Y4 – Day 172 – UFO’s

There are several birds and one wildflower I have yet to identify for lack of time. Since I haven’t identified these two pictures you see posted here, I decided to call them UFOs. The bird is self evident, “Duh” it flies. See the seed in its beak?

The blossom looks literally like a colorful, maybe psychedelic spaceship with its landing gear exposed ready to touch down. Clearly, you can see that too, right? And, yes, this is an upside down bloom so it hangs off the stem – I did not rotate the picture.

Nature is amazing and often times quite stunning!

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Y4 – Day 171 – Chakra Karma

Once again, I grabbed something that caught my attention from the internet. I just couldn’t help myself, it was so dead on and I had to share.

Using the colors (as revealed by those who can also see your aura) of the seven foundational chakra points, each line of wisdom is simple yet powerful.

The first chakra, red is all about survival and our place in the tribe, hence how love conquers all and unites us. It is located from the base of your spine all the way down to your toes. It is your foundation, your ancestry and primal beliefs.

The second vortex, orange is concerned with sex, pleasure, emotions and creativity. Appreciating, enjoying and staying in an attitude of gratitude moves us to joy as well as bringing joy to others.

The third current of energy is our power, our will and our confidence. The suggestion to watch less, do more, directly advises us to take responsibility for self, do less comparing with others and to contribute instead from your highest form of self.

The fourth point of interest is the heart. This area is either rose colored or some shade of green. It is the haven of love and all its forms thereof; compassion, forgiveness, tolerance, acceptance, you name the quality that stems from this sanctuary. It is our center, connecting and balancing our physical and practical selves with our intellectual and spiritual parts. The core of being is realizing we are all one and what you do or think of another, you ultimately are doing to yourself.

The fifth chakra is turquoise or light, sky blue in color. It is about communication and expression, located in and around your mouth, ears and throat. Wisdom comes from savoring and experiencing life, not just by talking about it. Listening is about meditation, reflection, awareness and knowing ultimate truths.

The sixth vortex is the third eye, your intuition and is considered to glow in a deep, rich cobalt or indigo blue. Each time you perceive the world as full of possibilities and a positive playground, you bring that to your life. Each time you do as your most noble instinct or voice tells you, you get closer to the peace we are all ultimately seeking.

The seventh space, seen as purple, violet or even sometimes as gold or white, is located around your fontanel, on top of your head. It is your spiritual path, purpose, conscience and contact. We are spiritual beings living a human experience. As you analyze less and focus more on reaching for the best, most vulnerable you, you join your heart with your mind, activating the relationship and bond with your version of Goddess.

Even if you think yoga, Vedic texts from the Indus valleys, five thousand years ago, like the Bhagavad Gita and the Patanjali Sutras are nonsense, contemplate your resistance and know that far away in China, the acupuncturists, doctors, healers, herbalists and seers of Chinese medicine discovered and wrote about the same exact meridian points.

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Y4 – Day 170 – Mountain High Vegan Meals

High altitude Mountain Momma strikes again.

I guess I get inspired up here in Arrowhead so I cooked up two vegan one pot meals at the same time. My old standby is a salad and throw everything I have in it. I wanted something more substantial to go alongside it and by making two different types of dishes in quality and quantity, I can skate through the rest of the week eating healthy without much thought by just tossing a salad and heating up ready made bowls of vegan goodness. Then, I can focus on my writing, painting and researching.

I basically started with the same veggies “sautéed” in water; yellow and green peppers, sliced, diced onions and some minced garlic. I added a can of diced tomatoes to one and a bottle of spaghetti sauce to the other. I also added pinky tan Northern beans, half a can each for extra protein but not so much gas. Both pans simmered with a combination of miso and veggie broth. Each pot was filled with a mix of organic, store bought items and ingredients from my OC, organic garden I cleverly and easily brought up the mountain in Trader Jo insulated bags (everything pre-washed, bagged and sealed).

Then, I added cumin, corn, cayenne, oregano, nutritional yeast, ketchup and smashed up black beans to my Mexican style hearty stew. I served myself a huge helping with slices of avocado and lime, punctuated by homegrown parsley.

I added Italian herbs, kale, vegan meatballs, zucchini and vegan sausage crumbles to my Italian style sauce and served myself yet another sampling of tastiness in the evening with homemade “parmesan” sprinkled on top.

Today, I intend on making tortilla filled tacos with the Mexican stew and add some vegan Mexican cheese sauce and/or salsa to it.

My Italian meal is going to be stuffed into this gigantic zucchini I picked in the garden just before coming up, baked with vegan mozzarella. I may or may not do this today.

While the squirrels, adorable teeny chipmunks (Simon, Theodore and Alvin) and at least five different colorful and extraordinary varieties of birds (mostly in pairs and romantically enough, they feed each other) feast on our feeders, I will dine in high altitude style too.

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Y4 – Day 169 – Dream/Awake Time

You know that space between knowing you’re awake and asking for more time to sleep? Maybe you would like to finish the dream you were just having where you were just about to be handed a trophy for being the best human being/career person/lifeguard, whatever…or you finally realized your purpose in life was to…

Sometimes I let slumber take me back. Then I can connect the dots and see the answers clearly. Sometimes I just get up, there is nothing more frustrating than tossing and turning when you have a deadline or tasks to perform. Usually, these are exactly the restless early mornings and now behold, you have no energy. That ever happen to you?

Pretty regularly , I rise and make coffee, go back to bed and pull out my trusty pen and journal and write for at least three pages of uninterrupted nonsense to get it out of my head and onto the page.

Occasionally, words of wisdom, solutions and even outside the box ideas pop up. Even inventive new sentences can appear and when I re-read them another time looking for juicy material, I wonder who wrote that?

Here and there, I drone on and on in my early morning writing about how I can’t remember the dream where I fixed the world with this fabulous notion or… about how awful I feel for over indulging late at night mindlessly and my tummy hurts.

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Y4 – Day 168 – Mountain Time with Cindi

I walked through the balcony door threshold and then I blankly looked straight ahead and wondered why I was there. I am in my pjs. I am wearing thick, ivory bed socks. My pajama top looks like a black dress with a scoop neck and the fabric is divinely soft. Anyway, I turn back and look at Cindi and then decide to go back into the treehouse and close the screen door behind me.

Oh well, I ‘ll remember when it’s important enough and it pops back into my head and I will just fetch whatever it was then. 

Cindi looks at me like she’s asking, “Are you coming or going, lady?” also “Will there be treats involved?” and with an urgent look of hope, “Is that why you walked back in? To get me a treat?”

She stares at me as I sit back down on the loveseat and plops her chin down on her Ducks blanket, resigned to my indecisiveness.

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Y4 – Day 167 – Lord of the Flies

William Golding wrote the Lord of the Flies, a fascinating depiction of how one bad apple can spoil the bunch. I also like his take on everything because he doesn’t spare you his view which is always a little against the grain or ahead of its time. Not many people know his other works that also include extraordinary concepts and thoughtful stories. His theme seems to be “What if…?” and then he runs with it. I found this on the internet and admire him even more. He is a smart man and must have had an excellent marriage.

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Y4 – Day 166 – Worrier Pose

The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself. – Michel de Montaigne

I came upon this cute cartoon that describes what goes on in your head when a lot of us are doing yoga asanas(poses). The practitioner is in the Warrior 2 stance, a favorite of mine.

Giving a lot of direction and reminders is what yoga teachers do so you are not thinking all these thoughts and are in the moment, otherwise you start to wander or worry about everyone else or get into ego mind, letting your eyes travel and inspecting, comparing and judging other people on their mats. By walking you through every movement, what it is doing for you and reminding you to breathe; you can stay on your own mat, in the “now” moment and remain in alignment.

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Y4 – Day 165 – Top Priorities

So I started to write out my top priorities at this stage of my life.

They are not necessarily in order – they are all vital.

IMG_00514. I stay focused, I have great discipline and I learn to organize.

5. I adore, support and cherish my husband and children.

What are your top 5, at this time?

Vitality shows not only in the ability to persist,
 but in the ability to start over.         -F. Scott Fitzgerald

Y4 – Day 164 – Molting

What makes living with a spiritual/philosophical basis rich and rewarding is the constant unfolding awareness, the peeling away at all the contraptions, domestications and old tapes installed by society and early childhood.

The reveal is simple, right back where we started from, with a journey and story to tell to keep it interesting and easy to learn.

There is a forward movement inward. Thrown off like a jolting bronco, our layers upon layers of debris and patterns that do not serve us anymore,  we insist on carrying around, melt away, finally discarded, as we learn from each experience.

Adhering to spiritual principles or philosophical tenets of truth, in all of our affairs, to the best of our abilities, transforms us. With each metamorphosis, there is a rebirth.

What a ride!

Only the poet can look beyond the detail and see the whole picture – Helen Hayes

Y4 – Day 163 – Your Calling

I have blogged once a year on this subject except for 2014. These are basic questions that need revisions, tweaks and practice.

I truly believe that everything that we do and everyone that we meet is put in our path for a purpose. – Marla Gibbs

What inspires you? What is your passion? What is the purpose of your life?

If you ask, you will receive astounding answers. You are much more than you have ever realized. You are much more divine than you have ever dreamed. If you ask these questions, you will search for the answers.

In meditation, writing in a journal, when chatting with a friend, when we are listening, we will have the answers revealed. The thoughts will seem like yours but they are downloaded from the infinite mind or universal source.

When you ask freely and openly, without fear or anticipation, your answer will appear.

Usually, answers gather around what you love to do, give you inward satisfaction and/or feed your soul. It is when you feel lighter, happier and closer to your source. It’s when you lose all sense of time and space. It’s when you feel like a part of everything in nature. It’s when you feel fulfilled when you are generous with others, either with time, touch or thought. It’s when you are used like an instrument or channel to be useful to others. It’s when you are of service to yourself or others, walking through a positive change or action.

What gives you delight? What nourishes your mind, body and soul? What sparks your energy?

I don’t believe people are looking for the meaning of life as much as they are looking for the experience of being alive. – Joseph Campbell