It's time to "Get REAL!"

It's summertime in the Northern Hemisphere. I feel awakened, alive, refreshed! The dormancy of winter is finally shaking off with every rain storm and new bud I see. I've been watching the snapping turtles dig in our driveway to lay their eggs. The loons are teaching their one surviving chick how to submerge under water at their warning call. The nesting sandhills cranes are teaching their young chick how to forage for food in the swamp. Plants are sending shoots up everywhere! New blossoms are unfurling, even in the most unexpected places. Our world is just teeming with life all around us, and summer is the perfect time to dedicate oneself to becoming mindful and present with it all.

What holds you back from living in the present moment? How do you instill a sense of mindful awareness, an unshakable presence that keeps you REAL? This is not an easy question to answer. We all wander astray under the influence of our habitual thoughts, worries, and fears. Our critical mind pulls us to believe we aren't doing enough, and so taking a moment of stillness to be with the breath and what is right in front of us sometimes feels selfish or, frankly, impossible. Outer, and inner, expectations haunt our mind.

In fact, when we are lost to thought and emotional reactivity, we are trapped in the small self and often can't access our True Self that is guided by compassionate wisdom. It takes diligent practice, on a moment-to-moment basis, to remain aligned with what matters most. We find our way back to this calm state of presence only "when-we-remember" and have in place the tools that can shift us to a different way of being with ourselves, others and the world. Getting to remember, and therefore getting better at being present, is simply a practice!

I am launching some new courses in July, and hope you will join me in getting "REAL!" and make mindful living a practiced way of being ALIVE! Why wait?! Summer is a great time to get present and "Get REAL!"