Reap the Rewards of Your Efforts

We find ourselves in the midst of summer with August on the horizon. In many cultures, August is the harvest—the reaping the rewards of what you planted last spring. August is also a time to pause, reflect and refresh.

This is the time to slow down a bit, take stock of where you are and where you are going. Are you still headed in the right direction achieving your goals or do you need to adjust your course? Are you getting what you want or is what you want still just out of reach? Are you enjoying the journey so far, or do you feel discouraged and upset about what is not happening?

You can use this month as an opportunity to pause and to celebrate every aspect of your life. To receive everything that Life hands you—the bitter and the sweet, and then to give thanks for it all. To look disappointment in the eye and smile anyway. And to ponder—What else is possible for me?

This is also the time of stillness – that moment before a gentle rain starts, or the moment before you take that deep breath and then rise to take a meandering walk, just for the joy of it, or that moment where you look at your child, or your grandchildren, and take a long, lingering breath of gratitude for their very existence, and yours.

Take a deep breath; let this be a moment where you enter into the inner stillness that is always present. In that stillness you find that you can be, and are meant to be, a perfect reflection of the wonder, the glory and the power that dwells within you. ~ Mary Manin Morrissey

It is in the Stillness that you open to all possibility, all love, all peace and all meaningful reflection. Within this Stillness you are able to look at every experience with a fresh perspective. Those situations that didn’t turn out the way you had hoped, that relationship or job that fell apart, the income that hasn’t yet come through—everything works for your good. To open yourself to receive what is with grace—whatever that ‘what is’ is for you in this moment.

And this is the month to step back and look at your life as the journey that it is—in its entirety. Good, bad and everything in-between is cause for celebration this month. It is also the time to congratulate yourself on where you have gone on your journey so far, and celebrate your commitment to a new way of being in the world. To celebrate quietly or dance in the rain with your arms flung wide or gather together with friends and family or to laugh and cry out loud at the wonder and puzzlement that is life.

During this time of reflection and receiving, you grant yourself the time to take a fresh look at where you are and where you want to be. It is the time to re-envision, re-think, review and re-group your internal energies. It is the time to recheck and recalibrate your internal GPS and reset your direction, your goals and your desires. And it is the time to celebrate the You that is you.

It is receiving all of You, then letting go of the life you are leading and walk towards the life you want to lead. All the while CELEBRATING—celebrating every success, laughter, tear, and bump on the chin—it’s all about life.

Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without. ~ Gautama Buddha

Take this time to cultivate peace within yourself so that you may better share it with others. Enjoy the rewards for your efforts. Dance in the rain. Receive all that life has to offer you. Celebrate yourself.