Illustrated Discovery Journal - January 28

Today’s meditation (every time I type this word - ‘meditation’ - I look up and I have written ‘medication’ and have to correct it. Freudian slip? Hmmm.) discusses the Illustrated Discovery Journal. I do like the tool from yesterday, the Daily Dialogue, but I have always gotten off-track with that one, which could be a “whole ‘nother” discussion. But for some reason I just enjoy the Discovery Journal. Maybe it harkens back to childhood and cutting out and pasting. That’s part of it. But I think a lot of it is I always surprise myself with what I am attracted to lately. And lately it has been outdoor gardens. Lovely, lush, outdoor gardens.

Sometimes I have a lot of English-style gardens. And I love the idea of an herb garden with large and healthy and fragrant herbs, and a path or two through them. I imagine myself walking through this herb garden in long skirts, and when my skirt brushes along the aromatic foliage, delicious perfumes are released and I am in heaven. I have cut out pictures of gardens with benches, gardens with a bridge or two over water, even a water garden complete with koi.

In starting out on this new Illustrated Discovery Journey, I wonder what new and unexpected delights will surface this time. I wonder what will emerge for you. Let me know, okay?

Love to you all,
Victoria J Mecham

January 26 - Basic Tools

We started reading and working with this wonderful book just 3 ½ weeks ago. I have read each meditation, or as Jen says – ‘benediction’ – but I have also personally struggled. Welcome to everyone’s life, I guess. Each day, I think I have not quite ‘been here’ for what the message was. I am glad I have continued to read, though, just so I am not dropping the new 'habit.' It is not so late in the year that it would be a chore to re-read some of the daily essays just to capture the gifts offered by Sarah Ban Breathnach.

So as I read today and SBB was saying, “The next hour is spent going within: working with my illustrated discovery journal, writing my daily dialogue, …” I was alarmed. I thought, ‘Oh, no! Have I been paying so little attention that I totally missed her discussion of these important tools? How could this happen? Talk about not noticing details!’ But I have now realized that I didn’t miss these things – she is just giving us a taste of things to come.

I especially loved her comments, “See if you can’t give yourself the gift of one hour a day to journey within. You need enough breathing space to allow your heart to ponder what is precious.” Oh, my, yes. This last year I have needed more than the hour, so with gratitude I Accept My Circumstance of not having a job, and Bless my ability to spend as much time as I want/need to go within.

Sarah closes with the acknowledgement that “if you go deep enough, often enough, something good is bound to come back to you.” Ladies, this is the food I needed, on this very day. Thank you a million more times, Sarah Ban Breathnach, for your inspired words.

Love you all, and good reading.
Victoria

P.S. See the following link: http://familyfriends-themecham-wilstedgabber.blogspot.com

Accepting real life

Today is January 23rd, and breaking from my usual tradition of reading from Simple Abundance right before I go to sleep at night, I read today’s benediction early, and am so glad that I did. It is titled Accepting Real life. Something that is sometimes hard for me. I usually try to trick my mind into focusing on the goal instead of the journey to the goal, sometimes this is what gets me through the day. But as Sarah reminds us


“… I have discovered that much of my struggle to be content despite outside circumstances has arisen when I stubbornly resisted what was actually happening in my life at the present moment. But I have also learned that when I surrender to the reality of a particular situation-when I don’t continue to resist, but accept- a softening in my soul occurs.”

When I read todays meditation it zinged my heart, and helped me realize a refocus is in order, and that I am in desperate need of acceptance about my circumstance. Sarah tells us that when we accept our circumstances we “… relax… change our vibration, our energy pattern… and are once again able to tap into the boundless positive energy of the Universe. Acceptance also illuminates reality so we can see the next step.”

Today I am accepting the reality that my house is a mess, I weigh what I weigh (despite wishing otherwise), and my bank account is not what I desire it to be. That’s ok because this is real life. And today I am letting go of the struggle. How about you?

The First Three Days of Simple Abundance

This Was Originally written on January 3, 2010
Jan 1 - Sarah B.B. is introducing us to the concept of Simple Abundance. For this day she says that instead of resolutions, we should write down our most private aspirations. I didn't do this because - since June or so I have done this in some form two or three times. But this is eating at me; it keeps coming back to me, so I will take it as a prompt that I really need to do this again.

Jan 2 - Loving the question. What? This is hard for me to wrap my head around. That Sarah B.B. gives us clues to this slipped by me, until I read it again. She asks, "... if you knew that a year from today you be living the most creative, joyous, and fulfilling life you could imagine... what would it be?" Sarah B.B. admonishes us to be patient toward all that is unsolved in our heart, to love the questions themselves. hmmmmmmmmmmmm. I am thinking this is meaning to find the questions by asking - "what haven't I asked? What is it I am really looking for?" Wow - those are actually questions. It is a beginning.

Jan 3 - I love that Sarah B.B. says we already have the inner strength and wisdom and creativity inside of us to make our dreams come true. Already I am seeing why Jan 1 is important - I need to be aware in my consciousness of what my dreams really are, first; that is why she suggests the first exercise. Then to ask myself, what do I need to do; what do I need to change, what are the steps to make those dreams and aspirations come to manifestation? I underlined the first sentence in the second paragraph. ("At the Heart of Simple Abundance..."). In fact, I underlined it in a pink gel pen, a lavender, and then a pale green.

I love her sentences. Her writing reminds me of Roni's in that she uses such rich words woven together to give me a deep emotional feeling: "...six threads of abundant living ... woven together, produce a tapestry of contentment..." - I love that! I am interested to hear about your journeys, each one of you.

I love you!
Victoria

Everything I need to know, I learned from Simple Abundance...(and Oprah, but that is another story)

My tryst with the "Pink book" began 9 or so years ago. My mother frequently mentioned this amazing book in our numerous conversations, so much so that it piqued my interest. My mother had given me a copy of the follow up book "Something more" by the same author. It was lovely, but escaped my full understanding; it was rather like feeding steak to a baby, I could appreciate the flavor, but there was no way I could digest fully what she was saying in that book. I was on an extremely strict budget at the time, so buying Simple abundance was out of the question, but each time I was at a garage sale, I looked for it. One day I found a book with "Simple abundance" in the title. I was so excited; I bought it for a quarter. I got it home and called my Mom. She asked if the book was pink, I told her it was more of reddish brown. She thought it must be a newer edition than hers. I put it on the shelf, and then didn't think of it again for a while. Nearly a year later, I was looking for something to read, and remembered my little treasure. I got settled in on the couch, opened it up and that was when I noticed that the full title of the book was "A Man's journey to Simple Abundance". Yuck. I really didn't care to take that journey for myself. I offered it to my husband, he declined (he doesn’t read anything other than magazines and children’s stories). So off it went to the good will.


Fast forward to the early part of 2003. My husband, children and I were living with my Father in Illinois because my husbands company had closed our Boise location, and it was either move out of state, or be out of a job, so we moved to Illinois. Everything about the place was difficult. From the journey to our new home(took 4+ days instead of 3), to registering our car(took 6 months, and lots, and lots of red tape and the use of a cash advance location for help titling it), to getting my oldest enrolled in school(he got kicked out after just one week for not having an immunization that was not required in Idaho), to grocery shopping (grocery stores here were ridiculously expensive, and the one that we could afford was rather like a trip to see the soup Nazi, have your cash ready, load your own cart, and move along!). It seemed as though the Universe had forgotten us, and God wasn't listening. I fell into a deep depression that lasted the winter. Illinois seemed like a black hole that sucked our resources and lives dry. I resented our circumstances, I detested the living arrangements, and we were all very miserable. I went out daily with a realtor looking for a home that our meager income could afford, but to no avail. In April, I went to our library and wandered through the aisles looking for anything that looked the slightest bit interesting. I found a fun book on auras, and a cheery pink book, which much to my delight turned out to be the correct Simple Abundance book. I was able to borrow it for a month, and read as much as I could in that time. The meditation for January 14th in the book hit me like a ton of bricks. The quote that preceded the day by Melody Beattie goes like this:

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.

I realized in that moment that Gratitude was what was missing from my life. It was an answer to my prayers. I started my Gratitude Journal that day and at first it was difficult for me to find even 2 or 3 things each day in which to be thankful, but within a few weeks I was hard pressed to stop at 15 or 20. At the time I was a member of "The Church" and even gave a talk on Simple Abundance and how gratitude had changed my life. Within just a few weeks of starting the Gratitude Journal my circumstances changed, or maybe just my attitude, but we were able to find a house that had more than 2 bedrooms and was within our price range(no small feat since we had been looking for 8 months). My husband even surprised me with an early Birthday gift of the beloved book.

Since that time, I have given many copies of the book away. I, like Victoria, have given simple abundance gift baskets, and included items that could go in a comfort drawer (if you aren't familiar, you will know what I am talking about when you get to it). I have also read this treasure every year since. I am somewhat of a purist, and will read the book as though it is my first time each January. I don't start my gratitude Journal until the 14th of January or my Illustrated Discovery Journal until I am instructed to do so. For me it makes the experience all the sweeter. I don’t always read every day, and sometimes even months slip by when I skip, but I always go back and finish, even if it is as I simultaneously start a new year.

It should also be noted that when I started this journey I was to say the least, a very shabby dresser. It took me many years on the journey to find the clothes that truly speak to me (and now I find them so often, I have to restrain myself). My hair was also a wretched mess, but I now have a cut and color I absolutely love. And that too took a few years of really pulling back the layers of who I am deep down. This year already, I have discovered a long lost love of art, and creating. And I look forward to wherever the path takes me this time around.

The Pink Book Club

I first came across The Pink Book back in 1996, I think some time in August. I remember being focused on my mother’s upcoming 80th birthday bash, which would be in September. I was in Costco, and When In Costco, Must Browse Book Table. I remember picking up the interesting pinkish book and having a somehow familiar feeling of, “Oh, finally, there it is,” as I read the back of the cover. I like to say, it called out to me. I am so grateful I was listening. I took it home and started reading immediately.

I got excited very quickly. I could see that it was written so you were supposed to read one essay a day based on the date. Well, it was August, but the book started in January, just like everyone’s year. So I started reading August, but I decided to also read from the beginning. I started again, this time at the beginning. I would read several days’ worth from the beginning, and then finish my reading by going to the essay for the current date. I felt so – in love, I guess. I had never read anything like it. Ms. Ban Breathnach speaks often of spiritual things, and I found this out rather early as she referred to Spirit and Source, and even God. The tough part for me was that I had intellectually been an atheist for over a decade. But the rest of her words were so beautiful, spoke to me so deeply, that I decided I could handle it, that it would be a good experience for me to learn to hear the beauty and truth of someone’s words and thoughts and cull out that which resonated with me, and leave that which did not.

As I said before, I fell in love with this book. I felt so strongly that I needed to share it, and I wanted to get copies for the women in my life. Some of you know that there are many, many women in my life. I have friends and a mother and a daughter and 9 sisters. I decided to pick up a book or two at a time. Then, as I read through the book, the idea came to me to get wonderful baskets and put the book in it, along with some ‘trinkets’ that would relate to the essays in the books. I realized that I could not afford to do this for all the women in my family, so I chose to do it for the two sisters younger than me, Roni and Gayle, and the two sisters just older than me, Leslie and Teri. So for Christmas I had 4 baskets, filled with the Simple Abundance book, herbal teas, a lovely china cup, a flowered book for journaling, another for pasting pictures in, and a few other things. By the end of the next year I had given a book (sans basket and goodies) to my mother, my daughter, my aunt, and the rest of my sisters, and also a friend. I think I figured that I had purchased 15 books. I read that book eagerly and did the little activities that Ms. Ban Breathnach suggested. One time, several of us sisters, our mother, and my daughter met at one of our houses to cut out magazine pictures and paste them in our discovery journal.

I read the book probably four times through the years. I had given myself a basket also (without the goodies) and I used it to carry the book around, along with the activities – scissors, paste, magazine, journals, plus other books I was reading. After a few years I wasn’t reading the pink book anymore, but I still carried it around in that basket. This last year – 2009 – was particularly rough. I was laid off in March from a job I had had for over 9 years. But I hated that job. I went because it was a job. But after being laid off, I was emotionally drained, devastated even. I went through some really goofy things. I knew I was depressed, because I had spent many years being depressed and had been treated for it several times. But I had my own treatment now. I was through with the Pharmaceuticals. I had read and learned and associated myself with people who taught me how to think myself into a better place. So I wasn’t despondent, except maybe in July. But I was in avoidance mode. I would apply for jobs, I went on interviews, and no one wants to hire someone my age in this economy. But when I wasn’t doing the job-search thing, I spent my time in a cave. Well, not a real cave, but my cool downstairs. I read novels, and watched movies by the score (I kid you not). And, I did some sly introspection. Sly, because sometimes I didn’t want to look inside. But by mid-August, I realized I needed to get back on the horse. I started reading some personal expansion books and then I noticed The Pink Book – it was at the back of my basket, a little dusty from lack of attention for a few years. I started the process again – starting on January 1st, I read a few days from the first of the year and then finished up for the day with the current date’s essay. I read her words again, and fell in love all over again. I realized I needed to share this with my daughters. I say ‘daughters’ plural, because my son Mike’s wife, Jessica, is like a daughter to me. So I started planning baskets. My daughter Megan still had her Pink Book from when I gave it to her in the ‘90s. I shopped at the 2nd-hand stores for baskets, and for some of the things in them like cups. I told my daughter to have her Pink Book ready for Christmas, so I knew she did have an idea that her gift would be related to that.

We started reading the books a few days ago, on January 1st. My sister Roni thought it sounded wonderful and decided to read it again. I had mentioned to my sister Teri that we were starting. She told her daughter Jen, and they are reading it again. Jen let us know it is one of her all time favorite books. We talked about it online, and our niece Rachel said she was interested, so she was going to order one, too. Then we decided it would be great to communicate with each other about the different things in the book that resonated with us. One of us came up with the idea of a blog, and that is how this little pink blog came to be.

P.S. – I am smiling as I report that I no longer am an atheist, not for most of this decade. I would say that my beliefs could be considered Personal Expansionalist (I made that up).

Victoria