Windowsill Meditation

Posted by Barbara Techel

Teach us the delight of simple things. ~Rudyard Kipling

Most Fridays I try to set aside as my self-care and errand day, though I do sometimes sprinkle in a bit of work, too.

But part of my self-care of what I titled this post as “windowsill meditation” is that I take delight in my ever-changing windowsill in my kitchen because it is like a form of meditation to me.

This time of year I’ve taken back out of storage from the blue curio cabinet in my living room a few of the small vases I’ve collected over the years. This vintage one in the photo is one I’m particularly fond of.

I knew it would be perfect to hold a single ranunculus flower I cut from a pot of them I’m growing. And after placing it in the vase, I moved a few things around on the windowsill to create this little vignette.

Something so simple that produced so much joy and gave my mind a rest. 

There is so much we can’t control, but how often I continue to be pulled back to the simple things and how it doesn’t take much to remind me what matters most.

xo,

Barbara

The Tree’s Shadow Had a Message for Me Today

Posted by Barbara Techel

I was sitting at my desk in my writing cottage this morning with a heavy heart. I couldn’t shake it. A moment later, I glanced out the west window and the tree outside caught my eye as it was casting a shadow. I couldn’t help but be pulled out of my chair and just stared at it for a few moments. I sensed it had a message for me.

Yesterday afternoon I had grabbed the watering can to fill it with water from the spigot on the side of our house so I could water some outside plants. It was then that I noticed under a nearby shrub baby bunnies snug as could be under it. I stayed at a distance, but from what I could tell it looked like four of them. My heart just burst with joy at the sweetness of their features with their little soft-looking faces, light pink noses, tiny ears, and eyes still closed. 

Such a beautiful thing to see – this new life right before my very eyes. For a moment a thought ran through my mind that in nature many newborn bunnies don’t always make it. But I quickly dismissed it.

Before I turned in for the night, it was still somewhat light out, so I peeked out the east window of our bedroom where I could see the shrub, but wasn’t able to see the little ones. Yet I knew they were there and it made my heart smile. I looked forward to just being able to check on them in this way until they left the nest.

But Mother Nature had other plans for the bunnies as I’d soon discover when I opened the blind on the window this morning. I won’t go into the details, but something had found them during the night.

While I know this is the cycle of life and how nature works, my heart ached for the loss of those bunnies. But as I sat thinking about it, I was being reminded that they were nourishment for another critter and perhaps that was the sole reason for their coming into this world at the time they did.

It was then that I had looked up after that thought and saw the tree casting this shadow— reminding me there is also beauty in the shadow – to feel love for something as I did for the bunnies and then to experience their passing—both emotions crack the heart wide open.

And it had me circling back to what we’ve all been going through in our world right now with the virus crisis – so much grieving as a collective and also in our own individual lives of what was and what is still yet to be known. Things we have had to learn to let go of in order for something new to come in. The lives that have been lost but perhaps left in the divine planning of it all to guide us to a deeper understanding of the preciousness of life.

It reminded me again of the bigger perspective of being able to hold it all—the difficult emotions and the beautiful ones— and still, remember and know that there is so much goodness in this world now and yet to come.

It was also another reminder for me to just move through these emotions I was feeling. No need to block them out or push them down, but just allow them to flow through me. And I came to a point that no matter the heartbreak of life, I’d not trade it for all the moments of happiness I get to experience too.

xo,

Barbara

Divine Dog Wisdom Cards – Reveal and Review

Posted by Barbara Techel

I love, love, love this oracle deck! Did I mention I love this oracle deck? ha! I recorded a video of me unveiling it when I received it in the mail yesterday and share that here along with a written review I did of it too which is below the video.

So if you want to be surprised and see how touched I was by a card I pulled that is now my favorite, be sure to watch the video first, as I spill the beans of which one it is in my written review. Just sayin’!  🙂

Love of Dogs Evident in this Deck and So Much More!

Whimsical and fun, but deep at the same time—just what dogs are all about and what they so beautifully share with us and serve as faithful guides to help us understand.

I hesitated to purchase this deck because I thought it would be too ‘cute’ and not enough depth that I like in oracle cards when I read for myself or for others. Was I ever wrong! It is both, and I really appreciate that, because life can be tough, but it also has many joyful moments too.

Just like dogs help us with, this deck does this too in that when we do the inner work, we also have to remember to play. This is what balance is all about and Divine Dog Wisdom Cards depicts exactly this.

My favorite card, which I pulled at random during a video unveiling I did of the deck, brought me to tears and the card is “Honor- Acknowledge you, me, and we.” It features three dachshunds side-by-side. For those that know me, they understand the significance of this in my life in that I was blessed to share my life with three special needs dachshunds that taught me this very lesson (and so much more)!

A lovely added feature in the guidebook is that each card has a section called, “Another Bone to Chew On” which are prompts to work with or a specific exercise to do to deepen the meaning and teaching of the card for your own life.

I’m thrilled to have this deck in my collection and look forward to working with it for a very long time to come! 

xo,

Barbara