Just Breath

Ever feel weighted down or like you are drowning?

JUST BREATH!

Right now, stop. Now feel your breath as it gently pushes through your body causing your chest and belly to rise and fall. Feels much better to be present and conscious of what you are doing doesn’t it?

Paying attention to even one breath is mindful and a great way to start meditating. Meditation is just a heightened state of focused attention. Practicing meditation will allow you to live more mindfully with less stress and with clarity, focus, ease, and grace instead. Being mindful during the day means you can take each moment as it comes without feeling like you are weighted down or drowning.

There are countless ways to meditate or be mindful and countless benefits to practicing. There is even scientific proof of substantial brain changes that occur during meditation and then as a result of practicing, all to your benefit :)! The practices and benefits are entire posts on their own so… I am exited to share all those amazing details with you soon!

For today, let’s just remember to breath. Breath mindfully, intently, peacefully, and consciously. Breath for life and breath for living. Just remember to breath one breath at a time one moment at a time.

Namaste,

Amy S McCae

http://www.amymccae.com

Mindful and authentic relationships FREE GUIDE http://www.creativewellnessomaha.com/Excellence-in-Love.pdf

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Spirituality and Death

Being a holistic practitioner I am often curious about the body, mind, and of course, spirit. This curiosity lead me to many experiences in learning about life, death, and spirit. These experiences would transform my life. This past week brought several deep reminders of what death means. The subject of death and dealing with potentially terminally ill family came up at a meeting I host, Evolving Minds. Tomorrow, Saturday morning marks 20 years since my mother left this world. The past 6 months brought two eye opening experiences about my own mortality, and the past 10 years have been filled with surprises from the spiritual world.

I was only 20 when I lost my mother. She was only 41. As I sit here 40 years old and 20 years later I can not imagine being in her place. I can not imagine knowing I was going to die and leave my children. I have no idea how one prepares for such an event. I do not know what she would be like much past my own age now. I often wonder what kind of grandmother she would be and if she would be proud of who I grew up to be. And I even wonder what she would look like since I look so much like her. There is something that changes in a person when one reaches the age of their parent’s death. There is something that changes within a daughter when she loses a mother so young and spends decades wondering what it would be like to have a mother. The pain I felt eventually lead me to peace.

I have never believed in actual death. I have always believed that there was some part of me that would transcend this world. What that may look like or feel like I do not know, but I am receiving glimpses. My 40th birthday was in May and close to that time I had an experience that left me confident that there was an aspect of me that was not my physical body. That part of me was free. I spent the day crying and convincing myself that it was ok stay, I had things to finish here. I vowed to remember those feelings of peace and freedom and to carry them with me in this world. Then, late this summer I had an episode where I lost consciousness and someone had to revive me. I have no recollection of the event. Everything was black. And I wondered if that was what death was like?

Over the past 10 years I have had countless experiences that were not of this world. Some of them included loved ones who have passed. I do not have an explanation for this. I have tried to use science and that helps, but it can not really express the magnitude of such experiences. I am forever grateful to those loved ones that have reappeared reminding me that death is not real. Reminding me that some aspect of them is still with me. Thank you mom, Mr. Hennessey, Felix, and Ben Johnson. I loved you when you were here and I love you now.

These experiences allow me to have a greater respect for life. I take things a little slower, I am a little easier on myself, things that bothered me are easier to let go of, and I love people and experiences so much more deeply. I honor the experiences, even the painful ones like the loss of loved ones. Those experiences remind me of who I AM. Today, take some time to honor your life and your path and to also honor those that may no longer be here with you in the same way. Those loved ones may be closer than you thought.

Namaste,
Amy McCae
Holistic Life Coach
http://www.amymccae.com

Profound Reminder

Experiences occur that cause us to reevaluate our lives.  Some events that I witnessed this week opened my eyes.  When I say witnessed I am referring to taking a step back and viewing my life as an outsider.  Although I struggled with setting my emotions aside, I had moments of complete clarity. Watching things unfold as a spectator allowed me to gain a different perspective. I understood, if even for brief moments, the role I had played in the creation of events.

My absolute passion is the mind, the brain, the power of thought and how it affects our lives.  I am fascinated by the science  and in awe over how our thinking really creates the lives that we lead.  Even more profound is the fact that at any given moment we have a choice.  We have a choice to change our thinking and thus change our lives by becoming aware of our thoughts and choosing ones that are better suited to leading happier lives.  Sounds simple enough, right?

Well… not so simple for me.  Despite my very clear understanding and absolute love of the mind, my thoughts run like wild-fire creating some very interesting situations to say the least. These situations invoke such an intense amount of emotion that the challenge of choosing a different thought seems damn near impossible. I have gotten so wrapped up in the emotional pain that all I could do was blame and criticize proving that what you resist persist.  And on top of it, I have gotten stuck there. I feel like a prisoner trapped in my own self-defeating mind.

A friend of mine said to me, “You will teach what you need to learn the most.”  What  I love the most I seem to need to be reminded of the most.  This week I was reminded. I was reminded in profound ways of just how I powerful my mind is in creating my life.  I was reminded of exactly what I don’t want and because of that I can choose differently even if it for a brief moment.  It is during those moments that I am at the most peace. It is during those moments that I have a complete understanding of this world and have no need to change it.  True peace of mind seems to come when we can be surrounded by chaos and yet have peace in our hearts.

Peace of mind and love to all my friends and family!

Amy S McCae

Wellness and Lifestyle Coach

http://www.creativewellnessomaha.com