As I walked this morning, I came across a snail and picked it up, moving it back to the grass. It reminded me of a story I was told back in 2010, that a friend experienced in her garden.
“I was watering my flower garden in the early evening and I looked down. There near my feet was a small puddle and lots of snails nearby. Many times I have seen people just crush snails in their shells because they represent destruction to their garden plants. With that in mind, I notice a tiny snail about the size of my pinky fingernail. It is moving slowly towards the puddle. Wow, it’s a baby I think. Just as I noticed that micro snail, a larger snail approaches it. I call out to my daughter to come see this small snail. As we’re both looking at the snails, we realize the tiny snail is now on the back of the larger snail. How odd, I thought. How did that happen?
No longer were the two joined snails at the edge of the puddle, but heading back towards the dirt in the garden. Now we are engrossed in this rescue and are watching with deep concentration. Once the larger snail reaches the garden, there the tiny snail crawls off and climbs onto a leaf.”
Back to safety? Is that what just happened? Was it a parent snail taking care of a baby snail? The essence of life is everywhere. As I open my senses and grow in awareness of my gifts in the energy world, I feel; I see; I hear; and I know life abounds around us.
Amid the chaos and the clamor of fear and struggle, of the high speed of technology and the glitz of glamor, of the need to acquire more to satisfy a deep hunger for something, the competition of life, remember there is abundance in nature. Being outside allows us to connect with source, breathe and…
More Programs Like This…
Rowe offers a wide range of programs on a variety of topics. Click here to register for programs like this one.
- Remember our hearts beating inside our chests
- Remember we can choose to breathe deeply or shallowly
- Remember to use breathe to draw on patience
- Remember to take a moment to observe
- Remember your choices
- Remember cooperation is better than competition
- Remember what love feels like
- Remember the gift of a close friend
- Remember the seasons come and go
And
- Feel gratitude for the sun shining
- Feel gratitude for the sound of birds
- Feel gratitude for morning dew
- Feel gratitude for choices
- Feel gratitude for your ability to persevere
- Feel gratitude for the tiny miracles you see when you look for them
- Feel gratitude for your beating heart
SHIRLEY RIGA
Shirley Riga’s life changed dramatically in 1981 when her youngest daughter was born with two liver diseases. For her own sanity, Shirley searched for tools she could use to help herself and her family, and she found Dr. Susan Jeffers’ book Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway. It was a resource she latched onto for many difficult years and events. As a trained practitioner in Psychosynthesis Counseling and drawing on her life experiences, Shirley wrote Tools for the Exceptional Parent of a Chronically-Ill Child and then a workbook Tools for the Caregiver: A Workbook for Finding Yourself Through Caregiving. In 2011, Shirley became a licensed instructor of Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway. Wanting to integrate a spiritual dimension into her work, Shirley completed a two-year certification program as a Spiritual Guide through the Rowe Center in Massachusetts. She chose this program because it helped expand her awareness of the many ways the sacred manifests in people’s lives. This training helped develop her deep listening skills, compassion and awareness of each person’s essence. She can help people explore their connection to the divine however they define that. As a caregiver advocate, teacher, and support group facilitator, Shirley is effective in helping people who are at a crossroads in their lives or at a standstill, because fear is always an operating factor. She has a special interest in supporting caregivers, people experiencing bereavement, and the LGBTQIA community.
