Brimhall Quote-of-the-Day

We don't promise miracles, but we expect them. ~Dr. John Brimhall

This isn't going to be a full Brimhall Report, but here's a picture of me & the doc.

How much weight have you lost? he asked me. I don't know. A lot. Part of that weight loss was thanks to Total Green, my favourite drink that he created. Yummy.

I've been out of town...

To all my loyal fans ;-) haha
I've been Brimhalling this weekend, so I will have lots of tales to tell. Stay tuned.... :-) H.

Ornament Thursday: SPROUT

WELCOME to Ornament Thursday! Here's what I did:

I found this really cool rock down at the river that was shaped like those ancient goddess figurines. When it came time to do something for this month's theme of "Sprout" I was looking at the rock and thinking that on one side it looked like a pregnant woman, and on the other side, it looked like she was holding a baby. I was going to be more realistic in my painting of it with a face, but it turned out more abstract. On the holding-the-baby side, it reminded me of Mother Mary and she's always in blue. The rock was dark grey, so I painted it white first so that the crayon would show up better. Then I heated it up in the oven at 100 degrees and melted blue crayons on one side. I really just followed the shape of the rock to make the face. Initially the heart was a baby.

On the other side, I painted it green and then added a finger labyrinth "sprout." When I looked at the whole thing, I realized it looked like the earth! So it's a Mother Earth celebration of Spring.

I added ocean labyrinth waves around the sides.

Links to the rest of the OT gang!

Alexa Westerfield - a.k.a. Swelldesigner Now that's it's time for spring, ideas are "sprouting" all over the place. Alexa creates this eye-catching notebook to keep them in order.

Art Bead Scene Some good karma is sprouting up at the Art Bead Scene with Heather's Lotus Flower Bracelet

Cindy Gimbrone aka The Lampwork Diva The Brooklyn National Anthem sprouts every year when Cindy's in Spring mode. See what it inspired this year!

Earthenwood Studio Chronicles Melanie giggles and remembers a furry friend, brings back an old mold, and sprouts up a beaded LOLhammy ceramic ornament

Helen Bradley and Michelle Zimmerman at http design It's spring and we're sprouting all sorts of wonderful art at http design. Michelle is toting her art to the market and Helen revisits a fun art school assignment for her inspiration.

Humblebeads Humblebeads celebrates spring with a Berry Good bracelet inspired by some juicy disk beads.

Jennifer Heynen of Jangles Jennifer has come up with a cute little necklace to remind you of spring.

Katie's Beading Blog Create some spring flair of your own with this easy bead embroidery idea from Katie's book, Hip to Bead.

Kriss Cramer - Spring Is In The Air Not much of a horticulturist? Me neither! But I love flowers and I enjoy growing these ones with some paper, paint, and rhinestones.

Linda and Tea at Make It Mine magazine Tea decided to join the fun this month. Check out her quilt blocks and Linda's purse.

Melissa J. Lee - Strands of Beads What do Korean playing cards have to do with a sprouting spring? Check out Melissa's blog to find out.

Michelle McGee - S-P-R-O-U-T Michelle just can't stop creating in green! A little wooden birdhouse becomes a beautiful palace!

Savvy Crafter Candie shares some happy spring memories with a cheerful felty flower idea!

Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done! Jean tells a touching, poignant tale of some beads who help one another, and after a small amount of sturm and drang they get it together and help each other! In fact, they prettify whatever YOU choose! Go see! It's fun!

Spring is Sprouting for Joolz by Lisa Even without a green thumb, Lisa managed to "grow" a garden of sorts this month.

Sprouting Up with Beading Help Web Lynn Kvigne's used wire and a lentil bead to create a "sprouting" pendant for wire workers who want a bit of a challenge!

The Impatient Blogger How does your garden grow? With metal mesh, Czech glass beads and vintage French images all in a row! Margot just returned from Paris where she discovered a treasure trove of vintage paper. This scanned and sized postcard image fit the theme of sprout perfectly and the necklace was in search of a new home...add some teal metal mesh bows and accents and voila...a design sprouts forth!

Vintage Girl Teams Up With Her Vintage Momma! What does a gal do when she finds herself far from her crafting supplies? Why, she raids her mom's basement and then puts dear old mama to work! Stop by and you'll see why mom's basement is fertile ground for things that sprout!

It's Funny Unless It's Not

Humour is a funny thing. If you have to explain a joke, it's not funny. If a person doesn't have a frame of reference for something, it doesn't have meaning. If it doesn't have meaning, it doesn't count. It gets filtered out by the reticular-activating system of the brain that helps the conscious mind sort through sensory information. I'm writing kinda like Purple Cow Guy today. Anyway, here's my favourite joke:


How many surrealists does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

Fish.

Jesus Buttons

I met my chiro-friend Catherine for lunch last Thursday. This is her daughter's purse, which I thought was v. cute. The logos are familiar until you look closer and see that they're Jesus-y. You think that's a Mountain Dew button until a more careful inspection reveals that "Jesus meant to DIE for you." Okay, then. Happy Easter Monday.

Day of Rest & HAPPY Easter

Jesus picture from XM Radio Guy.

It's a BEAUTIFUL springy day. I was going to write a parody to Jesus Christ Is Risen Today, but I have a treasure hunt to prepare for this afternoon. But it starts like this:

Happy Easter, Lent is over,

Ahhhhhh-leluah!

Doesn't really seem worth writing that part down, does it? Here's my blog post--now you finish it. ;-) I'm tippy-tapping this with Eddie Izzard in my head. Just imagine a male British accent in lipstick and high heels. Got it? OK. He does a v. funny bit about religions and Easter. You can google him on youtube. HAPPY Easter--now go eat some chocolate. ;-) H.

Auntie Hal

I'm still out of town and now I have on my Auntie Hal hat. I'm at Mum's and she's made porridge. So the nephews & niece are all eating Mum's 3-hour oatmeal. My sister says she hates oatmeal because she says, "It's not the taste, it's that the texture is like snot." Eeeewwwww!!! BTW, I get that Eeeewwwww!!! from her son when he was 5. Here's the convo:

Nephew: What's for dinner, Mom?
Sister: Well, we're having chicken, broccoli, cooked carrots....
Nephew: Eeeewwwww!!! Cooked carrots?! I hate cooked carrots!

At this point my sister gives him The LOOK while she says his name in The Mom Warning Tone.
Nephew: None for me thanks, I'm not a fan of cooked carrots.

He's older now, still not a fan of cooked carrots, but perfectly polite. Too late, tho, because I've adopted the phrase for all-things-yucky. It was especially appropriate when I was in massage school watching Dr. Bob's anatomy videos. Eeeewwwww!!!

And I'm not a fan of cooked carrots, either. That's right... Eeeewwwww!!!

HAPPY SPRING, have a GORGEOUS day! :-) H.

Venturing out...

Have a nice day. No really, I mean that. Not in the obligatory Walmartian way, or even the Bon Jovi way. But you know...in a nice way. Because nice matters. :-) H.

Treasure in the Labyrinth

I chose a theme word for this year: treasure. As a noun, it denotes something special, perhaps hidden. It's also a verb: you treasure a person or thing. I've been reading Eckhart Tolle's book about life purpose and thinking that I want to do something on that theme for my next CD.

Remi and I had a little ritual: as I would begin to walk the labyrinth, he would go rub up against the bush at the side of the porch. When I got to the center, he would trot over to me and sit down and lean into me while I pet him.

You know those quiet moments of peace where there are no thoughts or concerns? This was one of them. Looking out at the mountain with the sun on my face, Remi leaning into me. *sigh* LOVEly. And then I heard "Treasure in the labyrinth." That is what I felt. When we went back into the house, I started to write. I thought I was going to write a script, but this poem came through instead. Not the sing-songy rhymes I usually get. Just as I finished up, Mum was at the door and the rest of the day unfolded. It was Remi's last gift to me before he crossed over.

TREASURE IN THE LABYRINTH

What is your treasure?
Hidden inside,
Waiting to be discovered?
Uncovered? Recovered?
What is your dream?
What do you aspire?
It is your treasure
That you treasure.
It is your life’s journey,
Your path, your purpose.
It is waiting for you
To take the leap
Into the unknown
Into the darkness
Into the void that creates
The SPACE for you to grow
Into your BEAUTY
Your GRACE
Your POWER.
You are the gem that has
Been tossed and polished
by the storms of your doing
And undoing.

Last Stretch of Lent

Catholics, Anglo-Caths, and other Lent-observing Christians are on the home stretch. And a bit grouchy. This is the last week of religious-infused depravation. Growing up, Mum would ask us all, "What are you giving up for Lent?" It had to be tangible. She used to give up cigarettes. Back in those days, there wasn't an awareness about second-hand smoke. I should have said I was giving up passively smoking.

On Easter morning we celebrated the resurrection of Christ with a durgey hymn...Jesus Christ is risen today-ay-ay,
Ah--ah--ah--ahleluuuuu-ya!
I used to imagine Jesus standing there saying, For God's sake [and He could say that, because you know, He IS God] put some pep into the song...maybe SMILE.

After church we had an Easter egg hunt (totally pagan, BTW) and got to eat chocolate eggs. Which is what I had given up for Lent.

All this deprivation has me thinking: What if we gave up complaining instead? OR: What if there were some doctrine that said, Go forth and find pleasure. GET A MASSAGE? I think the world would be a better place if people felt better. Just a thought. This is what my brother gave up every year for Lent:

Kumquats.

P.S. I'm leaving the post as is so that you can appreciate the email I received from John Morgan:

Did you give up your spell checker for Lent or are you just depriving yourself of it?

He ofTen will inform me of spelling infractions. He's BOSSy like that.

Happy St. Pat's

I'm not Irish, not even remotely. Not even third generation Irish-American claiming to be Irish. But I used to have an Irish education professor at Shepherd College. He had the best accent; I would get lost in the lilt of his lyrical voice. And once I ate green eggs--wait, that was for Dr. Seuss Day. Never mind. Luck is often associated with the Irish and so in case you missed it from last month's Ornament Thursday, you can check out my Labyrinth o' Luck. And here's my green inspiration for today:

Looking back often gives you a glimpse of the plan at work. How many times in your life have you noticed that something wonderful or fulfilling that you now experience could have never happened if something specific didn’t happen? Many times that something was not a pleasant experience, yet you, in retrospect, recognize it was a necessary step to get you to where you are now. You may have never consciously written that script but if it wasn’t written for you, you would have never arrived.

P.S. Check out John's blog post on luck today. :-) H.

Day of Rest

It was pointed out to me last night that today is PALM Sunday. Nothing says I'm-a-Christian like a sprig of palm stapled into the shape of a cross...until chocolate Easter bunnies arrive next week. Happy PALM Sunday, everyone. Have a LOVEly day-of-rest. :-) H.

Drinking Whole System EEP Like Water

Ignatia is the homeopathic remedy for grief. Whole System EEP is Dr. Brimhall's homepathic remedy for anxiety, depression, energy loss, emotional balance. Barkley used to be so scared of thunder storms she would shake and her teeth would chatter. EEP calmed her right down. It's like a high-powered Rescue Remedy. I have been taking both and Thurssday afternoon I grabbed Everyday Soul by Bradford Keeney off the bookcase and headed for a long bath.

I've put flower essences in my bath before, so I did the same with the Ignatia & EEP. Yes, I literally took a bath in them. I kept opening the book randomly and came to the following passages:

One of the most powerful guides to heartful seeing is to carry an awareness of the inevitability of everyone’s death. You and everyone you meet will die someday and remembering this fact can be a strong wake-up call to feel differently about how we relate to one another. Given that our time on earth is precious and limited, how can we afford not to see through our hearts? Is there time to waste on heartless observation when our time with one another is so brief?
Open your heart to others so they may learn to see you through their heart. When two hearts see one another, each is given a spiritual blessing. This is the closest we get to seeing through the eyes of our Creator. As you learn to see this way, you will find yourself falling in love with the world.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The purest and truest spiritual life begins with accepting everything that comes to you as a gift and teaching. As Mother Teresa reminds us, this includes sickness and all possible misfortunes. The most difficult times sometimes bring the most important teachings. Each lesson is another step toward learning how to accept what comes to us as material to be transformed into the grace of spiritual light.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Everything in life is a teacher with a lesson that is perfectly made for you during the time in which it is received. We are never given more than we can bear. Grace, the divine presence and generosity of spirit, befalls those whose hands are open to receive it. The work of spirit is toward making graceful outcomes and blessing all that we receive in life. It steps away from seeing problems that need to be solved and difficulties that must be surmounted. Spirituality embraces all of life, its upsides and downsides, and does so with the serenity and calmness of a still but powerful compassion for the whole creation.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Spirit touches and moves our lives through the mystery of love and relationship. Holding both ecstasy and suffering, a spirited soul embraces all the longings of the heart. As Rumi poetically captures this:

Listen to the moan of a dog for its master.
That whining is the connection.
There are love dogs
No one knows the names of.
Give your life to be one of them.

And then I turned to a story (slightly paraphrased for you) about a dog. A DOG. [Cue boo-hooing with violins]

An old, crippled dog approached an elderly man in a park. This man had never experienced love in his entire life. The dog says that he has 3 days left to live, and more than anything he wants to experience being loved by his master. "I want this so much that I have learned how to speak so someone could hear my request. I have searched the world for a person who would understand my situation, and I think you understand what it is not to have love in your life...You don't have to really love me. It would be fine for you to pretend that you love me." So they spend the next 3 days together and the old man gives him the best food and takes him special places in the park and lets him sleep with him at night while he rubbed his belly and sings songs.

At the end of the 3 days, the dog says, "You have truly cared for me and I am most grateful. You have enabled me to open my heart. For the first time I know what it feels like to love someone." The old man began weeping and replied, "I, too, have learned to love and have never felt more alive." At that moment a shaft of bright white light entered the old man's apartment window and transformed itself into a staircase to the sky. A voice from above was heard by all the neighbors, "Come, both of you, unto my house. You have prepared the ground for your hearts to enter the kingdom of light." The old man with the dog by his side walked all the way up that staircase of light and disappeared into the clouds.

Dogs put the UN in unconditional LOVE and open our hearts in a way that only they can do.

Eating Ignatia Like Candy

I think I've accepted it, and then a fresh wave of grief crashes over me. Remi died yesterday with v. little warning. We were just getting over losing Barkley, and now he's gone too. Stupid circle of life.

Quote-of-the-Day

You can't get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me. ~C.S. Lewis

Anything Else

Last night I was going to watch Oprah's webinar with Eckhart Tolle. It was a few minutes before it was to start and I was chatting with John. I won't give the techno-details, but I was following directions and I wasn't getting into the class.

Then John told me a story. A Dave Dobson Story.

Do you remember that story Dave tells about learning to fly? [Maybe. Often I don't remember something Dave said until it's necessary. That's how Dave was.] Anyway, the story was something about what would Dave do if the instructor had a heart attack and the plane was plummiting to the earth and he had to land the plane all by himself when he'd never done it before.

He would take the controls, pull up on the nose.

What if none of it worked?

Pray.

And then what? Anything else. Do anything. Keep going until. How badly do you want this?

So I redoubled my efforts. I've learned this from John: when in doubt, restart your computer. Except that I forget until he reminds me. And whenever he says reminds me of a story, I pay attention. Thanks, John. And thanks, Dave.

P.S. Plummit? Plummet? Where's my spell-checker?

Favourite Eckhart Quotes

Oprah's webinar with Eckhart is tonight (9 p.m. EST). Here are a coupla Chapter 2 quotes:

Even a stone, and more easily a flower or a bird, could show you the way back to God, to the Source, to yourself.

Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness. How do you know this is the experience you need? Because this is the experience you are having at this moment.

Offended

I have had the occassion this week to offend a few people, especially with Monday's post. And in turn, I have been offended--sometimes in response to offending someone. But this a.m. I woke up thinking about all this. One of don miguel ruiz's 4 agreements is not to take anything personally. A person's behaviour is theirs, not yours. It is easier to look at a 2-year-old having a tantrum and recognize it as such, than to see it in an adult. Both behaviours are a pattern. As adults we get caught up in the content of a behaviour, instead of looking at the pattern. Cue Dave Dobson: At one time this pattern had a purpose and got a desired outcome. What worked for you at age 5, may not be a useful response as an adult. I wonder if you can get curious about updating those patterns....

Back to being offended: The question is, Who is being offended? Not the me that is connected to universal consciousness. It's the ego-me that needs to be right--and self-righteous. Even if I'm interpreting a behaviour as "mean," even if the intent from the person is to be mean, it doesn't matter. What matters is my response to the situation: how much emotional energy am I going to waste on this? How am I going to respond? Sometimes the best response, is no response. In that place of stillness, where there is no separation, what does it matter? It doesn't.

Eckhart Tolle said on Monday's webinar with Oprah that you can't force enlightenment on someone. You can fill-in-the-blank with enlightement. You can't force an opinion, a feeling, an idea. We all have our own lessons to learn. We all have our patterns to outgrow. Or not.

P.S. I am venturing out into the world this weekend so will most likely not be posting til Monday. Have a GREAT weekend!

P.P. S. Today is the LAST DAY to enter The Grasshopper's drawing for lots of cool *free* stuff from John Morgan! GO SEE.

Invocations of Grace

I drifted off last night after Susan's Invocations of Grace teleconference. It was a really wonderful experience; deeply relaxing, healing, and restorative. Actually, I was drifting in & out of consciousness through the meditation part. It was just what I needed to integrate my experiences reading Eckhart Tolle--that whole "awakening" thing...sometimes I just want to sleep.

One of the things that Susan talked about was acknowledgement. We were to pick an issue or intention to think about as she guided us through the meditation. She said that if there was any part resisting, just to acknowledge it. Sometimes that's all you need to help to shift a pattern. Acknowledgement works with parts of ourselves that we deny or resist. What you resist, persists. I think it also works with people. When you take a pause and give your full attention and are completely present, it transcends personality, ego, or behaviour. It acknowledges the divinity within where we are all the same. Anyway, just a thought. Namaste.

Grasshopper Notes

I’m a huge Grasshopper fan and my blog is sprinkled with John Morgan quotes. A day doesn't go by when I don't write something down that he's said that's profound, thought-provoking or funny. I’m *SO EXCITED* because Grasshopper Notes is going to become a book. He’s asking for people’s 3 favourite blog posts/newsletters to make sure they get included. Only 3? In return, he'll include you in a drawing to win 5 fabulous John Morgan products of your choice. You can find out all about it here. These are some of my favourite blogposts with quotes:

Mad Libs

“You do not become good by trying to be good, but by finding the goodness that is already within you, and allowing that goodness to emerge.” ~Eckhart Tolle

As I wrote it down, it became clear to me that any desired outcome could be substituted for the word “Good” and the adage remains just as profound. The framework of the quote acts as a cosmic Mad Lib. For example, you could substitute these words: “Happy,” “Joyous,” “Rich,” “Sexy,” “Insightful,” “Loving,” “Caring,” “Fulfilled,” etc. for the word “Good” and the source of emergence is always the same.

Inspiration
John’s eloquent tribute to Dave Dobson.

Frustration/Dissatisfaction
John's take on "falling apart."

He has 2 posts called "Creation." This one:

"You created this. Now what else can you create?” ~The Grasshopper

Your life begins to change when you recognize that you are a creator. You’ve created a past that has a hold on your present. It isn’t necessary to get into therapy to find out the causative factors. That may be interesting information, but it’s most often used to justify why you are the way you are now. “I’m the son of an alcoholic parent,” “I’m an incest victim,” “Clowns scared me when I was 4,” are some examples of how the justification keeps you in place.

“I’m the son of a bricklayer” is my answer to all the justifications. So what? The building of the causative factor into an entity is just another wall you will have to break down to change things up – so don’t build it in the first place.”

Creation
“Who you are is someone that you made up and got comfortable with.”

I quote that last one a lot! The deadline for entering is this Friday, March 7th. So go check it out!

P.S. AlSO, tonight is Susan's Invocations of Grace teleconference at 9 p.m. EST.

Invocations of Grace

My friend Susan is mentor, teacher, healer, wise woman. I'm v. excited that she is doing a teleconference series called "Invocations of Grace." I missed the first one, but the next one is tomorrow night, 9 p.m. EST. I'll be there. :-) H.

Menstrual Monday

Menstrual Monday? Whaaaaaat???? Reminder to my gentlemen readers: you have sisters, wives, girlfriends, co-workers, friends, mothers, and daughters. You are surrounded. So before you click off with a fast exit from this post with a does-not-apply-to-you response, I invite you to read on.

I was kidding when I proposed Menstrual Monday to Margot Potter, but then I started thinking about how cultures behave towards periods. Unless we’ve been raised in a matriarchal, goddess-worshipping culture (not in abundance on the planet today), we are woefully unenlightened. This is not gender-based, either. Look at the language we use:

Feminine PROTECTION. Protection from what? It’s not an attack and it’s not a disease.

SANITARY napkins: implies something dirty. It’s not dirty, it’s nature. In some religious traditions, men are not allowed to touch a woman who’s menstruating. How’s that for affecting self-esteem?

Euphemisms like the CURSE. Think about it: women have the ability to create life. I think that’s more of a BLESSING.

Ignorance is a voluntary affliction. ~ Nicholas Ling

I am not surprised by the lack of understanding that men have about periods. Afterall, their relationship with bleeding is from an injury. I am, however, surprised at the lack of knowledge women have about their own bodies. Ladies, do you know where your ovaries are? Here’s the thing about ignorance: there’s a tendency to make what we don’t understand, wrong. Religions do this all the time. In addition, whenever you keep something shrouded in darkness and mystery, it’s a place for shame to hang out. How can we be living in the 21st century and still be in the dark ages when it comes to our biology?

I have an Indian-American friend who told me that when she was a girl, she happened to be visiting India when she got her period. All the women got together and performed a specific ritual for her. She said that she was so embarrassed that everyone knew about it. I said, “How wonderful that you could mark the occasion as a celebration into womanhood. You had the support of women from all generations.” We don’t have that in our society.

She went on to say that when she was growing up, her mother was not allowed to prepare the food for the family for the first 3 days of her period. Perhaps, initially, however many centuries ago, that rule was created to support the woman. The body is breaking down, cleansing, clearing out. It takes energy and sometimes don’t we just want to take a nap? How many women listen to their bodies and rest? This is our downtime, but most women pop a pill and push themselves to keep going.

There’s a wonderful book, The Red Tent. Set in Old Testament times, it tells the story of women who retreat to a tent for their 3 days out of the month. The men thought it was a place of isolation where the women went to suffer. Far from it. It was the place of communion and storytelling and rest. It’s a great read.

You may be wondering (if you’re still with me) what sparked this little essay. It was Margot’s post. There are girls who miss a whole week of school each month because they have no access to supplies. If you think it’s only in faraway countries, think again. It’s here in America.
So Sharon McCreary is heading up a Maxipad Drive and you can read more about it at Generosity Flows.

Or you can send donations to:
Sharon McCreary
EGOS/CRESL
1250 Welton St.
Denver, CO 80204

Happy Monday. :-) H.

HAPPY B-DAY, Dr. Seuss

I know you're dead
but if you weren't
I'd give you cake
that wasn't burnt.

I'd sing for you
and maybe dance
and read your books
at every chance.

Your cat and ham
Your JOY and rhymes
have given us such
HAPPY times.

So HAPPY Birthday,
to you now.
Dr. Seuss,
we take a bow.

Today I'm wearing my Cat-in-the-Hat socks for Dr. Seuss. Last night XM Radio Guy celebrated his b-day by giving away his books & some pens as his cheap give-away. Great stuff. I learned to read with The Cat in the Hat, one of my all-time favourite books. He was approached by a textbook company to write a primer, but after he wrote it, they rejected it as inappropriate. So then he went on to fame and fortune. Yay, us!

P.S. THANKS, Mum for reading to me for hours and hours the same books over and over. You're the BEST!

The Power of Modeling

I heard this story from Mum. When my niece was about 11 months old, she was crawling around on the floor and found a piece of string and was playing with it. Then she wrapped the string around her fingers and took it to her mouth and pretended to floss her teeth.

Miss Ruthie always says to model the behaviour you want to see in your children. I doubt that my niece will ever need to hear a lecture on the importance of proper dental hygiene. Nor will she need to know the importance of reading or spending time together as a family. All those things are modeled to her. Everyday, consistently.

Kind of makes you think about patterns and behaviour and choices....