One wish accomplished!

Ok, so one wish can be checked off!  I found the perfect artwork for my living room!!

Yes, I get that this wish may appear somewhat shallow and easy to make happen.  But, I don't care!  It made me happy and makes me look forward to what else the universe may be sending my way! 

"The Sacred lies in the ordinary" - Deng Ming-Dao

“Life is made up of small pleasures. Happiness is made up of those tiny successes. The big ones come too infrequently. And if you don't collect all these tiny successes, the big ones don't really mean anything.”    

                                                                                                                                      - Norman Lear

                                                      

Something I'm working on...



image © held by AnnMarie Gitchell, 2010



"We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves. "    
~ Dalai Lama

 

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"When you make peace with yourself, you make peace with the world. "
~ Maha Ghosananda

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"Nobody can bring you peace but yourself. "

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Comprehending the uncompromisable

I wish for resolution with one particularly un-resolvable issue.  What do you do with situations,conflicts or problems that, inherently, can not be equitably dispatched?  Where no compromise can ever be reached, just by the sheer nature of the disagreement- can there ever be a victory for one without complete annihilation of the other?

Ralph Waldo Emerson said: "For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else." 


Although I logically understand this, I don't think I have the strength to live it- yet.  How do you put aside a dream that feels more like a need?  Or more to the point: How do you set aside your dreams and expectations without gaining regret and resentment?

This is truly something that I am throwing out to the universe.  I am committing to this wish with everything I've got!  Let's see what comes back....

Quotes from a King

To celebrate, to honor, to learn from- here are some of my favorite quotes from Dr. Martin Luther King, jr.

"Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase."

"I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear."

"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." 

"Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend." 

"Life's most urgent question is: what are you doing for others?" 

"The quality, not the longevity, of one's life is what is important." 

"The time is always right to do what is right." 

"We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.  "

Hope for Spring



image and text © held by AnnMarie Gitchell, 2010



Does validation = value?

I wish to feel complete.  I never quite feel like I'm done, you know like I'm still searching for that one little piece that will make everything snap into place; bring every part of me into focus.

Maybe what I am searching for is validation.  Am I a good enough mother?  Can I call myself an "artist?"  Would others beside my children, enjoy my singing voice?  If I got the right answers to these questions would I feel complete?  I'm not at all sure.

What I do know, and am a bit embarrassed to admit, is that  I think I am guilty of equating validation with value.  You know that old conundrum: if a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it, did it actually make a sound?  Well, my personal conundrum goes something like this: If no one is witness to my gifts , then can  I really be  any good?  Just because I happen to belt out my singing numbers in the bathroom (best acoustics in my house) where nobody hears me- does that mean I am any less fabulous then Celine or Mariah or Beyonce?

Unfortunately, in our current society many of us tend to equate making money with validation and, therefore, with value.  This is not at all the message I hand down to my children.  In fact, we work really hard and counteracting this.  Then why am I holding myself to a different less morally-correct standard?

In order to feel "complete," I guess the real question I need to ask myself is: Do I need validation to feel my gifts are legitimate?

"It is not easy to find happiness in ourselves, and it is not possible to find it elsewhere."  ~Agnes Repplier



image © held by AnnMarie Gitchell, 2010



 

They can't all be deep

I wish that I could pick out or create the perfect art for my living room.  No, this is not terribly thought-provoking, and-yes- I am having difficulty finding cogent quotes to go along with it : )   But, if the universe can help me let go of my past, maybe it can help me decorate my home too?  It's worth a shot!

Why wishes?

So why are wishes so important?  Here's my take on this.  I really believe (there's that word again) that each time we openly declare a wish-we are creating hope.  Ok, so how does this work? And what is involved in "openly declaring" a wish.  First of all, declaring a wish simply means to me, that you externalize it in some way- get it out of your head or your heart and out into the universe.  Maybe you tell it to another person, or journal it, or whisper it under your breath in prayer, or shout it out to the mountain tops (you get the idea).

So far this doesn't sound all that unique, I agree, but here's where it gets quirky.  I believe (and I'm not alone in this part-just ask Goethe) that once we give our wishes to the universe things start happening.  I'm not saying that all you have to do is wish for a million dollars and 10 minutes later the doorbell rings with Publisher's Clearing House offering you a check.  But I am saying that once you declare or committ to a wish/ a dream, the universe starts preparing to help you make it come true.  The universe can't do it all on it's own, but neither can you- we need each other!

Now, the best way for me to envision this is that once we declare our wish a tiny bit of glowing hope is created and released into the universe.  And, that means, the more you wish, the more little glimmering bits of hope you create.  Sort of like fireflies on a summer's night.  Remember when you were a kid and it would just start to get dark outside and you would notice the first firefly of the night, softly glowing and floating through the darkness.  Then, after a while, you'd let your focus pull back and you would notice the whole sky was dotted with these little ethereal orbs.  This is how I picture what hope looks like.  The coolest part about this is that the only way your hope can be extinguished is for your wish to be fulfilled.  This gives us a whole new perspective about unfulfilled wishes- they're not sad- they're actually full of light and hope- they are wishes that are yet to come true-no matter how long it takes- and you have their light to guide you until they do.

I think it's a pretty awesome picture to imagine that each of us has the potential to fill the universe with positive glowing light! 

                                   

                         



image © held by AnnMarie Gitchell, 2010



  Hope is faith holding out its hand in the dark.

                      -- George Iles

 

 

Hope is not a dream 

but a way of making dreams become reality.
-- Author Unknown

 

   Hope, like the gleaming taper's light,

         Adorns and cheers our way;

  And still, as darker grows the night,

                Emits a brighter ray.
                -- Oliver Goldsmith

Next wishes

I wish to be able to let some things go from my past, so I can share in other's joy.

Why do we hang on to pain longer than joy?  Is it because we have more to learn from those experiences? Or do painful, tragic, negative experiences somehow impact the very core of who we are?  Do these times linger, because they have more transfiguring power?  You know like a particle accelerator, the only way to transform us is to bombard us with emotive experiences at 1 trillion electron volts.  Is our essence what is left after such experimentation- the top quark perhaps?  Or are we like the elusive Higgs-Boson, yet to be discovered.   I'm really not sure.  I do, however, truly believe that everyone we come into contact with has the potential to be a teacher.

Peggy Tabor Millin wrote: "We never touch people so lightly that we do not leave a trace."  Good, bad or otherwise the universe is unfolding its wisdom to us through people and experiences.  This helps me, a little, especially when I have a moment with someone who is not very shall we say- "peaceful."  I ask myself what can I learn from her or him.  You begin to see negative experiences, well, less negatively.  In fact, negative encounters can actually be seen as empowering!

I wish for the strength to overcome fears that are getting in the way of my happiness.

Is anyone else ever afraid to just let all their guards down and be happy?  I feel that if I were to do this, I might jeopardize that which brings me the most happiness.  But this doesn't make sense, right?  I mean if I am afraid to be happy, because I don't want to lose my happiness, then I never really had the happiness to begin with- ugh!

There is another Chinese Proverb that kind of sums this up for me: "You can not prevent the birds of sorrow from flying over your head, but you can prevent them from building nests in your hair."
I guess this is my wish, to keep the birds of sorrow from taking up residence in my head and in my heart.

Last year I had an amazing opportunity to travel to Costa Rica.  I learned so much from this country and it's culture of happiness.  Happiness seems to be worked into the fabric of every being who lives there.  And, you can't help but pick up on it and "catch it" so to speak.  What you notice is that the happiness they create is not at all personal, it's social.  It is truly something to see, a unified goal of spreading happiness.  It's that simple rule your mother taught you, treat others the way you wish to be treated.  Well, damnit it works!

Helen Keller wrote: "We are never really happy until we try to brighten the lives of others."  I think this is why I am so stuck on besting my fears and slaying old dragons because I truly want to "brighten the lives of others." But I think my problem is that I picture myself doing this in a grand and big way, you know like Oprah!  I am realizing, however, that if we each focused on bringing happiness to others in even small everyday ways- then the world would be a better place.  Maybe we all lose sight of this every now and then.  Maybe being the best mother I can be is enough- maybe my children will go and be better men and do good- you know like Oprah!

Mother Teresa said "We cannot do great things, only small things with great love."  I suppose if that's good enough for Mother Teresa then "geez louise"- it's got to be good enough for me!




Costa Rica Papagayo Peninsula
image © held by AnnMarie Gitchell, 2010



Hope



Did you ever feel that we are all saying the same thing, 
just using different metaphors?
image © held by AnnMarie Gitchell, 2010



My first wish

Okay so here's my first wish!  Even knowing that no one will probably ever read this, I still can't help but feel a little naked!  But I'm going to do this because I really believe that when we openly declare our wishes, we create a moment of hope that stays aglow until our wish is fulfilled.  Once we commit to a wish, a desire, a dream and release it/share it- God/the universe works to make it so. 

Goethe wrote: "At the moment of commitment the entire universe conspires to assist you."
So, here goes my first committment:              I wish to find my purpose. 

I wish to put all my skills together to focus on one passion. I wish to live a life that is 100% true to me and my God-given purpose.  I love being a wife and adore being a mother, but I can't help but feel that there is something right around the corner that's waiting for me.  This is my first wish...

Hope's Birth

"Hope's birth is a spoken wish, forever a bud about to bloom."



image and text © held by AnnMarie Gitchell, 2011



A new moment

You may think this is odd, you may dismiss me and my intentions.  I don't mind.  For I believe in believing, I believe in the power that each one of us has as a member of this universe.  I believe in God.

Make your own wish, borrow one of mine, whatever works.  Just remember, that life is but a string of moments, ever changing and with each moment comes a new chance- a new opportunity for peace- new hope.

My posts will contain quotations, stories and images that have brought me peace.  Please feel free to leave your own. 

Namaste