Declare It Complete

There is something about this year-end that doesn’t feel complete to me.

Years ago I took a class on “completion” and realized that there is a huge difference between being finished and being complete.  Finished means that something has ended.  Complete means having all necessary parts, elements, or steps brought to an end and having it fully carried out.

In that class, several questions were raised that need to be answered in order to be complete with a situation, timeline, person or in this case, 2011.  They are:

1. 1.    What gave me pleasure?
   2.   What didn’t give me pleasure?
   3.   Who do I need to forgive (and for what)?
   4.   Who do I need to thank (and for what)?
   5.   Anything else I need to complete about this?

I know that if I have left some important thing in my life undone, or not done right, or if I don’t feel good about the job, I have to go back and revisit the situation.  That situation “weighs” on my mind and doesn’t allow me to move foreword into something new and different.  The accumulation of all of this is some of the baggage we carry in our lives and literally doesn’t allow us to excel or move into a place of success.  All of this baggage blinds us to our opportunity or possibility that always surrounds us. 

Christine Northrup tells us, “Creating anything new and fresh works much better if you mindfully ‘complete’ what is finished at the same time that you are dreaming up the new.”

Allowing yourself to not put any more energy into something that you cannot control or what you consider unremarkable, declare it complete and let it go.  It is the only way to free up the energy you need to move forward in your life.


Happy New Year!

Choices

Currently, I am reading a book called “You Are Your Choices,” by Alexandra Stoddard.  She quotes Albert Camus as saying, “Life is the sum of all your choices.”  This being the end of the year always causes me to think about the choices I made during the year that have brought me to this place at this time.

A year ago, the place I was in was sheer misery for me.  I was in the throws of still grieving for a husband that made his transition in April.  I was feeling the stress of not being able to handle all of the issues of being an active pulpit, spiritual leader.  And I was not feeling strong enough to stay with a spiritual practice to get through what it was that I was feeling.  It truly was being between a rock and a hard place. 

Deciding what and how life is to be is not an easy process.  At that time, all I knew was what I didn’t want.  Universal law states that that is equally as creative as knowing what it is that you want.  I knew I had to get out of that state very quickly as I didn’t want to create more misery than I already had. 

What did I want?  Choices.  Decisions.  What direction to go?  The first thing I did was to tender my resignation.  Second, I took the time to breathe.  During this time, I went through a period of pure terror.  Suddenly, I no longer felt secure in the house I was living in, couldn’t sleep through the night, and heard every noise in the neighborhood as if it was outside the house. 

It took a dental appointment to “wake” me up.  My dentist told me that I needed help and to call my primary care doctor immediately.  Wow!  Okay.  I got home and thought about it and decided that for years I taught people how to create a new life.  I could become my own student and figure this out.

Figure it out I did.  I sat down with pen and paper and decided how I wanted life to be.  I knew I wanted a committed, life companion.  I wanted to travel and explore the countryside.  I listed all of the things I ever wanted and decided with a vengeance, that I could create it all. 

Waking up one morning recently, I was feeling something totally different and I had to dig to figure out what it was that was going on.  Glory be!  I woke up happy and I didn’t know what it was at first. Happy!  Yahoo! 

So, most of my choices are now a reality for me and what this has taught me is that it is time to make some more really good choices for 2012.  The week between Christmas and New Year is a good time for me to do that.  I will consciously close 2011 and make room for something new and different in order to experience even more good – more of my good choices for 2012. 

Happy New Year.

Stop and Think

In the one-minute tip that was written by Coach Philip Humbert recently, he says, “In the Age of Distraction, the key to success is being able to resist the evolutionary desire to grab hold of every new thing. This is hard and goes against our natural tendencies. It takes determination and uncommon discipline to simplify life, choose one or two priorities and stick with them. High achievers know this! So should you.”

This is a key lesson whether we are in the process of buying Christmas presents or furniture shopping or just grazing through catalogues or checking out the latest electronic gadgets.  Learning how to say “no” and “enough is enough,” is one of the hardest lessons I ever had to learn. 

It doesn’t matter what you call us collectors or hoarders, saying “no” to our obsession or resisting to “upgrade” is hard.  We all want the latest and greatest because we don’t want to be “left behind.”

For those of us who want to experience a greater sense of financial freedom, we need to remember the words “never invest in something depreciable.”  Great advise if you can “afford” it.  In looking around my environment, there isn’t anything that is appreciating in value.  The more I looked at this, the more I realized that this is something that I haven’t paid much attention to in the past.

The key to this, is the past.  Having moved recently and combining households with a new life partner, the word “treasure” takes on a whole new meaning.  Treasures are only treasures if in the “value” someone else thinks it’s a treasure too.  In other words, your hand crafted hand imprinted ceramic tile is only valuable if someone else wants it.  Let me give you a clue here…when you are gone…what’s valuable in your heart is junk to someone else.  JUNK!  I know, I know, hard to believe that “they” cannot see the value in all of it. 

There are only a small select few who think that the rusted “dead” bike fender is valuable and you only see them on television when there is nothing else to watch.  How do you get in touch with them when you want to downsize or rightsize or want to simplify life? 

Whatever the process involved in simplifying life, simple, fun and easy doesn’t want to lend itself into my mental gymnastics.  Simplify, I must. 

Guru's in Life

Life is so wonderful.  Right now I have this person in my life that brings me buckets of joy and laughter.  This morning while she was praying for me, I heard her say, “Easy, peasy, yippy, skippy!  It’s done!”  Of course, I had to laugh while she is being seriously reverent. 

After it was over, I asked her about the words and she told me that they were the words used in order to achieve enlightenment faster.  Whoa!  Isn’t that what we all want…faster! 

In my religious training, I was taught to say, “And so it is” instead of “Amen,” at the end of my prayers.  But I have to tell you, that “easy, peasy, yippy, skippy” works just as good. 

My early teacher, use to tell us that if we wanted to be enlightened, we need to lighten up considerably.  We use to talk and laugh about what that meant.  Did it mean to not take anything too seriously?  Or not be responsible in life?  Or did it mean to just blow it all off?

Easy, peasy, yippy, skippy gave me a great insight to all of this.  It is to seriously lighten up on everything in life.  Yes, it means to stay accountable, responsible and all the other “serious” stuff, but to apply it all lightly. 

Easy, peasy, yippy, skippy!  It’s done!  Thank you, God, easy, peasy, yippy, skippy.  Can you see the light flowing from above?  Can you see my enlightened halo?

So, imagine with me the cartoon where the guy climbs the mountain to ask the Guru the secret of life.  The Guru replies, “Easy, peasy, yippy, skippy…just be grateful for everything that shows up in your life.”  Cool!  Seems to me to be an easy way to experience the joy and laughter of life.

August to October

I know that August to October is a huge gap in writing this blog.  In the process of getting married, getting a house ready for sale, doing a guest spot in Tucson, getting my life placed into a POD, deciding what goes and what stays in order to stage the house, replacing carpeting and flooring,  putting in new blinds, moving into a temporary house and then into this wonderful place – life has been busy.

Having come from a family of complainers, it is really hard to remember that I am living a dream.  I want to complain about not having this house in perfect order, all of my “good” treasurers are still staged in the other house, my crafts are not set up properly, I can’t find… and on the list goes. 

The truth of my life is that I am married to a dream man.  He packed up my library of nearly 2,000 books and refrained from calling me a “hoarder” in the process.  He has repaired, painted, fixed, pruned, mowed, and done all of the stuff that is needed with a smile and with an attitude that I have to stand back and admire.

I am living my dream.  My life is perfect.  I cannot think of one thing that I would change.  In the process of writing this, I am reminded that Life shows up the way I expect it to and that I put all of this into mind well over a year ago and I am now reaping the harvest of those thoughts. 

Now it is time to think more feel good thoughts to put into feel good actions.  This is my life and I am so grateful for the blessings I reap every day. 

Unconscious Pet Owners

I had an experience of meeting someone new who had recently adopted a pet the size of a small horse – a Great Dane.  This dog was a mature, full sized, mammoth with no manners or discipline.

There isn’t anything I detest more than a dog that snuffles crotches.  Maybe even owners who let them get away with it thinking “isn’t it cute!”  After lifting it’s head, commanding “NO!” and turning away from it, I got attached from the rear, which is even more startling than a frontal attack. 

Needless to say, I about lost it.  I berated the animal in a firm, loud voice.  But the darling owner, was so busy talking, she didn’t even appear to notice what was going on.  How can people be so oblivious as to what is in front of their faces?

The whole experience left a sour taste in my mouth not only for the owner, but large dogs too.  I know dogs sniff to get a “feeling” or a “vibration” from people, but does it have to be crotches?  Training places teach “sniffing the hand,” which in my estimation is a lot more pleasant and civilized.

Is there a method of “training” unconscious or insensible owners, other than a baseball bat to the head?

For just a little bit more…the world.

            Our radio program in San Francisco cost us $400.00 per hour for our Sunday morning show.

            After being on the air for several months and getting our web site put together, we were contacted by a short wave station in Red Lion, Pa.  They wanted to run our show on their station. 

            Since their rates were a lot lower than San Francisco, we felt we could afford to take them on.  So, for an additional $35.00 per hour, we were broadcast into 127 different countries.

            It takes this much to get started.  But, for just a bit more, the whole world.

            Consciousness works this way too.  It seems as though it takes forever to finally get it and when we do, life just flows.  And for a little bit more, the whole world.