Hello spiritual friends!

While we may not know what the waves of life bring for us in the next moment, week or years to come, we are able to shape our personal experience of life with intention and focus. In this edition I wanted to share a beautiful quote which is the inspiration for today's newsletter.

But before we get into that, I want to remind you that the Colorado Springs BMSE Fair coming up this weekend. I am looking forward to seeing many of my local friends there in person. Find more details about the event at the end of this newsletter.

Here is our thought for today:

Each moment is a miracle

encompassing everything;

the joy and sorrow,

the failure and success,

the disappointment and happiness,

the celebration and grief.

~Kazuaki Tanahashi

Living in the miracle

How do we find this magic that creates a miracle in each and every moment? The secret is to stop looking for it. The magic isn't out there somewhere, it lies within each one of us and needs only to be opened up and turned on. This message is a gentle reminder to each one of us - that our inner-self, our natural-self knows how to experience each moment fully and accept what it brings. It is the worldly influences, outside forces, expectations, ideas about who we should be, judgements and the impulse to negate or withhold our emotions that get in the way of our ability to find the miracles in the moment.

Think about yourself as a child. You knew how to take life moment by moment and live it fully. You experienced the excitement and joy - about something you wanted - experienced it fully and without hesitation. And equally allowed yourself to fall into disappointment with tears or tantrums that let them process and release. When we were children, we didn't have those made-up stories that said what happened was a reflection our identity. We didn't overthink life. A child lives in the present moment and accepts what happens as a function of the world, rather than a reflection of who we are as a human being.

Be aware of inner judgements

The human perception of reality changes with our moods and thoughts. As adults, it is helpful to watch out for critical self-talk that tends to find fault in situations that may be a natural occurrence of life or have absolutely nothing to do with us at all. A great meditation would be to consider who that critical voice belongs to and when it began. Getting to the core of our unconscious mental programming can help us unleash it and find fresh perspectives. We can more easily let perceived failures become inner wisdom as we learn and grow in this life. The happiest people I know are able to let failures be just that, something that happened. This allows them to pick themselves up and move on more easily.

Thoughts are energy

Our thoughts actually create our inner emotions and perspectives. If you imagine the infinite sky as the windows of our soul, and that our thoughts are like clouds that float in and pass through. Some clouds or thoughts are puffy, white and billowy cotton that are pleasant and joyful, or at least neutral. Others are stormy with anger, worry, disappointments or fear. Our words and thoughts create a perspective and drive reactions, as well as the decisions we make in life.

On the physical level, our thoughts generate hormones that drive stress, create positive feelings of happiness or bring the satisfaction of a reward. The mind and body are intricately connected through the master glands in our brains and the nervous system pathways. We can bring more conscious intention into life when we become aware of what we are thinking and how those thoughts affect us.

Let painful emotions fully process

Working with people, I have become aware of how important it is to allow our emotions to fully process and release. There seems to be a recurring theme in this era that we live in to withhold or deny painful feelings. Perhaps we are too busy with daily responsibilities to allow them to surface, or we distract ourselves with news, politics or the constant barrage of social media. Maybe we feel we need to be strong for our family, work staff members or partners. For many reasons, we may let hidden sorrows, disappointments and grief mask our ability to feel.

If we have worked together or you have attended my classes, you have probably heard me talk about the intuitive barometer in our feeling energy center. When painful or unhappy feelings are withheld, we tend to experience a dull pallor across all of our emotions. The highs and lows are capped off, so we don't feel them. Rather than experiencing the rich color of a vibrant life, with all the joy and all the sorrow, the high of celebration and the lows of internal grief -- we become numb.

We need our emotions to help guide us through life and decision making. As human beings, we "feel into" our decisions. While we may look at information, rate, rank and compare the data when making a choice, we ultimately engage our feelings to finalize most any decision we make. Why not choose to validate your feelings, accept them (no matter what they are) and allow your emotions to fully process. Let this emotional part of you engage to create the fullest experience of life.

Life is a gift

Spiritual messages from beyond speak to the preciousness of human life experience. And for all the reasons mentioned above, we tend to lose touch with our ability to appreciate our living, breathing bodies. We forget the infinite power we hold to create a new choice, a new perspective, a fresh start with each new day we open our eyes.

Imagine if this was your last day on earth and you knew you would be gone tomorrow. How would this change your perspective about what is important? What conversations would you have with loved ones? What choices would you make that differ from the past? What becomes the priority?

When we choose to see life as a gift, we begin to appreciate each living moment as a miracle. The waves of life crash against our shores and bring the rise and fall of sharp disappointments as well as the flow of effervescent happiness. We can choose to accept them, embrace them, all of them. We can wrap our arms around the transitory quality of this life and cherish the blessings of each moment.

Finding miracles in each moment

• Watch for inner judgments.
• Be mindful of your thoughts
• Let emotions fully process.
• Remember that life is a transitory gift