by Jan Jensen on August 2, 2010
This morning, as I was kayaking the cove right in front of my place, I saw a Blue Heron, a Bald Eagle, a River Otter (I think – maybe it was a seal) and the usual seagulls, crows and squirrels…
Wow! I am so grateful to be living in a place that gives me these opportunities. Times to get out of my head, check in with the natural world around me, and appreciate life – all life. The Shamanic traditions remind us through Eagle, Heron and Otter to ignite far seeing, self-reliance and play. So I get to take these reminders with me, to notice the sensations of play as I move through my day.
What a powerful and peaceful way to bring sensation into the forefront of my awareness! And connection to sensation is what builds opportunities for growing and expressing vitality.
Oh yay – all of this and I get to teach a Nia class tonight! Gee, I wonder what my focus will be…
See Ted Andrews’ book “Animal Speak” for more info on wisdom of the natural world.
by Jan Jensen on July 4, 2010
Is it vital to pay attention? You betcha! And what to pay attention to? It seems everything all the time is the answer. That sounds exhausting – maybe it’s more like – Be in this moment now. By not paying attention the other night I allowed myself to be bamboozled into buying something I’m absolutely opposed to spending money on and/or putting in my body. Here’s what happened:
I stopped in our local beachfront ‘got everything’ store when I was really thirsty and in a hurry. I was aiming for water in a glass bottle – healthy green consuming, right? When I couldn’t find that I looked for green juice in a bottle … and ended up finding a lovely blueberry lemonade in a stoppered glass bottle. Oh, I thought, I can reuse that bottle regularly and, of course, any company that makes such a lovely bottle must make lovely healthy drinks to put in them. Of course! So I rushed to the cashier, paid and dashed out to my car, where I guzzled about 1/3rd of the bottle instantly. And WHAM – it was sooo sickly sweet – definitely not thirst quenching. That is when I finally decided to read the label… sad but true…
I was horrified to find out that 1 cup of this stuff contained 33 – yes 33! – grams of sugar. I felt like I wanted to scrub my mouth out, but it was too late; all that sugar was already in my stomach. pphfft, bleck and all that. Luckily I was on my way to teach my evening Nia class and could move through the sugar rush.
I allowed myself to be seduced by the packaging. Sigh. I wish I had followed my own advice (that I’m always repeating over and over in my retreats and classes) – READ THE LABEL – PAY ATTENTION. And … Do you love yourself enough to take the time? And the learning curve continues …
The upside of it all? My desire for and belief in whole, unprocessed foods is confirmed yet again. AND I do have a ‘lovely’ glass bottle now filled with ‘lovely’ clear clean water …
