Y4 – Day 225 – Happy Birthday E!!!!

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img_2418To my beautiful, youngest, E.

You are sunshine!

Your favorite color suits you well.

From Computers to Japanese, you shine.

Music, math and racquetball –

Your vegan baking and cooking, divine.

Dedicated, compassionate, strong and that’s not all,

You sing, you draw, you teach and excel,

And you have a heart of gold, everyone can tell.

We are so proud – our hearts just swell!

Happy 21 – you are one sweet doll!

MUAH!

 

 

 

Y4 – Day 224 – Debate Night

This could be a doozie – A new low – or even a revealing explosion of new information. Who knows?

The bottom line is: this is not a good reason for the third presidential debate of 2016 to have so many spectators. Some people are having viewing parties. Most are going to watch with a bowl of ice cream or popcorn like it is entertainment. Not such a great message to our young people who will be voting in the future or even this year.

It has turned into a circus because we let it. Higher ideals and values have not prevailed. The debates might have been dull in the past but they had decency. People discussed topics at work and sometimes even swayed their buddies. This year, friends aren’t talking, families stop calling and tension between the politically minded have heightened. I guess the instantaneous, impatient and jaded viewer must be entertained this year. What a shame.

I haven’t wanted to publicize my opinion outside my home, on this website or on FB even with a like this election. The fear of recrimination, the historical revenge and the callous disregard for the truth have frustrated my voice.

The similarities of this year’s themes with past dictatorships and the fall of order as we know it, is scary. My parents immigrated to this country because they fled this rhetoric and chaos. I will be damned if I have to witness what we already have condemned.

 

Y4 – Day 224 – Still Have Peppers!!

“If you are going to do anything artistically – even if it’s cooking a meal – you’re opening yourself up to criticism.” – Mike Woolf, musician when free, health consultant by day. And – “Don’t let anybody tell you you’re not worth it, and it’s a waste of time.”

img_2209We still have peppers, cherry tomatoes and basil. My garden keeps on delivering.

I am still creating seven to nine home cooked meals a week due to my vegan life and my husband’s non-vegan lifestyle.

We have used and abused this kitchen over the years. It is not huge and yet it is still one of the easiest, most functional spaces I have ever cooked in. I have used it to cater, entertain, teach and grow a family. My kids have used it as an experimental lab while testing out their skills and now to make delicious snacks and new meals for us.

I am so grateful for this life I live and this wonderful home we get to house our dreams and play in.

Maintaining a positive outlook spreads hope!

I cannot wait to make a vegan fudge cake today!

The right time is any time that one is still so lucky as to have. – Henry James

Y4 – Day 223 – Naturally

The best portion of a man’s life are his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love. – William Wordsworth

Nature is everywhere. It tells you to hope, dream, conquer debilities and flaws. Earth’s narrative teaches us to rise forth, reach, be willing, embrace, share, shine, be yourselves, grow, spread beauty and be flexible. Gardening exemplifies this story line. A rose doesn’t want to be a daisy and from beginning to end, a nut, bulb or seed spurts out its best self, without complaint, comparison or compromise. A tree learns to bend with the wind or break. Every blade of grass leans and reaches for the sun. The planet is wild, primitive, organic and simple. It speaks to you.

“Maintain your authenticity and dignity,” beckons the cosmos.

Listen. Be willing to be vulnerable and humble. Hear the call of our habitat.

Y4 – Day 222 – Goddess Universal

“Joy is not in things.

It is in us.”

Richard Wagner

Universal Goddess let me know after meditation today:

Some people have three speeds: Go and Out and Do. That’s not you, not anymore, she said.

You used to like to entertain: showing off your dishes, recipes, decor and theme.

The new you is timeless and in the here and now (some of the time if truth be told). You know you are content. Your needs are taken care of.  You are never bored. You have hobbies and so much to still learn, read and play with. You know how to Be, Stay, Allow and ‘let go of’ now.

Ask your Universal Goddess. What would you like to affirm to me today?

 

 

Y4 – Day 221 – Just a Theory

Just a theory:

Creative types are vulnerable, especially getting into trouble with addiction due to five (5) major weaknesses that can become their greatest strengths if they recover, becoming sober emotionally and spiritually, as well as physically.

  1. They take risks.
  2. They do not feel accepted by society as if they don’t fit in, they feel different because they see the world differently.
  3. They sense and feel everything and they feel it profoundly.
  4. They reject authority. They lack healthy coping skills because they refuse remedy till they hit bottom. But not accepting the norm helps them see outside the box if they don’t self destruct first.
  5. They need to escape but when their expression is ridiculed, thwarted, condemned or frustrated they rely on drugs, food or unhealthy actions in order to seek oblivion, checking out from the ‘cruel’ world. When lucid, they feel directed and guided to share their unique offerings instead.

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Happy Outdoor Expressions!

Y4 – Day 220 – Infinite Mind

I sometimes remember to ask the Infinite Mind of my soul and existence to help me write and let the words flow. Unfortunately, the messages that download right onto the page are not internet or public ready. That is, they are so personal and intimate, I could only share them in private, if ever.

In everyone’s life story there is the tale of the hero’s journey. The search always ends up with the answers coming from within, even if the events are external. The struggle or the turmoil and the solution or the conclusion are inside the inner sanctum. What we may see, appears to be playing out on the surface, but it is not about that.

Joy, serenity and happiness replace shame, remorse and repentance when we allow gratitude to fill up the hole, that void within. Replacing – negative tapes inside our heads, the inner critics or ‘the three stooges’ as I call them, the labels we inherited and believe we still need to believe in and carry around, the false identities or masks we wear – with new perceptions and our authentic selves makes us all alchemists, poets and artists.

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Y4 – Day 219 – Manifestation 102

Continuing with yesterday’s post, I want to share with you that back in 2014, I had a desire to host a retreat up in the mountains after restarting yoga at home for my yoga ladies.

I wrote about it from time to time in my journal. I daydreamed about it up in the cabin here and there.

Then, I started feeling like an urge to do it. Call it excitement or a calling. I started writing about it more frequently.

By June of 2016, I had it pretty much visualized. I casually mentioned it in July or August to the yoga class to survey enthusiasm and commitment. I shared my thoughts with BFF after discussing it with my husband and getting his input.

I had little notes everywhere on what to do and what to make food wise and how to coordinate it all. It still had to marinate before I could pick a date. I decided to keep notes on my iPhone on a walk I took a little time later because I lose pieces of paper, I come up with lots of great ideas on a walk and the endorphins released while on the walk make me feel like I can do anything.

And then, we all agreed on an approximate date and time. One of my yoginis, got vacation medical leave and it fit into our time bracket. Once that was settled, I made up a flyer and sent it out.

The minute I got replies, I went to work on fine tuning the details.

I made up an itinerary and a menu. I am a dreamer and a schemer.

I planned, I shopped, I cleaned and I anticipated. I believed it would happen. And if it didn’t or it didn’t look exactly how I expected it to, that was ok, too. I let go. I let it go and went with the flow. I took the next right action and then released it into the winds, literally. Besides, I was too busy having fun to demand any outcomes.

Needless to say, we all enjoyed the experience and I am planning the next one in my head as I type.

Never say Never because you Never know

Y4 – Day 218 – Intentions Kept

Intentions kept are intentions met.

Here is my version of Manifestation 101.

I intend I am stronger at ________.

I intend I am at my optimal _________.

OR

I Intend I am_________.

I intend I _____________.

 

I never realized, as much as I like the beach, that my real beckoning resided in forests and mountains. As I look back over my journals, I wrote about my cabin in the woods for years.  It was one of my happy go to places in my meditations.  And, lo and behold, the right place appeared at the right time, not my expected time, and it looked just like a vision board I had made in early 2011 for New Year’s. We first saw our treehouse on November 3 of the same year. I knew it was the one within a full twenty minutes of experiencing a walk through. Thirteen days later, it was ours. My dream came alive.

So, here’s your challenge. What is it that you want?

  1. Write down that intention: Sticky notes, index cards, notes to self magnetized on the refrigerator, journals and reminders pinned onto your cork board work. Do one or all of them. This is narrowing it down and focusing on it with intention and dedication. It is making it clear to yourself what you want.
  2. Shut the inner critic down. Don’t listen. Continue to believe. Your inner critic is your ego not wanting to deal with any of it. Your ego doesn’t want to fail, experiment or try anything. It likes the status quo. Don’t tell anyone unless you trust them with your insights implicitly and KNOW they will encourage you. Let it roll out of you organically. Keep your intention, dream or belief breathing inside of you. Don’t let anyone, especially yourself, extinguish it or talk you out of it. Stop the naysaying.
  3. Make it exist. Visually create something in the physical to internalize it. I made a vision board. Besides #1, look at it, daily, at least once, perhaps in the morning and evening. You could draw, paint or color a picture, take a photograph and frame it, make a diorama in a shoe box like a kid, it doesn’t matter, as long as it is visually appealing and available. Don’t do it with yearning, do it with knowing, appreciating and being grateful for how beautiful your visual feels. This is your emotional connection.
  4. Meditate on it. Embody it into your soul. To make it palpable, it must come from a true affinity between your heart’s desire and your mind’s dialogue. Ask the Creative Source for guidance.
  5. Work towards it in incremental, teeny, tiny steps. But at the same time, be bold! Do something to give you a taste or reminder of what it would feel like. And then, let it go!!!! For example, I surprised my husband with a weekend up at the mountains which in turn led him to book us a rental up by the lake, which led to a conversation with a real estate agent. That all happened in a matter of months because it was already out there in the universe and it all fell into place.

If you can dream it, believe it and see it then why not share it for the highest good?

If it is in your heart, it is in your reach.

Ok, now I need to take my own advice and work on that book!