by Karen Cumming | May 23, 2022 | Earth Rocks Blog
Ever feel like that thing you’ve been waiting for – for so long – is just never going to happen? Maybe you’re waiting for a new baby to arrive, or a new love interest to walk through your door, or a new career to land in your lap… and it just hasn’t come yet. You feel like your head will explode if you have to spend one more minute waiting.
I get it. You’ve been so patient.
But instead of noticing what’s absent from your life, what would happen if you noticed everything that’s present?
I once had to live – for longer than I would have liked – in the small, lower level of a house. Living in a small space was an adjustment. Then there were the creaking floors. The people upstairs would get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom… which of course made noise and woke me every time. The sleep deprivation was making me crazy.
Little did I know that the answer to my problem was simple. All I had to do was take some advice from metaphysical teacher Esther Hicks. She calls it “10 Favourite Things”. The idea is to take a good hard look at your situation, come up with 10 favourite things about it and show appreciation for them every day.
So I did. The place was small and the floors were creaky, but I also noticed how much I enjoyed the gas fireplace, the comfy furniture, the reliable wifi, the flat-screen TV with cable, the easy-to-clean hardwood floors, the great washer and dryer, the hot water on demand, the nice dishwasher, the quiet neighbourhood that was so good for walking my dog, and the nearby lake that was so beautiful. I wrote the list in coloured marker, posted it on the living room wall and read it every day to remind myself of what was present and what was good.
The thing I was waiting for… my new home… didn’t come any faster. But here’s the thing. I enjoyed the wait so much more.
Who knows? Maybe you will, too. 😀
by Karen Cumming | May 13, 2022 | Earth Rocks Blog
It’s a question I never thought I’d be asking. How do we thrive in a world that feels like it’s falling apart? There’s a global pandemic, a war in Ukraine, staggering inflation, and a real estate market that’s just insane. Yikes!
In all of this chaos, it’s only human that millions of us are “doom scrolling”. You know, that thing you do when you can’t take your eyes off the newsfeed on your smartphone… or you can’t take your ears off the latest podcast or newscast.
Trouble is, doom scrolling bombards our brains with images and information that only drag us down and make us feel bad. It hijacks our energy.
Before we know it, we’re vibrating at a low frequency instead of a high one. And what do we attract down there? You guessed it. People, places, and things that vibrate at that frequency, too.
So how do we snap out of it? That’s simple. We need to detach.
If you feel like experimenting, try setting an intention that goes like this: I will spend as much time as possible every day in my right brain. “Huh???” I can hear you saying. Stay with me.
The right brain is the place where play, creativity, music, beauty, art, and connectedness reside. Everything feels good over there! There’s a party going on!
Our left brain is the home of numbers, analysis, reading, questions, and logic. It’s our left brain that craves all that doom scrolling.
The trick is to get out of our left brain and into our right whenever we can.
There are lots of ways to do that. Meditation is a great one. But this week, I tried a different strategy… music. A few days ago, I changed the pre-set on my car radio to three different music stations – no news stations at all. I put my left brain in the trunk and threw my right brain into gear behind the wheel.
When I turn on the radio now, I lose myself in music instead of mayhem. I sing along. I feel the sweet release of detaching from the world and all its troubles. And after only a day, I can honestly say I really feel a difference. Maybe you will, too.
Right brain, right choice. Ahhhhhhhh. ❤️
by Karen Cumming | Aug 31, 2020 | Earth Rocks Blog
Years ago, when I was young and looking for answers to life’s big questions, I sat across the table from a friend in an Italian restaurant. We were both the same age, but he seemed to have lived a dozen lifetimes more than I.
I peppered him with questions about the Universe and why we’re all here. Then one at a time, he volleyed questions of his own back across the table.
“Did you taste that salad you just ate – really taste it?” he’d ask with mock exasperation. “How about that wine… did you swish it around your mouth and taste the pear and the cinnamon?” Sheepishly, I had to admit that I hadn’t.
“Did you feel the water splash your face in the shower this morning – really feel it?” The answer again, of course, was “no”.
That evening is almost 30 years ago now, but not a day goes by that I don’t think about the way he taught me to notice. I think of it while I’m in the shower feeling the water splash my face, and when I’m sitting down to dinner and really tasting the flavours of each bite.
Talk about a great tip for navigating this global pandemic of ours.
So many of us have been confined to our homes for the last six months, with so little social interaction. We all know what the downside can be: isolation and loneliness. But there’s an upside, too. We’ve been given the gift of time to actually slow down and notice the things that surround us in our lives each day. Small things. Simple things. Warm water in the shower. Good food.
And then there’s clean laundry. Before I stack each freshly folded towel on the bathroom shelf, I hold it up to my cheek and feel it… really feel it… soft and plush and comforting and warm. It’s such an unexpected kick.
What else could we notice? I don’t know… Everything sounds good to me. 😀
by Karen Cumming | Aug 25, 2020 | Earth Rocks Blog
Shopping has taken on a whole new feel thanks to the pandemic, hasn’t it? Sanitize your hands at the door, keep your social distance from the other people in the store, stand on the blue dot on the floor. Such a different world.
I happened to be shopping for a pair of pyjamas last week, when I spotted a night-shirt that had an intriguing message emblazoned across the front of it: What Would Wonder Woman Do? A colour graphic of Wonder Woman looked me in the eye from under the neckline as if to say “Well…?”
“How cool is that?” I thought.
I’d actually heard of the idea before from the author of a book called The Alter Ego Effect: The Power of Secret Identities to Transform your Life.
Todd Herman writes that long before we all became adults with jobs and responsibilities, we were kids who pretended to be superheroes. You know… Wonder Woman, Batman, Spiderman, Batgirl… the list is endless. And as our alter egos, we could do anything.
Herman says that this alter ego is still inside of us; we just need use our imaginations in order to bring it to life again.
American football all-star Bo Jackson knows all about it. “Bo Jackson has never played a down of football,” he says. Instead, Jackson claims his alter ego, the character “Jason” from the “Friday the 13th” movie franchise did it all. Seriously.
So if Bo Jackson can do it, why not you? Lost your job? No money? Kids making you nuts? Recovering from an illness?” Going in for surgery? Hang tough and take a tip from the greatest night-shirt I know. Just twirl your cape and ask yourself: “What Would Wonder Woman Do?”
Then do it.
You’ll be surprised how quickly your mindset takes off in a new direction… the positive kind.
by Karen Cumming | Aug 16, 2020 | Earth Rocks Blog
Kids cranky? Working from home lost its charm? Wondering what to make for dinner… again? Welcome to the global pandemic. Some days are better than others, I know. More than a few times, I’ve dreamt of going on a spa vacation and … well… just staying there for good. Really.
Whenever things get a little crazy coronavirus-wise, I think about Faith the Dog.
I first met Faith years ago on the Oprah Winfrey Show. As she came out on-stage, it was clear that she’d been born with no front legs.
The runt of the litter, Faith often dragged herself across the floor on her stomach in order to get around. In fact, her mother had tried to smother her because instinct told her that Faith was too weak to survive.
But fate had other plans. Faith was adopted by a family who wanted to help her live the best life she could. So they grabbed a spoon and a jar of peanut butter and began to train her. Day after day, week after week, they encouraged Faith to do this:
Stand like a human. Unbelievable, right? Faith learned to stand on her hind legs and hop wherever she needed to go. And that, of course, was the moment she hopped straight into our hearts.
Her story inspired everyone from Iraq and Afghanistan War vets to stressed-out moms to seniors to kids who read books to her at the local library.
“If Faith can do that, anything’s possible!” became the mantra. And so it was that Faith became a phenomenon. All because she stood up on the only two legs she had and did what had to be done.
Some days I feel a little like Faith the Dog… making my way through this global pandemic on two legs instead of four – a little shaky and wondering where the heck my balance went. But the more I practise, the more I adapt. And the more I adapt, the better I hop. And the better I hop, the less I think about it. And the less I think about it, the less it really feels so bad after all.
Call it inspiration “Faith the Dog” style.
Oh and pass the peanut butter, would you?
by Karen Cumming | Aug 9, 2020 | Earth Rocks Blog
A global pandemic leaves a girl with a little time on her hands, you know? Time to do things she’s never had time for before. Webinars, for example. You’ve probably signed up for one or two of those over the past few months… maybe more.
I took one back in May that was all about stress relief. Who doesn’t have a little stress they could relieve now, right?
The woman hosting it had some great tips. One of them really stuck with me. She suggested that she wasn’t “sheltering in place” the way so many other people were then. Instead, she told us she was “sheltering in peace”. “Wow,” I thought. “What a great way to re-frame all of this.”
In the blink of an eye, pandemic life became more of a pleasure. Instead of feeling frustrated that it was Saturday night and watching movies was the only thing to do, I flipped the switch to peace. Suddenly, it was Saturday night and watching movies was the only thing to do!!! A cup of tea, a bowl of vegan ice cream and Netflix and Prime were all that I needed.
Just like in the movies, though, the plot was about to thicken. A friend of mine told me her daughter was watching the American Film Institute’s 100 Greatest American Movies of All Time – one famous flick a night. That lit a fire under me. Excitedly, I began to watch even more movies… big ones, small ones, quiet ones, moving ones… movies I’d heard of my whole life but had never made the time to see.
And I began to love and appreciate them more than I ever had before. During this time of unprecedented solitude, they’ve been connecting me to the human experience… to laughter and tears and the messiness and joy of living.
How’s that for a movie script… One that all of us can star in if we choose to give it a try. Sheltering in peace and connected to people.
Perfect.
