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Carrying Christmas Spirit into the New Year

Emy Minzel

I drew Oracle cards on Christmas morning, with the intention of “What do I need to know today?” While trying to shuffle them one card jumped out not once but twice, it was the ‘Creative Expression’ card that encourages us to make most of the day by getting creative. My first thought was “But it’s Christmas day. Do I have time to write on Christmas?” I kept the card and flipped two more, the next was ‘Family Harmony’ asking me to send love and acceptance to my family even if it may be difficult, the card asks me to remind myself of three reasons why I love my family members. I think this was a sweet reminder from the Oracle cards of what Christmas is truly about, loving your family and enjoying your blessings.

The third card I pulled said ‘Kick Up Your Heals’ it has a picture of a unicorn on it having a grand ol’ time, this card was a reminder to have a good time today, asking me to laugh, play and dance and not take things so seriously. This does sound like a great day according to the cards. I accepted them at face value and as I walked away, I left them sit there in the face up in the layout I had used. I wasn’t quite sure what it is that I was supposed to write about. I put my laundry baskets down and thought, “I am going to pull one more card and ask them just what it is I am supposed to be writing about on Christmas?”

The next card that came up was ‘Follow Your Dreams’ its description reminded me that it is up to me to make time in my schedule for what is important to me. To do that I must make time to write, even on Christmas day, I did have a small amount of time that I am able to sit and write before the festivities commence. I felt the cards were telling me it is going to be a great day and I get time to write a little too.

Here is the thing, I have noticed I will sometimes blame other people for taking up my time, yet I also like to forget its up to me to turn off the television, put down the smart phone and focus on what it is that makes me happy which is writing. Writing does not feel like work to me, it really feels like art to me, I feel like I am able to express myself, my thoughts, feelings and emotions, in a way that people will truly understand. When I write I can choose what it is I feel like writing about or sometimes I will draw a card, and ask the Universe what the topic of today should be.

Today I see that the cards were doing double duty, reminding me that Following my Dreams should not take a time out just because its Christmas. The message I received from my Oracle card reading this morning is a reminder that Christmas is a magical day full of love energy that could be harnessed and carried into my work. Really? If you say so, I’ll bite. My phone keeps binging with texts from family and friends sending my holiday wishes, the ham is in the oven and I am enjoying writing on the sofa with my dogs Gus and Hank, before the celebration and games begin. This is the peace in the day that helps me mesh chasing my dreams with loving the opportunity and time I get to spend with my family

The oracle cards reminded me to that I don’t need the enchantment of Christmas day energy to enjoy the blessing in my life or as a reason to take time out of my day to chase my dreams, I can smoosh them all together and make my life magical every day. All I must do is give myself permission, be persistent and loyal to the time I spend on what brings me joy. It is up to me to make time for my dreams, my quiet time, my family, pets and friends. When I have days that I can balance them all like I am today, it does feel like I am living a charmed life. I could get used to this.

Yet we know time moves forward and eventually there will be days that will be the opposite of fairy-tale life. It is the reason why we must live to the fullest by enjoying the miraculous life that is ours right now today. I will do what the cards suggest, I will use my creative expression to merge all that I love including writing, into my day. I will count three reasons or maybe even more of what I love about each of my family members helping us to grow family harmony and my love for each of them.

Next, I will kick up me heals, laugh, dance and celebrate the breathtaking beauty in my life surrounding me right now today. Finally, I choose to make time to follow my dreams, hoping that the power of my thankfulness reaches you as you read these words. May the blessings from The Spirit of Christmas be with you through out the rest of your ordinary days into the New Year.

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The Pros and Cons of Positive Thinking

Emy Minzel

What could possibly be negative about positive thinking? Happy thoughts are so fun! I would like talk about the pros and cons of positive thinking, how it can benefit you and the people around you. I’d like to state nobody can be positive all the time, it is just not authentic, and can come off as insincere if you are trying too hard.  It’s no secret that happiness is an inside job, so we must create our own vibration of happy or joy will be fleeting.

There are plenty of positives that come with optimistic thinking, I find that if your brain is upbeat so is your attitude. Positive people are the folks who smile at strangers at the grocery store or help make a hard day bearable. When it comes to the muggle members of  family, co-workers, or friends who do not believe in the magic of positivity, I will sometimes get some positive push back so, I will start with the cons of positive thinking.

 

CONS

  • Being dismissed
  • Energetically draining
  • Optimism can be annoying
  • You can’t help everybody

 

When it comes to money or life challenges I have been accused of Peter Pan syndrome or called Pollyanna, this doesn’t bother me. What does get to me is, being dismissed as childish, written off as naïve or foolish when trying to find the bright side of an adverse situation. I am none of those things, I just believe if we are given a cactus, it doesn’t mean we have to sit on it. We all know there are rare people that love to wallow in self-pity and pessimistic disapproval of just about anyone and everyone. These people require a great deal of your positive energy, you must ask yourself. “will they appreciate your effort or just drain you?” in this case we could choose to send prayers from afar.

Honestly, I know being positive, looking for the good where there seems to be none, can be annoying. Knowing when to keep your positive pants zipped can be a challenge, please understand, we just want to help lighten your mood, yet we know, we make your eyes roll. Not everybody is in tune with their own vibrations, it can be hard to share your positivity with someone who doesn’t want to hear it. Know when not to waste your own energy. Just because you want to help everyone, doesn’t mean everyone wants your help.

 

Pros

  • Positive thinking raises your vibration.
  • Consciously focus on your blessings makes you thankful for what you have
  • Words of encouragement feel good to everyone involved
  • You get to let your light shine
  • It makes you happier to make others happy

 

People love to talk about their lives, I love to listen. Often just lending an ear to a friend is all they need to work it out themselves. Reminding them to count blessings before problems always help put things in perspective, it aids in finding the silver lining that the Universe usually has in store for us. Sometimes showing compassion mixed with a positive point of view can help others see the situation may not be as disparaging as it may seem.

I find that the more sunshine and joy I bring to others, the happier I am. Positive thinking raises YOUR energetic vibration. Raising your vibrations helps the Universe send more joy right back to you. I consider your smile, compliments and encouragement a gift from God a gift that brings Joy to the world. I choose to take responsibility for the energy I put out into the universe because I know she’s listening. This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine.

 

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Quiet Time

Emy Minzel

It’s no secret that I am a person who likes my down time. I have been known to turn into a hermit a least a couple times a year, hibernating like my bear spirit animal during winter. I also like to do this in micro bits of time every day. You know, check out of real life for a bit, put down the phone, turn off the tv, and just be. I can’t do this often, but I found the more I do, the better person I am. I don’t get as fussy about things that irritate me, because during my quite time I am able to process what’s really bugging me.

I believe quiet time is essential for everyone and it gives us time to ask ourselves just what is it that we need. What do we want? If something is bugging me, how can I fix it? It gives us time to clear our minds, or if you’re anything like me, quiet time allows the crazy in my melon to puzzle that shit together so I can move forward with a thoughtful plan of action instead of wandering around my life reacting to the day I face. Time for reflection helps me check my attitude, after all it is up to me who I want to be today. Sure, I can be a grumpy Gus, but acting like so won’t make me feel better or anyone else I encounter. I can choose to be a better person than I was yesterday. To me it’s like quiet time gives me magical powers, giving me time to count my blessings, put my big girl britches on and carpe diem.

I remember one of the most difficult journeys I’ve taken on foot was to Fourtown Lake in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. My fellow Adventure Sister and I were naïve about the BWCA and we had overpacked, lugging five hefty portage packs and a canoe, while underestimating the difficulty of the portages. It took us a great deal longer than expected to get halfway to our original destination. Try as we may we could not find one of the portage paths heading to the next lake we wanted to get to. We were frustrated, unprepared, starving, and dehydrated. The sun was tipping well over to the other side of the world, and we had started before it came up. My Adventure Sister and I were exhausted. Mentally and physically we were being pushed to our limits. When we decided to give up the search for the portage we were seeking so we could finally rest, it only took us a short while to find an open campsite.

As soon as I saw that we would finally be able to stop going and going and going some more, my eyes burst into tears, an automatic response to relief my body so desperately needed. Stacy and I ended up staying at the same campsite the whole stay because we were both too sore to pack up and move. We had to soak our flaring aches in the cold lake, and rest to fight off the exhaustion before we became sick with colds too. We spent a great deal of time, doing nothing but recuperating in the beauty of the forest out of necessity. It was not how we expected our voyage to go, but hey, we were calling for adventure and we had an amazing time we will not forget.

Isn’t it funny how we can push ourselves and our bodies to the point of sickness, past the point of uncomfortable right into pain? Yet it just keeps on going, doing what you ask it to do, even if it doesn’t want too. Isn’t that what we tend to do in our daily lives, just on a less acute scale. Why must we wait for the pain of stress to take care of ourselves is it really that hard? We take care of others with ease, yet when it comes to nurturing ourselves we decide to be stubborn and ‘tough it out’ putting ourselves last.

I am blessed to work from home, yet I am not immune from stress and family life. In reality, I hardly have any quite time to just myself, I’m busy running the show. When that happens for too long it gets me easily irritated at the silliest things. I find when I am not able to just sit with a cup of coffee in silence and have the world to myself for just even a half hour that I get grumpy. Its seems every little sound, conversation, television noise, microwave dinging, it all just pisses me right off. Let’s just say I am not my best self when I am not able to check in with myself, by checking out for just a bit.

My point is to help you remember even in this busy holiday season, take care of yourself too. Your body, your spirit and your family will thank you because you will be your best self. Ask yourself every day ‘What will make me feel good today?’ then do it. It is not selfish to do what it takes to take care of you. Quite time is an essential part of that for me, the older I get, the more I embrace it. It can be hard at times to ‘fit me in’ the schedule but the moment I start feeling anxious or irritable I know I better listen. I seek nature and the sound of silence as my retreat. I will not judge your way of reconnecting, I just wanted to remind you how important is for you to go there.

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Make New Friends

Emy Minzel

When I was a small girl, I joined the Brownies (The introduction group to Girl Scouts) where I learned to; Make new friends and keep the old, one is silver and the other gold. Did you sing along with me? It’s a good tune and good advice. After four decades I am blessed with a handful of precious friends I love dearly. Some friends I see and talk with as much as possible, others I haven’t seen in years.

Sometimes as we get older life sweeps us away. We are afloat in kids, careers, errands, and responsibilities, making time a precious commodity. It can seem something always comes up, people move farther away, schedules just don’t match, and/or months turn into years. Before you know it, their kids are half grown, and you think “Well maybe we can get together in a couple more years.” Keeping them in your heart, you send them love from Facebook and get on with life. When these things happen, it can leave a void to fill. What do we do in the mean time?

I suggest we make new friends of course. I have been hesitant in the past about making new friends. After all I didn’t even have time to see the ones I already had. That, and I am quite skeptical by nature. “Just why is it that you want to be my friend? Hmmmm?!” Insert ‘stink eye’ here. Yet by taking a chance and opening to new friendships my life has changed dramatically for the better. I have had so many experiences I would have never had if I had not met my Adventure Sister Stacy.

Several years ago, Stacy and I met at a night class called “Stepping into the Metaphysical” which is kind of ironic thinking about that now. Today I see this ‘chance’ meeting as divine intervention bringing soul sisters together. I had enjoyed Stacy’s contributions to the class, and she seemed nice enough. So, when she asked for my card, I gave it to her so that we could ‘trade’ Reiki sessions. The next week we got together at the shop where I practiced massage therapy. We didn’t speak many words, we got straight to ‘work’ exchanging energy healing, balancing chakras, you know, the usual.

As we traded, it became obvious to us that our ‘souls’ most definitely knew each other. Our intuition sent us both separate images of us as sisters in many lifetimes together. When the sessions were over we talked about the unexpected connection we felt and agreed to meet again. As we locked up the shop to go home that night Stacy said, “I love you!” as she walked to her car. She tells me she doesn’t remember that. I do remember because it threw me for a loop. She intuitively knew something neither of us were ready to admit yet.  Kind of an intense first ‘friend date’ don’t you think?!

My point is I took a chance and let Stacy into my life, skeptical as I was. I see that the Universe knew what she was doing all along. My friendship with Stacy has opened a whole new doorway of possibilities for me to experience life in a way that was different than the experiences I was exposed to with other friends. Had I not had a new friend to venture out into nature with, to explore our shared interest in the metaphysical, who loved new classes and experiences in energy healing, writer’s workshops and much more, I would not be pursuing my dreams in the same way I am today.

I believe that as we grow up, we branch out in different directions. Some friends end up on a different branch on the other side of the tree with new friends of their own. Even so, we are still on the same tree and the roots need to be watered or branches fall off and that’s ok too. I find that it is easier to grow, with someone who is going the same direction I am.

There is no wrong direction, we all have our own paths to navigate; It’s nice to make new friends traveling on the same route. It’s also a good idea to keep other friends that have branched out in different directions. You never know where life leads you down the road. These friends will have experiences to share when you finally come back together. Brownies taught me to water the roots, then bloom together in the seasons you share.