8-4-08
Today’s headline: Hurricane Eduardo eyes Texas coast

Seems kind of ominous, doesn’t it?  It should. It was worded that way to make people cautious, not just to sell newspapers.

But let’s take a look at what that headline triggers.  For people in Alaska, it may mean nothing.  For people in Texas, and Louisiana, and Alabama and Florida, well it definitely means something.

It means everyone who keeps themselves glued to that kind of news, is putting a lot of intense focus on the Texas coastline, and its proximity to their own coastline.  The more they keep themselves focused on that topic with fearful memories of what happened during other hurricanes, the more they are vibrating in the place of attracting another.  Get 3-4 whole U.S. states of people emotionally riled up and anticipating a fearful event, and you’ve got a very powerful vortex of attraction happening.

8-3-08
Once again I’ve let my sleep get all goofed up.  I’m beginning to cocoon and am seeing the pattern.  Wanting to stay home and cook is a disaster for me and has led to me weighing 5 extra pounds in 2008.  So I need to make myself get out of the house, especially on weekends.  There’s no reason not to.

People who don’t walk their talk.  Metaphysical teachers acting badly.  This seems to be the topic of the season.  We’re all on this path together.  The mere process of stepping onto the path means you know you will be put to the test.   What does that mean, “stepping onto the path?”

To me, it means becoming aware of your unconscious thoughts and behaviors, and wanting to take steps to change them.   To me, it means becoming aware that we are all connected and taking steps to be kinder and more helpful to those around us.

To me, it means recognizing that the universe will give you lots of opportunities to work on an issue and overcome it.   Each time the issue comes up, that is another chance for you to react differently in the new situation.  To react consciously, with a desire for a different outcome than had been your past pattern.  And to the extent you understand this, to that extent will you understand and work through that lesson.

There’s always some drama going on whenever groups of people get together, and the body/mind/spirit communities are no different than any other genre.  In any group, you will always get people who are more interested in exerting influence for personal gain, and you also get their detractors.   Then a division takes place, sides are taken and friendships get rocky.  Only the conscious survive.

If I’m lucky, I’m conscious enough to recognize when that is happening and when a new opportunity to react differently is being presented to me.  I wasn’t always that lucky.  I used to be a “fixer”.  I felt that since I understood both sides of the situation, I would jump in and help them fix it.  Often unsolicited. How aggravating is that?  I’d get caught up in the drama and forget why I was there.  I’d align with one side and the game was on.  I wasn’t fixing anything, I was adding fuel to the fire and too blind to see it.

As enlightened thinkers on the leading edge of thought, we know better – much of the time.  But we have our blind spots, issues we could work through and overcome if only we were aware of them.   Good friends point out to loved ones their blind spots, and they find a diplomatic way to do this.  Good friends look past the ignorant words of the speaker to discern the true message they are trying to speak.  They don’t take personally as hurtful any criticism.  They don’t fault the speaker for not softening the words, indeed maybe they don’t know how to.  Sarcasm and cynicism have become so much a pattern of social talk that it’s not easy to think before talking, and not blurt out a quick snappy response.  Look past their words, it may not be easy for them to say to you for fear you will get angry.  But friends call friends on their stuff.

“But what if this person is a self-proclaimed teacher and is not walking their talk?  As metaphysicians, we all know better.”  Yes, we all know better, so maybe this is your opportunity to do things differently.  In this instance, maybe take your focus off what the teacher is doing wrong and think about what benefit the teacher is.  Maybe this time don’t gossip with friends about the situation.  Maybe this time take the situation into prayer and meditation and ask what you personally can learn from it.  Maybe this time, keep some distance from the parties and don’t discuss it, and suggest others don’t discuss it either.

See, that’s the problem.  It’s never just that  A and B have a difference of opinion.  It’s the people who align themselves with A and think they are working in A’s behalf while gossiping and spreading misinformation that gets the B camp all riled up.  A himself may not know any of this is going on.  However, now all the people who hear the gossip and have aligned themselves with the B camp, now are at odds with the A camp.  Meanwhile B, like A, may not yet know any of this is going on.  He and A are basically friends having a difference of opinion.  Until someone in B’s camp shares some misinformation, purporting to have come from A.  B reacts to the misinformation as if it’s truth and the game is on.

Sound familiar?  From 7th grade on, it was an everyday occurrence but we’re a long way from junior high and it’s time we get it.  It’s time we get this lesson.

People act surprised, “She should know better.  She has watched The Secret and read Abraham-Hicks and she teaches metaphysical classes, yet she doesn’t walk her talk.  She drinks, she smokes, she eats an unhealthy diet, she is mean and hateful to her mate and other family members, she spreads mean spirited gossip among her in-crowd, and takes financial advantage at every opportunity.”

Well, wait, why is “she” any different than anyone else?  We all get hooked back into old patterns of control when we feel we’re losing our grip.  Ok, she’s a teacher not setting an example that you agree with.  But take responsibility for your part in this scenario.  Why are you talking about her behind her back to a third party?  Maybe this new situation is the chance for you to NOT pass a juicy story along, if the story is meant to divide and not bring together.

It’s not just your mind but your muscles that have memory, and what feels like the path of least resistance may just be your muscle memory entraining you into habits you’re rather be free of.

Some opportunities to do it differently and break the pattern:

Nighttime.  On the couch.  TV on.  Ah, your muscle memory is wanting you to reach for something to snack on.  Every 2-3 minutes you want to get up and get a snack.  So that means every 2-3 minutes you have a chance to react differently, a chance to remind yourself that your after sundown meals are empty calories.

In your favorite social crowd.  A friend begins to tell a story that is critical of an absent party.  That is a clear opportunity to speak up and say you’d rather talk about something else.  A clear opportunity to remind everyone present that what we speak about keeps us held in that vibration.  You’re just giving them a heads up that they are about to enter a different vibrational place than they have said they want.

Or maybe someone is retelling a juicy story from their recent past where they had a conflict with someone who is not present.   Again, you’re entering dangerous territory if you’re part of that scenario, whether listening or telling.  You’re entering a vibrational place where all sorts of things you don’t want will begin happening, and you won’t realize that you’re attracting it all to you.

There are always two sides to every story.  If you are on someone’s side, it’s is sometimes more because they are a friend than it is that you’ve heard both sides objectively and come to the decision before taking their side.  You’re usually hearing one person tell their story, and often it is not only the one who tells their story the loudest and longest that ends up with the most people on their side, but the one who provides the most social benefit or celebrity status.

7-30-08
I keep getting calls about a conflict in town between several sets of business partners, each with a different story, no one acting particularly conscious.    I wish I didn’t feel compelled to jump into this with them and make everyone come clean and stop the hating and bad mouthing.  It’s not my job to do,  And everyone is passing along stories that they don’t know are true.  All they know is this is what their “friend in the know” told them.  And then everyone takes sides.

I have been “betrayed” by my share of “friends” in my lifetime, and each time it happens it just serves as a springboard to even higher understanding.  The closer the former friendship, the greater the karmic weight to drop, allowing your balloon to soar higher and higher.

It gets scary when we drop our weights.  When familiar people begin to fade from our life, or when friends and lovers betray us, we can tend to see it as being abandoned if we don’t recognize that we were growing vibrationally apart from them for a long time, and this was a blessing in disguise,

Email to an under-employed  friend suggesting she put some mp3 files of her guided meditations on her website and a Paypal “Pay Now” button.  She’s also a great cook, so I also suggested she give cooking workshops, something like “How to cook for your own party” which doesn’t require meeting catering guidelines for occupational licensing.  “That’s something you are awesome at and already do and are already known for.  You could prepare a few menus, script out your cooking plan and get your ingredients measured out and displayed ahead of time and everyone gets to experience the workshop in “real time”.  So when they see how quickly YOU get it all done and fill the table with goodies, that is a test run for them thinking if you can do it, they can do it.  And for those who can’t, well you have peaked their interest and maybe they will beg you to cater their next party.  Either way you win.”
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end of email

I got up at 7am and went out and mowed my yard.  It took 20 minutes!  I love this new mower and I don’t mind sweating when I am out there.  I even for some of it didn’t use the drive lever, making me have to push it.  I figure that is equivalent to using the arm/weight machine at the gym.  I have so little lawn though, I also went out on the street and mowed the easements on either side of me.  My neighbor Francis across the street will look out his window when he gets up and be shocked.  He’s used to my shaggy yard 🙂

A Horizons reader wrote in and asked:

Once a month I attend Peruvian shamanic ceremonies held by American friends.  They have a potluck meal before the ceremony.  I know that’s a big Western social tradition, but it feels more like a cocktail party atmosphere than a sacred gathering to me.  I’ve done other sacred ceremonies with indigenous groups, and the fasting that’s always done before ceremony is important.  What is your take on the topic?

I replied: “I spent decades following a primarily Eastern faith path, which I realize is very strict in traditional “rules” for ritual, fasting, and no idle talk at ceremony time or in the temple.  I think the payoff for that laser focus is measurable in terms of personal growth, understanding and outcome.  I think if it resonates with you, then attend and be open to what might come of it if you don’t judge it and think it should be anything other than it is.  Keep me posted.”

7-21-08
I vegged most of the day, took a nap, worked some on a writing project I am doing on contract for a friend/client, washed my hair, went to Friendly’s and had some chicken noodle soup and a side salad, worked on a newsletter I do for a friend who has a lawncare business.  I am excited about doing my own lawn.  I had fun yesterday using my hedge trimmers,  rrrrrroooooom, rrrrrrooooom!  And I liked how it looked today.  And instead of thinking of sheesh now I have to clean up the yard clippings, I think of how much good exercise it will be for me.  I even have fun vacumming now with my new Magic Blue vac!  I am vacumming every few days, it takes maybe 20 minutes to do the whole house!  But my furniture is easy to move around to vac under.

I just sent the mag in to the printer, and it will be delivered Friday.  I have emailed my crew and the wheels are in motion!

I picked up my new Toro 20065 lawnmower Saturday, and also the Homelite UT44120 22″ Electric Hedge Trimmer (the larger one of the two I looked at).  Actually I bought both hedge trimmers and meditated on which to open, and I’ll return the smaller one today.

I tried it out on the back eleagnus bushes surrounding the back porch and it works great.  It says the cut capacity is 1/2 ” and that’s about right.  Some of the branches were the size of my finger, which is just more than 1/2 inch, but I could cut them pretty easily if I had a sweeping motion going.  I tried cutting the top several ways, so I don’t have to do it from a ladder.

I have some good ladders though.  Today I want to top the ficus hedge along the driveway, and will need a ladder for this first cut.  And I might want ahead of time to prune out the bigger stalks, since they are probably more like 1″ around…

I forgot that trimming the bushes means yard trash, and our Waste Pickup guys have all these rules about how big to cut branches, etc. and they have to be in refuse cans.  I learned that when Francis across the street told me the reason the trash truck always bypassed my ever growing pile of branches the past 6 months was that they were not cut to size.   So today I will go buy a big 50 gallon bin on wheels maybe, and toss the branches in there.  He and I cut up my pile and it took a hour and it filled his 4 trash bins plus more left siding alongside stacked nicely.  They picked it right up.  He’s a real worker, always tending to his yard.

I will set up my lawn mower today, Francis said he will help me.  It’s just like his.  It will be good to do my own yard.  Between the mowing and the hedge trimming, these arms will strengthen right up.  I am trying to keep to a nightly routine working my arms out with my little 8 lb weights.  I can tell each month if I’ve been keeping at it by how easy or hard it is for me to lift my two 5 gallon water bottles when I get them refilled each month.  Sometimes I can grab by both handles and get them inside at one time.  Other times one feels a little heavy to carry by the handle so I carry it like a baby and it’s not heavy at all.  Directly related to how many hours at the keyboard and steering wheel compared to how many hours working out and using my arms.

A friend emailed me:
“I almost feel like I need to start out basic and breathing and meditation… not spend alot of time on it as most people know about it but you never know when a new comer might not even understand meditation and how important it is… not only for relaxing the mind and body and releasing stress but also to connect and communicate with our guides and spirits….   “

I replied: “Yes you are right. I find that most people are insecure about the way they meditate anyway, even those who have done it for years.  And I always mention that, so no one feels stupid for having attended meditations for years and still aren’t sure what they are supposed to be thinking about while their eyes are closed, and after the guided part is over and they are in the silence.  Meditation is like sex, everyone talks about it but few actually experience it as often as they say they do.

I like the old “breathe in for 4 slow counts, hold for 4 slow counts, release for 4 slow counts, hold for 4 slow counts.”  That way I am not getting caught up in my mind keeping track of the counts.  If I’m busy counting a complex sequence, I’m not meditating.  Keep me posted.”

I emailed my pal Carl Morgan yesterday and told him I had a flash the Cash 3 would be a 5-8-3 so we both played it and won *yay* Our combined energies seem to be lucky with Cash 3!

RELATED:  Another lotto win
I win the Cash 3 again
A Cash 3 lottery win
I get 4 out of 5 in Fantasy Five drawing

A friend sent out an email about the economy and what “the tricksters” are trying to do to us. He writes: “When does it all end?” I replied, “It ends when you take your attention off what the media is telling you and when you put your attention on what you prefer instead, and keep it there. It ends when you stop thinking that you are at the mercy of anything but your own vibrational stance in every moment. It ends when you use your own creative imagination to play with the ideas of what you’d like to experience instead, and spent most of your thought time in that space.  That’s when it ends.

I don’t get caught up in this type of info because I don’t want to vibrate there for a moment.  I know how powerful we can be as visionaries who hold to our vision of a joyful, abundant future, despite appearances, despite media input.  I know the longer I can hold the highest vision, the more of a contribution I make to the collective consciousness, since that is what attracts our collective experience to us.  I can either spend my thought time completely on the bright future and what is bright about right now, what is good that is going on right now, or I can add energy to the decline by vibrating in that place when I read news like that.

It’s just a choice of where do I want to spend my energy.
What vision do I want to feed?
What tomorrow do I want to live?”