Floridians who have plants that died of frostbite this week, do not cut them back now. In a few weeks – after you see new growth on the live parts – would be the time to cut them back. You’ll handicap the plant if you cut the dead looking stuff off right now. What looks dead isn’t always dead.   Yesterday I wrapped my surviving arbicola up in wine colored sheets and indian blankets.  The frostbitten turk’s cap bushes made great frames for draping the fabric over to cover the tall plants. Some good news is that with so many plants dead to the ground, I now see I have hundreds of loquat seedlings, and they are cold hardy to 10 degrees.

With so many plants gone, do I make the choice of being in the Now or prepaving the future?  Can I do both?  Yes, I can do both.    In the Now, my plants under the oak and palm canopy are free of frostbite.  In a few months, everything that was not under the canopy will be back green and strong.  But I also appreciate the soft, dark, blackfrosted leaves that will fall any day now; they have an exquisite beauty all their own, telling of a life well lived, and they will become mulch for the new growth in Spring.  If I can’t see the beauty in the Now, if I can’t look at my frostbitten plants and feel good about them now, then I can turn my thoughts to being hopeful about what they will look like soon.  It’s helpful to remember, when looking at death, that it’s simply a cycle and that Spring always follows Winter. Continue reading →

Everyone has their own agenda for how they want the world around them to work.  The media knows the best way to get people to think and act a particular way is to proclaim publicly that people already think and act that way.  Have you noticed that?  The media is smart.  They know if they can draw enough attention to a particular thoughtform, that thoughtform becomes strengthened and takes on a life of its own.  What this amounts to is self fulfilling prophecy.  The weatherman talks about gloomy skies and rain and we all get bummed out and attract more gloomy skies.  The news anchor talks about everyone pulling out of the stock market, so everyone starts pulling out of the stock market.  Someone publicly proclaims a certain ethnic group as terrorists and… you get my drift.  When people hear it and see it often enough in print that they begin to believe it’s true. An amazing number of voters believe that what they see in the media is accurate.  And that’s what they count on, “they” being the big dollar wielding buyers of advertising, who have their own agenda of what they want you to believe.  And they always want you to believe you need what they are trying to sell you, whether it’s a product or a politician. Continue reading →

When I get calls for referrals to psychic readers, I only refer from personal experience.  About 10 years ago I met John Edward, psychic medium of Crossing Over fame, and immediately he was giving me information and details that no one knew.  This is who John Edward refers people to:

For contact with the Other Side  (Mediumship readings):
Robert Brown  516-867-0433  www.robertbrown-medium.com
Jonathan Louis  1-888-368-1242 www.jonathan-louis.com
Char Margolis www.char.net Continue reading →

The other day at Getting Clear on Finances to Begin the New Year, I wrote that I was getting ready to open all my credit card notices that would tell me rates are changing unless I opted out.  One Facebook friend commented:  “Can I add here without everyone getting their knickers in a twist? There is no debt-this whole gig with the banks, and the economy just proved that for those at the top. There is NO debt- you owe No one! Believe, and it is so.”   I asked her what her advice be to someone who has $20,000 in credit card debt, bad credit, who just got laid off and has no savings, and can only make the minimum payments on half the credit cards they have?  I asked her, “What would you advise them to do?” Continue reading →

Yesterday I did all the dreaded administrative stuff I save to do until I can’t put it off any later in the year.  I mean, it being December 30th and all.  I spent 2.5 hours filling out a 250+ questionnaire for my merchant provider to make sure I have a secure system. I called my computer genius Chuck to help me through the techie parts.  The rest were pretty simple since I’m just one person and not a big company with networked system computers and other personnel.  I passed – yay!

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Yesterday was a productive day.  After the Undercarriage Incident of last week, I took my car to Brian at B & B Automotive, referred by my pal Bo Frazer who also has a Toyota Prius.  It was neat seeing the car up on the rack, checking out what all was underneath.  It was easy to see how the undercarriage part fit together and how it had become free.  So Brian ordered the replacement part from Toyota and he can replace it for me next week.  I’d spoken to Brian first thing in the morning and he told me to stop by about 5pm and see if he had a lift free.  My spidey sense alerted me at 3:30 to get in the car and drive over there an hour early.  As I arrived, Brian said it was good timing, that he just now got a lift available.  I love it when I listen.

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Most of you know that I publish Horizons (Florida’s new age magazine), and have a psychic reading practice as well. I am not doing them right now and need someone to refer appointments to for psychic readings (not spiritual counseling, not intuitive advice.) Someone who can give accurate, detailed info about what is happening now and predictions for the future. If you know someone consistently accurate, let me know. Here’s the deal: I get calls for far more readings than I can schedule. If you want to be considered for referral by clients who call me for a reading, this is what I need from you:  Give me a sample reading by Facebook message or email to horizonsmagazine@gmail.com on any area of my life.  For the sample reading:   Continue reading →

A friend stopped by yesterday, and they’d never visited before so I had to take them on the tour.  I always like the chance to see my place with new eyes, as I do when I show it to a new visitor.  But it can also put me in that mode of doing a frantic show and tell, wanting them to not miss one magical thing; all the while knowing I may be the only one who sees enchantment of it all. I surprise myself by getting nervous with new visitors, mostly since my home is not decorated in typical style.  I never know what they really think of all the altars and art and guru/saint portraits, with the meditation area and the bookcases of books being the focal point.  I realized at the last minute that I had no sitting area where 2 people could sit and face each other to talk.  We’re usually all facing the same way during meditation, or in a circle on the floor, sitting on cushions.  I never presume that a new guest is comfortable sitting on the floor, so I quickly arranged a sitting area at a table, like normal people have. Continue reading →

Facebook is an idle relaxation time for me, when I have a few moments free, but am not free enough to actually leave the computer.  It lets me check up on what real life friends are doing, when I don’t have time to telephone and visit with them.  It lets me feel I am in the social loop, even if I can’t attend the local events.  Lots of my Facebook friends I don’t know at all, but am glad to expand who I interact with to be exposed to a variety of viewpoints. A lot of them post motivational quotes, which I usually skip over unless they include a personal comment.  I’ve been reading one liners like that my whole life – I’m on Facebook to learn what someone else thinks, not to hear a rehashing.  Post a quote, but also comment on what made you choose that one, right now.  I mostly like to know what people are doing in their ordinary lives.  That’s what lets me get to know them and want to follow what they say.  Those are the people who are on my Facebook News Feed. Continue reading →

One of my walls of bookshelves

Whew!  I just put 51 new books on the low shelves next to the reading nook.  I have lots of books. One way I keep track of them is to keep an ongoing list of all the titles, so in case I want to know if I have something, I can do a word search for it.  I have 589 on the list right now on Christmas 2009.  Actually, this number does not include the maybe 100 books of my own collection from before I began my list.  They get moved around quite a bit.  When books first arrive, I log them in and then I put them on the lower shelves by the main reading nook.  I have several areas for sitting and reading, all next to different bookshelves.  After each has been read, they move on to a more permanent location, typically by topic or author. Now if I could just keep track of where each title actually is, I’d be set.

The End of Death As We Know It