I’d like to voice an observation and a few comments here: Sometimes we make calls for advertising and I encounter some who don’t want to advertise thinking they have to give an excuse for saying no. Bear with me here, this is not a chastisement! I’m sure they don’t realize what they’re doing by stating that “business is slow right now,” or “we’re not doing so well.” What kind of positive affirmation is that?  You can’t put off the bill collectors and say “I can’t afford to advertise right now,” and “business has been slow and the summer is always a bad time,” and expect the Universe to deliver abundantly to you.  The Universe is abundant and is delivering to you all the time; you either allow it or not, by your thoughts to yourself and by your words to others. Every time you say, “I can’t afford that,” or “I don’t get any sales from the last ad,” you are pushing financial gain away from yourself.   Instead, if you – for any reason – choose not to advertise when asked, simply say “not this time, thanks,” period, end of story.  End of conversation. Continue reading →

Email to a friend who submitted an article and is working on a book. The article had to do with looking at Leonardo Da Vinci’s Last Supper from a yogic point of view. His talk on the topic was excellent.   I wrote: “Your story of how you were trained to think and how you re-programmed yourself is very powerful.  The story itself is a bridge to understanding.    Yes, I know many people feel compelled to write and never get anything in print, and I used to be one of those.  Getting it published never seemed to matter at the end.  I finally figured out I just wanted to be a writer and not a bookseller.   I say this because let’s don’t look at this project as: How fast can we produce a book to sell and who would we market it to and etc, etc.  Let’s look at it as, every day as part of your practice, sit with the intention to type for as long as it flows out of you, asking first something like, “what can I write about that will be most helpful in this moment”.  Whatever comes to mind, follow it and see where it takes you.  Maybe what is “most helpful” one day is simply to write down what you ate and where you biked and how you feel about everyone you know.    Maybe what is “most helpful” another time is writing about the works of other great masters as seen through the yogic eye.   Maybe what is “most helpful” another time is to contemplate what areas of your life have been sort of rewritten in history as a result of your later contemplation in light of the yogic view.

Seems kind of ominous, doesn’t it? It should. It was worded that way to make people cautious, not just to sell newspapers. But let’s take a look at what that headline triggers. For people in Alaska, it may mean nothing. For people in Texas, and Louisiana, and Alabama and Florida, well it definitely means something. It means everyone who keeps themselves glued to that kind of news, is putting a lot of intense focus on the Texas coastline, and its proximity to their own coastline. The more they keep themselves focused on that topic with fearful memories of what happened during other hurricanes, the more they are vibrating in the place of attracting another. Get 3-4 whole U.S. states of people emotionally riled up and anticipating a fearful event, and you’ve got a very powerful vortex of attraction happening.

Once again I’ve let my sleep get all goofed up. I’m beginning to cocoon and am seeing the pattern. Wanting to stay home and cook is a disaster for me and has led to me weighing 5 extra pounds in 2008. So I need to make myself get out of the house, especially on weekends. There’s no reason not to. People who don’t walk their talk. Metaphysical teachers acting badly. This seems to be the topic of the season, We’re all on this path together. The mere process of stepping onto the path means you know you will be put to the test.   What does that mean, “stepping onto the path?”  To me, it means becoming aware of your unconscious thoughts and behaviors, and wanting to take steps to change them.   To me, it means becoming aware that we are all connected and taking steps to be kinder and more helpful to those around us.  To me, it means recognizing that the universe will give you lots of opportunities to work on an issue and overcome it.   Each time the issue comes up, that is another chance for you to react differently in the new situation. To react consciously, with a desire for a different outcome than had been your past pattern. And to the extent you understand this, to that extent will you understand and work through that lesson.   Continue reading →

A Horizons reader wrote in and asked:  Once a month I attend shamanic ceremonies held by American friends.  They have a potluck meal before the ceremony.  I know that’s a big Western social tradition, but it feels more like a cocktail party atmosphere than a sacred gathering to me. I’ve done other sacred ceremonies with indigenous groups, and the fasting that’s always done before ceremony is important.  What is your take on the topic?  I replied: “I spent decades following a primarily Eastern faith path, which I realize is very strict in traditional “rules” for ritual, fasting, and no idle talk at ceremony time or in the temple.  I think the payoff for that laser focus is measurable in terms of personal growth, understanding and outcome. I think if it resonates with you, then attend and be open to what might come of it if you don’t judge it and think it should be anything other than it is.”

Email to an under-employed friend suggesting she put some mp3 files of her guided meditations on her website and a Paypal “Pay Now” button.  She’s also a great cook, so I also suggested she give cooking workshops, something like “How to cook for your own party” which doesn’t require meeting catering guidelines for occupational licensing.  “That’s something you are awesome at and already do and are already known for.  You could prepare a few menus, script out your cooking plan and get your ingredients measured out and displayed ahead of time and everyone gets to experience the workshop in “real time”.  So when they see how quickly YOU get it all done and fill the table with goodies, that is a test run for them thinking if you can do it, they can do it.  And for those who can’t, well you have peaked their interest and maybe they will beg you to cater their next party.  Either way you win.”
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end of email

I got up at 7am and went out and mowed my yard.  It took 20 minutes!  I love this new mower and I don’t mind sweating when I am out there.  I even for some of it didn’t use the drive lever, making me have to push it.  I figure that is equivalent to using the arm/weight machine at the gym.  I have so little lawn though, I also went out on the street and mowed the easements on either side of me.  My neighbor Francis across the street will look out his window when he gets up and be shocked.  He’s used to my shaggy yard 🙂

I drove the mags to Cassadaga first thing, and had a Durango chicken caesar salad for lunch on the way home. This week I made an awesome tuna salad. I added chopped onions, radishes, celery, carrot sticks. I first put in a glass bowl 2 tsp wine vinegar and threw in some raisins and craisins to hydrate in it. Then the veggies, then some albacore tuna and then 2-3 giant tablespoons of Veganaisse, some pepper, garlic powder and tarragon.

What a day, on the phone for two hours trying to find someone in the Volusia County Legal Dept’s office to tell me whether my Volusia property is slated for eminent domain.  I started by calling the Property Appraiser who referred me to the State Attorney who referred me to land records who referred me to tax deeds who… you get the drift.  It’s part of a debacle known as Cape Atlantic Estates, just east of I-95 at mile marker 232 I think it is, north of Oak Hill and immediately north of Mayfield Road.  I have two parcels, 2.5 acres each.  The property is not doing anything so the value is not going up.  I’d rather hold on to it since I don’t mind waiting another 20-30 years to become rich off it, than just be given $7,000 because they are putting an exit on my land.    Continue reading →

Today was really productive, I got the lawnmower put together and my neighbor Francis came and checked it and I did the lawn, I hedged the focus out front and the eleagnus out back. I swept up my tree trimmings and went to Home Depot to return the smaller of the two hedgetrimmers I bought, and to buy two 39 gallon plastic trash bins. They were on clearance for $18 each since they had no tops *yay* I also bought a spray gallon on sale of some ant spray since they are on parade everywhere outside.  I did the dishes and washed the kitchen cloths. I created a friend’s class lesson handout and finished a client’s newsletter and business card ad and calendar.   I also felt I goofed off a lot and quit work early, but then I did take breaks to do the mowing and hedging and raking.

I vegged most of the day, took a nap, worked some on a writing project I am doing on contract for a friend/client, washed my hair, went to Friendly’s and had some chicken noodle soup and a side salad, worked on a newsletter I do for a friend who has a lawncare business.  I am excited about doing my own lawn.  I had fun yesterday using my hedge trimmers,  rrrrrroooooom, rrrrrrooooom!  And I liked how it looked today.  And instead of thinking of sheesh now I have to clean up the yard clippings, I think of how much good exercise it will be for me.  I even have fun vacumming now with my new Magic Blue vac!  I am vacumming every few days, it takes maybe 20 minutes to do the whole house!  But my furniture is easy to move around to vac under.  I just sent the mag in to the printer, and it will be delivered Friday.  I have emailed my crew and the wheels are in motion!  I picked up my new Toro 20065 lawnmower Saturday, and also the Homelite UT44120 22″ Electric Hedge Trimmer (the larger one of the two I looked at).  Actually I bought both hedge trimmers and meditated on which to open, and I’ll return the smaller one today.     Continue reading →