I’m sure someone (probably many someones) have come up with a more elegant way (see IONS article by Michael A. Jawer) of describing this particular manner of extra sensing that I have, but as my mind is want to do, my imagination has its own unique way of visualizing what it feels like when some extra sensory something “pops” open inside of me . The pop usually happens when I’m talking with someone about a person, pet or thing they care about.  In a matter of seconds, I feel flooded with a “knowing” about the subject of their concern and also a perspective about how said subject experiences life.  Thank God this usually happens with someone who knows me pretty well so that my sudden 3-D understanding doesn’t freak them out. Still, there have been a few times when it’s happened with someone who I don’t know very well. Like the time members of a group I belonged to had gotten together for a meeting to turn over responsibilities from older to newer members of the group. During the comfortable, easy chit-chat at the beginning, one of the Dad’s began talking about his son and spontaneously I was able to add in affirmations about what he was saying and include his son’s perspective.  It’s a good thing this Dad shares my same faith tradition and has a fairly open mind because he was pretty amazed that I “knew” his son so well without really knowing him.  Call it what you may, but I think that’s an example of when my pop-open-window ESP goes into effect.

Most likely there is all kinds of evidence that can support whatever is the most comfortable theory you have for explaining this phenomena of knowing.  Use whatever works best for you. The point of my sharing this with you is not only because I think it’s way freaking cool and fun when it happens but also for me to remember and in turn help you to remember that it’s important for us to ask permission first if we may share what we are sensing.  Really, it’s just good manners and might help you to not freak out others as often as you might otherwise.

Thought for the Day:  All kinds of special “gifts” come to us and can be used through us to help ourselves and others.  Hopefully, we can recognize them as gifts so that we can respect them for what they are and their effect upon ourselves and others.

Helpful Hint for Being Human:  We have just begun to crawl towards the edge of our awareness of what it means to be human.  Keep an open mind and embrace the everyday miracles of being us.

On Friday, August 31, 2012, I’ll be interviewing Biologist, Teacher and Spiritual Explorer, Janet Southall Connell about her book called, “Bits & Pieces….of a Biologist’s Journey Into Spirit” on Blog Talk Radio’s Hope42Day.  Janet also happens to me a very special Aunt to one of my good friends as well.  So what does this all have to do with Nobel Gas you may ask?  Well, let me tell you (and the peanut gallery who knows me really well can keep their thoughts to themselves about the gas part of this…)

In one of the book’s passages Janet wrote, “We are like the Nobel Gases, complete and non-reactive” and “Nobel Gases are a group of elements found on the periodic table. They have all their electron shells complete, filled with eight electrons. Eight is the magic number. All atoms combine with other atoms so they can have eight electrons in their outer most shell. Now salt is made from sodium and chloride. Sodium has 1 electron in its outer most shell and chlorine has 7 electrons in its outer most shell. If sodium has 8 within and 1 outer and chlorine has 7 outer and they remain isolated and alone they are both very reactive…….they are so needy of each other to complete the magic number eight. But, Nobel Gases can stand alone (because) they already have the magic number of 8 electrons.”

Janet goes on to say that when “two Nobel Gases get together there is no reacting (because) they are already complete and that’s like two enlightened people.” According to Janet, Dr. Bruce Lipton is the “most amazing speaker” because “he explains spirituality in science terms.”

I’m no scientist, but I am a sci-fi geek and have always wondered why some people don’t see how science and spirituality can go together, fit like a glove.  I remember years ago when I worked for a world-renowned electroanalytical chemist, he told me that the more he and his grad students and post docs researched and dove into their experiments, the more he saw God.

Please do join us tomorrow for the live broadcast or click on the link for the downloaded podcast after tomorrow for what is sure to be an enlightening conversation!

I think so.  One of the little meditation books that I read every morning is, “Meditations for Women Who Do Too Much” by Anne Wilson Schaef. For June 24, Anne shared that “she saw and accepted the negative and delighted in whatever positive there was.”  Consequently, graduate school was not difficult for her nor had work ever been.   The quote for the day by Victoria Lincoln said:

This is the art of courage: to see things as they are and still believe that the victory lies not with those who avoid the bad, but those who taste, in living awareness, every drop of good.

Granted, there have been moments in my life as Lynn that I have completely flown over any facts based in reality and glossed out very negative consequences of choices I had made trying to force a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.  But that’s not what I’m talking about today.  I’m coming from where I understand that Anne Wilson Schaef meant in that I’ve done the homework of life and I can see the goodness all around and through it.

Take the internet for instance.  For the first time in history, we humans are able to communicate with each other far and wide about anything (unless we’re  behind an internet wall as in some countries, but even than there are those who are figuring out how to work around it).  I hear from many quadrants of my life that all the information available to us is overwhelming and that there is so much negativity being uncovered.  Especially in the broadcast media.  If you believe like some of my friends who tend towards conspiracies (which, by the way, may be good to listen to with an open mind because you never know what morsels could be real…), at least in the United States, all the wealth is owned by 12 families.

How we see life is really all about where we put our focus.  Another infamously obvious statement but I’ll admit to you that there are times when I don’t pay attention where I’m putting my focus until I find myself down a dark winding path that I don’t want to be on.

Friday I interviewed mystic counselor, Paxton Robey on Hope42Day.    I first met Paxton and his wife, Anne, back in the mid-90’s and am as grateful to hear what he has to share today as I was then.  Talk about a realistic, but optimistic (and definitely mystic!) view of life!  Take a listen.

What can you feel realistically optimistic about today?

Earth Angel by Cynthia Stibolt

If you enjoy animals as much as I do, you’re probably  sharing some kind of space with them such as  your home, your office or a retreat.  When I’m blogging from my home office, I’m often surrounded by our three dogs; Reality, an 11 year old Black Lab, Paul, a four-year old Aussie mix and George, a one-year old Aussie mix.  My pack follows me from room-to-room all day, every day to the point that I try to let them know when I’m just going to the kitchen to make a quick cup of expresso and will be right back so they don’t have to get up from their comfortable nap positions to accompany me. In fact I communicate with them often about where I’m going, what’s going on in my world, even who I’m talking with on the phone (especially if it’s their Grammy who they love!) and most especially if where I’m going or what I’m doing will have an effect on their world.

Reality, Paul and George in the kitchen

I’ve communicated with my animals by talking to them and/or “sending pictures” to them for so many years that I forget that not everybody who loves and enjoys animals does.  It’s been my experience through the animal communication process that the level and breadth of their intelligence and ability to communicate is as wide and varied as, well, people.    When I meet animal friends of friends, I am often struck by how much their animal “knows”.   It is shocking to me that so many times the human involved has no idea the level of awareness that their animal friend has about their world and the human(s) they share it with.

Recently, a good friend of mine had to uproot her longtime home (landlord made everyone move out of their apartments so that they could be redone) and after tireless searching finally found one of the only apartments left to rent in Austin (well, okay, the kind of apartment community that she would want) and landed into a situation where she could have her cat, but the cat could never go outside.  It’s in the contract. This friend’s cat, Gilda, has been an indoor/outdoor cat since she was a babe and is used to roaming about the apartment complex freely, befriending humans and cats alike.  She is very affectionate and loves my friend greatly (always goes to sleep near her pillow with her paw outstretched so as to touch my friend somewhere on her body while in sleep).  My friend is totally distraught because Gilda is protesting loudly about being inside to the point that she has been let out sometimes only to come back either bitten by a neighborhood cat or soaking wet from falling in the pool.  Understandably, it is difficult for my friend to adjust to their new apartment much less come home after a 12-hour medical shift to a Houdini cat who will use whatever method works to escape from an open door.

As my friend told me this story, weeping because the only solution she could see was to find Gilda a good home where she could be an indoor/outdoor cat, I asked her if she had told Gilda all of what was going on.  Had she told her about the move and why they had to move. Had she told her about looking everywhere for the kind of apartment community they enjoyed and after finally finding one, learning they did not allow cats to go outside? She allowed that she had kind of talked with Gilda, but not to the depth I had suggested.   I immediately thought of a long time friend, Leta Worthington, who is a well-respected animal communicator (http://www.herbsandanimals.com/) and recommended that this friend contact her to initiate communication between said friend and her cat.  I also encouraged her to bring Gilda into the conversation that very night, with everything that had gone on and ask her if she would prefer living with another good person so she could be indoor/outdoor or if she would  be okay living inside for at least a year until they could find a better space for both of them.

My sense is that Gilda loves my friend so much that she will agree to stay for a finite period of time.  I also sensed that Gilda did not understand all the changes that had been going on in their lives over the past couple of months and really needed to be told so that she could make choices.  My experience of most cats are that although they’re  independent they’re also very practical and will be honest about what their preferences are by what makes the most sense to them.

We humans have so many issues with communicating with each other that it may seem that we have not time or bandwidth left in our brains to think about communicating with animals—-but when we do make time we just might discover that this new form of communication can help us out in more ways than we could have even imagined.

Gorgeous Gilda Gazing Up from the Sink

They can still get your attention when they’re trotting along the sidewalk in your neighborhood!

Isn’t our Higher Power great (who I choose to call God) when it/he/she uses humor to get through to us? Like the other morning, for example. I was already ten minutes late driving to meet a friend for an early lunch downtown in the middle of the hustle and bustle and so when I came over the big hill in the cut-through neighborhood and saw a car and van stopped right in the middle talking to each other, I had all kinds of thoughts swirling through my head. Thoughts that I wouldn’t want anyone to hear!

Added to this was five years of accrued opinion and judgment about the kind of people who lived in big shiny new houses in the cut-through neighborhood. I use the excuse of being a writer for the reason that I create all kinds of “stories” about places and people before I even validate if they are true or not which is not necessarily a bad thing in itself at least not until I use those stories to form my opinions. Quite frankly, what I imagine can be so much more entertaining. But, sometimes what I make up can be very off track and full of the plaster of my disbelief that creates a wall between me and others.

Perhaps that is why my Higher Power sent in a pig, trust me the irony is not lost on me.

There I was fuming behind the wheel at the two ladies who had the audacity to continue talking. My slow-burning resentments of false origins were working up to a rolling boil until one of the ladies pointed to the side of my car. I looked over to see a big ole overgrown pink pot-Bellied pig rummaging through the green grass along the sidewalk with his little curly-cue tail switching all over the place. In a matter of seconds, my opinion of the women went from dislike to at least giving them a chance because of their concern for the pig.

I immediately put the car into park so that I could try to herd the pig from going down the street on to the busy highway. One of the ladies was calling the local sheriff, while still another neighbor pulled up to let us know she knew the pig (he was a pet) and was going to get the phone number to call the owner of the ranch nearby.  I’ve heard pigs were smart, but right after she told us that the pig lived in the neighboring ranch, he started walking across the street towards the woods backing up to the ranch he came from. I don’t know very much about pigs but I did want to make sure he kept heading towards home instead of the highway. I’m pretty sure I made a spectacle of myself running parallel to this pig when he took off in a trot back towards the highway and began squealing when I ran past him to head him off.  Luckily, his owner came along about that time and said, “that’s my pig” and began talking to him as he scratched the pig’s head saying, “Pooper, now what have you gone and done now” (can’t make this stuff up!).

Because I love animals a whole bunch and definitely trust them more than humans, ole Pooper really helped me to lower my wall of judgment and to look with a different eye and an open heart toward these neighbors of mine who took time out of their busy morning to make sure the pig lived to see another day.  I mean, pot-bellied pigs are pretty cute when they’re little and cuddly and can roust about within your arms, but when they get to the size of ole Pooper, well it takes a pretty open heart to find its way to enjoying his little maverick spirit.

I’m pretty sure that if there have been angels observing my life and betting on my ability to change my behavior and thinking, that when looking at the hard and fast way that I can put others into a box “just because” those betting that I couldn’t or wouldn’t change probably said, “when pigs fly!” but there must have been at least a few who were betting on my higher self and my ability to lower defenses pretty quickly hence sending out a pig on the run.

Thank you Pooper for getting a wild hair and deciding to go for a run! I needed that thump in my heart.

Via http://www.divinecaroline.com/22198/123509-pigs-don-t-fly/3#ixzz1m68rZPw6

One of my intentions this year is to explore and learn as much as I can about various Native American and indigenous cultures ways of living in harmony with Mother Nature.  When I say Mother Nature, I mean all the animals, plants, waters, trees, weather etc. including we humans.  Pretty much everything that is outside of the realm of artificial structures including time.

Take how we have decided to divide up our “year” and have designated January 1 as the start of a New Year.  Well, in the business world we use that point to wrap up projects when we can and roll out new strategies.  Have you ever felt out of sync with the whole “ring out the old and ring in the new”? Have you ever felt disappointed in yourself after making your resolutions for the New Year only to find that you have abandoned them after just a few month’s time (or weeks or days in some cases!)?

I don’t know about you, but I believe that being in sync with the rhythm of the Earth means that you/we/I have an understanding of what is going on around me in terms of temperature, weather, the ground, the sky, the collective of beings that I share this planet with and that I have respect for everything and everyone’s place in the world.  Only then will we “know” what our best action needs to be.

This summer many of us in Texas suffered from the effects of a severe drought from depleting waters, ruined crops, ravaged farms and fires.  I don’t know if there is anything we could have done to have prevented everything that happened as a result of the lack of rain and extreme temperatures but perhaps we could have garnered a clue or two by watching the animals and paying attention to the terrain.  I spent many a morning sitting in the porch swing watching the glinting rays of a new dawn coming forth listening to the many conversations of the animals and insects that live around my property wondering about the information they were trading back and forth.  I’m sure the hot topic of their conversation had to be about survival even with the occasional joyous burst of song from the Red Headed Woodpecker as he circled the trunk of the Cottonwood tree.

There are many teachers of the Earth out there for us to learn from when we are willing to stop and pay attention.  Three of my best teachers are laying on the floor surrounding my chair right now, all three dogs are as close to my husband and I as they can be without leaping into our laps because of the intermittent big booms of the fireworks ringing in the New Year.  I know how they feel!  I’m pretty sure that if we had a King sized bed instead of a Queen that all three would be joining us in sleep tonight too….

Find your own inner rhythm then get in sync with Mother Earth.  May your walk ways be clear and your breath be in harmony.

There just ain’t nuttin quite like milking a good ole tough-nut resentment is there?  Why, I’ve been known to stay mad, aggravated or irritated at someone for days nay weeks at a time?!  Inside of the pit of our bellies, resentments feel like an ever burning ember.  If it made a sound, it’d be a low moaning grrrrrrrrrrrr.  I’ve heard it said that, “having a resentment is like taking poison and hoping it makes someone else sick”.

This past week, I had the opportunity to milk a resentment because of something that took less than five seconds in the making.  Usually when you get mad that quickly because of something someone says or does and it festers for awhile, it’s because more than likely there are resentment appendages from the past that haven’t fully been excised.   Oh I wanted to milk that particular resentment for hours after my first pangs of it.  I knew that steeping in that kind of negativity is just about the worst thing you can do for your health and well-being, but I kept blowing on that burning ember well into the wee hours of the morning.  Finally, I became willing to listen to my better judgment and pulled out a recommended prayer for situations such as this which is basically, “bless them, change me”.  And every time I felt that ember burn, I would say that prayer.  It was hard to give up that satisfying burn at first, but with time the softness of peace feels better than the burn of anger.

Sometimes that short prayer is just about all I can manage because if I try to make my prayers any fancier of words and thoughts leastwise longer, than I get some resentment-embers stuck in the crevices of my heart and before you know it any good intentions have been blown wide open and I’m back into the roaring fire of resentfulness.  The reason harboring resentments is not healthy for me is because when I totally allow them to take over then the stakes for keeping them burning grow higher and higher and so to keep them going I might have to have words with the beholder of my flames to re-ignite my anger.  I also believe that actions towards fanning the flames of resentment retard my growth to a higher consciousness immediately.  It’s all probably another example of how instant gratification can hurt you.

So next time you may find yourself in a situation to milk a resentment for all it’s worth remember two things that you can do:

1.) find a place inside or outside where you can growl really loudly for a while.  Give it all you got. Put all that anger and resentment right into your growl and growl it on out.

2.) pray for whomever or whatever you are angry/resentful about to be blessed and ask for you to be changed (your perceptions, your beliefs, your understandings)…by the way, this works whether you believe in God/Divinity or not. Say as needed anytime you think about who or what you’re angry with until the embers cool.

Caution: be prepared during applications of the above for the gremlins of self-doubt and disturbance to throw unexpected opportunities for re-flaming your way.  You may just need an especially potent dosing of surrender and acceptance for diffusing.

What resentments have you been milking lately?

Wow! What a great hour I got to spend today interviewing prominent teacher of healing and shamanism, Llyn Roberts, on today’s BTR Hope42Day.  Llyn joined us back in September 2011 for a half-an-hour interview and there was so much to delve into that she came back to spend more time talking about her most recent book, “Shapeshifting Into Higher Consciousness” and living well today.

One of the gems that I pulled from today’s conversation with Llyn Roberts is that all of us, all…of…us, can access our guides/angels/God/wisdom/love all the time.   The chapter on “Shapeshifting With Nature” drew me to it because of my deep love of nature.  She writes about how “although oneness with the natural world is innate to indigenous cultures, imbalances result when societies lose this perspective”.  She goes on to say that, “Equilibrium can be restored by embracing more whole values and by coming back into rhythm with our heart, our body, and our planet.” Llyn writes about the Maya “whose prophesies are in the public eye due to the popularization of the Mayan Calendar” and that the Mayans are “masters of cosmic awareness.  In the early part of this century a plethora of literature has been circulated about 2012 and the Mayan Calendar. Yet, often less focused upon the Maya’s deep attunement with the earth.   The lands of ancient Guatemala have endured earthquakes and volcanic eruptions spanning centuries. Because of this, when visiting sacred sites and walking through the jungle of Tikal, Maya Elders ask that we pay as much attention to the pyramids that are submerged, as those we see.  There are hidden spiritual structures beneath Lake Atitlan.  These, we learn, influence human consciousness and effect the waters.”

In the interview today, Llyn talked about the process of writing her book and using all her guides, experiences and wisdom (my words).  I can definitely feel the energy pulsing through the pages and it’s almost like a mini-video flips open in my brain so that I can “see” what Llyn is talking about. While reading this chapter about nature and the Mayan peoples, I can “see” the Mayans who I have met during my many visits to Mexico.  I’m always drawn to the Mayans and find myself  wanting to sit near them and just be.

I was also reminded today that we can connect with nature no matter where we are in the world, yes, even in the middle of Manhattan or Shanghai.  I haven’t been to Shanghai yet, but I’ve visited Manhattan several times.  On my first trip to the famous New York City, I was really anxious because I had never been in such a dense mass of human beings with so much concrete in my life! I remember my husband running ahead of me on the streets trying to find a tree for me to hug or a pigeon to point out.  We finally did find a fairly young tree with a very narrow trunk but I wrapped my arms around it nevertheless. It felt so good!   A few years later I attended a conference in NYC and was also in the middle of training for a marathon so I got to do an eight mile run through Central Park.  It was gorgeous!!  Where there is a will there is a way to find your grounding in nature.  No matter what, there is always the sky.

Whether you are shapeshifting to higher consciousness or simply walking barefoot on this Earth (thank you Barefoot Sensei, Mick Dodge), you can always connect with the natural world around you and feel the loving heart of Mother Earth no matter what is going on in your life.  As many of us (in the Western world especially) head into the holidays that can often make us just a wee bit jittery if not crazy, take a break during the day and walk with bare feet on the Earth, it will do your soul good!

You may be asking yourself, how does Lynn know how to be a friend?  And I would answer you, or rather I will answer you by saying that I’ve got some really good friends and know that it really takes being a good friend to have a good friend. Plus, my friends are pretty much not chumps so they wouldn’t be attracted to chump friends.  Now chimps on the other hand….

   So here’s some tips on being a friend that I’ve picked up along the way:

1.) Friends don’t take friends hostage.  Sounds like common sense doesn’t it? But, yes, I was one of those people that would take one friend “hostage” (mostly when I was younger) and be really, really close with that one friend. You know, tell them everything, hang with them constantly, etc. and not be that close with anyone else. Sure does limit your world when you do this. Really gives you rather miopic vision of everything. So broaden your horizons and trust that it really can be possible to have more than one friend, and perhaps even good friend or two or three, at a time.

2.) Rise up out of yourself just enough to pay attention to someone else.  I know that’s a tall order to ask some of you–but I’m confident that you can do it.  It’s absolutely amazing how much most people are hungry for someone to “get” them.  Listening intently (direct eye contact, affirming head nodding, understanding sounds, asking questions) for even just five minutes can go a long way towards establishing and building a friendship.

3.) Remember the “golden rule”  — treat others as you would have them treat you– well, turns out that it really is golden.  I mean, you couldn’t take that rule down to the bank and cash it in as gold in exchange for money but if you use it, and use it regularly, it will be an investment in your friendships and relationships that accrues interest and pays handsome dividends for the rest of your life.

4.) Along the same lines as tip #3, think about those little things that you would want someone to do for you and do that for someone else.  For instance, I’ve had friends in my life who were so good at calling me up or dropping me a note to check in on me when something was going on in my life….just to let me know that I was not alone. Wow that sure felt good.  It’s a nice thing to do for someone else as well.  I’m sure you won’t have to look far to find someone you can call to check in on or drop a note to in order to find out how their test went, kid’s doing in school, anniversary dinner turned out, etc.  Look around you, there’s people all over  the place that you could ask.

5.) Be that solid friend that people can trust.  Don’t talk about people behind their backs.  If you are having feelings about someone (anger, rage, resentment, sadness, jealousy) and you’re not quite ready to talk with them directly about it yet, do some extensive writing, go for a walk or a run to burn off some energy, meditate, and if you have to talk with a trusted someone about what is going on, put the focus on yourself and keep the person you’re talking about anonymous.  How do you feel? What are they bringing up for you?  Anyone can tear someone to shreds behind their back, it takes a real mensch of a person to go deep within themselves to figure out why something and someone has got them all twisted up inside.

These are just a few of the tips I’ve learned along the way about how to be a friend. I’m sure you have some good tips of your own — that I know everyone who reads this blog would appreciate reading too so please chime on in!

And remember, being a friend really just takes a little consistent nurturing and attention for something special to bloom.  Reminds me of elementary school when they gave all of us third graders a couple of bean seeds, a cup, some dirt and water and we planted our little beans and watched them sprout. It was so exciting. Probably my first plant friend too come to think of it.

How are you going to be a friend today?