Serenity Welcome Homepage

Graphics from Gran Gran's This and That page

Gifts are for giving.

-- Ian and Sylvia Tyson

Many years ago, a young woman named Dorothy was very talented at china painting. She painted tiny scenes on china dishes, the way people today paint on wood and Easter eggs.

Then Dorothy fell in love, got married, and decided she had no time to paint.

But as her children grew, they loved to stand at the china cabinet and stare at all her tiny pictures -- each one seemed to hold its own special world.

Years passed, and Dorothy's grandchildren also loved to stand and stare at the paintings. Everybody loved her work.

They wondered why she didn't take up painting again, but she wouldn't say. Her love of painting seemed to be locked away.

When we give up some talent of our own because we don't have time for it, we lock away part of ourselves.

When we imprison our talents, we limit our possibilities. But when we make self-expression a natural part of our day, others can gather around and enjoy the results.

There is always room for our talents because they create worlds of their own.

I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives

with forethought of grief.

-- Wendell Berry

Blessed are all birds and animals, the wildest beasts, and, yes, all serpents, too, for they live in nature, in a state of natural grace.

They live beyond the rules of evil and good.

Their instincts are obedient only to the laws of survival, growth, and health.

And as their lives unfurl in obedience to these laws, they suffer no shame, regret, or sin.

Nor do they curse their failures, or themselves.

We can learn much from them.

They harbor no evil toward one another, and they trust their own inner sense of how to live, and that their Higher Power makes sure everything which befalls them is for the best.

Yes, they are blessed, and so are we, the highest animal.

Any time you sense you are getting overrun

by outside influences and losing your feelings,

put your attention inside your body.

Relax. . ., let your breath sink low. . .,

breathe in your abdomen. . . .

-- Anne Kent Rush

When we are feeling as though all our energy is scattered throughout our bodies, we need to practice centering, or focusing this energy into one place.

Our center may change from day to day, and each of us feels it differently.

When we're walking, we may feel power coming from our hips and spreading through the body, heart, and mind.

When we're in a meditative mood, we may feel warm energy at the back of the head.

At other times, we might feel a real centering place in the middle of the chest, right where our heart and arms and breathing come together.

There is no one way to be at peace.

Centering is a way for each of us to find and picture to ourselves our focused energy.

When we can do this, we increase our power to bring about those things we want from life, those things we really do deserve.

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08/22/2011

Dividers from Gran Gran's (dead link 07/06/11)