Find a Moment's Peace
I had totally forgotten I submitted an essay titled A Mother’s Intuition last spring. An unassuming email arrived in my inbox this morning– A Mother’s Intuition made it through the selection process and now is available to all readers of This I Believe!
Take a minute to read why I believe in A Mother’s Intuition
Check out my new video Taking Care of YOU in the side bar on my site. Listen in to today’s guided relaxation as it will help you begin to create a difference in your life…things like- increased energy, a sense of calm and just generally feeling more joyful.
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Join me and relax for 15 minutes. Remember, a guided relaxation will help you begin to create a difference in your life…things like- increased energy, a sense of calm and just generally feeling more joyful! www.elizabethirvine.com
Listen to this week’s podcast here.
Subscribe to Elizabeth Irvine
FREE Weekly iTunes Podcast
I believe serendipitous events guide us in going with the flow, creating ease with life, helping us find our way.
A few months ago I crossed paths with someone who made me think, “Wow, I am so blessed to have met her.” My new friend Karen is one of those people, and I do believe our meeting was serendipitous.
We literally bumped into each other entering the door to our mutual publisher’s office, Bright Sky Press. We were introduced and I instantly liked her. I asked to see Karen’s portfolio– it was stunning. The next day I phoned Karen and asked if she would be a contributing photographer for my book series–and to my delight she agreed. For me, this chance meeting created an effortless ease and a beautiful dimension to my project that could have easily gone unnoticed.
Check out Karen’s blog, including the post Creating Everyday Peace including some photos she took at my home yesterday for my upcoming books.
In one of my new books to be released Spring 2010, A Moment’s Peace I talk about serendipity and how to utilize it in your life. Think about some of your own serendipitous events? I encourage you to use these occurrences as signposts to guide you in creating a life you love. Who knows how many I have let slip away?
Two roads diverged in a wood–I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference”
Robert Frost
Last night my son, husband and I watched a movie about the largest rescue of POW’s towards the end of WWII. The film made me stop and think of how I take my everyday freedom for granted.
Today, in celebration of America’s “Land of the Free,” I am grateful for my liberty. The choice to pursue happiness. The privilege to be an American.
In 1776 John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail that July 4 should be marked with “illuminations from one end of this continent to the other from this time forward forevermore.”
As a mother, one of my favorites quotes: Ask not what your country can do for you–but what you can do for your country – JFK, can apply to our everyday life through simple yet powerful actions. Here’s some ideas to put into practice with your family…
* Politics and world events. Discuss age-appropriate topics with your children. Meal time can be a great opportunity to open a discussion.
* Recycle. My children love to recycle. I watched my parents recycle and followed along- now mine join in with me. Generations of recycling begin with collecting that first aluminum can or day-old newspaper.
* Community service. Something as simple as learning to lend a hand. Look for opportunities to give back. Perhaps its as simple as collecting your neighbor’s vacation mail or walking their dog. Kids really do love to help, sometimes they just need a gentle nudge to get them started.
Join me on this special day dedicated to celebrating independence. Give thanks, lead your family in even the smallest contributing step to our country and go out and enjoy your freedom.
I have this belief… whatever we do, wherever we go, whoever we are with– we are “all in this together”. Collectively supporting each other. Maybe it’s just a friendly smile, an encouraging comment or perhaps lending a helping hand.
Look to new and bright ideas each day. Who knows which one will strike a chord with you. Following are a few of my latest favorite books for mothers, just in time for a Mother’s Day treat to Y-O-U.
Double Daring Book for Girls by Miriam Peskowitz and Andi Buchanan. The original was a blockbuster, and this one looks equally brilliant! What a great summer companion.
The authors mix inspiring tales of girls who made good … with a scrap bag of how-tos for girlish activities … The Daring Book for Girls keeps … practical knowledge from getting drowned in the techno-flow.
—The New York Times
Listen in to a recent podcast with Miriam and I chatting about learning new things and leading an interesting life!
Everyone Is Beautiful By Katherine Center. I love this girl. She is a truly gifted writer– and she is as much fun in “real life’ as the voice in her novels…
Any novel that starts with “The day I decided to change my life, I was wearing sweatpants” is bound to catch the sympathetic attention of women looking for stories of self-improvement on physical and emotional levels. This is a breezy read that glows, in part, because its characters bask in the sunny side of life.” -USA Today
Mojo Mom: Nurturing Your Self While Raising Your Family by Amy Tiemann.
This “missing manual to motherhood” will help you rediscover who you are, and how you can continue to share your talents with the world, even as you juggle the demands of family life.
Listen in to the recent podcast with Amy and I talking about Mojo!
The Mothers Guide To Self Renewal by Renee Trudeau
Renee invites you to explore how you can begin to live from the inside out. She is offering a FREE Mother’s Day book download offer. Check it out!
Happy Mother’s Day.
I am going to weigh in on this swine flu situation from a PREVENTATIVE health advantage.
Tread lightly and carry a big stick
The Swine flu is a threat, however perhaps more from it’s highly contagious capacity than a deadly virus. My motto is “Tread lightly and carry a big stick”.
What I mean is…
In metaphorical terms, treading lightly means dealing with a painful subject delicately (so as not to upset the subject of the questioning)– pay attention to what is happening in our world, BUT without contributing to a fear-based collective frenzy.
Immune system is a very powerful defense matrix
Carry a big stick means- be proactive in your approach to preventative health. Use this current circumstance as an opportunity to care for yourself. Your immune system is a very powerful defense matrix. It is capable of protecting you, much like a highly trained army. Nourished and strengthened it is amazing. It is like a magical guardian- warding off any potential lurking viruses or bacteria waiting to attack your body.
What to Do: Be Responsible
Teach your children through your example. Learn from this current swine flu virus situation. Take the upper hand and stay healthy. Read my blog Just a Little Kiss for ways to keep your immune system up and running.
One last thing, remember to smile frequently….. happiness is contagious too!
Every Tuesday morning for the last year and a half, I carve out time to record a new weekly guided relaxation podcast. Every now and then I get a message ( like the one below) that sends a signal to a place deep inside me– kind of like a strong and powerful voice that says, “Keep on doing– what you are doing!”
This note arrived last week from a lovely mother describing her experience in using the guided relaxation podcasts…
Recall the memory of a childhood afternoon…simple, carefree, and with no concept of the meaning of time – perhaps riding your bike, lying in the backyard making a clover daisy-chain, or lost in a make-believe world of fort building or playing dress-up. Remember how naturally relaxed you felt? Take this memory and notice how you feel right now. Does just the thought of those relaxed times begin to make you feel more at ease?
Lose track of time
When you spend time doing something you really enjoy, you tend to lose track of time on the clock. Spending time in this way moves you into a detached space from your day-to-day situations or issues. In this free place, you can be at your best, and feel happy for no real reason except that you are enjoying whatever activity you are presently focused on. Remember the child-like feeling of creating fun, simple and effortless? This same type of feeling brings a powerful punch to addressing your current-day stress and health problems.
Read on at Health Central
The poem below has surfaced in my life before ⎯and I have always loved it. Recently, this piece of poetry has seemed to appear everywhere I happen to look. And so, I want to share it with my readers as a New Years gift to you.
A poet who never knew his fame
The poem was written in 1926 by a man named Max Ehrmann (a poet and lawyer from Indiana), who never knew his fame. His widow published a collection of his poems three years after his death. Max Ehrmann, who was born in 1872, entered Harvard’s School of Philosophy at the age of 22. He studied philosophy and law, spent ten years writing six books and finally, when he realized he could not make a living as a writer, began practicing law. He composed Desiderata out of the need to remind himself how he wanted to live his life. The title is Latin for “things to be desired.”
Desiderata “Desired Things”
Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
And remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others,
Even to the dull and ignorant; they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter,
For always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
It is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs,
For the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
Many persons strive for high ideals,
And everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
For in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
It is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years,
Gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars;
You have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you,
No doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
In the noisy confusion of life, keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams,
It is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.
(c) Max Ehrman 1926 Desiderata
Check out my sharepost Ring in a Year of Change
Change Positively! Check out my tips on First30days.com
previously posted on healthcentral.com
Sending you all very best wishes and a year filled with all good things. Beth
