December 21, 2009 – Actress Brittany Murphy Dies at 32. I always liked her, she was cute and quirky and had that fragile beauty that reminded me of Marilyn Monroe. Not Monroe as her character parts, but Monroe doing interviews and speaking with the public and the press in person, on her own. The easy smile, the bit of shyness. This past month I saw a few movies on Showtime with Brittany Murphy and really enjoyed her in her roles.
See you in the next go ’round, kid.
The other day I was reading at Fit Yoga Magazine and I read the Letter From The Editor, Rita Trieger, entitled The Company You Keep. She wrote: “As a younger woman I never really had a lot of girlfriends. A prepubescent, rather nasty snub from the sixth-grade female “in-crowd” had soured me on the trustworthiness of other women that lasted well into my third decade. And although I had one or two or three very fine “best” male friends along the way, I never could seem to cozy up to the idea of confiding in another woman, which, by the way, was fine with me. Then, a few years ago I started to form a friendship with a group of women at work. There were five of us in all, and we came from very different paths. That didn’t seem to matter though; and even as we scattered to other jobs, we regularly planned get-togethers and always had way too much fun (kind of like a more cerebral, creative Sex and the City, without the expensive shoes). Continue reading
I was trying to find something earlier by Googling it, and one of the pages contained a link to an Abraham-Hicks reference. It took me to a forum page of evangelical Christians who were slamming multi-level marketing, AmWay in particular, and someone posted that Jerry Hicks is a former AmWay salesman. The writer then proceeded to talk all about Jerry’s newest scam being the Abraham-Hicks “empire”. That led me to more and more forums of people who had complaints about people they’ve known that they’ve lost to the “cult of Abraham-Hicks.” Then I had a realization. Most of the ones who criticize the work do not have personal experience of it. You can tell by the meanings they assign to the words and phrases they use. It looked like they went to Google “Abraham-Hicks” and the first choice that came up was “Abraham-Hicks scam” and they did all their studying at those sites, rather than reading at the Abraham-Hicks website itself. That explained a lot to me. Continue reading
I emailed last week with Cassandra Yorgey upon the topic of friends who self publish, to understand the implications of using LuLu, a vanity press, versus a traditional publishing model. It’s important to be clear on what it is and what the differences are because vanity presses are sometimes deceitful. I told her that I have friends all the time who are working on books and ask me about book publishers, which I know zilch about. But some seem to think Lulu is the way to go. Not wanting to be an author, I don’t care enough about it to want to research it myself. I asked her is there somewhere I could refer them to? Is there a good site or blog post that gives helpful basic info to the ones who ask me to be referred somewhere for info? Continue reading
Well, now that I’m off the road from driving in it for hours, the rain has stopped. I like the way my little Toyota Prius handles on the wet roads. It’s very intuitive with my brake foot and me at the helm. We move together like dancers getting to know one another.
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Ram Dass, in his book Still Here, Embracing Aging, Changing and Dying (at this link, go to Search Inside This Book at the left and type in “Loss of Role/Meaning” and it will take you to page 48) writes: “Instead of honor and tender care, many of our aging population experience boredom despair and emptiness, with no outlet for their suffering. It is important that we not wait until we find ourselves at such an impasse before seeking an alternative means of confronting our aging years. The sooner we begin cultivating a mind that can work with such heavy mental states as meaninglessness and depression, the better able we will be, later on, to escape them. Again, we can begin by noting our thoughts as they arise, and by prying loose the Ego’s hold, slowly, diligently, with great care, As our minds begin to quiet down, we notice that the thoughts and feelings associated with meaninglessness come and go, and that there exists, in the space between these arisings, a way of being that is not affected by these mind-states. Continue reading
I’ve gotten several messages from Facebook friends telling me that my re-posting of the James Ray info when it comes up is something it surprises them to see, coming from me. I only re-post the info that comes to me since I’ve got lots of Facebook friends and Horizons readers sending me private messages asking me what I know about it. I assume for every one that contacts me, there are likely a hundred or thousand more that want the same thing and don’t contact me. From now on I will simply update the link at New Updated Links for info about the James Ray Sedona Sweat Lodge Deaths and everyone can go there. This is a new link that allows you to leave comments and questions. Please do not contact me privately for more info about this, I don’t have it. I simply update this since so many ask me for it. I’m not personally out to get anyone, but I believe people who do this type of work need to be responsible and accountable. This matter going public has drawn out past participants who were afraid to speak up on their own. This is my good and fair use of the media: giving a voice to those who feel they don’t have one.
Don’t shoot the messenger 🙂
I’ve been sleeping a lot lately and enjoying the feeling of my bed. I’ve never been a recreational sleeper, sleep is just something I do when I need to recharge. I just as often fall asleep in my office chair as I do my recliner or the fainting couch in my studio. Lately I’ve been making myself walk into my bedroom and go to sleep in my bed. And stay there for a minimum of 6 hours. Right now my body is working best when I make myself take extra rest, so I’ve been dawdling in bed as I wake up. Instead of just jumping up and into work, I make myself stay in bed until I’ve been there 6 hours in a row. That usually means two hours left over. I’ve been really enjoying the feel of the sheets, and the softness of the coverlet. I have a feather pillow and I like to scrunch it into just the right position under my head and neck. It’s warm here, so I have the fan blowing on me, and I enjoy the feeling of that. I listen for the sounds of the crickets outside, or the birds, or the dew dripping from the oak and bamboo leaves onto the ground. Continue reading
I was outside watering the bamboo yesterday, and taking a look at the yard. I’ve been glued to the computer almost every waking moment the 10 days, working. I usually wander around my property at least once a day, but this past week I didn’t get a chance to. I went to walk down some of the trails, and they are already overgrowing with palmettos and grapevines. This is Florida. It is December 16th and it was 85 degrees yesterday. I have my air conditioner on because of the humidity. So, tropical Florida, when it’s rainy and 80+ degrees even in Christmastime, still has the greenery growing. I decided to not prune the palmettos and grapevines, but to see how much they overgrow during the next few weeks. I might want to forge a new path. Continue reading
I got so much done yesterday, I was pleased with myself. I finished the January issue on time and got it off to the printer. I ran some errands: bank, post office, Walmart, Office Depot. I usually don’t wait this late in the year to buy my new calendars. I keep a large one on my wall to show all events and conferences going on. Then I have a smaller one, a Llewellyn astrological wall calendar, that I note office appointments on. Until this year, I kept two Daytimer appointment books: one showing daytime appointments in and out of the office, and a second book showing my scheduled evening phone sessions. I’ve begun scheduling less appointments all year, so while I was at Office Depot today, I bought an entirely different appointment book for daytime. Until 5 years ago, I used one that showed every 30 minutes all day long. Then I graduated to a book that went hour by hour. The one I bought yesterday goes day by day. I feel like I have more free time already. Continue reading