SoulTraveler

The term "aging gracefully" automatically brings up reactions such as the eye rolls and cringing at the very mention of the fact that we won't stay 21 forever. There is a misconception that to age gracefully means to let your hair go grey, stop wearing make up and dress in a matronly matter. If we look at the word "gracefully" we can see that there is a much deeper meaning at play. When we live our lives in a so called state of grace, we are living inside the world of spirit and letting go of the ego aspects of aging. The ego reminds us of the obvious signs of aging that are unavoidable such as hair turning grey, hair loss, wrinkles and weight gain. The spirit reminds us that to age gracefully means to embrace and enjoy what each decade of your life brings.  The hard work of getting used to life as an adult by starting your career and setting life plans, is what happens in your twenties. All of this new found freedom makes this decade one of the hardest ones.

How can you have a vacation this summer? It's quite simple, change it up! Now that summer has arrived it gives us an opportunity to enjoy nature more easily and to slow down our pace. While we all have established routines that can't be let go, we can decide to do them a bit differently. By tweaking our routines a bit and maybe adding some new temporary routines, we in essence are giving ourselves a vacation. Here are a few things that come to mind, some of which I have done in my own life. Morning Coffee  I enjoy my morning coffee and breakfast out on my back porch once summer arrives. Listening to the birds, the buzzing bees and the trees as the sway ever so slightly puts me in a relaxed and joyful frame of mind. Don't have a yard? Step out onto your balcony. No balcony? Take your coffee to go, get away from the crowd and find a nearby park or beach where you can sit for a few minutes to enjoy nature before starting your day. Depending on how hot the day is forecast

The Justice card in the tarot deck is the card of karma. It represents righting the wrongs in order to bring life back into balance. When we see people doing a wrong to others or experience a wrong done to us by someone else we inevitably look towards karma. The idea of having someone "get what they have coming to them" is a satisfying thought in light of the fact that they are unlikely to right the wrong they did you you. Be assured that these people will have  karmic paybacks. More important though is what about us? I believe in karma. In fact, I embrace it! While we often think of it in terms of other people getting payback, we seldom think of it in terms of creating our own positive or negative karma. Karma is twofold in that we can create good or bad karma depending on the choices we make both in the short term and long term. We create karma everyday. Being mindful of what type of karma we are creating for ourselves is imperative. While most of us understand that murde