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When the senses are stimulated repeatedly and completely, deep sleep is desired for processing. Cell phones and computers benefit from “sleep”, resetting them back to normal functioning. Similarly, humans recharge during deep sleep which is more available with “good sleeping weather”. Cooler temperatures and cloudier skies contribute to slumber, chilling the brain and calming the visual cortex.

Instead of pushing beyond these natural rhythms with caffeine, sugar or electronics, bombarding our senses with more stimulation, allowing downtime has many benefits! Assimilating information, integrating the lessons gleaned, and eliminating the waste products of stress are all more efficient. Like the digestive system, fasting at night allows these processes to occur without more input slowing the works.

Awakening refreshed, a new day awaits! Breaking the fast, taste buds delight! Sunlight is welcomed! Bird songs call the soul! The smell of firewood burning warms the heart and hearth. Smoke rising from chimneys against the autumn sky brings the awareness that others join us in these simple rites of the season.

This new day awaits! Enjoy it! And also enjoy the urge to nap. Turn in earlier like the sun. Happily heal into this, here now. Another Ki to Happiness suggestion…

Clouds form and become dense and heavy with grey. Winds kick up and send swirls of leaves climbing. Loud claps of thunder and the sky empties it’s contents. Rains return. Parched and dirty, the earth, the pavement, the streets, and rooftops all are scoured by the downpour.

In the sun break following, all gleams with a washed face.The air is full of enhanced oxygen. A desire for warm drinks brings me to this Apple Cider. A sip from my warmed hand holding the cup, and a smile begins from my pelvis and lifts up my face.

How are the storms treating you? Did you get caught without your rain gear? What beauty has become unveiled as you’ve weathered storm after storm in your life? What would bring a smile to your lips from deep within? Ki to Happiness …

In the midst of the plumber, electrician, and hacksawing husband (my 3 heroes of October) with all household normalcy in upheaval, I bashed my foot into a metal object. Swelling and bruising were immediate. Pain racked my body, not just the local area.

As my foot heals, I am amazed at its natural process. Pain subsides and between shooting sensations there is an appreciation for how all encompassing it is, increasing sensitivity, alarmed by small threats, ever watchful. Now there’s more time staying off it, irritating it less frequently, and safety returns.

Without the wolves at the door (and the pain is no longer hijacking all my attention) I’m safe. I can rest. Healing can occur on all levels.

Safety first! Second, broadening and deepening of the healing process. Next, gratitude for such! And now, enough creative juice flows to share this with you here, in this blog.

How does safety effect your creativity? And, as an outgrowth, your happiness? When do you feel unsafe? How can this awareness facilitate your movement out of harms way? Let Ki to Happiness reconnect you to your safety! First…

Broken toilet. Overhead lights malfunctioning. Oven smoking melted wax. And then a cat scratching from behind the wall! Each problem has called me to awaken evermore.

I had to call in the plumber, admitting and accepting my own limitation, my inability to change the leek. The electrician and I decided to change the fixtures, not just the bulbs, with enough courage. Cleaning candle wax off the holder resulted in the over spill smoking, requiring action, but not the fire department. The wisdom to know the difference has brought me to this serenity.

The cat in the wall? you ask? required all of that and a husband with a hacksaw to remove a portion of the panel to extract said feline. Rocktober has me coming to my senses!

How about you? What has piqued your senses? How are your challenges becoming your lessons? I look forward to hearing from you, now that the cat is purring, the toilet is flushing, the new lights are shining and the oven smells of tonight’s Roast Veggies!

October is my favorite month! I love pumpkins and clear crisp days with bright sunlight. I remember returning to school with joy after long hot Midwestern summers. The feel of flannel on my skin and heavy boots on my feet grounded me, keeping me safe and able. The smell of pea soup on the stove, cuing me towards another meal together soon.

October seems to enlist all the senses. Contrasting black wet woods with golden glowing leaves, chilly winds and warm hearths, one bristling against another to awaken to the grandeur of simple things. In these October blogs, lets explore our senses to encourage each to be celebrated as it contributes to happiness.

Which sense are you most in tune with? Vision? Hearing? Gustatory tasting? Olfactory smelling? Tactile feelings? Locomotion? Enhancing the senses brings focus HERE and NOW.

This is where and when happiness resides-in the present! What a gift! Let Ki to Happiness remind you that this is what we are here for- to enjoy life, the gift! And reach out to connect as you are so moved!

With the transition from Summer into Fall this month, reflecting on the blessing and the growth becomes personal Harvest time on all levels. Consciously participating in letting go of all that has served creates space for the next season and future potentials to be realized.

Perhaps the garden has been bedded down already, and breezy summer clothes have been layered upon with jackets and socks. Scents of leaves now wet with rain may stimulate those back to school memories of sharpened pencils and riding the school bus. Take a moment and reflect on the many layers of realization that have occurred during the sunny time for further refinement as we enter into darkness.

Tending the inner garden, pruning away old dead wood, weeding and turning the soil over aligns with natural forces, so they can support the future cycles.

May Ki to Happiness encourage your celebration of the abundant blessings of each season and cycle. Enjoy with gratitude all the body-mind-emotion- spirit evolution and integration available. Reach out with any questions, issues and comments about this blog and any of the modalities presented to further your happiness!

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. These 26 words have helped innumerable people evaluate their lives from an effective perspective.

In these first blogs, have invited reflection on this season of Fall, our relationship to letting go, as well as our body-mind-emotion-spirit. Presenting modalities to facilitate greater happiness, this prayer deserves a central role in progressing forward. Utilizing the Serenity Prayer reorients attention to discernment, evolving us toward the wisdom possessed within the Higher Self,.

Taking responsibility for for one’s own happiness, Serenity follows, empowering us to choose again and again in the direction of guidance, constantly available to us.

What do you need to accept? What changes can you make? What encouragement will best help? Let Ki to Happiness and the modalities presented support you along your path to greater happiness!

Spirit rides the wind! This great Sufi saying is referring to our breath and its connection to Spirit. Breathing our way into conscious connection with the Breath Giver is an ongoing practice of awareness that keeps us in constant contact with source.

Prayer and Meditation are two other method of connecting with source. Chakra balancing, past life regressions, Reiki treatments and attunements, 12 step recovery programs all offer ways in which we can align our consciousness with Higher Power.

As the weather cools and the sunlight hours diminish, it is natural to begin to reflect on seasons and cycles. Light and warmth found within the hearth of the heart can shine forth, deepening our faith.

What deepens yours? What brings you to spirit? What moves your soul? Which modalities inspire you to reach Higher Self? How can Ki to Happiness facilitate your hook up to Source? Be in touch to further your Self!

Thoughts create a cascade of chemical reactions which are experienced as emotion, or feeling. Expression of this energy results in motion, change, creation, evolution. Inhibition of this natural process blocks the flow of this energy, truncating its influence, and energy becomes stuck in the body.

Expressive arts, writing, painting, sculpting, music making, dancing, singing, chanting, sports, psychotherapy,and pranayama all potentially give vent to these pent up energies, clearing them from the body. This gives opportunity for further examination of the patterns underlying the emotion so choices can change.

The information in the emotion contributes to the refinement of our path as we shift our choices to more accurately reflect what is now known, bringing to consciousness formerly unconscious material.

In the Fall, we are stimulated by the changing light, the cooler temperatures, the scent of the sweet wet earth, the sounds of leaves crunching under foot, the taste of apple cider to remember past seasons and unprocessed energies that would benefit from motion…

What movement does your energy want? Where can you safely express it? With whom? When? How about now and here?

Ki to Happiness invites you to interact as you release the past and move into the present, refining as you reflect on the future.

As we deepen into Autumn, we face ourselves more and more. Weather has us turning to indoor activities, shorter daylight means we turn our lights on, and the leaves stop producing chlorophyll, amazing us with their true colors.

Our own true colors also are revealed. Some hues are delightful, and others are muddled or harsh. Losses from the past and other unprocessed material may have us distracting ourselves, preferring to block out these truths. Overtime, this becomes a habit of avoiding the confrontation with our inner guidance. The mind, then, becomes a mine-field of loaded areas, with surprising reactions coming up from benign triggers.

Mental health requires us to face our fears, hurts, angers and losses so we can broaden our appreciation for the lessons there are to learn, growing in compassion, love and joy. Practices which facilitate this include journal writing, bibliotherapy, counseling, psychotherapy, coaching, mentorship, 12 step recovery and pranayama. All of these can be utilized to calm the mind and heal the rifts within.

In particular, what we do in the first 45 minutes of the day sets our patterns for the rest of the day, as Carl Jung has stated that the ego isn’t up yet! Starting your day with Gratitude Journaling may be just the right method of setting your day on the right track, clearing your mind of all of the issues, problems and complaints, so instead, counting our blessings guides us through the day.

Which of the modalities are appealing to you? What could you add to your morning so you start your day on the conscious track you want? How can I better serve you as you work with your mind to choose happiness? Be in touch here so Ki to Happiness can companion you on your way to stable contentment with a clear mind.