Birthday Painting

This is for my friend Susan who turned 50 yesterday. I've not done anything like this before. It measures 2 X 2 ft. It was inspired by a visit to one of my new favourite places, Wye River Designs, a crafts studio. Candy, the owner and artist, inpspired me with one her paintings which was v. collagey-scrapbooky. Anyway, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Susan. I was going to call and say, "Sorry I can't make it to your surprise party," but thought better of it. ;-)

And since this is just a fantasy...

you can imagine having the beach all to yourself.... This is a quote from Dave Dobson's famous Beach Tape....It's amazing how you can be in a place for several years and still make new discoveries about your environment...my most recent is Terrapin Park. And yesterday I took a break to go for a walk....

Today is Monday, April 23, 2007

We awoke this morning
to find that we had reocurred
once again in these bodies.
There will come a time
when we no longer reoccur
in these bodies.
That we may not pass this way again
will be almost unbearable
except that it renders
sacred, precious, holy
this moment in time,
here and now.
We're having a party;
it's called life.
So glad you could come.

This is how Mahala at Unity by the Bay begins her talks. Just thought I'd share it along with my all-time favourite sunrise, taken on Jan. 4th of this year. All sunrises are GLORIOUS, but this one is particularly spectacular. Happy Monday. :-) H.

LOVE for a new Goddess-sister-friend

This is for a dear sister-friend whom I've just recently met. She is leaving an abusive relationship. What I have noticed is beyond the bruises, there is the slow chipping away at the spirit. It creates doubt within yourself for even the simplest of decisions because what if?
What if he's in a bad mood?
What if he doesn't like what I made for dinner?
What if the house isn't PERFECT when he comes home?

Here are the NEW WHAT IF'S:
What if you could feel safe within your own skin now?
What if you discovered hidden strengths and resources you didn't even know you had?
What if you discover you CAN DO THIS?
What if you know that you are not alone and you have new friends to support you?
What if you choose to live your life based on God's plan for you instead of someone else's selfish agenda?
What if you lose a marriage that sucked in the first place to be embraced by a loving community that welcomes you?
What if all you desire to give the world is waiting for you to take that leap of FAITH and fly?
What if this is your opportunity to live the dreams of your heart?
What if you find that strength and courage to move through this as you read this now?

Courage is not a feeling, it is an act. If we wait to feel courageous, we will surely stay waiting. Courage is feeling fear and being able to move through it. Courage is having faith in your Self, your heart, your God when others might try to control you. DO IT ANYWAY. We LOVE you!!!

Random thoughts...and a Yey, me!

I'm so glad Susan got a blog so she could tell me how to change my time. Apparently I was set to Guyana time. I didn't really care if it said I'd done a post at 4 a.m. when it was really 7...but now it's a bit more accurate. Thanks to all who have given me such encouraging feedback for this blog.
I just found out my proposal was accepted to present at Eric Jensen's Learning Brain Expo in San Francisco next January. Yey, me! The seminar is called Labyrinth Journey through the Brain. I've been working on the script for the CD. It will include: Getting Ready to Learn, Relaxation techniques for test-taking, an end-of-the-day learning integration/recall, and a sleep induction with suggestions on memory enhancement. This is all stuff I do in my brain-based learning intro seminar.
I'm also excited to go to San Francisco. We went there when I was 5 or 6. What's really neat is that we have home movies of our trip. We don't have too many photos or movies with my father in them because he was always behind the camera. It's interesting to look at the world through his eyes now that I'm an adult. It gives me a new appreciation for him not just as my father, but as an artist. We just see the world differently.
I've been househunting. I've moved from WV and am on Kent Island, where all my BEAUTIFUL sunrise pictures come from. [This next bit is for my brother: Yeah, I know. Don't end a sentence with a proposition...{yeah, I know...preposition}.] It's been interesting going into different homes and seeing what "normal" is to others. I've gone into happy houses and grieving ones. One in particular that I just wanted to take a shower afterwards. It looked neat but it felt so oppressive. I could hear the fights in the walls and an alcoholic husband. I've walked into giant ashtrays and houses where I could smell stinky candles, plug-ins, etc. before I opened the door. What smell are they trying to cover up that is worse than neurotoxic fragrances? Oh, right...cigarettes...I taught my real estate agent about Feng Shui and evaluating the energy of the space. And in every house my prayer is that it finds its new owner if it's not me. I've seen a couple that have promise...and room for my new labyrinth....
Sharon Cameron always ends class with a moment of GRATITUDE. And I am so grateful for all of life's experiences and for my WONDERFUL friends and family. THANK YOU. :-) H.

In case you didn't get the memo...

I just sent out a mass email about an alarming FDA proposal (Docket No. 2006D-0480, CAM Guidance). In it I told people to call the phone numbers listed...and there were no phone numbers. So another email followed shortly thereafter apologizing for my blonde moment. So this is it in a nutshell:
Anyone who knows me long enough will hear me Blah Blah Blah BRIMHALL because it was thanks to Dr.'s Brett & John that I have a life. I know that if it weren't for them, I would not be here today. So anything I can do to help out, I will! Dr. John sent out an email about this FDA proposal that will severely limit our healthcare freedoms with regard to natural remedies. It will affect us all in one capacity or another--as clients, patients or practitioners in any kind of wellness practice. To my massage therapist friends: take note! One of my favourite massage lotions has arnica in it which is great for muscle aches and pains. This could become regulated as well as other homeopathic remedies, herbal products and vitamins. It affects us all. If I get poison ivy, I want the freedom to go to the healthfood store and get some rhus tox or an herbal salve. Whatever ailment I may get, Nature has provided a remedy. Drug & insurance companies--which have great influence over our government-- would have you believe otherwise.

So this is what we can do:
For email contact:http://tinyurl.com/2u7ghc
They tell you to edit the email before you send it. It's 5 PAGES! Hehhh....

For snail mail & phone calls:
Go to http://www.nea.org/lac/writing.html & type in your zip code. It will give you all the contact info you need to write, email, call etc. your representatives. And then you can program the numbers into your cell phone (good info to have at your fingertips, anyway) and when you have a spare moment...waiting in line somewhere or stuck in traffic...you can take that opportunity to call your representative....NOW, we have until the end of the month to make a difference...and I do like to believe that each one of us has the capacity to make that difference.
As Dr. John said in his email, "Freedom is lost when good men do nothing." So let's do something! :-) H.

P.S. Letters & phone calls are even better than email.

Into the Heart of God

This is for Susan. I wrote it after a healing session we did & was going to wait for her birthday...but here it is! And the photo is yesterday's sunrise--since we are getting spring showers today. Stay warm & dry & cozy. May today be a relaxing day of tea & books!

Come into the heart of God and wonder

Cast your fears and doubts asunder

Blessings come and blessings go

Angel hands guide and show

The Light, a sign
The Truth unbinds
The Love, aware
for all to share

Your heart, your healing
presence Divine
your Essence of Light
into the world shine.

Yoga East Intention Workshop

"Intention is an aim that determines your actions and the new possibility outcomes you want to experience. Creating and resonatingwith intentions for whatever you are doing is of utmost importance." ~ Chloe Wordsworth, founder, Resonance Repatterning

We had such a wonderful time! We started with a labyrinth walk followed by a guided meditation led by Sharon. We spent the last part creating our intention stones. What FUN!

P.S. The running joke is that the rocks we collected on the beach a couple weeks ago are still in the rock tumbler. It takes 6-7 weeks!

JOY

I was watching The Secret with my friend Robbie who had not seen it yet. I've not watched it since the Yoga East book club meeting last month. This is a stress-free bookclub. You don't have to read the book, come watch the movie. Bring your favourite snack. Here, have some chocolate! Anyhoo, every time I watch the movie, I get a new Ah-ha. I was looking at John Assaraf's Vision Board and he had written:

JOY IS THE BEST MEASURE OF SUCCESS!

Ah-ha. A friend! And it made me think of Bruce Lipton. The first time I heard him speak, he said, "I woke up one morning and decided to live my life in nothing less than joy."

When I heard Bruce say that, I thought, "I want that belief!" Beliefs colour our perception of how we experience our world. I want to look at the world through those goggles. We are all living on the same planet, but we are most definitely not living in the same world. I choose JOY.

Intention Gems

"Neuroscientists have found that brain cells fire not just upon action, but immediately upon formation of an intention." ~Caroline Casey

I like to collect pebbles and rocks. Many years ago on a visit to Cape May I collected "Cape May diamonds" on Sunset Beach. They're little quartz pebbles that wash up on the beach. I've done different crafty things with them. I had a whole bowl of them in my healing room with a different word written on each one: Gratitude, Meditate, Faith, etc. I'd show a picture of them, but they're packed away in a box. Anyway, from that basic idea I've created "Intention Gems." You can use them for your yoga practice: pick a gem at random for your focus, pick one before you walk a labyrinth, or meditate, etc. They come in a pretty little bag, or I've made boxes. The first one is for my friend Robbie, who just turned 81 yesterday. She loves hummingbirds and I got these little brass ones at the craft store last year, not knowing what I was going to do with them...until now.

This next box is at Yoga East:

Sharon Cameron and I will be doing an Intention workshop next Saturday at Yoga East. We went for a walk along the beach a couple weeks ago and collected all sorts of treasures. We'll be doing a meditation and then a make-and-take Intention Gems (just the gems, not the box).

Yoga East Healing Arts painting

This is a painting I did for Sharon Cameron, my dear friend and owner of Yoga East. I started it last week & finished it yesterday afternoon. It measures 16 X 20 & is acrylic paint, outlined with metalic gold marker. I forget the flower essences added to the paints, I always write them on the back of the painting, tho. I listened to Mike Zampi's Chesapeake Bay: Reflections of Beauty while I was painting it.

Yesterday morning in yoga class, Sharon pointed out her new toenail polish as "chakra purple." I just giggled because it matches the purple lotus petals perfectly. I took that to be confirmation because she didn't know I was doing the painting for her. I surprised her with it after this morning's class. I am SO grateful for yoga, and for Sharon and the healing place that she has created in Yoga East. NAMASTE' & BLESSINGS!

P.S. NAMASTE: I honor the place in you where the entire universe resides. I honor the place in you of LOVE, of LIGHT, of TRUTH, of PEACE. I honor the place within you where if you are in that place, and I am in that place in me, there is only ONE of us.

Today's Sunrise

The sun moves laterally to medially through the year. By summer, it is right in the middle. BEAUTIFUL. Good a.m., Sunshine!

"The best thing about growing older is that it takes so long." ~Walter Kemp

I read this quote in Barb Stepp's newsletter. May your day be full of sunshine and shower you with BLESSINGS of Light, LOVE, & Prosperity!