Earth Day: Going Green Every Day

Officially Earth Day is on April 22nd and we are dedicated to celebrating the earth, cleaning up and raising awareness of what we can do to honor and care for our most valuable resources. As we show our appreciation for the Earth and our environment we “go green” to create an environmentally sustainable society to lessen our impact of living on this beautiful planet.

As we celebrate the earth it serves as a reminder that GOING GREEN is not only for the EARTH! You are OF and connected TO the earth. YOU are a valuable resource on this planet and you also have access to inner resources which are just as valuable.  As you honor our beautiful mother earth, do you honor yourself as a valuable resource as well?

By honoring yourself, connecting with the earth and turning your attention within you are becoming more aware of who you really are. Your most valuable resource is your energy flow and when you allow your valuable energy to flow through you (letting go of all that is not) you create tremendous growth and change for yourself. The more often you do this, the more you are growing and expanding your awareness. Did you know that when you are creating change and growth in your life, your AURA actually turns GREEN!

It’s true! Much like the trees begin to bud in the spring, you are budding with new growth; And with this new growth comes a change in the landscape! So are you GOING GREEN these days? One way to find out is to ask yourself; How have you been treating your body, spiritual and physical environments? Just as you honor the earth, you must honor your own environments.

Take a moment to check in with yourself and the space around you.  Are you eating healthy foods, caring for and giving to your body? Are you taking time in your daily life to nurture your spirit by allowing yourself to BE? Is your physical space clean and in order? If you notice things are messy and out-of-place in your physical surroundings it is a sign that your inner world looks the same. If you don’t feel good there is a state of dis-ease. If you find your attention on everything and everybody except YOU it is time to honor and care for yourself.

All the aforementioned are ‘signs’ and indicators that it’s time to do a little clean up. If you have picked up negativity or toxic energy, time to get out the hazardous materials suit and begin cleaning out any waste that may have accumulated. Let go of the garbage you’ve become responsible for carrying around. Your connection with the earth helps you cleanse. If you want to know what it feels like to connect with the earth, focus your attention on your feet and the feel the flow of energy from the earth. Go outside, hug a tree and imagine being connected just as the tree is rooted into the earth.

Once you’ve cleaned things up a bit, it’s time to shine it up! Take a deep breath, bring your attention back to you and feel your connection with the earth. Then allow the biggest, brightest most illuminating sun you can imagine to shine on you! Feel its warmth on your face! Feel the rays permeate every cell in your body! Allow yourself to bud, grow and expand! Honor & celebrate all the natural resources you hold within. YOU ARE your own personal most valuable resource……!

It is time to celebrate and honor the earth. It is time to celebrate and honor YOU! There is only one earth and we must all care for her diligently. There is only one YOU that lives on this beautiful planet we call earth and you must also care diligently for YOU!~Shine Your Light Debbie

©Debra Taitel 2010-2013 (Updated 2013) All Rights Reserved

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A Spiritual Message from a Cactus; Nourish it or…?

cactus-with-leaves-2Spiritual messages and reminders come in many forms but no matter how or when they come it is important to learn what they are trying to tell us. Our spirits must be nourished and filled with dreams, passion, enthusiasm and creativity or they eventually shrivel up into an empty shell and die of thirst…

A few days ago I was ready to let go of the last remains of a cactus I (barely) kept alive for over 25 years. Truth be told it’s been sitting dead on my windowsill for some time but I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of it. That cactus was the first thing I bought when I moved out of my parents house. Perhaps it represented a right of passage or perhaps it represented life itself. Whatever it represented at any given time my heart is saddened by the realization that I killed what was once a living, breathing thing.

I remember when I bought it and if memory serves it was only about 12 inches high. I cared for it faithfully. It outgrew its pot, was replanted and grew some more. I was quite proud of how it was flourishing with new “arms” sprouting all the time. What started out one taller spine with one little arm was over 5 feet tall with dozens of arms! It was a beautiful shade of green with little leaves constantly sprouting from the end of the arms and main spine. Although it started to fall over to one side and I could no longer move it, I would turn the pot so it would rest against the wall. I felt and communicated with the spirit in that cactus and knew that as long as I gave it nourishment it would stay happy, healthy and growing.

One day I had a cleaning person come to my apartment and when I returned home from work, there was my cactus tipped over on the floor. The main spine had split and a few of the arms were dangling from the place where they were once firmly attached. They oozed white liquid and I clearly remember crying hysterically about my broken and obviously bleeding cactus. Sadly I could not save the main spine but I did replant one of the small arms. It took root quickly and season after season it sat on my windowsill and grew although not as full or tall as its mother.

For whatever reason, I stopped watering my cactus as often as necessary even though it would tell me what it needed by turning slightly brown. I would look at it and be too tired or too busy to simply get a glass of water to water it. I’d tell myself ‘I’ll water it tomorrow’ and maybe I would get to it,  but soon my tomorrows became more frequent. A cactus has an amazing resilience. If it doesn’t have water it lays dormant using little energy to live but after so many tomorrows (about 3 years worth) my cactus was brown and shriveled. I wept as I moved it from the windowsill to the front door so I could get rid of it. Yes it was dead and it was finally time to let it go.

The day after I moved the cactus I put it back into its corner home to take a picture for this post and I noticed green at the tips of the spine and arms. Wait, maybe it’s not dead after all! Is it possible to bring it back to life after years of neglect? Could a bit of water, and love and light make a difference? I don’t know if my cactus will fully spring to life again but I can tell you that for now it is watered and the small green tips are getting greener and expanding.

Like the cactus our spirits are very much alive inside. We are more resilient than perhaps we give ourselves credit for. At times we may feel ‘dormant’  but once we begin nourishing our spirits with love, excitement, passion and light we have the ability to come back to life.  If you’ve had a stressful time or painful experience it is natural to want to push it aside, isolate or dull the pain  so you can’t feel it but a sprinkling of forgiveness and love goes a long way! Your spirit may be calling out for water now. Find the nourishment it needs! Your spirit wants to shine brightly and light your way.

As long as your heart is beating and you have breath in your body there is always hope. It’s never too late to nourish your spirit and find the spark within. If you are always too busy or too tired or stressed to nourish your spirit and you want to wait until tomorrow that’s fine but how many tomorrows will it take before you wake up to find years have passed? There’s no tomorrow better than today to start nourishing your spirit.

What are you enthusiastic about? What do you love? What are you passionate about? What excites you? Find those things and live vibrantly again! Today is the first day of the rest of your life! Choose today to nourish your spirit and soul!~Shine Your Light Debbie

©Debra Taitel 2013-2015 All Rights Reserved

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