In the movie, "What About Bob?" Bob is directed to take baby steps towards the change he wants in his life. Most of the time that's how it is. We take small steps in the right direction, and over time we make noticeable progress. At other times, we find ourselves in a position to take a leap of faith. No baby step, a great big, giant leap - often off a cliff. When the big moments of our life arrive, and we are called upon to make dramatic changes, we grow by leaps and bounds. We take large strides and soar onto the next level.
I've always read a lot of books, fiction and otherwise. Years ago I read a great book that helped Carl and I meet some pretty enthusiastic goals in our life. It was during one of those leap of faith moments that we discovered "Living by the Power of Faith" by Gene R. Cook. The message is powerful, and at the end of each chapter is a worksheet to help you implement the concepts you are learning. We worked through the book together and changed the course of our life dramatically.
Somehow, we got a bit off track. We became comfortable on our plateau and stopped setting new goals. Aiming each day just to hold on to what we had, we rather quickly began to dwindle. The momentum was effectively dead. It took a few years, but reality began to catch up with our attitude, and we ended up pretty close to square one, except now we were older, and less resilient. Since then it has been a series of leaps into the unknown followed by baby steps into the dark.
A few years ago the book, "The Secret" came out. I read it, Carl read it, our friends and family read it. It was a breath of fresh air, a spark of energy, a reminder, and a wake up call. I knew from personal experience that the principles worked. At the core, it is the same message as "Living by the Power of Faith". My quest to know more resumed. I wanted to understand why I could implement and succeed for while, but was unable to sustain the momentum necessary for lasting success. Why did worry, fear, and doubt always return? I began searching for a way to clear the stumbling blocks from my path, so that I could fully embrace a life of faith and trust, rather than falling back into fear and doubt.
Since then I have read and studied the subject from many angles. I have learned a lot and I am grateful to all the authors who wrote those books, sharing their wisdom and knowledge. I made a lot of baby steps while reading all of those books. There is a difference between knowing how to do something, and actually doing it. Sometimes it was as if there were a literal wall in my mind that I just could not get over. I believed, I hoped, I wanted, I visualized, I focused, I set goals, I acted - so why was I stuck?
Eventually my studying lead me to take a 5 week tele-course on energy healing basics. The announcement that I read for the class mentioned the Law of Attraction, and how to clear the blocks that were holding you back from really living it. I saved that email for weeks in my inbox. Something about it spoke to me, and drew me in. I just couldn't delete it. The day before the class was to start, I signed up. Paying that fee felt like a pretty big leap of faith. I knew instinctively that I was getting really close to what I was searching for.
The class was amazing, enlightening, and everything the ad had promised. Included in the handouts for each class was a reading list. Some of which I had already read, and many more that I had not. These reading lists were both a confirmation that I was still on the same path, and a wealth of new ideas. Since then I have continued to study and implement the concepts of energy healing into my life. Many of the invisible boulders in my life have been rolled away, or even blown to pieces.
As my understanding has increased, so has my desire to help others with these methods. Everywhere I look there is needless suffering - colicky babies, depression, addiction, heart disease, cancer, fear, anger, frustration, and pain. The healing methods of energy medicine address all of these and more. How can I keep all of this goodness to myself? I want to share the light I have found with everyone.
Next month I am taking my next giant leap into the void. I will be attending intensive training classes to become a certified practitioner of Calyco Healing. I am so excited to learn even more, especially how to help others with these methods. I have recently started a new blog dedicated to the subject of energy healing. It will become a resource for others, who are searching to understand this subject. Eventually I will post reviews of the best, and worst, books on the subject, as well as links to other resources. There is no reason for everyone to dig through the weeds to find the flowers.
The lights are on, the darkness has fled. It's onward, and upward by leaps and bounds.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Friday, January 22, 2010
Interesting Article by M. Catherine Thomas
"And so the mind must be filled with the things of God in order to withstand the crowding tactics of the Adversary, not to mention the general spiritual entropy of earth life. The mind is the frontier and the tool, and training the mind in spiritual awareness and practice is the key to opening the spiritual door. "
Click here to read the entire article:
Meridian Magazine:: Line Upon Line: Explorations: Spiritual Immediacy
Click here to read the entire article:
Meridian Magazine:: Line Upon Line: Explorations: Spiritual Immediacy
Thursday, January 21, 2010
I Gave Up
Apparently the key to gardening success in Hawaii is to give up. A couple years I go I grew a small garden with limited success. I figured that with a constant day time temperature of 80-85, and no chance of frost I should be able to at least count on year round fresh tomatoes from the yard. I quickly learned that it was not so easy. In the desert, all you had to do was add water and things would grow, here in Paradise, I was way out of my element.
I did battle with slugs, bugs, and birds. I worked hard, and the harvest was meager. I finally gave up. It just wasn't worth it.
Last summer I got a crazy high water bill, so I shut off the lawn sprinklers. Apparently an underground pipe is broken and the leak was bleeding my bank account. We are renting, and the lawn guy the owners hired tried to fix it. The owner of the house is older, and mostly deaf. The yard guy is older, and English is not his first language. I don't really think he totally speaks English. It's more like he knows a few sentences. Talk about communication break down .... My ability, and more importantly, desire, to work it out with the "creepy yard guy" is limited. After one round of "change de balbs" not working, I was done. It was just plain easier to shut off the sprinklers and the let the grass turn brown.
But Wendy, you say, "You live in Hawaii, in the tropics, why would you need to water the lawn? Isn't everything naturally green and lush?" Andy my answer to you is, "Uh, no ....". Regular old lawn grass as we know it is not a tropical plant. It does not grow well here. The soil is too sandy, and full of iron. My guess is that the nearly constant temperature messes with it's programming as well. Here on the Leeward side of the island, we are actually rather dry. Dry is relative. We are not dry like Arizona, or dry like the Utah plains. We are dry as in, it doesn't rain too often, and when it does, it doesn't rain too much. We are right on the ocean, so plenty of sea water exposure, but not enough good old fashion rain. It rains more in the winter than the summer. It is winter now, and the lawn has some green patches, but the traditional grass hasn't fared very well. Mostly what is green are the native plants.
Soooo, yesterday I took a little stroll around the back of the house, just to see how things were looking. With the lawn dormant, there has been no need for me to mow, so I haven't done a full perimeter check in quite a while. I am watching where I step, all dogs owners learn this skill, and a small yellow flower catches my eye. It looks familiar, but it seems so out of place that I can hardly believe it. I do a quick scan, and there are more. There are tomato plants growing WILD in my backyard! These are not just meager sprouts either, they are thriving plants with yellow blossoms on them. In no time, there will be actual tomatoes! I looked around and noticed some other things sprouting that look like food. Maybe a cucumber or a cantaloupe, it's hard to tell at this point. Having jumped out of the planter, the basil is now thriving.
I was blown away. All I had to do was give up, and the tomatoes would just grow on their own? Why haven't the slugs eaten these plants? They aren't growing in a planter, or a bucket, or even in a flower bed. They are just out there, exposed, in the middle of a semi-dead lawn.
In the end, the jungle will win. It is mightier than the sprinkler, the bug spray and the mesh nets. I'm just grateful that apparently the jungle likes Italian food - tomatoes and basil!
UPDATE 2/17/2010: There are now more spontaneous tomato plants growing in that area of the lawn. There are many little green tomatoes where the flowers once were. If the are not ready to harvest before we move, I say "Dig em up, and take them along!!"
I did battle with slugs, bugs, and birds. I worked hard, and the harvest was meager. I finally gave up. It just wasn't worth it.
Last summer I got a crazy high water bill, so I shut off the lawn sprinklers. Apparently an underground pipe is broken and the leak was bleeding my bank account. We are renting, and the lawn guy the owners hired tried to fix it. The owner of the house is older, and mostly deaf. The yard guy is older, and English is not his first language. I don't really think he totally speaks English. It's more like he knows a few sentences. Talk about communication break down .... My ability, and more importantly, desire, to work it out with the "creepy yard guy" is limited. After one round of "change de balbs" not working, I was done. It was just plain easier to shut off the sprinklers and the let the grass turn brown.
But Wendy, you say, "You live in Hawaii, in the tropics, why would you need to water the lawn? Isn't everything naturally green and lush?" Andy my answer to you is, "Uh, no ....". Regular old lawn grass as we know it is not a tropical plant. It does not grow well here. The soil is too sandy, and full of iron. My guess is that the nearly constant temperature messes with it's programming as well. Here on the Leeward side of the island, we are actually rather dry. Dry is relative. We are not dry like Arizona, or dry like the Utah plains. We are dry as in, it doesn't rain too often, and when it does, it doesn't rain too much. We are right on the ocean, so plenty of sea water exposure, but not enough good old fashion rain. It rains more in the winter than the summer. It is winter now, and the lawn has some green patches, but the traditional grass hasn't fared very well. Mostly what is green are the native plants.
Soooo, yesterday I took a little stroll around the back of the house, just to see how things were looking. With the lawn dormant, there has been no need for me to mow, so I haven't done a full perimeter check in quite a while. I am watching where I step, all dogs owners learn this skill, and a small yellow flower catches my eye. It looks familiar, but it seems so out of place that I can hardly believe it. I do a quick scan, and there are more. There are tomato plants growing WILD in my backyard! These are not just meager sprouts either, they are thriving plants with yellow blossoms on them. In no time, there will be actual tomatoes! I looked around and noticed some other things sprouting that look like food. Maybe a cucumber or a cantaloupe, it's hard to tell at this point. Having jumped out of the planter, the basil is now thriving.
I was blown away. All I had to do was give up, and the tomatoes would just grow on their own? Why haven't the slugs eaten these plants? They aren't growing in a planter, or a bucket, or even in a flower bed. They are just out there, exposed, in the middle of a semi-dead lawn.
UPDATE 2/17/2010: There are now more spontaneous tomato plants growing in that area of the lawn. There are many little green tomatoes where the flowers once were. If the are not ready to harvest before we move, I say "Dig em up, and take them along!!"
Oh No, Not Another One!
Remember Tubley? The crazy social website that suckered me in a few months ago? Well, here comes another one, only this time I'm not so gullible.
FanIQ.com
This one has a sports bent to it, rather than dating, but it's the same dealio as Tubley. This email showed up in my inbox -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FanIQ
Etta Matau has sent you a private message.
Click to read message
Please read it or Etta will think you ignored this :(
This message has been forwarded at the request of ttmatautia@aol.com.To block all emails from FanIQ, please click here.FanIQ is located at 604 mission St, Suite 600, San Francisco, CA 94105, USA.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I do know Etta, but I am 100% sure that she did not send me a private message via FanIQ. She is a real estate agent I have worked with a few times, but we have had no contact the last year or so. She is a mature woman, I'd guess mid 50's, and I would not peg her as a HUGE sports fan. I would guess that she is a bit internet naive. She probably received an email like this from one of her sons, and thought she should go take a look. Notice the guilt provoking sentence there at the bottom , "Please read it or Etta will think you ignored this :(". No mother would want her son to feel ignored, and the frowny face just seals the emotional sale.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I didn't take the bait this time. Tubley taught me a thing or two ... Instead, I did a little research, so I could pass the warning along to you. FanIQ.com seems to be structured almost identically to Tubley. I would not be surprised if they have the same people running the show. Don't click on anything, except "Delete", and maybe even "shift - delete" would be a good idea.
UPDATE:
FANIQ continues with the emotional ploys. Today I received this email:
![Click to read private message]()
FANIQ continues with the emotional ploys. Today I received this email:
Last Chance! Your private message from Etta expires tonight
Your private message from Etta will expire tonight at midnight.
Please read it or Etta will think you ignored this :(
Please .... I'm not clicking that gold envelope ... ever ...
2/4/2010 UPDATE - I received this email today. They never quit.
Etta Matau wants to follow your favorite teams with you
About FanIQ:
FanIQ is the social utility that connects fans with their friends and
favorite teams through a personalized sports dashboard and real-time alerts.
favorite teams through a personalized sports dashboard and real-time alerts.
This message has been forwarded at the request of ttmatautia@aol.com.To block all emails from FanIQ, please click here.FanIQ is located at 604 mission St, Suite 600, San Francisco, CA 94105, USA.
Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients -
3-4 bell pepper (red, yellow or green)
1 pound of ground beef
3-4 Mini peppers diced - red,yellow,orange (optional)
1/2 cup diced onion
2 tsp. crushed garlic
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
1 cup rice (I use brown rice - it is healthier, tastier, and mixed with sauce no one will notice)
Salt and pepper to taste
Method -
1. Prepare 1 cup of rice, in rice cooker or on stove top.
2. Cut bell peppers in half. Carefully remove the stem area, and clean out the insides.
3. Line a 9 x 12 baking dish with foil. Place the peppers in the pan open side up, like a cup. Set the oven to 350 and place the pan with the peppers in the oven for 15 - 20 minutes while you prepare the meat mixture.
4. Brown the ground beef with onions, garlic, and diced mini peppers (optional). Salt and pepper to taste.
5. Add the can of diced tomatoes, and tomato sauce to the meat mixture, and heat on med/low.
6. When rice is completely cooked, add to meat mixture.
7. Remove peppers from oven and fill with meat/rice mixture. Spread any remaining mixture in the pan, around the peppers.
8. Bake at 350 for an additional 20-25 minutes until peppers are slightly soft and filling is heated through.
Serves 4 - 8
3-4 bell pepper (red, yellow or green)
1 pound of ground beef
3-4 Mini peppers diced - red,yellow,orange (optional)
1/2 cup diced onion
2 tsp. crushed garlic
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
1 cup rice (I use brown rice - it is healthier, tastier, and mixed with sauce no one will notice)
Salt and pepper to taste
Method -
1. Prepare 1 cup of rice, in rice cooker or on stove top.
2. Cut bell peppers in half. Carefully remove the stem area, and clean out the insides.
3. Line a 9 x 12 baking dish with foil. Place the peppers in the pan open side up, like a cup. Set the oven to 350 and place the pan with the peppers in the oven for 15 - 20 minutes while you prepare the meat mixture.
4. Brown the ground beef with onions, garlic, and diced mini peppers (optional). Salt and pepper to taste.
5. Add the can of diced tomatoes, and tomato sauce to the meat mixture, and heat on med/low.
6. When rice is completely cooked, add to meat mixture.
7. Remove peppers from oven and fill with meat/rice mixture. Spread any remaining mixture in the pan, around the peppers.
8. Bake at 350 for an additional 20-25 minutes until peppers are slightly soft and filling is heated through.
Serves 4 - 8
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
2010 - the Year of White Space
I rang in the new year on a camping trip with family and friends. We were on the North Shore of Oahu in the trees, at the beach. It was awesome! I spent 3 days doing almost nothing and that was absolutely wonderful. My intention was to use those days to prepare for and plan 2010. I needed to make some decisions and set some goals. I figured that the wilderness was the perfect setting for such heavy thinking. It didn't happen. I actually relaxed. I let my brain go empty.
You should try letting your brain go empty. It's a lot harder than you think. Go ahead, try it right now. I'll wait for you ..... Just for a minute .... Think of absolutely nothing. Ready? .... Go ....
If you are anything like me, as soon as you thought "empty" your brain filled with every random thought possible. The first time I tried this exercise my mind was instantly racing. Instead of nothing, I thought of everything. After several attempts, I was still struggling to not think of that one hair brushing against my check, or that fly buzzing around behind me. Closing my eyes didn't help. Then my imagination would go wild. For me, the best way stop the swirling, frenzy of thought is to first be physically still, and then to look at a blank wall, or equally uninteresting surface. When the thoughts come, don't fight them, and don't feed them. Just let them float on through. Fighting them is like struggling in quick sand - counter productive. Feeding them, well, that is obvious. One just builds on the other and pretty soon you have cooked up an entire conversation with yourself.
So, my point is - here it is, twelve days into the new year, and I have no plan, no written goals, no firm decisions made. Well, that's not entirely true. I do have some goals that I wrote down early in December that are going to take a few months to complete. I have made decisions. I have made my daily to to list, and dutifully crossed each line off for the last week and a half. What I don't have is my master plan, my detailed outline, the blueprint for 2010, like I had wanted.
So, here it is -
That's it, no grand elaborate plan. I learned an important lesson out there, doing nothing at the beach for 3 days. Empty moments in the mind, like white space on the page, focus our attention. Both are calming and help us to connect with what is really important. I am calm, and trust that life is good. In the moment that I need the details, they will surely come.
You should try letting your brain go empty. It's a lot harder than you think. Go ahead, try it right now. I'll wait for you ..... Just for a minute .... Think of absolutely nothing. Ready? .... Go ....
If you are anything like me, as soon as you thought "empty" your brain filled with every random thought possible. The first time I tried this exercise my mind was instantly racing. Instead of nothing, I thought of everything. After several attempts, I was still struggling to not think of that one hair brushing against my check, or that fly buzzing around behind me. Closing my eyes didn't help. Then my imagination would go wild. For me, the best way stop the swirling, frenzy of thought is to first be physically still, and then to look at a blank wall, or equally uninteresting surface. When the thoughts come, don't fight them, and don't feed them. Just let them float on through. Fighting them is like struggling in quick sand - counter productive. Feeding them, well, that is obvious. One just builds on the other and pretty soon you have cooked up an entire conversation with yourself.
So, my point is - here it is, twelve days into the new year, and I have no plan, no written goals, no firm decisions made. Well, that's not entirely true. I do have some goals that I wrote down early in December that are going to take a few months to complete. I have made decisions. I have made my daily to to list, and dutifully crossed each line off for the last week and a half. What I don't have is my master plan, my detailed outline, the blueprint for 2010, like I had wanted.
So, here it is -
Wendy's Plan for 2010
The Year of White Space
The Year of White Space
1. Learn all I can
2. Implement what I learn
3. Love others more
4. Remain calm
2. Implement what I learn
3. Love others more
4. Remain calm
That's it, no grand elaborate plan. I learned an important lesson out there, doing nothing at the beach for 3 days. Empty moments in the mind, like white space on the page, focus our attention. Both are calming and help us to connect with what is really important. I am calm, and trust that life is good. In the moment that I need the details, they will surely come.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)