This Is Where I'm At

Wow! Since my last post lots has happened.  I went on a road trip to Washington with my friends/bandmates.  We had a great time, played lots of music, and got to see some really breathtaking sights. The time spent on the road is a perfect time for thinking/soul searching.

I've quit my full time job and am looking for part-time work now.  I've had too many years of working all day every day for someone else and trying to cram everything I want to do plus that pesky housework that doesn't go away into the Saturday/Sunday crunch.

I know that might seem crazy to some people-YOU QUIT YOUR JOB??? Yeah, that's right.  And I'm going to be just fine.  I have plans (lots of them!) for how to get my message out to the world.  I need to start talking to people, playing music for them, showing them how they can do, be, and have what they desire!  I've taken the first steps in that direction.   I am SO excited, I feel like I am unstoppable!! That is perfect, because that is what is propelling me forward on this journey.  I have a ton of ideas and wish I could split myself into many pieces, assigning a "take this idea and run with it" task to each piece of me. Patience is something I need to remind myself of often! As I sit here with a desk full of scraps of paper with notes written on them, notebooks with ideas and lists, and several post-it notes stuck to the computer monitor, I can only smile as I think of how this small pile of chaos on my desk will turn into something that makes me feel happy and fulfilled.  I love it and I can't wait!  (Hmmm...there's that patience thing again!)

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What's happening with me this week?  Getting together with some people that I am proud to call my friends!  With my new-found freedom (haha) of being available during the day, I'm able to meet with these awesome folks that I love and appreciate.  Fuel for the fire of getting my projects done, some of which will be featuring these wonderful guys & gals!

Meditate On This!

Do you meditate?  I used to be so faithful about it, didn't miss a day.  Then "something came up" for about 5 months (eeek!), and I could really tell that I hadn't been meditating, I just didn't have the peace inside that I'd become accustomed to.  So for about the last week & a half, I've gotten back to meditating, and it is wonderful!! I'd forgotten just how beautiful the experience can be, and even got some information about chakras during one of the recent meditations.  I was just absorbing the info, and then it hit me-HEY!!! I'm getting information!!  I just love that feeling :-)

If you haven't meditated before, or if you need to get back into it like I did, here's some great information i got from the newest Hay House author, Tara Stiles.
Below are Tara’s “Three Tips To Begin Your Meditation Practice”

Tip 1: Don’t Worry about Clearing Your Mind. 
It’s easy to fall into the belief that the goal of meditation is to have a crystal clear mind so you can see all the secrets of the universe.  

Don’t worry: plenty of cool experiences are going to happen to you. There is no need to get wrapped up in getting to everything right away. The mind wanders; that’s just what it does. Every time your thoughts carry you off on a journey, just bring your attention back to your breath, back to feeling. That’s the practice.

The goal is to notice when your mind wanders. When you notice, you have a choice. You can go along for the ride, or you can guide your attention right back inward. You will do this over and over again. Just see things as they happen. Guide your attention back to breathing and feeling. That’s your practice. Make the goal the process, not the destination.

Tip 2: Write It Down.If you’re anything like me, when you have a lightbulb moment, you don’t want to forget it. Exciting thoughts and spontaneous ideas will come to you during meditation. They may be great plans about your business, a creative combination to try out in the kitchen, or your next home project. When these brilliant nuggets pop into your mind, you can either keep diving down the idea train or try to store the ideas in your brain and get frustrated that you had a great idea while you should be meditating. This happened to me time after time and I finally found a solution. Keep a notebook handy for all those mid-meditation, mind-blowing moments. When a genius idea pops into your mind mid-meditation, take a moment and write it down. Now it’s down on paper, and you can come back to it and master plan later. For the next few moments, come right back to your breath. Your lightbulb ideas are now preserved and your sacred meditation time in intact. Win-win.

Tip 3: Keep It Regular. 
Just like yoga, we can talk about the benefits and understand how great life will be with all this practice, but it only works if you actually do it. And the same rules go here: five minutes is better than nothing, and five minutes a day, every day, adds up to a whole lot. Try it out for one week and you’ll feel a big difference. First thing in the morning is a great time to set the habit. 

You don’t even have to leave your bed for this one. Simply sit up, get comfortable, and pay attention to your breath for five minutes. If your thoughts start to take you away from your breath, see if you can guide your attention right back. If your thoughts start to drift again, guide yourself back again. After your five minutes, go about your day as usual and notice if you feel any different.

Warning: you might start to see yourself differently, with more compassion; and you might start to see more possibilities in your life. You might even have the desire to help others who could use your support. Get ready for some great stuff to transform you from the inside out.

These tips are from Tara's new book, Make Your Own Rules Diet.

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What's going on with me this week?

Yesterday I went to my first Reiki circle.  It was super cool, and I will definitely go again!  Also there was a workshop I went to called "Intending Into Being" that was put on by a local friend, and that, too, was wonderful!  

Oh!  I FINALLY started a Facebook page now, so if you'd like to follow, it is:
Attract Your Desires

Hope to see you there!!

It Means A Lot

There's a few reasons I chose this image for this post.  They flooded in all at once, so here they are in no particular order:

The time of year-Thanksgiving, Christmas (generosity, giving, gratitude, receiving)

A reminder to stop at what can be a hectic time of year and JUST BREATHE (inhale, exhale)

It's a circle, which is a common shape for mandalas, which I'm going to be teaching a workshop on next Saturday (more on that later)

Wow, yes, when you have gratitude for what you have you're more generous, therefore more giving, which makes you more aligned with your higher self (open), which just happens to attract to you things that you are grateful to receive, and the process (cycle/circle of abundance) continues!  Even though some people only focus on being grateful at this time of year, there's always things to be grateful for, things we take for granted. 

And wow, yes, I'm doing a workshop on mandalas.  Well, mostly on making and coloring them.  I don't know much about them except what I've Googled, so I know that when you're making & coloring them you kind of "zone out" and are more in tune with your inside world and intuitive side, almost like being in a meditative state when you are creating.  So, we will all learn together!  Our spiritual connections group is such a fun bunch that I'm sure it will be just fine. There's certainly something to be said for the warm & fuzzy feeling of being with people that make you feel great!