A friend wrote and asked, “Do you feel it would be wise to remove our savings from the bank until all of this mess with the government is over? Hubby worried about a run on the banks if the government is not funded…your spidey sense?”  I wrote  back that I didn’t know what was going on but that I did not feel in jeopardy.  I briefly wondered if I should ask my partner what he thought, then I remembered that all that matters is what I myself believe and expect to happen. I remembered that when I really understand how I attract people, circumstances and events into my life, I don’t worry about stuff like this.  If I dwell on problems and talk about them and theorize about them with pals, that keeps me feeling vulnerable, and that keeps me attracting more to feel insecure about. We will not eradicate the problems of this planet, but we can delete them from our own experience.  We do that by taking our focus off what aggravates us and makes us feel insecure, and putting our focus on something that makes us have good feeling emotion.   Continue reading →

A busy day! Clearing the in box of administrative work, computer and phones updated, I just measured and cut 3 pieces of wood and drilled holes and fastened them to my office window frame to create a shelf for the squirrels and birds to sit and eat seeds and watch me work. I love having extra wood at home to make stuff with!  I redirected the bulb on the security lamp that shines into the west woods, so when I work at night I can watch the critter parade.  I took down the storm shutter  to open the view. I usually leave it up since it helps block the oak and pine deadfall on windy, stormy days, but the barred windows do a good job of that.

Moving up from Miami in 1983, I naturally assumed every new home would have burglar bars… I learned ours isn’t a high crime area but the bars do a good job of  keeping the branches from breaking a windowpane during a storm.  Right now there are 2 squirrels foraging on the ground outside the window, and a lone armadillo emerging from the west woods.  I pulled up about a mile of ferns on the pathway to the firepit, so they are likely getting whatever grubs and worms I exposed.  The circle of life is always evident in my yard. Right outside my office window, at eye level is a giant philodendron and right now there is a pair of cardinals in it, speaking to eat other.  They are 3 feet away from the bird bath where the doves are cooing and imbibing, I can hear their wings fluttering.  It’s a wonderland living here, working here. Someone asked the other day where’d I go for vacation. I guess I stopped thinking of my job and my life as something I’d need a vacation from. If I live in Paradise, where would I want to go?

RELATED:  Last evening at the firepit
Roughing it in my own woods
I spent full moon night out under the stars
Winter Solstice at the firepit
Spirit told me to ask Jane if she had a tent for me and she did
Camping In My Woods Defrags My Stress
A New Crop Of Baby Hawks and the Bonfire Metaphor
New Year’s Eve camping at the firepit; a flame meditation

A friend is stewing over a bad break up, feeling very ripped off by someone who pretended to be her soul mate for 4 years. She asked me why she couldn’t get over it, why she kept thinking about it, even though she wanted nothing to do with her ex. I reminded her of what she already knew.  One reason she was so drawn to him was that he poured constant attention and flattery on her, constantly charming her with flirtatious antics. It didn’t matter that the soul mate relationship wasn’t real, the attention was real.  She enjoyed getting caught up in his future fantasy talk. I reminded her that was what she missed.  She didn’t miss him so much as she missed having the focused attention of someone who showered her with constant praise and gave her daily guided meditations pointing toward a happy, hopeful future.  That none of it was real is irrelevant. What’s real?   Continue reading →

My new computer is lots faster than my old one, and it had been several years since my last upgrade. It seems the last few years I’ve had to learn some major new software programs, one after another. It can be frustrating, but I love to learn new things, so it’s always worth it.  One program I love to work with is Photoshop! I’ve been learning to edit photos in Photoshop 7.0 and it’s great fun to tweak a face to brighten an eye or smooth a frownline. Working like that is a great way for me to ease into a meditative, contemplative state. I contemplated the implications of ‘tweaking the physical form’ and it came to me that it’s just another one of our bodies and aren’t we tweaking one or another of them all the time? Continue reading →

My father and brother committed suicide, as have several friends through the years. None of them ever threatened to do it. So when a dramatic friend once again begins talking suicide, I know it’s just mental disorder that compels her to do it. She knows the reaction it gets. It happens after she’s “gotten in trouble” or her latest sugar daddy has found her out and is threatening to leave.  She is someone who hasn’t yet made amends with the past and doesn’t understand that everything she does comes back to her. With empty promises she attracts enabling partners and it takes them a year to figure it out.  In that year, everything in their life begins to unravel. Then she moves on and they are left on their own to rebuild their life.  Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, and a stone will come back on him who starts it rolling. One guy who knows the meaning of the word tired is Sisyphus, most famous for the punishment he received in the underworld: condemned to roll a rock up to the top of a mountain, only to have it roll back down for eternity. Stop digging the pit and stop rolling the stone. Aren’t you tired yet?

RELATED: Clear up the past so it doesn’t taint your new beginnings

Two friends recently split and it played out in flying colors in front of friends and family for a year. Each has their own version of what happened. Both admit feeling unheard, misunderstood and disrepected. Domino said “I have written to him what I thought was compassionate and real, it was met with blame and accusations.” But she seeks closure. For me, when I need to be heard, I need to write things out to a partner so I can have my complete say. I like to ask them to do the same, but not everyone can or will explain and express their emotions in writing.  I suggested she write the letter to me and that way the work would still be done.  The “work” of working a situation out energetically, such as in reflection, prayer and Hawaiian Forgiveness Ho’oponopono Process  My experience is that if work is being done by even one, tension between them will begin to soften. One or both parties “working” on it energetically, by reflecting on their part and taking responsibility, by seeking forgiveness and amicable closure, will change the energy the other receives from them and reacts to.  This doesn’t mean they will speak or write in the physical, but just to energetically change the feeling within your heart. Doing the energetic work not only frees the one doing the work, it frees everyone involved.  No one can weave with you a bond of discord if you contribute no strands to the weaving.   Here is the letter she wrote me.  It was so Universal that I asked to share it here with you. Continue reading →

Facebook friend Charlie asked: “Andrea, how and when did you discover your intuitive gifts? Was there a defining moment in time?”  I responded, “Hmmm in a word, no. More like I walked a long way in the fog and it’s only when I got home that I realized I was soaking wet. It’s a gradual and ongoing process. I guess a defining moment was when my mom suggested I contact the Psychic Friends Network to do readings as a form of service. I was like, really mom? wtf? She was right. It was a most holy several years working the line. I did it from 1992-1996, sometimes 40-60 readings a day. I wrote about it here Celebrity Clients; Psychic Friends Network

Continue reading →

My Tuesday begins with the activation/deactivation dance with Adobe. Thank you Windows 8 for gifting me the opportunity to upgrade my ancient Adobe InDesign CS2. More new software ~ I can hardly wait!

Taking a leap

I contracted a cool new project today with a favorite editor. It was attracted in no small part by recent discussions on the topic with a friend. I love how that works: that I attract what I focus on, even during play time and casual conversation. I wrote earlier that a friend asked about writing and editing, pricing and how to get jobs. Like so much of my life, it wasn’t planned, it was just some fun something that morphed into an income stream without my having ever set it as a goal. Which is pretty funny when I think about it, since I always have ongoing lists of goals to be accomplished.  Half of them get done, the others lose priority as something even better than I could have planned emerges fully formed into my life, like Athena, the goddess of wisdom and strategy, emerging fully formed from the head of Zeus.  If I was to follow my own advice, I’d identify and develop as many skills as I was excited about and I’d nurture an intense desire to connect with those who were attracted to what I had to offer.  And then I’d begin to dance with whatever the Universe threw at me.  I’d remember that my job is to stay happy and continually draw pleasure from whatever experience I encounter. And it’s always good to remember how to attract dollars no matter what the state of the economy.   Continue reading →

Casper writes: I have a question. I have an opportunity to ghostwrite.   You have done some ghostwriting. I’ve gotten an interesting range of pricing looking at sites and reading articles on the Internet. What do you charge and how do you do your pricing? I’m trying to be prepared.
Andrea replies:  Greetings!  I ghost for a few friends since 1992. Mine is without royalities or credit, with non-disclosure agreement signed, etc. I lucked into doing it via publishing connections, so I’ve never had to query. The pricing is kinda wacky, sometimes a set price for the project at this point.  Most of the “work” I’ve done has come out of writer friends and I emailing back and forth just ideas or sometimes readings on personal matters. Continue reading →