Peaceful Pauses

Are you feeling frazzled? Have you had a few minutes to reconnect to your Higher Self & God through meditation / prayer / nature contemplation lately? 

Whether for 5 minutes, half a day, a weekend, a week, or a few months – we all need peaceful pauses in our life. That’s the space intuition needs to communicate with you.

Don’t wait until your nervous system is fried and can’t do its job.

Instead, give it the healing calmness and stillness it needs to rest and rejuvenate, adding years & guidance to your life. A little bit here and there as well as bigger chunks when you can are so worth it!

I’ve just returned from 3 months of travels, including 2 months as a karma yogi (volunteer) at the ashram at Ananda Village in the Sierra Foothills of California.

When I was intuitively guided to go, I didn’t think I could make it happen for many reasons. In part, I was nervous I wouldn’t be able to fulfill all the physical tasks, being so used to sitting at the computer or art table. Plus being on a full schedule within a community setting was going to be quite the stretch of my comfort zones. I’m usually an early to rise and early to bed introvert who thrives in alone time.

Well, it turned out to be amazing, and I’ll tell you more about it as the weeks go by.

As soon as I returned, however, I got caught up once again in the busy-ness of life. I

• unpacked boxes to move back into my lodging,
• restocked the kitchen,
• visited friends,
• had business meetings,
• read & reviewed my friend Leslie Bridger’s great new book, “Alive & Thriving: 5 Divine Truths Revealed During a Near-Death Experience (that publicly launches today!),
• went through business emails I’d flagged for my return,
• edited and uploaded 1768 photos from my trip,
• ran errands to buy supplies for my upcoming Transformative Art workshops at Lucy’s Retreat,
• went to my naturopath for a checkup,
• etc.

Basically, I got busy running all around town on foot, with friends, and on the bus for this or that.

I’d included several nature walks and occasional morning yoga & meditation in the mix, but it wasn’t enough. After about a week back, I started to feel frazzled.

This introvert had been way too “out there”. I may have been very busy at the ashram, but life was simpler, more focused, more balanced, and definitely more attuned to God.

So it was time for a day off. Calmness. Peacefulness. Quiet. Contemplation. Communion with God. At home.

And part of that time was spent consciously deciding what aspects of my ashram experience I needed to continue as part of my daily routine at home.

I’ll admit, I miss the 4 hours of yoga & meditation I was getting a day when I took full advantage of the offerings at the Expanding Light Retreat in between karma yoga shifts. OK, I’ll aim for the 1 hour 45 minute morning routine at least.

The yoga philosophy classes based on the teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda were also such a treat. So more reading – I definitely brought enough books back.

And oh, how I appreciated having amazing chef-prepared vegetarian meals every day of the week. Time to get creative in the kitchen. Don’t wait until you’re hungry, Dominique.

What a blessing those weekly visits to the Crystal Hermitage Gardens, taking pictures and being in a childlike state of curiosity, wonder and bliss. Yes, I’ll definitely continue to schedule nature time with my camera.

So now that I’m back and noticed how quickly that frazzled feeling can come back, it’s time I re-prioritize what keeps me connected to the Divine Peace that is always at my core (and yours!).

This includes inviting Divine Mother and Heavenly Father (the feminine and masculine aspects of God) to work through me instead of trying to do it all myself. I loved how much prayer was involved in everything at the ashram, all the way to evening prayer on the kitchen dock after locking up at 9:30pm after night shift.

I was aware and practiced all this to some extent before I left for California. But having 2 months of intensive practice, including much more physical labour than I was used to – was so good for me, giving me more energy to do more for others.

It’s good to feel the contrasts in our lives (frazzled / at peace, for example). It helps us make and be grateful for those healthy choices and peaceful pauses.

What needs prioritizing in your life? What can you add more of and what can you reduce? 

May you enjoy the kinds of peaceful pauses that help you attune to Divine love, beauty, joy, calmness that are your very core.

P.S. The video above is one of the eight I created while at Ananda Village, before my video editing app banned me for being under 13 (lol!). I’m still appealing that … but did manage to laugh at the time, knowing Divine Mother wanted me to read and meditate more … not just create videos. I got more sleep too!