It’s been cold the past week, down into the 40’s at night.  About midnight  I finished final layout on the January issue of Horizons Magazine, so I make a fire in the chimenea and sat to watch it and listen to the night sounds. Fire reminds us that nothing lasts, that time consumes everything. Tonight’s fire was especially evocative as the night before, friends Marc and Traci Dicaprio’s house burned down and the family lost most of their personal belongings as well as a family pet. (Consider a love donation thru PayPal to Sororfla@yahoo.com or at  http://www.gofundme.com/itd64k.)

Fire consumes everything in its path. It strips you to the bone before leaving you in a pile of ash. When we lose our “things,” we lose part of our identity. We can also be freed of the past in a way we couldn’t have achieved otherwise. It’s one reason  a burning bowl ceremony can effect real change in leaving the past in the past. Legend has it that at the end of its life-cycle, the phoenix would build itself a nest of cinnamon twigs that it then ignited; both nest and bird burned fiercely and would be reduced to ashes, from which a new, young phoenix arose. I’m excited to see what arises for my friends now that they literally have a chance for a fresh start from zero. Infinite potential!

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A few months ago I checked out DuckDuckGo, a search engine that doesn’t track.  I don’t care if my search results are tracked.  I figure every keystroke I make is permanently lodged in my computer somewhere for law enforcement or Big Brother to find.  I’m cool wit dat.  When DuckDuckGo didn’t give me better results, I switched back to Google as a search engine.  The only problem was suddenly DuckDuckGo was the “new tab” default search page and I didn’t want that.  This is how to fix it.   Continue reading →

Can you be comfortable not knowing? Not knowing if your job will continue, your relationship will last, your income will be sufficient? Not knowing if help will be there when you need it? I am comfortable not knowing these things because I know I’ve always been miraculously provided for, so I have every expectation and belief it will continue. If I take care of the present moment and don’t waste time projecting or regretting, it all flows in perfect order.

Waking up on a chiily morning, stage one:have a hot drink and turn heater on and get back in bed
Stage two: when I get up to powder my nose, turn on lights as I pass them, open all curtains and blinds, then get back in bed.
Stage three: when I see I’m still in bed and all the lights are on and It’s daylight outside, it feels so weird that I get up

I had a bout of major tinnitus the other day in my right ear.  I thought maybe I’m channeling my father in law. I could hear his hearing aid whistle when we sat close. I’ve found the secret to not letting the ringing in my ears drive me crazy is to surf the sound, overlay a mantra and think of it as a holy companion.

it’s not simply fat intake.  Inflammation is the real culprit, and our system gets inflamed by non-nutritive foods like sugars, flours, starches – which is basically all packaged and processed foods. If it has a label with more than one ingredient, it is processed.  Here are highlights of the article (full link below) :  “The only accepted therapy was prescribing medications to lower cholesterol and a diet that severely restricted fat intake. The latter of course we insisted would lower cholesterol and heart disease.  These recommendations are no longer scientifically or morally defensible. The discovery a few years ago that inflammation in the artery wall is the real cause of heart disease.  Simply stated, without inflammation being present in the body, there is no way that cholesterol would accumulate in the wall of the blood vessel and cause heart disease and strokes. Without inflammation, cholesterol would move freely throughout the body as nature intended. It is inflammation that causes cholesterol to become trapped.”   Continue reading →

From Hialeah, FL? It’s been a day of Facebook flashing names from the past in front of me, then a friend from high school sent me this link to a Facebook group from our alma mater. I’ve been scrolling the member names and finding other classmates from back in the day. I sent a friend request to one familiar name and then recalled oh she always threatened to beat me up after school. Oh well. https://www.facebook.com/groups/110859192283345/

Just spoke with a friend who has always mentioned in conversation how he leaves his doors unlocked when he’s gone He got robbed and, surprise, he thinks it was a friend. I’m from Miami, I learned early to lock my doors and no one gets a key. I even lock my car inside my locked garage. I had burglar bars installed when my home was built, it’s a Miami thang, and am the only one in the neighborhood with them. But I figure it keeps honest people honest.