FAITH and the way I see it

This week I pray for FAITH.

I just returned from Northern California.

It was not part of my planned trips for these last few months of 2014.  However, an email about studying with the elders, a retreat with the Sequoia Trees, showed up in my inbox.  I sent a Thank you email for the inspiration and please keep me posted for upcoming trips in 2015.  

I get a phone call Wednesday night telling me that there is space and what would it take to make this trip hahahappen and be in California on Friday.  I was going to say No.  I already had plans for the weekend (visions of pink and SisterGoddesses and South Beach).  And a flight less than 48 hours away?  Hahaha.

To tell you the truth, thinking of the trees brought me great pleasure - a warmth in my heart and a tingling of excitement in my body.  I  took a deep breath and had a good laugh.  I said YES let me see what I can find.  I got on the internet to check itineraries and prices.

For those of us who have booked last minute travel - especially from Florida to California - price of airfare can be pretty hefty.  Direct flights from Fort Lauderdale to San Francisco were $1,200 pre tax.   I was about to give up a when a little pop-up for USAir showed up on my screen.  A non-direct flight through Charlotte with minimal layover time would have me arriving on time to San Francisco to meet the designated shuttle.   The flight price was a more reasonable $460.00 tax included.  Trying to book the flight online proved futile.  I picked up the phone and had a pleasant conversation with a young man named Josh.  He pushed some buttons and typed in code and all of a sudden for $400.00 and points, I was traveling first class to California and back.  My NO turned into an emphatic YES YES YES.

Once I had my tickets, I called to find out where exactly in California this retreat would occur.  Ben Lomond, the voice at the other end of the phone said.  Ben Lomond?  Of all the cities in California,  this is one I know quite well.   My cousins - Auntie Sylvia's niece and great niece and great great nephew hahahappen to live in Ben Lomond.  I've been blessed to be in Ben Lomond twice for weddings.

I could see Auntie Sylvia's hand, RIP, all over this trip.

Friday morning at 5:00 a.m., less than 24 hours after purchasing my ticket, I boarded my flight. I was beyond exhahahahausted.  Besides getting up at 3:00 a.m. to catch my flight, we had Auntie Sylvia's funeral the day before.  My emotions were a mess as was I.

I surrendered my fears and concerns and not knowing to the Universe and started my adventure.

The privilege of first class, it is quite nice.  You are the first to board the airplane, one of the first to deplane.  There is always space overhead for a carry on and there is no fee to check in a baggage. The seats are big enough to sit crisscross applesauce (once you take off your shoes).  Blankets are provided to ward off the chill and you are only a few rows from the bathroom up front.  You also get as much water, as often, as you want.   

Leaving Florida's warm and balmy 77 degrees - I encountered Charlotte's freezing and blistering winds and 34 degrees and then transitioned to the sunny and frigid skies of San Francisco registering at 54 degrees.   However, the landscape totally shifted as did my state of mind.  The 1 1/2 hour drive in the shuttle helped me loosen my layers.  I was finally able to release all the pressure and stress and tension that had been accumulating in my body.  As we climbed into the mountains and were surrounded by trees, I took a deep breath of the crisp air.

I had the pleasure of meeting a tribe of bee Goddesses - women who identify with bees as a busyness model - women who had heard the calling of the Trees and gathered in Ben Lomond at the Sequoia Retreat Center to be nestled in the Redwoods.   These Elders, Sequoias or California Redwoods are the tallest trees on earth.   They grow in a very narrow strip along the coast of California.

I came here to learn about being grounded and rooted into the Earth.  I found my way here to find my balance.  I was led here to remember my purpose.  I am here to release my stress and hahahand it to the Trees.    I am here now to be One with the Elders and uncover my bliss.

I am here hugging trees.  There is something so magical about connecting with a tree trunk and putting your arms around it. When I am still with the tree, I can feel energy coursing out of me and right through to the tree.  In return, I am filled with a sense of peace and comfort.

It has now been confirmed by science that hugging trees can beneficially affect human health by altering vibrational frequency.    Read More: HERE

I was under a lot of stress this past month.  Trying to cope with family illness and helping parents adjust to a new way of living and being an aunt and a domestic Goddess that maintains and runs my household - it's been a little overwhelming.  I kept on thinking I had to do it all.  I was taking life way too seriously and not having as much fun on this Heaven on Earth as I am entitled to enjoy.

I needed to return to the trees to gain perspective and patience. I had to sit under the trees' shade and do some deep breathing and being.

Trees give me a reality check - they dwarf me until I remember that I am but a speck in this Universe. They reMIND me that all is well and this too shall pass.

I am humbled by my experience with these trees. Their size - their beauty - the energy of peace I feel when amongst these giants - it helps me laugh at my life.  It helps me laugh at the things I take so seriously and focus on what I take for granted in my life.  My faith is restored when walking amongst the Elders and kissing their sacred skin.

Mike Dooley, at www.tut.com, shahahares this story about Faith:

Yesterday I watched a small bird, flying very fast, disappear into the canopy of an oak tree. So dense were its leaves that it was impossible to see what happened next, though I can tell you it remained inside.

I wondered how the little bird found its opening through the leaves at such a speed, and then managed to gently align its fragile body on the branch it chose to land upon, all within a fraction of a second. Not to mention the impossible to imagine flying maneuvers required: the banking, the curling, the vertical and horizontal stabilizations, the deceleration and landing.

Memory? Calculation? Not in that tiny brain. Instinct? Maybe, but how does instinct know which way the branches of a tree have grown when no two are the same?

That little bird just knew. It had faith, in spite of not being able to see how things would work out, that if (and only if) it stayed the course the details would be taken care of; that an opening would appear and a twig would be found. In fact, had she slowed down enough to carefully and logically inspect the tree first, the prudent thing to do, she would have lost her lift and fallen to the ground.

Kind of like reaching for your dreams. Neither memory, nor calculating, nor instincts are the deciding factors, but faith coupled with action.
Tallyho,

The Universe

Here's a little bit more about Sequoia Trees and climbing them.   This is Richard Preston's Ted Talk on Climbing the World's Biggest Trees

P.S.  I did get to hahahang with my cousins in Ben Lomond and meet a whole new generation of cousins.  Auntie Sylvia and her sisters are laughing up there in heaven seeing that our family keeps on growing so beautifully, like these trees.

Sustainability is Key

On Friday, flying home from Germany, I had the opportunity to watch Happy Feet.  Again.  I forgot what a great little movie this was.  A penguin using his dancing feet to create movement that causes chahahange. Mumbles the penguin remained true to himself and found that people responded to his passion.  Here was a penguin who believed he would find answers and help his tribe thrive by being himself.

Germany was a culmination of seeds planted long ago by who I was then and am still becoming.   After hearing the Dalai Lama live in Fort Lauderdale in 2004, I walked out of there with his words on my mind.  He asked the audience how can we have peace in the world when we do not have peace within our families?

At the time, neither of my parents were talking to their siblings and I had peeps in my family that I knew by title but not by person.  For example, my aunt.  She and my Mom, her sister, were barely talking - thinking they had nothing in common.  I found that what they had in common was me.  I called my aunt - told her I wanted to get to know her better, and flew out to Germany to do just that.

I ended up working in her new restaurant and sharing the couch with my new cousin, Blitz, a black Doberman.  I got to know my aunt as an adult and peer - as a friend and a niece.  I worked hard - listened to stories - shared moments.  The past came to meet us in the present where we could shine the light of love and make a change.   After 11 days, we definitely respected one another and found out that we truly liked each other as well.

First reunion in Germany - Mom, Auntie K and me

One seed planted and sustained with love and phone calls and emails.  Soon, another seed was planted.  I called my Mom on my birthday and thanked her for giving birth to me.  I invited her to Romania so we could visit my grandmother, my mama's mama.  Before leaving Europe, we stopped in Germany so the sisters could meet again.  And talk about the mother that they were estranged from.  Another seed was planted.

My aunt made the trek to Florida.  She came to enjoy the beach and the fabulous biking weather.  She came to know me and LoverBoy a little better.  She was even blessed to be here to witness and experience Hurricane Katrina.  More love, phone calls, time together and faith.  More seeds planted.

Me in Romania with my Grandma and her girlfriends

Two years later, Mom and I rented an apartment in Romania.  My grandmother joins us as does my Aunt.  It is a trip down memory lane - seeing places of their childhood and listening to their mother tongue.  We took a little excursion into the mountains to get a new sense of this place, these women and their experiences.  We spent two days in a old chalet - talking and eating - sharing stories and secrets - listening to details that had been missed and filling in the blanks that our bodies created to protect us.  A huge healing occurs - a shift - a peaceful surrendering to a new way of life.  

Two years later, the women agreed to meet in Vienna, Austria.  The matriarch of our family, my Mamama and her two daughters (my Mom and Aunt) and I rented an apartment for a week of family fun in Vienna. Again, we shared stories, we laughed, we cooked together and we mended part of the past.

The Sisters and Doggess Goddess Debby

Going to Germany this week was the blossoming of all the seeds of love planted in this family and getting to know the newest member of our family, Miss Debby.  Again, pieces of the puzzle were discovered as we weaved the fabric of our family lives and saw how each generation had left its mark on the next.  For me, I deeply desired this feminine healing of the family - this ability to connect and know we lived common history and are creating herstory.

What I've learned to be true is that seeds sprout in their own time. For me, sustainability of these seeds required discipline and focus. I found patience - a knowing or grace that things hahahappen in their own time instead of mine.  I found love - an open heart to however things appear on the surface.  I found faith - all the juicy stuff hangs out just below the surface enticing me to be in it for the long haul.

This week I felt a shift in the feminine in my family.  A beautiful chahahange of vibration as we let go of the past with compassion and accepted the present for what it is and opened ourselves up to the possibilities of the future.  We did this by laughing and crying and sharing and listening and eating, of course.  Yummy eating at my Aunt and Uncle's Restaurant, Wildhof, in the middle of a forest, about 15 minutes from Frankfurt.

REST & LAUGHTER

 

  

Rest and laughter are the most spiritual and subversive 
acts of all.    Laugh, rest, slow down.

                              -  Anne Lamott, Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith

I've spent years perfecting the Art of Doing No Thing - one of the most difficult things I've ever had to learn to be.

First, I thought doing no thing was taking a day off work and lounging around the house - watching TV, reading a book, catching up on household chores.... I realized I was still doing something.   

I incorporated napping into my schedule.  I would lay there on my bed and while my body was at rest, my mind was running thousands of miles an hour.  Feeling guilty for all the things I should be doing. Not giving myself permission to just be.

I incorporated guided meditations during naptime - listening to someone's voice take me on a journey of the inner recesses of my mind - focusing on a mantra and tuning into the musical soundwaves.  Gradually, my mind slowed down.  Emptied out a little bit.  I realized that I didn't need to sleep.  I just needed to be still.

My dog encouraged me to go outside.  We would sit on the grass doing no thing - listening to the wind blow.  Feet naked in the ground - watching the tree branches sway.  When thoughts would come up, I would watch them and bid them peace and farewell.  Taking a deep breath and focusing on my environment - the luscious grass, the cool earth, the trees providing me with shade.

Laying back on the ground, watching the clouds dance.  Turning over on my stomach, observing the ants marching up and down grass stalks. A whole ecosystem below me - holding me up and providing me comfort.  Connecting my nature to nature.  It felt so peaceful and energizing.

I realized that slowing down and resting gave me more energy and stamina when I shifted into being a human doing again.

I began to seek other ways to find this delicious peace of resting - this pleasureful sensation of feeling loose and present in my body - relaxed yet aware.

I found it in laughter.   When I have a good laugh, it's like I shaHAhake all my cells up.  Everything jiggle and joggles and gets moved about.   A delicious chaHAhaos of breath resulting in peace and relaxation within.   

In the beginning, to have a good laugh laugh, I watched funny movies or listened to a comedian.  While that helped, it kept my mind going with all sorts of stimuli.   Laughter Yoga - laughing for no reason - brought me the stillness of mind I was seeking.  Engaging my body to function in a way that was pleasureful to my soul.  Creating a sensation of mirth within that would overflow outside of me and make a wonderful sound.

We live in a culture where we are taught to do, do, do - rest is seen as being lazy.  We live in a world of seriousness and stress.  Laughter is not the norm.  Both of these birthrights taken away as we grow up to fit our society.

Yet - we seek it.  We crave it.  The pleasure of stillness - of being, resting, laughing.  When we hear it and experience it, it lightens up our soul.   Yes, Anne Lamott, I am a subversive, a pleasure Revolutionary to my core.   Woohoo!!!

The Art of Asking

I'm asking for help - knowing I cannot do this PEACE process alone - reaching out to my community and asking for things beyond my wisdom and know-how.

This HAHA practice makes me so happy - getting together and laughing and making our muscles strong and changing our vibration and sharing our enerchi.  I want to expand my practice.  I'd like to reach more people.

I am asking for assistance in creating a movement - a laughter movement - looking for expertise in creating a non-profit organization that will teach stress relief techniques through laughter, conflict resolution through laughter, haHAhappiness moments through laughter.   Building a school of thought and movement that brings levity to life situations.

I am asking for assistance in getting more people certified as laughter leaders in our community so we can have more laughter circles in more places more often  -creating a wave of HAHA enerchi.  I am asking for financial support so I can offer scholarships to peeps who want to share laughter as their JOB - Joy of Being - and at this moment cannot.

I am asking for assistance in exchanging my energy for your expertise to reach out to busynesses who can benefit from stress relief techniques that are easy peasy and hands on eyes wide open.

I am asking for help in forming and filling a Board of Directors who can help me lead this Movement of Laughter and Love.

I am asking for the next steps that do not come easy to me - the left brain steps that evade me as I delve deeper into my right brain techniques.

I am diving deep into the arms of my community - being vulnerable and asking for help - so we can grow this HAHA movement and help ourselves and others and send aloHAhaHA energy everywhere.

Check out this TED video of Amanda Palmer - the Art of Asking

Teamwork

I have a dream

A song to sing

A feeling to follow

Words to shaHAhare

I let my Heart do the talking

and my body listens and acts

Moving and expressing

from the INside OUT

I've always felt PEACE

a tangible sensation HERE now

always looking for the good

and breathing LOVE into the situation

Now I know the value of teamwork

A group of people connected

Doing the work and spreading the word

Inciting a MOVEment

I believe in Laughter 

How it can chaHAhange our minds

And create peace in our bodies

I believe in Yoga

How it gives us flexibility

Enhances our breathing and helps us grow

I believe in the HAHA chi 

choosing haHAhappy and

 shaHAharing which is caring

I believe in you - me - WE

Our connection 

Our communication 

Our tribe

One Laugh

World Peace

One Love

FAITH

Yesterday I watched a small bird, flying VERY fast, disappear into the canopy of an oak tree. So dense were its leaves, that it was impossible to see what happened next, though I can tell you it remained inside.

I wondered about how the little bird found its opening through the leaves at such a speed, and then manage to gently alight its fragile body on the branch it chose to land, all within a FRACTION of a second. Not to mention the impossible to imagine flying maneuvers required, the banking, the curling, the vertical and horizontal stabilizations, the deceleration and landing.

Memory? Calculation? Not in that tiny brain. Instinct? Maybe, but how does instinct know which way the branches of a tree have grown, when no two are the same?

That little bird JUST KNEW. It knew... in spite of NOT being able to SEE HOW things would work out... that if (and only if) it stayed the course, THE DETAILS would be taken care of... that an opening would appear and a twig be found. In fact, had she slowed down ENOUGH to carefully and logically inspect the tree first, the prudent thing to do, she would have fallen to the ground.

Kind of like us reaching our goals. Neither memory, nor calculating, nor instincts are the deciding factors, but faith.  

I found this story on the internet and loved it so much - the truth of the bird just knowing - without seeing and without details and trusting the branch would be there.

Growing my laughter muscle has helped me be in this space of faith - knowing that I can laugh when I know not, when I cannot see and when I am not sure.  Laughing opens my heart and reminds me to have faith that all is well and hahahappens in its own time.

What a powerful Art to practice - FAITH.  Woohoo!!!

One Million Acts of Kindness

When I woke up this week and looked out my front window I had a pleasant surprise - one that made my heart sing. Bogart in the driver's seat and hundreds of messages of Peace & Love. This is the Kindness Bus and it's been rolling around Hollywood, Florida this week.

Dog God Bogart at the front seat and his friend Bob drive from city to city with a message of kindness and peace.  Since mid-October 2012 and beginning in New York City, Bob and Bogart have been riding the Kindness Bus around the perimeter of the United States. A 9,000 mile ride of one year duration will end in New York City in October 2013.  Bob and Bogart  visit schools, addressing school bullying, cyber bullying and adolescent suicide. 

Bob and Bogart live on this bus - their intention to save kids lives - to raise awareness and make this world just a wee bit happier and safer for children and women.  Their campaign - ONE MILLION ACTS OF KINDNESS

I met Bob and Bogart a few months ago when they first parked their bus on my swale under our palm trees and nested for the evening.  The next morning I woke up with GingerMama and ZekoMeow and we circled the bus, sniffing and smelling all the miles it had come from and reading all the beautiful messages of love.

 In fact, I made a movie so you can see what we saw too:

 Bob and Bogart are able to do this ride across the United States spreading the word of KINDNESS by donations.  Every penny counts in getting this message across.  Check them out here and give a little or give a lot.  Keep the Kindness bus rolling.

AWAKENING to my CALLING

This summer I traveled to the Valley of Longevity in Vilcabamba, Ecuador.  I stayed at an OMazing property called MonteSuenos (Dream Mountain).   

I had never expressed an interest in Ecuador before and yet, when I saw the name, MonteSuenos, I knew I had to go.  I had a heart felt yearning to go and see and be.   It was time to explore.

What I found was an OMazing country.  Ecuador lies on the equator and has diversity in topography (coast - Pacific Ocean, Andes mountain -  valleys and basins and rainforest). There are waterfalls, and trees - all sorts of trees,friendly people, pure air, and food  - the most delicious fruits and vegetables - no pesticides, no gmos - straight out of the ground and off the trees and into the kitchen and served to me.

What I was blessed with was an OMazing property called MonteSuenos -  a sacred space of peace, sustainability, and creativity.   Overlooking the village of Vilcabamba, there are two houses, art studio, meditation tower, nooks and crannies to relax and take in the views, two modern kitchens, natural trails through lush tropical gardens, tiki huts, ceremonial sites and breathtaking nature all around.

I met OMazing women on this trip. SisterGoddess Meredith, the artist who created and envisioned the details in each and every room and whose art hangs everywhere in the houses. SisterGoddess Meredith's art speaks of the Divine Goddess - the Sacred Feminine.  Her easy gentle manner and warm smile and artistic touch make you feel delicious.  SisterGoddess Sarah, resident guru of juices, websites, rawfood and energy healer.  SisterGoddess Caroline, yogini extraordinaire and holistic coach and my busyness parter in our upcoming retreat. SisterGoddess Virginia, Goddess rest her soul (she passed away last month) who was queen of the busyness of MonteSuenos and dancer of my heart.

While I was there, I was part of a sacred ritual - indigenous tribes walked from the center of town to two mountain peaks where the three rivers meet.  A circle was formed and we witnessed a ceremony honoring YakuMama (MotherWater) - we had a dialogue between the East and West, we danced around the fire, we took tobacco leaves at the convergence of these three rivers and blessed the leaves and released them.

I had a feeling - an Aha MOMent that there was something very important for me here.  An AWAKENING that this sacred space needed me to return and to bring those being called.

I found a safe space here in our World that honors the Sacred Feminine  - the return of the Goddess.  I am called to return and express myself through Play (laughter and drumming and dancing) and Prayer (yoga and dancing and laughter and sacred rituals) and Painting (expression of emotions and freedom of creativity).  I am called to bring SisterGoddesses who want to experience another way of breathing and being and eating.   I am awakened to the call of our EarthMother, PachaMama, who wants me to return and shaHAhare her beauty and sustenance and blessings of food and pure water and pure air.

MonteSuenos, overlooks Vilcabamba, the Valley of Longevity.   Having been there and experienced the peace and quiet and purity and sanctity, I am awakened to the truth of this valley.     While there, we had laughter circles run by SisterGoddess Lourdes.  We laughed HAHA HO HO HEE HEE and our peals rang down into the valley spreading joy.

At this time, I am blessed to be able to offer this experience to those SisterGoddesses called by the Oracle of 2013.   My partner and I have set up a PRAY, PAINT & PLAY retreat - Pleasure for your Body, Mind and Soul - nourishing all parts of you and me and we.

I am so excited to go back and shaHAhare myself and my wisdom and laughter in this sacred space that took my breath away and made me feel like I was home again.  I look forward to the women who are called to join me on this journey.

I ask, that as you read this, if you are not called, pass it forward to another woman who might resonate and be awakened to being in this space at this time and raising the vibration of peace as we Pray, Paint and Play.  Check out the beautiful web page created by SisterGoddess Sarah for this OMazing trip  - PRAY, PAINT & PLAY (click on Pray, Paint & Play)

I made a movie of some of my pictures of my experience.  I shaHAhare it with you here for your enjoyment.

ThaHAhank you for letting me shaHAhare my joy and taking a moment to read it.

Process of PEACE

The Dalai Lama once asked me (and a few hundred other peeps) a question:   How can we have peace in the world when we do not have peace within ourselves? within our families?

Peace within myself   -  back then, with my full time work as a paralegal and extra eighty pounds on my body and my plan to be rich and retired - I had no idea what the Dalai Lama was saying.   

I had a vague concept of Peace but no healthy hahabits to get me there. I heard about Laughter Yoga and that resonated with me.  A way to get out of my head and into my body.  An opportunity to grow a muscle that would help shift my attitude.  A space of silence and meditation where joy can grow.  Sign me up!!!

Over the last seven years - as my muscles get toned and strengthened, I can  find the HAHA in everything. I feel the levity in my situations and a smile easily finds my lips.

The eighty pounds have left along with meat, milk, cheese and grain - side effects of finding HAHAhappy and not having to stuff my face with food.

The process of Peace involves looking within and around.  Finding the feelings and laughing and crying about them and through them.  Accessing the Excess and releasing and purging what no longer serves me.   And shaHAhaking it out - releasing what no longer belongs and keeping everything within fluid and flexible.

Slowly, I see progress with the process.   I feel the Peace in my heart expand and express itself in the Universe in a chaHAharming way.

ShaHAhakti shaHAhake and get that Feminine Cosmic Energy dancing and laughing - doing a little AbunDANCE and bringing blessings your way.

Here's a musical message about ShaHAhaking and finding haHAhappy from the ultimate Dancing Goddess, Doris Day.   

Spring is in the Air ???

I was so wishing it would start warming up today.

Walking with GingerMama in 55 degree weather in South Florida kind of boggles the mind. Mixes up the body pretty good too.

My OMazing Sister Goddess Christina was here with Wee Grace at 7:30 a.m., bright eyed and ready to walk through the park and sing to the trees with me.

We have a Walk and Talk before Laughter Yoga - it gets my motor humming and my ears tuned.

Today, I wore my 4th of July Pants and my Bicycle Therapy shirt. It's almost as if I am prodding the Universe to hurry up and warm us up.

I am still feeling a little queasy as my core muscles and organs shrink back into place. I took off my shoes - the ground is warm and healing - I feel grounded and at peace although my rollercoaster has not stopped. Tee hee ~@~

As we created our Circle and held hands and OM'd together, the Universe left us a gift. As we opened our eyes and saw each other smiling - we noticed a white feather in the center of our circle - an opportunity to set intentions of peace and love and healing.

All is well in the world today.

What a blessing to BE and LAUGH.

What groovy vibes we choose to create.

Woo hoo~!~

And the yummy ripples they create.

(Check out Ripples Project)

Tee hee ~@~

Thank you Mama Earth for the healing & love you provide.