The Spirit Guide

MORNING Every day, I ask for an intention, and today, I got "stillness."  That's a hard word for someone with ants in her pants.  It's pouring here, so it's not like I was going to run around, but, ugh, stillness???  What does that even mean?! The dictionary definition of stillness is "the absence of movement or sound."  I didn't know the sound part, but I definitely remember the "sit still" part from years of being told to do that...usually in places like Church or Grandma Ritter's apartment. But, I am going to try it.  I have a presentation for work today and some meetings, but other than that, I am not going to listen to music, and I am not going to run any marathons.  I am pretty sure I wasn't going to do THAT anyway.   Stillness, in the way I am interpreting it, is more than just physical movement, I think.   I think it's more a stillness of mind.  My mind goes a million miles an hour, and I think the challenge is to focus

There is a concept called "raising vibration."  Basically, it takes Einstein's idea that "everything in life is vibration" and applies it to humanity.  The higher your vibration is, the more content, satisfied, and at peace you will be in your physical life. When I first heard about this, I am not gonna lie.  I thought it was baloney.  It seemed to be yet another fad catch phrase meant to make us pay more money for crystals or tea leaves or yoga mats.  But then I started reading about it, researching it, and, ya know?  It really isn't baloney, and we all secretly know these principles to be true. Negativity, worry, fear, anger, and angst all lower our vibration levels.  They literally pull us down.  So, we have to work diligently to raise our vibrations to overcome those negativity draws. How do we do that? There are some really great articles by Scientific American  and Chopra  if you want to learn more, and here is my personal list of 5.   Let it Go  Fortu

What is the difference between religion and spirituality?  We often use these terms interchangeably, but I've met a lot of religious people who aren't spiritual, and there are many spiritual people who aren't religious.  I was a religious person at one time.  I no longer identify that way even though religion is, indeed, part of my path.  I consider myself spiritual.   As I mentioned in the welcome video, I am not a denomination basher.  I believe I can walk into any Christian church and find a good message and community.  This isn't about my satisfaction or dissatisfaction with a particular church I attended in the past.  There was never any kind of falling out.  One day I simply looked around and said, hmmm, this isn't me.  This isn't what I think Jesus wants from us.  There are a lot of rules and I don't know where they come from, and why do we spend more on gold chalices than we do on poor children?   One of my hobbies is hiking.  Specifically, I am a se

 Some folks asked if I would create a video to go along with the blog.  This is my attempt.  This channel is not monetized (nor is this blog), and I don't have professional equipment.  Let me know what you think in the comments below!  You may have to hit "click more" at the bottom of the post to then be able to click play.  Seems silly, I know ;p