Cartoon entitled Layoffs at the Plant. The stalk says to the tomato: “We have to let you go.” If it stays there, it will rot and die. Like us. So it’s good news when we get laid off. That means we’re juicy and ripe for what we are meant to do next.
Saturday June 20, 2009. The front courtyard outside my office window is filled with birds and squirrels and butterflies like a Disney movie. All we need now is for Bambi to step in and a butterfly land on her nose.
Saturday, June 20, 2009. Today I am going into the home stretch with the July Horizons Magazine. I’ve been late finishing it because I spent last weekend at the Universal Lightworkers’ Conference. Although I was up in my room working through half of the conference, I still had all the last minute calls and ads to deal with this week. Half of my advertisers have paid 3-6-12 months in advance, so their ads get placed ahead of time. The deadline is the 10th, so it is on the 10th that all the calls start coming in. I think that’s funny, because usually the magazine has left my hands by the 15th, and I get a week of last minute phone calls after it’s gone. Many of the calls are from new people, but a lot of them are from people I’ve know for the entire 17 years I’ve done the magazine. Some of them I’ve told a dozen times a year for a dozen years that the magazine is out of my hands by the 15th, that the deadline is the 10th, yet it seems they never hear that. Then I realized why. Usually when they are calling at the deadline, they are really calling for info rather than to place the ad. So their question is not really, “am I in time to place an ad?” Their bigger question is “Can you help me reframe my perception about what it is I do and why it is important and why anyone would need it, and put it into words in an ad for me? Continue reading
A friend and I were discussing meditation the other day and she asked what the purpose of mantras and mudras were. A mantra can be thought of the same as an affirmation, or a line of thought that you want to repeat until it sinks into your brain and your belief system. I use several mantras during my hour of meditation twice a day. I use them in a particular order because they have become my trigger to create the inner space for me to access heightened awareness. The same with the mudras, or hand gestures. When you put your hands together in prayer, that is called a mudra.
When I sit to meditate, I typically sit Indian style (half lotus) on a cushion, with hands on knees, palms up, thumb touching my index finger in what is known in the yoga tradition as the Guyan mudra. The mudra is also a trigger for me. A trigger to elicit states of calm and receptivity. A trigger to contemplate how I act and react in this world. A trigger to consider and implement any changes I feel I want to make. The mechanics of making these changes is via changing (programming) the neural pathways in my brain. Below is an excellent article on how mantras and mudras can help you do just that.
I just took a lap around the property spraying the Air Potato Vines with Round Up – yes, Round Up. These vines are so invasive and choke out everything else, the native plants, the exotics, everything. Here’s a great article on Combating Invasive Plants – The Great Air Potato Roundup in Gainesville. The first couple of years, I simply dug them up and threw them into the campfire. I’d get hundreds of them. Once I paid my yard guy’s daughter 10c each for them and let her do the work. It was worth it. If I catch them early in the season, and spray the 1.5 solution of Round Up on the emerging tiny leaves as they break the ground, I can nip the invasion in the bud. I used to just pull up the small plant when I saw the tiny leaves, but, more often than not, that leaves the potato seed in the grow to sprout again. The big problem the last couple of years is that a neighbor has them and likes them, so they are left to overgrow their fences. The birds drop seeds over here, too, so my property – the big bird hangout – gets overrun with them.The entire acre on the corner is choked with air potato vines, and I also spray those lots. Anyway, see this stuff in your yard? Round Up. Nothing else works.
UPDATE: This was the last time I used Round Up
Wednesday June 17, 2009. I saw a documentary called Smile Pinki that showed The Smile Train team and the work they provide to the poor. Set in rural India, the film says there are 35,000 children a year born with cleft lip and palate. They do not know why it occurs but think it may be a nutritional deficiency, as it occurs in the poorest of families. These doctors can perform the surgery in 45 minutes for a cost of just $250, and donors fund the charity work. It is the largest cleft lip and palate surgery charity, serving 75 countries. The film tracked the story of one indian girl and one Indian boy, both with severe cleft lip and palate. Neither would attend school because the other kids mocked them. The boy’s speech could barely be understood due to the severity of his cleft palate. Both awaited dim futures of an impoverished, unmarried life. The surgeries literally gave them new lives, and promises of a hopeful future.
Watching the film made me examine the work I do and its value to the world.
Cell phone self portrait
Wednesday June 17, 2009. Yesterday I worked all day long on final layout for the July Horizons. I got myself so wound up that at 2:00am – 21 hours after waking up – I simply made myself put down the proofreading, turn off the lights and lie down. At 5:00am I was back up – ah, menopause! So I am going back to bed for a few hours before I begin my day. In the meantime, I’ll share the goofy posts I made to my Facebook page yesterday. I find I make the most Facebook posts on my busiest days. Usually when I am rebooting the main computer, and I turn to the laptop behind me for a short break. One of those breaks that is more just a quick mental refreshment, since I can’t actually leave the computer for a few minutes right then. So while it looks like I goofed off all day – according to my Facebook posts every few hours – I really had a busy, productive 18 hour workday.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009. Well, it’s life back to normal after the Universal Lightworkers’ Conference. Back to final layout on the July Horizons Magazine, and back to my flat hair now that I’m home in muggy central Florida. Spending the weekend inside the hotel (no humidity!) for the conference, my hair was big, California hair. Then one trip out to my mailbox yesterday and drooooop go my golden locks….. ah, back to normal. I don’t know why it’s so much more humid just 2 hours north of Fort Lauderdale. At the hotel, I was in room 1123 and had a balcony. I kept the sliding glass door open much of the time since I am used to the fresh air. Even though the sound of the a/c was very loud on the balcony, I liked the fresh air. It was warm, but not very humid. Not on the 11th floor anyway, and there was a breeze. After dark, I could look out the open window and see the city lights lining the horizon, like a jeweled necklace. When I see night scenes like that, I can see why someone would want to live in a highrise in the city. But I’d rather live where I have some land and some trails and woods to walk in, even if it’s just on my little acre. Continue reading
Monday, June 15, 2009. Sunday was the final day of the 12th Annual Universal Lightworker’s Conference. The morning began with rousing music by Ron Gosio, Michael Mirdad, Armand and Angelina, Steve and Amy Sciulli, with Steve wailing away on some crazy kind of wild flute. That was followed by an open hearted meditation, co-led by all the presenters. Michelle Whitedove was the opening speaker and she told of her death experience at age 18 and the bargain she made with God when she was in that in-between place, before coming back to Earth to fulfill her mission. She told of how the doctors said she’d have permanent disabilities and never have children. She proved them wrong on all counts. Being a fire sign, she bucks authority and has no qualms about it. She knows what she knows. She encourages people to disregard any pessimistic news they may hear from (well meaning) doctors, and just focus upon wellness and know God can get you there. No matter what someone else tells you. I agree that’s the thing to do. I agree it’s not easy to go against the crowd. Only the brave dare and Michelle is one of the brave. She’s wonderfully delightful to listen to and looks in person just exactly like she did when she won Lifetime TV’s America’s Psychic Challenge. And yes, Michelle Whitedove is that good. She convinced me. Continue reading
Sunday, June 14, 2009. Saturday morning began early with the vendors open at 8:00am and the music began at 9:00. It was a rousing tribal beat, perfect for waking up. The best part of waking up is NOT Folger’s in your cup 🙂 Don Miguel Ruiz was the opening speaker. He has such a quiet yet powerful way about him, and his words are simple and profound. He told a story of how as a young teen, he once sat with his grandfather and told him all his teenage ideas and philosophies. He began to see a slight smile cross his grandfather’s face after a time, and he thought, “Oops.” But it was too late, It was his grandfather’s turn to speak. His grandfather told him that he had just heard Miguel parrot many ideas that others had told him. He did not hear any ideas that came from Miguel. Don Miguel Ruiz learned from his grandfather that we search for everything we believe we don’t have, not knowing that everything we are looking for is already inside us. We are born with it. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. No one else. Us. We do it. We don’t need to seek outside ourselves for guardian angels. There are 6 billion of us on the planet. Life is a dream and you are not who you think that you are! There are 6 billion Messengers on Earth… Angels who give & receive messages. What kind of messenger are you? Powerful stuff. Continue reading