Okay, here goes…TIME…it gets another week on the blog stage. All last week I asked for the blog topic for this week. Every message that came back was TIME. I knew that TIME and boundaries were in competition last week and I waited again this week to ensure that it was truly TIME that needed a part two. It seemed TIME rose to the occasion and I began asking what messages about TIME needed to be shared that weren’t explored last week. The answer I received was that there were still some different messages that needed sharing. And so I waited, patiently, counting the seconds, the days. Wondering what would be shared with me? What would come and then poof, a few different signs came that left me in awe and open to exploring the messages. Two books came into my space from two different sources that both spoke volumes and reflected TIME’s message that wanted sharing. I will tell the themes from these books with you. I believe that they each speak to TIME in a different way that might resonate with you.
The first book that divinely came was the book When Breath Becomes Air…wow. I hadn’t heard of it before and I was blown away when I read the summary. I felt called to read it immediately. I logged into Audible.com and began the adventure downloading it as I didn’t have time to read the book. I enjoy listening to books as I create my cake pops in the kitchen. The fuel for my soul stoked as I create my soulful treats for others. My time is the kitchen over before I knew it and my heart filled in many ways. This book was an absolute joy and I thank Paul Kalanithi for the beautiful story and lessons he shares. He is no longer with us in an earthly body but his spirit and soul speak on from the other side through his work. Truly a gift in that he faced his fears and wrote his book when most would have used the excuse of not having enough time. He was diagnosed with lung cancer at 36 years young and as a successful neurosurgeon he had some decisions to make as to what to do with his ‘remaining life’. I couldn’t possibly do the book the justice it deserves if I tried to explain it further. Google it, and if you feel called to read/listen to it I highly recommend you will not be disappointed. If you do read it or listen to it I welcome hearing from you, send me an email on how it touched you (coach@alohalife.ca). What I will say is THANK YOU Paul for your bravery; for being an example of love; for sharing your resiliency, your vulnerability, your courage; for finding joy and for facing your fears and making the most of the TIME you had left. I feel honoured to be writing about Paul, being able to include him in my blog. That I can possibly be a thread in the quilt of his soul by passing it along to others truly a gift I humbly accept.
I spoke last week on how if we were ill and possibly given what “time” we had left that for some it would be a gift. I’m grateful for the nugget and finding Paul’s book. He truly took what “time” he had and ran with it. Of course he wasn’t given a hard and fast number of days, weeks, months, but he was given the gift of the reality that it might come sooner than he had planned. He does an amazing job in the book of sharing his experience and I truly believe we can all related to parts of it and possibly apply it to our lives in a way that will make a difference. If we’re blessed enough have our health we can still live each day as it’s our last.
The second book was a recommendation from the lovely Deva Premal. If this is your first time hearing of her, then I suggest you google her and listen to her work. She’s an amazing mantra singer and her Gayatri Mantra is one of my favourites. I’ve followed her for a long time and share a kindred spirit. I have emailed with her at times and we have shared some wonderful conversations over the years. One of her previous book suggestions led me to a book that has comforted me and answered many questions. I knew immediately that this latest recommendation would be a powerful one. Was I surprised that it spoke often to the element of time? Not in the least. I smiled as I gobbled up the 180 Kindle pages each night as the hands of time shifted into the next day. Dying to Tell You: Channeled Messages from the Famously Dead by Lisa Najjar is the book. This wonderful author has written a book that shares the messages from famous people who have passed on. They have a brilliant message to share and have asked this book be written and shared with us. Regardless of your beliefs on life after death; where do we go; can we connect still and so on this book has some amazing messages that shouldn’t be ignored. One of the ones that immediately jumped out to me was about time from Abraham Lincoln and Waylon Jennings. Every person in the project of this book spoke of their time on earth and what they felt was valuable for us to know while still here. Waylon’s message touched my heart the most when he spoke of how time is a big farce. That it robs us of the important things because we are messed up about what’s truly important. I smiled as I agreed with him and recalled that last week’s message touched on this. The “busyness” that everyone seems to be and yet they can’t stop to “smell the roses”; to engage in a conversation with another being. They must scurry like ants from here to there showing off just how important they are because they are busy. Throughout life there can be many lessons that teach us the importance of taking time. Usually they come at the cost of losing a loved one and having regrets because we didn’t take the time. This book may seem a little ‘out there’ for some of you, but I applaud Lisa for finding the courage to stand in her truth and write it.
I don’t want to drone on about how fragile and precious TIME is. You have now heard about this for two weeks and I feel my work with it complete on the blog. However, I will say this, be true to yourself when you make the choices you make. If you are unsure be okay to use the full sentence “No thank you.” Don’t always feel that you have to say yes to everyone and everything. If the option is to choose something that gives you time doing what you want to do for yourself. Be 100% okay to say no and not need to give a reason why. You deserve to choose what’s right for you at the time and allow the gifts that will come with it.
At last the photo, I always try to relate them to my posts if possible. As I looked for one for this week’s blog post I was immediately drawn to post one in memory of a dear, dear friend of mine who speaks to me from the other side of the veil now. I have many photos with her but this one called as it expressed so many of the “times” we got together. It was taken by her lil daughter in the middle of a parking lot after one of our many famous “coffee dates”. Where we would sit and enjoy our time together solving our life puzzles, sharing stories and just being together. Some days a race to the comfy seats because we were three and other times just her and I and the seats not relevant, just the fact we were sharing space. Oh the chats we enjoyed back then, now today our chats are a little more one sided (on the voice side I speak and she listens). But she definitely finds ways to share that she’s heard me or that she supports me and my thoughts. Butterflies soaring by, random dimes left for me to pick up and smile, a song on the radio, a brush of a leaf falling from a tree, the sunshine peeking through the clouds at just the right angle and I won’t bore you but the list goes on. Each of these gifts that I view as her way of communicating and I am grateful for them all. I believe that our souls live on and that we are all connected to each other. She once shared with me this sediment just before she left this earth. (This was five years ago so I’ve paraphrased the conversation from our text message) “I’m playing legos with my lil one right now, the cleaning can wait for another day. Big happy face emoji. I want to make memories like this with her. I don’t want her to remember her mom as always cooking and cleaning and never playing when she grows up! Heck, the cleaning can be done at night when she’s sleeping. Look at me letting loose! Aren’t you proud?” I was beyond proud of her for moving past her beliefs about a clean house – it’s important to have a clean house but there’s times when playing legos trumps cleaning! I often think back to this comment she made when having to make those types of decisions. I feel so happy and was absolutely proud that she made that choice to play that day. Little did either of us know not long after that comment she would no longer be able to make the choice to play legos or to cook or clean again.
For me “time” will continue on and on with each incarnation of the soul and I know that this earthly ride will eventually have its end, the date unknown. Knowing this doesn’t scare me, it make me grateful to squeeze every second out of the 86,400 ones I am gifted each day. Thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing the ocean waters with me this week. The waves were a bit choppy, but reflecting on my life they weren’t as storm churning as they were five years ago. A beautiful reminder of how time unfolds and what was so intense then is now but a distant memory. I trusted the flow of this post, that it would create itself, knowing that TIME did deserve another week. That regardless of what words were formed they would hopefully allow you the gift of breathing in some extra seconds, perhaps reflecting and creating a few more moments that serve you and your journey in this lifetime. (side note – I did the math wrong last week I missed the ‘4’ in 86,400 – actually not a math error but a fat fingered typing error! My apologies and I’m going to go back and correct it!)
I’ll sign off now, sending much love and aloha to each of you from my heart. That you are gifted the awareness of time and that it is spent in ways that serve you and your life’s mission whatever that may be. Always love and to all our angels out there – we are listening. We may not be able to ‘hear’ your voices but we know you are always there connected to us and loving us. xxoo Jodi
Originally I wanted to write about boundaries but what kept coming to me was TIME…Time is a precious commodity; a man-made ‘thing’ which is viewed/experienced very differently by each individual based on their circumstances and their beliefs.
To the mom awaiting the results of her child’s surgery its seconds ticking away are deafening. Time is almost never ending to the person working out, exhausting their muscles with ‘just one more rep’, one more set’. To the couple on their first date its hands flying around the dial as their night goes by in a blink. Each engaged in each others eyes and nothing else. Yet a table away the married couple who have lost their connection out on a date. Each moment another dull thud as they go through the motions both unhappy and wanting something more yet too afraid to say anything. To the parent anxiously awaiting that cry of their newborn baby as they take the first breath from the womb time stands still. To the child in hospice with a tear falling down their face as they whisper their last I love you to their parent they wish they had more time. To the athlete who has practiced thousands of hours the tenth of a second that separates them from winning the gold, time is on their side. To the injured hiker that hears every sound and also every deafening moment as they await help that might never come time moves like a sloth. To the baker making their last batch of the day in the oven as the smells of their kitchen dance around. The countdown of the timer ticking and reminding them it’s soon to be home time. This list could go on and on as we can all think of the many different ways time has affected us. The different emotions that it can extract from us. Unfortunately what happens for most is time is squandered away. We as humans find excuses to “waste” time. Saying we’ll get to that tomorrow or next week or next year, another day. Yet tomorrow or next week are not guaranteed to us. Be it fear that’s stopping us from making the choices to do the act now, we still decide to put it on hold. There’s nothing wrong with this as long as we realize that just because we’ve put it on hold doesn’t mean there will be an opportunity to make the choice again. It can possibly leave us with an unfinished task to do next week or next year but as long as this isn’t weighing on us and we aren’t beating ourselves up for not doing it then its okay. Our troubles begin when we regret our choices to “do nothing” yet we can’t go back and change them.
We don’t actually have any control over whether tomorrow will come or not. Not a single one of us knows exactly how much time we’re gifted in this lifetime. It might be 5 years, 25 years, 50 years, 75 years, or 100 years. That is the cruel yet fair gift of life.
We’re read articles and books from the dying about their comments and wishes on their deathbed and what they would do if they had more time. For some people suffering with an illness they have been giving a rough idea of how many “days” left they have (and sometimes these guesses aren’t even accurate as people outlive their prognosis). They speak of how they make different choices with their time based on this ‘knowing how long they have’. They change their belief on life and begin to make choices to live each day as a gift. We’ve listened to songs expressing how we should live like we are dying. The crazy part about that is that we are all dying – we just don’t know when. But it begs the question…are we all truly living? Are we using the gift of each breath and the time we do have? This seems like a rhetorical question or one that is used so much it has gone ‘stale’ or has become so cliché we don’t even feel the need to answer it. Yet I sit here asking it to myself, wondering just what am I doing with my gift of time. Am I filling it with mundane tasks that ‘I’ll get to next week’? Or am I choosing things that fuel my heart and make me grateful for the moments I do have as the hands tick tock away each day. The question ‘what do I want to be when I grow up’…is it answered or still evolving as I learn and grow?
Originally as I mentioned at the beginning of this blog I wanted to write about boundaries as the topic for this post. Yet the word TIME just kept budding in front asking to be heard.
I’ve watched show after show on the universe and space and time. How man has created time to measure events, to keep track of the past and present. Time according to Albert Einstein is relative and flexible. “The dividing line between past, present and future is an illusion”. So if it’s an illusion then why are we all so caught up in being so busy ‘we don’t have time’ to do the things that matter? I believe one of the things that supports this statement is because we’ve forgotten how to breathe, how to connect to source, we’ve forgotten what is important. We’ve grown so fast as a society with technology and the idea of being bigger, better, faster that we’ve lost a lot and are holding our breath not wanting to miss out on anything and sometimes doing absolutely nothing. We’ve found all these external factors to measure against and if we aren’t busy chasing something/living up to someone else’s expectations then we aren’t ‘enough’. Sadly it’s become our tails that we’re chasing. If we can stop and pause for a moment we could stand in front of the mirror and ask ourselves what are we doing with the gift of time? Are we being true to our heart? Are we breathing and connecting with source and our higher self. Are we happy? Are we just going through the motions trying to get to the end of another day? The questions are there and if we’re willing to just stop and breathe, time starts to slow down as we answer them. Each day we’re on this planet we have 86,000 seconds and each second a precious gift. I used to begin each day with an intention for these 86,000 seconds. That they be spent in service however that was supposed to be. That I’d use my gifts to love and be a conduit for others in whatever way was necessary. I’m still using that intention. However I have spent the last few years learning how to apply boundaries to it. This has been a tough lesson but I’m grateful to have walked it in the way that I did. As I write this I now know why boundaries and time were softly battling for the blog post this week. They are intertwined like many of the other threads that make up our quilt of life. For me they have been intertwined for the last few years with an awareness of each and the dance they were making. I’ve finally healed some of the wounds that I uncovered and am building that boundary muscle while still being true to my intention to be of service.
So on the eve of St Valentine’s Day; and a few days after experiencing the Full Moon in Leo (with an eclipse last Friday), I sign off with love. Content in the waters of the ocean. Drifting along, knowing that time for me is equal to breath and that with each breath comes new opportunities. The choices I make with those opportunities are a gift. When the waves surge and swell, I come back to breath and allow that flow to take over. Watching as things settle and most times slow down, another second ticking away. I trust that you found some nugget within this post. It was a definite dance of boundaries and time for me writing this week. As always, sending you love and aloha, xxoo Jodi
Whatever you call it; whatever it means to you; spirituality practice/religious practice/prayer it is what keeps you connected to divine/God/your higher self. This can be a topic that society labels as “off limits”. That we don’t want to stand up and say we’re spiritual or religious as others might judge us or condemn us. Yet, here I “swim” in the deep waters following my heart. I was called to write on this topic since the last post and I allowed it to create itself as it rolled around in my mind, not unlike the waves out deep in the ocean that create the crashing ones at the shore. I took a big deep belly breath and decided to dive into the swelling wave knowing that each of you will take from this post what you need. That it will hopefully allow you to realize the foundation you’ve created for yourself and to acknowledge and be grateful for it.
I think back to when I was growing up and the daily prayers I said at night. A prayer to God followed by the many moments and people I was thankful for. I look at what my night time routine is now and see that for me, my meditation is my nightly prayer where I go to the space of gratitude for everything that shows up in my life. Speaking again of the nighttime prayer when I was young, that’s exactly what that was for me and I didn’t realize it. My meditation, my connection, my foundation. A spot every day where I could say thank you for everything that happened. For the people in my life that mattered and being able to say thank you for them and the moments we shared. I think about how important that was for me and how no matter how tired I was, happy, mad or sad I found the time to do it. I felt connected and complete and was ready to end my day and go to sleep awaiting the gift of another day, another breath.
Today our society is fueled by busyness and hectic schedules and we expect immediate results/instant gratification from everything and everyone. Some feel that there’s a quick way to fix our problems without walking them. Or to feel better – it’s just a pill away, or a drink away and we’re rid of the annoyance. Some have a belief that we must always be “busy” or else someone might consider us lazy and not as productive and valuable as they are. Finding time to be grateful doesn’t carry much weight in some circles in society and therefore for some it is not be the first thing they look to. It’s something we would be giving to ourselves for ourselves how would that appear to others? Well my first guess is that we believe it would of look selfish. Yet, I’m often reminded when flying that we are told to don our own air mask first before helping others put theirs on. If we can’t find the time to give to ourselves to build and maintain our foundation how can we be there for others? Thus finding time for ourselves each day is not selfish and something that will foster our relationship with self and our foundation.
I invite you to take some time to sit and journal on a few things…what moments do you give to yourself each day? Any at all? If you do give yourself time, do you judge yourself as being lazy or selfish? Do you justify the ‘why’ of taking time for you? Do you make time to be grateful, to meditate, or to pray? Is this something you do only “if” there is time that’s left over after giving it all away? Have you built a daily practice that you do which fuels your soul? Do you truly gift yourself that time with no expectations? Do you connect with Divine/God/Spirit? Do you know your value and give that to yourself each day without judgement? Do you allow yourself time in nature to just ‘be’? All questions that I find help us to see where we are at in putting our “air mask” first.
For me I have created a nighttime routine that is simple. My version of my prayers. I ask myself some questions before I go to sleep. Did I do my best today to serve my heart and my intentions I set? Did I make someone else smile and feel loved? Was I present in all my moments? Can I lay my head on this pillow knowing it might be my last sleep and go to sleep with a smile in my heart and on my face. Each of the answers to these questions help to fuel a part of my soul and allow me to be content and grateful regardless of the answers. There are nights when the mind monkey attempts to tell me otherwise. But I graciously thank him for his presence and the acknowledgement of the act. Then continue my ‘prayers’ finding gratitude knowing that I’ll not judge myself as I showed up to the best of my abilities at that moment. That I’ll hopefully get the gift of another day to practice it all again. Then I put on a meditation that is calling to me (I have several that I rotate through) and I breathe myself to sleep.
I feel that this post could go on and on with much more to say but I’ll end here. I trust that you were able to swim along me in this post. That pieces resonated. It had a bit of a questioning ebb and flow and I thank you for wading alongside me as I trusted where it was going. Knowing it’s in being truthful and authentic that growth happens. Sometimes it is seeds planted and other times it’s cultivating the soil. Some of my questions or comments might have rubbed you in ways you felt were “wrong” or “irritated you”. I challenge you to look at those moments as a rub. That in being rubbed you are being polished and that with each rub you get closer to shining your own beauty. I always fall to Jalaluddin Rumi’s quote “If you are irritated by every rub, how will your mirror be polished”. From the day I heard that quote it resonated deeply within me and I await those moments of irritation from others, so I can take them and grow and further polish my mirror. So much love and aloha from the swells and depths of the ocean of life. xxoo Jodi
Ps. – the photo for this post was taken on a weekend away in AZ many, many moons ago. I originally cropped it to just the hands yet the full image wanted to be used. It called to me as being the best photo for this energetically ebbing post. A big breath in of the air of faith then deep smile to my core before exhaling and starting the cycle again. Feel free to share yours with me at coach@alohalife.ca.