Forging Faith

For the next month in August, I have decided to focus my independent wellness studies and my daily practice on faith--the concept, examples of faith, and ideas for forging or creating more opportunities for faith to show up in my life.

Day 31:

As the final day of this month but most definitely not the final day of my faith practice, I found a quote on a Facebook page I love that really sums up what I have needed to focus on and remind myself of over and over again for the past two and a half weeks since my wonderful mom was hospitalized. More than ever I need to remember this:

Day 30:

On faith and self-care:

"Self-care is the surest way I know to ensure our ability to have faith in our own magnificence." 

~Ken Ludwig

Day 29:

Sunflowers make their own weather. :)

16 up, 11 d

Day 28:

A wonderful quote I found for my mom as she begins rehabilitation after having just had multiple brain surgeries:

"Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your faith lies."

~Mother Teresa of Calcutta 

Days 26 and 27:

A blog this week about how self-care and rest found me:

http://ecua-gringa.blogspot.com/2014/08/finding-shiny-bits-underneath-pain.html

Days 23, 24, and 25: 

A series of quotes to help me through these emotionally difficult times:

"Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase."
~Martin Luther King, Jr.

"The greatest healing therapy is friendship and love." 

~Hubert H. Humphrey

Days 21 and 22:

A big part of growing faith is finding or creating faith in myself. When someone goes through an extremely difficult time, that tends to be when others offer advice, even when you haven't asked. Having faith in oneself helps counter all the advice given, because we are truly the only ones who know what's best for us.

Another view from the hospital

Days 19 and 20:

More beauty from around the hospital where we've spent the past week and a half:

Looking northwest from Swedish Hospital-Cherry Hill

Days 17 and 18:

In recognizing and finding faith during really difficult times, what I've been able to manage is taking pictures of beautiful things, especially of things I know my mom will want to see when she is better. 

Days 13, 14, 15 and 16:

For the last few days I've been practicing faith every minute from the hospital waiting room, while my wonderful mom has undergone numerous procedures and a cranio-surgery to repair hemorrhaging in her brain, caused by a fistula formed when she was in a car accident at 16 years of age. I have been told I've been strong throughout this health crisis, but all I feel I've really been doing is trusting she will recover fully. Having faith that she will be a grandma hopefully someday soon and be able to meet her good friends again for wine at happy hour, hug her dear kitties and doggie again, give me all her wonderful advice and wisdom again, swim at the gym again, volunteer at her grand-nephews' schools again, send out her love into the world and bring light to our lives, as she has always done. If anyone is strong here, it's my amazing, inspiring, unconditionally loving, caring, selfless, dependable, creative, funny, witty, wonderful momma. She has always shown us incredible strength and courage but now more than ever. My mom is my hero! I am SO INCREDIBLY LUCKY to be her daughter!

Day 12:

Today I experienced a scary situation while driving home and am trying to practice faith and forgiveness for my own heart, so I'm reposting one of my favorite quotes from Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy, aka. SARK:

Day 11:

I have faith that Robin Williams is sitting under a tree now with his dear friend, Christopher Reeve, just like out of a scene from What Dreams May Come and they are laughing and laughing. :) And I think Robin is getting everyone to laugh up there in Heaven. I can hear my grandma's giggles now. <3 Rest in peace and laughter, dear friend to us all.

Day 10:

I love this quote from Mother Teresa that I found on the Beliefnet site. I took this picture on a morning way in the quaint town of Leavenworth, Washington.

Day 9:

Another beautiful quote to live by from the Oprah website by Gandhi:

Day 8:

Today is International Stand for Love Day and also in preparation for my life coaching class next weekend, I'm studying the inspiring book by Marianne Williamson named A Return To Love. As I skimmed the different sections, I miraculously came upon the part on faith and felt inspired to create a photo quote with this quote:

"Faith is believing that the universe is on our side, and that the universe knows what it's doing."

Day 7:

Part of this daily faith practice is growing faith in myself and remembering I have what it takes already inside me to be the person I want to be. This quote from Deepak Chopra could help inspire me into action:

"Every time you are tempted to react in the same old way, ask if you want to be a prisoner of the past or a pioneer of the future."

~Deepak Chopra

Day 6:

On Day 6, I blogged about keeping the faith and remembering the "Blessings in Every Hurdle:"

http://ecua-gringa.blogspot.com/2014/08/blessings-in-every-hurdle.html

Day 5:

This daily practice has been a really good thing to keep remembering when my head is aching or I'm having cramps or I'm feeling rundown--it's important to keep the faith ESPECIALLY during the moments of discomfort and not fight the feelings one is experiencing during those moments but instead let them be and trust that change is inevitable. This quote from Oprah's site by Anne Lamott sums it up:

Day 4:

Today I had a headache almost all day. Then I got home and still had a headache and so I decided to eat and then go for a nice long walk in the fresh air, and it helped thankfully. :) I read this quote just now by Anna Pereira from Circles of Inspiration on Facebook and thought it was fitting:

Day 3:

For me, faith is not forcing things to happen and instead letting life flow naturally. This quote from a Facebook site called the Joy of Dad is a good reminder:

Day 2:
Gabrielle Bernstein writes about faith in miracles and I find her writing very practical and inspiring:

"The next step to creating more synchronicity and flow is to strengthen your faith in miracles...Faith in miracles clears space for divine guidance to show up and support you." 

Day 1:

As Brene Brown begins a new topic of study, I want to start by finding a definition of faith that really resonates with me. I think Brene's own definition is really beautiful:

"Faith is a place of mystery, where we find the courage to believe in what we cannot see and the strength to let go of our fear of uncertainty."

How can I welcome more mystery into my life and embrace uncertainty more often?