Monday, April 20, 2009

Today Is the First Day of the Best Years of Your Life

This twist on a well-known expression wafted into my consciousness about nine months ago and has taken up permanent residence: Today Is the First Day of the Best Years of Your Life! The fact that the emphasis was on the word “your” is probably why the statement caught my attention as it didn’t seem to come from me as much as being directed to me.

As the months passed, and I began using the declarative “promise” as a daily affirmation, I realized that no phrase could have captured more perfectly my desire for a continuing joyous anticipation of the future. These words never failed to fill my heart with joy and my mind with a child-like expectation of good. The knowing that they could be self-fulfilling made me smile, as they ignited my imagination. While a child’s idea of a special gift usually conjures up thoughts of material things, hard-won wisdom has taught me to value that which is loving, kind, meaningful and soul-worthy. I was hooked.

Recently I have been moved to share this positive statement with some friends who are going through dire circumstances. One individual, the father of five, had just lost his job; a woman was diagnosed with cancer; and another woman who had nursed her husband until his death now faced the sad prospect of going through the rest of her life alone.

With no conscious forethought, I just softly dropped this seed into our conversations: Today Is the First Day of the Best Years of Your Life. It took a few minutes for it to sink in, but their energy shifted and a subtle change was evident in each person. I believe this positive declaration holds something wonderful for all of us if we are open to the possibilities inherent within the fullness of its meaning. Of course the choices we make each day will determine whether the seed takes root and grows into the full reality of the promise.

I realize that no matter how difficult our life circumstances may seem the truth is that the point of power is within us to make a choice at any time to change our thoughts and to change our lives. It is true that as we think, so we are, and it is done unto us as we believe.

I know this is true because in the past I didn’t know that I had any control over my life or my thoughts, so I was stuck in the victim role. This continued for several decades until I embraced the philosophy that what we think and feel today determines our tomorrows. That is the solution, the remedy: Pure and simple.

The truth is that we are always successful. No matter what we are experiencing right now, we created it. If it’s really bad, and our life is filled with negativity and lack, just think how really skilled we are at creating such undesirable stuff. The good news is that we have the power and the ability right now to turn that around and start creating the lives we truly desire.

Today Is the First Day of the Best Years of Your Life. Live it and pass it on!
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Copyright © 2009 by Fern Stewart Welch

The author’s books: “You Can Live A Balanced Life In An Unbalanced World!” and “The Heart Knows the Way – How to Follow Your Heart to a Conscious Connection with the Divine Spirit Within” are available at Amazon.com and other online booksellers, as well as through major bookstores such as Barnes & Noble and Borders.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Flowers Speak the Language of Love

In the desert city where I live, flowers have been bursting forth in all their multihued glory for several months. As usual, I prepared for this and for the even greater extravagant display of summer by doing the necessary work in my small patio garden. Once again I am feeling the joy of being in harmony with the cycles of nature.

When I was a child, there were so many farms and so many people involved in agriculture that many of us had relatives who were dependent on Mother Nature for their livelihood. Today the majority of people are urban dwellers, and I realize that life is so fast-paced in our global culture that nature is becoming less and less important in our lives. The great sadness is that when we forget our natural connection with the Earth, we miss out on a vital part of what makes us human.

I still believe that no matter how removed we are from the soil, something within us responds automatically when we sense the changing of seasons. In the spring, it may be noticing the first flowers bursting forth – or it may simply be an inner knowing that once again something mystical and magical and beyond our ken is happening deep within the Earth. Yet in that fleeting moment, we are reconnected to the Earth and grounded in the truth that we are one with everyone and everything on this planet.

Each time I begin the prescribed gardening chores, the welcome ritual is enough to bring forth a rush of cherished memories. I realize that nature and specifically flowers have always been a special part of my life.

I remember once again the rainbow-like Japanese flower gardens that stretched as far as a child’s eyes could see. My family drove to the outskirts of our city often to share this stunning vista with visiting relatives and to buy huge bouquets of delicate sweet peas and stately stock that had such a strong aroma I had to hold my head out the car window for relief.

When I was in my early teens, an entire hillside around a lovely mansion was seeded with African daisies every year. As they reached full bloom, the wide swath of color was not only a beautiful sight; it also heralded summer – which was enough to set our imaginations on fire with expectations of adventures to be savored.

As I grew up, there were always flowers to mark special occasions, like my first corsage for a school dance, then proms, birthdays and a wedding, followed by anniversary bouquets. I also vividly remember that when my son and daughters were small they would pick anything that resembled a flower and present it to me with bright shining faces and open hearts.

When my first marriage was breaking up, flowers helped me get through that sad period. I lived in the Pacific Northwest at that time. While it was still snowy and cold outside, I planted some Red Emperor tulip bulbs in pots, put them in a large cardboard box, covered them with straw and placed them in a dark corner of the garage.

Weeks later, when the first pale little shoots began to push through the straw, I took the pots out, gave them a little water and placed them on the covered back patio on the west side of the house. As the stalks shot up to about eight inches, I noticed that in seeking to follow the light, they would start to grow in that direction instead of straight up. This meant that each day I had to remember to rotate the pots a number of times so that the tulips would grow straight. I approached this duty seriously and with great caring, as it was a blessed respite from thinking of other things.

Later, when the tulips began to open, it was such a boost to my sagging spirits that I cried. Not only did I have unseasonably early tulips, but in contrast to the dreary, rainy days, their magnificent red color reminded me that the cycle of life – birth, death and change – continue to go on in a wonderful and ordered way and we can depend on it. The stalks were also ram-rod straight and strong. I spent many a healing hour with a steaming mug of tea in hand contemplating the sheer beauty and perfection of God in nature.

Several years later when I was taking a divorce recovery class, we were asked to write out our desires for our future life. Since one of my lifelong wishes was to have fresh floral bouquets all through my house, I wrote that I wanted a life filled with love, light and flowers.

Over time I did heal and find real love and lasting happiness. I believe it was divine synchronicity that my second husband also loved music, nature, gardening and flowers.

He is no longer here, but when I am seated in the patio swing sipping a cup of Earl Grey, I remember the love we shared for each other, music and nature. I sense his presence in the warm breeze that plays a melody on the wind chimes, in the flowers, and in the butterflies, hummingbirds, quail and rabbits that frequent the garden – all evidence of God’s love made visible.

Someone once said that to those who love, unrelenting time grants a thousand summers. I would humbly add, and a thousand flowers blooming in their hearts.
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Copyright © 2009 by Fern Stewart Welch

The author’s books: “You Can Live A Balanced Life In An Unbalanced World!” and “The Heart Knows the Way – How to Follow Your Heart to a Conscious Connection with the Divine Spirit Within” are available at Amazon.com and other online booksellers, as well as through major bookstores such as Barnes & Noble and Borders.