Awake.In:::DreamSpace:::

Last week I started Yoga, and also attended a New Year's Intention Meditation workshop.  After all the life changes and sadness I experienced in 2010... my intention for 2011 was joy...  Life doesn't warrant perpetual happiness but I have opened my eyes and realized that there was much joy in 2010... I just didn't see it at the time for what it was, therefore, I didn't experience it.  Now what exactly is joy?  The answer to that is unique for each person.  I'm now awake to joy... it comes in the most simple of forms...  I enjoy cooking, but haven't done much of it... I've started to again, and found that the preparation and act of cooking gives me joy.  It makes me want to turn on the music and feel good.  All that, just because I'm now open to the idea.  And that is only cooking... not a passion of mine, just something I like to do... 

There is joy in walking Koda... even in the rain and snow and cold... for you see, if I didn't have Koda in my life, I would be sitting inside in the winter and not going out very much...  So, at least 3 times a day, there is a 30 minute walk that has me out and experiencing things I wouldn't be...  Last week, Koda... who has some Vizsla genes in her blood therefore very interested in birds and small animals...and is the only dog I have shared my life with that looks up to the sky and trees... So that is how I saw the amazing hawk sitting in the tree...  Would have walked right by it without Koda with me... and taking one step back... I wouldn't have been outside anyway...  I love raptors... so, the joy of seeing one in the wild always gives me a rush... they are amazing birds... regal.

So, with all this winter cold and post holiday gloom...  Open up your eyes to the joy in your life...  It is there, you just have to be open to it and then it just appears.  Try it... it works!  And no, I'm not tripping on anything!... except maybe some Joy.

I finally went to my very first Yoga class...  It was amazing.  I talked about it all last year, no more talk, time to do!  I'm making a commitment to learn and practice yoga.  My body's flexibility has diminished, I want it back.  The yoga studio I have joined is Breathe and Flow Yoga.

“For a long time is seemed to me that life was about to begin — real life.  But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid.  At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.  This perspective has helped me to see there is no way to happiness.  Happiness is the way.  So treasure every moment you have and remember that time waits for no one.  Happiness is a journey, not a destination.”

Alfred D. Souza

I'm on a new path of possibilities.  The old road I was walking was full of sadness and depression...  I want to change...  I seek fullfillment and joy within a simple life.  I don't have answers, I don't have a plan... and since each individual is unique... I'm going to make it all up as I go. 

No plan = Brilliant Plan!

I have managed to stay off FB. So far, so good.  Keep that distraction away.

I took Koda to the Cedar Creek Park Dog Run this morning.  I used to take Tika there many, many years ago when she was a puppy.  All this crisp and cold weather has Koda all frisky and energetic.  Simple dog walks are just not enough.  Today she played and ran with a bunch of other doggies.  When I left for work, I'm sure she was sound asleep in her crate before I got in the car.  A tired doggie is a happy doggie!

I'm all signed up for the New Year's Meditation Workshop at Breathe and Flow Yoga in Freeport on Saturday, Jan. 8th from 1-3pm and will be taking my first Yoga class on Friday... Restorative Yoga.  My thoughts are, for thousands of years people have been meditating and practicing yoga... It's lasted this long, there must be something to it... Time to try it out. 

I created a little philosophy for myself... breathe.live.be

More on that later as I explore this new path...

Today I shut off all the Push notifications on my iPhone from Facebook.  Why?  I have decided to take a break from the social network.  I have been filling time which leads to wasting time on FB.  I haven't signed in all day.  No emails are popping into my iPhone or Inbox.  It is eeringly quiet.  Now I can think.  Let's see what I come up with. 

Sometimes the hardest decisions, the ones that you dwell on for what seems like forever, are just made, without fanfare or pretense... you wake up one morning, and well... you make it.

LIfe is like that.

New beginnings?  Who knows... Now I know that 2011 will be different from 2010... that is something to behold.

The holidays are done, please take down your decorations.  Thank you.