Hummingbirds, Cats and Peace in Our World - Part 2

Judith is the author of The Sacred Women’s Circle series, romantic fiction that honors spiritual practices that nourish the soul and celebrates the journey from relationship to romance.

Back to the hummers and the cat.

If I want peace, I must give up “revenge” as in ranting on social media about cat owners who do not bell their cats, putting repellents out to ward them off, dashing out the door yelling at the cat when I see it in my yard, etc.

My other option is to make my yard a wasteland: no flowers, no plants, nothing that might attract hummers or other birds.

But to do that I take away an important piece of my own joy. Inspiration comes to me when I look out at the flowers, see the bees, butterflies and birds. 

And as to forgiveness. What is the point of being angry at a cat for being a, well, being a cat?

You may have already surmised my decision. Flowers, my dwarf larch, ferns, columbine, lupine: plants, trees and flowers growing in my yard are points of inspiration (I can see it all from my office). I also remind myself we are all here on our own journey, even the birds and cat. And I will confess I do send energy into my yard for the safety of birds who come to visit me. This year I’ve no evidence that isn’t working.

My questions to you today are:

What do you need to do to forgive yourself for all those things you blame, guilt, criticize, punish yourself for?

What do you need to do to forgive other people who have “done something” to you?

Before you say it can’t be done, I’d want to remind you of the Amish families who forgave the man who burst into the school and killed their children.

And, more recently? The people who survived the shootings in Charleston, North Carolina and the families of those who didn’t forgave the young man who’d joined their prayer service before opening fire.

Join me next Monday when I’ll share why forgiveness is critical to our own lives and happiness.

Your free copy of Lily: The Dragon and The Great Horned Owl is waiting for you.

Go to JudithAshleyRomance.com and sign up for my occasional newsletter “Connections.” Follow the prompts to download your own digital copy of the first book in The Sacred Women’s Circle series.

Learn more about The Sacred Women’s Circle series at JudithAshleyRomance.com

Follow Judith on Twitter: @JudithAshley19

Check out Judith’s Windtree Press author page.

You can also find Judith on FB!

Hummingbirds, Cats and Peace in Our World

Judith is the author of The Sacred Women’s Circle series, romantic fiction that honors spiritual practices that nourish the soul and celebrates the journey from relationship to romance.

One of the wonders I look for in my yard are hummingbirds sipping from the salvia. Something else I also see is a cat stalking through my yard focused on these same hummingbirds. While I also focus on these tiny bundles of energy when I spot them, I wish them no harm.

I’ve seen cats (more than one comes into my yard) pounce on birds, including the hummers.

Salvia blossoms

You may be asking yourself “what do these thoughts and observations have to do with writing blog posts?”

Here’s my answer:

Labor Day Weekend I attended one of this year’s Women of the 14^th Moon Gatherings. I was talking with a couple of women about unconditional acceptance and why that is important if we want to experience unconditional love.

Our conversation included my telling about an experience I had doing a workshop in Slovenia on “Peace In Our World” right after the Balkan War in the mid-1990’s. My premise: Peace requires that we choose to live a peaceful life and to do that we must give up revenge. I will add that my premise was not accepted by many in the workshop. Of course people in attendance had experiences, witnessed or heard first-hand accounts of atrocities so their point of view wasn’t unexpected.

When Lynn talked about forgiveness, a brilliant light of “Aha” shone forth. I had not talked to the group in Slovenia about forgiveness and why it serves us more than the one(s) we forgive.

What I know now is:

We cannot give up revenge for those wrongs done to us until we can forgive.

We cannot have peace in our own lives until we forgive ourselves.

We cannot unconditionally accept others until we can unconditionally accept ourselves.

I’ll talk more next Monday about how these ideas fit into the story about the hummers and the cats. Hope you’ll come back and continue the dialogue with me.

Your free copy of Lily: The Dragon and The Great Horned Owl is waiting for you.

Go to JudithAshleyRomance.com and sign up for my occasional newsletter “Connections.” Follow the prompts to download your own digital copy of the first book in The Sacred Women’s Circle series.

Learn more about The Sacred Women’s Circle series at JudithAshleyRomance.com

Follow Judith on Twitter: @JudithAshley19

Check out Judith’s Windtree Pressauthor page.

You can also find Judith on FB!