One More Gripe About my Midwife
Jenn HardyIm not complaining about my midwife. I dont even have a midwife. Im griping (probably) for the last time because I do not have a midwife. Anyone who knows me or reads this blog knows the one thing I want most in this world is a midwife. I have been on the waiting list in Montreal since I was5 weeks pregnant. I still couldnt get a midwife. The best I can do is hire an underground midwife, b...
Read more...CategoriesMeditation | Mom TalkSurfing the Waves of Change
Tom BarrettAt certain times in history, change happens quickly. The 1929 Stock Market Crash, Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima, 1968, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and 9/11 are among the sudden events that have drastically changed how we think and live. We are in the midst of one of those times now. The environment is in trouble and people are noticing. Our fuel supplies are uncertain. The economy is quaking and it is ...
Read more...CategoriesMeditationAppreciating the Beauty Around Us
Tom BarrettAt the viewpoint, the waves glistened in the morning sun as it rose over the forested hills. The fog hung over the beach so that each ridge on the rocky coast was highlighted in silhouette. A tourist approached and said, "It doesn't get any more beautiful than that." Then he took his snapshot and left in a matter of seconds. He was fortunate that he had the opportunity to view such...
Read more...CategoriesMeditationLive Each Day Like It's Your Last
Tom Barrett"Perfection of character consists in this; living each day as if it were the last, and spending each moment in peace." —Marcus Aurelius What would you do differently if you knew today was your last day to live? What if you knew you had only a week, a month, or a year of life left? Staring mortality in the face tends to focus the mind and change priorities. People who have had near-death...
Read more...CategoriesMeditationGiving and Receiving
Tom Barrett"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." —Winston Churchill Your first act as a human being was to breathe in air. Your second act was to breathe out. Your third act was to breathe in again. Inhaling is receiving air and exhaling is giving it back. Once the cycle has started, it never again flows just one way. To breathe in, we must breathe out. To receive,...
Read more...CategoriesMeditationWaves of Consciousness
Tom Barrett"We will eventually discover that consciousness itself is a kind of energy that is integrally related to the cellular expression of the physical body." —Richard Gerber, MD in Vibrational Medicine If we were made of ice, and we were told of steam, would we believe in it? We are formed of matter, and matter is a condensed form of energy. Should we think of matter as frozen energy? Are we ...
Read more...CategoriesMeditationIn Times of Change
Tom BarrettIn times of dramatic change, remember that not changing was never an option. Change is inevitable. Nothing is truly permanent. The way of nature is that things are created and things are destroyed. That which is unbalanced will fall. When something falls, something else will rise. When your external supports are threatened is a good time to refocus on your internal supports.
Read more...CategoriesMeditationPerception Projector
Tom Barrett"If facts are the seeds that later produce knowledge and wisdom, then the emotions and the impressions of the senses are the fertile soil in which the seeds must grow." — Rachel Carson A child awakens in the night and sees a monster in the room. In the morning, it becomes clear that the monster was a coat thrown carelessly over a chair. A hiker sees a bear, but at second glance, it is...
Read more...CategoriesMeditationA Body of Information
Tom BarrettIf you are paying attention, when things are in order, you know it. When they are not, you know it too. When the car engine sounds rough or the bike gears are clanking, or the washing machine is shaking its way across the floor, you know something is not as it should be. When your body gives you pain or fluids are running from places they should not be, you know there is a problem. When we are hea...
Read more...CategoriesMeditationWhat Do You Have In Mind?
Tom Barrett“The five colors blind the eye. The five tones deafen the ear. The five flavors dull the taste. Racing and hunting madden the mind. Precious things lead one astray.Therefore the sage is guided by what he feels and not by what he sees. He lets go of that and chooses this.” — Tao Te Ching #12 Translation by Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English Consider the depths of your mind. You have been storing experi...
Read more...CategoriesMeditation
Slowing
Tom Barrett“The hurrieder I go, the behinder I get.” — Sign in a shop Have you ever had days where you rushed all day to get things done, and at the end of the day you cou...
Read more...CategoriesMeditationSpare Change?
Tom Barrett“The world never stands still. It is a constant becoming. The face of the earth—as well as the face you see in the mirror—offers clear evidence that all is flux...
Read more...CategoriesMeditationYour Worst Fear
Tom Barrett“What is needed, rather than running away or controlling or suppressing or any other resistance, is understanding fear; that means, watch it, learn about it, co...
Read more...CategoriesMeditationOptimist, Pessimist, or Something Else
Tom Barrett“God made everything out of nothing, but the nothingness shows through.” — Paul Valéry An optimist expects things to work out for the best. A pessimist expects ...
Read more...CategoriesMeditationCaught in the World Wide Web
Tom Barrett“The golden rule is moderation in all things.” — Terence (Publius Terentius Afer) (c.190–159 B.C.) Computers and the Internet are marvelous tools for communica...
Read more...CategoriesMeditationGiving Up Hell
Tom Barrett“The crisis is in our consciousness, not in the world.” — J. Krishnamurti How often are we in paradise and we mistake it for hell? The sun is shining, flowers a...
Read more...CategoriesMeditationImagine Perfect Health
Tom BarrettWhat's in your mind is often quite literally, or "anatomically," what is in your body…— Bernie Siegel, MD, Peace, Love and Healing Consciousness ...
Read more...CategoriesMeditationOtherness
Tom BarrettWho sees all beings in his own Self, and his own Self in all beings, loses all fear. — The Isa Upanishad When you make the two into one, you will become childre...
Read more...CategoriesMeditationBody/Mind Energy: A Chakra Meditation
Tom Barrett“The body and the mind are so closely connected that not even a single word or thought can come into existence without being reflected in the personality and he...
Read more...CategoriesMeditationGroup Mind
Tom Barrett“There is a larger Mind of which the individual mind is only a sub-system. This larger Mind is comparable to God. But it is immanent in the total interconnected...
Read more...CategoriesMeditationFocus
Tom BarrettThe clouds that wander through the sky Have no roots, no home; nor do the distinctive Thoughts floating through the mind. Once the Self-mind is seen, Discrimina...
Read more...CategoriesMeditationTime to Upgrade Your Consciousness?
Tom Barrett“Think Different!” — Apple Computer Slogan Do you ever feel like you’d like to reboot your brain, clear out memory and start over with fewer conflicts and incre...
Read more...CategoriesMeditationSpiritual Search Path
Tom Barrett"Do not say, ‘I follow the one true path of the Spirit,’ but rather, ‘I have found the Spirit walking on my path,’ for the Spirit walks on all paths."...
Read more...CategoriesMeditationA Guide to Guided Imagery
Tom Barrett"It is through the imagination that the formless takes form." — Darwin Gross If you were scheduled for surgery and were offered a drug with no side ef...
Read more...CategoriesMeditationCalm Mind, Loving Heart
Tom Barrett"Enlightenment cannot be attained, nor forced. It can only happen … It can appear only when it is given a vacant space to appear in." — Nisargadatta H...
Read more...CategoriesMeditationWalking in Beauty
Tom BarrettAs I walk, as I walk The universe is walking with me In beauty it walks before me In beauty it walks behind me In beauty it walks below me In beauty it walks ab...
Read more...CategoriesMeditationSpiritual Resistance
Tom BarrettTimes of growth are beset with difficulties ... But these difficulties arise from the profusion of all that is struggling to attain form. Everything is in motio...
Read more...CategoriesMeditationMind Tuning
Tom Barrett"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are." — Marcus Aurelius The huma...
Read more...CategoriesMeditationThe Necessity of Forgiving
Tom Barrett"To forgive is to set yourself free, to acknowledge that it does no good to hate." — Ruby Bridges Hall Some people resist forgiving others because the...
Read more...CategoriesMeditationReconciliation
Tom BarrettWhen we have forgiven wrongs done to us or acknowledged wrongs we have done, there is still more work to do. We must find a way to heal the separation. How to A...
Read more...CategoriesMeditationSitting Like a Buoy
Tom Barrett"Under heaven nothing is more soft and yielding than water. Yet for attacking the solid and strong, nothing is better; It has no equal. The weak can overco...
Read more...CategoriesMeditationInner Climate Control
Tom Barrett"Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it." — Mark Twain Most of us let our moods be affected by the weather. When it is s...
Read more...CategoriesMeditationThe Art of Hugging
Tom BarrettAre you a hugger? Some people are natural born huggers. Others need to learn this simple art. The scope of hugging behavior is wide, ranging from "Don’t ev...
Read more...CategoriesMeditationBodyMindSoul
Tom Barrett"The moment we arrived on earth, we were given bodies, the vehicles that carry our spiritual essence. You and I do not live inside our bodies. Our bodies l...
Read more...CategoriesMeditationIn Search of Adequacy
Tom Barrett"I am a fool. Oh, yes! I am confused. Other men are clear and bright, But I alone am dim and weak. Other men are sharp and clever, But I alone am dull and ...
Read more...CategoriesMeditationLove and Chaos
Tom Barrett"Beauty is truth, truth beauty..." — John Keats "Between whom there is hearty truth there is love." — Henry David Thoreau "God is love...
Read more...CategoriesMeditationStrengthening Will
Tom Barrett"We cannot seek or attain health, wealth, learning, justice, or kindness in general. Action is always specific, concrete, individualized, unique. "— J...
Read more...CategoriesMeditationSitting Down, Doing Nothing
Tom Barrett"To attain knowledge, add things every day. To attain wisdom, remove things every day." — Tao Te Ching, Chapter 48 Sometimes when we practice medita...
Read more...CategoriesMeditationPrecepts for Our Time
Tom Barrett"Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Suffering follows an evil thought as the wheels of a cart follow the oxen that draw it. Our life ...
Read more...CategoriesMeditationNot Attached, But Not Cut Off
Tom Barrett"The basic sources of happiness are a good heart, compassion, and love. If we have these, even if we are surrounded by hostility, we will feel little dist...
Read more...CategoriesMeditation