May I Suggest?

Hey everybody.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Nothing on offer here today, but may I direct you to my team blog?
I wouldn't normally do this, but there's a blue moon today.

Check out Prozac Palace and this fresh post.

Under A Blue Moon

We’ve got a blue moon this weekend. Not a literal one, of course. That hasn’t happened in a while.

But it’s the second full moon this month in these parts and I say we ought to enjoy it. We can even sing about it if we like.

That aside, I have trouble sleeping during full moons and have for years. I don’t know why, but I’ve decided to be grateful for it. It gives me a chance to get up and look around and I do find them beautiful.

Have you noticed anything unusual about full moons? Science dismisses any of its effects on human behavior. Science can go hang as far as I’m concerned. I covered many a board meeting during my reporting days and I’ve witnessed how the moon’s phase messes with us.

If a County Council meeting fell on a full moon and previous sessions had gone smoothly, then it would drag on forever. It would be filled with snipping and sniping and arguments aplenty.
But if councilors had been argumentative in the past, then the full moon made the meeting a smooth-flowing love-in. It would be over quickly, which was fine, but there wasn’t much to report.

Meanwhile, why not put the June 30th blue moon to good use?
Like any full moon the energy is great for cleansing and charging crystals. Set them outdoors overnight and let them absorb the moon’s rays.

And spend some time out underneath it yourself. I think it’s good for us. I feel better when I’ve let the moonlight wash over me and if the weather’s good, I’ll take the time to get out and recharge myself.

Lessons and Teachers

Here’s something I hadn’t ever considered. My guides made this point to me and I see the wisdom of it.

Here it is:

The homeless person begging for change on the street may be a highly advanced soul. He or she might have chosen a harsh life to help others learn their lessons. Perhaps it’s by instilling compassion within them. Maybe it’s to bring up those feelings of disgust and loathing because those feelings underscore the need to develop compassion. It can also be that this person has chosen to experience physicality by being disengaged from mainstream life.

This can be difficult to understand because we’re used to comfort. We may have trouble understanding why someone would choose to live a harsh life. Deep down we fear it could happen to us. That’s a good part of the reason we react with loathing instead of love when are confronted with social issues like homelessness.

“The poor will always be with you, to paraphrase your Christian good book. Do you know what that means?” asked Moondrop. “It means there will always be others willing to sacrifice themselves to help their fellow humans learn the lessons of giving.”
“Helping the poor is helping yourselves.”
“And I ask you, ‘How can you say you love God when you ignore your neighbors? When you don’t reach out a hand to help the suffering when you can ease their plight, how can you say you love God?’”

“You must stop these petty jurisdictional fights. Tend your ill. Feed your hungry. It is not someone else’s problem–-it is everyone’s problem. When one is hungry or cold, everyone, everyone is diminished who allows this,” Merope added.
“The human collective spirit is diminished as one falls like this in deprivation. It is not the way. Love warriors help.”

“When one is hungry we all starve. We starve for the love that is withheld when one of us goes hungry. Hungry in the physical also spills out to others as hungry in emotion, and yes, resonates throughout humanity as a hunger in spirit.”

“There is to a lesser degree a hunger in the intellect, when the body suffers as does the mind be diminished. You must not let this continue.”

“And why don’t you see that? Why? Each gives as he or she can, it must all be honored. The importance is the love involved. If you do what you wanted to do with your life, whether you realize it or not, then you are a success. It is all necessary to the continuation of life on Earth.”

“Sorrow is felt here,” added Geon. “Sorrow for the millions who won’t feel love, won’t open to love.”

The Writing Hour

I’m trying an experiment.
Each day I devote one hour exclusively to writing. No playing on the internet, no email, no looking out the window, no getting up for a drink of water or to pick out a simple melody on guitar.

Nothing.

Just put my head down and write. I throw a CD in so I have some music doing. It helps me focus and gets me into a writing/correcting rhythm.

I’ve done it three times now with good results. I’m getting something done on the WIP. Substantial movement. Actual material gain.

I don’t even allow myself to get up for chocolate in that hour. If I actually stick to the hour then I’ve earned this rich reward. If not, then it pulls consolation duty.

This was prompted by a change in the household routine. I’ve recently taken over laundry and dishes. My husband has taken a job driving truck and commonly works 12 hours a day so I took over some traditional chores. Laundry had been my duty for a while way back when, but in our 17 years together he did the dishes. I did them only when he was away or when I’d done a lot of baking.

Now that I’ve got more work I felt the need to structure my time and that’s what brought on the experiment.
I still have plenty of time in the day to go back to the manuscript if I want, but if I don’t it doesn’t matter. I’ve done something.

Emergency Affirmation

I did an emergency affirmation yesterday and it worked beautifully. It was similar to what I wrote about in this post.
The emergency in question was me on a rickety stepladder in a windstorm refilling the bird feeders.

I don’t have a great sense of balance and have been known to randomly trip over the air. It’s controllable, though, and I’ve had great results with Gingko Biloba. I can actually take my hand off the handlebars to signal a turn while biking without listing dangerously to starboard.

Being on a 37-year-old wooden stepladder with nothing to grip to steady myself while reaching up and out to grasp the birdfeeder was moderately terrifying. Having the wind come straight for me did not help.

What to do?

Positive thinking was my best hope.

I repeated “Yes I can” over and over and louder and louder as I carefully eased the feeder down. As I did I focused as much of my energy as I could spare on my feet and mentally anchored them to the step I was on.

I was wonderful. It eased my fears immediately. I felt strong and confident and anchored and balanced.

I repeated the process to re-hang the feeder. Yes I can.
Sure, I was out in a windstorm talking to myself.
So what?
It worked.

You've Been Warned

I was at a family reunion near Bashaw over the weekend and went for solo drive on Saturday afternoon to check out nearby Buffalo Lake.
On the way I chanced upon this sign warning visitors to watch out for the most fearsome of creatures:

Have You Hugged Your Rhubarb Today?

It’s a noble plant though considered a bit lowly perhaps as it grows in ditches and is common.
Because of this we rarely give it much thought. After the first rhubarb pie of spring it’s forgotten in favor of more exciting summer fruits and berries.
It languishes along the edge of the gardens barely registering with us until it goes to seed and the stalks turn hollow and woody.

Rhubarb deserves better than that. Relish, chutney, juice, eat it stewed or in a pie. I’ve mixed it in with strawberries and cherries for a favorite glorious summer pie.

Back on the farm when I was young I’d sometimes eat it raw. I’d break off a stalk and munch away. I’m not fond of sour tastes, but on hot days it was quite refreshing.

It grows anywhere under almost any conditions, handles frost well, and I’m not sure it can be killed by conventional means.

It’s free, tasty, and right under our noses. It asks so little and gives so much. Let’s show it a bit more respect, okay?

Happy Solstice

The crows and pine siskins were singing louder and happier this early this morning, lifting their beaks in song to celebrate the solstice. It was a wonderful sound and I swear more of them joined the chorus this morning than usual.

In the past I’ve celebrated Litha in some form. Two years ago we were camping with friends and had cake and ale to observe the day.

Ten years ago my husband and I were in Inuvik, NWT, and wound up at a feast at the Native Friendship Centre. What a glorious way to bring in summer.
It’s odd celebrating the longest day in a place so far north the sun does not set. It added a dimension to the observance I may never have again.

We had all kinds of food like caribou, assorted type of freshwater fish, musk ox, and even muktuk (raw whale blubber.)
I wasn’t sure if I wanted any of the muktuk, but it might be my only chance to taste it.
I’m glad I did. If you’re curious, imagine chewing on the sole of a running shoe that’s flavoured with sea water.

Taste aside, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was eating an intelligent creature. I could see it in the ocean. I felt myself within it.

I don’t get that sense eating cow, deer, or steelhead trout. I wonder if it was due to being raw and having such limited contact with humans? Store food goes though many hands and much processing before we buy it and cook it. Any lingering sense of its life is long gone.
The whale was raw and had hardly any human contact from water to table. Its life force hadn’t been drained away.

Today I’ll spend some time in the sun and perhaps have some de-alcoholized beer and a piece of cake to honor the solstice. But I’ll also have in mind that as of now the days become shorter and we’re looking toward the dark.

Happy Solstice.

Techno-Twit

Hello, my name is Leah and I am a techno-twit. There. I feel better already.

Why the admission?

Well, there’s something I want to do, but I cannot figure out how to do it. I’m stumped.

I’m not a total twit, of course. I’ve managed to gather quite a few skills on my own over the years.
For example, I taught myself to make piecrust. I woke up one March morning four or five or five years ago and decided “Today’s the day.” The first crusts were brutal though the filling made it tolerable.
I persevered. I made many a crust and learned as I went. They’re adequate now and I have since declared March as “Pie Month” to honor my work. Hey, any excuse for pie.

I’ve taught myself other things too and can get by in the world. I’m even pretty good at opening jar lids. It’s a necessary skill for a single woman. Even though I’m not single any more I still open most of the jars myself. It amuses me and makes me feel powerful.

I am far from helpless. Fortunately, I am far from being unable to ask for help when I need it.

So, I’m asking: how in heaven’s name do I make text bold, italic, or underline in the blog comments trail?

I’m serious. I cannot for the life of me figure it out.
I’ve tried everything I can think of and nothing happens.
I searched through Blogger Help and it was just as helpful as it could be. That’s why I’m asking.
Please, somebody, spell it out for me.

Use simple words, ideally of one syllable or less. Draw a picture. Point if you can.

Thank you.

A Horse Is A Horse Unless Of Course...

Ever see a Unicorn?

I have.
And no I wasn’t on anything at the time. It was broad daylight in the middle of a July afternoon in 1984.

I’d gone for a job interview in Olds and was on my way back along Highway 2 when I passed a field where horses were grazing. It’s a common sight and nothing to turn your head over.
But my head did turn, rather sharply in fact, when I clearly saw the horn protruding out from the forehead of the mottled gray horse nearest the highway.

I only saw it for a split second because when I turned for a full on look it was gone. The other horses -- all of which were assorted shades of brown -- were still grazing.

I didn’t say anything about it at the time chiefly because I was rendered speechless. My parents, who’d accompanied me on the trip, didn’t notice anything or just didn’t admit to it.

I can’t write this off to imagination because of the accompanying feeling. It felt like change. It felt as though everything was going to be fine, that I was on the right track, and the Olds job was mine.

I got the reporting job in Olds and stayed there for 33 months. I passed by that field dozens of times, but it must have been a very specific sign because I haven’t seen it or its kin since that day.

I want to. I have hope that one day it’ll show up on the edge of my awareness signaling another big change or just reminding me that there’s magic about.

Emotional Greed

Greed manifests in many forms. We understand material greed like keeping our riches to ourselves while others are cold and hungry.
But there is emotional greed, too. Choosing not to help others, choosing not to love, is a form of greed. Both kinds lend themselves to an imbalance in the world.

Another side of emotional greed is when you share your wealth, but do it for public pat on the back.
Why? Because you’re doing it to be noticed, not just to help someone else.
Yes, fine. People who need the assistance are getting it, albeit temporarily. But what’s the real motive behind the gesture?

Are you helping because someone needs it? Or do you want people to find out what you did and make a big fuss over you for it?
If so, you’re bragging. You’re taking the good energy of helping and using it to fill a gap inside yourself.

Yes, you helped another, but you did virtually nothing to help yourself. Instant emotional gratification has no lasting effect. You get your pat on the back then forget about it or believe you have done enough.

Perhaps you relive the pat on the back and come to believe that is what is important. Instead of looking outwardly for gratification to feel like a hero, do your good deeds quietly and let yourself feel it inside.

“I will say this to you, yes I will, that you are all heroes,” said my guide Moondrop.
“No, you don’t have to make the big splash. You are a hero when you offer to someone the help that they need at that moment.”
“Share what love you have, even if you think it is only a little and no one wants it. That little will grow to a lot and someone who needs it will receive it. Maybe not directly from you, but you give it to a person and whether it is wanted or not, the gesture has made an impact. This person offers love to someone else and through your simple act of offering, someone, somewhere, is helped. You did this.”

Turning Annoyance On Its Ear

My next-door neighbors had a few people over last night and fueled their celebrations with music, alcohol, and loud talk.
A particularly loud, obnoxious voice awakened me and annoyed me enough that I couldn’t get back to sleep.

I tried meditating/self-hypnosis, but couldn’t concentrate enough to suggest that external noises didn’t bother me. I tried to focus solely on the lovely, steady rhythmic fall of the rain, but partying won out.

My annoyance simmered for quite some time. I asked the Universe to convince the neighbors to call it a night.

Nothing.

Finally it occurred to me to flip this over and tickle its tummy. If there’s something in this to be grateful for, then I want to know it.

Instead of being irked over loud noises, I thanked the Universe that I can hear.

Instead of being upset over partying, I’m happy to live in a land where people can gather and are allowed to enjoy themselves on their own property.

I’m grateful my neighbors have an active social life and can burn off steam. A quiet loner next door might ultimately be a tragedy in waiting.

I’m grateful it was raining because it kept them indoors instead out on the balcony.

The volume was fairly low as compared to some of their partying last summer. It was turned down even more by around midnight. I’m thankful they were considerate enough to do this.

Interestingly, once I expressed gratitude the partying seemed to calm. I think I even drifted off a few times before midnight and I didn’t feel anywhere near as annoyed as I had earlier.

Gratitude works in mysterious ways I’m finding. And I believe that the more difficult it is to express gratitude, then the more important it is that I do so.

Stillness

Explore the quiet moments in life.

Abundance Time Again

Tomorrow (June 15) is the new moon and that means it’s time to write another abundance cheque.
It’s simple and quick. Take a cheque from your chequebook and make it out to yourself.
In the amount box write “Paid In Full.” Do the same on the amount line.
Write thank you on the memo line and sign it “Law Of Abundance.”
Don’t put a date on it. Put the cheque away and forget about it.

You can find out the time of the new moon in your area here. Remember, you’ve got a 24 hour window from the time of the new moon to get this done.

Be mindful of what you’re doing. Expect the cheques to work and keep in mind, and more importantly in your heart, that you deserve to live in abundance.

Keep an attitude of gratitude when you do it. If you aren’t grateful for what you’ve got, how can you legitimately expect to get more?

NB - If you don’t have a chequing account, don’t despair. You know what a cheque looks like so make up one and fill it out accordingly.

WIPicide: My Confession

R.I.P. WIP

Yeah, I did it. I killed my WIP yesterday.

I hit the delete button and sent more than 17,00 words to oblivion. It’s as though they never existed.
The ms wouldn’t move and I couldn’t get excited about working on it. If I’m not writing, then I’m not doing much of anything.
Being useless is a nice break, but it can’t go on forever. I’m here to write. Best I get at it.

The cure came to me in a meditation: Kill it.

The ms was stagnating. I knew it, but I’d held out hope that it was just the writerly blahs and that I’d get back at it soon enough.
No. The ms was not good. Downright boring. Lots of blathering and not much meat.

It wasn’t quite a wholesale slaughter. I kept a bit in a separate file. A few ideas were saved along with a relaxation procedure and a meditation that I’ve rolled over into each manuscript since the first one six years ago. I keep hoping I’ll give it a home someday.

Then I did it. I hit delete and button-murdered my creation.

I felt better right away. Once it was gone ideas started flowing. I’ve got a new approach to a fourth manuscript now and the material is spilling over from my mind on to notepaper everywhere.

And the world looks better. I’m starting to see beauty in the natural world again. It’s not to my usual level, but it’s on its way.

Yes, I killed it. It’s gone. It was the manuscript or me.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Writer's Blah

Something is missing in my day. I don’t feel like writing. It’s just not working.
It’s not writer’s block. I don’t feel stopped up or prevented in any way from expressing myself. I simply lack the gumption to get it done.
Ideas aren’t an issue really. I still have them; I just can’t get anywhere trying to express them.

The world doesn’t seem right.
I had something similar in Gr. 9 where for three weeks I was, for lack of a better word, normal.
Nothing seemed to excite me about the natural world. It was an odd feeling. Until that point I was continually struck by the beauty of the natural world.
I’d look out my bedroom window at this magnificent spruce tree and beyond it to the forest.
Labrador Tea grew around it and I loved the contrast of the rust colored underside of the leaves against the green topside. Back then I had no clue what it was, nor how good it tastes as a tea, but it was there and it was pretty and it felt good to be amongst it.
This feeling of blahness lasted three weeks. I woke up one morning and the wonder was back in the world. It stayed.

And now something similar is happening. Dew doesn’t shimmer on the morning grass during my morning prayer cycle. The tree I stand underneath doesn’t feel as kind.

Of course it’s just me. The world as such hasn’t changed. I’m blah and I don’t like it.
I suspect I’ve shut down for retooling.
I further suspect there’s a big change afoot and I need this rest period on the outside to prevent me from paying too much attention as the adjustments are made way deep inside.

I’m all for change and I know everything will be better, stronger and way more exciting once everything is back at my-normal.

But for now I’m blah and I’m not writing and it’s just not fun.

Generosity

Generosity is a form of kindness that comes back. Does this mean you have to give your last five dollars to charity? No, but it shows you have enough faith that you will be provided for.

“This means generosity of spirit,” said Merope. “When you feel the smallness, when you want to be petty and mean, turn it around and instead offer love. This is being a love warrior.”

Negativity also ripples out, gets enhanced, and finds its way back to you, the guides added. “Be a love warrior and find your faith to work with love. More people using faith will put this energy out and around, then it will wear off onto others and this will change our world.”

Love warriors share their love, even if it is just a general, impersonal love for everyone. Refusing to share your love is a form of greed. We need to take the chance and give out love without the expectation of getting it back. Release the expectation. Let love come back to you in its own time.

“Life cannot give enough to those who do not live from a base of love. This is greed and greed comes from a lack of faith. Faith comes from love. If you have no love, you’ll not believe in anything. Therefore, you have no faith,” said the Master (Moondrop’s title). “If you have no faith, you do not truly love.”

This does not refer to faith in the conventional, mainstream religious application. “That sense that has abandoned the truth and has caused more damage than is imaginable, yet it exists.”
“No, this is faith in your own soul and its eternity and that this is just a stopover, a stopover for learning like going to school. And graduation? That is when you leave this Earth and come home.”

The guides noted together, “If you believed in something beyond life, you would know you are all here (on Earth) to learn, and one of those lessons is love.”

Beautiful Intelligent Talented Confident Happy

Are you a bitch?
Why not?

Words that hurt should be turned around and put to work. Words should be our minions, not our masters.
Take the one above.
This term for a female canine grew into an insult over the years.
Its use marginalized women and convinced us we were powerless.
Fortunately, these people and these disagreed.

Back in the mid to late 90s the reporting staff at the Mountaineer were women, and we lamented on occasion that not everyone is happy when the reporter shows up.
“Hey, you that bitch from the Mountaineer?”
I don’t know if any of us were truly greeted that way, but we got the tone. So rather than be cowed we decided to put it to good use.

The agriculture, sports, and summer student added it to their titles, and so did I. We became AgBitch, SportsBitch, SummerBitch, and me, being the senior reporter, took the esteemed title of SeniorBitch.

It was wonderful. The word didn’t offend us; it made us strong and powerful and I think it even helped us do our jobs. I came up with what the letters stood for: Beautiful, Intelligent, Talented, Confident, Happy.
It made us even stronger. We were the reigning bitches.

Even if a woman doesn’t think of herself as beautiful or intelligent, hearing about it heals that belief.
Soon you are because it’s made you confident.
When confidence shines through you believe in yourself and you honor your beauty both inside and out. This makes you happy.
Since we were already making a living as a writers the talent aspect of BITCH was taken care of and it was constantly being reinforced. We’d greet ourselves with it.
“Good morning, SportsBitch,” or “Hey, SeniorBitch” or “Is AgBitch around? There’s a message for her.”

We’ve gone our separate ways now, but will occasionally greet one another at lunch or in email with Bitch attached to the new title, like Authorbitch.

It’s a good reminder and I think more women should adopt it. Own the word and own yourself, I say.
Use it and be proud knowing that the bitch in me honors the bitch in you.

Rewards

When you start choosing the loving way it starts choosing you, too. Your kindness could be returned in any way-–big or small--at any time. It may not even seem related. When you establish a pattern of treating people kindly balance comes with it.


Here’s an example. Back when I was reporting I covered Provincial Court for The Mountaineer. One morning the parking lot at the courthouse was full so I parked on the street in a two-hour parking zone. Normally there is at least one recess during the morning session so I wasn’t concerned. I’d be able to slip out and move my car.

However, that morning the session went smoothly with no need for a break. When lunchtime came I walked out into the bright noonday sun to a find a parking ticket on my windshield and a $5 bill lying in the snow beside the driver’s side front tire.

The money was exactly enough to pay the fine.

Call it coincidence if you like. Write it off as just one of those things that happens if it makes you sleep better at night.

I say it’s the Universe at work and I’m grateful.

Taking Time

Take time for yourself and your thoughts and you’ll find out who you are.

Love of self leads to self-knowing. Many of us now are too busy to spend the time to do this.
“So busy filling their time with things. Activities, filling every moment so they don’t have to think.”
“And what does that do? What does your full life do for you? Where is your time to see how you have grown? What are the changes inside of you or are there even any? Have you taken the time to be you?”
Moondrop said this is about “becoming who you are and awakening and acknowledging your role in the greater life of human society.”
“Empowerment and awareness, it is the time. But for that there must be faith, real faith based on love, or there is no real good or improvement to be made within oneself.”
Inner calmness will give love warriors the kind of basis needed to be strong and ready.
“Open to love. It is all that is,” the Guides said together.
“Love is the way. Faith. Believe in what you feel. Feel love and have faith. Faith will grow and so will your love.”
The world is changing. We’ve got to be ready to meet these changes with love, steadfastness, calmness, and thinking of others. We’ve got to be love warriors.

Regrets? Not So Many

Sure, I’ve had a few, but not so many and here's why.

Twenty years ago this month I was on a five week Contiki Tour of Europe. During the overnight crossing from Italy to Greece a fellow who became a life-long friend and I were talking in a quiet, secluded spot on the ship. It was after 1 a.m. and we’d been drinking.
I held my glass of Metaxa loosely in my hand over the railing as we gazed out into the warm Mediterranean night. I remember the dark water sloshing underneath us. I remember there was no one else around and I remember that Russell had just asked me about having any regrets. I’d just opened my mouth to answer when my trip roomie interrupted us.
She had quite a crush on him, despite his boyfriend being on the tour, and we knew the moment was lost.

I regret not ever answering Russell’s question. But that’s about the only regret I’ve had in 20 years. I decide right there, as my drink came dangerously close to spilling into the Drink, that I was going to live a life of as few regrets as possible.

I’ve done my best at it. I think there’ll always be something to look back over wistfully, perhaps sorrowfully. What if I’d…?

A few weeks later we were in Munich at the largest beer hall in the world. Pat Cash had just won Wimbledon and the 39 Aussies on the tour insisted we celebrate.
Some of us were nearly kicked out of said beer hall for making too much noise. I almost regret not getting the boot. It would have been a better story.
Anyway, I decided I absolutely had to know how my favourite soccer player, Rudi Voeller, and the team he played for, Werder Bremen, had done.
So fueled by two litres of beer and an earnest desire to not have any regrets I sat at a friendly table and asked.

The trip wound down in Amsterdam. We had a night in the Red Light district at a live sex show. I missed part of it (something about smoke rings) because I went downstairs to use the washroom and got into a conversation with Leslie, a male stripper from Brazil. He told me life was dance and asked me out.
In a small way I regret not going as it would have added greatly to my life experience. In a big way I do not regret it as it might have led to bigger, more exciting regrets.

Since then I’ve followed my dreams. I’ve written some manuscripts and even submitted them. I’ve learned hypnosis, done more traveling, and I’ve followed a new age path.

It’s what’s right for me. If I don’t do that, then I’ll regret it.

Balance Is The Key

Being tuned to and aware of your love is important. We must be able to feel enough love to be able to care for all the mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical wounds coming to us during the changes.

“Big psychic wounds now, all hate and harm, separation of God in the physical must be changed,” said the guides.

“Balance,” all three of my guides insisted. “Balance is your key.” And part of that balance comes from gaining control over your emotions. Not denying them, just controlling them so they get expressed properly.

This is not to say you can’t be angry. Of course you can. Meditation will help you control your emotions instead of them controlling you. Put simply, you can temper your temper.

This calmness and ability to think will enable you to act in love, not anger. Humans have passion. We need it, but it must not control our lives. We must learn to keep it in balance. When passion is balanced it lets us get to the proper heart of matters instead of wrapping ourselves in anger or other strong emotions that cloud the real issue.

There is only love, the guides pointed out. The rest is illusion, mere touch points of agreement in our physical existence.

Calmness and balance are important parts of being a love warrior. You need them so you can know that you love yourself. Love of self brings with it the seed of faith. A seed is all you need. Acknowledge it. Feel it. Let it grow. Love of self gives you the strength to put your feelings out, and to dare to fail.

As you grow into a love warrior you’ll find it easier to see beyond the negative aspects of a situation. You’ll be able to keep arguments focused on ideas instead of having them devolve into personal attacks. Your reactions will be based on a true love of self. That will bring the calmness, strength, and love necessary to transmute a bad situation to something better.
“What that means,” explained my guide Merope, “is face the events of life with love.”

Alchemy of the Soul

Love warriors work from a base of love. This love has to come from within to be effective and that calls for a solid foundation of self-love.

“More than anything it is important to love yourself,” said my guides Merope and Geon together. This does not mean putting your selfish needs first, it means acknowledging your own worthiness.
“But when this love is to the exclusion of all else, when self-love dominates and becomes a function of an overweening ego, then it is a problem because it leaves no room, no room for love,” said Geon.

Feeling love for yourself may be difficult, but it can be done. You just need to find it inside and acknowledge it. The following exercises will get you started.

The first step is simple. All you need to do is relax. Spend a few quiet moments by yourself and concentrate on something soothing. Try looking at your favorite photo, or get lost in some music, or simply close your eyes and think about something that makes you calm.
For example, let’s say your soothing object is the color blue. You can look at a blue-colored object or just close your eyes and bring something blue to mind like the ocean or the sky. Let the sight infuse your mind. Shut out everything else. Feel it work its soothing magic on your body.
You will find that once you are relaxed your breathing naturally deepens and becomes more even. You can also consciously slow down and deepen your breathing to become calm. Try it by counting slowly from one to five as you breathe in, then count again as you as you breathe out. Do this for a few cycles and experience the difference.
Now that you have taken a few moments for yourself and have become calmer, you are ready to move on to feeling love.

If you’d like to be even more tranquil try this exercise. Relax you body step by step. Concentrate on each individual part and tell that part, say it’s your toes, to relax. Move on through your whole body. Once you’re physically relaxed home in on your mind and tell it to relax and let go.

And take your time doing it.

Once you are calm and relaxed focus your awareness on someone or something that you love. It could even be your favorite flavor of ice cream. Let the feeling wash through you, inside and out. Do this until your focus is completely on the person or thing and you are very comfortable with it. Next, refocus your awareness from the object to the feeling associated with it.
Take this awareness of the feeling step-by-step through your body, much like you did for the relaxation. See, feel, or imagine the love as any comforting sensation that comes to you. Maybe it is light, or a thrilling sound, or it is a feeling of warmth or softness. Just let it come to you.

Don’t judge the feeling or try to change it. Let yourself enjoy it fully and completely. Allow it to flow through you. Feel yourself flooded with love. Hug yourself. If you have difficulty with this, skip it. You can come back to it later.
Do it for as long as you need and as often as you like.

“This is alchemy. Love leads to alchemy of the soul. Change your soul and see the world transform and open to a new culture of love and hope. Let the world be love,” said my guide Moondrop.

Please note the name “Moondrop” is a simplification. He’s a Master Teacher on the spirit side and this is an interpretation of the translation of his name in Sanskrit.
“And not a dreadfully good one either,” he said. “More like Light of the Reflected Source of All.”
We agreed Moondrop would do.

Writing My Heart Song

“Open a door for someone and you will find the door of heaven opens for you.”
-Merope, one of my guides

What makes your heart sing?
Writers need to write what they are passionate about. That’s what shines through in good writing.

Anyone can learn a subject, slosh it around a bit, and then regurgitate. A place for this exists in the world. It’s not a crime, only soulless.

I’ve been going on a bit about the importance of being kind and I will be doing that again shortly. But for today, I’m going to tell you why I’m doing it.

Because it matters.

The only thing that matter is how we treat people. This was underscored over at The Flightless Writer.
Love, caring and kindness are important for the daily reason of getting along with others, but also for the earth changes.

Yes, I’m one of those.

I’m passionate about the earth changes and the unseen, undiscussed world. I care about the paranormal, the preternatural, the preterhuman.
I want to learn about, write about, and experience for myself the unending world within our own subconscious minds and the power and energy inside us that we commonly chose to not use.
We have our reasons. They are individual as well as collective and they are valid. They are, however, not for me.

Ignoring the existence of what we can’t see or measure doesn’t mean it’s not there. We simply haven’t developed a receiver for it yet.
And that brings me to love warriors and the earth changes.

Changes, an ending, something big slated to happen in the world, has been in my mind since I can remember. Perhaps I overhead it or read about. Maybe it’s because we had Fate Magazine in the house and my mom talked about Edgar Cayce. It might be knowledge that I agreed to have with me as part of my pre-birth agreement. Probably all of the above.

My recent posts about love warriors are ultimately about the prophesied changes, how they affect people, and what we can do to help.
My guides have supplied much of the information. Their emphasis is love. They are correct. The information was channeled and often they were speaking as I was writing.

Call it flaky. Dismiss it if you must. Believe it or not as suits your personal comfort level. My guides have whispered to me to write about it and they have yet to steer me wrong. Writing with my guides makes my heart sing.

Love will mitigate the changes. Not stop them, but mitigate them. It will help our spiritual growth, too. What more can we ask?

“Perhaps that is the best way to describe the changes in the human condition following the upheavals,” said my guides.
“It is the coming of the final and complete true enlightenment, when humans see for themselves who they truly are in relation to the world beyond the five senses.”

We can all do our part to ensure these alterations go as smoothly as possible. The simplest way for each of us to have an impact on the world is offer kindness, consideration and compassion to everyone and everything.