Happy Leap Day!

"Liz Lemon: 'I'm about to do something crazy.'
Her boyfriend Chris: 'You should! Real life is for March.'"
--From the 30 Rock episode "Leap Day"

Happy Leap day ya'll. I'm recovering from the flu (:p) and working hard on a blog entry for Verity Credit Union (click here to view), but I just LOVE the idea of a "leap day" so I wanted to write something about it.

“Leap and the net will appear.” (John Burroughs, American Naturalist and Essayist) has always been one of my favorite quotes. It's what we do all day every day. We wake up, trusting that the earth will still be spinning on its axis. We take a step, trusting that gravity is still the law of our land. We step outside, trusting that the air we breathe will fill our lungs with oxygen and sustain us for another day.

Every day is a leap of faith, but today is an extra special day. An extra day. “A day to do the things you wouldn't ordinarily do. A day to take chances.” (also from the 30 Rock episode “Leap Day”)

The other day I read an article about doing something different every day. Just to shake things up, to knock yourself out of your comfort zone, to take a leap of faith. I love this idea and I am going to try it, starting today. 

I have the idea to do it for a year, but perhaps I'll start with a month and see how it goes. I don't think this is going to be easy for me, but who knows? 

So Happy Leap Day to you! Now go out and TAKE A FLYING LEAP. The net WILL appear! 

[Leap Day Update: My "thing" for the day is to use my left hand instead of my right. For writing, for mousing, for brushing my teeth....whenever I remember for whatever I can. What's yours?]

The Misery and Joy of a Staycation

"Misery and joy have the same shape in this world: You may call the rose an open heart or a broken heart." --Rumi 

My kids are off of school this week and my husband is home too, taking some vacation time so we can work around the house.

The week got off to a great start. We were all just so happy and in sync and the first couple of days were full of joy. 

Yesterday afternoon, however, the tide turned. 

My husband reminded me that he did have some work to do this week and it triggered something old and angry inside of me. I was miserable and I could not rest until everyone around me was miserable as well. 

This morning, I succeeded. 

"Where do we go from here?" I found myself wailing inside as I tried to imagine what came next. 

And what I got was similar to this quote from Rumi. "Just do what comes next. What you were going to do anyway. Do it with a heavy heart and it will gradually get lighter." 

Don't let misery stop you in other words. Misery is just another name for joy. And if you step forward in misery, you just might find joy again.

Loving What IS

"The problem, if you love it, is as beautiful as the sunset." --Jiddu Krishnamurti

L♥VE

"Love is freedom. To look for it by placing yourself in bondage is to separate yourself from it. For the love of God, no longer seek for union in separation, nor freedom in bondage! As you release, so will you be released. " --A Course in Miracles

Happy Valentine's Day to you all! I L♥VE the idea of L♥VE as freedom, I always have. In the meantime, I show my L♥VE through control. :p What's that about? 

But, as a very wise man once said to me, "We are all doing the very best we can in any given moment." 

So, control was the best I could do at the time and today I am trying to do better. I am trying to release and L♥VE and offer freedom to everyone as a gift of L♥VE. I offer it to you. 

Do not place yourself in bondage to L♥VE, nor anyone else you L♥VE. And, when in doubt offer chocolate. 

I L♥VE you - have a fabulous V-day!

Shooting Stars

"Thinking with our brains is like shooting blanks now, whereby thinking with our hearts will be like shooting stars." --Lauren G Gorgo in her energy alert from January 10, 2012 

I love getting the latest scoop on what is going on energetically in the world and I love it even more when it affirms my experience or my own intuition. More and more these days I find myself second-guessing what I am thinking in my head. 

For me this is revolutionary. I have been a "thinker" all of my life. Thoughts spinning and churning all day - and sometimes all night - long. Plotting, planning, figuring, designing....It's exhausting! 

And the great news is - I don't have to do it anymore! 

The time for thinking with our heads is over. It's our hearts that are leading the way now and thinking with my heart is so much less work than thinking with my head. A LOT less exhausting, a lot more clear and a lot more full of LOVE and KINDNESS and BLESSINGS and BLISS and all good things than my head ever was. 

It truly does feel like I'm shooting stars!

Pick the Flowers

"Pick the flowers, despite the thorns." --Grace Waters, Intuitive Bodyworker 

I had a session with Grace this week. 

Grace means "gift of God" and oh boy is she! She says that bodies talk to her and I believe her. Mine certainly does. 

Today it told her that I needed some Saguaro Cactus flower essence to help me deal with some of the people in my life. She said that people can be prickly and rather than avoid them I can, "Pick the flowers, despite the thorns." 

In other words, enjoy what is beautiful and avoid getting stung by those things which are not. I thought this was beautiful advice and I am going to try and look for the beautiful flowers on the prickly people I encounter from now on. 

Life's Not Fair! (And that's the way it's SUPPOSED to be....)

"...[B]y wanting things to be fair, you are depriving people of their lessons." --LD

I was complaining to a friend the other day about something that was patently unfair and this is what she said to me, "Justice is a big issue for you, but by wanting things to be fair, you are depriving people of their lessons." And, BOING! My whole life flashed before me.

"That's not fair!" was my almost constant refrain as a child (just ask my parents) and it infuriated me to no end when they would answer matter-of-factly "Life's not fair."

I would like to think that as I have grown up I have grown in my understanding of the world and that I would have fully realized by now that the world isn't fair. 

And to be fair (ha, ha) to myself, I think I have. Some people have money; some people don't. Some people have good health; some people don't. To a large extent these "facts" of our lives are determined by the choices we make, but there is a good deal of luck and chance and privilege (or lack thereof) that determines how "fair" our lot in life is. I get that now and have (mostly) accepted it. 

What still gets me is when people act blatantly unfair towards other people. 

But the thing is, I don't get to be the ultimate authority on what is fair behavior and what is not. So even if I think someone is being really unfair, I don't get to decide that that is so. 

AND, even if I did, changing an unfair situation into a fair one by sheer force of my will would be depriving someone of a life lesson. And that's not fair!

Sniff Out the Joy

"Keep your nose to the joy trail." --Buffy Saint-Marie

My parents didn't have a lot of music, but The Best of Buffy Saint-Marie was in heavy rotation around our house in the 70's. "Cripple Creek" was my favorite song and it still makes me feel like I am six years old and being mesmerized by this strange (in a good way...) woman's voice coming out of the speakers. 

This quote from Buffy comes via my sister in our column for this week. May you sniff out - and find - YOUR joy today!

Ahead of Her Time

"We have all a better guide in ourselves, if we would attend to it, than any other person can be." --Jane Austen from "Mansfield Park"

Let It Go

 "What are you holding against yourself today? Let it go. Say, 'I forgive MYSELF,' and mean it."  --The Universe

It's ALL for Our Learning!

"Anything that annoys you is for teaching you patience.
Anyone who abandons you is for teaching you how to stand on your own two feet.
Anything that angers you is for teaching you forgiveness and compassion.
Anything that has power over you is for teaching you how to take your power back.
Anything you hate is for teaching you unconditional love.
Anything you fear is for teaching you courage to overcome your fear.
Anything you can’t control is for teaching you how to let go and trust the Universe.”--Jackson Kiddard from www.bheretoday.com