Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from 2009

My Dad

My Dad, Iopu Taesali · October 26, 1926- 2001 'Ua alu atu le afi - passing the fire. A Samoan chant for important social events. My Dad was born in Pago Pago, American Samoa, the youngest of fourteen children. I once asked my Dad many years later why he would leave paradise and he said; "Daughter, what can you know about the world from an Island only 7 miles wide and 14 miles long?" He used to go back and forth from here to the island. I later found that he had become disillusioned with Samoa. He believed the American dollar had destroyed his island and after awhile he had no desire to go back home again. But how did he get to America? My father was a brand new immigrant from Samoa, just 18 years old when he got to America. The story goes that in 1945 he stowed away on a cargo ship from Pago Pago harbour, the heart of American Samoa, with 8 others boys. When they finally got caught on board ship it was too late to turn back so they were all put into the bri

An Epiphany

I was reading an interesting blog this morning called Thrivecraft, written by a former Buddist Monk, turned life coach. I was reading her article about how wonderful it would be to have help available all the time. I had an epiphany! As I was reading, it dawned on me that I have been helping myself my whole life! Here's what I read. Find Your Answers September 8, 2009 The Easy Way to Create Your Personal Help Hotline. Wouldn’t it be amazing to feel that you could have help whenever you need it? The astonishing fact is that superb help is right there inside you, waiting to be tapped, every single day. Whether you are in the supermarket wondering what to buy for dinner, or finalising a major life decision on a deadline, inner answers and deep personal guidance are only a few breaths away. The wisdom of the universe is ever present – a great sky full of answers to your everyday questions and a vast ocean of understanding that makes sense of your deepest problems. In days gone by

Jill Bolte Taylor's Message of Peace

I have long been a fan of T.E.D.. TED is all about "Riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world". TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with the annual TED Conference in Long Beach, California, and the TEDGlobal conference in Oxford UK, TED includes the award-winning TEDTalks video site, the Open Translation Program, the new TEDx community program, this year's TEDIndia Conference and the annual TED Prize. Great thinkers gathered together for great talks to change the world. One such talk, filmed in Febuary of 2008, deals with Jill Bolte Taylor , http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of_insight.html a brain scientist. She has written a book entitled; "My Stroke of Insight" ,about her having a stroke. Click on Jill's name

A Little Bit of Ugly

Funny thing Synchronicity! I wonder about it all the time, my life is so full of little synchronicties. For instance; I've been doing an online workshop, Vision Journaling, with True North Arts led by Kathryn Antyr the Collage Diva. There have been many synchronistic miracles for me since delving into that workshop on envisioning your dreams. Here's just one. It's week five and Kathryn sent us the Wayne Dyer's, Excuses Begone affirmations from his site. She put them on ATC sized cards and posted them on the workshop website. So, I accidentally came across that deck of cards that I have been working on. I only saved the unattractive little things because somewhere along my rambling travels on the Internet, I found a lady talking about how you should make something ugly everyday. So, anyway as I worked with these cards trying new techniques and working with new materials I managed to make lots of ugly things. I would love to give that lady credit because as I ma

"Dominion" and "The Stories I Tell Myself"

I just did my morning Tarot reading and was thinking as I shuffled. But first I have to tell you this; In the back of my mind I've been formulating a theme for writing about myself on this journey. Something to go with the life timeline I'm creating to add details of different times and thoughts. I was thinking about calling it “The Stories I Tell Myself”. It's from something I read on the internet, got from one of my online groups or someone's blog or a website I'd been looking at. Or it could even be from something I've been reading recently. It's about what we tell ourselves so we don't have to accomplish the goal or succeed. Possibility from Wayne Dyer's Excuses Begone. Anyway, I thought that it would be fun to start a separate journal entry about “The Stories I Tell Myself”. Well, back to the tarot reading........while shuffling I was thinking about a commitment I had made to one of my spark teams, possibly, Inner Journey, about meaningful e

Releasing Past Decision Guilt

I'm trying something new. I'm sending my thoughts out into the universe. I'm releasing old useless stuff from my energy field, and sending it to the universe to be transformed into good, positive and empowering energy. From this day forward I am not going to feel guilty for having lived my life the way I did. There were good and bad reasons for the decisions that were made and I may or may not get to the bottom of all those reasons, it's enough I have thought of them. I do hereby release all the guilt feelings entangled in those decisions and promise to stop and mindfully make new decisions while in a conscious mindset. I do hereby relinquish all anger and hurt feelings to their rightful owners. I am no longer willing to carry that burden. I forgive everyone involved, especially myself.

Now What?

I hope that what I'm about to write will make sense to all of you. But even if it doesn't, I'm writing it anyway. I've been thinking so much, lately, about my future. Mainly because my kids are grown, I'm single, soon to be out of debt and feeling unsettled. So I have some decisions to make. I felt kinda unstable during the second Saturn return so didn't want to make any big decisions and now that's all done. Now though, I feel it's time. I started art journaling recently. Something my therapist of old would have been so happy about because for years she tried to get me to write down my feelings. I guess I just wasn't ready..I am now. All this journaling is making me wonder what my purpose is. I've done a lot of reading and feel comfortable that this wondering, is part of, what I choose to call, crone hood, which by the way I am enjoying. Getting a little respect, bout time! Anyway, from where I'm sitting, down the path at about 60, give or

Online Workshop!

I am so excited because I just started my very first online workshop with True North Arts! It's a six week online course on Vision Journaling with Kathryn Antyr. Kathryn mentioned heart and soul, positive intentions, obstacles and strategies, vision journal and cards, which are all phrases that are definitely on my current radar. Blip! Blip! Blip! Then I saw Shakti Gawain's name was mentioned and her book Creative Visualization, which took me back 20 years. After reading and practicing Shakti's Creative Visualization, I enrolled myself in the HCH Hypnotherapy Certification Program and became a Certified Hypnotherapist. Ok! I was sold. But there's more. The open-ended format of an online workshop and the short list of materials needed made this absolutely irresistible to me. Each Monday we receive a prompt by way of email to a blog, where there are instructions. I was very please to find an easy to follow set of instructions that were so much more that what I had e

Don't Come Here!

If you want to forget all your woes come to the Pacific North Coast. Hide out in the woods next to the salt air. Oh no! I don't really mean that. It's so average and boring, really you won't have any fun at all! You'll just hate it and wish you'd never left home. Well, that's what you need to tell my friends when you get here. Don't tell them I said anything resembling good about our little corner of the planet. I do understand them wanting to protect this coastal beauty. But, really it's a wonderful place to let go. It's wild, wonderfully fresh and wide open. I had the most synchronitic opportunity to share a great beach house with some old friends this past week-end. The beach house is hopelessly comfy cozy comfortable, like being a little kid back home without a care in the world. The vast Pacific Ocean a stones throw away. And, the company of old friends was comforting beyond words.

Healthy Foods?

I received an email from a close friend who was wondering about healthy foods and carbon footprints. This woman is a very twenty second century type of woman, highly intelligent and exceptionally knowledgeable in many fields. A woman that believes she can accomplish whatever she decides. I was very honored that she asked me to clarify processed foods and healthy foods. I've also included some of the websites that have very good information regarding several issues mentioned here. First her email with the questions then my email with some answers which are my own opinions. I have been wondering how one goes about eliminating processed foods from our diet. Foods like cheeses have some processing involved don't they?? Can you just not buy anything that comes in a can or is frozen? Here's the thing I've been wondering about, too: I have recently stopped buying those plastic bags to line the garbage can and instead use the paper sacks from the grocery store to put our garb
Free Counter

The Fool

After taking the "Your Tarot Reading" quiz on Facebook and "pulling" The Fool, I wanted to clear up some unfounded ideas about the fool as a personality card for some folks. I'm going to type in a excerpt from Angeles Arrien's book, The Tarot Handbook; Practical Applications of Ancient Visual Symbols which I have owned since forever. Angeles Arrien is an anthropologist who specializes in cross-cultural myths, symbols and ritual, and with this book allows you self-discovery through the cards. The book was published in 1987 and is still a comprehensive guide to the much debated Aleister Crowley's Thoth deck. ".........the Fool as your life-time personality symbol reflects a person who is seen as highly creative and in need of of variety. Fool people are not foolish or fool-hardy. They are courageous and risk-taking. They come across fearless even though they might feel fear gnawing within them. They are drawn toward and tend to explore the mystical

Polyvore

This is so much fun! You gotta try it! Just go! Have fun! Get your creative juices flowing! It's so easy! Create! Here are a few images I've created using the easy to use tools at Polyvore. In no time at all you'll be publishing your creations to your page or to one of the many groups. If you have to stop in the middle you can save your creation as a draft and go back later. The "editor" is a very simple workspace where you can test out different images to see how they add to your picture. The images are easy to add and easy to remove and you never have to settle for less than you wanted. The available images for you to choose from are practically limitless. You can create your own list of images from the Polyvore pool or use images straight from the Polyvore's pool. Or even use your own images; however if you do use your own images they are up for grabs for everyone else in Polyvore so a little thought before adding your own is a good idea. Shop!

Onions

I'm cheating! I haven't posted for a long time. I'm taking a shortcut! I've been visiting with my daughter, Kristi and my grandchildren, Vanessa and Joe who all came to see me from Phoenix Arizona. So of course I took a few days off. We were all living together when I wrote this story. I guess I was trying to be funny in a sarcastic sort of way. This photo is from Flikr's Creative Commons, taken by Bahman Farzad, entitled "onion-sha". For more information on Bahman Farzad click on the title "Onions" 12/27/05 Onions Life is a bitch! Full of hurt feelings, the kind that make your eyes bright red and well up with big old alligator tears. Your throat feels like it’s locking up. Your chest hurts cause you heart is breaking in half and you feel like you can’t breathe. So while all this is going on, you’re acting like none of it is happening, to save face. It’s killing you but you manage. You wait until you’re alone, like in the shower and then

Book Review

I just did a book review for Amazon.com. The review is for Monica Reinagel's Inflammation Free Diet Plan. I orginally borrowed this book from the local library and got hooked. I thought I could get by without having the actual book to refer to but I was wrong! I have been diagnosed with Arthritis and I have had a lot of pain. I changed my diet using the ideas from Monica's book. I actually developed a eating plan based on Monica's inflammation free foods. So, for 30 days, which was so much easier than I thought it would be, I ate nothing but inflammation free foods. My pain disappeared! I slowly started adding back some of the foods I really missed, like yogurt and eggs. I still was not experiencing any pain. Over the next few months I fell back into my old eating habits and gained all the weight I had lost and also was having to deal with all the annoying aches and pains again. Damn It! I did it again! Well, I tried to remember how I got to the inflammation free diet an

"Stay-cation"

I was listening to NPR on the way to work this morning. Just as I was driving out of reach of my local NPR radio station they were talking about the "new" vacation Americans are and will be taking instead of the usual fare, calling them " Stay-cations ". What a fabulous idea! As an American who hasn't taken many "Vacations" I think it will be very good for the American people. First of all, it will prove that we, as Americans can have fun without spending obscene amounts of money. Secondly, and much more importantly, American families might finally find that sacred space of quiet and stillness to actually re-connect on a deeper level to their own families. It's a very good practice to do with less in an era where conspicuous consumption has been the highlight in our lives to the point of global warming and mass extinctions, where bigger is better and nothing is sacred. Think of it as building character. This is a good time to stay home and stoke

Drawing Day

Today is Drawing Day! It's a world wide event. This event wants to create a million drawings to share today. Here's what they are saying: One day a year, the world stops to remember that joy we had when we first picked up a pencil and created our first piece of art - that's what Drawing Day is all about. The goal for Drawing Day is simple - to create enough drawings to make some noise worldwide for the sake of art. 2008 was the first year of this initiative. Our goal is definitely a long-shot, but we continue to aim for 1 million drawings worldwide . We have no precise measure to know if we reach this goal. If we come close we will all definitely know. Even if we reach 10% of our goal in the first year of this initiative, it will be a great achievement but we will continue aiming for the magic million. I think this it is one of the really fun and creative online events that is all enclusive. It will bring together lots of people in the spirit of fun and art. Go have fun

Affirmations

I saw Louise Hay on PBS last night. I was lucky enough to catch the last part of Wayne Dryer's show, "Excuses Begone" when Wayne announced that Louise was in the audience. Of course when the cameras focused on Louise Hay she was emitting a wholly healthly and profoundly alive glow. I would say that makes her 82 years on earth affirm that affirmations do work! The universe works in strange ways and was again to my rescue, at just the right time for me to see what I need. So I decided to link bmindful.com to my blog to remind me to focus on affirmations as a tool to make necessary changes, painlessly I might add, and stay on course. Hope this is a help to you as well. I also added a wiget from "Quote of the Day" just to keep us close to great minds. Enjoy your day - I'm going to!

Oceans Day June 8, 2009

I love this place! Go! Enjoy! This guy was in hiding last time I was at the Academy but should be back at center stage by now. Earlier this year, the United Nations issued an official resolution designating June 8, 2009 as the first annual World Oceans Day. Now that's exciting! Speaking of exciting, I learned how to link a title! If you click the title above it will take you directly to the "Celebrate World Oceans Day" page at the Califorina Academy of Sciences, which has planned lots of events to celebrate Oceans Day. And now for the best part, the most awesome shot of the roof taken by my friend Sherry Brown

A whole new universe

This blogging thing is very new to me. It's like a whole new universe for me to explore. I was thinking that I would post at least once a week in the begining. I'm not sure if that's good timing or not but I think it's a good place to start. So, as it goes, I have to fill out a bunch of stuff for this blog. I will leave you with this link. http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/healthscience/2009/May/Astronauts-Ready-for-Last-Hubble-Repair/ The Hubble Space Telescope will never again be touched by human hands.

New Beginings

Day One Hi folks! I have absolutely no idea what I am doing. But as fearful as I am at this moment I still want to have community more. I think this is the way to go, the fourth screen so to speak. I have so much to learn. I just hope the learning curve is not to steep and wild for this old gal!