Panda Heart Publishing's Official Blog

“The world would have you agree with its dismal dream of limitations.  But the light would have you soar like the eagle of your sacred visions.” - Alan Cohen

We are receiving news daily about our lack and limitations from the reports of our economy, unemployment, etc. etc.   We seem to be boxed into these tight descriptions of who we are or, more accurately, who we are not.

We are often being pulled into an either/or position as well.  We are either on this side or the other.  Our views seem to be even more polarized than ever.  What is missing is knowing who we really are and finding out if we are living our own dreams.  Where are we in this picture?

Let’s release this limited view of who we are and reach into our hearts to discover our true potential.  What are our dreams?   What makes our hearts sing?  As we begin to uncover these dreams, we can look outside the box to find the ways to make these dreams our reality.

When we begin this process, our spirits are also awakened and we become alive.  As we begin to expand our view of who we are, we also awaken our enthusiasm and passion for life.  The journey itself becomes joyful as we look forward to each new day.

Let’s keep our intention and focus on these “sacred visions” with an open mind and an open heart.  Let our lights shine on the unlimited potential that truly exists and  re-experience the wonder and magic of life as “we soar like the eagle of our sacred visions”.

I took a long walk today in nature.  It is almost miraculous how the energy of nature can provide such a calming and healing sense of well being.  This beauty can be found almost anywhere and is available whenever we decide to experience this serenity.   Being in nature cost either nothing or very little.

Many of us are living in stressful times or facing many problems.   Knowing that spending time in nature is always such a healing experience, we wonder what stops us from taking advantage of what the earth has provided so abundantly.  Are we so absorbed in our lives, that we think we don’t have the time?

Let’s re-examine our priorities and get back in touch with who we really are.  Being in nature provides us with a glimpse of our inner souls, our creativity, a quieting of our minds, and our ability to resolve whatever problems lay ahead of us.  Thus, spending time in nature actually makes us more productive and adds the balance that allows us to experience the joys in our lives.

This week let us take a moment to go out into nature wherever we may be.  Change the pace of our busy lives, just breathe in the serenity, and take in the beauty that surrounds us everywhere.  Being in nature reminds us that we are all one and experiencing this life together.

“Life is a song – sing it.  Life is a game – play it.  Life is a challenge – meet it.  Life is a dream – realize it.  Life is a sacrifice – offer it.  Life is love – enjoy it.”     ~ Sai Baba

How are we living our lives?  Are we going from one day to the next in a survival mode?  Are we focusing our energies on the fear of what lies ahead?  Or, are we living our lives in the wonder of each moment with gratitude in our hearts for all that we have?

Life, for all of us, is filled with moments of love, joy, and celebrations, as well as, challenges, and sorrow.  To live life is to experience all of these things and more.  Would we give up all of our moments of love and joy to not have to face the challenges or the sorrow?   When we are in the throws of our grief, we might say “yes”, but when the distance of time is added, most of us would say “never”.

Life is a journey and we were meant to experience “all” of it.  Would we even be able to know what joy is, if we had not had moments of sorrow?  Would we be as thrilled and happy when we finally found the answer to a difficult problem, if we were not challenged to meet it?  We could not even feel grief, if there had not first been love.

Life truly is a song that we could be singing,  a game that we could be playing, with dreams we could be pursuing.  Life is truly love.  When we freely share the gifts of our hearts with each other, there is an unending supply of love to be given.  Let us celebrate the wonder of life and the beauty of who we really are;  a light that shines forth in the darkness, our humanity.

Have you ever thought when dialoging with people, how often we speak but don’t listen with the same enthusiasm?  If we are excited about something and anxious to share this information with others, we often expect that they will also become excited.  When they don’t, we might become disappointed and even shut down our listening.

This occurs because we all have our own unique points of view, which consists of all of our experiences and beliefs.  No two points of view can ever be the same so different reactions to the same information are more than likely to occur.   Even when we share similar beliefs, if we stay together long enough we will find the differences.

One way of approaching our lives in to hang on to our points of view with the determination of convincing others that we are “right”.  Our point of view is the only one that matters since we hold the truth.  This need to be “right” has a crippling effect on relationships and often blocks effective communication with others.

What if we assume that our points of view are based on our own unique experiences and know that all others are different?  Would we listen more openly?  Would we respond differently?

The beauty of knowing we are each unique and special is that when we share our points of view, we can more readily listen to the points of view of others.  We gain insight into who they are.  We can take in this new information and sometimes expand our own points of view to hold these new thoughts and beliefs.  Just knowing that they exist expands our awareness of life.

The paradox and magic of relating in this way is that when we really take in each others differences, we finally reach the point where we are all the same.  This experience comes from our expressions of respect, compassion, gratitude, and love found within our hearts.  The one force that unites us all.

Everything in life occurs in relationships.  Our relationship to the elements of the earth, to the plants, to other animals, and most importantly to each other, determines the meaning and purpose of our lives.

All of our relationships are contained within a vast web of interrelationships of which we are often unaware.  Our relationship with one person can affect the relationships that person has with others; thus creating a ripple effect.

Having the ability to form and sustain positive relationships with others is one of the most critical needs of our time.  It is the basis of our personal lives as well as that of our communities, our nation and our world.

It all begins with the personal relationships that we now have in our lives.  When we focus on our hearts and share our gifts with each other, we cannot help but create a positive bonding with others.

Our hearts provide the compassion, respect, and gratitude we need for real communication.  We can listen to others with a deeper level of understanding.

In our current relationships, let us take the time to observe how we are communicating with those around us.  Are we speaking and listening from our hearts?  If not, let’s realign our thinking and participate from a new place.  Luckily, we are always at choice.

This positive energy will surround us in the light of love and begin to transform our world to a place of peaceful co-existence.

Throughout our lives we are in and out of many different kinds of relationships.  We may find ourselves on top of the world with happiness or struggling to figure out what went wrong.

It is the nature of emotions that we experience all feelings.  What do these emotions teach us about relationships?  Can they be a guide to something else?  How can we use our emotions as a signal to getting our relationships back on track?

Once we experience an emotion, it then becomes all about the choices we make, (and subsequent behavior or actions that follow), and whether it works or it doesn’t.

The definition of what works is:  “Does it make me and others feel better?”  The definition of what doesn’t work is:  “Does it make me and/or others feel badly?”

Our choices and actions are always completely in our control.  It does not depend on others.  People merely give us the backdrop or setting by which we can select our behavior of choice.  In other words:

People provide setting ——> We experience an emotion ——>We choose a response, our reaction ——->  We experience the consequences of our actions.

Our choices ultimately define our character and determine the quality of our relationships.  We were all meant to have warm, loving, and satisfying relationships.  As human beings, we were never meant to exist alone on a permanent basis.

Let us examine all of our choices and actions by what works and what doesn’t.  If it makes us and others feel better, then continue the behavior.  If it makes ourselves and/or others feel badly, then let’s just let it go.

We tend to spend too much of our time justifying our choices and actions that don’t work, just to be “right”.   We then get to experience the negative consequences over and over again.  Is it really so important to be “right”?   Why??

Think of what our lives would look like if we always chose to do those actions/ behaviors that do work, making ourselves and others feel better, and truly experience the joys of having positive and loving relationships.

Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit.
~ e.e.Cummings

It is easy to get caught up in comparisons.  That person is brighter, more successful, has more money, better looking, happier, more satisfied with life, etc. etc.

In truth, we are all amazing, wonderful, extraordinary human beings who may have forgotten who we are.  Each one of us has unique and special gifts that we were meant to share with others.

We each also have our intrinsic gifts of love, kindness, friendship, generosity, etc.  In fact, our gifts are too numerous to even begin to count.  Why then do we choose to focus on what we lack instead of celebrating who we really are?

It seems that we have been taught to look at our mistakes instead of finding joy in our victories.  I heard a story today from of a teacher who was instructing her high school students on their first day of school.

She began her lesson by stating that she had difficulty with spelling.  She wrote the lesson on the board and as she was writing, she misspelled one word.  As the students saw this, many of them became uncomfortable and wondered if they should wait until she was finished before saying anything.

Finally one student could no longer wait and raised his hand to tell the teacher she had misspelled a word.  Other students appeared relieved.  She then proceeded to hold a discussion on what prompted the students to focus on the one misspelled word when the other 20+ words were done correctly.

The lesson was to bring the students to an awareness of how they have the tendency to instantly look at the mistakes or negative issues in a situation and not the positive ones.  In fact they were so distracted that they missed the lesson written on the board entirely.

Let us all find the beauty within ourselves, focus on our incredible gifts, generously share them with others, and unleash our human spirits.  Let’s not miss the lessons of life, as we look for the mistakes in ourselves and others, but rather celebrate the true essence of who we are.

“People see things that exist and ask, ‘why?’ I see things that do not exist and ask, ‘why not?’ ” – G.B.Shaw

I have heard that our thoughts create the future reality that we will step into.  If this is the case then why not dream or envision what we desire to see in our lives, in our community, or even in our world.

Dreams are the first step in the process of manifesting our desires.  When we think of our future, what do we feel?  Do we feel fear and anxiety or inspired and hopeful?

None of us is able to predict what lies ahead so why not focus on what we can predict.  We do control how we respond to life and those around us.  Imagine a scenario where we respond out of fear and anxiety vs. one where we respond out of love and gratitude.   The outcomes would be dramatically different.

If we are dreaming about a new relationship, a new job, finding a new location to live, or finding harmony within our current lives, let us choose the dreams which hold our love, gratitude, inspiration, and hope and begin to bring these positive energies to the situations we are in now.

Manifesting the dreams of our future begins with creating them right now in all of the actions that we do today.  What are your dreams?  What actions can you take today to make them come true?

I have been reading many messages recently about really being who we are.  (Sharing the gifts of our hearts, fully expressing from our hearts, listening to our hearts, etc.)  Some people experience this as “the God within”, our souls, or our core essence, the fullness of who we really are.

However we experience this journey to our centers, our hearts,  it is what is now being called forth in our world.   As we fully step into the totality of who we are, our humanity unfolds and we  can begin to change the world into what it was meant to be.  War can only exist in the absence of the heart, and our humanity.

To emphasize this concept I would love to share this amazing video by Wisdom Inc., in the words of Marianne Williamson from her book, “Road to Love” .  http://www.wisdomfilms.com/downloads/

Let our lights fully shine and illuminate the darkness in our world.   Letting our lights shine into the world is a wonderful way to launch a new day and it truly is “holy work” to conquer our fears as we all fully step into the brightness of who we are.

I spent last Friday and Saturday attending the California Association for the Education of Young Children conference.  I was exhibiting my book and panda and sharing my curriculum for the social and emotional development of children for teachers and parents.   It is always so heart warming to be surrounded by so many dedicated and inspiring teachers.

Even in these current economic times with budget cuts and layoffs occurring, they were able to maintain their passion and enthusiasm for the children that they serve.  They went to each booth examining the potential products, that would bring more creativity and educational benefit to their children.

Many teachers made lists of different resources and carefully evaluated the cost and benefit of each one.  They prioritized and selected the ones that would best serve the needs of the children, making full use of every dollar.

What makes teachers want to spend their lives devoted to the education of children?  It certainly isn’t the money.  They rarely get the acknowledgment they deserve.  They take work home and often work long hours.

I have found with most teachers, it is the gifts that they hold in their hearts, which are bursting with the love of children and education.  It is for the reward of seeing the child’s eye up when they have learned something new, perhaps after a challenging time of discovery.  They know that they have truly made a difference in the lives of children and by extension, their families and the communities at large.

I am truly grateful for all of the teachers out there doing this wonderful work with our children.  The genuine heart of a teacher is a sacred calling.