Happy Monday beautiful hearts!  I can hardly believe that today is the last day of July.  As I sit with this awareness, I also flash backwards towards my goals for 2017.  I like to assess the territory of my year.  The feels, the vibes, the lessons, and so far this year has offered some key themes. I'd like to share them with you:

1. Be clear:  It's one thing to say what you want, and it's another thing to totally live this into being.  Clarity informs the Universe of our desires.  Clarity allows us to gain recognition of ourselves in spatial relationship to time.  Clarity keeps us honest with ourselves.  

2. Short term pleasure is just that, short. - I used to think that once I 'arrived' somewhere I would be happy, or that once my needs were met I'd feel more comfortable, or even that a new pair of shoes might do the trick.  This year has taught me a lot about instant gratification.  It's really not all that it's cracked up to be.  It's short lived and at the end of the experience we are still left with ourselves and whatever we felt we were lacking.  

3. LOVE. - Just freaking love all ready.  Make love a verb in your life.  Love the shit outta the people who are right in front of you!  Use love as an adjective.  Love yourself, I dare you!  I'm in the process of loving myself, and considering it a full time responsibility.  Don't close your eyes to the love that is contained within you!

4. Create.  - Create the life you want.  The Universe is unable to recognize the word 'don't,' so every time you say, "I don't want this to happen,"  the Universe cancels out the word don't and serves you up a plate of what you didn't want.  Instead of saying what you don't want, exclaim what you do want!  Create goals for yourself.  Create a space of loving.  Create adventures.  Create fun.  Create moments that make you happy to be alive.  Put your creativity on repeat!

5. NOW.  - This 'now' moment is the only thing that is real!  I can obsess about the past, I can beat myself up, I can call myself all the names in the book, but NOW is the only thing I can touch!  NOW is the miracle of being right here.  NOW is where I can fully show up and love my life into being.  NOW is where I can touch my emotions and create space to live from my true identity.  

I hope you'll peer back over the past 7 months of 2017 and notice what lessons this year has offered you!  I'd love to hear from you in the comments section!  

May You Sweetly Seek:)
In Gratitude, 
​Sarah 

Happy Friday beautiful hearts!  Always loving the wisdom of Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski.  Why wait until we have a terminal illness, or a major life crisis to be the best version of ourselves?  His words resonate with me about cultivating a spiritual life, "Being spiritual is being the best human being you can be."  
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What are three ways in which you can honor the best parts of yourself today.  When we wake up to our brilliant light we grant others permission to do the same.   No need to dull your sparkle.  Choose today to activate your superpowers of being the best version of yourself.

May You Sweetly Seek:)
In Gratitude, 
​Sarah 

​“Aren't you, like me, hoping that some person, thing, or event will come along to give you that final feeling of inner well-being you desire? Don't you often hope: 'May this book, idea, course, trip, job, country or relationship fulfill my deepest desire.' But as long as you are waiting for that mysterious moment you will go on running helter-skelter, always anxious and restless, always lustful and angry, never fully satisfied. You know that this is the compulsiveness that keeps us going and busy, but at the same time makes us wonder whether we are getting anywhere in the long run. This is the way to spiritual exhaustion and burn-out. This is the way to spiritual death.” 
― Henri J.M. Nouwen

Happy Thursday beautiful hearts!  As I was practicing Yoga last night one of my beloved teachers, Shannon gave a Dharma talk and her words were so poignant and light filled.  She began class inviting us to close our eyes and feel the boundaries of the four walls around us.  She then invited us inward to notice the boundaries of our skin and skeletal system.  Her talk progressed and she invited us to notice all the 'things' that we seek in our lives in the hopes that they will offer us the feeling of satisfaction and completeness.  

The bright shiny objects that relieve our suffering, the new couch, the darling pair of  shoes, or maybe the faster sports car.  She offered these examples without judgement and also with the realization that she too does that.  She spoke of the Eastern cultures and how some of the poorest people in Shri Lanka were some of the most content and happy people she ever met.  

She asked us to travel a bit further inward and to notice that the beloved is truly residing within us.  "Home is where your heart is my loves.  There is nothing and no-one in this external world that can begin to compare with the preciousness of your soul."  Her words touched me in such a way and I felt a shiver run through my being.  They also reminded me of the beloved Sufi poet, Rumi, "Why are you so enchanted by this world when a mine of gold lies within you?”

On this Thankful Thursday I am grateful to my teacher and friend as she reminded me yet again that it doesn't come from the outside, this walk on the Earth is an inside job.  May you feel fully connected to the divine that resides within you.  May you be happy and free within the walls of your heart.  May you discover treasure upon treasure within your heart.  

May You Sweetly Seek:)
In gratitude, 
Sarah   

Our lives are the most gorgeous canvas upon which we shall create.  There is no clause in our life that says things will be neat and tidy.  Living is messy and grand.  We might experience seasons of great upheaval and raw hurts in our artistry.  Being an artist is not about painting the prettiest picture, it's about crafting the most authentic art.  Sometimes our experiences suck and they are messy; the bittersweet endings, the sad goodbyes, the way death sneaks up on all of those we love.  And other times our art is radiant with color and possibility.  Each contrasting experience intensifying our aliveness.  

As we touch our sorrow we allow others to sit with the tender moments that have cracked their hearts wide open.  It is in this delicate pose that we become intimate with our lives.  When we can sit in the terror, the tears, and the unknown; we create an opening for love to visit.  If we have the courage to share our wounds perhaps we have the courage to truly live.  To live without shame, and fear, and guilt.  To live without denying the law of opposition.  To know love is to have grieved for your greatest delight.  To know sorrow is to know the possibility of love rests within you.  

Some of my most beautiful works of art have come from some of the most painful moments in my life.  At the time they felt hopeless and intolerable, but now sitting with them, they have become part of my masterpiece, part of my work as a soul on this Earth.  I sit with these moments like I might sit with an old friend.  Compassion spills into our conversation.  Truth radiates from our lips.  Love spills from our hearts.  My heart whispers, "I have missed you my beautiful friend.  Let's create another splendid piece of art."

May You Sweetly Seek:)
In Gratitude, 
​Sarah 

Happy Tuesday beautiful hearts!  I wanted to share a little musing from a book that I am currently working on.  I think it's important to share our progress with one another so that we can cheer each other on.  If you have a project or dream that you are currently unfolding, I hope you take a moment to see how far you've come and to get excited about where you are headed!  Cheers to your journey my friends!  Invent the heck out of your universe!
​May You Sweetly Seek:)
~Sarah 

"This quote makes me squeal with delight.  We have at our fingertips all the mysteries of the Universe.  We have the questions and the poetic answers.  Maybe they are one in the same?  
What do you daydream about?  Maybe it’s not making an apple pie, but this concept begs to ask the question, how are you inventing your Universe?  Do you have a plan?  Does this plan offer you the luxury of curiosity?  Does this plan include a cushion of acceptance?  Are you excited about your life

Writing this book in large part has been a daily practice of acceptance, of making an apple pie from scratch.  There wasn’t a one size fits all outline for me to follow.  That’s where the brilliance of creativity is birthed.  (It also helped having a phenomenal author coach- Thanks so much Sean!!)

The nuances of feeling inspired, the disconnection of living life, the contrast of shifting between worlds.  All of these scenarios have been sources of inspiration.  One not any more important than the other.  It all becomes brilliant because it is an investment in the invention of creativity.  
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Quite often I have sat at my laptop for hours and words have flowed like a raging river, and then there have been other instances when I have sat in a desert of blank thought.  Each scenario holds a gem of reflection - a nugget of possibility, if you will. Acceptance is a filament of opportunity.  

It has been my desire from the get go for  this book to  be a source of inspiration.  I also had to let go of the notion that it wouldn’t resonate with the masses.  If I perched my priorities on this rung, I truly believe I never would’ve begun.  
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Can you notice, in your own life, instances when  others' acceptance of you may  cause you to hold back?  More importantly, are you able to accept yourself?  I bet you are wishing we were just concocting a recipe for an apple pie!  Sometimes it feels easier to work on outward projects than inward ones.  
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It is my hope that acceptance will be a concept of excitement for you.  There is grace in this experience.  There is creativity in surrender.  There is power in awareness.  
Whatever recipe you concoct for your life, make sure to include plenty of the key ingredient - acceptance!  

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Happy Monday beautiful hearts!  Wishing you a joyful beginning to the week.  Yesterday we were flooded with the energy of a New Moon in Leo.  This New Moon is going to set the tone for the month of August in which we will begin eclipse season.  

As I sit with the words from Mystic Mama (click here for the full report for the Leo New Moon July 23), I am reminded that not only do we have an innate longing for HEARTspace, but at our very core we have a loyalty to this beautiful energy.  This my friends is the season to create spaciousness and freedom in your life.  Dance through the chambers of your heart and jubilantly express more of who you are.  If you are stuck in the same loop of smallness, reach for thoughts of gratitude and let them carry you higher.  Love the shit out of your life.  Know that your unique energy is wanting to express through you.  Release old hurts, heal old pains, let go of shame, and live in the NOW of your life.  

Allow yourself to be a tender and fierce life warrior.  When you don't know what to do, take a deep breath and take the next best step.  You are SOOO LOVED!!

I hope you feel inspired and as Mystic Mama stated, "Move closer without abandon to that which lights you up!"  Don't forget, when you move closer to your own authentic light, you give others in your life the courage to do the same!  The very fabric of our Universe is supporting you.  

May You Sweetly Seek:)
In Gratitude, 
​Sarah 

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“to live in this world

you must be able
to do three things
to love what is mortal;
to hold it

against your bones knowing
your own life depends on it;
and, when the time comes to let it go,
to let it go”
​~Mary Oliver

Happy Thursday beautiful hearts!  Today I invite you go grab your cup of tea and curl up for a life changing read!  I recently began reading Sharon Salzberg's new book and I can't put it down.  Her real life stories and poignant words wrap the reader in a cocoon of love.  As you crack open the first page of her newest book you are greeted with this words that penetrate straight to the heart:

"You are a person worth of love.  You don't have to do anything to prove that."  

Every cell in my body radiates happiness upon soaking in those words.  I smile to myself as I feel the enormity of her message.  We were born into a state of lovingkindness.  Perhaps somewhere along the way we downloaded someone else's belief about love.  Maybe we were shamed for showing up in our wholeness, or maybe our authentic light brought about insecurities in those around us.  Whatever the case may be, guess what the story doesn't matter; compassion does.  Its time to dismantle all the structures that keep love out.   

"We begin to cultivate real love for ourselves when we treat ourselves with compassion.  In a sense, self-compassion is like a muscle.  The more we practice flexing it, especially when life doesn't go exactly according to plan (a frequent scenario for most of us), the stronger and more resilient our compassion muscle becomes."  

If you are interested in growing your love container, I highly recommend this book.  It might just change your life.  So much love to you my friends!!

May You Sweetly Seek:)
In Gratitude, 
​Sarah 

The world lost a bright and beautiful light on Monday July 17.  Michael Stone, Buddhist teacher, activist, mental health advocate and family man left this Earth at a rather abrupt age.  His teachings and love shall live on in the lives and hearts of his students.  

I have often pondered the abstract and raw qualities of grief.  To live is to grieve.  We grieve the passing moment as it withers some part of our physical structure.  We long for the presence of another we have loved.  The notion that a force within can so powerfully obliterate the very constructs of our being; and yet so tender it allows us to carry on.   Who knew that this dear heart's teachings would offer such comfort .  Allow his words to soak into any spaces of grief in your life.  

This excerpt comes from a beautiful essay Michael wrote on grief:
"If grief is deep and imponderable, it is because love is deep and imponderable, too. The world presents us with opportunities for connection, and the flip side of these is the impermanence of opportunity: we may lose that which we love through death, divorce, or betrayal. We may find deep meaning in a system of belief, an ideal, a cause, an organization; and then grow disillusioned, eventually cleansing ourselves of it and grieving the loss of what seemed, for a moment, like our hope and salvation. The Buddha taught that at bottom, the more we love that which we lose, the more grief we feel. The world is living and dying, full of birth and loss, tragedy and change. It is “first truth” that runs like a tragic thread, through all of our lives. 

In mindfulness circles we talk a lot about the mind and attention, but I’ve always translated mindfulness as love. When we give our attention to anything, for a sustained period, we begin to love that person or place. Following this logic, grief is love with nowhere to go. Love which has lost its object, wishing to go some- where, flows with urgent haste to the gates of grief. We arrive at grief through love; it is our love that carries us there."

May You Sweetly Seek:)
In Gratitude, 
Sarah 

I was meeting with a friend yesterday and he shared a beautiful teaching from his Guru, Mahant Swami.  The basic premise that his teacher shared is that at the end of the chess game, both the king and the queen go back into the same box.  It doesn't matter the winner, all the pieces return to the same place.   

As I sit with the profundity of this notion, my mind begins reeling towards all of the ways in which I use separateness to keep me out of the 'universal box of connection.'  Carl Jung identified that we are all apart of the collective unconscious.  How often do we single ourselves out and make statements like, "I could never!"  "I'll always."  "I just can't even imagine myself in that situation."  How often do we use these phrases as we judge ourselves as well as others?  I know I do and have.  

I feel like the Earth has a deep ache in her heart these days.  All of the happenings of the world effect the whole, and we are all a part of the suffering as well as the healing.  Our words can be a healing balm, or they can cut like a knife.  Our thoughts can set us free or surround us in a cell of isolation.  As I sit with this notion of the king and queen, I can't help but think of a childhood classmate who was recently arrested for a rather atrocious happening.  My first reaction was shock, disbelief, and sadness.  I haven't been in contact with him since we were kids, but we grew up together in the same small town.  As I began hearing all of the evidence, my heart sank for all parties involved.  

At this point in my journey I still find myself in judgment of myself and others.  I practice Yoga, I'm doing my personal growth work, I believe in a benevolent source, but I am still in human form figuring it all out.  I truly believe we all agreed to learn and from one another.  Some lessons are more quickly learned than others, and some lessons I think I will be repeating for the rest of my life.  Instead of rising up in righteousness, I'd like to bow in humbleness.  Instead of cutting another down, I'd like to lift them up.  Rather than feeling small, I'd like for us all to feel tall.   What if we kept in mind that we are all just doing the best that we can?  I believe compassion is the healing sound of the Universe.

I'd like to think that we all have the capacity to radiate to the level of the Dalia Lama, but until then I think I will keep the notion of the king and queen in my heart.Instead of judging, lets feel the emotion present within us and honor where we are.  Instead of sending hate, lets send love.  For when we send love to another, we send love to ourselves.  After all, we are all going to go back in the same box together.  

May You Sweetly Seek:)
In Gratitude, 
​Sarah