Grateful

My "Fanciful" Lizards                                                                                                                                          B Upton

I have always loved Thanksgiving- one of the more laid back Holidays where we get to enjoy good company, good food and the pleasure of thinking about all that is right in our lives.

When I count my blessings, people come first- my beloved family, all my loved ones and good friends and the friends I have yet to meet! I am thankful for.the gift of life itself and for our beautiful and sacred earth. I am thankful for the time we are living in, which although challenging, is also full of  promise. I am grateful that a new world is possible that works for everyone and that humanity is awakening and will not stop until they create it! I am thankful for open hearts, for the eternal possibility of forgiveness and for the unconditional love that permeates our universe and is the ground of our being.

To bring it all down to earth, I am grateful for the conversation I just had with my 8 year old grandson, the oldest of my three little darlings. We talked for well over an hour on subjects ranging from caught critters (he estimates he has caught over 100 geckos- which he eventually frees)  pets like Honey Bear (a little dog who has the face of a bear and who is fun to cuddle with) to the stop motion animation he has posted on YouTube and to to art in general. That's when it got very interesting. I asked if he ever considered drawing a picture of one of the geckos.

"Oh, yes, I have" was his reply.

I told him I'd send him a colored pencil drawing I had done of lizards years ago. Then I remembered how "psychedelic" they were and thought it necessary to add,

"They are rather fanciful and don't look like "real" lizards."

He paused and then sagely said, "There is no right or wrong in art- that's what makes it art."

How wonderful and liberating and a long way from the way I was "taught" art. When I was in the first grade, my teacher slapped me across the face because I was not keeping up with the other students in drawing a tree. She told us to draw a line and put a circle on top. I thought to myself, a tree does not look like a lollipop! So I drew 2 lines for the trunk and was filling them in when...

My grandson informed me that he drew all the time and we decided to make a pact- I'd send him my drawing of lizards and he would send me his "as soon as possible". We also discovered that we both love sea horses.

"Do you know it is not the female that carries their young?" he asked.

When I suggested we might both try our artistic hand with them as well, he said, "You just read my mind!"

He mentioned that my artwork is hanging in his great-grandparents house. When I told him I painted them nearly 40 years ago, he exclaimed, "Your art has been hanging for two generations!"

He also told me of a car he painstakingly made for his dad who "loves cars" for Father's Day and that he had written DAD on the sides of it.

"My dad said it was the best present he ever got," he told me proudly.

Here is to innocence, creativity, passion and hope. Here is to future generations! May we redouble our efforts to create a better world for all the precious children everywhere.

The Gecko Catcher Himself

And with his dad, my son

Here is my post from last Thanksgiving- Our Universe, Ourselves, which is my most popular one. It is quite different from this year, but the wish remains the same-

May you have a delightful day filled with goodness, warmth and love. May the blessings of connectedness, plenty and love reach more and more people around the world.

The First Four Steps to Inner Peace

"Bliss"                                                  B Upton

In her book Conscious Evolution, Barbara Marx Hubbard talks about how we are poised to birth a universal humanity and compares what we are experiencing to the metamorphosis of a butterfly. 

As soon as the caterpillar starts weaving its cocoon, imaginal disks appear that hold the blueprint of the butterfly to come. The immune system of the caterpillar does not recognize them and attacks them, but they only continue to grow. When there are enough of them and they link up- the disks turn to cells and the butterfly is created from the old. Hubbard says that each of us who believes a different world is possible is an imaginal cell in the new global culture! Our numbers also continue to grow and technology is allowing us to "link up" like never before. Everyday, we grow in strength and in our ability to co-create a more conscious and loving world.

But for us to be most effective in creating the blueprint for an awakened humanity, we first have to make sure we are awake and compassionate to ourselves! 

Don't fret if this makes you a tad bit uncomfortable- we are conditioned to think of loving ourselves as being egotistical and selfish - when in fact, egocentricity and selfishness arise from lack of self-love. If you want love, you first have to give it to yourself. You cannot give to, or receive from another, what you will not give to yourself. Putting an end to self betrayal and embracing our essence as pure love is the work before us.

I will be sharing seven steps to help you experience more inner peace and self-love in your life. I offer the first four here. They might sound too simple, obvious, weird, etc. to work- but I hope you will give them a try because the world needs you to be in your power right now and I'd love to see you be in your joy more too!


1. Connect to the Earth
Spend some time everyday in nature. Enjoy a few quiet moments as you feel the earth beneath you. You might want to imagine that you have "roots" extending from the bottom of your feet and spine sinking deep down into the earth. Feel yourself growing calmer as you go deeper...then on a big inhale, draw the earth's healing and nourishing energy into your body- into your every cell. Exhale tension and all your worries down into the earth and inhale peace and strength. Give thanks. It's beautiful way to begin the day.


2. Connect with Your Breath
Breathing- we do it about 20,000 times of day, but how often are we conscious of the nature of our breathing? Check yours right now. Is it smooth, effortless and deep? Or does it feel shallow and tense? Unfortunately, for most of us it is the latter. Our breath is reflecting the incessant chatter of our minds! We are seldom without thoughts that keep us anxious and in a decidedly non-peaceful state. But when you begin to simply observe the breath, not trying to change it, just watching it and being aware of every sensation - a funny thing happens. Your breathing naturally slows down and the ties of your ego/mind begin to loosen. As the breath deepens naturally you may find it easier to dive down past surface thoughts, letting them go like the ripples on a pond. As you allow the breath to more completely fill your lungs, let your tummy relax...your mind will follow. In many languages the word for breath and spirit is the same- get acquainted with yours!


3. Connect with Gratitude
You will find that as you connect more with the earth and your breath that there will be a natural bubbling up of feelings of gratitude for life's blessings. You may start noticing little things that were under your radar before- a stranger's smile, a cool breeze, or the scent of  flowers on your path. Some like to hone their ability of appreciation by keeping a Gratitude Journal (and it can be a nice thing to leaf through when you are feeling down.) Remember nothing is too small to note! A positive side effect of this is that it is impossible to be in a blaming, judging mind when you are connected to gratitude- over time you literally begin seeing the world in a new way!

"The Irresistible Flowers of the Butterfly Bush"              B Upton

4. Connect with Beauty 
I think beauty is a requirement of the soul and without it something in us withers. Beauty comes in many different packages- from a pink and gold sunrise to music that stirs our soul- from leaping dolphins to a poem that delights. The beauty and the bounty of our natural world awakens our most loving and protective instincts to be responsible stewards of this jewel of a planet. When we look into the eyes of someone we love and see the light of their soul shining back, it triggers our respect and compassion for all humanity. I hope with time you will come to appreciate your own beauty- the beauty that comes when you align yourself with your highest, most loving and most authentic self!

No matter where you are on your spiritual journey I hope you will treat yourself generously and compassionately, realize that your pace is just right, that you are perfect in your imperfections and that there has never been a better time to do the work and to come into the power and magnificence of your true self.


The next three steps to inner peace will be coming soon. For now I hope these four will help bring more awareness, peace and acceptance of where you are in life now. 

PS Enjoy this little video that I call Butterfly Love- sorry it is a little blurry and they get lost a bit in the grass, but then again, they deserved a little privacy!