a much happier and fulfilled person. I'm also going to reserve every weekend just for "play" whether that be going out with friends or reading in my backyard, basically whatever moves me in the moment. I promise to enjoy life more "outside of the box," meaning my computer and take time out for my soul.

Surrender

Mother Nature has been teaching us lots this year.  The long, cold, snow-filled winter, along with procrastinating spring can definitely affect us if we let it.  However, is it something we can do anything about?  The only thing we can do is choose our response to it.  In this case we have been given the opportunity to practice surrender.  Surrender means to cease resistance to the enemy or opponent.  We have heard the saying “what you resist, persists.” Why not quit resisting and instead surrender and allow; perhaps using this time for turning inward on our healing and self-discovery journey?

This week I had an experience that again gave me an opportunity for surrender.  I had been feeling blah with no energy… in fact, I hear it is going around.  Sometimes we have no apparent reason for feeling this way.  We try to talk ourselves out of it… get happy and busy again already!  In fact, we may recognize the many blessings in our lives, however, the feeling of listlessness still looms over us. 

It was on such a day, the one where the list is long and you don’t feel like doing any of it, that nature again brought me a reason to smile.  Looking out the window, there was a chipmunk excitedly jumping around “leaf-people” we made, that were sitting on the bench by the pond.  They had mitts, hats, and scarves and all this little soul saw was some ideal nesting material!  She busily, tugged and pulled, tugged and pulled until she broke the pompom from the Santa hat free.  With pompom in mouth she skipped along the yard toward the wooden gazebo, up the post and in the bird house!  Super-proud of her accomplishment, she situated it and poked her head out the hole, looking to see if anyone noticed the great prize she just scored.  We did!  She brought smiles and laughter, with amusement at her playful way of being.  She too had been waiting for spring, the time to start new projects and create new beginnings!  Now was the time, the time to prepare for her new adventure.

This taught me that it is all right to slow down, to smell the roses or watch the chipmunks as it were!  Just maybe our body, mind and soul are telling us to rest from the regular hustle and bustle of every day life once in a while.  Surrendering to occasional low energy days and observing the world around us we often neglect to see… and feel joy!   Not the joy from being “busy” all the time, but the joy from simply being.  Before we know it, the time to be energized and ready to go again, will happen at just the right time. 

~ Sherry Buikema

Letting Go

One of the hardest things in this life is the balancing of priorities with our dreams and desires. But it doesn’t have to be this way. We can let go and allow ourselves to be. We are ultimately the sole deciding factor in life’s equation. 

Yes, there are times when things happen in our lives outside our control. We feel pulled this way and that, like we are a piece of fabric blowing in the wind, but what if our life lesson in this moment is to learn to let go? To go with the flow? To follow the prodding of our heart and soul?

There will be many excuses, maybe even valid obligations that prevent you from doing what would ultimately feed your soul, but you have to take advantage of the nudges you feel to follow your soul’s path. This is for your healing, your discovery, your ultimate wellbeing.

You know what? It’s okay to surrender, it’s okay to drop things and go off last minute if you are following a direction the Universe is pointing you in. When you do, this is when miracles happen. You uncover your truth, your purpose, your divine path—and you’re the only one that can live yours for you.

Embrace your inner beauty, your magnetic draw to a place, person, thing, or hobby. You are being pulled to your destination for a goal. You might not even know what that is, but trust me, it will be made known in time.

I follow my own advice. I’m writing this article from my sister’s great room, what she has labeled her healing room. I do give it that ability. The energy and the beautiful surroundings, the wind singing in the trees resonates through every fiber in my being, lifting me up to a more spiritual plane of existence.  And I wouldn’t be here right now if it wasn’t for following an inner nudge. You see, going back 48 hours I didn’t even know I would be here. I booked train tickets last minute to come down, but I had been mentioning coming here for weeks. It built up inside me to the point where I could no longer ignore the prompting of the Universe.

Now, I’m here? I know that it was my purpose at this point in my life. It reminded both myself and my sister that, you know what, it’s okay to slow down a bit, take life as it comes, exist in the now. This is my first morning waking up here and it’s not even noon and I’ve experienced enlightenment and healing.

I feel completely blessed that I am even but a visitor, and welcome guest in her home and to her property. Nature holds the key to healing, to taking the blur of our lives and slowing it down to a frame-by-frame snapshot. You don’t always get that ability in the city. There’s the hurried pace of making a living, traffic, and distraction with media. Yet, with this said, even when surrounded by the beauty of nature, one can allow themselves to become deviated from their course if they are not careful.  We all need to remember to breathe, to follow our inner nudges. Trust me, even from this experience so far, this getaway is exactly what my soul needed.