Recently, I had an inspiring, energizing, and engaging reading with Eliyahu Jian – an author, rabbi, and life & spiritual coach. It was a delightful experience, because he saw parts of myself that few others have. I laughed, cried, was a bit surprised, and uplifted.
It’s the magic of Being Seen – when someone connects with your essence and reflects it to you in a way that you feel truly honored, recognized, appreciated.
/uploads/2018/12/caring-children-kindness-awakeningself-spirituality-300×200.jpg” alt=”” width=”300″ height=”200″ />It’s the holiday season once again (feels like I just packed up last year’s Christmas tree, and now we are getting the ornaments out again!). While the season calls for celebration, merriment, and goodwill towards all, we’ve been seeing a lot of suffering and conflict in our world.
We might easily feel less than optimistic about the nation and our relations with others, whether other countries or those we pass on the street. But I have been seeing beautiful reflections of kindness and love all around me, and find that the willingness and ability to see human benevolence bolsters not only my world view, but my perception of myself.
One of the first flowers to reveal itself in the spring, the Dandelion is a common sight in sidewalk cracks and my own front yard. I saw the first one stealthily growing next to my African daisy by the front fence.
I pledged to stop pulling up these plants, what we usually consider to be “weeds”, as a way to support the local bee population. They are one of the first flowers to nourish honeybees when they emerge from hibernation. And since the honeybee is in serious danger in North America, I figured it was the least I could do.
On further reflection, I realized that there is more to the Dandelion than meets the eye. What a powerful little plant, and how much I can learn from it.
Today, January 17th, is the rebirth of my website, AwakeningSelf.com! After a lot of hard work, I have this gem to share with you. Thank you to my wonderful web designer, Mani Sheriar, for being so delightful to work with and for sharing her very special talents to create this place of beauty and inspiration. Also a special thank you to my very gifted photographer, Lisa DeNeffe, who did all my new portraits for the site. She really brings out everyone’s natural essence in her work.
I hope you enjoy all the content I’ve created here to give you a meaningful and uplifting experience as you explore Awakening Self. Share freely with others!
