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.

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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

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 →

Saturday, June 13, 2009.  I’m in Fort Lauderdale at the Universal Lightworker’s Conference. it began yesterday, from 4:00pm until well into after midnight.  At most conferences, you spend the first day being kind of shy, and opening up the second, so by the end of the conference, you feel you have a new family and have bonded with all the other attendees.  With the ULC, in their opening ceremony they get everyone up and dancing together.  By the end of Friday evening, you are feeling bonded with everyone else.  The weekend definitely has a reunion feel to it.  A reunion of new friends. Continue reading →

Okay.  I just realized I am going to the Universal Lightworkers Conference tomorrow and am still recovering from the eyebrow debacle.  Well, ok, not so much a debacle as it is a temporary new look: eyebrows slimmer and more arched than I’ve ever had in my life.  And to highlight this, I’ve been growing my bangs out the past year and wearing my hair back and pinned off my face.  Oh, my life is so tough, isn’t it, that these are my problems?    So  my dilemma is this: do I cut my bangs and hide the eyebrows, or do I just brave it and show my bare face? I have until about 10am tomorrow to decide.  I have to remember I am trying to avoid the default Marianne Faithful look, which is what I’ll get the second I cut the bangs…

What to do, what to do…