What Color is Your Energy Today?

If you've read the book The Celestine Prophecy or The Tenth Insight, or any other of the many books and article on the energy we give off during our daily interactions with others, you already know that our auras - those fields of energy that surround us - are subject to color changes as our atttitudes and emotional states change.

That being said, what color is your energy today? Of course every color has its true hues and its muddy hues - the truer the color, the more positive the energy; the duller the color, the more negative the energy.

Are you -

• Red? Are you a bright red - feeling full of passion or courage and ready to take on the world in a positive way? Or are you a dull red - angry at all of the injustices and problems that you feel have unfairly been foisted upon you?


• Orange? Are you a bright orange - full of energy and warmth, ready to take on transitional cycles with a positive attitude? Or a dull orange, feeling somewhat unmotivated and at odds with everyone and everything around you for no real reason?


• Yellow? Are you a bright yellow - cheerful and optimistic - sunny - just like the sun? Or a mustardy yellow, not quite sad, but not quite glad either. You just "are."


• Green? Are you a clear green - feeling balanced, organized and "connected", perhaps extroverted and expressive? Or a dull green - just ready to relax or perhaps a bit envious of those whose life is a bit more balanced?


• Blue? Are you a true blue -full of compassion, acceptance and empathy, ready to calm situations and nurture everyone around you? Or a dull blue - unsure of yourself and your relationships with those around you? Maybe you're having trouble making decisions - or perhaps you just need to "recharge your batteries."


• Indigo/Violet? If you're a deep rich purple, you're probably feeling especially intuitive today. Your mind and spirit are clear and open to growth. A dull purple? Perhaps it's best that others leave you alone today while you sort thru your motivations.

As for me, I'll have a grey poupon today - definitely a lovely shade of mustard yellow right now. I think I'll go pop a favorite CD in the player and see if I can get myself to the bright green I need to be!

It's interesting to note that the colors in our environment also have an effect on us, so depending on how you want to feel, you might consider finding a space with your particular "color needs" and spending some time there!

Have a wonderful day, no matter what your color is!

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Travails of a Butterfly

For me, a butterfly will always be the definitive symbol of change. It's true that many species undergo change in their journey from conception to their eventual demise, but for the butterfly the depth and extent of that change is not without struggle - and that is an integral component of its transformation.

There is a story of a man, a boy, and a butterfly that goes something like this...

A young boy happened upon a chrysalis suspended from a branch in his parent's garden. It was cracked but a hair's breadth open and he could see the movement of the butterfly within struggling to break free. In his youthful desire to help the struggling creature, he gently tore open the chrysalis, expecting the butterfly to spread its beautiful wings and fly away. Much to his dismay and sadness, the tiny creature's wings remained closed - wrapped wet and dark around the tiny body. The little boy watched sadly as the creature's movements lessened and soon became still. Crying, the child ran into his home and buried himself in the pillows on the living room sofa, upset that the tiny creature had died.

The boy's grandfather, who happened to be living with the family, went to the boy to see what was wrong. Amidst sobs, his grandson told him what had transpired in the garden. As the grandfather listened to the boy, he reached over to where a small photo album rested on a nearby bookshelf. Searching through the photos, he finally found the ones he sought. There on the photo album's pages were pictures of another young boy - his son, the boy's father - and in the boy's hands was a box. In the box was some grass and a branch. Hanging from the branch was a tiny chrysalis, and resting on a leaf nearby was a beautiful monarch butterfly.

The grandfather told his grandson that once, while he and his son - the boy's father - had been walking in the woods, they had come across a branch on the side of the path that had broken away from a tree during a storm the previous day. Attached to the branch was a small green chrysalis. His son asked if they could bring the branch home so that the chrysalis would be safe and of course had been allowed to.

Days passed slowly in expectation, but one morning the boy noticed that the chrysalis had become transparent and had begun to move. He excitedly ran to tell his father. Over the next few hours, the chrysalis became almost completely transparent. Now they could see the bright orange wings as the creature moved against the thin shell, creating a small tear in the protective cover and eventually breaking free and attaching itself to the dried shell, allowing its wings to harden as they hung down. After so many hours of struggle, the beautiful monarch butterfly was ready to spread its gorgeous orange and black wings and fly away - but they had managed to take a photo just moments before the butterfly went on to explore the world and its freedom.

The grandfather explained that the butterfly needed the struggle of finding its way out of the chryrsalis in order to become the beautiful creature the little boy had expected to see emerge. As the butterfly struggles against its chrysalis, special fluids fill its wings and soften the shell, allowing it to break free. Unless that struggling occurs, the butterfly will never be able to complete its transformation, spreading its wings in a metamorphosis that is unrivaled. While it is hard to watch as a butterfly struggles to emerge, it is important to allow it to happen.

So it is with us. Many times the struggles that we must endure to transform our lives are overwhelming... but they are necessary if we are to spread our wings and fly. Well wishing family and friends may try to "help" in an effort to lessen our load, but in the end we will not grow strong. Our growth will be stunted, and, like the butterfly that wasn't allowed to struggle its way thru its life cycle of changes, we may never become the beautiful creatures that the universe wants us to be.

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A Single Step

Lao Tzu, a chinese philosopher and founder of Taoism is credited with the quote “A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.”

So our journey together down the path to change begins. This is but a single step in an ongoing journey that I've been on since the day I began my existence some 50+ years ago, but today is the day I ask you to join me on that path. Explore with me, question with me, share with me and I will do the same. I can only give you my thoughts and my perspectives - and I can only ask that you also share yours with me - and perhaps we will learn from each other.

It is my intent, as I continue down this path, to enable change. I know I will have left my mark on the world in a positive way if anything I write here opens a heart or mind to a different possibility. My children will attest to the fact (from years of hearing it from me) that I am a firm believer that if you keep doing the same old thing, you're going to keep getting the same old results. I am also a believer that the reality is that we are only limited by ourselves. Yes, sometimes the path to change is hard and uncomfortable and threatens everything that we've come to believe or everything that has become "comfortable", but without growth we cease to live, to thrive, to experience all that life offers. We become sheltered, apathetic, and even narcissistic...or we become angry, judgemental, and ready to blame everyone and everything else for our lack of happiness. You really DO have control.

I would love to see you choose to do something to change your life and the lives of those around you for the positive - and I want to believe that since you're reading this, you want the same thing. But you can choose to do nothing at all. Either way though, there is an effect. Think about it - and open your mind to a different way of thinking!

I'd like to share something that was written by Siddhattha Gautama - you may know him as simple "Buddha". The word "buddha", by the way, means "enlightened one" - and his writings illustrate the depth of his illumination in the ways of life and learning. Take a moment to think about these words - and let me know what those thoughts are. Positive or negative, you are free to express yourself here. Question it, agree with it, expound on it, beat it down if you can justify doing so, but think about it - and have a wonderful day!

"Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it." ~ Buddha -The "Enlightened One"

Photo courtesy PDPhoto.org

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