A Facebook friend posted: “My ex had a death in the family and everyone is gathering out of state for the funeral. He has to work so he’d be alone. Nobody should be alone on Christmas so I invited him to the house for dinner. I’ve learned I do not have to account for what others think of me or how they treat me. But I do have to look in the mirror and respect the person staring back at me. I have seen grown children confront their mother and say, “I could’ve had a good relationship with my father if it hadn’t been for you.” I will never stand in the way of my children and their father. It’s childish and only hurts the children. We may no longer be husband and wife but we will always be mother and father to those two beautiful children. I love my kids and they love their dad. I just want to do what’s right.”  Continue reading →

Winter? Last weekend high temps in the 70’s and lows in the 60’s, other than that it’s still warm and muggy. That’s the thing with Central Florida. If you’re not a heat and humidity loving beach or boating person, the constant steam bath gets old and oppressive. If we’re lucky, we get six months a year of cool weather with breezes and humidity under 70%. Being in the cool dry air makes my body feel frisky and enlivens my mind . I feel like being active outdoors and when I’m active outdoors, I get contemplative. When I get contemplative, I spend more time pondering. I write to figure things out and record realizations. I’ve had a little frustration lately as I’m healing my right paw and trying to stay off the keyboard and mouse, and even the phone for voice to text.  This too shall pass.  Facebook has a feature now showing what I posted “On This Day” in years past. I could tell by what I wrote how inspired I was and what the weather was. I see on Winter Solstice 2009, I wrote Your Daily Spiritual Practice & The Company You Keep.
On 2010 I wrote Exercising the Spidey Sense.
On 2012 Reviewing the year for what you want to continue doing.
On 2013 The Winter Solstice bonfire metaphor and why we’re cooked faster by some people than others
On 2014 I wrote Sleeping, Cleaning, Souping

A typical thing I do as soon as cool weather hits is set up a tent in my woods here. The last 4 years it hasn’t been cool long enough to do that. Perhaps this will be the year. Tonight, a fire.

I got an update yesterday. In September 2015 I wrote Spirit directs me when others are better suited for particular work. MJ had called to say he needed a spirit removed from his home. A local store owner suggested he call me. I knew he had a serious situation but I wasn’t sure I was the one to handle it. With some energies/entities, I’ve learned there are others better suited for that work. In spirit contact and ghost busting, I’ve learned that how I perceive what I observe determines how it will interact with me. That means if I perceive it as something that has the power to disturb my peace, it will react to that and be all poltergeist-y for me. If I perceive it as a wayward wisp caught in a loop waiting to be directed to an exit, it will react to that. See the difference? Do I see the person walking toward me as a thug wanting to harm me, or as a lost traveler I can help try to find his way home?  Continue reading →

Do you take note of cause and effect when you set out to attract something? I do. For 30 days, I removed my attention completely from a particular topic. For 30 days, my income on that topic ceased. Last night I spent 2 hours researching that topic and this morning I’ve spent 3 hours. In that time, I followed my inner guidance and texted several friends who came to mind. That not only generated income for me, it sparked my interest in another project and gave me insight into a personal issue I’ve been contemplating. Energy flows where attention goes.

Meditation isn’t always done in yoga pants sitting cross legged in front of pictures and statues, burning incense. Sometimes it’s done with a fishing pole in hand, or a beer. Sometimes it’s really what’s going on when your family thinks you are sound asleep in front of the tv. Our thoughts are important and our minds are powerful. Once you begin to understand WHY you think as you think and why you believe as you do, once you understand why you are triggered by some people, circumstances and events, then you’ve opened the door to your own power. Then you begin seeing with new eyes. When you see with new eyes, you’ll see no problems without solutions and you’ll see opportunity everywhere.

RELATED: Meditation tips and links

A monk decides to meditate alone, away from his monastery. He takes his boat out to the middle of the lake, moors it there, closes his eyes and begins his meditation. After a few hours of undisturbed silence, he suddenly feels the bump of another boat colliding with his own. With eyes still closed, he senses his anger rising, and by the time he opens his eyes, he is ready to scream at the boatman who dared disturb his meditation. But when he opens his eyes, he sees it’s an empty boat that had probably got untethered and floated to the middle of the lake. At that moment, the monk achieves self-realization, and understands that the anger is within him; it merely needs the bump of an external object to provoke it out of him. From then on, whenever he comes across someone who irritates him or provokes him to anger, he reminds himself, “The other person is merely an empty boat. The anger is within me.”
Ancient Parable

When I get ticked by news headlines, I know whatever triggers me to negative emotion shows me where I have an issue to work on. I would use every time I got triggered as an opportunity to go into meditation and ask what about it bothers me. What belief do I hold that is being challenged, what expectation do I have that is not being met? What do I think should be done instead and why? That’s what I ask myself when I get ticked by news headlines. Now I use the trigger to deepen my practice and understand my connection. When I understand my connection, I know my power. When I know my power, news headlines don’t trigger me.

They’ve been doing the carpal dance!

Finally, the January magazine has been sent to the printer! In November and December, because of Thanksgiving and Christmas I need to get my magazine job to the printer a week early. That means doing the issues back to back. This time was really a trip because my carpal tunnel acted up on both hands and I gave myself tennis elbow to boot with all the scrolling and mousing. Since the week of final layout I spend 10  to 14 hours at the computer, I knew to take frequent breaks when my hands began acting up. As soon as I settled into the routine of working a few hours and taking a break when it began to hurt, icing it for 20 minutes, keeping it elevated and then wrapping it. When it really hurts, I have been using DMSO with aloe in roll on form, but the pain isn’t really enough to take something for, it’s more of a discomfort and inconvenience. Now that the crunch is officially over (YAY!) the carpal will settle right down.   Continue reading →