I’m stoked.  I’m really loving the cool nights we’re still having in early May. I like sleeping with the windows open, so I can hear the night sounds.  There’s a night blooming jasmine just outside my bedroom window, and the scent is heavenly!  It’s been blooming like crazy lately, since I’ve been keeping it watered. It’s amazing how much difference it makes to just keep the plants watered every day.

My usual story to myself is that I am too busy to worry about moving hoses and sprinklers all around and what days I can and can’t water, and I should just let nature take its course.  But then I realize that I really do want to give the plants enough water to help them thrive.  So I have to make myself look at it a different way, not as a task that burdens my already busy schedule.  So now I look at it as what I get to do when I take a break from the computer during the day.  I can just hook up the longest hose and start way in the back and just give every plant a little drink and move all around the yard in less than 2 hours.  I get to say hello to each plant and I get to notice it and be mindful of it.  I can tell which are growing, who gets the best sun, who drinks more water.  I can count it as part of my daily spiritual practice, a daily checking in with other beings who share my space.  The idea of that appeals to me.  That sounds like a movie I want to star in.

Even so, I know that my intention is simply to keep the plants sufficiently watered.  So what if I have to trick myself by some mental play acting in order to motivate myself to get it done?  The play acting turns to reality as I find satisfaction in the daily doing of it all, as it makes my experience more fulfiling and allows me to draw more living out of life.  It gives my life more meaning.

And it gets the job done.

I just read that Kim Kardashian’s measurements are 35-26-40 and at 117 lbs (and 5’2″) she’s a size 2/4.  I thought that was interesting since when I was 35-22-37 at 115 lbs (in 1970 at 5’9″) I was a size 9/10. Now I see all the fuss about sizes!!!  All they are doing is changing size criteria, right? I just found this:

US standard clothing sizes were developed from statistical data in the 1940s-1950s. They are similar in concept to the EN 13402 European clothing size standard.  However, as a result of various cultural pressures, most notably vanity sizing, North American clothing sizes have drifted substantially away from this standard over time, and now have very little connection to it. Instead, they now follow the more loosely defined standards known as US catalog sizes. These are on average 6 sizes smaller than the original standard. So, for example, a size 12 on the old standard would today be described as a size 6, while a size 6 on the old scale would be what is today known as size zero.

That explains it.    Like when they talk about how “big Marilyn Monroe” actually was.  At 35-23-35, she was a size 8.  And Kim kardashian? She’s gorgeous either way.  Who cares what the number is?  Just stay healthy and fit.

Now I know why the tiny petite friends I have have such a hard time finding clothes that fit.  They would drown in a size zero if it’s really the standard size 6.  Vanity sizing.  What a riot.

Sunday, May 3, 2009.  I’m loving the chilly nights we’ve been having, and the mild breezy days. The mild weather this late into the year always means the upcoming hurricane season will be mild also.  Which means no scary stuff for us this year.  So remember that a few months from now when the weather folks start pointing out every storm that brews in the Atlantic.  We don’t care.  We know that whatever they are, they will be manageable and just follow their course.  And even if they pass right through us, well, we’ve had big winds already this year and we’re still here and we’re still fine.

I spent yesterday finishing the billing and opening last week’s mail.  Saturday is also my day to use the sprinklers so they are on nearly all day, with me moving them every hour or so.  I have created front and back privacy walls of ficus, bamboo, arborvitae, turk’s cap, lantana, philodendron, loquat, mostly by just sticking cuttings in the ground every time I prune a plant. I prune by the moon phase, so I prune anytime from 12 hours after full moon until the last quarter, 7 days later.  Continue reading →

Saturday May 2, 2009. I’ve started a new bill paying procedure. In trying to consolidate tasks, sometimes I create an undue burden for myself.  I used to put the bills in my daily flip calendar, and pay several at a time. But sometimes days would go by and I’d be so involved in other computer work, that I didn’t want to take the time to bother with paying them.  That meant opening a new program, when I already had 5 open at the time, mid-task in each.  So as a few days would go by, I’d start feeling pressured to pay the bills every time I’d see the flip calendar full to bursting.  I knew I had them in there far enough in advance to not be late in paying, but it was the thought of the task that I let burden my mind.  As soon as I realized that, I realized I could solve the problem by simply paying all bills as they come in.  As silly as it sounds, that just never occurred to me before. I was creating more work for myself without meaning to and without knowing it.

Are you laughing, because you do it, too?  It wasn’t until I got a client that pretty much did the same thing that I realized, “Hey, I do this too, on some level“. It was me discovering a new area of unconscious behavior.  A behavior that no longer served me.  I’m real conscious in most areas of my life, but still ignorant and unconscious in others.  I am always glad when I discover a new layer to be exposed and held to the light for examination.  It always signals to me that an upgrade is in the works. Continue reading →

This Saturday 1st May 2009, Tennessee Vickerie will cook a Guyanan Vegetarian Lunch which will be served at 12 noon at Yogashakti Mission. The menu will be rice, dal, rotis, tamarind chutney, pumpkin spicy vegetable dish and  tasty, hot potato curry.   All welcome $7 per person. Children free.

This Sunday May 3rd from 9 – 10 AM Mataji, Ma Yogashakti will give a lecture on “Purifying the Mind”. All are welcome to come and listen to Mataji’s beautiful message. No charge, but donations gratefully accepted.

Yoga Shakti Mission is located at 3895 Hield Rd NW, Palm Bay, FL 32907. A mile west of Minton Road, just north of Palm Bay Road (exit 176 off I-95) Call  321-725 4024 and visit  www.yogashakti.org

All welcome to listen and receive Mataji’s blessings.

The May Horizons Magazine is now online – check your horoscope for the month!