by Connie Habash | May 18, 2026 | Balance, Gratitude, Receiving
To find inner balance and harmony with the world, learn from the bee, who gives generously and receives abundantly.
Nature has its way of making sure everything stays in balance. As animals inhale oxygen, they exhale carbon dioxide, and thus the plants can take in the carbon dioxide for their nourishment, providing us with the oxygen we need as their by-product.
Each animal has another animal or plant that it eats for sustenance, and every animal or plant has its predator. This way, the ecosystem stays mostly in harmony, unless big changes come and affect the area, such as climate change, human intervention, or natural disasters. In all balanced systems, there is give and take.
The Wisdom of the Bee and the Flower
Bees have their own way of contributing to the harmony of the greater ecosystem. They are seen during the warm seasons fervently hopping from flower to flower, taking in the nectar that they need for their own strength, as well as what is needed for the hive and their offspring.
But they’re not just taking the nectar – the nectar is the flower’s gift for the exchange of pollen between flowers that the bees provide, as they dance to and fro amongst the blossoms. Without the pollen being carried between flowers, most flora would perish. And without the nectar, so would the bees. Both the bees and the flowers are constantly giving and receiving, and this helps both of them to flourish.
It’s strange that somehow this natural balance of giving and receiving gets lost with us humans. There are times when it feels like someone is taking, taking, taking from you – or from the planet and there’s little that comes back.
Do you ever feel like you give too much? Or, do you feel like you aren’t allowed many opportunities to give, because someone else always is? We may feel more comfortable in one role – as giver or as receiver – than the other. But the way to feeling balanced and whole, both within oneself and also as a part of a larger community, is to practice both receiving and giving.
Learning to Receive as Well as Give
Let yourself receive nurturance, support, love, and inspiration from others. Then consider, how can I find a way to pass this on to someone? How can I offer the benefit of what I just received to the larger community or planet? This is how we keep ourselves, our relations, and all of nature in a healthy balance.
If we drink a glass of milk, or eat a bowl of vegetables, reverently consider the gift of the cow or the plant it came from. Imagine the person who milked it or harvested it with respect and gratitude.
In drinking this glass of milk, allowing ourselves to be nourished by it, contemplate how you can nourish the heart of someone close to you. Then, reflect on how you can help replenish what you have taken from the land – maybe through planting a tree, or putting seed out for some birds.
The Practice of Giving and Receiving in Yoga
Take this practice onto your yoga mat. Each pose has a gift that it offers us. Do we sometimes resist its blessings, challenges, and insights? Open to receive deeply with each breath and movement. Then, explore what you give to your practice. Are you offering your full attention, or allowing yourself to get caught up in distractions? Do you do your best, or just try to get through the routine?
Give from your heart to your practice, holding back nothing, and you will receive far more. This doesn’t mean overexertion, but rather allows a full, complete experience of body, breath, heart, and consciousness. Giving fully and receiving deeply with each breath brings about transformation and awakening. Each pose is the flower you offer mindful, heartfelt embodiment to, and open to receive the nectar of yoga from.
Living in Gratitude and Reciprocity
Be like the bee, who is giving without even being conscious of it. Consider how a gift graciously received brings joy to the giver. Sometimes you’re giving back just by being appreciative of what is given to you. It warms a person’s heart to know that something they’ve done for someone else made a difference. Open to receive what is given with joy and gratitude.
Then, when you’re giving to someone else, take in with gratitude the honor of being able to give. Notice how giving from feeling full and overflowing with gratitude also nourishes yourself. Like the bee and the flower, you are more radiant and sweet from both the giving and receiving.
As you open to the natural flow of giving and receiving, may you feel more nourished, connected, and whole. Explore Awakening Women of the Earth (AWE) to deepen your connection with yourself, community, and Spirit.
by Connie Habash | Sep 23, 2021 | Being, Energy, fulfillment, Receiving
In order to do more in your life, you need to fill yourself abundantly by being more. Here’s how.
Most of my adult life, I have had a compulsion to do. It’s this nagging feeling that I’m not doing enough and need to keep doing more. Then I tend to overcommit myself, get overwhelmed, and have to clear the plate again to find my balance. The idea of being – what it was and why it mattered – didn’t even occur to me.
I’ve worked on the roots of this issue for some time. I have embraced doing less and I enjoy that! My sense of self is less defined by doing, and more by who I truly am.
But what about when I actually want to do more – not just the compulsive fear of not being enough driving me, but a deep inspiration and desire to share more with the world? How do I make sure I don’t overcommit and spin myself into that excessively-busy, overscheduled and burned out experience?
More Doing Requires Filling Up More
I realized that if I truly desire to do more in my life, I also need to up the ante with be-ing. Being is simply to receive and be present. Through being, I am filled up. I must (and I rarely use that word!) fill myself more before I can give more. I need to fill up with an abundance of energy, so that I have plenty to give. And, preferably, I need to fill myself first, not after I’m already depleted.
When we give to others through doing – whether it’s taking on another work project, volunteering, scheduling more clients, adding on a class, etc. – we can’t just pull that from our own personal energy reserves. If we do, it’s like overdrawing our bank account before we’ve even paid the bills. We’ll end up with a deficit of energy, leading to fatigue, burnout, overwhelm, and possibly even illness.
We’re Fountains, Not Basins
We need to be more like fountains. Fountains have excess water – that’s why they pour over the basins in such a beautiful way. Think of a 3-tiered fountain, with three basins and a larger pool at the bottom, the water spilling over in lovely rivulets that make a soothing sound.
If there wasn’t an excess of water, you’d simply be looking at 3 basins full of water. Nice, but not especially inspiring. And if we tipped the basins to pour out the water without excess flowing in, we’ll end up with empty basins. Bye-bye, fountain.
We’re fountains. In order to have the energy, joy, inspiration, skills, and gifts to give others, we need abundance flowing in. Plenty of extra energy to charge ourselves up with. So, in order to do more, we need to figure out how to fill up and receive an overflow of energy; otherwise, we’ll give away what we have for our own personal well-being.
What Does and Doesn’t Fill Me
It’s taken me years to discern what truly fills me. Akin to my bad habit of overdoing, there were times when I believed that more doing was going to fill me! So I’d overdo exercise, injuring myself or getting exhausted. I would plan a bunch of get-togethers with friends; I enjoyed connecting, but my introverted self felt boxed in and overscheduled. Or I would think I needed to sign up for a bunch of classes to improve myself – once again spreading myself too thin with my time and energy.
No, that didn’t work. What I discovered is that most of the things that fill me take very little energy and focus on being.
Yoga and some exercise, yes. But a lot of just sitting. Sitting outside in my sit-spot, whether in the front yard or just off a hiking trail, and being present with the squirrels, the squawks of the jays, and the smell of decomposing leaves. And meditation, certainly.
Going for a leisurely walk, without a limited time frame or agenda, simply noticing and feeling. Naps. Gentle yoga – not solely the “I’ve got to work on my chaturanga or backbends” kind of practice, but free-flowing, spontaneous, following what my body asks for (rather than telling it what it should do today!).
Sitting down to draw something unstructured, abstract – a sort of deeply-felt scribble. An easy-going hike with one friend every other week that also appreciated silence, listening, and meditation as part of the experience. Laying down on the grass with my teen daughter, looking at the clouds in silence, feeling the breeze on our cheeks.
Simply being – that fills me the most. Quiet mind, open heart, receptive to the Divine flow pouring into me, especially from nature. I noticed that when I gave myself ample being time – largely unstructured, mostly outdoors, often in solitude – I began to feel recharged, peaceful, and inspired. I had something extra to give after I was overflowing with soul-satisfying beingness.
I literally have being time scheduled into every day. Otherwise, I’ll just fill all my time up with more doing. I make it a priority, because I am so inspired to give that I know I must increase being in order to do.
If you’re an introvert, you know what I’m talking about and if you haven’t made it a priority, this is your wake up call. Even if you’re an extravert, we all require some of this simple downtime. Our minds need to unplug, just like a computer can’t update itself without shutting down.
Filling Up to Overflow, and Giving Only From That
It’s not sufficient to get “just enough.” IF you want to give more, you need to be generous with yourself. You need – yes, I’m saying the word need! – to allow yourself to receive renewal and replenishment abundantly through being. That is, IF you want to give. If you don’t, and you’re doing fine, then nothing to be concerned about.
But I wrote this for all of you out there – yes, my friend, you, reading this – who are caught up in the compulsion of doing like I have been and who truly desire to give something more to others. You not only deserve to be filled to overflowing – you need it.
What fills you up in a way that brings you ease, peace, and deep satisfaction? Yes, you may enjoy activities that “pump you up” – they may be part of the list. But those activities could be ones that also deplete you in some way. Look for what leaves you refreshed, relaxed, and the mind more serene. Seek what gives you extra energy that spills over. Write down the things that sustain, nourish, and replenish you in this deep, soulful and heartfelt way. Hmmm, how about pausing right now to brainstorm ideas? Take out some pen and paper and write them down.
Remember that you need to be filled plentifully – fountaining over. Only after you have filled yourself completely and have more coming in than you need do you have the abundance to give.
The Divine is Always Flowing
Great spiritual teachers, like the Buddha or Jesus, or more modern-day examples such as Amma (the hugging saint) or Mahatma Gandhi, can give almost without ceasing because they are constantly plugged into the Divine. They have a permanent energy circuit flowing from Spirit, so they always have an overflow. Amma gives people hugs for 24 hours or more at a time – she can’t do that from personal energy reserves, but from a continual fountaining of the Divine through her.
Most of us aren’t quite that plugged into Spirit yet – but the wonderful news is that the Divine is always giving to us. There is an infinite source of sacred energy available to you and me at any time; it’s for us to open to receive it. Just like the sun always shines (well, at least for a few billion years), Spirit gives. Infinite, without beginning or end, the Divine is the very nature of the word “giving”.
Be Like a Receptacle
For a receptacle to be filled and then to fountain over with excess, does it need to do anything? No! It simply is. Spirit then pours into it.
You don’t need to do anything in order to receive this renewal of energy – stop doing and just be. Be a chalice, a bowl, a crystal glass, an urn, a fountain. Allow yourself to be filled through being time for yourself.
In order to give more to the world, in service, inspiration, and determination, you’ll need to give more to yourself through being. Now is the time to make that a priority. Notice how it fills you in a different and more sustainable way than more doing. As you feel the overflow fountaining through you, you’ll feel the motivation and energy to give more.
by Connie Habash | Oct 12, 2020 | Consciousness, Let Go, Presence, Receiving, Release, Seasons, Thoughts, Transformation
It’s autumn: the season to reflect. What better time to recognize the thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, and perceptions that hold us back, and use the energies of autumn to transform them through the 5 R’s: reminisce, reflect, review, release, and receive.
Science has discovered that we have tens of thousands of thoughts every day. Everything from the mundane, “oh, the light is turning red” to more profound, unique, abstract ideas.
But the majority of our thoughts, if we’re being honest with ourselves, are not novel or unique. They re-hash, over and over, old perceptions, attitudes, and belief systems that accompanied us from childhood.
Because they aren’t unusual or insightful, we don’t even notice these old, repetitive thoughts. Unfortunately, that means they carry a lot of influence on our mood, behavior, and reactions to life. They fly under the radar in our subconscious or even unconscious mind.
If we want to create change in our lives (let alone in our world), it’s essential that we bring to conscious awareness what thoughts are happening within us. We need to unearth what affects us under the surface.
Our Inner Sewage System
It’s like the sewage system: in our city, most of the time, we aren’t aware of all that poopy yuck flowing under us. But someone is – the people in charge of keeping the sewers clean, those who run the sewage treatment plants, and of course the departments that administrate all of that, all the way up to the city mayor or the county Department of Health.
I’m not going to spend my time or yours going into the details of all that, but the point is that there is a lot going on beyond our awareness that affects our well-being in the world, and that goes for inside our mind, too. Thoughts, like the sewer systems, need to be brought to awareness and either utilized or cleaned out. We need to have our inner head of the Department of Mental Health on the job to keep our system clean, spacious, and flowing with fresh, healthy waters of consciousness.
Since it’s autumn, the season of letting go – and allowing what no longer has life to decompose – it’s a good time to release, compost, and renew our thoughts and mind.
Autumn’s inward time supports work with the “re-” words: reminisce, reflect, review, release, and receive. These 5 “R’s” will help you become aware of what thoughts you’re having, where they have come from, and how to change and release them, leaving you with a renewed perspective. Take a little time to look inside yourself – and break out a journal if you can – to experience some transformation in your mind.
Reminisce
Autumn is a great time to look back on life. There’s something about the falling leaves that always has me think about the past. If you have become aware of certain thoughts that are causing you trouble – such as thoughts of self-doubt, for example – you can be sure that one or more events in your past initiated that train of thought.
Look back to the earliest time you can remember feeling that way. Journal about it – what happened, who was there, how did you feel, and what conclusions did you come to?
Reflect
Now, take your recalled memory a little deeper, and reflect on what happened as a result of that. If you were to sum up that issue in one sentence of what you believed about yourself or life, what would it be? Write it down.
Reflect also on all the ways in which that belief has played out in your life. Consider how it affected your decision making, and influenced the way you perceived others, situations, and yourself. Again, journal your reflections and insights about this belief (and you may unearth “corollaries” to that belief that branched off into other areas of your life and reinforced it).
Review
Now, look at your beliefs that you have identified. Consider viewing the situations that initiated them from a different perspective. Did you misinterpret something and lived off of that conclusion? Were the other people involved only reacting from their unconscious beliefs, rather than actually seeing and understanding you? Were you unnecessarily hard on yourself? Did you absorb the beliefs of a parent or other influential person in your life without recognizing you had other choices?
Re-view: consider a new point of view that leads to a different conclusion and a more helpful belief. I find that Byron Katie’s “The Work” is really helpful and powerful here. She uses a practice called “the turnaround” that gives a very different perspective on a belief.
For example, you might have the belief, “Everyone demands so much of me.” You’d probably be a very busy individual, with a lot of people that depend on you. But with the turnaround, you may realize something else is going on besides a bunch of people grabbing all yourr energy and attention. In fact, it may not be true at all. With the turnaround, you shift the thought into its opposite, and often it reveals something more true than the original belief.
You could turn around a belief like this – “Everyone demands so much of me” – in a variety of ways:
- No one demands so much of me – how many people are directly asking for things and expecting them? With a reality check, maybe not so many.
- Everyone demands so little of me – perhaps they aren’t asking for anything, but you keep yourself incredibly busy in order to feel special and needed?
- I demand so much of me – You might be extremely self-critical, and you’re the one putting all the pressure on yourself, not anyone else
- I demand so little of everyone else – Are you taking on things for others that you don’t need to? Are you being codependent and doing things for others that they should do for themselves?
After doing a turnaround, you re-view – you discover a fresh perspective. You can choose a new belief about yourself and life that works better for you.
Release
Finally, just like the trees do with their foliage, consider releasing the thoughts altogether. It’s much easier to let go of unhealthy thoughts and beliefs when you’ve gone through the process of reminisce, reflect, and review, because it takes the mystery and power out of them. Now, you’re just seeing them as a thought and not “the way that it is.”
Ultimately, none of the thoughts are true – they are simply different ways to perceive and react. Just like the leaves, at one point in your life they probably served a purpose, but that time is long over. Thoughts should be used to serve a helpful purpose, and then released so that new inspiration can flow.
Have some fun with releasing thoughts – write them on little pieces of paper, and then do a “burning bowl” ceremony (but remember to be safe – have some water nearby to put out the fire!). You can burn them over a sink, if you wish. As you watch the paper go up in flame, imagine all of those beliefs and perceptions disappear in the smoke, leaving you with clarity and peace.
The practice of Presence, too, helps to release our thinking mind, open our hearts, and come fully into this moment. Rather than telling the thoughts to go away (that doesn’t usually work so well!), shift your attention to what is right here, right now. Use your 5 senses to help you discern that.
Chances are good that none of those thoughts are happening right now. And even if they are – if you’re seeing an apple in a tree and telling yourself, “there’s a green apple on that branch”, the thought is not the same thing as the reality. You can’t bite into a thought like you can that apple. Be Present, with a quiet mind and open heart, right there with the apple. See it; perhaps touch it and smell it. Just sit there with it, releasing the thoughts about it and keep turning your attention back to the apple. Sooner or later, the mind quiets down and immerses in the object of your attention.
Receive
Releasing thoughts renews your energy and allows you to receive that energy back. Imagine leaves, dropped from the trees above, composting on the forest floor. All of that compost returns nutrients to the soil, which continue to support the life of the ecosystem. When you let go of thoughts, you receive back all the energy you were expending on them. Releasing unnecessary, unhelpful beliefs and attitudes recharges your body and mind. That’s some powerful thought composting!
When you release the thoughts that no longer support you, you’ll also discover some inner spaciousness. There’s a feeling of ease. In that spaciousness within us, we can receive the blessings that life offers us.
When we practice Presence, it is more than just being there with the apple; it’s receiving the apple’s Presence with you. Everything in life offers us something in the present moment. The apple is already Present: it’s simply being itself. Fully. No thoughts in the way of just being. Receive that gift of Presence, and feel how Presence is two-way: it’s a flowing connection with All That Is.
Remember!
So while you’re enjoying the changes of the fall season, remember to change your mind, too. Bring those unconscious thoughts, beliefs, and perceptions to the surface of your awareness. It’s the perfect time to transform them through the 5 “R’s”: reminisce, reflect, review, release, and receive. Allow autumn to support you in new beliefs and perspectives – or, like the leaves, let go of them altogether.
What are you discovering with the 5 “R’s”? Leave your thoughts here (pun intended!).
by Connie Habash | Jan 6, 2014 | Awareness, Inspiration, Manifestation, Openness, Possibilities, Potential, Presence, Receiving
I know you’ve made goals and resolutions. You’re thinking about a fresh start, because it’s the new year. Most of us have a long list in mind of what we want to have, create, and achieve after January 1st.
But sometimes, it helps to let go of all that planning, resolving, manifesting, and goal setting. The truth is that All That Is arises from the Ineffable – the Great Mystery.
We often think of the universe as being created with a “divine plan.” This may be true, but I don’t think in the way we have believed it to be. I don’t think there’s a big Being in the sky who wrote out a “user’s guide” (and if they did, why didn’t we get one?!) or a flow chart of how It wanted everything to play out.
Instead, the Source of everything is unknowable and undefinable – a Great Mystery – because doing so would limit it. In the Tao Te Ching, the ancient Chinese text of wisdom by Lao Tzu, it is said that “the Tao that can be named is not the eternal Tao.” Infinite, unlimited power, presence, and potential cannot be narrowed down to even a name.
This Tao – the Great Mystery – expands and expresses itself out through everything that is. Every thing that exists has that Divine intelligence within it, and is unfolding from that consciousness into the Infinite potential of what it can be.
It’s not planning itself out. It’s not writing goals, or being a great “manifestor”. It is allowing its own Divine intelligence to unfold into greater potential in each moment.
Consider that something even greater than your best laid plans might be ready to express through you. But if your consciousness is filled with having to set, work towards, and achieve particular goals, check them off your list, and define new ones, there’s no space for unlimited potential to show up.
This year, I have my new year’s intention. But I’m letting go of exactly how that looks. I’m releasing a specific picture of what I want. Instead, I’m opening to the Great Mystery. I am focusing on how I want to feel within, and letting the Great Mystery, which can’t be limited by my imagination, bring in the highest and greatest potential for me.
Ahhh. It feels great. And I’m happier that I’ve been in some time.
Ring in the new year – Ring in the Great Mystery. Tonight, allow yourself to empty out and receive the Great Mystery. Allow it to bring into manifestation your highest good. When you let go and surrender into the Source, greater things appear than you can conceive of.
by Connie Habash | Jan 23, 2013 | Blessings, Happiness, Now, Receiving, Seeking, Serendipity
I’ve spent a lot of my life seeking, seeking, seeking. Looking for God everywhere, searching for my teacher or my spiritual path.
Today, I was looking for space to store my daughter’s Christmas ornaments, and opened up the hall closet. There’s just enough room to fit the box up high on the shelf above the coats. But wait – what’s that green tassel I see?
I pulled it out, and there was my favorite multi-colored fleece cap that matches my favorite multi-colored muffler. A few years ago, I despaired for quite some time about the loss of that hat, figuring someone stole it when I left it behind at a restaurant. What joy! Just finding that little cap brought such happiness.
I wasn’t even looking for it. But there it was – I had it all along. Finding is much easier and more fun than seeking.
What else might I find if I stop seeking? What if I spent each day knowing that I’m going to find, without seeking? What if there is something ready to find in every moment?
I’m ready to find out!
In order to do more in your life, you need to fill yourself abundantly by 
I know you’ve made goals and resolutions. You’re thinking about a fresh start, because it’s the new year. Most of us have a long list in mind of what we want to have, create, and achieve after January 1st.
I’ve spent a lot of my life seeking, seeking, seeking. Looking for God everywhere, searching for my teacher or my spiritual path.
