Month: November 2023

Lewisburg, WV: A great town to visit anytime of the year, but especially during the holiday season

Featured by stephsimply, posted in Travels

“Having won a number of accolades over the past few years, Lewisburg, West Virginia continues to be an idyllic vacation destination for families, couples and groups alike.”–visitlewisburgwv.com

This door, found on an attorney’s office in Lewisburg, gave John and me a good giggle!

Sometimes, we Just Need to Recharge 🪫

 It was short and sweet, as the saying goes, but, wow, was it ever a relaxing getaway that was perfect for rejuvenating the spirit. My husband, John, and I decided to take a couple of days and head up the WV Turnpike to Lewisburg, WV.  While we had visited Lewisburg on previous trips, it had been several years since our last visit. Therefore, we were looking forward to experiencing the town and its surrounding picturesque countryside with new eyes.

Lewisburg, WV, once named one of Budget Travel’s “Coolest Small Towns” in America, has a vibrant energy you can feel whether you are simply strolling along its streets, visiting one of their unique shops, or dining in one of several locally-owned restaurants.  This was especially evident during the weekend in which we visited as it happened to coincide with the town’s kickoff to Christmas.

We arrived on the Saturday before Thanksgiving in the afternoon, which was the first day/night of what the town calls, “The Magic of Christmas in Lewisburg, ” and the town was on-point with its festive spirit.  Ambling through town, we noticed the outdoor Fresh, Hot Donuts and Coffee stand set up outside as part of their celebration.  Boy, did they smell great! The clip-clop of the horses’ hooves trotting along the streets of Lewisburg pulling a carriage of bundled passengers was quite the idyllic sound. Those seasonal carriages rides will continue every Friday and Saturday afternoon/evening until the 23rd of December.  (There’s even a Girl’s Day Out scheduled for December 10 in downtown Lewisburg as well to coincide with their seasonal celebration.)

Additionally, we were there for the town’s tree lighting ceremony on the town’s Center Green Space which occurred later in the evening, not long after the sunset. Prior to this event, Santa and Mrs. Claus walked throughout the town, graciously posing for pictures. Kids of all ages could be heard squealing with delight at the sight of this iconic pair, reminding John and I of when our own daughter was young. According to both Facebook and the Lewisburg website, Santa and Mrs. Clause will continue strolling through town on Saturdays throughout the month of December, from noon to 2:00 pm, with their last appearance occurring on the 23rd. 

Rest and Relaxation 😌

John and I thoroughly enjoyed staying in the heart of downtown in an AirBnB hosted by Anna and co-hosted by April.  We were able to easily access the shops, coffee shops, and restaurants with an easy walk. Additionally, it was also a great jumping off point for a little out-of-doors adventure. 

Greenbrier County, and its neighbor, Pocahontas County, we knew from previous trips, are full of scenic views. This trip was no different. We  loved the simple pleasure of driving through the countryside with its bucolic farmland valleys and mountainous surroundings as we made our way to Beartown State Park. Sadly, we did not take time to look at their website before driving to it. After making the panoramic drive up a winding mountain road, we arrived to find that it was closed for the season.  Even more regrettable was the fact that IF we had taken time to view the website, we might have noticed on the West Virginia State Park’s website that the park, “may be seen during the closed season by contacting the Superintendent of nearby Droop Mountain Battlefield State Park. No fee is charged.”  A lesson to remember for another visit.

GreenBrier River Trail 🥾

Since we were unable to walk/hike through Beartown, we decided to make a stop on the Greenbrier River Trail at Renick. While walking along a short portion of the 78-mile path of a former railroad track, we discovered a few interesting historical facts about Renick. We actually stood in the remains of what was once a former, thriving desk factory, viewed several of the buildings original to the town, and stopped by the Renick Community Center and Park, which was decorated for Christmas.  All-in-all this was a pleasant two-mile off-the-beaten-path experience.

The Welcoming Committee 😉

Lost World Caverns 🗺️ 🧭

Continuing back towards Lewisburg, we also decided it was high time we visited Lost World Caverns, located just outside of Lewisburg downtown. What a treat! It is located on a working farm with animals wandering the premises and contained within fenced areas of the parking lot. Additionally, there are plenty of picnic tables and space for walking about the property for those who want to make an afternoon of it.  

Once inside the facility, there is a fascinating museum that houses numerous fossils.  One fossil of interest is the complete remains of a prehistoric bear that was found on a ledge above the main cavern. This bear once roamed the area around 32,000 years ago, and its skull is 2.5 times the size of today’s black bear. Additionally, there are plenty of other replica fossils and items of geological interest.  Plus, for those that can’t get enough, there is also a museum shop, so you can bring home your own cavern treasure.

There are two ways to experience the caverns–the self-guided tour, which John and I took, or the “Wild Cave Tour.” The self-guided tour takes about 45-60 minutes to walk the ½ mile loop that includes about 350 steps as you move through the cavern. No matter the time of year, the cavern remains around 52 degrees. With beautiful passageways full of numerous stalactites and stalagmites, all playfully named, the tour is full of sights that will fill you with wonder and awe of the ever-changing world below ground.  The history of the cave is rich, and there is even an opportunity to hear a hidden spring flowing through the cavern. 

For those who enjoy a spicy adventure, there is a four-hour guided tour of the caverns that will definitely take you off the beaten path and even off your feet since there are spots in which you will be crawling, climbing, and getting muddy! The guides take care of the required gear in order to allow you to successfully navigate passageways and chambers.  Reservations are required.

Let’s Eat 🍽️

Old and New FAvorite Places to Dine 🍝

To fully round out our time in Lewisburg, John and I dined at a couple of new places and visited an old favorite.  Our dining highlights included, The Humble Tomato, The Wild Bean, and Hill and Holler. These restaurants offered delicious gluten-free and plant-based options for me as well as plenty of scrumptious eats for John. Additionally, tasty treats and exceptional wine were found at Bella The Corner Gourmet and Robert’s Antiques and Wine. 

All-in-all, our recent trip to the Lewisburg area provided John and me with new experiences for which to be thankful.  We were able to relax in comfortable surroundings, recharge our batteries with a walkable and welcoming community, and renew our spirits with plenty of fresh air and inspiring natural sights.  Lewisburg, WV, and its surrounding area, has much to offer visitors. John and I highly recommend it, and I am sure it will not be our last visit to the area!

Aunt Patty’s overflowing-with-goodness pound cake

by stephsimply, posted in Recipes

“Pound cake is so named because its original recipe called for a pound of each of its four ingredients: sugar, eggs, flour, and butter.”–Britannica 

Pounds of Appreciation 👩‍🏫

When I was a very young child, my mom would bake pound cakes for my siblings’ and my elementary teachers during the holidays.  I honestly do not remember for how long she kept this tradition going, since there were four of us kids.  What I do recall is carrying the cake into my classroom with great pride.  It was a family favorite recipe, so I felt like I was giving a grand prize to my teachers–a whole cake. 

sweet tooth cravings 🦷

As a young adult, I asked my mom for the recipe, which is when I discovered it came from my Aunt Patty, my mom’s oldest brother’s wife.  It was one of those recipes I made a couple of times before it became relegated to my recipe basket filled with index cards of recipes seldom used.  However, strangely enough this summer, I got a hankering for pound cake, and I dug out the recipe.

As soon as I read it, I realized that the recipe was back when I was ignorant to my celiac diagnosis.  Now I know why my stomach hurt every time I ate it!  I decided to try to create a gluten-free version of it.  It was NOT easy.

overflowing with love 🥮

My first adaptation overflowed into the oven.  It was a mess!  The good news was that the remaining batter that fully baked in the pan tasted good, so I was on the right track.  After spending a good hour, and then some, cleaning the oven, I was back to the drawing board.

I did more research and visited three sites for whom I have found reliable baking information in the past.  These sites helped with adapting the ingredient amounts of Aunt Patty’s original recipe to a gluten-free version. Mama Know Gluten Free confirmed my addition of vinegar to the original recipe.  King Arthur’s website inspired the idea of making the cake more decadent by adding a glaze to the top.  Finally, Land O Lakes helped me get clear on the correct cake pan size. 

The taste of sweet success 🍰

Cool on a rack first

Once success was attained, I knew I had to channel my former inner-child and share this gluten-free variation of Aunt Patty’s pound cake recipe. I’ve noted several adaptations/modifications that anyone can choose to bake a pound cake that meets dietary needs and/or taste preferences.  My mom often baked hers with cocoa powder, but for my gluten-free variation, I have not yet tried it, but I do plan to try that in the near future.

The gift of homemade goodness 👩‍🍳

Drizzle with glaze if desired.

In the meantime, as the holiday season is now upon us, give yourself, or someone special, the gift of decadent simplicity that can result when you mix and bake flour, eggs, sugar, butter, and few other simple ingredients!  From my home to yours, I wish a healthy and happy holiday season filled with “overflowing” homemade goodness from the kitchen!

Pounds of Saucy Goodness 🍯

Drizzling with good taste

Serve it up! 🥮

Add some extra sauce, like this strawberry sauce.

Aunt Patty’s Pound Cake, with optional Brown Butter Glaze

gluten-free and plant-based variations included

 Ingredients

1 cup milk, or non-dairy alternative

1 tablespoon vinegar

2 sticks (1 cup) room temperature butter, or non-dairy alternative

½ cup shortening

1 ½  cups sugar 

½ cup brown sugar

5 eggs, room temperature, or egg-free replacement 

3 cups of all purpose flour, or gluten-free alternative

(⅓ cup cocoa, optional if desiring a subtle chocolate flavor)

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 tsp almond extract

1 tsp coconut extract 

(Can replace almond and coconut extract with 2 teaspoons vanilla extract)

Brown Butter Glaze, optional

Ingredients

4 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces

¼ cup brown sugar

¼ cup confectioner sugar

½  teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1-2 tablespoons milk

Directions

*Note:  It takes 3-5 hours for butter and eggs to come to room temperature

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Prepare 12” (14.5 cups) bundt or 10” (16 cups) angel cake (tube) pan

Add vinegar to milk, and set aside in fridge 

Cream together butter, shortening, and sugar until light and fluffy

Add in eggs, one at a time mixing well between each addition

Gradually add in flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cocoa (if using) alternately with milk

Mix in extract(s), but do not overmix batter

Pour batter into cake pan

Bake approximately 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean

Allow cake to cool in pan 15 minutes before turning onto cooling rack to completely cool

Serve as is or with desired toppings such as fruit or ice cream; or top with glaze (see below)

Directions to make glaze:

Place cut up butter in pan over medium heat

Continually stir butter until you begin to see brown bits

Remove from heat and whisk in brown sugar until incorporated

Whisk in confectioner sugar and vanilla extract

Gradually whisk in milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until glaze is smooth and sugar fully dissolves

Poke hole with toothpick in cracks and crevices of cake top, and drizzle glaze over top of cake.

Store cake at room temperature in an airtight container for 3-4 days.

Can also freeze for up to 6 months.

Each loaf makes approximately 10 slices

*Pound cake is great toasted in a skillet or oven with butter and sprinkled with brown sugar, cinnamon, and sugar.

*It is also excellent served warm with favorite toppings such as berries, cherries, sauces, whipped cream, and/or ice cream. 

Toast it up in oven with butter, Brown Sugar, and cinnamon

The gift of single-mindedness–we tap into the present moment

Featured by stephsimply, posted in Simple Observations and Musings

“This very moment is the perfect teacher, and, lucky for us, it’s with us wherever we are.”–Pema Chödrön

REsistance is Futile🤯

I heard the thud and subsequent scattering of parts.  Then, I heard John, my husband, enunciate a few choice words.  Since I wasn’t in the same room of the house, I wasn’t sure what had happened.  Soon enough, John walked into the kitchen-dining room area and set an open socket and driver kit on the table.  Pieces of varying sizes were scattered around the kit like a collage of autumn leaves covering a walkway.

As a few more select words were uttered, John went to work. Watching him work reminded me of those long ago hidden picture pages in Highlights magazine that would entertain me as a young child anytime I visited the pediatrician’s office.  John focused intently as he matched pieces to their corresponding recessed area for storage.  Observing his level of attentiveness to the task at hand, I was struck by the fact he was exemplifying the power of single-minded focus.

Single-minded attention is not myopic 🔎

Bringing single-minded attention to a task is different than being so myopic on one thing, you fail to see the bigger picture of life.  Rather, single-mindedness is the ability to prioritize tasks, and then focusing solely on the most important task before moving on to the next.  This level of concentration requires the self-discipline to remove distractions and remain present with the task at hand.  By removing distractions and avoiding the temptation to multitask, the brain can more easily slip into a flow-state of productivity and/or presence. 

Sure enough, I noticed that in the beginning, when John was resisting the moment, as we have all done, by giving into anger and frustration–as evidenced by the colorful language–he was unable to correctly match the parts to their corresponding depressions.  However, as he let go of the resistance, surrendered to the task at hand, he began to more easily match each part to its recess.  A few moments later, John was into a flow-type state, with each successive match, the quicker the next match came.  Soon enough, albeit probably not soon enough for John, the kit was fully assembled, all parts righted into their nesting spot.

Photo by William Fortunato on Pexels.com

There’s nothing wrong with Mutli-tasking, but . . . 🎧

Many of us multi-task, and our busy, fast-paced world tends to promote multitasking as a regular practice. Obviously, there are merits to multitasking to “kill two birds with one stone” as the old expression goes.  However, there are limits to our focus.  When we are engaged with several tasks at once, no one task gets our full attention.  This is fine in the case of listening to a podcast or book while doing something else where the stakes are low–after all you don’t need to focus on every detail of the book or podcast to glean the overall message/meaning. Thus, nothing is majorly lost if we are not fully focused, and if it is, that’s what the rewind button is for.

In life, however, we don’t always get a rewind button.  Therefore, there are times when it is important to only focus on one thing at a time.  Most of us understand this.  For example, you most likely wouldn’t take a phone call during an important meeting at work or complete work tasks while attending an important doctor’s visit. (Well, maybe in the waiting room, but definitely not when the doctor or staff is in the room with you!)  Likewise, you would be offended and feel short-changed if you encountered either of these scenarios during an important work meeting or an urgent doctor’s appointment.  Nonetheless, how many other moments do we short-change by multitasking?

Photo by Andres Ayrton on Pexels.com

Single-mindedness can be applied to any moment in life 🍏

Any moment in life can be met with single-minded attention, and I do believe there is value in also practicing it.  Eating an apple, going for a walk, talking with a spouse, child, or loved one, even washing dishes after an evening meal can be completed with single-mindedness.  When we take time to solely and fully focus on one event, we are taking time to honor its importance in our lives.  For example, when eating a green apple, as we take a bite, we notice the crunch of the apple, the juice that seeps from the tender fruit with each successive bite, the sweet and tart taste on our tongue as our own mouth begins to dance with saliva.  As we fully taste the apple we can appreciate the nuance of flavors and texture experiencing pleasure, and perhaps, gratitude.

During the act of single-mindedly washing dishes, we are more readily able to take in the scent of the detergent bubbles filling our sink.  We notice the blue and red hues that skim the surface of each bubble.  Our hands warm and turn pink as we immerse them repeatedly in the silky water of soap.  Each dirty dish frees itself from the remains of the meal under the guidance of our hands, and it is rinsed shiny clean under a stream of water from our faucet.  As your mind enters into the flow of washing dishes, there might even be a moment when it occurs to you how fortunate you are to have running water and the opportunity to own enough dishes for everyone in your family.

Obviously, not every moment can be that idyllic, but I do think that practicing single-mindedness can offer numerous benefits.  When it comes to work productivity, focusing on one task well before moving onto the next, increases both productivity and accuracy.  For those in creative fields, single-mindedness can guide the brain into a desired flow-state where ideas begin to stream with ease.  Additionally, when applied to a conversation, single-mindedness not only conveys importance and value of the other person, but it also allows both parties to hear and be heard. 

Photo by Anna Shvets on Pexels.com

sprinkle it throughout your life like spice to enhance specific moments 🧂

Our time and energy for each day is limited. Thus, there will always be a time and a place for multitasking.  However, it is also important to recognize the preciousness of life. Therefore, it is a worthwhile endeavor to consider and prioritize certain tasks and events for which we will single-mindedly focus our attention. 

When we take time to give something or someone our full attention, we are also giving it our full appreciation. Giving an event our full appreciation leaves us open to feelings of gratitude. Our ability to perceive and appreciate details increases, and the event becomes more sacred as corny as that sounds. 

Practicing single-mindedness is not an all or nothing attitude.  It is a practice we can apply to specific moments in our daily lives.  The more we practice it, the more it is possible to feel the richness of our lives.  We have been endowed with special attributes, talents, and blessings, and it is only for a length of our short life on earth. Why not occasionally and single-mindedly take time to fully immerse ourselves in those gifts?

Five lessons that a post-surgery completion of a half-marathon taught me

Featured by stephsimply, posted in Simple Observations and Musings

. . . For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed . . . nothing will be impossible for you.”–Matthew 17:20 (NRSVCE) 

Apple seed hopes 🍏

Back in April, my daughter, Maddie was having fun with the camera as we waited in a pre-operation room.

Recently, apples have been in season, and as I cut them up and deseed them, I can’t help but take notice of those small seeds–seeds full of possibility and hope.  And, while the seeds from those apples will no longer yield trees and fruit, the apple itself fuels my body as well as a hopeful attitude.

In fact, by the time you read this, Dear Reader, I can say with feelings of great joy that I completed the Marshall University Half-Marathon.  Albeit, that finish line was not quickly crossed, but because of seeds of hope, faith, and belief, it was nonetheless completed.  Besides, 13.1 miles is still the same distance, no matter the speed it takes to get there.

Walking into the pre-race packet pick-up, I was filled with hope.

For the record, I didn’t tell many people about my seed of hope outside of my husband and daughter because it was my own private manifestation of recovery.  In April, it seemed highly improbable.  However, as the months passed and my stamina improved, that seed of hope grew into a seedling and sprouted leaves of possibility.  

Fostering such a dream has taught me a thing, or five, as the case may be, and because running is really a metaphor for life, I thought I’d share those lessons with you.

Five Life Lessons from running 🏃‍♀️

The runners are off and running . . .

Lesson 1: Small beginnings can engender bigger accomplishments.  At the beginning of April, immediately following spinal surgery on my neck, I was told to walk every hour as part of my recovery.  Even “trips around the dining room table” added up, the nurses told me.  The first few days were not easy, but I followed their advice, walking every waking hour, 5-10 minutes.  Eventually, I worked up to 15, 20, and 30 minutes, a few times per day.  Even then, I was dreaming of one day recovering enough to complete another half-marathon, but I didn’t know if it would ever be possible.  Nonetheless, I tucked the dream into the pocket of my heart.

Lesson 2: Savor the good moments, but don’t let the not-so-great ones trip you up.

During recovery there were some pretty rough days.  I tried not to let on, or even name them, lest I give them power over me.  Instead, I kept thinking of Dory, in Finding Nemo, who taught all of us to “just keep swimming.”  And, that is what I did.  I kept swimming, even on the days it felt I was going against the current.  When Dr. Saulle and his staff gave me the green light to slowly, but gradually, add in bouts of running to my walking, I was cautiously optimistic.  Nevertheless, since I had not been running for over three months, it was painfully slow going, but I held fast to the dream tucked into the pocket of my heart.

Run your own race; set your own pace.

Lesson 3: Race your own race; set your own pace. Throughout the late summer, early fall months, I kept plodding-on, alternating bouts of walking with running.  Gradually, the time spent running increased while the time spent walking decreased.  Nonetheless, some days I just didn’t have it in me to run, so I just kept walking. 

By mid-October, only a few weeks before the actual event, I registered for the MU Half-marathon with my fingers crossed.  I continued my own plan of walking and running.  In fact, on the morning of the event, as my husband, John, and I crossed the bridge into town, a strategy came to mind: “Run your own race, Steph, and set your own pace.”  While I did plan to run with a pacing group, I also decided to listen to my body and not force anything once I hit the streets running as I held fast to the dream tucked into the pocket of my heart.

THE BEST SUPPORT TEAM EVER!

Lesson 4:  Allow yourself to be supported. Our daughter, Maddie, met John and me at MU stadium.  They offered to be my team of support early on.  John carried my special hydration mix–my stomach is super sensitive–and Maddie took charge of keeping up with where I was on the course, and ultimately ran mile nine and mile 13 with me.  

Additionally, I ran with pacers Chad Fischer and Aubrey Netzel (names from MU Marathon site) for the first three miles, but I found that I kept moving slightly ahead of them.  Therefore, I decided to take a leap of faith and continue to run on my own at a slightly faster pace. For several miles, I ran with a woman named Angie who was running the full marathon, but eventually, we separated. Therefore, I soaked up all the good energy surrounding the runners, allowing me to always feel supported as I held fast to the dream tucked into the pocket of my heart.  

Feeling grateful for the love and support! 💜

Lesson 5:  Feel and share your gratitude.  Throughout these past months, whenever I felt down or frustrated, I reminded myself to feel grateful.  This was especially true when running the actual event. There were scores of volunteers along the route, and I tried to verbally thank each one I encountered, although I am sure I missed some.  Many of those volunteers would cheer and clap for the runners, even though they had other jobs to do as well. There was an impressive police presence, keeping the runners safe. Plus, there were numerous organizations and clubs providing drink stations along the course.  Additionally, there were some really fun signs to read, such as, “You’re running better than our government,” and “Run like someone just called you a jogger.”  

By the last mile, running side-by-side with Maddie, my heart overflowed with gratitude. In April, I was walking 5-10 minutes at a time. Seven months and two days after the surgery, I ran a half-marathon with only one walk break.  There are so many people for whom I feel grateful who made my recovery and ultimately the half-marathon possible–family, friends, and co-workers. Most of all, I am eternally grateful for John and Maddie who never once doubted the dream tucked in the pocket of my heart.  

Nurturing seeds of hope pays off.

In the end, Dear Reader, if we plant seeds of hope, regularly water them with faith in our True Source, put in the effort and work, and, of course, “just keep swimming” with strokes of belief–even on the hardest of days, we can set our own pace for running our own race, however we define it, and watch as our those seeds of hope blossom into possibilities.

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”–2 Timothy 4:7-8 (NIV)

Run your race, whatever it may be, your way!

Surrender to the challenge and be liberated

Featured by stephsimply, posted in Simple Observations and Musings

“I’m noticing the difference between surrender and resignation.  One is a true letting go, the other is believing I am powerless.”–Andrea Scher

Balancing Act ⚖️

Like numerous other professions, my job in education brings with it unique challenges each year. It is not just the day-to-day, week-to-week dilemmas, but it’s the balancing act between the demands of work and the demands of life.  Additionally, like many jobs, the demands of work cannot be met within the confines of the scheduled work day.  While the work day may officially end at 3:30, there is no way to complete all the work within those hours. 

Thus, there is that predicament daily, and on weekends, of how to accommodate it all. Work and personal life demands are a jigsaw puzzle in which the pieces don’t always fit together.  If I put a piece into the frame of work, then it seems to take away from the frame of personal life.  Inside my head there is an image of how it should all blend seamlessly into one harmonious picture, but the reality is often an abstract palette of discordant images.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

Solving the Puzzle of Time 🧩

How often do we feel the weight of: how to put the pieces together today?  One of the keys, I’ve discovered, to balancing work and life is to take it one day at a time. To be sure, that sounds cliché.  However, by focusing solely on one day, as part of the whole of the equation, it can often allow me to discern what must be done vs what needs to eventually be done.  Then it is a matter of focusing on one unfolding moment at a time.  If we can choose to surrender to the fact that we are facing challenges that cannot all be completed in one day, we can begin to let go of the attachment to “how it should be” and the picture-perfect image of “what it should look like.” 

  Attaching to that ideal image of “this is when and how it will be” is often the source of suffering and stress.  It is only human nature–especially in the current social media world in which we live–to visualize how “perfect” it will look/feel when we complete X, Y, and Z.  However, most of the time, at least in my experience, life tosses in some sort of unpredicted bollix, and suddenly that flawless finish is unattainable–as if it was ever possible to begin with! 

Photo by Elina Fairytale on Pexels.com

The Strength of Surrender 💪

I have found that the notion of “surrender”is often associated with giving up, giving in, or acquiescing to a lower standard, but that is just our ego talking.  Furthermore, surrender is not a resignation either, which can sometimes lead to feelings of bitterness, anger, and resentment because you can’t “have it all” as popular culture and social media would have us believe. Instead, surrendering to the fact that you “can’t do it all” actually takes strength.

Nonetheless, choosing to ignore the mind’s ego can feel vulnerable and scary. It takes a real act of courage to surrender, and let go of our attachments. But, once we decide to release the ego’s messaging, we begin to allow ourselves to be led inwardly by a higher power, our True Source.

The water of this creek winds and bends over its rocky bed demonstrating the difference between ease and easy.

Ease into the challenges one by one 😌

Surrendering lightens our load and allows our day to flow with more ease and much less tension. That is not to say our day will suddenly become easy, there will still be challenges, but we can feel free from the binds of stress that come with ego-driven motivation. When we let go of the ego’s attachments, we are recognizing our true personal worth–we so much more than what we do.  

Ignoring our ego is an act of love and faith, not only in our abilities, but it is also a willingness to recognize that all those perfect images are just that–images, not the reality that social media often leads us to believe. Letting go of that attachment is an act of faith and a willingness to believe that we will be inwardly led by our intuition in harmony with our higher power.  

Surrendering gives us permission to let go of all those perfect images our ego attaches to.  We can begin to recognize that we are safe, despite the ego’s messaging that can falsely have us believing that, if we don’t achieve said-thing by said-time, we are failing.  Instead, surrendering says, we are trusting the way will be provided; and therefore, we can and will choose wisely.  Surrendering allows us the freedom to walk the path of life’s pavestone moments, step-by-step, stone-by-stone, knowing that when the time is right, all will come together as it should.

There are times of the year when even the trees quietly and gently let go of their colorful adornment, demonstrating the art of detaching from ego.

The ARt of Detaching 🍂

It’s about letting go of control. (We never had it to begin with anyway.)  It’s as simple as breathing.  Inhale. Exhale.  One moment at a time.  One step at a time.  One priority at a time. Trusting that just as each breath provides us with life, our path will ultimately be paved in its due time

The power of surrender is not weak as our ego leads us to believe.  Instead, it liberates us to stand in our strength by expelling all the tension, fear, anxiety, stress, and suffering attached to the ego’s. “This is how and when it should be.” It is the difference between closed fists trying to muscle their way through a situation, versus relaxed hands, flexibly handing each moment as it comes.

The energy of surrendering is only a breath away. Inhale energy for life’s next moment. Exhale, and release the tension attached to how it should be.  Surrendering to the moment can really be that easy. It is our ego that makes it so hard.  Inhale. Exhale. Surrender to your inner-knowing. The Breath of Life will provide.