inner smile

Next time you find yourself sitting anywhere waiting - at your doctor's office, your acupuncturist's, chiropractor's or massage therapist's office, at the car repair shop, the DMV, your daughter's soccer game... you name it! -, try this simple little healing exercise:

Close your eyes, and allow a soft smile to spread across your face by gently pulling up the corners of your eyes and mouth. Now let this smiling energy wash through your body. Breathe it in and feel its uplifting energy permeate every cell of your body. Feel yourself revitalized and renewed in just a matter of a few short minutes.

The first few times you do this, you might find you feel self-conscious about what people around you may think. If you feel too tempted to open your eyes, and you find the woman across the room giving you a curious look, try flashing a smile at her. I bet you she'll smile back! Now you've just generated healing energy for two!

affirmations to start out the new year

I like to start out a new year by focusing on positive thoughts and consciously directing my energy towards creating a positive intention for myself and all those around me.

This morning, I typed out some affirmations. I'd like to share them with you, in the hopes that this will inspire you to sit down and write out some affirmations of your own! Your affirmations will help you attract into your life the kinds of experiences and circumstances that you most desire.

Happy New Year to all of you! May your year 2009 be filled with peace, love, joy, health, and happiness!

with love,

~Angie

affirmations for today (...and all the days to follow)

• I am grateful for all the beautiful, loving people in my life.
• I am strong, courageous, and resourceful.
• I am powerful, vibrant, and full of energy.
• I am healthy and happy, full of joy, energy, and vitality.
• I am surrounded by positive, uplifting, loving people.
• I bring joy to all the people whose lives I touch.
• I find comfort in the knowledge that any sadness and pain I or others may experience will only lead us to further growth and fulfillment.
• I relish in the feeling of connection I experience with all the wonderful people in my life.
• I have positive, healing relationships with all of my family and friends.
• I am supported by the universe at all times.
• I always have everything I could possibly need – and more!
• I always leave myself open to an abundant flow of energy in my life.
• I am able to tap into the universe’s infinite supply of energy to replenish my own energy stores whenever they may be running low.
• I trust that I am always on the right path!
• I always have all the support I could possibly need, and the ‘right’ people always show up in my life at ‘just the right time’ to offer me ‘just what I need.’ In return, I offer them exactly what they need at just the right time for them!
• I trust my intuition and leave myself open to divine/inner guidance at all times.
• I trust completely that any decision I make, have made, and will make in my life is completely in line with my own and everyone else’s higher good! …that what comes of any decision I make, have made, and will make leads, has led, and will lead to exactly what I and everyone affected by it needs/needed to experience at that exact moment in time, in order for our souls to achieve the growth we came here to achieve!
• I always have all the energy I need to do whatever it is I need to do – and then some!
• I allow universal energy to flow through me and out to others who may need it.
  
• I live and breathe infinite love and gratitude at all times.

an open letter to Barack Obama - by Alice Walker

I would like to share with you this beautiful and tremendously moving open letter that Alice Walker has written to Barack Obama. May we all find inspiration in her words and remember that the best leaders are those who can, first and foremost, cultivate peace, love, and joy within themselves and the circle of their closest loved ones! Alice Walker's message resonates deeply with the message in the Chinese proverb I posted a couple of posts back.

Here is her letter, written November 5, 2008:

Dear Brother Obama,

You have no idea, really, of how profound this moment is for us. Us being the black people of the Southern United States. You think you know, because you are thoughtful, and you have studied our history. But seeing you deliver the torch so many others before you carried, year after year, decade after decade, century after century, only to be struck down before igniting the flame of justice and of law, is almost more than the heart can bear. And yet, this observation is not intended to burden you, for you are of a different time, and, indeed, because of all the relay runners before you, North America is a different place. It is really only to say: Well done. We knew, through all the generations, that you were with us, in us, the best of the spirit of Africa and of the Americas. Knowing this, that you would actually appear, someday, was part of our strength. Seeing you take your rightful place, based solely on your wisdom, stamina and character, is a balm for the weary warriors of hope, previously only sung about.

I would advise you to remember that you did not create the disaster that the world is experiencing, and you alone are not responsible for bringing the world back to balance. A primary responsibility that you do have, however, is to cultivate happiness in your own life. To make a schedule that permits sufficient time of rest and play with your gorgeous wife and lovely daughters. And so on. One gathers that your family is large. We are used to seeing men in the White House soon become juiceless and as white-haired as the building; we notice their wives and children looking strained and stressed. They soon have smiles so lacking in joy that they remind us of scissors. This is no way to lead. Nor does your family deserve this fate. One way of thinking about all this is: It is so bad now that there is no excuse not to relax. From your happy, relaxed state, you can model real success, which is all that so many people in the world really want. They may buy endless cars and houses and furs and gobble up all the attention and space they can manage, or barely manage, but this is because it is not yet clear to them that success is truly an inside job. That it is within the reach of almost everyone.

I would further advise you not to take on other people's enemies. Most damage that others do to us is out of fear, humiliation and pain. Those feelings occur in all of us, not just in those of us who profess a certain religious or racial devotion. We must learn actually not to have enemies, but only confused adversaries who are ourselves in disguise. It is understood by all that you are commander in chief of the United States and are sworn to protect our beloved country; this we understand, completely. However, as my mother used to say, quoting a Bible with which I often fought, "hate the sin, but love the sinner." There must be no more crushing of whole communities, no more torture, no more dehumanizing as a means of ruling a people's spirit. This has already happened to people of color, poor people, women, children. We see where this leads, where it has led.

A good model of how to "work with the enemy" internally is presented by the Dalai Lama, in his endless caretaking of his soul as he confronts the Chinese government that invaded Tibet. Because, finally, it is the soul that must be preserved, if one is to remain a credible leader. All else might be lost; but when the soul dies, the connection to earth, to peoples, to animals, to rivers, to mountain ranges, purple and majestic, also dies. And your smile, with which we watch you do gracious battle with unjust characterizations, distortions and lies, is that expression of healthy self-worth, spirit and soul, that, kept happy and free and relaxed, can find an answering smile in all of us, lighting our way, and brightening the world.

We are the ones we have been waiting for.

In Peace and Joy,
Alice Walker

© 2008, Alice Walker

my vision for a loving, peaceful world

I am grateful to be living in a world where...

... each individual is granted the same rights and treated with the same respect, regardless of his or her race or ethnicity, faith, age, size, gender, and sexual orientation.

... we all choose to act from a place of love, rather than a place of fear.

... we refrain from judging each other for our actions, beliefs, looks, and preferences.

... we support and encourage each other in our quests to be the best we can possibly be and develop our full potential.

... we realize that self-love is the foundation for peace and global healing - that we have to learn to love ourselves in order to spread our love to those around us!

... ignorance is replaced with open-mindedness and willingness to listen to different points of view.

... we embrace and celebrate individuality and unique beauty, while simultaneously relishing in our shared similarities.

... we all show love and compassion not only for our fellow human beings, but for all living beings on our planet!

Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me.

- Carol Burnett

a Chinese proverb

If there is light in the soul, there will be beauty in the person.
If there is beauty in the person, there will be harmony in the house.
If there is harmony in the house, there will be order in the nation.
If there is order in the nation, there will be peace in the world.

I voted - did you?

Today is a BIG day. It feels pregnant with expectation and hope.

My husband Jim and I went out to vote together this morning. For me, it was the first time ever voting in a presidential election, since I became a citizen of the United States just over 2 years ago. I am proud and excited to actively participate in this day and thrilled to make my vote count! I hope you are making yours count, as well! Stand up for what you believe in!

Here's to the outcome of the election being for the highest good of our world! May the excitement of this day carry over into the year ahead and mark the beginning of a new era of peace and global healing!