Here we are at midyear already! Much of this year has been for me about continuing to stay in a practice of peace and not get pulled off my center by the outside world. Perhaps this is you also? 

If so, I hope you will find this month’s reading helpful. Just click below to watch and listen.

Wishing you a peaceful, creative, and happy July!

XO

Barb

Early Monday morning.

Sitting on my meditation chair.

Inside Joyful Pause Cottage.

My eyes closed. Breathing practice in session.

Calming music softly plays in the background.

I ask the universe for continued guidance on editing my Animal Reflections cards.

I open my eyes to see my reflection looking back at me.

She says,

Let the doubts go.

Trust the flow.

And onward I go.

XO

Barb

6 a.m. and the ticking of the second hand on the small clock inside Joyful Pause Cottage studio, which normally soothes me, frazzled my nerves. I removed the battery.

Walking out onto the deck just a few moments before, the Morning Glories I’d planted in May were in their glory as the sun rose up from the east to greet them.

Sitting back down in my chair after silencing my clock, the periwinkle door open beside me allowing the summer breeze to flow through the Victorian screen door, I slowly sank into the quiet of the morning.

But yet, it wasn’t quiet. Though what I heard and saw brought me back to a space of peace from a week and many moments that landed me in this space of having no more bandwidth of energy.

I’m still learning to navigate the world as a highly sensitive and empathetic being. Some days I still find challenging. But then I remember how far I’ve come.

And I find my way back to engaging in simple rituals that bring me back into balance.

Like last evening honoring my worn-out nerves by going to bed at 7:45 pm.

Now in my cottage, the breeze softly kissing my skin, I closed my eyes to begin my breathing practice.

It was only a matter of moments when I heard what I thought was a squirrel jump onto the deck railing. They enjoy drinking from the bird bath that is right outside my door.

As I continued my breathing exercise my curiosity got the best of me. I opened my eyes and slowly turned to the left, to see it wasn’t a squirrel, but a cat. Stevie, the cat, to be exact. She is the cat of the neighbor’s son who is home from college for the summer.

I so love to see Stevie. Animals, I thought, how they always bring me back to my center.

Closing my eyes once again, it was a few moments later I heard her paws hit the deck. No doubt she was on her way back home after a sip from the bird bath.

It was then I heard a robin singing in the distance.

Then the scratching nails of a chipmunk as it moved through a downspout nearby.

To the caw of a crow, the pattering of bird feet on the house gutters, to the splashing of a bird in the bird bath.

Peace settled in.

And then I saw myself in a field of wildflowers wearing a long flowing dress, the breeze blowing through my air, as I extended my arms outward and then back toward myself as I called my energy back to me.

I recalled learning from a teacher, that at the end of the day, to call one’s energy back to yourself.

Though it was morning now, it didn’t matter. What mattered is that I heard it and honored it.

And I sunk deeper into a state of peace.

There are still times I wish I wasn’t as sensitive as I am as it can make it difficult to navigate a world that continues to go through chaotic times right now. But I was reminded after my morning ritual today that this same sensitivity is what has brought me to deeply appreciate animals and nature.

And that gratefulness is what helps restore a sense of harmony within me once again.

XO

Barb