ONE DAY AT A TIME

Some days start with magical miracles…

Today is one of those days️.

I WOKE UP super early with my man who was off before the break of dawn to go fishing.

I WOKE UP with a slogan in my Heart and in my mind that they say in Alcoholics Anonymous:

ONE DAY AT A TIME.

I am not an alcoholic but have met a lot of cool folks who are and some of them are some of the wisest and real and down to Earth people that I have ever met because they’ve been to Hell and back and choose to live their best life ever and be the best that they can be ONE DAY AT A TIME.

ONE DAY AT A TIME they devote themselves to overcoming the character traits within in them that keep them down in the dumps.

ONE DAY AT A TIME they choose to rise up out of the ashes with the belief that they can make a better life for themselves.

And from what I have seen, it really works.

So, we began our day with a clear commitment that JUST FOR TODAY in everything that we do, especially with each other,

We CHOOSE to live in alignment with the Grace of Love, Compassion, Presence, Devotion, Patience, Kindness, Openness, Humility, Graciousness, Forgiveness and Gratitude.

We choose to be the best we can be and do the best we can do.

We choose to show up fully.

Damn.

That is a really tall order.

But…

JUST FOR TODAY
I can
BE HERE NOW
Because
THE POWER IS ALWAYS IN THE PRESENT MOMENT.

And…

Today, I choose to try out what The Buddha recommended when he said:

Do not dwell in the past,
Do not dream of the future,
Concentrate your mind (and Heart) on the present moment.

And…

Today, I am going to do what Chanakya suggested when he said:

We should not fret for what is past,
Nor should we be anxious about the future;
People of discernment deal only with the present moment.

Because when I get really down to the nitty gritty honest with myself,
I realize it is a totally daunting task to try to figure out how anything is going to be, let alone myself a year from now or 10 years from now or beyond.

To tell you Truth, it kinda freaks me out.

Yes, I have grand dreams of being a super human.

Believe me.

It motivates me.

But the Truth is, I have made a lot of mistakes along the way and I have come to peace with the realization that I will make some more.

And expecting myself to be a perfect super human is a lot of friggin pressure.

The kind of pressure that can make me flee from the present moment, freeze in my tracks or feel totally trapped.

But JUST FOR TODAY, it doesn’t feel scary to make this commitment.

If I only have to be responsible for being the best I can be today, then I have faith that I can do the right thing…all day long.

Cuz it’s only 24 hours.

And this is how people get sober on all levels in their life.

They do it ONE DAY AT A TIME.

ONE DAY AT A TIME is do-able and deal-able.

And I have been thinking about how

Waking up
Getting real
Being who we truly are
Having deep, meaningful, intimate and connected relationships
and
Creating a life that is a beautiful work of art…

is a lot like getting sober.

It is a day by day, peel back the layers of the onion, de-conditioning process.

Being in the present moment asks me to keep letting go of the pain and disappointed of the past and make peace with it all.

Being in the present moment requires that I pull my energy off of the future so that I am not dispersing my mojo.

Otherwise there is no way I am truly going to experience the full joy and goodness that is only available here.

So, JUST FOR TODAY,

I choose to tame the urge to pick up and drink from the havoc wreaking destructive bottle of lower vibrational human traits that we are all capable of such as greed, hate, envy and judgement.

You know…all those deadly sins of the ego that make us miss the mark and end up totally regretting what we said or did.

Today, I choose to be sober.

I choose LOVELIGHTBLISS.

And sobriety can only happen ONE DAY AT A TIME.

Before you know it, you have a year of sober living.

And it gets a little easier.

And day by day a year becomes 2 and one day you have 10 years of clean living.

It has been said that if you do something consistently for 10 years that you will become a Master at it.

And I’ve got 10 years to practice being Love, being a Light in the world and being full of Bliss.

But I can only do it ONE DAY AT A TIME.

Another great thing they say in AA is:

IT WORKS IF YOU WORK IT.

Also known as:

PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE

And as my friend Bo says,

What separates the Pros from the amateurs is their relationship to PRACTICE.

And this is how I started my day.

And I feel super blessed today because I have a partner-lover-friend who started off his day with the same commitment.

We cannot do these things alone.

We need to be in the company of others who support us and who we can support so that we can help each other walk this path because it can be super challenging at times.

And I feel extra blessed to have some friends who are already further down the path than me who can give me some pointers along the way when I get confused or hit a wall.

So at the break of today’s dawn I was on the phone with one of my wise friends talking about the power of being in the present moment…especially in our relationships.

It’s only by being truly present ONE DAY AT A TIME that you can become masterful in relationships.

Masters are not born. They are created. Through daily practice.

While we were chatting, I had the great pleasure of watching the sun rise and it felt especially symbolic this morning —> Like the dawning of a new way of being.

A way of being that I have talked a lot about and practiced a lot.

But on this particular morning as the clouds parted and the Sun came shining up over the blackened hills,

I got this ONE DAY AT A TIME thing like a revelatory lightning bolt in the core of my being and I felt some mega layers of goo that were glommed over my Heart dissolve away as the Light of Love came shining  through so powerfully that every cell in my body was buzzing.

And because I was truly present for the sunrise, it was extra gorgeous.

As we continued to chat I walked into the house, sat down on the couch and looked out to the garden and the ocean and the islands as they lit up with the glow of the day.

At the moment I looked out the window I saw a Hummingbird flying straight towards me and right into the window.

I ran outside and there she lay on the ground.

She was hurt.
And I could relate because I have been hurt. We have all been hurt.
She was scared.
And I could relate because I get scared. We all get scared.
She was shocked.
And I could relate because I have been shocked before. We have all experienced shock.
I saw myself in her. I saw my man and family, friends, community and all living beings in her.
So I had to do everything I could today to help her. I have to do everything I can today to help myself. We have to do everything we can do today to help ourselves.
I picked her up and my friend and I chanted healing mantras to her while I stroked her head and Soul gazed with her and told her:
YOU ARE GOING TO MAKE IT.
I have always had a major spiritual connection with Hummingbirds and this encounter was incredibly potent.

I knew she was delivering a very powerful message to me.

Hummingbirds have very magical qualities.
Hummingbird feathers are often used in the making of Love charms.
The Native Americans say that Hummingbirds conjure up the healing energy of Love like no other medicine does.
Hummingbird feathers help to open the Heart chakra.
If you hold onto the hurts of the past and guard your naturally open and loving heart, then you can never taste the Sweetness and Pure Bliss of Life.
Just the other day I put fresh nectar out in the Hummingbird feeders and today I feel like my lil Hummingbird friend returned the favor and flowed some nectar back my way.
As I looked at her, I felt like her.
I have hit some walls in my days and I have felt very hurt and shocked and betrayed.

Hurt by my own free will and what I have chosen to do and say and hurt by others’ free will to choose to do and say what they have.

Afraid to take a chance again on flying through life with an open and loving Heart when at any moment I could get hurt again.

Time and time again, it is when I stop and get truly present with myself and Love and care for myself, that I heal.

Today, that’s what I did for her.

I poured my Love into her.

I made a protective cave of Love out of my hands around her.

I told her that I believe in her.
I believed in her ability to recover.
I believed in her ability to heal.
I believed that she would fly again in Joy and in Love.
I stopped everything and gave her everything I had to give in that moment.

And so did my friend.

And so the Hummingbird.

For 15 minutes I held her and she consistently held my gaze and her Heart beat sent pulsations and tangible vibrations of Love up through my hands and into my Heart.

As I completed my beautiful conversation with my friend and the wisdom of the Hummingbird had landed fully in my everything,

She gave me one last glance,

Took a leap of Faith,

Sang a beautiful chirping song of Love and Gratitude,

And flew out my hands towards the rising Sun.

Yes.

This really happened.

This is what happens to me when I choose to Love full on.
This is what happens to us all when we choose to Love full on.

Magic happens.
Miracles happen.

I sent this photo of me holding the Hummingbird to my Mama Bird who is an avid world traveling bird watcher and major advocate of The Wildlife Care Network with the caption:

Annie’s Wildlife Care Network

She immediately called me and told me that my friend was an Anna Hummingbird.

The names Anne, Annie and Anna all mean GRACE and favor.

My name means “God has favored me and blessed me with Grace.”

Anna the Hummingbird was me.

And she told me that she believes that I can live up to my name.
I can stay in the favor of GOD (the Good Orderly Direction) by living in alignment with Grace, which means “to rejoice, sweetness, attractiveness, goodwill, gratitude and loving kindness“.

Especially LOVING KINDNESS and GRATITUDE .

Loving Kindness and Gratitude for myself and for all of life.

Being Loving, being Kind and being Grateful is my path to God.

Sometimes it’s really challenging to live that way.

But today, Anna the Hummingbird with her hot pink and violet feathers told me that she sees who I am and why I am here and that she loves and supports me.

Pink is the high vibrational color frequency of the Heart Chakra whose gifts are Love, Compassion, Forgiveness, Courage, Gratitude and Kindness.

Violet is the high vibrational color frequency of the Crown Chakra whose gifts are Spiritual Enlightenment, detachment from illusion, higher consciousness aligned with the Truth that ONE IS ALL AND ALL IS ONE, total rebirth, transformation of everything into Divine Spiritual energy, and being able to do whatever one wishes.

Today ended as miraculously as it began.

Tonight my friend who is fresh back from walking the Caminho came to visit me.

The Caminho de Santiago is a large network of ancient pilgrim routes across Europe that many travel as a prayer in action.

Some walk the Caminho because they are sick. Some walk to get sober. Some walk to ask for Spiritual guidance.

And all hit challenges and are tested along the way.

We were sitting on the couch watching the sun set and she was telling me how important it is to TAKE ONE STEP AT A TIME while walking for 20 miles for many days in a row.

She said it was a constant practice of being in the present moment and bringing her mind back from the past and back from the future because if you get caught in the past or the future you will lose your passion and lose your mojo.

And as the mission bells rang, another or maybe the same Anna Hummingbird came flying into the exact same window.

We rushed to see if she was OK.

She was sitting on the brick patio with her wings resting on the Earth.

But this time instead of falling over, she took just a moment to recover, looked me in the eyes, chirped her sweet song and took off in the direction of the setting sun.

You see, those walls (or windows in this case) that we sometimes hit get softer as time goes by or maybe we learn to yiled to them rather than fight them.

And we do get better at being with them and bouncing back a little faster when we hit them.

Over time when we commit to being truly present with each challenge and obstacle that arises, we get stronger.

And because we are all one, and because Anna the Hummingbird reminded me that I have the freedom to do whatever I wish…

This is my wish for us all:

JUST FOR TODAY

We can commit to Loving ourselves, our partners, friends, family, community & all living beings.

We can cultivate the Faith that we can recover from the shocks of living under the influence of ego and choose to be awake, to be here now, to do the best we can do and be the best we can be.

And there might be days when we slip or we fall or fly into a window or run into a wall.

But I believe that we will recover and we will fly again and sing our song of LOVELIGHTBLISS with our Hearts opening again and again.

And we will always find friends along the way and we can Love, support and give each other courage and inspiration to keep crawling and walking and flying on this path.

All it takes is to fully show up.

And give all you can give of your Heart and your Soul.

ONE DAY AT A TIME.

Thank you.

I believe in you.

I love you and I support you.

LOVELIGHTBLISS