7th Companion

Companionship: people to share your happiness and sorrows, your troubles and joys.

Companionship can be found in a multitude of places. Perhaps you find it with friends, a significant other, or a community (either online or in person). 

Companions can be found almost anywhere and usually when you least expect it. They can be in your life for it's entirety or just a few short moments. The time period spent together doesn't lessen the bond struck. It just means that the person was in your life and served their purpose so they (or you) moved on. That in itself shouldn't affect how you look back at the time you spent with one another at all. If it was a bad split, try to find the silver lining or the lesson in it. It is not always easy by any means, but a lesson is always there. Even if it is as simple as accepting the loss.

Everyone needs to find that bond, although some don't always find it with other people. It is very possible to find companionship with a pet or nature. There is nothing wrong with that either. Many pagans find companionship with their God/dess(es). The ability to be who you truly are and to share that with someone is a magnificent thing. 

I, personally, see The Grove members as my companions on a very personal and individualized journey. I have evolved in many ways since embarking on this journey. I hope that each and every one of the members find their journey to be an evolution of self as well!

The 6th Traveling Companion is....

I've noticed an influx on traffic where I have been upcycling these blogs from. Before someone condemns me for plagiarism, these are MY blog posts. I run both blog sites, actually I run 3 sites. Just so happens that I think this is a very important subject matter that should be shared with ALL my readers. Without further ado....

The 6th Traveling Companion is.... 

Fun: laughter and smiles any way you can get them!

Now, this may seem like a very simple and common sense idea. Too many people get lost in the false seriousness of life that they forget that life (even the mundane) can be fun. 

Admittedly, dishes and scrubbing toilets, having to get up at 4 in the morning for work, or arguing with your 12 year old daughter over what she can and can't wear to school is NOT fun. There are plenty of times when life can tramp down any sense of fun you may be able to squeak out of it. I'm not saying to be Miss Mary Sunshine all the time either.  

But you have to do dishes... OK, squirt your child unexpectedly with the sprayer when s/he walks by. Enjoy the giggles and and hilarity that follow. Rock out in the car on your way to work, who cares if the guy in the car next to you looks at you like you're crazy...hey, he may even join in! (It's happened before). 

Life can get rough and kick you when you are down... beat it at its own game and find the rainbows when you can.

Traveling Companion #5

Before I get into the newest traveling companion...

Wow, I've been scrubbing the entire house down, top to bottom. Reorganizing, throwing out, and cleaning nooks and crannies. It feels so good to go room to room and just dismantle the whole thing and get it sparkling. It's actually something I do twice a year.

This year however, rather than do the whole house in one or two days, like I normally do, I divided the house into a 5 day plan. I'm so excited that once I am finished I'm going to smudge, bless, and cleanse the whole place!! Fill it with magick and put up new wards on the property, and all. After all we've went through this summer, it is time to make this house ours again. 

Now... on to the next traveling companion. 

The fifth companion is probably my favorite of all of the Traveling Companions.

EXCITEMENT!

The ability to learn, enjoy, and experience new things!

Now, being a mom myself, I understand that it is very hard to wake up every morning and embrace excitement when our days are filled with routines, stress, and a stagnant mind set. However, embrace it we should!

The ability to find the joy, fun, and newness in the mundane can be very hard. I have a quick little exercise that can help with that though. It only takes 5 minutes!

Sit down with a pen and piece of paper (or a notebook if you are me). Make a list of EVERYTHING that excites you. Don't worry about how far fetched it may seem. Just write it down. Now, pick ONE and only one. Find a way to bring that one thing into your everyday life.

Here is an example. I have an affinity for the universe. Obviously, space travel is not an option...yet. Instead of jumping in a rocket ship and heading for the nearest nebula, I can bring the nebula to me through art work I find (or create myself or with my kids). If I'm really enthused about it, I can find a book that sparks my excitement and curiosity. 

Try it and see what you find out about yourself. It can be exciting just to learn more about your own inner workings. Share you list with The Grove. You never know who may share the same interest with you. They may have a new idea or concept you may not have thought of or vice versa.

Have fun with it.

4th Traveling Companion

Part four of the Traveling Companions lesson is...

Beauty: within yourself, in your surroundings, and in nature.

Pretty self-explanatory right?! For the most part yes. But when you are at the lowest point in your life... how do you find beauty in that?

I won't lie to you. It takes a lot of effort and you may not even see it at first. It may take years before you can look back and find the beauty in your situation. Although to me, the most beautiful point of a horrible situation is when you rise up and defeat it. Almost like the birth of a phoenix. 

You have to get really ugly first and lose all sense of who and what you are, but when you find that one moment where you can rise above the ugly... that is when you find true beauty. 

Brightest Blessings!

Traveling Companion 3

The third traveling companion you should always take with you is...

An Adjustable Attitude: One that doesn't react, but responds with well-thought-out actions and feelings.

What exactly does that mean? What is the difference between reacting and responding?

To be honest... I'm still working on this one myself. A reaction in this sense is a knee-jerk reaction. Meaning an automatic response without thinking. Responding means that you actually take in what was done/said and process it before lashing out or giving up. 

An example of what I am talking about can be seen during a GOOD debate. Not one that turns into a screaming match. While debating you see how the person responds and adjust how you approach the topic as to not incite anger, but intelligent discussion. 

How can that be used successfully in the course of your journey? It has a lot to do with being open minded and accepting of others choices as well. You can NOT change another person, you must accept them as they are. You can, however, change your own point of view and how you approach them. 

I am not, by any means, saying to let someone walk all over you or change yourself to fit their expectations for you. I'm just saying you can change how you approach the subject/person. If silently taking their angry words helps them to calm down, be quiet. If you have someone who can not express their feelings out loud, trying writing to one another instead of yelling. 

Try it in your life... really look at yourself and how you react to situations and see if there is not a better way to handle yourself. You'd be surprised, if you are honest with yourself, how you can find ways to make yourself better by just adjusting certain ways you react.

I'd like to take a second to thank the writer and followers of Patheos for putting my blog into one of their articles. I am humbled and overjoyed to be apart of your site in any way. 

Brightest Blessings!!
     )O(

Traveling Companions #2

The second Traveling Companion is....

Patience: with your own trials and temptations, and with others.

Yup... Patience. Something I completely lack. This companion is one of the hardest ones to get along with (in my opinion). Sometimes it seems like everyone and everything is conspiring against me and my poor nerves. Stopping to take a deep breath once in a while only helps a little. 

When my oldest starts to see that I am loosing it, he looks at me and with the straightest of faces calmly says, "ribbit". Usually it's enough to remind me to stop...breath... and start over. 

I think everyone needs to find a 'ribbit'. It goes a long way when you are stressed out and helps you regain a smidgeon of Patience that has wandered away. It's not easy to have Patience. Especially in today's society where everything is instant gratification. 

So how do we re-learn something that may have never been taught to us? I'm still trying to figure that one out on a large scale. But I have started with an easy task of saving money for something I was REALLY bad. (A new corset, go figure). I keep a few dollars here and there...sometimes I spend what I've saved and have to start all over again. But that is life. To relate to the first lesson, I am confident that one day I will master Patience as well. 

Now, how does Patience affect our journey? Simple. We can not achieve something grandiose overnight (unless we are SUPER lucky). Every mountain climber starts with a single step. If he keeps Patience with him, he won't give up and will eventually find himself on the other side of that mountain! 

Patience with others is a whole different story. I am VERY lacking in this, but I am trying. Everyone's story is different, their trials are their own and I could never understand how or where they became who they are. I try to accept that I will never be able to change stupid. 

When it comes to being a pagan or a witch, Patience is a MUST. Especially around the major holy holidays, it's just easier if you grin and bear it. I have had many many discussions with Christians, providing facts and sources. Yet, they still can not see past their bible pages and litanies of interpretation (that are usually completely wrong). Just smile and accept their greetings as a show of good will and WALK AWAY. It's not worth the energy to explain something to someone who refuses to listen. I won't lie though... it is fun to stun them into silence when I know their bible/history better than they do :)

Well, where do we start? At the beginning of course. Every journey starts with a single step in the right direction. Even if you are going the wrong way, eventually you will find your way. Start with something small and treat Patience just like you would an exercise program, after all it's a mental muscle that needs to worked out just like your body and spirit.

Until next time...
Brightest Blessings! 

Traveling Companions

With the huge adjustment of homeschooling taking place in a day, I want to be sure that I have enough time for both blogging and every other aspect of my life. The next 10 posts that I am going to post are from another blog that I write. They are invaluable to me and I think that a lot can be learned from them. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed writing them. 

Ten Important Traveling Companions to Take with You on the Journey to Your Dreams

This set of lessons are going to focus on the 10 things you should always take with you when you are journeying towards your heart's desires and dreams for your future. This is something that every person should know and share with their children, regardless of religion.

The first companion is...

Confidence: for when things get tough, when you are overwhelmed, when you think of giving up.

(should be common sense ^_^ )

So many people in this time period have had their confidence beaten out of them. A few lose it in childhood when a parent tells them their dream is too far fetched. NOTHING is too far fetched when you are a child and as parents we should instill and nurture that aspect of our kids. We, as parents, should learn to share in the childhood innocence of our kids. 

Granted, yes, it is hard to tell your child that they can be a one-legged, one-eyed space pirate that drives an El Camino (yes... that was via my oldest). Instead of shooting that down and telling him no. I stopped and thought... why not? Perhaps one day in his time El Caminos will become spaceships! So for a while we played El Camino Space Pirates. 

Confidence grows from encouragement. Sometimes that encouragement needs to come from within. It's hard to do for ourselves because of the way we were raised (for most of us, not everyone). 

What can we do, then? Firstly, surround ourselves with positivity. People who uplift us and not drag us down. Chose the people who help grow your dream, and make you a better person. That goes for friends, relationships, and family. I won't lie, it's hard to let go of some people. There will be others that hang on like toddlers being dragged across the kitchen floor on mom's leg. 

Where negativity remains, negative thoughts and feelings will grow. Thereby slowly choking out the confidence you have built up. One thousand positive comments will be crushed by one negative comment.

Secondly, we really need to look inside of ourselves and see ourselves for who we really are. If you find that you, yourself, are one of the negative people (I'm guilty of this) begin to change it. Affirmations, as silly as it sounds, can work wonders. Every day I try to find something positive about me, my life, my attitude, and what I'm going to do better. I write them down on my white board and erase it every night and start all over again the next day. It really does start to change your outlook. But you can't stop there. You HAVE to live what you wrote!

Lastly, and this should be first but so many find it hard to do it that the other two have to happen first. BE YOURSELF. Accept who you are. OWN IT. Personally, I'm still working on the acceptance part. But I am who I am. I am a mother, a wife, a friend, a witch, and a priestess. Those are great titles but I am so much more. Find the positive and exploit the shit out of it! What you don't like.... change. Plain and simple, in words, in deed its harder but NOT impossible.

Start right now. Find 5 positive things you LOVE about yourself. And live it. Tomorrow...start the day confident and see where it takes you.

Brightest Blessings!!