A different kind of holiday

Today's post is by regular guest blogger Neela Bell.

I have a wedding to go this weekend so I'm not going to have my tradition turkey dinner thing. I realize how much I miss it, and how much the little traditions in my life are actually more important than I thought.

I invite you to  take a moment to think about this weekend, and how the IDEA of thanksgiving is a really amazing one. No one buys anyone a gift. There is no marketing of chocolates or diamonds or gadgets. No one wears funny Tshirts, or waves flags.

It's a weekend to think about how completely lucky we are to live in this country, and be surrounded by the quirky wonderful people who make up our "family" (relatives and friends). Whoever makes up your tribe, take a moment to tell them some little thing they do that you appreciate, even it is quietly inside your head. Life can get busy and so this opportunity to slow down and live in gratitude for a couple days is a nice one. Try to take advantage of it.

Neela Bell is a teacher, an aspiring writer and mother of two.

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A hunger food can't satisfy

Welcome to new guest blogger Sona Khosla. I met Sona 6 years ago when we worked together on the design of my first book Create a Ripple. One seriously fab chick. I know you’ll enjoy her regular guest posts.

I’ve been in Argentina for almost 2 weeks now. And I’ve come to that inevitable point in every vacation where you crave something familiar. Last night, this ended up in a planned dinner at a local hot dog shop called Mr. Dog. But after eating my “pancho” (“hot dog” in Spanish), I still wasn’t satisfied.

After a few hours walking around with an inner restlessness and an unconscious compulsive seeking, my colleague, Jen, and I came back to our hotel room. She was sprawled out on her bed reading a borrowed Jackie Collins book while I was restlessly listening to my iPod, checking Facebook, checking email, unsuccessfully trying to text my husband, reading my book. I still wasn’t satisfied, I wanted to eat something else. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I was still hungry.

This resulted in an 11:30 PM jaunt to McDonald’s where you can with 99% certainty get a burger, fries and Coke that will taste exactly the same way it does at home. Even though I knew this wasn’t going to satisfy me, I ate hoping that it might. After gobbling our meals, we looked at each other acknowledging that it was good to eat something familiar, but that neither of us were satisfied and we’d surely be regretful in less than a half hour.

I thought “maybe we need veggies.” We needed to eat some live food after hanging out at so many local parillas (“grills”) eating carne (“beef”) and pan (“bread”). So we walked into a tiny café and ordered a Caprese salad to go. While waiting for my food and watching the staff close up shop around us, I had this dreadful knowing that the salad was not going to satisfy me. It was just covering up another kind of emptiness I was feeling. But nonetheless I went through the motions hoping again for a reprieve from this discomfort.

We arrived at the hotel and asked the front desk clerk, Adrian, if we could borrow a kettle to make some herbal tea. He kindly obliged. We learned that he just finished his hotel management degree and plans to visit his father in the Dominican Republic soon, where he hopes to find a longer-term job. We returned to our hotel room with tea and salad. Both tasted great, felt good and filled up our already full stomachs. I felt about 2% calmer.

Over tea in the tiny corner of our room that overlooks the tin roofs of the residences below us, Jen and I stilled ourselves, peered out the window and just chatted about little unimportant things like each other’s quirks. We relaxed into the moment and finally stopped trying to fill ourselves. I let go to the fact that no food was going to satisfy the strange longing within me. I’d just have to sit with this deeper craving that no food will satisfy.

Welcome discomfort.  I think we’re going to be friends for a while.

Loves chocolate mousse. Loves travelling. Loves taking taking photos. Will worry about free-roaming dogs without owners. Writes to feel connected. This is Sona Khosla.

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Whose light is that shining?

This post is written by regular guest blogger Neela Bell.

I was glancing out my apartment window thinking, “Whose light is that shining?”. I realized after a moment that it was actually the moon. It was full and shining, like a werewolf movie.

I am pretty much a house cat. I realize this whenever nature, in all her glory, peeks into my hermetically-sealed confines. I like being warm and dry and bug free. I have an indoor job which keeps me pretty much behind glass all day. Most of the time, I’m pretty happy about that.

There is something about the moon that is hypnotic, something thrilling as we catch sight of it. It is a siren’s call to open a window, or step out on the deck, come for a walk, pause at the car door, peek between darkened pine trees, glance up. It is outdoors ... Out THERE.  And, despite a billion other people doing it on a million other nights before this, catching this stunner of a moon feels like an invitation, like a gift.

Neela Bell is a teacher, aspiring writer and mother of two.

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There must be more to life

Recently I received a card from a friend. On the front it  said:

There must be more to life than sitting around wondering if there is more to life.

My first reaction, besides being delighted to receive a lovely card in the mail,was a resounding "Duh!"

Of course there is more to life than that.

But then I was struck by my second thought.

On any given day, how many of us sit around and wonder just that?

Do you ever catch yourself asking...

Isn’t there more to life than this?”

It’s a good bet that if you do, it might be time to sit up and take notice. Nagging little questions that sound like some sort of cabaret song …is that all there is my friend…are a red flag that you are not as satisfied as you could be.

What’s the most likely reason that you feel somewhat unfulfilled, even if by all outside standards your life looks pretty good?

I’ll bet that a big portion of your time is devoted to things that are not really your heart of heart’s priority. We all do it. We fill up our schedules with everyone else’s needs, wants and desires and ours get shunted to the end of the list. You can do it for a while, sometimes even for a long while. But eventually that cabaret song starts playing in your head.

Maybe its time to start singing a new tune.

Maybe.

What do you think?

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Peaceful mind, peaceful world

What if you could create world peace?

That was one of the themes yesterday as I and several thousand other people attended the unveiling of the Jade Buddha for Universal Peace on its only Alberta stop of its international exhibition tour.

The Jade Buddha, carved from a solid piece of jade, is 2.7 metres high and sits on a 1.4 metre alabaster throne. It is truly a marvel to see.

According to organizers, the purpose of exhibiting the Jade Buddha around the world is for everyone, irrespective of their religion, to take a moment to reflect upon peace; peace for the world; peace in their relationships; peace for their families and friends; peace at work; peace in their mind.

Seeing this Buddha was a great reminder that one by one we each can make a difference.  It’s true that you create your own reality. What’s going on in your own head has a direct effect on what’s going on around you.

When you are angry, everything seems to conspire against you.

When you are fearful, obstacles arise.

Negativity in your head creates more negativity.

It works the other way too.

When you are optimistic, things seem more positive.

When you are open to possibilities, opportunities appear.

So why not peace?

When you have a peaceful mind, the world becomes a more peaceful place.

How can you bring more peace into your world?

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