authentic life

My Joyful Pause Moments: Weekly Recap

Posted by Barbara Techel

One of the reasons I came up with my daily “joyful pause moment” is so that I will hopefully encourage you to look for your own joyful moment in each day. We can get so caught up in our busy lives and tend to have blinders on to all the beauty around us. Often times it only takes a moment to notice something that makes us smile and brings us joy. Mine are easily triggered by my dogs, animals and nature.

With that said, I must say I got caught up in my busy life this week and forgot to look for some of those moments. And you know what? I feel a difference in myself. Though for the most part I’m a pretty happy person, I realize how much happier I am when I take that moment to take in something that makes me smile. So I shall work on doing better this week!

But here is my recap for this week:

windchime 1200These windchimes have hung on a hook off my deck railing for a few years now. But all of a sudden I had a whim that I should hang them from the tree next to my writing cottage. So I followed the impulse and took great joy in placing them hanging from a branch, standing back, and admiring them.

myspaceMySpace.calm sign has hung above my writing cottage window ever since my husband built this 10 x 12 room for me about seven years ago. While doing yoga and in pigeon pose the other morning, it really called out to me. I sat in my pose for a few moments longer and felt this overwhelming gratefulness for this space of my own and the love and support of my husband who understands me (he dubbed my cottage, MySpace.calm).

10325732_10203068284321241_2715664139533545665_nI love this quote. It was the perfect quote to read on the day our “True Self” class started up again and will run for the next seven weeks.

10344361_10203080415824521_1038293599471040872_oOne of my favorite places for lunch in our small town – Off the Rail. Also a perfect place to meet for a cup of tea, which I did with a friend this week. I admit I didn’t take this photo, though I love it. The steam engine came through as a special event a few years ago. While this is a rare sight, we now have working trains coming through again when for years we didn’t. I LOVE to hear the whistle of the train when it does. Such nostalgia!

g and me having a cup of tea 12Me and G having a cup of tea. Well, okay, G does not drink tea, but I do! Also this was my attempt to sit in stillness for five minutes each day as is our “assignment” for the week from our True Self class. You know what I realized? One cannot sit still with a wiggly dachshund in their lap!

 

 

Getting Lost & Finding My Way Back to Center

Posted by Barbara Techel

gidget apr 2014I got lost once again. It happens. This is what they call life.

But it happens to all of us. The trick is remembering what our center feels like. That place of knowing and that feeling of yes, this is where I’m meant to be. While I know many go through life without ever considering what their true center is, I give thanks that I do my best to stay tuned into what that center looks like for me. It has become so ingrained in me and once you have experienced that true place, even though I got lost, I knew I needed to find my way back again.

Last week was a trying week. My dad was taken by ambulance earlier in the week to the hospital. All turned out okay and they think he had a reaction to a new medication. But it was an odd feeling. A scary place I’d not really experienced before. To see my dad frightened as they put him in the back of the ambulance. Though I remained calm on the outside, when all turned out well, I found my insides feeling shaken up. The day will come when my parents are no longer here. It became even more real than I’d ever felt before.

At the end of the week I found myself resigning from two committee’s I had joined. One committee I had joined was recent, while the other I had been a part of since January. With the latter, I had been experiencing frustration, but I really wanted to be of service and help.

But as the months unfolded and I did my best, politics as it often plays out in these situations, made itself known. I realized I was in the wrong place. This isn’t me. While yes, there are internal issues, it was also  a tap on my shoulder that I had lost my way. I needed to return to center. I wanted to find myself back to what matters most to me.

My 21-day meditation practice I did that Oprah and Deepak Chopra offered served me well as I’ve been re-visiting lately in my heart what is important to me. My women’s group I’ve been a part of every week for the past 12 weeks has also been so enlightening and beneficial, helping me stay on track.

It’s so easy to fall off the track because we want to be good people. We want to make a difference. The trick is to do that in the way that speaks to who you are.

So I found my center again. I found it in the two hour Q & A I did with Dodgerslist on my Facebook page. The moderators, a vet assistant, and I were available for two hours yesterday morning to help people with questions they have about Intervertebral Disc Disease. Something as you all know, I’m very familiar with.

Though the two hours was intense with many questions being posted, after it was done I felt elated. I was so happy to have helped. This is what matters to me. This is how I can continue to make a difference. And on a side note, we are looking at doing another one in the future and this one in the evening.

This morning as I worked on my book, Joie’s Gift I felt back in that center again. I was also eager to come to my blog and write about my thoughts about this. This is who I am. This is where I’m supposed to be. This is where my energy of my soul is best served.

And when you live within that center of that energy that speaks to who you are, it fills you up. That light shines and shines bright, which then filters out into the world as it should. In an authentic way – not a forced or false way.

Hello center. Hello me. I’m so happy to see you again!