I have found the FlyLady system to be a wonderful and positive way to get my life in order, although admittedly, I haven't followed it as closely as I could have! I have "fallen off the bandwagon" more than a few times! Yet one of the great things about FlyLady is that you can jump back in at any time! With FlyLady, I always know exactly where to start!!
Over the years, I have found ways to integrate my spirituality into my household cleaning. Wait, did I just say that House Cleaning is Spiritual?? Yes, it can be! I am a Pagan, more specifically an eclectic Neo-Pagan, meaning that I draw from MANY spiritual paths which focus on Nature and the natural cycles of the world we live in. For many Pagans and Witches, our homes are the central place of our worship, our spiritual learning, our meditation, etc. Since we don't have Churches to go to, and we don't limit ourselves to only experiencing nature when we are outdoors, it makes sense to think of our homes as our "Temple", or our Sacred Place. Many Pagans and witches also believe that their spiritual path is a Lifestyle, not just something they do once a week or on the Blessed Sabbats or the Full Moon. I have found through FlyLady and my own spiritual path, that even the mundane, daily tasks that come with being a wife, a mother, and a housekeeper, can be beautiful parts of my daily Spiritual Life, and I wanted to share with you some ways that I have done this.
I will be going through the different aspects of FlyLady, and talking about how I apply them to my own life as a Pagan. Today we begin with The Welcome Letter!
When you first join FlyLady you get a Welcome Letter. (and by the way, if you follow my blog, please join FlyLady or at least bookmark the FlyLady website for reference!) This letter explains the basic idea behind the FlyLady program and how it works. Please click the Link and read the welcome letter for yourself!!
The first thing you read is what FLY means. It means Finally Loving Yourself! All the great spiritual teachers of our time and times long past have taught us that without first Loving Ourselves, we cannot truly love others. Buddha, Paramasana Yogananda, The Dalai Lama, Ghandi, Jesus, Doreen Virtue, Dr. Wayne Dyer, Sonia Choquette, Louise Hay, Starhawk... to name a few; all teach us that when we truly see ourselves as Divine Children of God/Goddess/The Universe, we begin to truly love ourselves and then the flow of love to others and from others comes more naturally! With the basic Law of Attraction, if we Love Our self, we invite Love into our lives. This isn't meaning a type of love that involves vanity or a feeling of self-importance in that we are better than anyone else. We are all children of the Divine! But if you don't love yourself the way you love your own children; unconditionally - then you block the flow of true Divine Love from flowing to you and through you! Without loving yourself, you are constantly criticising yourself, seeing the negative instead of the positive.
When you FLY, you embrace the positive and develop a desire to bring more positive into your life. When you FLY, you want to eliminate the negatives to make room for the positives. Maybe you have too much clutter. Maybe you keep a clean home, but neglect taking care of yourself. Perhaps you are really good at keeping parts of your home clean and orderly, but there are certain areas that build up and become a source of stress for you. Maybe you procrastinate and let things build up to the point where it creates stress and a burden upon yourself and your family. When you FLY, you look around your home and you think, why I am I letting myself - a beautiful Child of The Divine - live in chaos?
FlyLady's Welcome Letter explains that by taking one step at a time, the program will help you build daily routines and weekly plans that will help you run your household more efficiently, thus relieving yourself of stress. If you embrace the ideal of FLYing (Finally Loving Yourself), then the desire to do this grows stronger. Building routines takes time, and patience with yourself. You have to work on developing new habits, slowly, piece by piece; trusting that eventually you will overcome whatever difficulties you may face. The FlyLady program will help you develop these new habits and new routines, or build on the routines you already have in place. It starts with the BabySteps, and onward to Daily Flightplans and weekly "Zone Missions", all of which are described in detail on the FlyLady website but I will (hopefully) also cover here - with a Pagan Twist!
Whether you are new to FlyLady, or have been doing it for awhile, take some time today to think about how you Love Yourself. Are you really acting in ways that show self-love? Are you being really hard on yourself, criticizing your failures and shortcomings? Think about your inner voice - is it Loving towards you, or mean? Would you talk to your child the way you talk to yourself? How is your self-love reflected in your Daily Life at home? Are you avoiding things that stress you out? Is this avoidance just creating more stress and more critical self-talk? The first step to changing negative self-talk to positive self talk is to be AWARE of your self talk. Listen to your inner voice, and when you find it being un-loving to yourself, stop and think something positive instead. Changing your self-talk is something that will take time, and take practice, starting with Awareness and Intention!
Here is a wonderful video of affirmations that will help you increase your self-love, by Doreen Virtue.
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