What Is the True Meaning of the Holidays?

'Tis the season' where Hell seems to break loose.  Stores start showing all that you can buy in October and last till the very last day of December 24th.   People are rushing trying to buy that perfect Christmas dinner or have those perfect gifts for their loved ones.  Some people get upset whether you say Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays.   Can we just say STOP?
I for one love the Holidays.   I love to see all the colorful lights and hear all my favorite Christmas Carols.  I enjoy seeing all the different religions celebrating their traditions.  Then what is the problem?
Did we forget along the way what the Holidays are really all about if we just take the time to look?
It is a very simple answer really, it is about Love.
The Holiday season is about  giving love and showing kindness to the people that are all around us, especially to the ones we do not know
I for one, do not follow a particular religion.   I believe that God is in everyone and everything.   I know in my heart spiritual truth when I hear or read it.   It doesn't matter where the spiritual truth comes from because God is there.
We need to reconnect to what is true.   We are more concerned with the commercialism during the  Holidays.  I do not know why, but people become more stressed and rude during this time.   What should be a joyous time becomes a chore.
What I want to tell all of you, is to enjoy your special day with the people you love.   Look at all the blessings that are all around you and be grateful.  Be kind to people you don't know.  Respect the planet and all that live on her,   Teach your children to do the same.   Remember, this is something that should be done everyday, not just one day out of the year.
Because of God's love for each and everyone of us, all of this is possible.
Happy Holidays and God bless~

 

Do You Know Who YOU Really Are?

To thy own self be true.   What does that mean exactly?   In order to be true to yourself, you must know yourself.   That is what loving yourself means, to love all the facets of you.
One of the hardest things to do is look at yourself for who you really are.
We have to look deep down inside.   This is not something that is done in a day, week, month or even a year.  It is a constant and ever learning process till your last breathe.   
We are not the same person that we were in our 20's, 30's or what ever age we are.  
We won't be the same person in 20, 30 or even 40 years later because we change with life.
When I started asking the question of why I was not so happy with my life, the answer was Me.   I had to take a look at who I was and why I can continuously going down a road that was leading me nowhere.

I realized with time that I believed the things that I was told when I was younger.  I had to be a certain weight, personality or look to be loved.   I am sure that most of us heard that recording in our heads over and over again.    These are labels that are put on us from the day that we are born.  Labels are what people perceive about how or what we should be.
Are they a reality?  For the most part, I would say no.   Why?   Because it is the perception of the other individual.

When I took the time to take a closer look at who I was, I called this 'My Love Affair With Myself'.  I started getting to know who I really was.   I went inside.   I learned what was great and not so great about myself.   I found out that I didn't need to prove to someone else that I was lovable.    I can see why now why I was in dysfunctional relationships.

Love all of yourself!

It is not my job to fix or change anyone.  The only person that I can fix or change is me!   When I start seeing the signs that a person is not right for me, I can walk away.  Does that make that person a bad person?   No, just not the right person for me.
I learned that love is not outside myself.   I learned that I AM love.   

Lessons in Catechism

You're probably all thinking 'why are you telling us all this information?   Which is a good question since I am an artist and I should be telling you about artsy things.   Right?  But part of being an artist is how we see the world around us.   It is my lost years that led me to the person that I am today.  One has to look back in order to move forward.  One has to understand the self, the true authentic self.   Once we understand and look back with detachment, we can begin the healing process to move forward with our lives.
When I was kid growing up, I went to Catholic church every Sunday. I loved looking at the statues of Mother Mary and Jesus.   I loved the colorful stained glass windows.   
I just didn't like or understand the message that was being taught to me.   God loved me so I was told, but only if  you went through Jesus,   Now, that didn't make any sense to me at all. Jesus was the only way to get to God and Heaven.  Now, that wasn't fair!   How about the people who didn't know about Jesus?   Were they going to Hell too?
Remember, I was a kid back then! 
Where was the Love?   I learned about the Spanish Inquisition, not a very nice group of Catholics at all.    Yes, things were starting to change within me.   This was not the God that I wanted to know, my God was a nice God.   I decided that Jesus was not going to be a part of my life.   I would still talk to Mother Mary and God but no more Catholicism for me.  
I loved hearing stories about St. Joan of Arc, St. Francis and St. Bernadette.   My mother even brought me a bottle of the Holy Water from Lourdes which I am embarrassed to  say that I drank.  Maybe that is why I do not get sick very often.
When I was 15, I went to see St. Bernadette's body that is in a crystal coffin at the Church of St. Gildard at the convent in Nevers.   St. Bernadette lived there for 13 years.   She has remained undisturbed and on view since August 3, 1925 and that was a special moment for me.   One of God's many miracles that I have seen.
It is kind of funny when I look back, in my 20's, 30's and even part of my 40's, I lost touch with God.   I loved the stories yet, I fell out of touch with the one thing that created it all.
I was the hamster running around and around in the wheel of my cage until I stopped and asked why?
Be careful what you ask, you may not like the answers.

I love photographing Mother Mary.
She is peaceful and beautiful.

Dazed and Confused.

When I first started this journey about 10 years ago, I was so lost and confused.  I didn't know who I was and where I was going with my life.

I was in a dead end job and I was in dysfunctional relationships.  Boy, I was just going around in circles.  I was so unhappy and unfulfilled.   I just kept on asking the question what was wrong with this picture?

I call it my lost years.

What was wrong with the Picture?   All the answers were on one single word and that word was ME!   Yes...me!

At first, that was a hard pill to swallow.  My ego was not going to allow that answer.   It had to be my job, the people that I knew or the men that I was dating but NOT me.  It was everything outside myself.   I didn't want to know the truth.

I then asked God (yes, I believe in God) to show me the truth.   I asked God to give me the answer to the question I was asking.  Don't worry God, I can handle the truth.  The simple truth is that we really can't handle the truth.  Funny how that works.

But, God in his infinite wisdom showed me in baby steps.   To get my attention and this was back in 2005, I was hit by a car.  Not an easy way to start my search but it did get my attention.  You can only bitch for so long when you're in pain.  I was blessed that no bones were broken and that I wasn't killed.   Physically, I spent a week in bed and healing with the help of Ibuprofen and a good chiropractor.    Emotionally, I had the help of great friends and the help of the Unity Church.

I had just started going to Unity Church before I was hit by the car.   The Course of Miracles gave me the tools that I needed to handle this situation.   To be honest with you, it was  free therapy and boy did I do alot of crying during that 1 hour.  Unity Church started my emotional healing and started me on my personal relationship with God.   This was class 101 in who is God really?

In order to understand previous comment, you have to understand one simple thing.   I was raised in the Catholic Church.  Ahhh...you say.  Now, you get it.   Not that Catholics are bad people but this will have to continue on the next blog.   I seem to have run out of space.

What is a girl suppose to do?