My sleeping/waking schedule is now officially all jacked up so I am going to stop pretending I have a schedule.  My daily schedule generally revolves around what readings I have.  I do them in the evenings, and do Horizons Magazine during the day.  I make sure I nap beforehand, usually 4-8pm.  But when I have giant head congestion/pollen allergies like the last 2 weeks, I have to reschedule all phone sessions.  With no scheduled appointments, I can sleep when I want, I can wake when I want, I can work on the mag when I want, day or night.  So it’s easy to get off schedule and find myself sleeping from 7pm until midnight, then up until dawn, sleeping til 9-10am.  It puts me out of sync with most of the world, but that’s a good thing.  I like being on my own schedule with my own thoughts. Continue reading →

How do you handle yourself spiritually when there is a problem?  You be the one to decide what “spiritually” means and what “problem” means. Examples might be: I have a good friend who often calls to chat during business hours, which is her only free time.  I let her know I want to be available to her if she truly needs me, but I don’t have time to simply chat.  Lately she’s manufactured some emergencies that she says need my attention.  That would be the problem, to use that word.  How I handle this “spiritually” is to let her know I truly love her and care for her wellbeing, but that I cannot be the first person she calls.  I recognize that I have prioritized other responsibilities, and I trust her close personal friends to make time available for her.  If they cannot, I am totally and happily there for her.

So now you, how do you handle yourself spiritually when there is a problem?
I would love to hear your comments.

Barbara Nowak: “The family scapegoat serves an important purpose in a hurting family: it takes the spotlight off of the real issues and projects it all on to one individual who will do “bad” for them. If children can’t get attention for being positive, they will get it anyway they can, including being “bad.” Some get “locked into” the bad drama . . courts, drugs… violence, victimization, etc. But if the person steps out of the “bad” role, it’s amazing to watch the entire family try to squeeze him/her back into it so they don’t have to look within. Any family therapist will tell you that the scapegoat is often the “healthiest” member cuz they will tell the truth (actually, scream the truth) while others play games. Long live the Black Sheep!!” Continue reading →

My friend Margaret Ann Lembo got to see the Dalai Lama when he was in south Florida last week, and she writes about it here and below:

On Wednesday, February 24, 2010, I had the great honor to be in the same room as H.H. the Dalai Lama. It was a big room and there were approximately 3000 people there with me, but at least I was in his presence. The last time I had the blessing to see and hear him was between Hurricanes Frances and Jean in the Fall of 2004. There were about 10,000 people in the stadium for those events. I was blessed to attend the General Address and the 3 days of teachings of Padmasambahva that followed.

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If you could change anything about your life, in the blink of an eye, with no consequences, what would you change?  What would you try for the first time?  What would you do differently?  I would love to hear your comments.

I went to the market yesterday morning and bought some fresh asparagus, snow peas and organic broccoli.  I’ve been craving fresh greens and have eaten a lot of them the past two weeks.  Yesterday I got on the scale for the first time in a week and I was down five pounds!  Wow, and without trying, I like that.  I even bought a rotisserie chicken and ate that for 3 days.  I avoided starches while I had my head/chest  congestion, so that likely caused the weight loss.  I don’t even think about my weight now, which is cool. It took a couple of years of consciously eating the things that are best for me to develop my new eating habit, b ut now it’s second nature.   I’ve been wanting a lot of light vegetable soups lately, and I make a small one or two serving soup at a time so I can have a different one each day. Continue reading →

A friend wrote on Facebook last week, “Sometimes I worry that I am not accomplishing enough. That I am not growing into some unknown ideal, on a soul level, fast enough. It’s as if I am expecting, at any moment, for God to walk up to me and give me a ticket for soul-loitering. Now silly is that?” Through the years, so many friends have mentioned detailed ideas to me that I encouraged them to consider selling the design or producing it, but at the time they lacked the experience or the belief that what they had developed was good enough to sell.  I see these items on the market now 10 and 20 years later by other people.  When we’re not sure is when we have a lot of Power.  When we are in that uncertain place, that place of doubt, if we act as though the Power is completely behind us, It will be.

The best mother thinks she’s the worst mother and the worst mother thinks she’s the best mother. If you have an idea and are having doubts about it, that’s good news.  You might just be on to something.  And if you think your life is just doing okay, you’re probably doing a lot better than you think you are.

This past week and a half I’ve had a lot of head and chest congestion and when that happens, it’s easy for me to let myself get backed up in my work.  Much of what I do is by phone, so when I can’t do hours worth of calls each day, the work begins to pile up on me.  When I’m feeling stressed and rushed and overwhelmed, that’s when I’m glad to know about natural, herbal alternatives like Valerian and St. John’s Wort, which affect the same brain pathways as anti-anxiety drugs like Xanax.   Read more: “Valerian and St. John’s Wort for Anxiety: Relieving Anxiety and Depression with Mild Natural Herbs”. Continue reading →