And times are always changing so really it may just be that we are all waking up to the what “is” and paying attention to what “isn’t”? Maybe? Anyway, here are some thoughts that I’ve picked up along the way to keep in mind when shifts in consciousness are happening (and you know it, so clap your hands!):

1.) Don’t panic (it’s been said before and bears saying again) the world is made up of patterns. Even in the chaos there are patterns and where there are patterns there is a rhythm and where there is a rhythm there is a heartbeat and where there is a heartbeat there is you and I.  We are not alone.

2.) Even if everything that you’ve ever known to be rock steady in your life changes, it will be for the better. Especially when it is the natural course of things and not pushed.  Trust the process. Trust the process. Trust the process.  If you know how to swim then remember how to breathe.

3.) There are mighty forces at work to help us through these changes.  Sometimes we’ll be able to see them and recognize them and sometimes we won’t but they are there and we are being helped.

4.) You know what to do.  It is as much a part of you as your soul.  You may have to get extra special quiet and still and you may feel like you have to listen for a very long time before you remember, but you know what to do.

5.) Reach out to others.  Ask how you can be of service. Find a way to get out of yourself by doing for someone for something else.  Give attention to your heart connections.

6.) Find reasons and ways to laugh. Darkness hates laughter.  It wants to absorb it into the silence but it cannot. Laughter is lighter.  Bump your spiritual funny bone and find ways to laugh with yourself when you stumble.

7.) Let go and see who else is in here with you.  A recent Hopi Prayer reminded us to let go go and to go with the river and find out who else has let inside of the swirl.

8.) Now is the time of gathering.  Like the reverberations that a pebble makes when it is dropped onto a still pool, people are ready to gather, discuss, witness, feel, discover, learn, encourage and love.  Now is the time of gathering.

9.) You can have the life you always wanted.  It just may not look like you expected but remember how you wanted to feel, that feeling will lead you to the truth.

10.) Fear and Excitement are on the same continuum; it’s all in the interpretation.

I’m eternally grateful for poets like the great Sufi poet, Hafiz. Whenever I’m feeling in need of inspiration, I just have to open a book of his poetry (The Gift) and turn to any poem and my heart is lifted. The following is one that I found tonight on the net. I leave you with this morsel to reflect on.

Some Fill With Each Good Rain

There are different wells within your heart.

Some fill with each good rain,

Others are far too deep for that.

In one well

You have just a few precious cups of water,

That “love” is literally something of yourself,

It can grow as slow as a diamond

If it is lost.

Your love

Should never be offered to the mouth of a Stranger,

Only to someone

Who has the valor and daring

To cut pieces of their soul off with a knife

Then weave them into a blanket

To protect you.

There are different wells within us.

Some fill with each good rain,

Others are far, far too deep

For that.

I’m one of those people that has to pretty much avoid any news (radio, television, print, digital, etc.) about animals because most stories usually leave me feeling very upset and oh so powerless. Today I broke my rule by clicking on a link on Yahoo news about a local Boxer story. It appears that this Boxer was being fostered by a couple (from Austin Boxer Rescue) and that the Boxer got between the couple’s young child and a rattler so that the snake wouldn’t hurt the child (the Boxer got bit instead). The Boxer did swell up and all but is okay. Then the story goes on to talk about Austin Boxer Rescue’s dilemma because of the vet bills for this hero Boxer and caring for all the other Boxers in their group. HELLLLLOOOOOOO People!?!??!?!?!  This outcome is just so wrong in so many ways that I can’t even get into it right now.  The photo of the Boxer was even sadder; she’s got her head between her paws looking very discouraged.  Of course she is?!?!?

Reminds me of the Boxer we were raised with from the time I was a baby until I was about 8 or 9 years old.  Duke was my parents’ first “child” (photo to be shown later). He was a gorgeous camel color with black mask and some white markings.  There are stories told by my parent’s of them leaving me in the front yard with Duke (while my mom walked a couple of yards over to talk with the neighbors) and Duke watching over me…keeping me out of harm’s way.  I have photos of me pulling on Duke’s ears and rolling on his tummy.  I just remember him being a great dog. After we moved to Japan, when Duke was about 3-4, the story goes that one day a guy who emptied the trash spotted Duke in our backyard and went gaga over him. He begged my mother to give him a chance to show Duke in some dog shows.  Well, soon after that Duke became a champion in our little corner of the world.  There is a photo of him with several plaques and ribbons and a nice silk blanket over his back.  Duke has a look on his face that seems to say, “well of course I’m a grand champion guys, who’d you think I was anyway??”

Please, please, please if you have an animal(s) respect them, pay attention to them, learn from them, learn about them, and become more connected to the world around you through them.  If you don’t have an animal and you’re interested in helping them there are so many ways that you can out there.  There are all kinds of rescue operations that you can throw money at if you don’t want to get your paws dirty or if you do want to rub noses, there are many opportunities for you to help socialize dogs and cats so that they can be adoptable.

During our evening walk with our dogs, David and I talked about a story in the paper this morning regarding a border collie who the master had given away to what she thought was a good home (because she did not think she was giving him enough attention) and the dog found it’s way back all the way across town and traffic etc. to it’s original home.  What many people don’t seem to understand is that many dogs take their jobs very seriously and most especially those dogs who are working dogs.  I can’t imagine the confusion and hurt that either of our dogs would feel (Aussie and Labrador) if we gave them away.  But you see I believe that truly giving an animal the best kind of life you can means that you are saying that you will give them shelter, food, respect, medical attention when needed and if they’re really lucky, a clearly defined “job” to do for the rest of their lives.  I know that there are times when the very unexpected happens but I believe most animals know if their lives are being changed because someone has passed away or is transferred out of country and cannot physically take them with them or if it is because the animal is just posing an inconvenience to them.

I hope that someday I will be able to make a difference out there by finally creating the animal sanctuary that I’ve been talking about for at least a decade and a half! Stay tuned!  You can hold me to it!

Who are the special animals in your life?

We humans are so funny. We’re constantly moving towards the next goal and the next goal and the very next goal. Which isn’t necessarily a bad characteristic because that’s one way we evolve, but it occurred to me today that most of the business books or self-help books (that you’d find in the professional or self help section and not necessarily in the spiritual or religious section) don’t address how to know when you’re at your vision and then what do you do with yourself (enjoy life? beep out of life? enter your answer here….).

What if we learned to live inside of our vision and instead of using “a vision” to continually pull us forward we instead learned how to really enjoy the vision where we are now?  This is, of course, for those people who have had a vision and then moved on to the next vision and so forth and so on. Perhaps they are truly living inside of at least one or two of their visions but haven’t stopped to really enjoy where they are at yet.  Yes, I know a handful of people who have actually reached this state.

I mean, you may have heard it said that life is but an illusion or a stage and we are but the players in the divine play.  If, for grins, we looked at our life in this way then couldn’t we just stop taking everything so seriously and find ways to enjoy our time that we have left here on planet Earth?  Maybe.  Some of us do have a strong biological urge to move forward and progress, which as I’ve said before is a good thing because it insures that humans will continue to evolve; however, what parameters are we using to judge what is moving forward and progressing?   When I’m able to meditate fully and deeply and connect with a divine presence that seems like movement and progression forward in ways that I don’t even understand how to measure.

The answers that we are looking for are all around us all the time for whatever problem is perplexing us.  The answers circle around again and again. It’s about our being able to get out of the way enough so that we can open up enough to receive them.  If you feel that you have a vision that hasn’t been realized yet, then by all means keep doing what you know to do to make your vision happen.  Just when you get to that invisible end in the road, be willing to stop for a while and enjoy the view before you create more road to move forward on.

Turns out that we hear sage reminders over and over again like, “don’t forget to stop and smell the roses” and there’s something to them.  Today I looked out the kitchen window and watched a hummingbird that likes to eat from one of the flowering sages.  As I continued to watch him, I noticed that he kept moving from the front flowers to the middle of the stalk and then back again. Something was really bugging him and/or disrupting his schedule.  At one point he spread his little hummingbird tail out wide and spread his little wings out wide–I’ve never seen a hummer do that—and then flew away.  I looked at the point of the flowering stalk that had caused him so much turmoil and saw this long green thing hanging there that was definitely not part of the plant.  As I looked closer I could tell that it was a Praying Mantis who was hanging by it’s feet.  It was at least as long as the hummingbird.  I guess life looks a whole lot different when you’re only an inch or so tall!  So glad I was able to take the time to notice this interaction. It was interesting. It’s something I can learn from and go research more about.  It won’t earn me any money but it did make me happy.

So what if you are living your vision right now?  What would you be doing?

I know, I know I’ve said it before and I’ll be saying it again I’m sure…I have such high class problems in life today at least compared to what my life looked like ten, twenty, and most assuredly thirty years ago. Oy vey.  But I’ve done a lot of work on myself from analyzing everything including my big toe to surrendering it all to a higher power (which I choose to call God).  Really, I have a life that is second to none.

Please take all that into account when I tell you that even with all the good things in my life, I still have to be diligent of taking care of myself.  Especially when the biggest problem I have at the end of today is a very sore throat from tons of nasal drip caused by the molds, which are in full bloom all over Austin and the dilemma of how to make 1/8 size origami people. Yes, you read the dimensions correctly; in my introduction to architecture class (making spaces) our teacher has tasked us to make three origami people that are 1/8 size so that we can learn to work with our hands and our tools (tweezers) to create elements that we will use in our building projects.

I’m pretty certain that I don’t have very good fine motor dexterity. Just watch me text on my phone if I ever allow myself to be caught. You’ll always see me using my pointer fingers instead of my thumbs.  I totally cannot feel the keys with my thumbs.  These origami people might be simple enough to make with say half a sheet of 8 1/2 x 11 paper but imagine taking a little bitty square of that which is about the size of a contact lens and then folding that sucker many times and then doing it two more times with paper exactly the same dimensions so that eventually you make three pieces of a person and two of those pieces have two free parts that can be used to make legs/feet or hands. The third piece has to be folded one more time to make small enough to be a head.  It hurts my thumbs just to write about this, let me tell you.

I am learning a lot from this class though, believe it or not.  And it’s more than just about how we humans make buildings.  I’m learning that I focus on aspects of the instruction that seem like they’re really important to the instructor but when it comes down to the actual project, not so much.   I spent a good three hours on Sunday trying to come up with the right dimensions of the text (1/2 inch) for the captions to my photos and then gluing them on to foam core cut to size.  The professor was more interested in what we got from the photos than anything else, which I felt very confident about what I had done.  I’m learning that it is important to wait and see what the prof really wants and where he focuses and then to give it my best shot. That is learning that I know is certainly applicable out in the “real world” and it is a great reminder for me that perhaps there is still a thing or two I can learn about how I learn and how I listen.  That, by the way, is nowhere in the class syllabus, but is just one of the benefits of having been out working in the world for a number of years and returning to school.  Sometimes what you are learning fills in some gaps in your knowledge base that you didn’t even know you had.

Today my life is good. Yes, I’ve got a sore throat but I also have some great sugar-free lozenges.  I’ve got to make origami people, but I also have at least one or two friends who love arts and crafts who would love to help me make these people.  My husband is safe in our bed playing with his IPad, one of my dogs, Paul, is asleep by my chair and the other one, Reality, is keeping David company.  I have a lot to be grateful for. It’s about where do I want to focus my attention.

Hopefully, I won’t be dreaming about Origami people chasing me tonight!!

“Onward Thru the Fog” or “Onward Through the Fog” (Oat Willie’s of Austin)

Oat Willie’s is a head shop at West 29th Street and Guadalupe that was founded by Norman “Doug” Brown in 1968. The name “Oat Willie” is from an Austin-based comic character. The famous Oat Willie’s motto (on numerous bumper stickers since the 1970s) is: “Onward Thru the Fog.”

And it’s a great way to describe how several friends and me feel having been caught up in the mold infusion profusion happening in Austin, Texas after all the rain we’ve been having lately.  I’ve been pretty much vertical all day except for a brief bout of vacuuming up the rampant dog hair; otherwise it’s been me and the bed or the couch.  Helps me to have a deeper empathy for people who are really ill. I do not take my good energy for granted at all.  I’ve got a long time friend who just found out that on top of all the other health issues she has (Lupus, Diabetes, etc.) they’ve diagnosed her with non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.  She will start radiation and chemotherapy sometime next week and all I can do is pray for her  to have a healthy constitution, visit her when she’s able to receive company and help her find spunky pretty scarves to cover her head with after her hair falls out. I know that even on my worst days, like today in a mold fog, I’m still light years healthier than my friend.

I do know that when I am feeling bad like today, I am more able to bring in the kind soothing mental voices rather than the judgmental ones.  Not sure what that is about, but I’ll take it. I’ve also had some creative ideas come up such as writing some fictional novels about angels.  I’ve never really ever spent too much time considering writing fiction because I just figured that was something that I would not do very well. Better left up to the experts. But last night in my semi-conscious state, I realized that I’ve been writing these books in my head for a while.  Just never thought that was what they were until I slowed down long enough to pay attention to myself.

Have you ever noticed the great ideas that sweep across your mind?  Have you been creating a book, painting, clothing, etc. etc. in your mind but hadn’t stopped to think about it before now?  What would be one daring creative idea that you’ve had that you can’t believe that you have had, but you have?

Onward thru the fog! Sometimes when are mental faculties are down and out the other parts of our being have room to breath and move!

Yes, there is nothing quite like going back to school and finishing up what I decided was not quite worthy of my attention a few decades ago.  I know that really it’s such a great privilege and I’m very grateful for the opportunity and love learning something new every week…. still though…. I am collecting the calories from the big ole humble pie that I get to keep taking slices of every week.

Take today for instance.  I have the opportunity to work a contract gig AND learn from the master about PR and Writing (thank you NH) and so this morning I had to get up early enough so that I could feed the cats, get ready, eat breakfast and talk with four people (15 minutes each) who I sponsor and then be in San Marcos (about 42 miles from my casa) by 9:00am.  I pretty much looked like a bag lady leaving my house this morning with my back pack (with laptop and books), my architecture project that was due today plus all the supplies I will need over the semester and my lunch packed up and ready to go.  For some reason I always feel like a Carol Burnett character when I begin tossing this bag over that shoulder and another bag over the other one and then trying to figure out how to carry an awkward sized poster board in a trash bag that could break at any minute.  I did remember all my clothes and toiletries that I needed for after my mid-morning walk and was grateful that my hair is long enough now to fold up into a French bun and call it good.

The piece of humble pie today (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdXjm8pZMws) came when I had to make the fateful decision to park in the commuters’ parking lot away from the University instead of the parking lot that I prefer to go to which is nestled up close to the campus. Turns out that is also every other student’s favorite parking lot and most of them have good parking karma too so it’s not out of the question to sit there for 45 minutes watching and following innocent victims to their cars only to discover that they are using the parking lot to cut through to their apartment or class and not to return to their car.

I had to call the Parking Office (again) and this time got a really helpful gal (Heather) who was very patient explaining to me where to park so that I could take the Bobcat Shuttle from the lot to the campus. I’ve always been scared to do that because it would be just my luck to miss one very important part of instructions/directions only to discover that I had ended up somehow on an express bus bound for the panhandle (not that there’s anything the matter with that Tricia!).  I wish they handed out gold pins that we could affix to our backpack for those of us who take the Bobcat Shuttle challenge!  Even more humbling was the getting off the bus with everything that I was trying to carry from Point A to Point B.  That and when I get nervous, well, let’s just say I’m not a fun person to sit within 10 feet of for any length of time.  I think I accidentally hit a couple of students while exiting the bus and managed to figure out how to strap on my backpack, hang my lunch cooler, hold my poster board assignment and navigate the hills and stairs to finally land in the classroom.

As simple and silly as this may all sound to you, trust me, this would have been a deal breaker not so long ago in the world of Lynn.  I just would not have been able to stand not knowing so many things and taking my best shot based on the information I had and following through with action.  That and walking through campus like a one-woman show (lunch? here you go! Need some information? Let me Google that for you.  Architecture project? No problem, I can show you some photos that I took and mounted showing examples of how color was used to accentuate for this commercial structure!)!  Luckily, the hot sweats didn’t start up until I’d reached my final destination…. thank you God for cooler weather!

I guess if I had to choose between the two, I’d prefer a big ole slice of Humble Pie to eating Crow. But that’s just me, how about you?

The other day as I was jogging around the neighborhood, I began a conversation with God/Guardian Angel about my life and how I was doing. The answers in the form of questions that came back to me were not what I was expecting. The conversation went something like this:

Me: Is my life good? Am I doing everything that I came here to do? Considering all the gifts and tools I’ve been given (and earned) in my life, am I where I want to be today?

G: What ruler are you using to measure what is good? Whose voice it in your heard that is telling you how things should be? Is it positive or negative?

Me: Well that ought to keep me busy finding the answers to at least for the rest of this hour long run!

G: (smile)

I don’t know that I have any more answers than I did then but what I do know is that I’m paying closer attention to what I am telling myself or perhaps what tapes I am choosing to load up and listen to in my brain over and over again without really thinking about if they’re helpful or not. My friend, Mitch Ditkoff, wrote a blog ( http://www.ideachampions.com/weblogs/archives/2010/09/the_m_word.shtml ) asking the question about why “we” need to monetize everything. It’s a good blog and definitely worthy of a read.

I take that same line of questioning a bit further to help me find the answer to what ruler I’m using to measure how good my life is and ask myself if I were writing the guidelines to what I believe is a good life, how good would my life be to me? Because if I look at some of the people in my life who I love dearly, I look at them with so much love and I see a whole lot of good. And if I take that same loving look at my life, why it looks pretty darn good to me. There’s just a whole lot for me to be grateful for and happy about. It’s when I put other people’s rulers in there that I tend to make myself miserable. I just can’t measure up to the figment of another person’s ruler. In fact, I think I’m ready to toss those rulers out.

How do you feel about your life? What is the quality of your self-talk about you and your life? What is the tone of the voice(s)? Do you recognize the voice?

Pay attention to what your mind is telling you because it may be time to play a new tune….

During a discussion today with some very special women the subject of “AFGO” came up which, of course, means “Another Freaking (insert your favorite “F” word here) Growth Opportunity”.  I think I first heard of this concept when I entered the world of Life Coaching at Coach University but I could just as well of heard it in one of the 12step rooms I’ve frequented over the years…suffice it to say the gist of AFGO is to be able to look at whatever is staring you in the eye during the present and no matter how unpleasant it may be to say to yourself, “well self, this just may be another freaking growth opportunity” you do it anyway.

I don’t know about you, but I have to really practice my yoga to be able to stretch my body effortlessly. The same goes with my spiritual, emotional and mental growth as well.  To move from experiencing every single dang negative thing that I perceive that is happening in my life as another thorn in my crown of VICTIM with a capital “V”, I/we/you/me/us have to first be able to see that maybe just maybe there is something to this life thing (that is beyond me to explain here) and so everything that comes into our life can be an opportunity for growth.

What brought about this discussion today was Attraction Principle #21 which is: See How Perfect The Present Really Is – Especially when it is clearly not. We talked about this principle being about acceptance and also being about having a faith in something outside of you (force, God, universe, divine law) that is moving throughout the scenes in our lives.    For me, it is usually easier to know when I’ve experienced an AFGO after the fact but every once in a blue moon I know I’m experiencing a growth opportunity as it is happening.  It’s as if I am witnessing my own life as it unfolds and making decisions about how I am going to respond to the people and/or situation as it is happening.  I think I’ve written about this experience before, but I believe it bares repeating, that when you are able to know that you are having a growth opportunity as it is unfolding you are experiencing some mammer jammer quantum physics of some sort because you are so fully in the present that you can be at choice with how you will respond.  As a recovering emotional spastic, being able to respond half way thoughtfully is definitely an improvement if not a blessing!

Oh, and one more thing about an AFGO, when I do have the where withal to know that I’m in the middle of a growth opportunity I also believe that it means that the bigger the pile of manure that I’m shoveling my way out of, the bigger the pony is and for grins I also look for the finely tooled bridle and saddle and a lovely wool blanket.  All the gifts are in there, it’s just we have to trust the process even when all we seem to be able to see for miles is the lovely color of brown.

AFGOs go hand in hand with humility and remaining teachable.  AFGOs help us to become more “real” and genuine. AFGOs remind us that we really don’t have all the answers even though we know we do.  AFGOs are spiritual connectors between us and other people.

What freaking growth opportunities have you experienced lately?

I’ve done a pretty good job of cleaning up, getting rid of, giving away, letting go of and all points in between when it comes to people, places and things that I’ve been tolerating and allowing to get in the way of having a pretty good life.  My little 1980’s closet is fairly cleaned up and organized, the junk drawer in the kitchen is pretty cleaned up, why heck I even folded up all the towels in the linen closet well enough they’d make a hotel blush but every once in awhile something will slip by and I will continue to tolerate it and let it bug me and let it eat at me and not do a thing about it.

This is a really simple and small example.  I have these two plastic step files on my desk that every so often I have to go through the items and clear away, mail away, take care of or throw away stuff that I’ve crammed into one of the six slots.  I am a recovering pack rat so I have to watch for my tendency to hoard.  Anyway, one of the plastic step files developed a crack in it’s back spine so that if I hit the thing just right it would fall over and everything would come tumbling down.  Meanwhile, the other plastic step file sat in a nice safe spot on my desk with stuff in it that I knew I wouldn’t be using on a regular basis that I could file away.

Finally today, during a break from a project I was working on, I took everything out of the broken step file but instead of throwing it away, I just switched places with the other one.  I cleaned out both of them and I even put some books that I will be using to CLEP out of some classes in the broken step file that is now in a safe place where the broke doesn’t affect what is inside of it.  I can’t tell you how much better my desk area feels to me now.  There is not so much crap on my desk (I weeded it out, took care of it or filed it away) and I’m not having to deal with a broken step file every day plus I have no idea why the books that are now sitting in the broken step file look so good in it, but they do.  I can see them better than when they were flat on my desk getting stuff piled on them.  Sure, I could buy a new step file and throw away the old one but why?  It works just fine and you can’t even see where it is cracked now.

I realize that this one example of a toleration is such a small, small example of some of the bigger behaviors, people, things, etc. that we often tolerate but I wanted to show you how just making one small change in something that has been flying around your consciousness like one of those gnats that sometimes come out of nowhere around a house plant or an innocent bowl of fruit, can make such a difference.

And, of course, if taking care of a small toleration in your life can cause you to feel such great relief well imagine what it’d feel like to stop tolerating something really big?

It’s okay; you don’t have to stop tolerating everything at once. Just take one small step and see what a difference it will make for you!