Prayers

Every life has a measure of sorrow, and sometimes this is what awakens us.
Steven Tyler
 

Can I see another's woe, and not be in sorrow too? Can I see another's grief, and not seek for kind relief?
William Blake

For those around me suffering, compassion and hope.

 

The Path

Signal Mountain, Tennessee

First, I want to express my deep appreciation for the warm welcome from everyone in Buffalo when we moved here, especially from those at work, my cousin Bridget, my sisters, my mom, and from Ryan, Ti, Ayden and Sia.

When I realized my workplace in Grand Rapids, Michigan was going to close, I had to make a decision about what to do to financially support my family.  We have a little one, and had recently purchased a house in Michigan.  Coming to Buffalo to spend time with family and transition has been a wonderful phase- one that I was honestly expecting to last quite a bit longer.  However, often life moves faster than we anticipate, and due to a number of factors and a process of receiving confirmation, my partner Mike and I have come to a decision. 

Mike's family has offered us a lovely house on Signal Mountain in Tennessee just outside Chattanooga that we can immediately live in and make our own.  It is an amazing place, and quite an opportunity for us. There are award winning public schools in that district, breathtaking scenery, and every other item on our list of what we want in a long term home, actually.  Though I was expecting more time in Buffalo, I've found over the past couple of years that expectations don't often turn out how we think they will.  Letting go, surrendering to my path and to what is has been less scary and more fun that I would have thought, and by now I have faith that when I do that, the details will take care of themselves.

I spoke with my manager here in Buffalo and she was thrilled for us, and immediately offered all the help she can give in getting the transfer put through right away. I was again surprised by this, thinking it would be more difficult and take longer.  Being on the right path for me is so exciting, and full of surprises.  So, my company is going to transfer me March 1, and so it is moving time, full speed ahead.  We are sad to leave family and loved ones already, and someday when transporters are invented it will make this kind of decision so much easier.  But at the same time, we know this is the right step for our family, and there is a lot of relief and joy being on our path and knowing where we are going to setttle down.  So, with gratitude, heartfelt sadness to leave our loved ones, and great peace and anticipation...

Tennessee- ready or not, here we come!  March 1, 2013

Green

My son Avian and I have been sick all week with the respiratory flu.  The fog is lifting, and we are excited to start feeling well again.  It was a challenging week with very little rest, and at times it was overwhelming.  But when I felt like my own reserves of strength and endurance were nearing their limits, I had an interesting experience.  I find myself intensely drawn to different colors at various times in my life, and this week suddenly emerald green came to me.  It was my favorite color during my whole childhood, and for some reason I hadn't had a strong connection to it since then. 

*On the color spectrum green is the center between stimulating colors and calming colors. It symblizes balance, alignment of life's material aspects with the spiritual.  Green possesses a magnetic appeal with normalizes and orders all forces of the universe.  It is the color of nature, affecting the co-mingling of the soul with spirit, harmony, the life force, healing, self-regulation, purpose, awareness and prosperity.  With balance as the key, green promotes the maturation of one's physical body with the spiritual self, and when these two are aligned, the greatest constructive power in the universe is active.  Gree also symbolizes self-regulation and the path to self-awareness.  *From Color Synergy by Patricia George and Dinah Lovett

After the "feeling of green" entered my awareness, that night I had very strong impression, intuition, a sense of a clear message, and though I was exhausted, I felt like I was filled with gently buzzing energy from head to toe and was unable to sleep until almost morning, yet I wasn't tired that night or the next day.  The message is something I will share soon, still processing. 

Yoga

Bringing attention to the body brings attention to your physical experience.  Taking your awareness out of your mind and allowing it to expand to your entire body can help bring peace, comfort, strength, flexibility and poise both physically and emotionally.  Allowing yourself to nurture your own body and take better physical care of yourself gets you in touch with self-love.  If we are to love others as we love ourself, should we not learn to love ourself so that we know what it truly means to love, and to love others?  I enjoyed this gentle beginner clip yesterday, http://youtu.be/Pc6Yrw_f5RU
and this morning was able to attend a class at Buffalo Yoga http://www.buffaloyoga.com/ taught by my friend Ti Markle.  Namaste. 

Inspiration for Today

                                     Thoughts for Today

Self Expression

Haircut!  Over the past 5 or so years I've really enjoyed playing around with self expression, especially when it comes to how I look.  When I was growing up I was in a very rigid environment, and no experimentation was allowed, so I find that each change has been one that brings me a little more information about what I like, what I don't, how I feel about it, how I feel about how other people feel about it.  It is a wonderful process.  After this when the short part is about 1/2", I'm cutting it all to that length and starting with fresh new hair. 
                                                   

Meridians Part 1

I am studying alternative medicine, currently learning about the body's electromagnetic energy system and the meridians.

Electromagnetic Energy is a unified field that presents with countless "faces"- matter is congealed energy.  Every matter formation (person, cell, organ, system) has it's own "local energy language" as well as the shared universal language. 

The Meridian network is an energy transportation system connected with the body.  I has 14 pathways which are river-like in nature, rising and falling like tides.  All the pathways are part of one continuous energy flow-system, appearing as 12 linked segments, extending to the two additional pathways, the governing and central paths.  These last two are open to the environment, with energies entering and exiting here. 

One of my study aides is my model-doll Tesla, today I did the central and governing meridians.

Mask Dream

Last night I had a dream that a group of 8 people and I were checking out our new neighborhood.  We were going house to house, saying hello and introducing ourselves.  We came upon a house with a large screened in porch, and a middle age couple came out to greet us.  They told us they loved the area and had been there for many years.  They said there were just about to eat, and did we want any food.  I felt like something wasn't right, and that we shouldn't eat the food.  One of my group accepted however, and as they started to eat, the house began hurtling through space and time.  Out the window I could see different scenery flash by.

We landed in an ancient civilization, maybe Egypt, and were taken to a processing center.  The first step was the culture's punishment ritual, those who had done wrong were supposed to try to throw axes at us on the train car we'd been placed in.  I saw an axe drop near me, but missed, then the person throwing it was supposed to jump down into the tracks and sacrifice themselves if they missed.  When the person jumped, I saw it was a tiny girl, 2 or 3 years old, dark hair and eyes, and I caught her.  Her sister was above, and told me that now I was responsible for her life.  I promised I would take care of her.

We moved onto the next step of initiation, a cleansing ritual by one of the local people.  As we walked to our quarters, I could see the barren rocky landscape, the unusual rock formations, the lack of vegatation. 

I saw rows and rows of people encamped to one side, the civilization was being taken over by aliens.  They had similar bodies to humans, but noticeably different faces, so they wore shiny black masks with faces carved out, but no holes for eyes, nose or mouth.  The people in that land had adopted the masks, and almost everyone had started wearing them so they couldn't tell the difference between them and the aliens. 

In the end, I waited for my turn (last) to have the cleansing ritual, and saw my housemates falling under the spell of the land, getting distracted and forgetting they weren't from there.  I knew if I waited and kept alert, I could go home.  I just had to remember who I was.  I said my name, and woke up.

Menu Plan

We try to eat basic, organic food whenever possible, and I get a lot of questions about what that looks like.  Here's my meal plan for the week recipes/instructions to follow:

Sunday-
Breakfast: Eggs & Homemade muffins
Lunch: "Monster" Salads
Dinner: Burritos

Monday-
Breakfast: Smoothies
Lunch:  Bean Patty Nuggets with veggie
Dinner: Beans and Rice

Tuesday-
Breakfast:  Granola
Lunch:  Burritos
Dinner:  Soup & Corn Bread

Wednesday-
Breakfast: Eggs & Homemade muffins
Lunch: Nut Butter & Rice Cakes, Fruit/Veg
Dinner:  Spaghetti & Gluten Free Garlic Bread

Thursday-
Breakfast:  Smothies
Lunch:  Quinoa Spinach Pilaf
Dinner:  "Monster" Salads

Friday-
Breakfast: Granola
Lunch: Bean Patty Nuggets, Fruit/Veg
Dinner: Quinoa Casserole

Saturday-
Breakfast:  Vote! 
Lunch: "Monster" Salads
Dinner:  Falafel or Burritos