YEP, it is really midsummer. Sun and showers. Heavens just opened and rain, lots of it comes bucketing down. It's the same every year. A week ago , we were going through a heatwave and it really looked as if , for once , midsummer would be bright , hot and sunny. Nope. Tradition is tradition , " Same procedure as last year " is a phrase that gets a Swede to chuckle.

Midsummer is a big thing here in Sweden. Expectations are high. Dresssing the midsummer pole ( phallus ) with flowers and greenery , wearing white and wreaths of flowers, dancing around the midsummer pole singing " Små grodorna " and jumping about pretending to be little frogs .. unbelievably silly and they know it and love it . Food , drink and making out; spewing up, fighting , breaking uo and being remoseful the day after .. all part of the big picture. Cathartic .

Traditional Midsummer is not for me. I've made no plans . Looks like this midsummer I will be with me myself and I and that's fine ,because it is my choice. I am feeling great just writing whatever comes into my noddle and preoaring to put paint on virgin canvas. Oh yes .... yellow I think it will be .. a mandala ....creative self-expression in the safety and cosiness of my beautiful hermit cave - me myself and I. My Mystic and My Pragmatist dancing together .. but it won't be to " små grodorna " .

Ahhhh sunshine again .. I wonder where the rainbow is ?

What is it about TRANSITION ? Everywhere I turn it is in my face.
From the Daily OM :

Permission To Simply Be

Working Through Transitions
The elation we feel when we have learned an important lesson, achieved a goal, or had a big breakthrough can sometimes be met with a period of downtime afterward. During this period of transition, we may feel unsure and not know where to turn next. Many people, during the pause between achievements, begin to wonder what their life is about. These feelings are common and strike everyone from time to time. Human beings are active creatures-we feel best when we are working on a project or vigorously pursuing a goal. But there is nothing inherently wrong with spending a day, a week, or even a month simply existing and not having a plan. Just be. It won't be long before you embark upon your next voyage of growth and discovery.

( OH THIS IS MUSIC TO MY EARS !!! )

The quiet lull into we which we fall between ideas, projects, and goals can make life seem empty. After accomplishing one objective, you may want to move immediately on to the next. However, when your next step is unclear, you may feel frustrated, disconnected, or even a mild depression. You may even perceive your lack of forward momentum as an indicator of imminent stagnation. To calm these distressing thoughts, try to accept that if your intent is personal growth, you will continue to grow as an individual whether striving for a specific objective or not. Spending time immersed in life's rigors and pleasures can be a cathartic experience that gives you the time you need to think about what you have recently gone through and leisurely contemplate what you wish to do next. You may also find that in simply being and going through the motions of everyday life, you reconnect with your priorities in a very organic, unforced way.

The mindful transitional pause can take many forms. For some, it can be a period of reflection that helps them understand how their life has unfolded. For others, it can be a period of adjustment, where new values based on recent changes are integrated into daily life. Just because you're not headed swiftly to a final destination doesn't mean you should assume that you have lost your drive. The stage between journeys can become a wonderful period of relaxation that prepares you for the path that will soon be revealed to you.

Good one , Lara , everyday masters .

I wonder why we say " MASTERS " and accept the male form ??

It annoys me a little .

An American collegue made me aware of " gender friendly " texts may years ago and from that time it was been like a grain of sand in my bed.

"Today a friend asked me what all my boyfriends have in common. The answer was easy: ME. And when I said this, I realized how much time I have lost looking for the right person – because they change, while I stay the same and get nothing out of what we live together. "

This is very GESTALT . Ioannis spoke about this last week.

http://www.warriorofthelight.com/

Lara sent me this

The everyday masters

Outside the city of Oslo is getting ready for winter. I am chatting in the bar with a very popular European singer. We talk about fame and success, and at a certain moment she asks me if I have anything important to teach her.
“Of course not,” I answer. “You lead your life like someone who knows that one day they are going to die, and that is what is most important. Nevertheless, I can propose a task for you: for the next six months, keep a diary called “the everyday master.” We always learn something different between dawn and dusk: why not write it down?”
She accepts the task. Six months later, I receive a copy of her diary full of very interesting notes, lessons from people she met only once but who are certain to remain for ever. Below are some of the most important of these entries.

Accepting yourself
I found out who I am by looking at others. I am afraid of not being as good as they think I am, but I believe they all think this about themselves. During the time that I kept this diary, I finally accepted that I am brave enough to feel fear and to see myself without any artifices. I feel secure enough to feel insecure.
I discovered that people try to project a lot of their own insecurity onto you, just as you do with them. They try to diminish you because they feel small, try to intimidate you because they are not convinced that they are capable.

In search of love
Today I met a Korean who read my hand: a funny character, a wise man for the others but incapable of learning what he teaches. Of course, like all fortune-tellers, he thought that I wanted to know about my love life, so he told me things that I always need to hear:
a] I am looking for security and adventure at one and the same time, and these things do not go well together (I said nothing, but if I had to choose, I would take adventure).
b] I fall in love very quickly, and get bored just as fast. “Learn to love yourself,” he said. My problem is not exactly love, because I manage to fall in love so easily – my problem is to show this love, my relating with others.
c] Why do I get into so many frustrated relationships with so many men? Because I feel that I always have to be relating with someone – and so I am forced to be fascinating, intelligent, sensitive, and exceptional. The effort of seducing makes me give the best of myself, and that helps me. Besides, it is very hard to live with myself.

Avoiding keeping control or being controlled
If I react the way that people expect me to, I become a slave to them – and that is a lesson that applies both to love and work. It is very difficult to prevent this from happening, because we are always ready to please somebody, or to start a war when we are provoked, but people and situations are the consequences of the life that I have chosen, not the other way around.

Old boyfriends
Today a friend asked me what all my boyfriends have in common. The answer was easy: ME. And when I said this, I realized how much time I have lost looking for the right person – because they change, while I stay the same and get nothing out of what we live together.
What makes me distance myself from men who could be important in my life? The need always to be in control. The odd thing is that when I begin to feel jealous, or when I can no longer stand the amorous relationship, men who were so independent and so full of themselves turn into scared little lambs. They become afraid of losing me. At that moment I can no longer respect them and the relationship becomes impossible.
My friend insisted: “Have you ever loved anyone?” I have always been afraid of that question, but Paulo asked me to write this diary and so I have to give an answer. No, I have never loved anyone. I have had many men but I have always waited for the right person. I have been all round the world and have not managed to find the home that I am looking for. I have been in control and have been controlled, and relationships have never gone beyond that.
Now that I have answered “No, I have never loved anyone,” I feel freer. I see what is missing in my life.

I am in the most wonderful time of transition.

I am living in a time of change. It is a time of releasing old, limiting beliefs and learning new ways of thinking. Loneliness, anger, fear, and pain are all part of the old fear syndrome, and that is what I choose to change. I choose to move from fear into love. I am learning to go within, and I find that I have the power to change myself and my world. I no longer need to be a victim. I can choose thoughts and beliefs that lead to freedom. I have learned to take responsibility for my life and to respond in ways that empower me and make positive changes in my life.

I am willing to change.

Louise Hay

YES .. me too .. I am willing to change. Transition canfeel uncomfortable , uncertain, scary even .. but right now I feel the excitement , anticipation , exhileration even ... joy of leaving, discarding old skin, shell, clutter, structures, outdated beliefs, sorrows, worries etc and blessing it ..... leaving it all behind.. moving on .... YES .. so be it and so it is.

Some Descriptions and Qualities of the Divine, Eternal Self

Omnipresent (everywhere at once).
Omnipotent (all powerful).
Omniscient (all-knowing).
Eternal, infinite perfection of being.
Infinite Being, love, and wisdom.
Infinite, endless light.
Self that is free from all attachments and beyond all action.
Self that is constant, unchanging, indestructible, and immutable. Is always the same.
Self that is the observer, the witness of your experience.
Witness of the activities of mind, but not identified with them.
Source of all answers.
A center of consciousness within the One Life.
A center of consciousness in the great ocean of Life.
A center of consciousness upon the surface of the one great “I”.
The consciousness of the whole, manifesting through your point or center of consciousness.
Consciousness at rest, no thought.

Note that all words or descriptions of the Divine Self are inadequate; the Self is can only be known through a direct experience of It and cannot be known through the rational mind.

Your consciousness gradually expands until it realizes its identity with the Whole. Under all forms and names of the visible world, there is to be found One Life–One Force–One Existence–One Reality–ONE.

From ; http://www.orindaben.com/newsletter/contactds.htm

“Change. It has the power to uplift, to heal, to
stimulate, surprise, open new doors, bring fresh
experience and create excitement in life.
Certainly it is worth the risk.”

-- Leo Buscaglia

YES .. every moment is a fresh moment.