Tuesday’s Tidbits

+ Today’s beautiful Google Search Doodle is the 2023 winner of the annual Google Doodle contest. When my daughter was younger, she always submitted her artwork to Google every year (and when she didn’t win, our whole family always agreed with her – Google got it terribly wrong 😉 ). This is the wonderful thing about these types of contests. They encourage and they spur on and they award children’s creativity. This year’s prompt was “I’m grateful for . . .” The winner, Rebecca, drew a picture of she and her two sisters, and she said that her Google Doodle represents all of their happiest memories together. What are your happiest memories? What if you drew a depiction (even just a doodle) of your happiest memories? I wonder what that would like . . . . don’t you? Let’s try it.

+ I read that there is a sign at a local nursery that says this: “The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The next best time is now.” What have you been putting off/meaning to get to/regretting not doing? The next best time is now.

+ If you can keep an open mind, and suspend all your own personal spiritual and religious beliefs (or non-beliefs) for just a moment (and if you can’t do that, then just skip this tidbit), I think that you will get a lot out of a series of tweets I recently read, by Valencia (@SayItValencia). I know that I did:

“My love, Your peace doesn’t have to be protected and no one can drain your energy, we’ve been rehearsing those thoughts for too long. Once you find bliss, you understand it’s a gift and perspective that you give to you at every moment. You end up gifting it to others by default. Does it mean you can’t think your energy can be drained? No. The mind is vast, you can perceive anything you want and then experience it. When ready, if you find that thinking your energy can be drained no longer serves, you can let go of that perspective and find infinite bliss. . . . You awaken multiple times, not just once. Every time, you will have a clearer understanding of what is the ego, what are false fears and what you truly are. . . .The ego is the self we go to, every time we forget we’re part of Source. It’s the self we know in the visible realm. It’s the self that makes us believe we are separated from each other. Love that self! Love what you created so far! But don’t make mistake it as all that you are. . . . Spiritually, the ego is no longer an enemy when you realize that it’s the self you created. There’s nothing to dislike about it, it’s a byproduct of being human and your environment. Which means that you can change the ego, ad infinitum. You are the awareness behind the change.For a long time, I’d think the ego as something separated to myself, until it clicked that “No! The ego IS Valencia! It’s the personality I created based on my experiences, it’s when I believe I’m “me” instead of awareness.” I no longer try to fix the ego, there’s nothing to fix. . . .Instead, I stay in awareness, in Spirit’s presence as much as I can. I guide my ego from there. Without harsh judgment on me. Just discernment, love and patience. . . . Seek your intuition, seek your inner-guidance, seek Spirit with all you got. There’s a kingdom pre installed in your mind, find it. It’s underneath all the false thoughts this world taught us. Underneath the conditioning. It’s your job to seek it, everything else follows.. . . .Intuition never wants anything to be difficult for you. It wants to guide you in the best and easiest way possible. It doesn’t test you nor try to teach you anything that way. Why would it, when it knows the way? The ego on the other hand…I said it yesterday, your ego only knows this world and the rules of the visible realm. It has been taught to measure its understanding of things through tests. It can’t help but believe the universe does the same to you. . . . Ego tests intuition all the time! Intuition or Spirit doesn’t need to test anything, it just wants to guide you effortlessly and fulfill its function. Ego stops testing things when it accepts that inner-guidance leads to longevity and peace, and it wants that for itself as well.

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Jeremiah Was a Bullfrog

Earlier this week, I had gone to a beautiful nursery by my house.  I wanted to find some fall weather plants to replace some of my annuals that have gotten quite straggly.  I love nurseries.  It’s like walking along in the Secret Garden with so much to discover.  The vibrant colors, the lovely fragrances, and the plants that are so symmetrical and perfect, it is hard to believe that they are natural, are just some of the treasures to see and experience in a garden.  And of course, there are also the butterflies and the birds and the unusual insects that have smartly decided to call these beautiful sanctuaries their home.

Unfortunately, I made an unplanned kidnapping of one of those critters.  I had put the purchased plants on all of the unoccupied seats of my car, drove them home and deposited them near to the spots that I wanted to plant them in.  I then went to pick up my daughter from school.  She and I were have a lively conversation about the day’s activities, until my daughter started screaming loudly.  In that split second, I wondered if she had seen something that I had not seen and I wondered if we were about to be wrecked.  She excitedly told me that something slimy had just landed on her feet.  She didn’t have to give any more explanation, because a relatively large tree frog started landing just about everywhere in the car, like Spiderman sticking to all surfaces, sideways and upside down.  I quickly pulled the car over and eventually and enthusiastically, we were able to guide our new friend out of the car and on to the grass, luckily with no harm caused to any of us.

I felt really sorry for our little buddy frog friend, though.  I realized that he had just been cast out of the Garden of Eden.  He was definitely not “moving on up” by being deposited in a lackluster clump of grass on the side of the road.  What a bummer day for this little guy!  Hopefully, using his best natural instincts and inner guidance, he will find his way back to his beautiful, heavenly home.  I’m just grateful for another funny story in my life, that has a hopeful ending.