Christina Solstad - Spirit of Chaco Blog

Valentine's Day: Expressing Your Appreciation To Those You Love

With Valentine's Day a couple of days away, here's a simple idea you might like.

It seems I've had far too many reminders the past few years of how precious life is, and how important it is to let those I love know how I feel. This is not something that can wait, for none of us knows how long we have to enjoy life.

At Christmas, I wanted to express to my family what I appreciate about them. So I wrote each of them a letter, including what I love about them, why they are important to me, and what I appreciate about who they are and what they do.

I always tell them I love them, but I don't always say what it is about who they are that I love. And it was easy to find lots to say, completely from my heart. I said what was true for me, and I felt so happy to have done so. Now I know that those thoughts and words are not left unexpressed. How would they know unless I told them?

So what better thing to do for those you love for Valentine's Day? When was the last time someone did that for you? And it can be as long or short as you like. Even a short note can mean the world to someone.

Some ideas to get you started:

1. Be sure it is from your heart.
2. What do you love about them?
3. Why are they important to you?
4. What is it about who they are that you love and appreciate?
5. What do they do that you appreciate?

You may find it makes you just as happy as it makes them!

The Quiet of a Winter Night in the Anza-Borrego Desert

Winter in the Anza-Borrego Desert, east of San Diego - 8 pm, and we’ve been tucked in our sleeping bags, inside our tent, for the past hour. The rain has started up again. Earlier, the moon shone through a break in the fast-moving storm clouds, so we ventured out for one last bit of the desert night sky before hunkering down in our cozy tent for the night.

8 pm – earlier than I went to bed as a child. But that is one of the pleasures of camping – living by your natural circadian rhythms – to bed with the night sky and arising with the dawn. I have a feeling the storm will give way to a glorious morning, with the post-rain freshness and vitality I love.

So now I sit here listening to the patter of the rain on the tent – coming down hard, then just a light tap, barely discernable.

k.d. lang and Doing What You Are Meant To Do

I find myself inspired after watching an interview with k.d. lang today on CBS's Sunday Morning. She said she was meant to sing, and feels incredibly fortunate to be able to do just that. And, oh, how she sings.

How many of us are truly being and doing what we feel we were meant to be and do? How many of us even know what that is? What a gift to know so early on, and be so clear about, our path in life. And then to stay true to that path.

For most of us, it is not that clear. We struggle with what society, and those around us, expect and demand of us. Those faint bits of who we are deep down get buried. And when they do surface here and there, we feel a sense of joy and knowing and aliveness. Something is stirred within us, and we pay more and more attention to that quiet (and sometimes very loud) voice.

For me, it has been a long process. Over time, I have learned to pay attention to that voice within me, and to my own intuition, over the voices of others (however well meaning those voices may be). My first trip to Chaco Canyon, in April 1994, helped to swing that door open. And I have been listening more closely ever since. My connection with my truest self continues to deepen, and I share more fully who I am with others. The lessons along the way have been numerous, and sometimes painful or expensive.

It's all been worth it. One of the things I know I am meant to do is to write. Another is to share Chaco Canyon with others. And yet another is to inspire others to know their true self. So here I stand before you, happy that I am becoming more of who I am meant to be.

Who are you meant to be? What can you do today to bring more of that to the world?

Connecting to Your Truest Self

Recently I attended an amazing 3-day retreat, lead by Greg Clowminzer of Zen Coach, where I got to connect with my truest and most real self - that part of me beyond all the ideas I have (and others have) about myself (both true and not true).

I was able to experience and remember the part of me that is pure unconditional Love, and the deep well of Calm I always have within me. From here, life simply works better.

The personal growth work I have done over the years certainly helped set the stage, and allowed me to reach an even deeper sense of self during the weekend, so I can now more fully bring who I am to my daily life. And Greg and his staff create a warm and sacred and safe environment for this unfolding to occur.

So what are some tangible ways that this learning has affected my daily life so far?

Connecting With Your Creative Self

Nature (and that includes Chaco) allows me to connect with that deepest part of myself beyond words.

Sometimes it comes pouring out of me and I must grab it before it is gone. Sometimes I struggle to find it and must work to entice it, then ride the wave for as long as I can.

I have learned that I must create a space where my creative self feels welcomed and nurtured.

Life, the mundane, and the (sometimes) necessary bits of getting along in this world – creating income to pay bills, email, commuting, groceries – tend to eat up my time, leaving precious little for what I most want to do, which is to create – in all the wondrous ways that I can.

Or is that simply an excuse, and a delay tactic, because I am afraid – what if I’m no good, have nothing to say that others want to hear, there is no room for my creations in an already crowded world?

Yet, more and more as I get older, I find that another fear drives me harder - what if I die without expressing, without sharing, all that is within me, feeling at times that it will all burst out, like those lovely dandelion seeds when you blow on them.

My job is to release them. My job is to become myself.

What do you have within you wanting to be released? And how do you connect with that part of yourself? I'd love to hear...

Remembering to Connect

I’ve been working up a storm lately. But sleep has been suffering. Meditation – what meditation? Maybe you can relate?

My big ah-ha came when I took the time, on a glorious warm day in San Diego, to take a sunset walk on the beach – something I used to love to do as often as possible, to clear my head, move my body, and get reinspired. I arrived to see the golden sun dropping into the ocean, and stood with many others, eyes to the sea, fully appreciating the gift, and hoping to see the green flash (too hazy). I breathed in the salt air, felt the cooling air and breeze on my face, felt myself relaxing as I started to walk north along the edge of the water.

Something stirred deep within me. Calm and connection crept in. I stopped and felt the sand in my fingers, then lingered over a pile of stones and small shells washed up on shore, listened to the waves with my eyes closed, and walked again, more slowly now, as the light continued to dim.

I realized how important this was, taking the time, which I didn’t think I had, to come to the beach tonight. My body and mind needed this break, this chance to connect with something deep within. My tagline for Spirit of Chaco is to “deepen your connection with the divine…” and I had not been allowing myself to stop long enough for that much-needed connection. How could I hope to help others do the same?

I silently thanked Spirit for this wakeup call, and for the calm and joy I felt in this gift.  Indeed, this reminder of what I have been missing, and of what I crave in my life, has reinspired me to stay more closely connected to what speaks to my heart.

What are you doing to connect with yourself today?

Spirit of Chaco Is Here

Spirit of Chaco is finally here - both exciting and scary for me... Exciting because I have so much great stuff to share with you, and it's a new beginning, part of creating my dream. Scary because now I'm putting myself out there for all to see, and there is no going back.

Have you ever had something that had you feeling both excited and scared at the same time? Seems like a regular thing these days for me, as I work on creating my dream. Finally, that burning desire within has overcome (well, mostly) those pesky fears. 

OK, so what is this Spirit of Chaco about? It's about deepening your connection to Spirit, to the Divine, to your Inner Self, to that great Universal Source - whatever you call that sense of something that guides you. That voice that's been calling to you, or maybe whispering, or maybe even yelling. Have you been listening?

And the magnificant place I'd love to share with you - and you may already know and love it yourself - is Chaco Canyon in northwest New Mexico. I call this blog Spirit of Chaco because Chaco does, indeed, have a spirit all its own.

It is a place where I, and many others, have had the opportunity to learn and grow and connect with the deepest part of ourselves. It is a place of exquisite, high-desert beauty, where you can spend time alone (and with others of like mind) in nature, where you can hike, photograph, write, and learn about the Chacoans who lived there 1,000 years ago.

Time in nature, and in places such as Chaco, is what keeps me sane in this sometimes crazy world. It's a bit of peace, helping me to listen, and to connect with myself. It's what fuels my muse much of the time.

Here's to deepening our connection to ourselves. Won't you come along and join me?   

Spirit of Chaco is finally here - both exciting and scary for me... Exciting because I have so much great stuff to share with you, and it's a new beginning, part of creating my dream. Scary because now I'm putting myself out there for all to see, and there is no going back.

Have you ever had something that had you feeling both excited and scared at the same time? Seems like a regular thing these days for me, as I work on creating my dream. Finally, that burning desire within has overcome (well, mostly) those pesky fears. 

OK, so what is this Spirit of Chaco about? It's about deepening your connection to Spirit, to the Divine, to your Inner Self, to that great Universal Source - whatever you call that sense of something that guides you. That voice that's been calling to you, or maybe whispering, or maybe even yelling. Have you been listening?

And the magnificant place I'd love to share with you - and you may already know and love it yourself - is Chaco Canyon in northwest New Mexico. I call this blog Spirit of Chaco because Chaco does, indeed, have a spirit all its own.

It is a place where I, and many others, have had the opportunity to learn and grow and connect with the deepest part of ourselves. It is a place of exquisite, high-desert beauty, where you can spend time alone (and with others of like mind) in nature, where you can hike, photograph, write, and learn about the Chacoans who lived there 1,000 years ago.

Time in nature, and in places such as Chaco, is what keeps me sane in this sometimes crazy world. It's a bit of peace, helping me to listen, and to connect with myself. It's what fuels my muse much of the time.

Here's to deepening our connection to ourselves. Won't you come along and join me?