Yesterday was a great day of staying home and doing lots of homey type things right here. I’d finished the magazine early on and then spent the day wandering around the yard with the kitties, transplanting loquat seedlings, and lounging around on the back porch. I made a couple of soups throughout the day, my Asian spiced shrimp asparagus soup, and later a tomato, onion, corn and green bean chowder. I like making mini-soups, enough for one serving at a time. Soup is so fun to make, and I like to do it often. I make just a pint or quart at a time and I eat it out of big oriental bowls, with bean sprouts and basil, using chopsticks. By the end of the day, I was very relaxed, with very few thoughts going on in my head. I love when that happens. Especially when I wake up and my thoughts are only about how comfy the bed is and how nice and warm it is under the covers, rather than waking up with my To Do List running a million miles an hour in my head. Continue reading
Author Archives: Andrea
Another magazine to the printer
I finished final layout on the November Horizons Magazine last night and then went to bed at a reasonable hour, 9:00pm. Of course, that meant I’d be up at midnight, 3 hours later and I was. I gotta bless menopause for making my sleep consistent: three hours from start to finish, no matter what. I love being up in the middle of the night. It’s quiet, and I love the quiet. In fact, because of the quiet factor I think it may be hard for me to ever share space with a mate. My cousin has been a roommate for most of this year and, for the most part, he keeps to himself, writing code or whatever it is he does. He watches movies, headphones on at his laptop, so I don’t often have to deal with hearing his tv or radio. It’s an ideal situation, if I must share space: everyone being self contained and not space-invading each other. Continue reading
We all need a little Validation
A very cool video – Validation – is worth the 16 minute watch. Validation is an award winning, comedic fable about the importance of acknowledgment and validation. It shows the magic of looking for the best in people. Validation has played at 34 film festivals worldwide and won 17 awards. I want to be like that guy. He knows that just a few words of validation takes just a moment and can make someone’s day. Always offer hope, for some it’s all they get. I thought today how true that is. People are who you make them think you think they are.
I’m one of those who talks to other people standing in lines. I always have a comment to anyone my elder. Just today in the market I was next to a grandmotherly 80-something and she apologized for being so slow getting her green beans. I joked that I knew what she was up to, taking all the good ones. Her face crinkled into a big smile and I asked how she was going to cook them. I had the best time listening to her tell me some of her favorite recipes. She remarked several times about it being hard to cook for one and I told her I liked it because that meant less cleanup. And that left more time to play in the garden and think happy thoughts and go to the market and pick out all the best green beans. We had the best visit and would say “you again!” when we’d pass in the next aisle.
My morning was made better by listening to her. I saw her as someone who likely had something to teach me and I was right. It seemed as though she may not get often asked for advice.
She will see herself a little more through my eyes at least for a few days. I hope it makes her smile. It did me.
We all need a little validation.
PS. Two hours after making this post, and a week after writing it, I open Alan Cohen’s article for the November Horizons, and it talks about the film!
Synchronicity!
LISTEN FREE: Out of Body Experience
and Connecting with your Angels, Guides
,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ :¦:- Visit www.horizonsmagazine.com
Choosing your thoughts is a daily yoga. Recognize the reflections around you.
I wrote in Getting so caught in our own spin that we don’t see our own wobble about friends on the fast track whose lives are a routine of hurried sameness. They don’t have time to think about what they’d prefer instead, it’s all they can do to think about everything they have to think about to keep their current life in motion. No room for new thoughts. No time for new thoughts. That’s what their programmed mind keeps telling them. I’m not much different. I have the same thoughts, I just act on those thoughts far less often than I used to. I still feel rushed. I still feel the sense of urgency to do, do, do. I just recognize now that they are simply thoughts, and I can choose to release the thought and not act on it, and not react to it. A friend told me she was surprised and glad to read that I have the same thoughts. She said I always seem so calm and centered, she imagined I only had calm thoughts. That really made me laugh. The only difference is that – now – I just recognize they are simply thoughts, and I release the thought. I am the one in charge of what thoughts I choose to think. I am not always in charge of what thoughts pop into my mind, but I am in charge of what thoughts I choose to continue to think. I am in charge of how I react to each thought. Continue reading
Getting so caught in our own spin that we don’t see our own wobble
Caught up in the spin
I woke up this morning realizing I had not written a blog post yet. I usually write it the evening before. I was so busy yesterday doing final layout for the November Horizons Magazine that I worked through the evening and then just went to bed. As I came in here this morning, nothing came to me to write about, however I knew that, as usual, as soon as I sat at the keyboard, something would come to me. It didn’t. So I opened an email from a friend. I’d ask him how he was doing and he responded, “I guess I’m OK. Are you picking up something? I’m not aware of it. You know, the top that wobbles as it spins may just be aware of the spin, not the wobble. I admit I’m not taking the best care of myself. I’ve done a couple of classes with X, and I’m still going out with Y. Any of these things could signal something is out of balance, but still I’m choosing to do them. I thought that was an insightful observation.
Paula Deen’s Ignorant Comment: Ignorant as in she doesn’t even know why it’s offensive
Ignorant comment of the hour by Paula Deen: “Is he from this country?” Paula Deen had a bit of a freak out last week on the set of the “Today Show” after an NBC staffer accidentally walked into the shot and hid behind a kitchen island. “Oh my goodness, can you all see? What is he doing in here? Does he work here?” Deen asked Al Roker as she prepared her Nutty Orange Coffee Cake to promote the New York City Wine & Food Festival. “He doesn’t have a gun does he? Should we pull out our knives?” Roker laughed along with Deen, although it became a bit awkward after he asked her what she was making. “Nervous. That’s what we’re making — nerves, nervous,” she said. “Is he from this country?” To say that the staffer, an olive skinned, Mediterrean looking gentleman, was embarrassed is an understatement. Had he been blonde haired and blue eyed, there would have been no drama and no story. And a joke is a joke but that was just ignorant and offensive. Continue reading
No Permit For Sweat Lodge, Dispute Over Who Constructed It, Let The Games Begin
Deaths at Sweat Lodge Bring Soul-Searching. SEDONA, Ariz. — Authorities continue to investigate how two people died and more than a dozen others were overtaken during a ceremony at James Arthur Ray’s new age Spiritual Warrior Retreat. The authorities say that Ray’s employees built the wood-frame lodge, which was wrapped in blankets and plastic tarps. A spokesman said Ray’s contract with the Angel Valley spiritual retreat called for Angel Valley to “design and construct” the sweat lodge. Sheriff’s Office spokesman said the office stood by its contention that members of Ray’s staff built the sweat lodge. Angel Valley’s owners declined to comment on the contract.
And, it’s pretty wacky but: Sweat Lodge Did Not Have Permit. If you’re going to operate in the world of man, you gotta operate by their rules. That includes amending contracts in writing, such as when who constructs the sweat lodge changes. I’ve learned if someone wants a contract, there is no such thing as a verbal amendment. The purpose of a contract is to outline responsibility of the parties in the event of a worst case scenario. It’s like a prenuptial agreement. You have to operate with the end in sight. And take responsibility when the contract shows one party liable, if the other party actually did the work. Continue reading
Even the Maya are sick of Mayan Calendar 2012 hype
I opened a can of soup last night and the expiration date on the top was December 2012. It was right after I read this: Even the Maya are getting sick of 2012 hype MEXICO CITY – Apolinario Chile Pixtun is tired of being bombarded with frantic questions about the Mayan calendar supposedly “running out” on Dec. 21, 2012. After all, it’s not the end of the world. Or is it? “Definitely not,” the Mayan elder insists. “I came back from England last year and, man, they had me fed up with this stuff.” Next month, Hollywood’s “2012” opens in cinemas, featuring earthquakes, meteor showers and a tsunami dumping an aircraft carrier on the White House.
Now it makes sense. Last month I had a couple of mainsteam type friends ask what I thought was going to happen in 2012 at the supposed end of the Mayan calendar. They know I am not into all the end time prophecies and channelings. They said they’d seen it in the mainstream news and it was being talked about in the media. I’m like Abraham-Hicks: I think it is a non-date for a non-event. Unless, of course, mass consciousness makes something happen because they are focused upon it. Now I realize the reason for the big overflow into the mainstream media is because there is a movie! Of course! Continue reading
Nationally Known Astrologer and Author Dikki Jo Mullen on The Runes Sunday Oct 18th at Yoga Shakti Mission
Dikki Jo Mullen
This Sunday 18 October Dikki-Jo Mullen will give a presentation on “The Runes” at Yogashakti Mission from 9;00 – 10:00 AM. The runes are sacred letters from the Northern Mystery tradition. They have been in use since about the year 900 AD and are thought to come to us from Odin (Woden), God of Wisdom. He received them in a sacred trance after hanging upside down in Ygraddisdill, The World Tree, for 9 days and 9 nights. Odin relates to the planet Mercury. The word rune means to whisper in Old Norse, suggesting sacred truths. This Sunshine Lecture will introduce you to the runes both as healing charms and as a method of accurate divination. Yoga Shakti Mission is located at 3895 Hield Rd NW in Palm Bay, FL 32907, phone 321-725 4024 www.yogashakti.org
Questions About ‘Sweat Lodge’ Rite Where 2 Died. Creating New Neurological Pathways
PRESCOTT, Ariz. — As Arizona authorities on Saturday investigated how two people died and more than a dozen others were overtaken during a ceremony at James Arthur Ray‘s new age Spiritual Warrior Retreat near Sedona, questions arose about the circumstances surrounding the simulated Native American rite. A sweat lodge is similar to a sauna. Traditional lodges are usually made of willow branches and covered in canvas or animal skins, and are not meant to be air-tight. The authorities said that the lodge at Angel Valley was covered in plastic and blankets. Questions have also arisen about the length of time the people were in the lodge — about two hours. A ceremony usually lasts no more than an hour, Joseph Bruchac, an expert on Native American traditions and author of “The Native American Sweat Lodge,” said. Continue reading