What would it be like to be blind?

I am so thankful for the gift of sight. I have a direct experience with partial blindness. As a child I was considered legally blind…but did not realize it until I was 8 years old. Even my parents were unaware. I took an eye test in the 2nd grade and they were astonished at what I was unable to see. Having never known everyone else’s ability to see I never knew what I was missing….until the day we drove home from the doctor’s office with my brand new glasses on. I have never had an experience like it…even til’ this day almost 25 years later.

I had no idea what trees looked like…before the gift of clarity of vision they were brown stocks with green blobs. We had a lamp in my bedroom that had floral designs on it that I never even knew were there. I no longer had to sit 2 inches from the television and my grades improved right away. It was like I was walking into a whole new beautiful world. I have never taken my eye sight for granted again. In fact I adore bright beautiful colors more than anyone I know…you can see it in the clothes I wear, the house I live in and the pictures I draw.

When I was 25 years old my father gave me yet another gift of sight by paying for laser eye surgery for me. I now can see without glasses perfectly. I know longer have to squint my eyes late at night to see the clock…or reach for glasses to make it to the bathroom…

I have never been entirely blind…but I can tell you that eye sight is one of my favorite senses and I am so thankful I can see.

Whats your view on loss?

Life is constantly changing for us all. I am a creature of habit and when things change my little heart gets shaky, scared and overwhelmed…often having to remind myself to breath and sometimes realizing how much it hurts when I do.

I do believe that when a door closes it’s because another is to be walked through, but at the time of it shutting, sometimes being slammed in your face, pain rises to the top and my heart longs for safety and predictability. I must say each time I have lost something I have found in hindsight that the next door was indeed exactly what I needed and am always thankful for the previous “slam”. Jobs, relationships, possessions have all proved this to me. For without loss there can be no gain.

Life is wonderful, this we must remember. We can not have the new with the old in our space…so even though it hurts and feels unpredictable I will forge on to see what can be found to replace my loss as I always do. The alternative would be to sit in the stagnation of routine and to do that would be to fail to live. As we change as individuals so must our circumstances to grow with us. Part of being human I suppose.
After all this human experience is what we signed up for right?

Im all the COLORS of the World :o)

Colors by Kira Willey

I am green today
I chirp with joy like a cricket song.
I am gray today
Gloomy and down like a morning fog.
I am orange today
Loud and messy like finger paint on the wall.
I am red today
Hopping mad like a playground ball.
I am black today
Strong and tall a great big bear.
I am purple today
Bright and happy like a butterfly in the air.

I’m a rainbow today
All the colors of the world.
I’m a rainbow today
All the colors of the world.
I’m a rainbow today
All the colors of the world are in me.

I am yellow today
I shine my light out like the sun.
I am white today
Soft and quite like new snow.
I am blue today
Calm as glass and cool like the sea.

I’m a rainbow today
All the colors of the world.
I’m a rainbow today
All the colors of the world.
I’m a rainbow today
All the colors of the world are in me.
All the colors of the world are in me.

What do you feel inside when you eat a Mango?

The older my body gets the more comfortable I am becoming in it. I have never felt so beautiful….so alive. I am becoming more and more passionate in every sense of the word. It’s so funny the more I realize that I am not this body that I have chosen to inhabit the more I’m able to enjoy it and the more in tune it becomes with my inner being.

People in this world give so little credit to the inner yearnings of our body. Being hungry is such a beautiful way to reach a point of ecstasy.

Next time you eat a mango….bite into it and feel the cold wetness of it between your beautiful white teeth. Let it drip onto your long sleek arms and lick it off them….feel your tongue caressing your beautifully soft warm skin and taste the tropical sweetness on it. Smell the amazing aroma that is released when you crush its skin in your amazing mouth. Touch the smooth cold surface of the mango and feel how incredible it feels as your tongue slides across it. Wow…..I’m excited just thinking about it….and that’s just a mango! See what we’re capable of?

Namaste’…..You are soooo divine…..every inch of this earthly body you chose to inhabit

What do you think about when your feeling Down?

I believe there are 2 ways to look at this question…both answers having a solution tucked inside it.

The first would have the question posed as such “What is on your mind when you are feeling down?”

and the answer, of course, is…I am thinking of how things “should be” and how I would like them to be any way but the way they are…

I am thinking I am NOT smart enough, dumb enough, weak enough, strong enough, good enough, bad enough, happy enough, sad enough, pretty enough, ugly enough, old enough, young enough…

This list could go on forever and quite often does…

The point I am attempting to make is that the ego requires that we be MORE than what is in the moment…you could fill any word into this spot…in one situation I am to young to succeed and in another I am to old…the statement “If only I were ______ things would be better” This is delusional thinking and will only get you down and keep you there. As well as requiring others to be MORE then what you perceive them to be.

Now, when posed with the question “What do I think about to get me out of feeling down?”

The answer is ALWAYS to grab a hold of the ego with both hands look that little scared girl straight in the eyes…then pat her on the head and tell her “Look, its a tough day…ride the wave, keep your chin up…This too shall pass.” As it inevitably does )

I restructure my thinking the moment the chin drops down, the line between the eyes starts to deepen or the shoulders start to slouch…this takes lots and lots of practice…you need to spend quite a bit of time each day living in gratitude for what you do have, so when the hard times come you can rely on these things.

With out the downs how could one ever recognize up…the rain in our lives puts a longing in our souls for the sun…and once the sun starts shining again it feels better than if it had never gone away. These up and down days is our dance in life…it’s something we signed up for long ago and we simply must take the turns and keep dancing until the dance card is all filled up…I don’t know about you but I have a lot space left on mine

How does your mind relate to your body?

I am a certified yoga instructor…so I spend about 5 hours a day 6 days a week teaching men, women and children the mind body connection….so I am just the person to answer this question.

Research suggest that the body is effected by the mind in every way. Your muscles, your bones, your blood flowing, the organs all listen so carefully to what your mind has to say.

Our best bet is to quiet the mind through deep breath and other forms of meditation.   Japa is so great for this!

I also happen to think yoga is an amazing way to quiet the mind while massaging the body )

It is so important that we send loving messeges to this beautiful body of ours…we have only been loaned this body for a short time so why not care for it in that manner.

Masaru Imoto wrote and amazing book called Hidden messages in water…discussing research that has been conducted on thought and its effect on water…our body is predominately made of water so we must take this research into account when dealing with ourselves.

Be good to your body by controlling the mind.