A friend sent a group Facebook message this morning to several of us seeking referral to those who could help produce a fundraiser.  He graciously included a line at the end that he’d understand if any of us left the conversation. Since I had no referrals for him, I left the conversation. I almost instantly felt a twinge, as though he might take it as a snub.  Not taking the time to soul search why that was my first thought, I went to his Facebook wall to see what he was up to.  As soon as I saw his post about seeking a dinette set, I knew that I knew someone who had one for him.  I didn’t know who it was but knew there was someone.  I was right.   Continue reading →

Suzuki Shunryu said of frogs sitting, “I always admire their practice. They never get sleepy. Their eyes are always open, and they do things intuitively in an appropriate way. When something to eat comes by, they go like this: Gulp! They never miss anything, they are always calm and still. I wish I could be like a frog.”

Hello and welcome to the November 2014 edition of Horizons Magazine. It’s  finally cooling off and we’ve had all the windows open here at the office since mid October. It’s such a relief when the first cold fronts of the season bring drier  air. Being in the subtropics as we are in Florida, half the year our humidity is above 80% and in the summer it can be oppressive. Visitors remark that walking out of the airport in Florida for the first time, the humidity hits you like a wall of water, and you feel as though you’ve gained 50 pounds and are moving in slow motion. So when we get the first cool days of fall, everyone I know perks up and feels like frisking around in the outdoors.  The cooler weather also signals the end of another year, a time when many of us reflect back on the past 12 months and consider whether we’ve made progress toward those things we set goals for last year. I counsel with dozens of people each week, so it’s easy for me to see patterns of thought and behavior before others are aware of it. Many who set their goal last year of finding their calling, are frustrated that they haven’t made much progress. They’ve been buying all the right books and listening to the right tapes and attending the right seminars and still they feel stuck in a job they don’t enjoy.   Continue reading →

I was all ready to paint or get new wallpaper for the kitchen to match the new stove, but it matches well right now. It’s 28 years old but I did such a good job putting it up that I can’t pull a loose edge anywhere. But I’m ready for a new look. Decisions, decisions.  YAY!  I went out to the garage to see if I had any oil based paint, but all I had was water based, which might lift the wallpaper. I looked at my stash of wallpaper from the 80’s to see if there was any I might use. Lo and behold! Guess who just found a double roll of my beloved kitchen wallpaper unopened from 1986. Yay for me for thinking ahead and buying extra of stuff like this. See why I love it? The little pineapples match my terra cotta colored counters perfectly!

The night sky just opened up and the rains are coming down. I can hear the bamboo out there dancing around in it. I love how rain sounds hitting the metal roof of the back porch. All the windows are open, so it’s quite loud and the giant wind chimes in the courtyard are sounding like crazy. I’ve got the large long chimes, four and five feet long and they sound like cathedral bells when they get going.

Monday, November 24 at The Oaks in Melbourne  AWAKE: THE LIFE OF YOGANANDA –> details here.

Unrelated to this event, local peeps with an interest in Yogananda and Autobiography of a Yogi, please let me know you’re interested. His book was the first that awakened me to matters of the spirit in a way alternative to traditional Christian thought and brought on my first inner awakening.

I’ve been to the gym only a few times this month.  A headcold made me lazy for a week, then there was the November magazine to get to press, followed by a few days of repair at my rental and a day of running around the courthouse with a pal.  While all that activity is fine, it isn’t a workout and my body knows the difference. My body starts griping if I spend too much time at the desk, too, so I love it when I wake up — even after a physically demanding two days — and want to go to the gym first thing!  After a half hour on the elliptical, I came home to get ready for my new Whirlpool Self-Cleaning Electric Range Model WFE510S0AB to be delivered.  I’ve never had a smooth top cooking surface, so I’m excited to have a new experience.    Continue reading →

Take it into your meditation as an opportunity to practice grace under pressure

In a reading today, Domino was concerned that a former business partner was bringing up old gossip and acting as though it was new news.  What to do when that happens?  Ignore it. Don’t react.  You don’t even know it’s happening.  You have enough things going on in your own life that you have no time to pay attention to someone trying to stir a cold pot.  Consider it an opportunity to practice grace under pressure. Your life is your message. It will pass soon enough. Add no fuel to the flame. Take your attention off the drama and it will drop out of your life. The fact they think it’s about them and can’t drop it shows the issue is theirs. Bless them, for there but for the grace of God go we all.

It’s been a busy and action packed last two days. Yesterday began with a sunrise drive along the river to pick up a pal to help me repair a floor at my rental unit. We finished up just as sun was setting, so I got to see both sunrise and sunset.  I enjoy being a landlord and enjoy doing home repair and handyman stuff.  I’ve got an excellent mentor in that, a friend who owns several rental units of his own and taught me everything I know about how mobile homes are put together and properly maintained.  I’m always stoked when we get to do a project and spend a day together.     Continue reading →

Were you influenced by fairy tales as a kid? Did you, as a result of having heard a particular fairy tale, form expectations about what your life would be like in the real world?  I don’t recall being read fairy tales except for  Br’er Rabbit, the trickster who could talk his way out of anything. By brother loved that story as a kid so I had to hear it every fricken night. This post was going to be about “I never learned anything from fairy tales,” but maybe I did.  It wasn’t the Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty and Handsome Prince stories that enraptured me and made me have expectations in the world.  I grew up with 3 brothers, so I knew “the prince” story was a lie. The brothers were handsome and smooth but they weren’t princes.  They were Br’er Rabbit, tricksters able to talk their way out of anything. I haven’t pondered it until now, but my entire professional career has been about words and spinning information to a particular advantage.  Now, with Horizons Magazine, I spin to a hope to a faithful readership. During a 22 year career as a criminal defense paralegal, I had brilliant mentors in the trial attorneys I worked for. I learned different ways of presenting information to spin it to the advantage of the client.  Continue reading →