M is for Meaning

M is for mother nature: plants, animals, and earth.


M is for when you found your self- worth.


M is for meeting new friends and holding onto the old.


M is for the times you didn't do as you were told.


M is for the memories you and your family share.


M is for the moment you discovered life isn't fair.


M is for finding it is alright to cry.

M is for realizing you are mortal and time is passing you by.



M is for all the things that give life meaning....


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I wrote the poem above... my first attempt at poetry since I was forced to write it in school. Sorry if it isn't that great... it was one of those things that just came to me as I was thinking about what to write this week.

It seems that too often we are bogged down by everyday things. Get up, go to work, come home, and go to sleep. Repeat for days on end. But honestly, is that what makes life worth living? I don't think that is what you are going to remember years from now.

You are going to remember the time you spent with your family, good or bad. The time you met your best friend. Times when you tested you boundaries and how far you could push yourself.

Maybe the meaning of life is to find meaning in life.

Just a thought.

What gives you life meaning? Think about it...

M is for Meditation

Meditation is something I have been interested in long time, even before I even knew anything about paganism or spirituality. I remember I checked out a book out from the library about meditation when I was in 8th grade. I have read numerous articles online on the subject. I understand that there are many health benefits that come with adding meditation to a daily routine. I feel meditation or some sort of mental discipline is something important to have in my spiritual path.

The only problem is that meditation is something that I have a really hard time with.

I start trying to get into a routine. I have no problem sitting still. The problem comes with getting my mind to quiet down. It is always thinking, wondering if I am doing this right. I guess like many people I am looking for instant results. And up until this point, every time I have given up when I have gotten too discouraged. And then eventually I will try again. 

But this time I would really like to stick with it and have it become a permanent part of my life. I guess that is part of have mental discipline. Not giving up when things don't go they way I think they should. And I shouldn't expect it to be easy or prefect the first time or even the twentieth time. The most important thing is to keep trying.

Do you practice a form of meditation? Have any tips for somebody who is struggling?

http://paganblogproject.com/

Happy Midsummer!

It is shocking that it is already the Summer Solstice. Time has been flying by.

I feel that it being the middle of the year, this is a good time for reflection. I think so far this year I have learned a lot about people and life as an "adult." I have found that things are not always what they seem and it is important to stand up for what you think is right. Even if others are willing to settle for mediocrity doesn't mean that I have to.

This is also a good time to think about what I wish to accomplish in the next few months. I would really like to find a good job that I am happy with. I would like to work on mediation and have that become part of my daily routine.  I would like to continue working on this blog.

Anyway, I hope that you have a wonderful day and maybe spend a little time reflecting on your own life and goals. Get out and enjoy the sun... it will be winter before you know it!

"Them vs. Us"

I spent a lot of yesterday sitting on the couch watching a marathon of TLC's "My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding." As I was watching, a lot of what the people on the show were talking about seemed to have a "them vs. us" feeling to it. They spent a lot of time complaining about how they are treated differently by the non- gypsies in their community. I can see where they were coming from, you could tell that there was animosity between the two groups. But at the same time, the gypsies sat there making stereotypical remarks about the non-gypsies.

And that got me thinking...

I feel like that a lot of groups have a "them vs. us" mentality. Seems like most religious groups (including Christians and Pagans), ethnic groups (black, white, Hispanic, etc.), and economic groups (rich, middle class, poor) act this way. They sit around and complain about how they are treated by others, but in the same breath insult or make stereotypical remarks about those they are complaining about. In the end, those remarks makes whatever point they are trying to make less credible.

I am not saying that I have never done this before. And now that I am reflecting on it, it is something I hope to change.

 But I think that as a society we need to change the way we talk and think about people that are different from us.

We need to realize that those we are talking about are human. Make logical, accurate remarks in a discussion about other groups. Make sure your behavior reflects well on yourself before you talk rudely about someone else. Explore other people's cultures and values before you act "high and mighty" about your's. You could be wrong. And that's okay.

I think that maybe if people were to act kinder and think before they speak, the world could be a nicer place to be.

L is for Lessons

One of the most important thing that I have tried to do in my path is to see events in life as a series of lessons. As I said in a previous post about Karma, I do believe that if you do something bad or good, something bad or good will happen to you.

But I also believe that things happen in life that are unrelated to Karma. My view is that we are put in this life to learn lessons.  When we pass on, we go to a place where the soul/spirit can reflect on those lessons. Eventually we return to learn more. We keep going through different lives until we learn all the lessons we need.

The lessons we learn are not always easy. Sometimes it involves losing something or someone important to you. Sometimes it is hard to see what we are suppose to be learning.

But there are also happy lessons to be learned. Lessons that show us how great we can be. Lessons that teach how great other people can be.

If you look hard, life's lessons are everywhere. If you reflect on those lessons your life will be richer and you will be a little bit wiser.

http://paganblogproject.com/

Coincidence?

Let me say up front that up till now I have not been a huge believer in people being able to predict the future. I have used Tarot cards in the past. When I use Tarot cards, I am not trying to predict the future. I use them to reflect on things that are going on in my life.

But at this past Ren. Fest. I bought a set of Ogham runes. I thought the were cool and another way to reflect. I took them home, looked them over, and read the little book that came with them. But I did not draw an individual one that day.

So about 2 weeks ago I finally decided to do some reflection with the tiles. I sat down, tried to do a little mediation (still working on that), and then drew a tile. I only drew one, and it was the "Straif"/"draigen"/  blackthorn rune. This rune is often associated with death and in the book I had it mentioned about preparing and planning for death. At the time I thought that it was kinda weird that would be the first one I picked and decided to leave it at that.



Sadly, about a week later, my grandfather passed unexpectedly. He was a victim of a car accident. None of the family was prepared for this. Did the runes predict this? 

Part of me is thinking that this whole event was a coincidence. Another part is thinking it is too weird to be a coincidence. All I know is that I am going to be paying a lot more attention when I do a drawing.

K is for Karma

So, even though it is a little (alright, a lot) late, I thought that I would join in the Pagan Blog Project (http://paganblogproject.com/). Different people are reflecting on a different letter every two weeks about their spiritual and magical paths. This week is the letter K. And since I am still new to all this pagan stuff, I picked a familiar idea ...Karma.

I think that Karma is an idea that most people have heard of before. It is the idea that everything has a cause and effect. It originates from Eastern religions.  There is much more to it then what I am going to talk about, but I am going to stick to what I believe.

Do I believe in Karma? Defiantly. But probably not in the traditional way that those of the eastern religions might view it. To me it boils down to every action has a reaction. I think that if you do something bad or with ill intentions it is going to come back around. Really, I don't understand how a person can think they can do something bad and there is not going to be a consequence. I also think that if you do something very bad, what is going to come back to you will be just as bad as the original deed. Is it going to happen right away? Maybe not. But eventually whatever you have done is going to come back to bite you.

But on the opposite end, if you do something good then something good will happen to you. I don't think that you have to do something huge to get some good karma. Just helping somebody or saying something nice to a person that is having a hard day is enough. Should you do good things just to have something good will happen? No, you should do good things because that is what you truly believe is right. I just wish that everyone would.

I don't think that Karma builds up. I think one action gets one reaction. It might seem like it builds up, especially if you do a lot of good or bad deeds at one time.

Now, with all that being said, here comes the big question... is everything that happens to you a result of Karma? I have thought of it quite a bit recently. I do believe that everything that you do is going to have a reaction. But I don't think that everything that happens to you is because of something you do. In life stuff happens. I think life is all about learning lessons and the things that happen in your life are meant to teach.

Here is an example...

Today I left for work at the same time I always do. However, I ended up arriving 15 minutes late. There was an accident blocking my normal route and so I had to find another way to get there. Unfortunately, I wasn't sure how to do that and I realized I didn't have the right number to call to tell them I was going to be late. In the end I made and didn't get in trouble because they knew what was going on.

Did I do anything to cause this to happen to me? No. Did I learn a lesson? Yes. I learned that I need to have all the right phone numbers with me and to know an alternate route to get where I am going. Essentially to be better prepared.

So the whole point of this...
1) Karma does exist.
2) Every action has a reaction.
3) Not everything happens because of Karma, often it happens in order for you to learn a lesson.

http://paganblogproject.com