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office furniture fully assembled

The Permanence of Impermanency

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It’s summer here in Canada, and I’ve gifted myself a new kind of summer experience: my own version of summer camp.

Rather than staying at our ever-nourishing family farm full-time, I’ve chosen a semi-reclusive rhythm by settling into a little cabin on a friend’s property. I say “semi-reclusive” because I still plan to return to the farm a couple of times a month to spend time with my daughter, her family, and all the animals. Honestly, I’ve lost count of how many goats and chickens we have now, and this past month, three cows delivered the most beautiful calves. There’s always something blossoming there.

I’ve been at the cabin for just over two weeks now and am beginning to feel at home. Yesterday, I spent a good chunk of time learning to be patient with myself while assembling a laptop desk, office chair and plant shelf. For most people, it might have been a quick job. For me? Let’s just say it was a slow and slightly comedic bonding experience with an Allen key and screwdriver.

Any other kindred spirits out there who break into a cold sweat at the sight of flat-packed furniture?

I’ve come to accept that I’m not exactly handy and that’s okay. Still, I wanted to create a little “office” space here, so I gave it a go. And I’m quite pleased with the result.

“I am free of the need to be intimidated by all these parts!”

I’ve come to accept that I’m not exactly handy and that’s okay. Still, I wanted to create a little “office” space here, so I gave it a go. After surviving the Great Assembly Challenge, I felt the final product earned a starring role as this post’s featured image!

This morning, while sipping tea and journaling, something interesting surfaced. Even though I was so pleased with my furniture assembly achievements, a part of me was feeling unsettled. I went into Heart Metta mode and discovered I had a part yearning for permanency. For the past 23 years, “home” has been wherever I hang my hat. I’ve always been good at settling in, whether it’s crashing on a friend’s couch, house-sitting, staying in hotels, or luxuriating in a peaceful Airbnb. I love having that freedom to roam.

So where was this sudden ache for permanence coming from?

I went deeper with Heart Metta and tuned into the voice of that wistful part. What I heard surprised me:
“You are always on the move, you only stay in one place for a matter of months at best!”

That landed. I followed the thread and traced it back to when I was unexpectedly uprooted from Canada as a child, suddenly on a boat to Hong Kong with my mother and siblings, no warning, no goodbyes. That early disruption shaped so much of how I relate to home and movement. I’ll share more about that chapter another time, and what I will say now is that event led to my not seeing my father for 43 years. Life brought us back together in a remarkable way, and I was at his bedside when he passed just months after we reunited. There was closure.

I’m sharing all this as a reminder that we are layered beings. Who would have thought putting together a few pieces of furniture would bring up so much? I’m deeply grateful for Heart Metta. It helped me meet this tender part with compassion. She’s settled now. She understands that impermanency is, in its own way, permanent. And with that, all parts of me are on board for this next chapter.

What has impermanency stirred in you lately?

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✨ [Join here] – I’d love to hear what this stirred in you.

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Why Listening to Yourself Could Revolutionize Your Productivity Approach

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Ever felt like your relentless drive for productivity only leaves you feeling more overwhelmed and stuck? The truth is, finding harmony between effort and rest is essential for overcoming resistance and achieving genuine results. In this article, I’ll share how I learned to stop being impatient with myself for avoiding tasks — and how that shift led to a surprising surge in my productivity levels. Get ready to discover insights that may help you reframe your approach to work, making your journey more enjoyable and fulfilling.

The Whisper of Inner Guidance

There are moments when our inner guidance whispers softly, yet profoundly, offering truths we may not have realized we were ready to hear. Recently, during a journaling session, my guidance revealed something I hadn’t fully acknowledged: I had been pushing myself too hard.

There were days when I didn’t complete everything on my to-do list, and instead of embracing the natural ebb and flow of life, I found myself growing impatient. That impatience stirred something unexpected — an inner rebel who resisted even more.

Uncovering the Resistance

Curious about what was driving this pattern, I turned to a Heart Metta session to explore my impatience. As I softened into the process, I tapped into the underlying cause of my irritation and began to shift it.

I received a gentle reminder that when we push ourselves beyond what feels natural, we create resistance. The more I tried to force things into place, the more my inner rebel pushed back, creating a cycle of frustration and unfinished tasks. My inner wisdom suggested a different path: to soften, to be kinder to myself, and to trust the rhythm of life.

Nature’s Wisdom: Go with the Flow

Nature doesn’t rush. The tides ebb and flow. The moon waxes and wanes. Trees don’t force their leaves to bud before the right season — even though the timing of seasons seems to be getting confusing sometimes.

So why do we expect ourselves to operate any differently?

By releasing the pressure I was placing on myself, I began to reconnect with the flow of life. I realized that when we listen to the natural rhythm of our energy, things begin to unfold more smoothly. Productivity isn’t about constant pushing; it’s about aligning with the currents rather than swimming against them.

The Gift of Softening

This message felt like a gift — a gentle invitation to pause, breathe, and honour where I am. Perhaps you’ve felt this too: the weight of expectations, the pressure to check every box, the impatience when things don’t move as quickly as you’d hoped.

But what if we allowed ourselves the grace to move with life instead of forcing it?

In giving myself permission to ease into this rhythm, I began to find a different kind of accomplishment — one that felt lighter and more peaceful. Tasks got done not through force, but through flow. The inner rebel quietened, replaced by a sense of harmony.

Unexpected Productivity: A Shift in Perspective

Interestingly, as soon as I embraced this shift, my day became more productive. Two tasks that had been lingering on my back burner for days were suddenly completed in just a couple of hours.

Who would have thought that by easing off the pressure, we could actually move forward with greater ease?

A Gentle Reminder

If you’ve been feeling that inner push-and-pull, perhaps this is your reminder too: be gentle with yourself. Trust that you are exactly where you need to be, and everything will unfold in perfect timing.

The more we soften, the more we align with the currents of life. In that alignment, true balance is found.

Wishing you ease and balance,
Sandra 💖

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Let’s be co-creative!

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The other day my grandson came in from the yard with an amazing five-leaf clover! He often finds ones with four leaves and this five-leaf clover was a first for both of us.  I think in my entire life I have perhaps found one or two four-leaf clovers so if I was relying on four-leaf clovers and luck to bring me good times I would not be having much fun at all!

I often hear people say to me “oh Sandra, you are so lucky!” My reply is usually that  I’m not that lucky at all, if I was I would win raffles and lotteries!

So where does my ‘luck’ come from? While my life is certainly not entirely free of challenges I feel very blessed that the challenges I do have in recent times are more like minor hiccups rather than major life upheavals. If you were to ask me how I have managed to graduate from my earlier life major upsets I would say, from my experience , when something of major intensity comes along that is life-changing we have two paths we can take. The first is to stay stuck in doom and gloom and have it influence us the rest of our lives negatively or we can acknowledge whatever it is we are going through and process it and if necessary, ask for assistance when it is too large to be processed on our own. Once that happens we find an inner resilience we may never even known existed and we trust our co-creative abilities much more readily.

I was fortunate that I was already on the co-creative path when calamity struck many years ago. Almost every day I would tell myself that even if it took a miracle for things to get better they would! Now decades later, and several miracles later I am a firm believer in miracles. There are everyday miracles that happen all around us that we may never have even noticed.

Miracles came to me with people coming into my life offering guidance and support.  Amazing opportunities came my way that I would not have even dared to dream about when I was in my twenties. The big miracle I needed most and achieved is that I am able to ask for and accept all these blessings with gratitude. These days I may still use the phrase “even if it may take a miracle..” for seemingly impossible situations. Thankfully the challenges are much more mundane. My passion is to share tools with others to assist them to get on their co-creative wagon so they can have a happier and more prosperous life. I figure if I could do it, anyone can. I  have found courage is alive and well when we are in the co-creative groove. It is certainly possible to push through and attain your goals with effort and force. That path can be a lot more lonely and tiring and may also lead to burn out and overwhelm. Trying so hard can become really exhausting!

Are you allowing the Universe to co-create with you? Are you accepting the blessings that come your way? Are you still learning what that is all about?

If you are curious about honing your co-creative skills I invite you to check out the upcoming events where we will be doing that in many different ways.

Let’s be co-creative!

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I’m just fine, thanks for asking!

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This month I am offering a new webinar to introduce people to Heart Metta and the theme is how we can embrace change without it causing us the stress that most change, whether wanted or unwanted, can create. You may have a friend who appears really stressed to you and yet when  you bring it up they may say they are just fine and may even be irritated that you think they are stressed!
Things may seem great or may seem okay and for those people it may appear they aren’t stressed at all.   That may be true if they are already listening to themselves at all levels – physical, mental, emotional and even spiritual.  However, when they are skilled at tuning out matters that are stressful instead of dealing with them (and we have all done that at some point  for something, right?) stress gets internalized. When that happens, they may have physical symptoms like feeling tired no matter how many hours they have slept, have headaches or random pains, upset digestion – the list goes on. Emotionally they may find themselves with a short fuse when dealing with the slightest challenge or they may be moody or easily triggered by others. Mentally, stress shows up with the inability to concentrate, short-term memory goes out the window and it may be difficult to focus on even simple tasks.
At the spiritual level people feel disconnected – disconnected from others, from the Universe and even from their own selves.
For that friend or family member who tells you they aren’t stressed, it is not particular helpful to disagree with them. Instead it may be more helpful  to ask how well they are sleeping or managing at work or what is bringing them joy in the moment. Someone who is handling daily stress well may reply – “my work situation is not the greatest right now and I’m so happy I can …. to counteract that. Someone who isn’t handling stress well may reply with a message like “now that you mention it, my  ‘joy cup’ is running on empty these days”. You get my drift.
I was guided to offer this Intro to Heart Metta course as it sure seems like there are lots of things going on globally right now that are joy-depleting and they have been going on for quite some time.  Personally I have been able to maintain my inner joy by dissolving stress triggers with Heart Metta.
Heart Metta is useful for many applications , reducing stress is one of them.
May all our ‘joy cups’ be refilled!
Curious about the Heart Metta Intro course?    Read about it here 

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Embracing Change

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When I was a kid I heard this joke: two caterpillars were looking at a butterfly flying past them and one said to the other: “You’ll never get me up in one of those!”
Fast forward to me at the age of twenty-seven facing making a life-changing decision where I had no idea what my future would hold and I embraced change with the thought “I’m only twenty-seven, the world is my oyster!”  That proved to be so true until I was fifty when this time, change came whether I wanted it or not and again I found myself on a new path, this time as a widow with two teenage daughters. What kept me going the first few years after that was the thought ” Even if it takes several miracles for us to surmount this change and thrive in spite of it, I believe in miracles!”
I have had more than my fair share of disappointments throughout my life so it wasn’t as if my life has always been peachy keen. And, in my  opinion, whoever came up with  the idea that anything is fair meant they liked the result, it has nothing to do with justice. My experience with disappointments in my early years had left me reserved when it came to anticipating most things. I braced myself for the worst and held back being excited about anything positive until it was a done deed.  I didn’t get excited about moving into my first home with my husband until I opened the front door with my own key.  Nick was my best teacher and I only realized this after the left the planet. We never took each other for granted so it is not about that.  His practicality, generosity of spirit and complete unconditional love would assist me over the twenty plus years together to shift from being that apprehensive  ‘caterpillar’ into becoming excited about being a ‘butterfly’. I don’t think it is a coincidence that when he started his journey towards leaving the planet we were happily planning future events that were years away however neither of us knew our plans would  include being in separate dimensions!  He could leave because he knew I was ready to start a new path. And we both know that love never dies. When he left I thought my dream life had died. Shortly after, I realized it hadn’t died, it had simply changed. And, it was up to me to decide how I was going to deal with that change. And, I intended life to be good again! My thoughts of miracles have turned out to be a reality, I love the life I lead now, I embraced the change with open arms and am grateful to everyone and everything that has come my way to assist me to be who I am today.
Perhaps having a mother who found herself as a single mother in her thirties with four kids helped nurture my inner resilience. She was a momma bear, feisty and determined we would all be okay. She taught me to think for myself, to be free of the need of approval of others and be authentic. In the final years of her life when her health failed her and negativity and frustration took over she taught be to keep  intending to stay positive no matter what happens. I have wondered at times if she would have been different if she had been able  to receive counselling.  I have no regrets that Heart  Metta came after she had already departed. What is important is what is happening now,  the past is over and these days when I tune into her, she is happy and free of an ailing physical body.
How are you when it comes to embracing  change? Are you the caterpillar? Already  a butterfly? In a cocoon? Wherever you are on your path of metamorphosis, Heart Metta can assist  you. It is easy to learn and really effective.  Next month I am offering new online class using this modality where you can see for yourself how Heart Metta can assist you to embrace change and give you clarity  on your path to manifest the changes you desire.You can read about the Introduction to Heart Metta class here.
Have something you’d like to share? I’d love to hear from you.

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Equinox, Balance and Harmony

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To those of you celebrating a Spring Equinox, and to our friends in the Southern Hemisphere who are heading into winter with an Autumn Equinox I send warm greetings!
The Equinox is a time of equal day and night and a time of introspection. We are reminded of the Light and Dark within ourselves, the aspects we admire and the shadow parts that show us where we have room to grow. In order to transform, the shadow comes to the Light and certainly as we grow through this global shift in consciousness we are getting to see so many shadow parts coming home to roost  and be transmuted.
These days with so much unrest going on we may feel at a loss as to how we can have a positive influence on our outside world. In addition to practical ways we can assist others by providing physical  support may I suggest we take a moment to turn inward to check to see where we are focusing our energy. After all, we are part of the collective and how we are adds to the collective soup. Stay calm  and … is a wonderful philosophy, often easier said than done! Sound healing is a very effective way to attune to a better frequency and what better time than now to bring in more balance and bring in more harmony within so that we can regain  our equanimity to better deal with the outside world.
Here is a video to remind us all that deep within we all have what it takes to do  just that.

May all who walk this Earth be free from suffering.

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Making Friends with an Inner Rebel

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Last week in one of our classes we discussed our intentions for this year and also talked about goals to assist our intentions to become reality.  I shared some of the actions that I have taken this year to assist with manifesting my intentions.
For someone who has a law abiding nature I am a person of contradiction as I seem to have a very strong inner rebel. An example of my law abiding efforts was running back to the car to put more money in the meter when only being five minutes late. And more than once, the meter attendant was there before me and I already had a ticket! My inner rebel would think I was crazy to even have bothered and I would feel bad that I had not noticed the time and gone back to the car sooner. Lots of lessons to learn about that reality!
There are many other times where my other unhelpful aspects show up and perhaps next time I will write about my procrastination queen who seems to have mostly retired allowing me  to be much more productive than when she was at her most powerful.
Do you have an inner rebel, one who balks at actions you suggest? One of the most annoying verbs you can ever use with this part is “Should” as the answer (at least in my case) is “you’ve got to be kidding!”  I have found that my vocabulary and the energy I have when I am suggesting something to myself makes a huge difference. Being naturally intuitive and loving spontaneity, my inner rebel resists any kind of planning unless it is a surprise party for someone! One time my very organized daughter was trying to assist me with planning my days so that I could be more productive. Knowing it was unlikely that I would follow a time schedule she organized each day for me with activity ‘blocks’, for example I had options of writing in the morning or afternoon. That worked only for a very short time as it was still too predictable. I went back to my daily ‘to do’ lists on scraps of paper and most times ended up spending more time looking for that scrap of paper! The phrase ‘be careful you are not so spiritual that you are no earthly good’ really applied to me. I spent lots of time dreaming about things and planning projects with very little follow-through. Thanks to my using Heart Metta on myself I got to know my inner rebel and found out what she needed in order to feel happy listening to the rest of me.
This may sound absurd and yet this tiny shift helped me. These days I have moved away from productivity apps or scraps of paper or using an old fashioned agenda. I have managed to appease my rebel part and am using a spiral bound notebook. On the cover I have written the title ‘Actions’. At the beginning of each week I list actions I want to take for the week. Each evening I list the items for the next day that have a deadline as well as ones I choose to do that day. When it comes time to start on my list I start with the one  I want to do the least as it feels so good to be able to cross it off the list! Also we are much more motivated to start on tasks we prefer. This simple change in my approach to my tasks has made much more of a difference than I ever imagined. I am happy to report that since I started using this method the only items on my list that are to be carried over to the next week are actions that recur on a weekly basis.[wpdiscuz-feedback id=”ijf89nht7f” question=”Would love your thoughts, please comment on this.” opened=”0″]Do you have a method for dealing with your inner rebel if you happen to have one?[/wpdiscuz-feedback]
It is a full moon again today and the ideal time to let go of what is in your way of embracing positive change. Not sure what you can do for this?  Here’s a video I posted on YouTube suggesting how we can use the energy of the full moon to assist us with shifting to a more positive frequency. Since it is a previous full moon recording the exact full moon time is different from the video. The recording is still useful as the exercise mentioned is the same for any full moon. On this day of February 16,  the peak of the full moon occurred at 11:57 am EST.
May all our inner rebels be ones that serve us!

 

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Celebrations

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Are you a person who celebrates Valentines Day or is it simply another commercial venture? It is fun to get chocolates and/or flowers or a gift any day of the year and I love having flowers anytime whether I am given them or whether I gift myself them.
One time I was watching several men frantically buying bouquets in Hong Kong to give to their partners and I was surprised bouquets could cost that much from very average florists!   It was as if the token of love was measured by the size and price of the bouquet. I was curious how those people behaved the rest of the year. One year when my husband (then boyfriend) surprised me with a delivery of flowers at my workplace for no particular reason a doctor across the hall from me said  “Ah, enjoy it now, all that will stop when you get married.” Had he stopped going his wife flowers, I wondered? My reply to him was “You don’t know Nick!”
The flowers only stopped coming from him after he left the planet and if I want flowers now there is no need to mourn as I can go get them myself.
What I did notice after he left the planet though was initially I was at a loss. In addition to feeling the loss of a loved one, I was not feeling the loss of his gifts of flowers, I was at a loss for a vase! It was as if I had all these flowers of love and nowhere to put them. It was only after he left that I realized I had not been aware of my own vase.
When I mention self-love some people confuse it with ego or selfishness. They think that self-love means you don’t care about others and only care about yourself. To me, self-love is loving and accepting yourself just the way you are, with all your perfections and imperfections. After all, are we not all ‘work in progress’? Over the years, with wonderful assistance from others  I learned to discover my inner vase and replenish it regularly and these days I enjoy assisting others on a similar journey.
Today and every day may the flowers in your vase be plentiful!

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Lessons To Unlearn

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In our latest Heart Metta Playshop ‘Welcoming 2022 and the Year of the Tiger’, I was guided to ask the question – “when I say tiger what comes to mind?” There were many interesting and insightful answers. What comes to mind for you? Our perceptions and attitudes have many origins and influences and I have discovered that some even seem to come from past lives! A valuable insight gained from one participant was how her schooling had led her to believe that tigers, being wild animals, are to be feared and are dangerous. While this in not totally  incorrect as some tigers have been known to attack humans, certainly not all tigers everywhere attack humans on sight. Her childhood-learned impressions ran deep to instil a fear. Other people had different perceptions: tigers are protective, brave, strong and one person, when I asked this question, instantly tuned into a picture of a tiger smelling a rose!
One lesson I learned in high school was that in no way was I an artist, I even failed art in Grade 10!
The teacher had wanted a sweet painting of a rainy day with people carrying umbrellas and I wanted to paint an abstract with purple rain! (Twenty years before Prince released his song with the same title)
I had to choose between arts and  science in the eleventh grade and took chemistry instead of art. That was the end of any artistic endeavours involving drawing until I took up stained glass in my forties. Initially I still felt I couldn’t draw well at all and I relied on stained glass patterns for my projects. One day I happened to mention my poor drawing skills to my brother (a skilled artist and illustrator) and he said to me “ drawing is not about how you move your hand, it’s about how you see”.  Wow! Those words were the greatest gift I have ever received from him. I knew I had observation skills! As a physiotherapist I could see when someone carried one shoulder higher than the other, I  could see when the pelvis of a child was rotated back on one side. This changed my ability to draw instantly. When I looked at something with my physiotherapist eyes as opposed to those of an ‘untalented artist’ my sketching abilities changed immediately.
I started creating my own designs drawing what I saw in front of me and also sketching the ones in my mind and, together with my husband, we ended up having a very successful stained glass studio. I recall the first time in 1994 we were commissioned to install a design for a three-story house. On completion of the project when I held a fat cheque in my hand, my first thought was one of gratitude to have the opportunity to create this lovely facade for a home and get paid so handsomely. My second thought was – hey teacher in high school – so much for my failing art!! Now, decades later I bless the teacher who had given me an opportunity to refrain from taking things personally and to carry on in spite of apparent failure. I am grateful I managed to ‘unlearn’ the opinion of my artistic abilities I had instilled in myself in my youth.
Each one of us most probably have had or still have lessons to unlearn: all those ‘not good enoughs’ where we tried our best and did not meet other people’s expectations or where we felt we failed to live up to our own expectations. All those lessons that instilled fear in us where we were told to ‘beware’ instead of ‘be aware’.
This year more than ever, let us all remember those lessons that did not serve us and may we all ‘unlearn’ them!

Photo credit: Diego PH on Unsplash

 

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The Definition of Excitement

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The other day my four year old grandson noticed there was a bump under my sleeve and he asked me what it was. I told him it was a tissue. Hs reply : “That’s not very exciting”. I’m not quite sure what he was expecting me to pull out from my sleeves: a toy, a rabbit? Hearing him say that made me wonder what we find exciting in our everyday lives. Exciting has many meanings depending on the context, one definition I found online summed it up well: Exciting ~ Causing great enthusiasm and eagerness. Going back a few years in time, I was visiting a friend in the States and I was beaming as I exited a store holding a huge bunch of organic kale that was a terrific bargain to me. I had just arrived from Hong Kong where a more tired version of the same item cost over three times as much. Seeing my pure delight she commented how I was just an easy person to please!

Fast forward to a few days ago again and I watched the delight on my grandson’s face as he played with a transport truck we had made out of construction paper and cardboard.

Have you noticed excitement actually comes from inside instead of what we think will bring us pleasure? When we are feeling good inside, the simplest of things brings us great joy. When we are unhappy, even a priceless bottle of wine may as well be vinegar.

These days we are still having to deal with daily news and events that bring little joy so how do we access  our inner happiness when it gets buried under mundane gloom? Here are two tips that may help. No matter how busy the day, take a five minute breather. Five minutes to unplug from everything. The location is unimportant, hey, sometimes the only quiet ‘alone time’ possible may be the washroom!  Sit still and place your hand over your heart. Think of something that makes you smile. Allow yourself to sit in that feeling. If other thoughts come in, there is no need to push them away, let them flow through as if you are watching clouds pass by. This may come really easily to you or you may find your noisy mind still wants to chime in. In time, the noisy mind learns it can relax too and enjoy this moment. Perhaps five minutes is too long to start off with, that’s fine too.  Even doing this for one minute counts towards your choosing to come from a deeper, happier place that exists under all the noise. And in time, you may find ten minutes has gone by and it only feels like two!

Another practice which may help is to spend a few minutes at the end of the day thinking about three good things that happened during your day. Many of you may already have a gratitude journal you write it, if you like doing that you can record it. Simply spending a few  moments in genuine gratitude and expressing how you feel authentically instead of telling yourself how you should feel contributes to a vibrational shift that helps you enjoy life more, no matter what is going on in your life. These two tips assist us to press a reset button when we are feeling down or discouraged or weary. Having some basic knowledge of Heart Metta and using it is also a great way to support ourselves. I will be hosting online classes again this year and will be announcing class dates in a few weeks.

What are your ways  to access your enthusiastic self? I’d love to hear your comments.

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