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Lions and Numbers and Miracles, OH MY !!!

lion peace through oneness

Life has been a lot more fun since I started looking for messages and miracles in the everyday things.  Last week I made a deposit at an ATM and noticed that the digits in my balance were all 8’s and 0’s. “That’s interesting,” I thought. “I wonder what it means?”  I always like to think of 8’s as the symbol for infinity, so having that energy in my bank account made me smile.  Later that day, a friend who also looks for messages and miracles, sent me a photo of her ATM receipt with 1111 in the digits.  We like to text each other at 11:11 as a reminder of our connection and that we are all ONE.  I thought it was interesting that we both noticed repeating digits in our bank statements that day, but that’s the kind of connection we have.  

Just a few days later, a participant at one of my Family Constellations shared some information about an astrological, numerological event called the Lion’s Gate that occurs every year on 8/8.  This year happens to be all 8’s because 2015 adds up to an 8.  Instantly I thought of the three 8’s from my account balance.  According to the email this participant received, the Lion’s Gate opened on July 25, will peak on August 8, and close on August 12.  I’m not 100% clear what happens during this time other than things might get shaken up a bit, and it’s a good time to start a new chapter or project.  If you are curious, you can do your own research and decide for yourself if it resonates with you.  I found it interesting because I’m a Leo and I like the lion energy, and because of the 8/8/8 synchronicity.

After the workshop I had plans to go to dinner with that same 11:11 friend.  On my drive home from Miami, I called her to discuss where we were going, and to tell her about the 8/8/8 coincidence.  She was intrigued like I was.  After much debate, we decided to go to our favorite pizza place, the Mello Mushroom, in Fort Lauderdale.  If you love pizza like I do and haven’t tried their’s yet, I encourage you to do so!  There was a ten minute wait when we arrived, so I plopped myself down happily in one of the two tall thrones in the waiting area while my friend took a seat on a nearby bench.  We started being silly and she snapped a few pictures of me on the throne.  Suddenly she screamed, “Oh my God!  Look at the arms of the chair!”  I hadn’t noticed that each wooden arm was carved into the shape of a lion’s head! 

It wasn’t long before our table was ready.  The hostess took us to the very back of the restaurant where we had sat the last time we were there.  We weren’t thrilled because this area is kind of isolated against a wall and out of sight of the rest of the restaurant.  We sat down and suddenly my friend’s eyes bugged out as she pointed to the wall behind my right shoulder.  There hung a painting of a lion wearing sunglasses!  It was part of a series of paintings by the same artist.  There were other animals wearing sunglasses, but the lion was right behind me.  Now we were a little freaked out.  

I happened to know our server, and without us asking, he offered to move us to a better spot.  We were so grateful to him that we didn’t even notice his T shirt.  You guessed it.  There was an image of a roaring lion on the front.  Now that we were in the center of the restaurant, we soon noticed that most of the servers were wearing the same lion T shirt.  Now we were a lot freaked out.  

I could pass this off as mere coincidence.  It’s true that when you have something specific in mind, you are likely to notice more of that specific something.  For instance, if you are shopping for a new car, and you decide you are going to buy a Volkswagen Bug, all of a sudden you will see VW Bugs everywhere.  When things like this happen we can give it whatever meaning we choose.  My preference is to let it be a reminder of what A Course in Miracles teaches. 

There is a way of living in the world that is not here, although it seems to be. You do not change appearance, though you smile more frequently. 

I invite you to start looking for messages and miracles in the everyday things.  Look for evidence that the world is a magical, joyful place, rather than a mundane, fearful place.  Whatever you look for, you will certainly find.  If this seems like an impossible task from where you are now, maybe it’s time for Life Coaching or Family Constellations.  I use the principles of A Course in Miracles as a foundation for both.  Please visit my website for more information, and for free coaching videos that will help you smile more frequently.  Until next time, I will be looking for more messages and miracles.  How about you? (By the way, this blog has 888 words!)

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Who Makes Your Schedule?

Who makes your schedule?  If you answered anything other than “I do,” then I invite you to dig a little deeper.  Even if you have an assistant that handles your calendar, or work at a job where someone else assigns your daily tasks, ultimately we each decide where we choose to be moment by moment.  I can give a thousand reasons why I have to be somewhere, but in the end, I chose to be there instead of anywhere else.

Recently, while trying to schedule lunch and a movie with one of my best friends in Miami, I realized how full my schedule is these days.  Little by little, all 7 days of the week filled up, leaving me with no days off.  I didn’t even notice!  Being self-employed certainly has its advantages, but it also presents challenges in finding balance.  When do I turn off the computer for the day?  When do I say “no” to another appointment?   Last Friday when a meeting was cancelled, I had time for that lunch and a matinee with my friend.  It was so freeing!  After the movie, I noticed how strange it felt to not be rushing to another appointment.  In fact, it was a little uncomfortable.  That spoke volumes to me.  So the next day, with grace and love, I stepped back from one of my weekly commitments in order to give myself a day off.

I realize that many of you reading this have schedules far busier than mine.  It’s all relative.  But if you are feeling overwhelmed, here’s a thought.  Is there something in your schedule that you can let go of to allow for more breathing room?  Perhaps it’s something you have been doing for so long that it may not have even occurred to you that you can stop.  Take a moment to think about your weekday and weekend activities.  Are you enjoying or dreading most of them?   Do they bring you closer to your goals or distract you from them?  Do they enhance your connection with Spirit or disconnect? Do you have free time in your schedule where you can just play?  If not, I encourage you to claim some!  Any kid will tell you how important that is.  I’ve never heard one say, “I wish I had more homework.”

Everyday we are barraged with offers, opportunities, emails, and invitations all vying for our attention and our time.  We couldn’t possibly do or read all of them.  And if you are reading this right now, I am so grateful!  That tells me something that comes through me and what I write is of value to you.  I spend time writing from my heart every week because I enjoy it and I love to share what has helped me.  If at some point it becomes a burden instead of a joy, I trust I will be guided to another way to extend love out to the world.  As A Course in Miracles teaches, that’s really what all of us are here to do, no matter what our job or role.

I feel blessed that my job as a Life Coach and a Family Constellations Facilitator allows me to extend love by assisting others to find inner peace.  Are you having difficulty finding peace in your schedule or letting go of something you know is preventing you from reaching your goals and a happy life?  You will find free coaching videos on my website as well as information on A Course in Miracles and the programs I offer based on this beautiful teaching.  It will be time well spent.  Until next time, please remember one of my favorite quotes from the Course.  

“Teach only love, for that is what you are.”

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The Power of Love and Intention

love-fire

I had a lot of fun at Spiritual Summer Camp this weekend at Bridges of Wellness. Don’t worry if you missed it.  We are planning similar events for the near future since this one was so successful.  Not only did I have the opportunity to play, I also received some great reminders.  One was the power of intention.  We didn’t use logs to build a fire or stones to build a Native American Medicine Wheel.  However, I would say everyone felt the energy we generated with our intention to create a sacred space.  We drummed and rattled as we honored the four directions simply by placing a picture of an animal totem on each wall.  Then we built a fire by lighting tea lights surrounding a large candle.  I asked each participant to think of an intention or someone in their life who could use a little light as they lit their candle.  One by one each participant lit a candle as all of us watching sent love and light to surround their intention or their loved one. 

Humans have gathered around the fire to tell stories for thousands of years.  Instead of ghost stories, I invited everyone to share a “most story” by describing one of their most memorable experiences.  I started by sharing some of the unbelievable events that occurred at a Native American ceremony I was invited to several years ago.  You will be able to read those stories when my first book is published next year.  Until then, I will tell you that the ceremony was a “wiping away of tears” ceremony for a Native American elder named Grandmother Twylah.  A year after someone passes, it is tradition to have a ceremony to release that person’s spirit from the Earth Plane.  I always get goose bumps when I describe how the wind came sweeping through the pine trees towards the smoldering fire pit as the last person stepped in to sprinkle tobacco as an offering.  Like a scene from Disney’s Pocahontas, the wind swirled the ashes around in a circle and fluttered the Cherokee elder’s skirt before rushing directly over me with a “whoosh!”  I certainly felt Grandmother Twylah’s energy in that moment.

That story apparently set the tone for many to recall moments when they undeniably felt the presence of someone who had passed and the joy of knowing they were still around them.  That was another beautiful reminder.  The body may die, but the love that we have for someone never does.  Their messages are always the same.  “I’m fine.  I wish you well.  I’m watching over you.”  Sometimes your loved one will tell you before they pass how they will communicate with you from the other side.  I would have been okay with it if my mother picked something other than bird poop on my car to “bless me” with her presence.  My car was covered last year on her birthday.  Oh well.  A sign is a sign.  It was amazing to feel everyone’s heart opening with each new story and to feel the powerful presence of love in our circle. Our ceremony ended around 10PM, but the next day many reported being awake for quite a while after that because the energy was so strong.  What a testament to the power of love and intention!

Do you need some assistance following through with your intentions or would you like to feel more of that loving energy flowing in your life?  Life Coaching can help you stay on track and Family Constellations can reveal where the love may be blocked.  Maybe it’s time to stop doing the same thing over and over expecting different results?  Visit my website for more information on how you can break the cycle.  Until next time, I invite you to ask a friend to share a most story and share one with them.  Light a candle while thinking of an intention or a loved one.  Then watch and feel as love fills the room.

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Joy and Sadness

Joy.inside.outsadness.inside.out

Tears are interesting.  They fall both when we are extremely sad and when we are extremely happy.  I cried when my long term relationship ended and when two of my best friends got married.  On the surface, this doesn’t seem to make sense. Yet when we look deeper, we see that joy and sadness have an intertwining relationship.  This relationship is exactly what the creative folks at Pixar explore in their new animated film Inside Out.  It’s brilliant!  The movie takes place in the mind of an eleven year old girl named Riley.  The emotions of Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust, and Sadness are personified as colorful characters running a control panel in her mind.  

Joy does her best to prevent Sadness from touching Riley’s memories so they remain bright yellow and cheerful.  She also keeps Sadness distracted and away from the control panel as much as she can.  That’s what most of us are taught to do.  We try to avoid pain and sadness at all costs.  We distract or numb ourselves through various means so we don’t feel sad, angry, or lonely.  I sometimes use pizza.  Ironically, our attempts to avoid pain and sadness only prolong them.  I’m getting better at allowing myself to feel these feelings in the moment, and then let them pass.  Otherwise they get stuck.  As the movie cleverly shows, past traumas get locked away in our unconscious mind where they can influence our decisions and experiences later.  

Eckhart Tolle says in The Power of Now, “Every addiction arises from an unconscious refusal to face and move through your own pain.”  Perhaps we all have an addiction of some sort.  (See my pizza comment above.)  As someone who has had many long term relationships and friendships with individuals suffering from alcohol addiction, including my mother, I can see the truth in his statement.  There is no way around pain.  I can only go through it.  Sadness is not the enemy when I remember why I am sad.  Usually I am sad because I feel like I have lost something that I love, but that implies I had the joy of loving something in the first place!  That’s the nature of duality.  I personally don’t believe that a heart can be broken, but it can be cracked open by a sad event.  The good news is, once it’s open, love can flow in and out freely.  I have learned and seen many times in Family Constellations that love cannot flow through a closed heart.  When participants allow themselves to cry, it is incredibly healing for everyone.

When I cry tears of joy, it’s because my heart is completely open.  Something has touched me so deeply that I can’t contain my emotions or my tears.  Love is radiating in all directions.  I feel connected.  I remember my Oneness with all.  That’s how I felt when I watched this 8 MINUTE VIDEO.  If you have time, click HERE and have a look.  Observe your feelings as you watch.  If you feel like crying, is it because you are happy or sad?  Can you feel your heart open?   This video reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from author and theologian, Frederick Beuchner.

“Pay attention to the things that bring a tear to your eye or a lump in your throat because they are signs that the holy is drawing near.”

Does it feel like there is something locked away in your unconscious mind that is influencing your decisions or causing you sadness? Family Constellations is an excellent key to unlock that door and let it out in the open where it can be healed.  Does it seem like joy is no longer lighting up your day to day memories?  Life Coaching gives you plenty of matches to relight that fire.  For more information or to book a session, please visit my website.   It would bring me great joy to help you find yours.  Until next time, may your heart be open wide to give and receive all the love that’s yours to feel!

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Butterflies and Turtles

This past weekend I was thinking about my mom a lot.  I went to the same Asian restaurant where I had my “fortune cookie miracle” a few months after she made her transition.  I shared with my friends how the cookie I designated for her said, “The one you love is closer than you think.”  I still have that fortune taped to a photo of us, and after the events of this weekend, I know it’s true.

On Sunday I visited Butterfly World in Cypress Creek, FL with some friends from church.  If you haven’t been, I highly recommend it.  It’s like being in another realm.  Gentle notes of classical music waft through the air and dance with butterflies of every size and color as they flutter freely in a giant screened-in enclosure with trickling waterfalls, lush vegetation, and beautiful orchids.  This place inspires a deep sense of peace and wonder.  The only other time I had been there was with my mom on Mother’s Day a few years before she died.  We had a wonderful, peaceful day together.  It’s one of my favorite memories of the last years of her life, so of course, I was thinking and talking a lot about her that day. While we were there I also commented that the large white butterflies floating around reminded me of angels.  After we left, one of my friends sent me a photo she had taken and pointed out that one of those white butterflies was directly over my head.  She said, “Look!  It’s your mom watching over you!”  Yes, that made my eyes leak a little bit.

After Butterfly World I started feeling a headache coming on.  I thought perhaps it was because I was hungry, so I stopped to get something to eat on my way home.  The food didn’t help.  The headache got progressively worse, forcing me to lie down with a heated bean bag on my tense neck muscles and a cold compress with a few drops of lavender oil on my forehead.  It helped a little bit, but I still wasn’t feeling well enough to attend a small gathering at a friend’s apartment as I had planned.  I finally acquiesced and took 3 ibuprofen tablets.  When that didn’t work, I asked for guidance on what would make me feel better.  The answer I received surprised me.  “Go walk on the beach and breathe some salt air.”  Although it was after 10 o’clock, I felt like that would help, so I jumped in my car and off to the beach I went.

I parked my car in my usual spot and headed for the healing waters of Mother Ocean.  It was a beautiful, breezy, moonlit night, and as I walked along the shoreline, like magic, the rolling waves seemed to wash away my headache.  As I continued, I noticed a plethora of staked off areas on the beach where sea turtles had laid their eggs.  That’s when I remembered that one of my mom’s final wishes was to see sea turtles hatch at night.  On her last Mother’s Day on Earth, I took my mom to see the Disney Nature film Oceans.  I had seen it before and knew it contained a scene where they filmed sea turtles hatching and scampering to the sea.  She loved it!  Another beautiful Mother’s Day memory.  

Now I’m thinking, “What is my mother up to? I’m not usually at the beach this time of night.  Was that horrible headache just a way to get me to cancel my plans and follow hers instead?”  I ended up walking for over an hour, all the while looking for signs of tiny turtles emerging from their nest.  I sent my friend who took the angel photo a text message telling her about my realization of the two Mother’s Day memories. Were they connected? How cool would it be if that’s why I was at the beach that night?  My friend told me about the time years ago when she saw a mother turtle laying eggs in the sand late at night.  That seemed pretty cool too!  I kept walking and looking, but the only thing spectacular I saw was lightning in the distance.  Another one of my mother’s favorite things, a thunderstorm, was about to join the party.  That’s when I decided it was probably best to turn around and head back.  Even if I didn’t see any turtles, with the approach of the storm and my heart full of memories of her, I definitely felt my mom’s presence.  That was enough.  It was almost midnight and time to go home.

On my way back, I noticed strange looking tire tracks heading into the ocean.  Wouldn’t the waves have washed away any marks from lifeguard vehicles or kids playing in the sand by now?  Then it dawned on me.  Those tracks weren’t heading in to the ocean, they were heading OUT! I followed the trail up the beach and there she was… a mama turtle just finishing up her work for the night.  I stood there in awe and gratitude as I watched her cover up her nest before dragging her body back into the sea.  I tried to take her picture before she vanished into the waves, but it was too dark and I didn’t want to scare her with my flash.  That’s okay.  I will never forget her.  I see now it had to be a mama turtle so I could feel that mother energy.  She did her job and then it was time for her to move on, just like my mom.  It sure felt like a message from her, letting me know she is still close by, watching over me, guiding me, and reminding me that Love cannot die.

If you enjoy these stories, please feel free to share them with friends via email or social media.  It brings me great joy to share them with you, just like it brings me joy to share what I’ve learned from life, A Course in Miracles, and Family Constellations in my coaching sessions and workshops.  If you’re ready for some miracles of your own, visit my website to sign up for a workshop, Life Coaching, or a one-on-one Family Constellations session by phone or in person.  Something tells me there will be plenty of miracles and messages from the Animal Kingdom at Spiritual Summer Camp at Bridges of Wellness on Saturday July 11 & Sunday July 12 as well.  Click HERE for all the details.

Until next time, may you remember that the one you love is closer than you think…