I'm having the best time getting ready for the launch of "Summer of Love" in just a few days. 




(This post includes a few links to the music in me, just for fun and your listening pleasure.)

As I wrote one of the introductory "Love Notes," I was taken back in time to my first memories of music. How poignant this was to remember! How my parents loved music and how we always seemed to have music playing in the house (on the "stereo"/record player, long before anyone had iPods and portable music). 

It was a great walk down memory lane for me, remembering my first albums. Remembering those songs I listened to again and again until my mother grew so tired of them she begged me to turn the player off. 

We all move so quickly today. We take very little time to sit and reflect upon our lives. Much less to consider what shaped us, what helped us become who we are today. 

Being raised in a music loving household, I believe, fostered this ability in me to sit and listen. We listened to lyrics. We listened for their meaning for us and we took that meaning in and fabricated our lives out of those words. 

"Remembering the music in me" has been fun. It also makes me appreciate the era in which I was born and raised (the 50-70s) because it was a powerful time of change—a time of spiritual opening too. 

Here are a few of the musical highlights I remember, esp. those that cued me into Love:

The Beatles: ("I Want to Hold Your Hand"): Romantic Love


The Association: ("Cherish")  More Romantic Love

"Jesus Christ, Superstar": Love of the Spirit

Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young: ("For What It's Worth" and more, just about all of their music): Love of Social Justice [These did not make my dad too happy; anti war stuff.]

Hues Corporation ("Rock the Boat"), O'Jay's ("Love Train"), Sly and the Family Stone ("Family Affair"): Love of dancing, fun, & friendship [college days].

The beat goes on. I found myself reliving many wonderful memories that I'd long forgotten, people too.

I found myself wanting to walk down "memory lane" some more, looking back at the significant stages of my adult life to remember what music I was listening to and pondering how it shaped me; how it supported my life/spiritual journey. 

I'm planning to do that as our "Summer of Love" proceeds. Perhaps you'll join me and pay your respects to the music in you!

It will be a Whole Lotta Love Fun, I can feel it!


(Click the link above for a dose of Led Zeppelin. 1979. Not sure what that Love was all about, just having a good time with friends, carefree days, no responsibilities, i.e. Love of Being Alive, I imagine.

____________________________________

Join me for a "Summer of Love." A musical experience deeper into the "spiritual heart." 30 days, one soulful teaching each day, and a song to help YOU drop into the middle again so you can remember who you really are--LOVE. 

Begins June 15, delivered to your Inbox daily. Both men and women welcome to this co-ed Love Fest, Woodstock-style!
Registration has begun.
www.asummeroflove.com

I've been spending my morning meditation time with The Radiance Sutras. The beauty of this "ecstatic poetry" has a rhythmic quality to it, like a song or a dance. 

When I read it I feel everything in my body opening up, softening.  letting go. Ease rises up. When I put music to this experience, the feelings of calm/joy heighten and I feel the sway and glow of universal energies moving through me. 

Have you ever noticed that music or dance brings you back to your center in this way? Our senses are heightened when we listen to music or move our body to dance. Without even being overtly aware, we find ourselves smack dab in the holy middle: back in our sacred center of awareness.

Miraculously, we "become" the music, we live the dance. Resistance is gone. A foot tapping. Pelvis moving. Shoulders dipping and rising. We are one with our experience. We flow ... 

And, bless the stars, conscious (ego-based) thought disappears. 

Philosophers have told us for centuries (and newer researchers too) that music can bypass thinking and move us into feeling. At times, it can take us deeper yet—into our "spiritual heart"—the essence of who we are. 

This is what happens to me when I read The Radiance Sutras, especially when I put them to music. The words upon the page dissolve into note, slide grace-fully into my body, and I remember who I really am. 

I am this place of Peace I find myself in.
I am the Love which is spoken about.
I am the joy of Being.

Worries gone. Troubles set aside. Past and future nowhere in sight. The moment is now and that's all there is. 

Have you experienced this yourself?

This connection feels quite divine—literally. When words of sacred truth ring true, they meld into us and we into them through the power of music.

Going deeper, beyond rational thought ... 
      .. we arrive in the territory of soul. 

Back in the middle with You.


© 2013, Janice Lynne Lundy

Join me for a "Summer of Love." A musical experience deeper into the "spiritual heart." 30 days, one soulful teaching each day, and a song to help YOU drop into the middle again so you can remember who you really are--LOVE. 

Begins June 15, delivered to your Inbox daily. Both men and women welcome to this co-ed Love Fest, Woodstock-style!
Registration has begun.
www.asummeroflove.com

The notion of spiritual health might be confusing to some because it is not a way of thinking that's common to our experience. 



I know this firsthand because I had the notion of "health" topsy turvy for years. 

I've always believed that we are a body-mind-spirit being and that each part of ourself must be attended to to have optimal well-being. This made sense to me. Take care of your body, take care of your mind, take care of your spirit and everything will be just fine. Oh, yes, take care care of your heart too—your emotional self.

After losing my health in 1994 (a complete crash and burn experience on all levels—physical, mental and emotional), using the traditional BMS formula is how I patched my life back together. Or so I thought. 

It took me nearly a year to reclaim my well-being. During that year, I did very little but took care of myself and my family as best I could. I rested (alot!), walked the beach daily, laid in the sun, connected with nature, and I read--books I was unexplainedly drawn to (Thich Nhat Hanh, the poetry of Rumi, for ex., best to say these books/writers found me). 

Each day of my healing journey I made sure that I did something "good" for my body, my mind, my heart, and my spirit because part of me still wanted to get the formula just right! At the end of a year, I did feel much better and could return to "normal" life at a reduced pace, with fresh awareness of how I could live more gently with myself. 

Here's the miracle of miracles.

My soul was the guiding force in my healing journey.

My soul—the divine intelligence within me, the "heart/mind" that is plugged into the One (Source, God, Love, etc)—was the wayshower. It was out in front leading me the entire time and I didn't even know it. 

I understand now that our soul is always guiding us toward healing and wholeness; to living intimately connected with the Source of everything ... the Divine as we understand it. 

And even if we don't actively perceive this connection (like me), the soul is still present, active, guiding us toward homeostasis, to wholeness. 

This, in my view, is where the notion of "spiritual health" comes in. When we learn to listen for our soul's guidance, we know (on some level) exactly what we need to do to restore balance in our life. 

The soul knows.  The soul guides

On a human level, this means it is our utmost calling to connect with our soul, strengthen our ability to hear it, then honor what it invites us to. When we do, we are literally "home free." 

During my health crash/healing, I was listening to something, though I didn't know it was my soul back then. It was a still small voice within me that guided me to what brought spiritual nourishment and healing energy: to walk the shoreline, or to rest, or to say "No" to a certain responsibility. It drew me toward the right book to read, the right person to reach out to, the right foods to eat. 

This process of listening to, honoring, and acting upon the soul's directives is "Spiritual Health." As we pay attention to our soul needs--our spiritual needs—our whole health returns.

Attending to our Spiritual Health can result in:

• healing, increased physical health and well-being (Body)
• mental stability, inner calm, peace of mind (Mind)
• stabilized emotions, improved relationships with self and others, 
  openheartedness, love, forgiveness (Heart) 
• wisdom (compassion, lovingkindness, generosity, living "the 
  virtues of the Spirit") (Spirit)

Nurturing our Spiritual Health, in time, restores body-mind-spirit wellness. Life balance. Inner harmony. 

Yet, in the bigger picture, the greatest benefit of attending to our Spiritual Health is that it softens us. It makes us maleable and opens us to our humanity and to the divinity within us. It plugs us into the Divine as we understand so we are directly connected to the source of our being—our love, our passion, our purpose. 

Spiritual Health is a profound path to wholeness. And wholeness is our birthright and our destiny. 

When we are in tune with our soul, Everything is possible. 

I spent the early hours of the morning with a Deva. 

At first light, before turning on the computer, I turn on Pandora, choosing my Deva Premal radio station. Chant, lilting and lyrical—words whose meaning are unknown to me even in Sanskrit kindle my inner light.

Choosing to spend time with Deva is just one way I might choose to to enter the day more mindfully. "Choose" is the pivotal word here. Mindfully choose. Any of us can do this. 

I'm a firm believer that the way we choose to spend our time first thing in the morning sets the tone for our entire day. As we come out of sleep, we are vulnerable, open, receptive. It's the best time of day to honor the wide open spaces within us and fill them with something that is spiritually healthy. 

Or not fill them at all, but allow them to remain empty and still. 

Research backs this up, by the way. 

Studies have shown that people who spend some time in the early morning engaged in a contemplative-type practice are calmer throughout the day. 

Most of us are conditioned to hit the pavement running. Hurriedly getting kids off to school or ourselves to work, or beginning to check things off our lengthy To-Do List, can start the cortisol stream—releasing stress hormones—and before we know it we're in full-fledged get-it-done, survival mode. Stress builds.  

Starting our day this way tends to make us feel off-balance immediately. When more small stressors are added throughout the day, it doesn't take much to tip the scales and we can easily dive headlong into overwhelm, anxiousness, or any number of wildish emotions. 

This is because we have no foundation of inner calm to build our day upon. 

If we were to dedicate 5-30 minutes in the morning to stabilizing our body/mind, our days would feel completely different. An early morning spiritual practice of some kind also stimulates the production of oxytocins and other feel good hormones and, truthfully, who wouldn't more of that? I'd much prefer to enter my work day feeling calm inside rather than chaotic. 

Choice ... it all comes down to choice. 

I believe that one of the kindest, most spiritually healthy things we can do for ourselves, is to begin our day with practices that calm and center us. Suitably centered from 5-30 minutes in the morning, we lay a foundation of ease that can stand up to stressful onslaughts throughout the day.

So this morning I spent time with Deva. Tomorrow it might be His Holiness the Dalai Lama or Hildegard or Peter Kater. It doesn't matter which one I choose, only that I do. The inner peace that is created in the wee hours is the lifeblood of my day. May it be so for you too.

Make a new early morning choice, will you? Invite something into your wee hours that nourishes you—body, mind and spirit. 

As Rumi taught, "What nine months of attention does for an embryo, Forty Early Mornings will do for your gradually growing wholeness."

Even if you have to get up 15-minutes early, it's well worth the effort. Your whole and holy self will benefit ... all day long.

Today, I'm announcing my new ASM program: "Advanced Spiritual Mentoring." More honoring of my joy and passion to personally journey with people, one-on-one, as they navigate the ups and downs of daily life. If you're someone who's been "on the path" for a long time, if you find yourself in a time of difficulty, or if you know the value of having consistent contact and support from a "seasoned other," consider Advanced Spiritual Mentoring with me. I'd like to spend quality time with you. 

Whew! What a whirlwind. Now, in support of my own Spiritual Health—and in celebration of this grand awakening—I'm ready to take a well-deserved, self-compassionate rest. 

How about you? 

What is the kindest thing you can do for yourself right now?

Now, that's the ultimate test of Spiritual Health—to ask this question, be able to answer it, then give your whole and holy self the kindest thing. I hope you will ... 

Namaste' and blessings,
Jan



Note: Special thanks to Drs. Kurt and Laura Froese for their inspiration-by-living, and their beautiful intention of guiding others into greater healing. Gassho!

Each month, I offer a free, 30-minute audio teaching on one uniquely feminine issue that keeps us stuck and disconnected from our true self. I share inspiration and practical strategies to shift this issue so you can feel more free!



I call it "Wising Up!" Enjoy!

May 2013: "I Get Sucked into Negative Thinking"   Listen here. 
28 min. (downloadable mp3)

In this program, you'll learn:

• how "first thoughts" and early morning activities set the tone for your day
• how to "program" yourself for a positive day
• how input/media impacts your mood and energy level
• making wise choices that lead to "skillful" ways of thinking and feeling


Enjoy and may your heart be happier and lighter today!

It all begins with perception ... stopping ... noticing ... paying attention to what is here right in front of us. 

Beauty speaks. It captures our attention. The essence of a flower is so simple. It whispers, "See me. Be with me."

When we accept its invitation to stop and linger awhile, something opens in us. The busyness of the world falls away and we drop into a place of remembering. 

There is time. There is space. There is a place of belonging for us in this quintessential moment when human and flower meet face to face.

Being, breathing ... 

We lean in. We take a closer look. 

What is here ... what is here?

Ahhh, divine delight. Extraordinary beauty in soft plateaus of pink, in welcoming folds of gold. 

Being, breathing ...

As we are drawn even more towards its center, a sacred flower soul embraces us as we are—affirms who we ourselves have forgotten ourselves to be.

"Do you remember," she says?

"I am you. 

When you see me in all my pink-hued glory, you witness your own magnificence. 

I am you and you are me.

You think me magnificent but you are magnificent too."

Breathing, being, receiving the blessing of remembering ... 

Embracing the subtleties of divine creation, in essence and in purpose, all creatures below the heavens are One.

Would you like to deepen your connection to your true self and Spirit? Join "A Year for Me" and let the journey begin! This can be your year to finally access the deep peace, happiness, and connection you've longed for by listening to the whispers of your soul. I'd love to show you how and companion you all along the way. 
Learn more. www.ayear4me.com

In 1994, I fell in love with the work of Thich Nhat Hanh. One little meditation in particular seemed to turn my life around—from being a harried and hurried woman, to one who was more present, more at ease in her world.

This is the passage, culled from Living Buddha, Living Christ:

"Breathing in, I calm my body.

Breathing out I smile.

Dwelling in the present moment.

I know this is a wonderful moment."

His were the first teachings that helped me realize I could "breathe in" a feeling other than the one I was currently experiencing ... allow it to be held gently within me ... allow it to transport me to a more peaceful place. Enough so that I could "breath out" as a new, more well-balanced version of myself.

Would you like to try this for yourself?

Breathe in deeply, evenly, and allow any tension to dissipate. Breathe in this way as long as you need to to feel a sense of greater calm.

Select one virtue of the Spirit you would like to experience right now. Peace? Patience? Love? Kindness? Courage?

Select another virtue you would like to breathe out—to send out in the world for the benefit of all beings.

Keeping in rhythm with your breath, say:

"Breathing in ____________.

Breathing out ___________."

Breathe in and out this way as long as you desire.

Today, I am choosing to breathe in gratitude and breathe out joy.

It feels wonderful. I feel transformed, yet again ... 

Do you?

I'd love to hear what you chose to breathe in and breathe out ...

Have you checked out "Meditate Like a Girl" yet? It's the new online magazine and community I founded, dedicated to "Exploring and celebrating meditation, in all its forms, with Feminine style and verve." It's simply fabulous!

"Being Free: Transforming Daily Struggles into Feminine Wisdom"

Each month, I offer a free, 30-minute audio teaching on one uniquely feminine issue that keeps us stuck and disconnected from our true self.

April's difficult issue is: "I Don't Like My Body."

In this downloadable recording, I share how you can begin to shift your feelings for your body from harsh and self-judging to compassionate. I also offer 3 important steps you can take to love your body more. 

Listen to the podcast here. 

I've been wrestling with myself a bit lately. Just a gentle tug of war, not a Jacob and the angel throw-your-hip-out-of-whack sort of contest. 

The source of my angst? The weather is not doing what I want it to. Simply put, I want it to be spring. It is April 14, after all, and we still have snow here in upper Michigan which is nearly unheard of and it's making me very cranky. It is supposed to be spring-like now—warmish and sunny—crocus and tulips bending and bowing in the breeze.

And we have had nearly 6 consecutive months of cold, windy weather here and, truthfully, I am tired of it. 

I long to amble in the woods and look for early wildflowers. I ache to put my hands in the dirt and rearrange the soil to midwife seeds into blooms. My heart longs for color. 

I'm cranky because, like a spoiled child, I am not getting my way. 

I know full well that this internal struggle is a matter of acceptance and letting go. It's not an uncommon struggle for me, being someone who rather likes to be in charge. 

I know full well that this inner angst is simply ridiculous, a complete waste of time and, spiritually, very foolish.

I know full well that we can't always get what we want. (Though Mick Jagger sang that we might, sometimes, get what we need.) 

But this doesn't stop me (or any of us) from wishing and hoping life could be different than it is.

If we are awake and aware and even a little bit wise, we see the error of our ways before we've created too much suffering for ourselves.

All of this chafing against something not to our liking causes us to walk around with a curmudgeonly attitude, a hitch in our gate, a speck in our eye. 

The best thing I know to do when I am resisting "life as it is" is to stop. Just stop, and ... 

... say what is ("I really don't like this, you know!"" ...

... take a deep, cleansing, breath ...

... and settle down by whooshing myself with compassion. 

A whoosh of compassion is a visualized wash of lovingkindness—beginning at the top of your head, gently pouring over the length of your body like a warm saltwater flow, pooling at the soles of your feet, so you find yourself standing in a puddle of well-being. 

Amazingly, it works. Our disquietude becomes silent. The eye of our heart clears. Wisdom returns. 

And as it does, life in the world goes on as usual. The snow is still here. The flowers will rise when they are ready. It is I who feels different today because I've taken myself out of the equation. 

The world does not rotate around me and my wishes. I rotate around and through it. As long as compassion is present, I can. Any of us can ... 

(Photos © 2012, Jan Lundy. 
From my garden of longing.)