Santa Anna- a form of 'Peace'

I had a very long couple of weeks. It was just over a year since my beloved sister, Michelle had crossed over from cancer. One of the most heartbreaking life experiences I had to go through. She was the other part of my comedy relief and my twin support in life. No, we were not actually twins; we just could basically read each others minds most of the time. Rather a bit "twilight zone-ish". Now Michelle had a saying she taught me, I believe she got from some comedian ( she watched a lot of comedy tv )..whenever she got over stressed and needed to quickly calm herself down, she would chant
 "sah-nahta-auwna". A weird way of saying Santa Anna. It's pretty funny but it gets the job done. I got to the point where I find myself doing the same thing. Not only does it refocus my thoughts to calm....it also provides me with a way to feel close to my sister and causes me to smile. Smiling sooths my inner freak-out and boosts those good ole' endorphins!
I went to a very sacred and beautiful place on my sisters birthday, March 7th. I needed to feel close to her and give myself a sweet positive image to replace the sorrow I had in my heart.
Nature, even if in a man-made area filled with natures abundance, someplace that is quieting to the soul and mind. A center focus...

.....A place where you can quiet your thoughts and heart and hear the sounds of the water flowing and small birds singing a soft song..

....The gentle wind through the trees, and feel the sunshine on your face. The warmth sinking into the layers of your skin...

......The colors of the blue sky and white clouds.
 I found my deep peace and centeredness near a place of faith. Sometimes I find it out in the woods or at the beach while I walk alone. I can even obtain it on my deck when all isn't quiet in my neighborhood. I can just slowly edit out any noise I don't wish to accept at that moment. This is a hard thing to do...but a bit of practice will do the trick. My sister and I called it "there is no back seat!" When our kids were young and we would go somewhere together in the car...and the boys would argue and yell at each other and fuss to no end...besides doing the proverbial  "stop it, or I'll pull the car over" bit; we would look at each other and say let's play "there is no back seat" and just ignore all the commotion. Strangely enough, when the boys wouldn't get any reaction from us, they would calm themselves down and all would be right in our little vehicle world! This worked for us. Don't ask me why! .....I'm not sure we cared...it just brought us back to our inner sanity.
I would urge anyone who has experienced any kind of loss or hurt on a specific day, ( which would be most of us) to go find a place of beauty, quietness; a place that makes you smile and feel good inside and out. Heap all the love and warmth into you heart and transform it into a good place to be. Trade the sorrow for an uplift in spirits. The next year, you will be surprised at how things feel inside you. Sunshine instead of clouds in your mind. A beautiful gift to give yourself. You are deserving my friend.
            .......sah-nahta-auwna...
                   Peace out~