SpaceClear Reflections

Starting Over

Posted on31. Aug, 2010 by Stephanie Bennett Vogt.

September. It’s my favorite month of the year.
More than just it being one of the most beautiful and bountiful months in New England where I live, September has always been a time of shift and new beginnings…
An invitation to show up, regroup, renew, start over.
But you don’t need to wait until September or New Year’s [...]

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Remembering

Posted on27. Aug, 2010 by Stephanie Bennett Vogt.

I came across this poem recently tucked deep in a file on my computer I called “Remembering.” I know nothing about the author Jonathan Leavy,* or how this poem found me. It must have been one of those emails that went around the block a few times. Written on the morning of the famous 2004 [...]

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The Truth of You

Posted on13. Aug, 2010 by Stephanie Bennett Vogt.

Beautiful video. Gorgeous images. Timeless wisdom.
Use the flaws  (i.e. misspellings) as another opportunity to observe attachment and… let it go!
Passion. Not perfection.

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When in Rome

Posted on27. Jul, 2010 by Stephanie Bennett Vogt.

“Respond to every call that excites your spirit.” -Rumi
I just returned from a glorious two-weeks in France and Italy, compliments of dear friends who invited us, and many frequent-flyer miles that were just waiting to be used.
Less than three weeks ago, this trip was not even in our dreams as a possibility.
The ease with which [...]

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Loving Up the Gulf

Posted on15. Jun, 2010 by Stephanie Bennett Vogt.

As I see it, there are two ways to go about clearing the disturbing effects of a major ecological disaster:

Clearing from a place of fear, judgment, and blame.
Clearing from a place of deep compassion, gratitude, and love.

Which approach do you think might lead to a more successful outcome?
If it resonates you might consider this email [...]

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Birdsong + Coffee + Back Porch = Heaven

Posted on28. May, 2010 by Stephanie Bennett Vogt.

The title comes from a swoon I posted on my Facebook Page last week.
Actually it read: “Birdsong + Coffee + Back porch (after spring cleaning) = Heaven.
I had spent a good part of the previous day scrubbing and cleaning and decluttering our back porch – the catch-all spot for wayward winter accumulations. I was grooving [...]

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Nourishing the Mother in All of Us

Posted on07. May, 2010 by Stephanie Bennett Vogt.

Did you know that I was chosen 2010 Mother of the Decade? Here’s the TV spot to prove it:
Stephanie Vogt Receives Prestigious Mother of the Year Award
Actually, this is a cute little gimmick from the folks of MomsRising.org. Just input anybody’s name and email address and she (or he) will receive their own customized TV [...]

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Simple Rituals of Clearing and Letting Go

Posted on12. Apr, 2010 by Stephanie Bennett Vogt.

“To the unconscious mind, ‘real life action’ and and ‘conscious intentional ritual’ are the same thing!” –Your Spacious Self
If you think of dreams as the way that your unconscious mind communicates to you in special symbolic code while you sleep, ritual is one way you can consciously communicate back to your unconscious while you’re awake. To [...]

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The Grace in Gathering

Posted on30. Mar, 2010 by Stephanie Bennett Vogt.

“I do not at all understand the mystery of grace – only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us.” – Anne Lamott
It’s springtime: A return to my rituals of gathering.
Gathering clothes I no longer love (or can wear) to take to the Goodwill. Gathering and tossing the growing [...]

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Farewell, Fridge

Posted on23. Mar, 2010 by Stephanie Bennett Vogt.

Our beloved refrigerator leaves us today. I can hear her humming away in the other room – as she has for 25 years – oblivious to her fate. It’s like we’re putting her down.
We bought our Hotpoint side-by-side* in 1985, the year we were married. Back then her creamy nubbliness and the wood-panel stripe harmonized [...]

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It’s Amazing

Posted on19. Mar, 2010 by Stephanie Bennett Vogt.

What is one song that is certain to lift your spirits?  Change your mood in less than one minute? Give you goosebumps?
I have two.
1.  “Golden” by Jill Scott. Not only do I feel uplifted by her deep, resonant, powerful voice, but expanded in a very spacious way. She’s such a goddess when she sings it. [...]

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Who Are You, Really?

Posted on12. Mar, 2010 by Stephanie Bennett Vogt.

“When how a person occurs to himself alters, everything else shifts as well.”
I believe that “spaciousness” is something that expresses itself in infinite ways. Here’s an example. Enjoy this beauty of a piece:
Colin Wilson, the prolific and influential British writer, was born to working-class parents from a relatively poor community in Britain. Although his [...]

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New Day, New Year, Anything is Possible

Posted on01. Jan, 2010 by Stephanie Bennett Vogt.

January 1. 2010. Ten minutes past midnight.
New Year’s Resolutions are not really my thing. My style is more like that of painter: broader brushstrokes, organic and impressionistic. I love to daydream; to imagine and feel down to my bones – in the BIGGEST way possible – what I most hope and desire. Here’s is [...]

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Gratitude: A Visual Feast

Posted on24. Nov, 2009 by Stephanie Bennett Vogt.

“There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.” – Rumi
‘Tis the season. Gratitude in pictures…and a movie. What are you grateful for? How does gratitude make you feel?

Happy Thanksgiving!
Credits:

“Gratitude” Album Cover by  uulyrics.com
“Love and Gratitude” Photograph of Water Crystal by Dr. Masaru Emoto
“I am Grateful” Video by igetrealtv

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Harvest Praise

Posted on20. Nov, 2009 by Stephanie Bennett Vogt.

The late fall colors may be more muted in tone right now, but the stark intensity of exposed branches takes my breath away. You gotta love a season that produces such a splendid array of  gnarly and stringy root vegetables! Some of them look downright creepy. Have you seen hairy celeriac? It’s insane!
I wrote a piece [...]

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November: Ho Hum or Oh Yum!

Posted on17. Nov, 2009 by Stephanie Bennett Vogt.

November is like the middle child, caught between the October’s extroverted color displays and December’s tingly lightness. November in New England is the unspectacular sibling, dragging its endless weight of leaves and grey skies around.
Okay, it has Thanksgiving, but besides that, the month has nothing special or glamorous to show for it.
Until it rains.
Add a cleansing [...]

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Joyful Remembering

Posted on02. Nov, 2009 by Stephanie Bennett Vogt.

Today is Day of the Dead. It also happens to be my birthday. Depending on one’s orientation and state of being, both occasions have the word fiesta written all over them.
If you live in Mexico it’s very likely that you know about the remarkable celebration that happens at this time of year on November 1st and [...]

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