As the school year comes to an end, I find this month a very busy
time.  With the summer vacation coming, many of us are looking
forward to a less hectic schedule and more down time.  This all seems
like a great summer plan, yet the summer seems to pass us by so
furiously and in September we are asking ourselves, where has the
summer gone??? We may end up feeling just as stressed and exhausted
when school starts as when it ended.

So, how can we begin to slow down and ensure a memorable and
rejuvenating few months?

Consider first the reasons why you may be demanding so much of
yourself.  What is the rush?  Does everything need to be done at this
moment?  Can you take small steps towards achieving big goals instead
of feeling the need to accomplish it all at once?  The summer flies
by so pick your projects sparingly so you can have time to enjoy the
kids and still have down time for Mom as well.

To be more productive and efficient in reaching our goals, we need to
take time for renewal.  How do you fit some relief into your busy
life?

Start by making a habit of deep breathing several times throughout
the day.  It triggers an automatic relaxation response and can be
done anywhere.  It keeps you focused in the present moment and
reduces stress immediately. For more ways to reduce stress where the
kids are concerned, check out my FREE e-course on How to Prevent a
MumME Meltdown at www.seekingbalance.ca under Free Resources.

Take frequent small breaks whether you are home or at work.  Coffee
breaks were designed for a reason, so use them effectively.  Do not
pass on your break thinking you will accomplish more.  We need this
down time for maximum efficiency.  Be aware however, of how you spend
your break, because a healthy snack, short walk, and stretch are more
energy producing than a coffee and doughnut.  If you are home, take
time to relax outdoors with a cool drink and revel in the beauty of
the sights and sounds of the summer season.

Do what you love on a regular basis.  If you have a favorite sport or
activity, make sure you participate in it often.  An hour or two a
week of doing what you love can have many positive benefits, mentally
and physically.  Having time for yourself during the summer gives you
the stamina and energy to enjoy more fully, your time with the kids.

Ask the kids at the beginning of the summer, what are some of their
favorite past times.  This way you can plan ahead and your children
get to feel valued by being asked.  It also ensures that they get to
enjoy what they really love to do.  Be aware though of over
scheduling your summer.  Strike a balance of fun activities for all
family members involved. 

Make your holidays a priority.  Vacations are a luxury no longer–
they are a necessity.  You need time to recharge and rejuvenate from
the daily stressors.  If you are having a difficult time taking
vacation due to job demands, consider taking a day of down time when
you can squeeze it in.  Remember; nurture yourself first and everyone
else will also benefit.

Make exercise, sleep, and good nutrition part of a healthy, rewarding
summer for the whole family.  There is nothing harder than reaching
September and having those extra pounds to lose and having to get
back into an exercise routine.  With less of a regular routine for
many families it is easy to get away from established healthy
routines regarding meals and sleep.  There is opportunity for many
late nights, yummy barbequed hot dogs and huge ice creams cones to
cool down on a hot day.  A summer certainly wouldn’t be a summer
without all these things.  Keep in mind, however, more isn’t better
in this case.  Enjoy and savor them all when you have the opportunity
but balance it out with days of early nights, corn on the cob and a
frozen yogurt!!!

The most important thing to remember about the upcoming summer months
is to make them memorable. You do that by being present and taking
the time to stop and smell the roses.  As most of you realize, life
passes us by very quickly and we don’t appreciate the time we do have
together as a family.  Often we are so busy with schedules, yard work
and disciplining that the real memories pass us by… a bike ride
through a beautiful trail, the marshmallow roast on a moonlit night,
the camping trip when the tent fell down and the water fight when Mom
got soaked from a water balloon gone wrong.

So, this summer make sure at the top of your to do list it says…
Enjoy!!! And not just the special occasions but every occasion
because life really is just one big special occasion, isn’t it?

So when you are kicking up your heels in delight and someone asks you
what you are celebrating you can say… Life!!!!

——————————————————–
) 2006 Peggy Porter
Peggy Porter is a nurse, Wellness Coach, and author of YumME
MumME Makeover-How to Balance Womanhood and Motherhood by
Nurturing the Me in MumMe. If you are a Mom and want to
start creating a healthier balance in your life, go to
www.seekingbalance.ca and register for Peggy’s free monthly
teleclass and Ecourse!  For more info you can also email
peggy@seekingbalance.ca or call 506-651-4550.

All forms of change require us to learn new ways of being
and functioning. One of the most valuable gifts you can
give yourself during times of change is to find appropriate
support.  A basic understanding of the learning process
that moves us through change will boost your ability to
find meaningful support for every stage of your journey.

Humans move through three core stages in every area of
change and growth – whether you are trying out a new sport
or adjusting to life after losing a loved one. You may find
yourself at a beginning stage in one area or your life and
an advanced stage in other areas of your life.  Success
lies in being able to determine how your personal learning
needs to be support with appropriate feedback, support or
adjustment.  When we get stuck in any one stage, growth
stagnates.

Beginning Stage – Knowledge

The beginning stage of learning or change is the thinking
or cognitive stage. This is the stage where you may decide
to learn more about something – perhaps you choose to
explore spiritual realities and delve into many traditions,
teachings and materials.  During this stage, you spend a
lot of time acquiring information, processing new concepts
mentally, and figuring out how everything fits together.

During the beginning phase, personal growth tends to be
sporadic, uncoordinated and often somewhat lopsided – not
unlike watching a toddler taking their first solo steps.
Mistakes are common and it is often difficult to filter out
irrelevant information, since discernment is a skill that
gets refined with time and practice.  You may get
overwhelmed easily when there are too many things happening
in your life at one time or if you put pressure on yourself.

One of the most valuable forms of support during this phase
is to ask for constructive feedback and encouragement from
others.  You can also support your own progress by giving
yourself room and grace to fail, and making a commitment to
keep going after each setback.  Repeated effort provides
the practice needed to become more familiar with the new
skill or learning.

Intermediate Stage – Application

In the intermediate stage, you start applying what you have
learned so far to implement meaningful change into your
life.  You now move beyond simply knowing about things into
practical application of your knowledge; you experiment
with new and different ways of being in order to live it.
During this phase, you start connecting the dots in your
learning.  With the experience gained from practical
application, you start shifting your perspective to embrace
new attitudes. On the spiritual journey, this stage finds
you moving out of the intellect and into the heart, from
where you start clearing away everything that is illumined
by your emerging Higher Awareness as no longer useful.

During the application stage, you may try many different
approaches to your goal before experiencing a sense of
accomplishment.  Clients looking for tools of
self-transformation often experiment with different
meditation techniques or forms of exercise during this
stage.  Since practical application brings about real-world
outcomes, you may also become acutely aware of the external
environment in which you operate.  This heightened
sensitivity can bring with it a strong need for external
encouragement on your progress to build confidence and
assurance. If not balanced with your personal convictions,
this need for external affirmation can evolve into
expectations of external validation that may erode your
personal power.

On the journey of personal growth, you will spend most of
your time in this stage, continuously challenging and
clearing outdated beliefs to facilitate continued growth.
Constructive feedback becomes vitally important and you may
rely on a few trusted sources for feedback.  There is also
a need to balance input from others with increasing
responsibility for your own growth.  You take on more
responsibility by actively maintaining balance, clearing
out dissonant beliefs, aligning to your core truths and
reconciling your inner life with outer differences.

Advanced Stage – Integration

In advanced states of learning, you take full
responsibility for your actions and your behavior becomes
self-regulating. You have moved from the stage of knowing
about things, to doing it, and now you are becoming it. 
You no longer look outside yourself for affirmation,
guidance and support, but find it through your ever-present
connection to Source.  Listening and dialoging with the
Divine Presence within, becomes an automatic, on-going
process that facilitates personal diagnosis and adjustment
in areas of imbalance whenever needed.

Functioning at this level brings about a keen awareness of
your interconnectedness to all forms of life.  This
emerging awareness makes you highly effective at being a
positive influence for change, shifting the level of
consciousness around you simply through the sum total of
what you have become. At this level, growth or development
may be incremental and may appear smaller, because the
individual deals with fine-tuning and deep inner work that
may not be visible to others.

The next time you feel a little lost on your path, take a
look at which stage of learning you are at in the area
where you feel wobbly.  Then, find support that will offer
you appropriate correction and feedback for that stage of
your process.  You’ll be amazed at the difference this
awareness brings!

About the Author:

Ada Porat facilitates personal development through the
integration of body, mind and spirit. She enjoys
international recognition as an inspirational speaker,
teacher, author and practitioner at the leading edge of
personal growth and well-being. To sign up for Ada’s
inspirational monthly newsletter, visit
http://www.AdaPorat.com

Respect For Nature
A Belief in Harming None (including both yourself and others!)
Belief in Deity or Deities (differs depending on denomination)
Mutual Respect for All Life
A Belief in “Magick”

While some pagans believe in only one Goddess, and one God, others may believe
in ONLY a Goddess, or ONLY a God, or MANY different Gods and Goddesses. Also,
some pagan paths are more centered on working “Magick” (the ability to make
things happen using willpower and nature) than others. Generally speaking,
pagans of all denominations are kind, caring individuals that believe that it is
wrong to harm any living creature (including plants!). We believe in the law of
three…which tells us that whatever actions we do to others, will be brought
back upon us threefold. So if we do something bad to someone else, it will come
back to us three times as bad.

Pagans are very earth-concious, and live in harmony with nature. They see nature
as a living being, and want to treat her with kindness and respect. Pagans also
come from all walks of life…there are rich pagans, poor pagans, black pagans,
white pagans, indian pagans, old pagans, young pagans…you get the idea! In
fact you have probably met many pagans on the street and didn’t know they were
pagan! Most pagans do not actively show their religion, for fear of being
outcast or ridiculed by friends or family. Some pagans even lose their jobs, or
worse, just by admitting that they are pagan.

Pagans (including Wiccans, which is a denomination of Paganism) sometimes also
refer to themselves at “witches”. This can really intimidate or scare
Christians, as they imagine witches as being evil or cruel as history portrays
them. This is absolutely not true, and is only a stereotype. Many Wiccans are
reclaiming the word ‘witch’ as a word of power, believing that this word has
been unfairly maligned. There are people who use the term ‘witch’ who follow a
spiritual/religious/ethical path, but who are not specifically Wiccan.

The most common symbol for paganism is the pentacle. Pagans use this symbol much
like Christians use a cross or crucifix. Unfortunately, this symbol is also one
of the most misunderstood! What the pentacle symbolizes to pagans is the four
elements of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water, and the point at the top symbolizes
Spirit, which is in everything around us. The circle around the 5 pointed star
represents unity. While the pentacle HAS been used in Satanism, Satanists use
the pentacle with the point facing DOWN. Pagans never use the pentacle in this
manner…the point is always up! (See more information about this in the What we
are NOT section.

Pagans generally celebrate 8 “sabbats”" (or holidays!) a year. These are covered
more extenstively in our Holidays section. We also celebrate 12 “esbats” a year
as well. An esbat is a celebration of the moon, usually when full. We celebrate
the moon, because it is a symbol of the Goddess, and it carries her power with
it.

Pagans also have “alters”, but these are not evil, archaic things. These are
usually a simple table or stand where we place our important magickal items,
such as incense, a chalice (which represents the goddess), an Athame (dagger)
which symbolizes the god, salt to represent earth, incense to represent air,
water, and a candle to represent fire. There may also be other items that a
pagan may place on their alter to help them with their rituals.

Pagans do “rituals” at major sabbats, esbats, or sometimes for other reasons
such as handfastings (pagan marriages), wiccanings (pagan baptising!), or other
special occasions. Ritual usually only involves casting a circle, calling upon
the diety, calling upon the 4 elements, and carrying out the ritual itself (such
as thanking the diety for the harvest, etc). Now, mind you, rituals and ways of
doing ritual vary greatly between denominations and individual pagans.

Some pagans do belong to a “coven”, which is a group of pagans who worship the
same diety, and have the same purpose and mindset in doing magick. Although some
pagans belong to covens, the majority of pagans are solitary, which means they
work alone.

These are the basics of what paganism is. Obviously I cannot cover every topic
on paganism without writing an entire book, but I hope that this article helps
you to understand the truth of paganism.

Stephanie Davies is a 27 year old Missourian with a loving husband and an 8 year
old son. She currently owns and operates her own business, Mystickal Incense &
More, which sells handmade candles, incense, bath & body products and other
handcrafted products at http://www.mystickalincense.com

According to the 1987 classic, “The Different Drum: Community Making and Peace”, Dr. Scott Peck defines the spiritual life as fluid and that one may pass back and forth repeatedly through any of the four-probably more-stages of the soul.
Stage one upon this journey -that begins from within-is essentially our infancy in the spiritual life. Like a wild child, a person in this stage reflects the inner chaotic and anti-social, unregenerate soul that is interested only in its own self-satisfaction and ego, much like the stereotypical spoiled child. Stage one people may claim to love others, but their behavior reflects they love their own pleasure, money, power, prestige, and security above any other. For stage one people, it really is all about them.