New Website Is Live!

Y’all are invited to the grand opening of the Galen Pearl website at galenpearl.com. Please come check it out. Yes, I resisted at first, but now I’m so excited to share this big step with you. 

My excitement is due in large part to the creative genius of Bryn Kristi, web designer extraordinaire. With only the vaguest guidance from a reluctant client, she was able to craft a website that surprised and delighted me, reflecting the welcoming beauty I knew I wanted but didn’t know how to ask for, and certainly did not know how to create. And that is just the appearance. She did all sorts of tech stuff that I don’t even know about and could never understand. Like magic...only real.

As I mentioned in the last post, the No Way Café blog is moving to the website. This will be the last post on Blogger. 

If you are currently an email subscriber, then you should continue to receive new blog posts from the website via email without interruption, although it will look a bit different. However, in the unlikely event that there is a problem, then please accept my apology and go to the website to subscribe again. 

If you typically come directly to this site to read the blog, you will need to go to the website from here on out. If you decide you would like to get future posts via email, please sign up on the new website. 

If you link to the blog via Facebook, that will not change. After this post, Facebook will link to the blog on the website.

The new website will also have links for social media so let’s get connected! Another thanks goes to Beth Wilson for bringing me into the world of things I never used before like Instagram (galen.pearl) and Twitter (@galen_pearl), and for expanding the use of the Facebook page. 

There may be a few bumps as I figure out a lot of new things, so please bear with me. I do hope that you enjoy the website and I look forward to engaging with you there. If there are any problems, please let me know. There is a contact page on the website where you can email me.

I also mentioned before that I’m working on a new book. Hopefully I will be able to share some news about that in the coming weeks.

This verse has always made me smile. Yep, I get it. This is how I feel.

Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth. Do you not perceive it? ~Isaiah 43:18-19

Coming Attractions

I mentioned in a post a few weeks ago that changes are coming to my cyberworld. When I wrote that post, I admitted that I had resisted these changes, but was coming to accept and even to embrace them. Since then I have moved ahead with the help of some wonderful people who have held my hand and guided me into the realm of technology beyond my very small comfort zone. 

One of the primary motivations to move ahead is Blogger's plan to discontinue the email subscription service through Feedburner. For those of you who receive the blog posts via email (thank you), this means that I am moving the email subscription list to a different company. The intention is for this to be a seamless transition so that y’all will not even notice.

If you have ever done any home remodeling, you know that once you start updating the kitchen, the bathroom is not far behind. And then you might as well redecorate the bedrooms and add a family room in the basement, and on it goes.

Similarly, once I started down the path of transferring the email subscription list, one thing led to another. So now a Galen Pearl website is in the works, and the blog will move to the website. This means that for those of you who come directly to this blog to see new posts (rather than via email), you will be welcomed to the new website to see the posts there. And for those of you using Facebook, the post links will take you to the new site and there will be other social media options as well. 

What began as an unwelcome intrusion into my familiar blog routine has become something that I am now excited about and eagerly moving towards. Amazing what happens when we release our struggle against what is, and move in harmony and alignment with the natural flow of energy in the world. And, as I’m also learning, in the cyberworld.

I will share more specific information soon when the new website is ready to go. In the meantime, please forgive the interruption in my usual rhythm of more typical blog posts. 

The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance. ~Alan Watts

Being Poetry

 

Do you write poetry

I asked

I am poetry

she replied

The Practice of Receiving

We practice releasing. We practice allowing. We practice accepting. We sometimes overlook the practice of receiving. How is it different from these others and why is it important? 

Is it different? In some ways all these practices are related. In one way they are all the same. But each does have a slightly different flavor. Releasing is letting go of something we hold onto. Allowing is letting energy move naturally without interfering. Accepting is seeing things as they are, without judgment. Receiving is taking what is offered with gratitude. 

In the No Way Café contemplation group, for example, we practice receiving what others say –  listening with our whole selves, without commenting or questioning, honoring what is offered as a gift. 

Receiving can sometimes be a challenge. It is hard for some of us to receive a compliment, deflecting kind words rather than soaking in a positive reflection of ourselves. We sometimes resist offers of assistance, even when we are much in need of support. Many of us get defensive when confronted with what we perceive as criticism, instead of considering whether the observation might highlight something we could do better or differently. (Here, criticism means observations offered from love, not mean-spirited or abusive.) 

We often are too busy and distracted to receive the gift of the present moment. In this moment, I am alive. I can hear birds singing. A pleasant breeze whispers through an open window. 

Why is receiving important? To me, it opens my heart and fills my spirit with gratitude. Each moment is a gift from the universe, an opportunity to be aware, to connect, to experience. It is the natural partner of giving. It replenishes me and immerses me in the cycle of universal exchange, recognizing that giving and receiving are oneness in movement. 

Our bodies teach us this. My heart can only pump out the blood that is received as it circulates throughout my body. Our breath keeps us alive by receiving oxygen from the plant world and releasing carbon dioxide needed by the plants. 

So maybe we can practice receiving today. Enjoy a compliment. Feel the warmth of the sun. Listen to someone. Take a breath with awareness. Let someone do something nice for you. 

A simple way to practice receiving is to use just two little words. Thank you. 

Until we can receive with an open heart, we are never really giving with an open heart.  ~Brene Brown