Optional Preparation & Supplies
- Wholesome recipe ideas: Feta & Vegetable Frittatas (One of our members made and brought these. They were amazing!) Caramelized Onion, Fennel, & Feta Tart (I made this one. Also delicious.)
- Candle-making kit (soy or beeswax is best), teacups or other small glass or ceramic containers from the thrift store
- Light candles all over the room
- Have some calming meditation music on hand
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Frittatas and strawberries
Frittatas and Carmelized Onion Tart
We began our candlelit meeting with a beautiful prayer then went right in to talking about the week past. I shared totally enlightening experience I had making something I saw in my Golden Mirror a reality: I started dreadlocking my hair! Every time I'd close my eyes and picture my authentic self, I saw her with dreads. I can't tell you how freeing an experience it was to take a step to match myself up to the true me, even in simply a cosmetic way. Please try this at home (not necessarily the dreads)! Do you see your authentic self enjoying nature? Do you see her running around playing like a little kid? Take an action, no matter how small, to be more like her. She is trying to tell you what will make you happy deep down. Listen to her...
Me and my brand new dreads
It was awesome to hear about each girl's journey this week. It was interesting how they each mentioned something about how they knew they needed to go on this journey not just for themselves, but for their families. To break cycles and help others find their joy and authenticity. What a noble reason to be working our hardest to overcome our dragons and truly be ourselves!
Take the time to write in your journal about your past week's experiences with the "Simple Abundance Journey" and overcoming your dragons. What do you feel like your most looming dragon is? (A dragon is anything that's stopping you from feeling peace, joy, and authenticity in your life).
This week's lesson focused on our spirits and "taking our next steps spiritually." When I talk about spirituality, I mean a connection with a higher power (God, for me). To demonstrate the importance of this first focus point, I gave the girls an analogy from my violin teaching. The first thing I teach a brand new beginner is how to hold the violin solidly. I tell them that this is the foundation, that if the violin is unstable, drooping, or wiggling around, they will not be able to build on top of it with fancy tricks and beautiful sounds. It will all fall apart. It is the same with spirituality. We will be working on healing our issues, developing talents, getting our bodies and physical health in shape, becoming our true selves, and adding all sort of simple beauties to our lives, but the glue that makes them all stick into place and make sense in relation to one another...stable and strong and lasting...is spirituality.
There is an energy healing system called The Healing Code that was a huge part of me overcoming my depression dragon. In the book, Dr. Alexander Loyd prefaces the science behind the Healing Code with this...
"...the deepest healing every person on earth needs is not physical or emotional, but spiritual, and it involves healing any disruption of a relationship with a loving God. That is something only God can do. That is something that is between you and God." (Loyd, pg. 28-29)
The Healing Code itself involves prayer and asking God to enter in and fix all that is not right in your body, mind, and life. Again, the importance of a spiritual foundation in all our efforts to find peace, joy, and oneness in our lives.
In our Simple Abundance book on February 26th we read about "real life beginning with reverence." Her definition of reverence is "that altered state of conciousness when you feel awe and wonder because you know you are in the presence of Spirit." Reverence and spirituality, to me, are inseparably linked. When I feel the most reverent, it is when I feel the most connected to God. She goes on to say...
"Real Life--the real life of joy we are meant to be living--begins when we restore a sense of reverence [spirituality] to our daily affairs."
Last, but not least, of the inspiring support I found on spirituality being of the utmost importance comes from The Book of Mormon, a book of scripture believed to be another testament of Jesus Christ along with the bible by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. In 1Nephi chapter 11, the prophet Nephi is seeing a vision of "the tree of life," and it is being interpreted to him by the Spirit. He is told that the tree represents the love of God. Nephi uses these phrases to describe the tree, or the love of God...
"...the beauty thereof was far beyond, yea, exceeding of all beauty; and the whiteness thereof did exceed the whiteness of the driven snow."
"...precious above all."
"Yea, it is the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men; wherefore it is the most desirable above all things...Yea, and the most joyous to the soul."
Such beautiful words to describe the love of God. Doesn't it sound like something you want to feel and experience at all times in your life? We are all ultimately searching for joy, whether we consciously realize it or not. These scriptures are telling us where joy is found: being connected to the love of God. His love is always there, that's not the issue. Are you tapping into it fully?
Our first goal in Goddess Group, and the only one I ask you to hold yourself accountable to this week is taking your next step spiritually. Maybe you're not sure if God really exists--make it your goal this week to pray throughout the day and ask and open your mind. By the way, don't let this be a baby step towards taking your next step spiritually. Challenge yourself! Take the plunge! The power to change your life comes from really doing something different or with more conviction than you've done in the past.
When I took this first step to overcome my depression last October, I felt that it would be a challenge and step up for me to start going to my church's temple once a week. The temple is a sacred place where we believe we can be closest to God out of all the places on the earth. It was certainly a sacrifice for me to take four hours or so out of my week, but boy did I start to feel the power of that place. I noticed myself being able to handle a lot more, and I just felt stronger spiritually like how your body starts to feel glowy and stronger when you've been exercising consistently.
I'm convinced that you will start to feel that strength and power with whatever step you decide is the right one for you. Really open your mind and meditate about it. Ask! Whatever thought comes to your mind...make it your top priority this week.
This week's Mind, Body, Spirit goal:
Take Your Next Step Spiritually
We ended our meeting with our Golden Mirror Meditation and a prayer. A note on your meditating: don't try too hard to picture an image in the mirror. Try for a second and then let your mind be still. She'll appear if there's something she feels like showing you. Don't get frustrated...kind of defeats the point of meditating.
For our Joyful Simplicities Activity, we made scented teacup candles. It was a lot of fun, and they turned out great! Click here for a tutorial and more pics.
Best of luck on this week of your journey!
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Lacey
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