Time Slips By Too Fast, A Mother's Thoughts

My oldest son had his Sr. Prom last night. He had told me about how a few friends and he had a conversation about how much they were going to miss each other. As he told me this I started thinking about his graduation coming up in a few weeks and his plans for the future.

He is a grown man but he will always be my little boy. He even saved my life once. (That story is for another blog.)

In two years his sister will be at this point and in four years his brother will too. They grow up too fast.

It seems like only last week that I felt this first stirrings of life in womb. I could have lost him at one point in the pregnancy, yet here he is my hero about to walk into the real world.

The usual parental thoughts pop into my head as graduation date looms closer: Did I prepare him enough? Did I teach him all he needs to know? Will he survive? Does he know that I am only a phone call away? Will he find the right woman? Will he have a great life? Will he have his own family?

The list goes on and on.

He truly is a wonderful man. I realize that he will stumble, get hurt, possibly get his heart broken, maybe even fail a time or two. I also comprehend that I have to let him walk his own road. I can no longer hold his hand and tell him what he should or shouldn't do.

I have some very sweet (and some not so sweet) memories of his childhood. I have more precious memories of my children's childhoods than my own, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Watching my children growing up is a constant reminder that time is so fleeting. We are only here for a short time. There is so much world out there and only a limited time to live in it.

There is so much that I would have loved to do for and with my children, but it didn't work out that way for various reasons and I will not regret it. I will not regret the life that I have given my children up to this point because they would not be who they are now if events had gone differently.

I can still make memories with my family. I still have things to teach them. I still have stories to tell them. I still have a life to live with them.

Time slips by too fast, so we need to live each blessed day that we are given.

Are you living your life or just existing in it?

Are you ready to change?

"We have tomorrow, but we won't always have tomorrows."

Many Blessings and Much Love,
Andrea Faye

A Personal Story of Finding Strength

Standing under the steaming hot water in the shower last night, I felt a tightness in my throat as a tear rolled down my cheek.

An image had popped into my head of a young girl giving herself a sponge bath. Two large bowls of precious hot water and a sort of bucket under her feet. She was so careful about spilling as little of the water as possible, as she washed herself. Standing in a cold shower in an even colder bathroom.

She had heated the water one pot at a time. She stood there shaking and shivering so hard that she had to keep her mouth clamped painfully closed. She had done the same mediocre bathing ritual to her younger brothers an hour before.

They were tucked into her bed, curled around each other for warmth, sleeping so soundly. She had found them all the extra blankets that she could. As soon as she would dry off and get dressed, she would crawl into bed with her siblings and keep them as warm as their shared body heat would allow.

That young girl was me.

Growing up, my family had some hard times.

I remember that winter so well.

No money for propane to heat the house or the water. Having to boil water for makeshift baths and washing dishes. I ate a lot of white rice and beans that winter, so my brothers could eat better. Walking to school, because I was too embarrassed to ride the bus, consequently being tardy a heck of a lot. I got teased about my clothes and my hygiene. No one knew the truth. No one cared to ask.

I've gone back to visit that young girl, in meditation.

I hold her, tell her I am so sorry for what she is going through. I tell her that someone knows now. I wipe her tears with mine as I share our pain, because I had to be so strong then. My brothers never saw me cry. I had to be strong for them. 

I have always had to be strong.

I have always had to.

For someone else.

Now I am strong for me.

I am still strong for others, I have a family after all, but it is a different strength.

I strive to be successful, because I have lived with the strength of sacrifice.

I live a life filled with love, because I have experienced strength during pain.

I am grateful for the good in my life, because I have been the strength in destitution.

I see others with an open heart, because I discovered my strength in ridicule.

I listen with my heart, because I was the strength of silence.

I give my smile easily. I listen without judgement. I speak with love.

I am very open and honest about my life and my self, because I am strong enough to.

I am a Mother. I am a Woman. I am Strong.

Are you strong?

Blessings and Love,

Andrea Faye

Meditation 101

Read the next paragraph and do as instructed:

Close your eyes. Inhale to the count of 4. Hold for 3. Exhale for 8. Repeat this 4 times. With each inhale feel your body relax. Stay relaxed, breathing slowly, with your eyes closed for about 60 seconds. Don't fight any stray thoughts that pop up. Just acknowledge them and let them go. When you are ready, once again inhale, hold, exhale in the beginning pattern and repeat 4 times. Open your eyes and stretch.

Congratulations! You just did a mini meditation.

Meditations come in many lengths of time and can be done in many ways.

There are three main forms of meditation: Active, Inactive and Inactive-Active.

Active Meditation

   This form of meditation is the least talked of except by practitioners of Yoga, T'ai Chi, Qi Gong, other types of martial arts, and other physical activities where the mind does not have to present with the body.

   What too many people don't realize, and utilize, is meditation while doing other physical activities. Have you ever meditated while vacuuming, washing dishes, washing the car, singing a lullaby as you rock your baby to sleep, folding laundry, or any other "chore".

   Meditation while you are doing something that requires a minimum of thought process is very relaxing and eases the stress and anxiety of having to do "chores" that seem time consuming, boring, and possible irritating. You can either let your mind wander or do some concentrated thinking on a specific thought.

Inactive Mediation

   This is the most common form of meditation and yet it is the hardest to practice. It takes a lot of practice to sit, lay or stand as still as possible and to train the mind to quiet.

   This is a very calming form of meditation that can lead towards some astounding insight and awakening. It takes a heck of a lot of dedication to become adept at this meditation but it is so worth the time and effort. 

Inactive-Active Meditation

   This is the easiest of the three meditations. This form of meditation is where you sit, lay or stand as still as possible but let your mind wander where it will, turn a specific thought into the point of meditation, listen to music or a guided meditation.

   Letting the mind be occupied in some form makes it easier to keep the body still.


Meditation doesn't take any special equipment, just a place free of distraction and a willing participant.

Meditation in any form is a dedication to the mind and spirit. It is a way to delve deep into the soul and teaches you to discipline the mind and the body.

Meditation helps us to discover the answers to the questions and problems that plague our mind. Meditating opens our minds to living better lives. Meditation renews our connection to that which we hold sacred.

Meditating eases the mind as it strengthens it. Meditation will also open up your intuition.

When I do meditations with clients I do request that they try to have a good nights rest and be well hydrated. Just before the meditation class they should have eaten a light snack and have used the restroom. I do ask that my clients have something that they can take notes with, you never know what messages and insights might come through, I also ask that they have some water or other light refreshment to help ground them back into reality.

Meditations are as easy or difficult as you make them.

If you would like to participate in one of my meditation classes, in person or by phone, then feel free to contact me by email at breathingharmony@gmail.com.

7 Ways to Re-Motivate Yourself After a Personal System Shutdown

Sit in a nice quiet spot and close your eyes for a few moments and listen. Listen to all the jabbering that goes on in your head.

The stress and worry of a normal everyday life comes in loud and clear. All the "to-do's", bills, work issues, family stuff, everything that goes on in your daily life will just fill your head with so much noise as it all vies for your attention.

It really is enough to make you just want to curl up under a blanket and hide from it all. You become so exhausted from all the stress of just thinking about everything that you need to get done, let alone trying to do it all. You lose your motivation and you just shutdown.

Throw in one of life's bigger setbacks, say a death of a loved one or a break-up, and you not only shutdown you down right shut yourself off from the rest of the world.

If and when you decide to come back on-line with the the still plugged-in, live in HD world you may feel lost, unmotivated, and possibly depressed. Your life is still waiting for you, and usually your ignored issues have piled up even more mountainous than you may want to acknowledge.

Living in today's fast paced, bill accumulating, keeping up appearances, highly distracting world can leave you so drained.

So how do you reset and re-motivate yourself?

Simple:

• Meditation
• Visualizing the Outcome
• Setting Priorities
• Journaling
• Talking to a Friend
• Reading Something Inspirational
• Just Start Moving

We have all heard of these tried and tested methods. They do work. We know that they do. We have all tried these at some point and time in our lives and they do pull our motivations back into focus for a time.

We do great, we begin to accomplish, life gets brighter, we dance through life, until we take one misstep, and falter for some personal reason. We drop the method we were doing so good on. We shutdown again only to try the next one and repeat the cycle.

We are all guilty of this at one time or another, but we know that all these tactics do work. Most people just never seem to keep up with them for very long.

This is why life coaches are so great to have. They help to keep you on track. They have no other reason to keep you going and motivated than to see you become the best You that you can be.

Life coaches will use some of the methods listed above as well as other methods that they have tweeked in some way. Life coaches help to keep you on track with accomplishing a better life and realizing your dreams.

So if you really need to get motivated to get your fanny into action, try any of the methods listed above to help you start something great in your life.