A Stirring of the Heart. Connecting with the Simple Moments.

Posted by Barbara Techel

It’s my route most mornings to walk through a 55+ community that is a circle of condominiums with an assisted living facility at the front of the property. I do this, in part, because my mom lives in one of the condos. I don’t stop in to say hi when I go through, but it’s just that I appreciate the small moment of connection I feel to her when I walk by her home.

It’s been on my mind quite a bit lately how I am in (or approaching) the autumn of my life. Though sharing this with a friend yesterday who is sixty-six and I will be fifty-nine in July she lovingly said, “You’re only in August.” I had to chuckle about that, because yes, I suppose that is correct.

But it’s how I feel that prompts me to say I’m in the autumn of my life. I think also the fact that my husband is four years older than me and he is by the definition of how we see the autumn of our lives, as he is now entering this phase at almost sixty-three.

But this autumn of life concept is something I’m very much jiving with as it feels in alignment with my heart’s desire. It’s the seemingly simple moments I often overlooked in my youth as I was often on the go, trying to keep up with the latest everything and not to mention working hard to achieve the material things.

So as I made my loop through the 55+ community this morning I was struck by a simple moment that perhaps others may not have seen in the way I did.

As I rounded the corner past my mom’s I saw a woman walk out her front door, across the porch, and pick up a rain gauge nestled in her front garden. She looked at it for a few moments, no doubt, reading the gauge to see how much rain we’d gotten the night before.

After that, she turned to her left where there was a wrought iron vessel hanging from the front porch post which held dainty pink flowers. She then proceeded to deposit the collected rain into the flowers.

It was such a simple act, yet, it stirred an expansion in my heart. It had me reflecting on how when I was younger and caught up in my busy life if I’d had a rain gauge I’d likely have had it just there as a decoration and not paid much attention to it. But there was this simple act of connecting with something outside ourselves as this woman had just done that just touched my heart.

As I walked on with an extra spring in my step from what just transpired, I reflected on how this is what I would define as being in the autumn of one’s life — where you deeply appreciate these moments of connecting to nature and simple pleasures.

As we age we have the choice to bemoan it or find joy in these small pleasures, which for me feel so much bigger now than they ever did before.

And somedays moments like this catch me off guard as I feel this deep stirring of something in my heart that I can’t always necessarily define. I just know that it feels incredibly good and has me in sweet anticipation of when that next special moment will come.

And how these are the things I want to continue to experience as I make my way toward not only the autumn of my life but the winter of it also.

XO

Barb

                  

Gidget Shares Her Magic Once Again (from the World of Spirit)

Posted by Barbara Techel

What other nuggets of wisdom do the animals have to offer, I wondered? This was my thought a few weeks ago as I was nearing the end of writing the first draft for my Animal Reflections oracle card messages.

In the first draft, I’d written them either intuitively and/or incorporated personal insights I’ve received from different animals on my own healing journey. I also read more about the behaviors and habitats of each of the animals represented in my deck.

It occurred to me as I pondered going back through the messages to do what I often do when I am wondering if there is more insight or perspective that I am not seeing for whatever reason. In my own journaling when I’m working through something I’ll often just write out my feelings first. Then I will pull an oracle card to go deeper, which often will reveal an insight I was blocking or that added another perspective.

So I decided as I began the second draft of the message for each animal I’d pull an oracle card from another creator’s deck to add another potential layer to what I’d already written.

I’m about one-fourth way through my animal cards a second time. So far, two of my animal cards I didn’t feel needed additional insight. But now it was the card I created representing Dog which is depicted by my dachshund, Gidget, who is now in the world of spirit.

When I pulled an oracle card for her, the card I got was Loyal Heart. I felt a rush of sweet, gentle, and loving energy flow through me which made me feel quite emotional.

Gidget’s card (Dog) represents the Sage within each of us. The one we can often push aside and don’t trust those inner nudges and voices when they are trying to get our attention.

The Loyal Heart card and the image of the two owls looking at each other represent for me what Gidget saw in me that I couldn’t see about myself and that which I needed to heal. Gidget saw my strengths and knew what it was I needed to heal and release. She was one wise sage who did everything in her tiny ten-pound power to mirror that to me.

She never gave up and eventually, it worked! Loyal Heart is then for me about staying loyal to my own heart and when I do my heart grows in compassion and empathy for myself. Instead of that inner talk that bullies me about what I think I may think is ‘wrong.’ It’s also about her loyalty to me and her belief that I could work through all those self-doubts and emotional pain I’d carried with me for far too long.

The additional magical part to this Loyal Heart card is that I’ve pulled it a few other times in the past related to Gidget. 

A while after pulling the card and simmering in its wisdom, I sat outside on my deck for lunch. Out of the corner of my eye, just a few feet from me, I spied a chipmunk sitting atop the birdhouse off the corner of my writing cottage.

This prompted a memory to bubble to the surface about when I was in middle school and had to go to a new school. How uncomfortable it was to go to the cafeteria for lunch being a new student, not yet having any friends, and having to sit alone. But I realized seeing that chipmunk that I’m never alone.

And I linked this encounter back to the Loyal Heart message from Gidget earlier. That even though she is no longer here, she is still here in a different form because of what I felt in my spirit and the beautiful emotion that moved through my body when I pulled that Loyal Heart card. I knew it was Gidget connecting with me. 

We are never alone.

As I boiled water for tea after eating my lunch I glanced out my kitchen window to see a large feather on the lawn. How often they represent a message from loved ones. Again, we are never alone.

As I sit at my writing desk completing this blog post, I see yet another layer for all that magically transpired. When I continue to be loyal to my own heart, I grow even more confident in my being…

which makes me enjoy my own company…

And thus once again, I am never alone.

I shall savor this unfolding and I’m grateful once again for these experiences that always leave me in awe and remind me once again of how connected in life and death we really are.

XO

Barb

                  

Sacred Journey Medicine Cards – Oracle Deck Review – You Never Know When a Deck Will Speak to You

Posted by Barbara Techel

Today I’m sharing a review of a deck of oracle cards, or as the creator of the deck, Mel Hofmann calls them, medicine cards.

I’ve known about this deck for quite some time. It was recently when Mel shared videos and photos of a mama hummingbird and her two newborns and their journey, that I looked further into her cards. I’m glad I ordered Mel’s deck. They are abstract, but concrete, and layered which provides different dimensions of perspective. They are a mixture of Mel’s photography and mixed media giving each card many layers of insight, which can evolve and change as you work with the deck.

I have quite a few favorite cards – many with interesting words paired with animals or images that really caught my attention and had me wanting to explore more.

So perhaps the cards I share may be just what you need to hear today or the deck will speak to you in some way too that you may want your own deck of Mel’s cards. They are small works of art – not small in the way of small – as in size – but with deep and meaningful messages that no doubt will provide a needed beneficial shift.

I hope you enjoy my review of Mel’s cards! Just click on the video below or here to watch.

To learn more about Mel’s deck visit her website here.

P.S. As I am writing this post, a tiny spider is crawling across the keys of my laptop. I’ll take that as a big nod from Spider that she definitely approves of this deck too!

 

XO

Barb