A retired friend says she feels selfish staying at home watching her tv stories and sewing outfits for her dog, but that is what brings her happiness. She thinks she should go out and volunteer somewhere. I told her if she’s having that thought, go out and volunteer somewhere until she wants to stay home again to watch tv and sew her dog dresses. Then she can volunteer again if she feels she’s being useless, until she’s had enough of that. She’ll know when it’s time to change, because she will become dissatisfied with her life and she’ll begin thinking she should do something other than what she’s doing.

After watching two episodes of  Naked and Afraid last night, I went out into my west woods and created a lean to using my big tarp and slept outside all night. I made hot tea at the firepit and drank it watching the day break and the critters wake up.   I like reality shows to see how people act and react and relate during all kinds of conditions. I know I am a different person under different circumstances.  Put me in the midst of electronic and digital media and I can take charge and multi-task like a mofo.  If I was on one of those shows, I’d do some survivalist research ahead of time so I could be efficiently resourceful and I’d stay goal and consquence-oriented.  Collect wood for the fire while it’s still daylight so I’m not scrambling in the dark with my little self defence flashlight for home to find what I need. Build a fire before nightfall so I don’t get eaten alive by misquitoes trying to start it. Don’t drink the water without boiling it, so I don’t get sick from it. Research ways to boil water with no pan and no supplies. Those are the goals and consequences I’d make sure to stay mindful of. Have good footwear so an infected thorn doesn’t keep me down.  I think of stuff like that. I used to never consider consequences, but I’ve learned that lesson.   Continue reading →

Not everyone agrees on everything.  There never has to be an argument. It can be two people who simply have different opinions.  Part of getting along really well is knowing how to disagree and how to work through it when you do.  My mate of 10 months and I haven’t argued yet, although we’re not always in agreement. Our sleep/work schedules are almost opposite, so I can’t always make his kirtan gigs and he can’t always eat my (non-vegan) meals but there’s no argument. People who dig each other will find a way to get along, without drama, without mood swings, just getting along because there’s no reason not to.

I love it when friends text me late at night, letting me know what they think of (what the media tells them about) our current administration. Between the wacky auto corrects and their own inebriation, it’s quite funny. I know they are really saying, “Hi, I love you, Thanks for being there when I feel out of sorts.” So the words don’t really matter after all.

Just watched one of the Real Housewives reunion shows. I watch these shows because I have a few Bravo housewives as clients. I never understand why the made up drama when other facets of their actual lives are interesting enough as a storyline with no embellishment or fabrication needed. The real story is when you’re brave enough to tell it. Continue reading →

A friend just wrote, “I’ve failed miserably at this game called life. 39 years and I’m no better off then when I was a child. I’ve done nothing and I’ve become nothing.”  Having heard those words before, I shared this with him, and it is universally relevant.  Years ago, a friend during troubled times came to me for meditation.  We began metaphysical discussion and reading Rumi, Hafez nightly and his mind blew open.  I shared with him breathing exercises, and spoke of meditation, creative visualization, kundalini awakening, tarot, astrology, totem symbolism, numerology and the chakra system.  I could tell the lights were going off as he soaked in more each day.  Finally – something that made sense, something he could use to reframe his life to understand why he’d gone through all he’d experienced and how it all led up to that moment.  We had intense discussions about energy work, transparency, the fact that it’s all related and karmic implications.  You clear up the past and leave nothing unresolved. I witnessed the evolution of thought via his daily writings as he told me how he used the teachings to unravel his past for review.   I could see his beliefs evolving and morphing.  I watched the light bulbs as they went off. At the time, he was a born again Christian so I used language familiar to him. I share some of it below. Continue reading →

I used to not pay my bills on time because I didn’t have the money.  Then I didn’t pay them on time because they got lost in the shuffle of my other priorities.  Then one day I woke up and realized I’m the one in charge of how much money I make and what I set as priorities. Now I do what it takes to make what I need to pay the bills I have and have the fun I want.

Again and again and again.

I did a reading for a friend who was concerned she’d missed an opportunity to lease the home she wanted. When she called back 2 days after seeing it, it had been rented.  I told her there was a reason for that and that an opportunity is never missed; it always comes back around. I predicted another home in the same community was not on the market yet but within 5-6 days would be and it would be more suited her needs. She called the listing agent and learned there was. Opportunity is never missed.  It always comes back around.

I just got an email from yet another person who purports to “channel the same Abraham that Esther Hicks does.” One glance at their work tells me that’s not remotely true. We know what people know when we hear what THEY have to say — not when they are parroting someone else’s words. I find most people talk about what other people talk about rather than what they know from experience. By their fruits we shall know them. My intuition and common sense all help me discern the quality of the fruits I come across. I don’t eat just any apple that falls in my path. More importantly, I say to them: Your own life experience and the lessons you learn are vastly more fascinating than anyone you might want to emulate or any story you can come up with.