This winter I had made the commitment to getting my feet in the ocean more than a few times this year. The ocean is always a recharging space for me. Yes, I am a Cancer sun sign but I think it is has more to do with my soul line up then when I chose to join this Earth space. I am familiar with the ionic action that happens in and above the ocean water and am impressed with the healing powers that is has but man, oh man, do I love the feeling of looking out into that vastness and feeling a part of it.

I took the time this summer on our vacation to feel what that was about. I sat in my chair with my feet buried in the sand, my version of a pedicure, and just felt what could be the connection. I realized after a while of being that it was that something bigger lets us be small and that's a relief to our systems.

For some it may be the idea of a deity or a God that does that for them. For others it may be a belief system in science, energy or whatever floats their boat. For myself, the idea of such a large body of water working so diligently to bring us balance through its salt formation and wonderful life forms that thrive in aquatic situations is just fascinating. I do subscribe to the belief of a higher power and that helps me maintain balance as well, but when you can see it, feel it and put your piggies in it, well, that surely must be heaven on Earth.

While we each strive to be more, more, more in our lives it gets exhausting to always be bigger than we were. We want the simplicity of life, but we listen to messages to have and be more. Quite the tug of war. Having a connection to something that is so much bigger but doesn't seem to question itself, to me, is very influential. I can take on the characteristic of that ocean and go with the flow (literally and figuratively) while trusting that all is well. I love that. I can feel my shoulders relaxing and an acceptance seep in. ahhhhhhhhh

What is your ocean? What brings you the peace of being small and allowing the grandness of something else to hold the larger space for just a bit? What shows you that while you can be that large and influential, right now your only job is to be? Do you have that? If not, what could you do today to seek that out and create a feeling of comfort. This is not about limitations at all. This is about allowing gratitude and grace, as well as, inspired energy to be present.

It doesn't take much to be in that space. First there must be knowledge, then acceptance, then perhaps a visual reminder so you can go there often when you forget that the keeper of the Universe's job has already been filled and you can relax for a bit.

I know you can do it and I also know that when we fill ourselves up, we have more to give. Much like the tides going in and out. They don't question, they follow a natural course for themselves and the impact on others is wonderful. So, fill er up and find that inspiration.

Still smelling the salt of the ocean in my own mind,
Vicki

 

One of the things I appreciate most about myself is my perception on things. It may not always line up with how others see things but I've gotten used to that and have learned that it is really great to have different views of the same scene. Yesterday morning as I took Tank, the resident canine, for our Sunday hike, it was really cloudy out and a bit breezy. As we headed out to drive to the park I thought, well at least it will be cooler and better for him and myself as the heat has been impressive lately. 

When we got to the entrance to the trail another hiker commented on what a dismal day it was. I responded with really? I think it's fantastic that we have a variety of weather patterns. She wasn't impressed with my answer and took herself on to the car and off on her day. I remember thinking wow, at the end of the walk she is cranky, glad I wasn't here for the beginning. 

I went a bit further and we met up with a man and his dog who were quite happy and calm looking. He wanted to talk about all the bugs out and how some people don't pick up the bags of deposits dogs leave. I have to agree with him on this one, why bag it if you aren't going to dispose of it, but I digress. I decided after that interaction I had better shift my energy or it wasn't going to be a very pleasant walk. I decided to look around and take in the scenery. One of the reasons we hike there is the beautiful surroundings. 

I looked up into the canopy of the trees and started to see the trail as Tank does, exciting and full of great things to see and smell and I remember thinking, wow, you can't tell it's over cast out there. The trees would block the sun but they also blocked what was a cloudy sky. I found neutral land! I found a place in the world where regardless of the exterior, the interior had it's own view. 

If you've read my blogs before you know this is where my a-ha came in. I thought to myself that this is how you could see life too. Some will see the cloudy and dismal and complain even after a great walk in nature. Some would want to talk about all the annoying aspects of a walk and then there are the Vicki's of the world that will see an opportunity to be in an enchanted forest where I have a chance to appreciate an internal process in an external world. Amazing. 

I wonder if others are aware of the blessing of perception and are willing to see the gift that is available to all of us. The ability to see a place or situation we have seen before in a new way. The ability to see the new in any experience. This would work with people too. What if under the cover of the canopy of life, we could see the beauty that is visible if we shift our view? 

It is not only possible, it gets to be addicting. You start to look for the higher vibration and expect that things are going to go well. Sure it takes practice but doesn't everything? That is the fun part, being able to see results and feel free of the crankies. 

Try it today. See a surrounding, another person, or how about yourself, in a new, more accepting light. You can see the canopy of life as blocking sunshine or as offering a hug that encourages you to adjust your viewfinder. I love hugs. 

One thing I know is when you adjust the exterior view, the interior view follows along. It works the other way too but that's a blog for another day. For today choose a good lens and enjoy the view. 

Using my perception for more than depth, 

Vicki 

Years ago when I first started realizing I might be wired a bit differently, I found myself searching for a support network. I didn't necessarily need a group to meet with or a guru (careful of anyone touting themselves as such), what I felt I needed was understanding of what the heck was going on and why, all of a sudden it seemed, was I picking up on everything going on around me.

I have often joked that when our mother passed that she smacked me on the back of the head and said go ahead and do that thing you do, and so it began. It wasn't easy, as a matter of fact it was freaking hard to balance raising kids, a marriage that wasn't on it's strongest ground, two or three jobs and volunteer work. Never mind the element of over sensitivity and no where to go to understand it never mind work with it. But, as is evident all around me, the universe had my back. It started putting in place things that would help me learn. Thank goodness for Hay House radio and their products. I probably would have lost my mind if I didn't have what would become the community that supported my growth.

I was blessed at the time to be forming friendships, some that are better today than ever, with like minded people and those open to hearing my theories about life and what we are meant to do while here. They still humor me sometimes. :)

Eventually, I met up with my spirit guides. We all have spirit guides. They are souls who have walked the Earth before and have completed their need to incarnate so they become helpers. It is my belief that we are all striving for this place of eternal helper (with no ego. If you just groaned when you read that, say hello to your ego.) We are in touch with our guides at every moment, it is whether you are willing to participate in the conversation that determines the relationship.

At a particularly tough period in my life when I thought I had no support, I met my greatest guide, and thankfully he is patient because I didn't exactly do it with open arms. It took a bit for me to be comfortable with the idea that there was a being that knew my every thought and action. YIKES! Then I realized they don't align with our physical self, they will help that, but they are more connected to that which is not physical. Our emotional, mental, spiritual selves. PHEW!

We have a guide for every area of our life and when this was presented to me, I was a little slow on the uptake. I kept seeing in my minds eye a baseball team. I ignored it because I wasn't going to play baseball, our son had and my husband watched it a lot on tv so I just thought it was a memory of some sort. Then it was a bit too much to ignore and I got the reference, OH! I had a team. My very own team? Those that only have my highest interest at heart? Whoa! Sweet! Did I deserve that I thought. Turns out it doesn't matter. We all have them and they are here to help. So just accept it.

This is just one element of the team we travel with. We all have angels, we all have a solar, or guardian angel and we all have those who have crossed who, without their ego, are able to help without judgment and in joy and love. Do you call on your team? Did you know you had a team?

So often we get stubborn and become that three year old that says "I do it myself!" In that we don't realize that others really do want to help. That includes the people here in your life. They truly do want to help. Do you allow them to?

Life may still be challenging but it is a whole lot less so when you realize that you don't have to go it alone. Even those who are born and croak, (read: all of us) don't do it alone. We have help. Ask for it. They can't interfere so you must ask and don't think anything is too small. It's not. Ask. Try it today. The messages aren't always like billboard signs and obvious. Sometimes it takes a bit to get through to us but luckily they are so patient and hey, have no time constrictions, so will wait until we are able to ask.

Try this for this week at least. Ask for the help from the divine and from your support staff. You don't have to do it out loud. You can ask from your mind and your heart. Be willing to see that you matter and there are those that are truly wanting to help. It's kind of their job. A very satisfying job, so they'd like more to do please. :)

I am really not sure who needed to hear that they have a team available to them, but my team told me to write about this. One thing I have learned after all these years is to listen when they come right out and tell me to do something as it is very rare they are that bossy. I guess I didn't hear the first ten thousand suggestions. ha!

I hope you find comfort in this and begin to develop a dialogue with your team members. One thing I should mention is they will never say anything mean or derogatory . If you hear, feel or interpret that, you have just met the part of you that is afraid to grow. Give it a hug and ask for help from your compassion guide.

I wish you well in your communication and remember to have fun with it!

Going to have a chat with my team now,
Vicki

www.vickibaird.com

One of the intentions I set for this year was to play more. Kids have fun, dogs have fun, any being that is capable of being in the moment, has fun. I want to be that being. At first this statement came out as a whine but luckily it has become a statement with an excited inflection, with practice and application. I realized I had arrived at that place when a client said to me "Vicki, I think you have fun no matter what you are doing." I stopped to think about it and said, yes, yes I do. Why? Because even though I know we are eternal and that life really isn't short, each incarnation is and I want to squeeze every bit of joy out of the experience I am in. That doesn't mean I am high energy all the time. Happiness can happen while being quiet and enjoying the rays of sun or the silly chipmunk that messes with the dog’s head because it knows he can't leave the fenced in area. Cracks me up every time. That joy is what I want to see when I do my life review on the other side. I want to know that I got what we are here to do, play, laugh, love, learn to move through sadness and experience all that is, without lamenting and getting stuck in our stuff.

Since this is my birthday month, I've decided to extend it beyond a simple day, I am using an acronym for play that works for me; Perfectly Loving Another Year! What would be your acronym? How could you support yourself by creating your own mantra to remind you to lighten up and be playful or full of play in this year? It doesn't have to be a big leap, you can start with Presently Liking A Yawn. Keep it simple but apply it to your life with a bit of movement to a higher vibrational frequency. (Neutral is higher than anger, frustration higher than that, joy higher than that, etc)

Look at the boys in the picture up top. Life is like that, up and down, hopefully with a bounce but there is no doubt there is gravity in our existence. How you address it determines how quickly you will move to a new emotion. Life isn't stagnant, don't you be.

I don't believe this is just a summer thing either. This is something we need to apply year round for our mental, physical and spiritual health. Laughter is such a great healer but you have to be willing to go there. Be childlike, love the life you have and then use your adult self to make it better and better and better. It can be if you want it to and if you apply a little action.

Now, I am off to picnic and whatever else I can get myself into on this gorgeous day. I hope you play a bit every day and connect to the REAL fountain of youth.

Bouncing off to higher frequencies,

Vicki

p.s. Play with those kids and teach them that adults don't have to be so serious and stuffy. Please!

While this week Howard and I escaped to the Cape for some sun, thank you Mother Nature, and much desired downtime, I made a commitment to myself that this summer would be enjoyed. I would remember it. I would get some color and I would put my feet, and hopefully the rest of me, in the ocean more than once this year.  The last twenty or so have been a bit busy! This year is too but that isn't an excuse for not living life anymore. After seeing all the people croak this last year, I am not willing to sit around and have work, as much as I love it, be my memory.

So we came to the Cape with no plan. No agenda, no schedule, no have to be somewhere. This is a new thing for me, so I am taking it moment by moment. One thing I did plan ahead of time, because I can't go cold turkey, is to bring my bike.  Full confession here, I LOVED riding as a kid, wasn't impressed as an adult when I tried it the last two years. This year, I decided to give it another go. I LOVE it again! Try, try again seems to really work. So I decided I was going to do the rail trail here on Cape Cod.  I head out like I normally do with the ear bud in one ear (please people who run, bike, walk, drive, roller blade, bunny hop, etc. please keep one ear unplugged for safety and the occasional communication!) and get excited about what I am going to see on a coastal rail trail. Hint....not too much of the coast it turns out.  

I was seven miles into it before I realized I never turned my music on. So then I wondered why I was blocking the music of nature with the one ear bud. Budectomy complete, I motored a bit more.  I found this spot on the way back. Pure joy for my Cancarian zodiac self. While I was sitting I realized the universe was conspiring to get me to really unplug. Our gorgeous hotel room has the worst cell service, none at all at the beach. Their wifi is not working and they declined my offer to troubleshoot. :)  On top of that, I forgot my laptop charger as I was going to get some writing done in this beautiful environment.

Eventually, I heard the message to really unhook and be without technology for a few hours, even a whole day. I've done it before, why not in this gorgeous environment?  It's amazing how much brighter everything is.  How much louder my thoughts are, sure, but they are good thoughts so why not hear them. I wonder when the last time you unplugged was? When did you become so present you could hear your own thoughts? When did you do a workout, a stroll, or a ride without music accompaniment? When have you taken a ride with your kids and the tv wasn't going or a tablet wasn't in their hands?

I am going to ask you to do this for as long as you can in the next few days.  See if it can become a habit. A night with no gadgets maybe. A meal with no distractions but conversation.  Find out what really matters to you by unplugging the sensory overloading technology (after you finish reading this on your device. Oh heck, don't wait. Go now. You can come back, or not, sometime in the future.) and plugging into self. 

This is me being an example. I'm out of here blogger world! There are beaches to explore and the other half of the trail to ride tomorrow, so I must rest my thumbs (writing a blog on your phone is nuts!) and brain for surely I will have some amazing revolutions as I ride in nature with no distractions.

Being present is the only plugging in I want to do, so off I go!

Vicki

               

Have you ever taken the time to appreciate the ability to listen, really listen. It's not all done with our auditory sense. That simply processes the information. It allows you to hear but listening takes skill and practice and definitely presence! One must be present to listen. It can't work without that.

Given this last week of energy movement and people croaking, I had no other option. Well, I did. I could have done as I have before and power through it but that seems silly now. I save that for workouts now. Powering through anything else seems like resistance and too hard. I'm no longer of the mindset that doing things the hard way is worth it. 

I decided the only way I was going to stay upright was if I listened to what my body was telling me. Some days it said, go for it, clean that whole house, do some business planning, pooper scoop (I wasn't a fan of that one) and go for a wun (walk/run. I didn't hear to run the whole thing yet.) Other days it said take it easy. Take a nap (I did). Go with the flow and see how well things get done after (they do). 

This laid back approach is something I've been able to do before, on the outside. My inside chatterbox of a head would have been talking the whole time I laid back. This time I let the thoughts come but then they went right out again. It was amazing. The quiet was WONDERFUL!

Where are you not listening to yourself? Sometimes we have so much information going in it is very challenging to hear much less listen, but where is that? Where is the peace for you? Do you even know? 

Can you take some time to connect with yourself and to reconnect the listening skill that was so present when you were a baby and learning how to be? Can you give yourself the gift of real learning and embracing that skill? Will you? Will you consider that until you hear yourself, you will not be able to listen and in the listening be able to hear what you want and how to be happy?

I know you can do it. You learned to tie your shoes didn't you? Write your name? Then surely you can do this too. We will be a world of healthy ears and hearts when we connect the two in collaboration. Hearing with our ears, listening with them, and then doing the same with the heart. It wants to expand and be part of the party too you know.

For a beginner, stop and listen to what is around you. Turn off the electronics and hear what is around you. Don't get attached to it or feel you have to do anything. Start at the beginning. When that feels ok, you can move on to listening. Have fun with it, but get started. Talking about something and doing it are just as different as hearing and listening. :)

Here is to hearing!
Vicki

Today started like any other Sunday in my house. I slowly roll out of bed, coffee and convincing Tank, the resident canine, that we will indeed go for a walk, as soon as the coffee hits the blood stream. This Sunday was a bit more challenging as for the first time in a long time, I have had a doozy of a week trying to stay upright in the energy and the emotions of so many souls crossing. So I was moving a bit slower and with a bit less excitement about the walk.

Like most dogs, Tank is very intuitive, he waited until I was able to get my head around even getting dressed and then did the butt wiggle that those with bully breeds in them are well known for. It is impressive and a wonder he doesn't wind himself into orbit. I laughed and said the magic walk word and we were gone. Although he was a bit more of a challenge to start out with, he soon realized the other end of the leash was in no mood to let him smell every other dog who had ever walked the same path. Eventually we settled into a nice rhythm and the rest of the wun ( my special combination of walking/running) was a joy, once I got out of my own way and crankiness. That takes practice, I believe. To be able to shift your mood on command takes lots and lots of practice. We are eternal, we've got time, go ahead and practice. It is worth it!

I decided to do the Tank method of a walk. Everything is exciting, everyone I meet probably loves me as much as I must love them already just because they happen to be on the same street and all the smells mean this is the BEST route ever! Even if we just walked it few days ago. This is THE BEST!

Dogs are really good at staying in the moment. What if we learned to do that? What if we decided that whatever happened yesterday to annoy us could stay in yesterday because there are new people to meet and new lands to explore? 

Once we returned from our journey, I was so grateful for the example I spent the whole day being in the moment. Doing whatever I felt like doing and if the critic head showed up to talk about what I should be doing, I reminded myself to be Tank like. Now, when he chewed on a toy, I didn't join him, I do have some limits but I did recline and soak in the sun when it was out.

For the entire summer last year we tried to help Tank understand part of his breed, lab, likes water. They know to cool off it in and play and have fun. Needless to say, the pool was wasted on him because he wanted no part of it. We tried again this year on a hot day and still, no thank you was his response. We left the pool out in his yard thinking maybe he will get used to it that way. Well, he did as you can see by the picture. He just decided he likes it better as a bed than water holder, and inside out. He saw potential where we did not. Why? Because he didn't lament about last week when it had water in it, he just got in and enjoyed a nap. Another reason to be more like your dog, naps wherever you are.

Now, there are obviously traits I don't want to emulate from a dog's life but I really feel they are the smarter, more evolved species. They know crazy levels of love and forgiveness and there is no denying gifts at butt wiggles to show an internal happiness. How much fun would it be to observe nature this week and find your own inspiration? Find what can be the example when you want to sit in the poor me and use it to shift to your own butt wiggle happy place.

If you'll excuse me now, its time for bed. Tank gets excited by that and I can see why now. Dreaming is what brings happiness to life. He can dream of running with his friends at daycare and I will dream of him letting me sleep until seven tomorrow!

Happy trails,
Vicki

www.vickibaird.com