Lately I’ve been craving silence.

Silence in my surroundings and silence in my own internal world.

The craziness of the world between politics and Covid and everything else, has generated so much noise, especially the noise of my opinions and everyone else’s.

The other day I saw these words on Instagram (@buddha.says) that blew me away:

“Open Your Mouth Only If What You Are Going To
Say Is More Beautiful Than Silence.”

Shift the energy at home and find your center again

How long have we been stuck at home now? Has it really been months? Ask your home how it feels from your climbing its proverbial walls, and it may well be ready for a refresh too.

Recently I’ve gotten serious about “refreshing” our house, from having the carpets cleaned to replacing some furniture, filling boxes with books to give away and clearing clutter.

Surprisingly, one of the things that made a huge difference was buying a new doormat for the front door! For the past fifteen years, I’ve walked across an old, ugly, cat hair covered door mat. Now I have a beautiful, dark red mat that makes me smile.

Who knew such a simple change could bring so much joy?

This happened after a quick consult with my friend, Stephanie Bennett Vogt, MA, who just happens to be a leading space clearing expert, and the author of four books including YOUR SPACIOUS SELF and A YEAR TO CLEAR.

I’ve asked Stephanie to share with us her best five “one minute” tips on how to make sheltering at home more beautiful and more friendly. Enjoy!

7 Steps to have MORE LOVE in your life

Love is quite simply the most precious possession in existence. And my mission is to share the best insights I know to bring more love into each of your lives.

Today I want to share the most powerful way to create MORE LOVE in your life NOW.

These beautiful insights come from my dear friend Ken Page’s life-changing book Deeper Dating: The Powerful Path To Authentic Love.

If you want more love in your life, try this life-changing exercise from Ken:

Think about all the people you know, from your nearest and dearest to people you may not have thought about for years. And just ask yourself these three questions:

• Who truly loves me?
• Who sees and treasures me for who I really am?
• Whom do I trust to have my best interests at heart?

Each of the people you picked is gold. They are your personal dream-team in life.

Navigating Chaos with Grace & Ease

My dear friend, the wise and beautiful Rev. Cynthia James, sent out a blog the other day filled with important and potent advice on dealing with the times we are in.

She has graciously given me permission to share this with you:

These last few months have been quite a ride. A pandemic, social unrest, and political upsets have created upset, division and emotional disturbance. It has been hard to keep up day to day with all of the changes.

I, personally, have had to find more ways to become clear, stay focused and stay still within myself. Quite frankly, I have had to learn how to navigate the chaos of these times.

Let me share what I mean by first beginning with definitions.

To Navigate: to move on, over, or through (water, air, or land) in a ship or aircraft; to manage or direct a course.

The word chaos derives from a Greek word meaning “chasm” or “void,” which makes sense, given that chaos also refers to the formless state of matter before the cosmos was created. It also means a state of utter confusion or disorder; a total lack of organization or order. any confused, or disorderly mass.

Trust that good things are happening

You probably already know that Albert Einstein, who won a Nobel Prize for Physics, and was famous for his theory of relativity, which revolutionized our understanding of space, time, gravity, and the Universe, was a genius. But did you also know he was quite the philosopher?

Einstein wrote that the most important question facing humanity is, ‘Is the Universe a friendly place?’

He explained that, “ if we decide that the Universe is an unfriendly place, then we will use our technology, our scientific discoveries and our natural resources to achieve safety and power by creating bigger walls to keep out the unfriendliness and bigger weapons to destroy all that is unfriendly and I believe that we are getting to a place where technology is powerful enough that we may either completely isolate or destroy ourselves as well in this process.”

Let’s be kind, and humble

Do you want to know what makes me swoon?

Beautiful, insightful, profound writing.

I recently discovered this essay on Facebook, written by Taylor Rose Godfrey and have gotten her permission to share it with all of you. She really dives deep into the heart of true spirituality.

“I don’t care how spiritual you are. How long you can melt in the sweat lodge. How many peyote journeys that have blown your mind, or how well you can hold crow pose. Honestly. I don’t. I don’t care what planets fall in what houses on your birth chart, how many crystals you have or how vegan your diet is.

How do you best enjoy the ride?

We are now a full six months into living with the Corona pandemic.

For me, and most everyone I know, it’s been a very bumpy ride.

It’s kind of like white-water river rafting. Periods of smooth tranquil waters followed by occasional terrifying rapids where I’m holding on tight, hoping not to capsize.

There’s no map. We don’t know when or where the river ends.

Nobody does.

No one.

Sitting Shiva for America

I woke up this morning feeling a sense of great loss, loss for so many things…the loss of civility in our country, the loss of life from Covid, and cancer, and guns, and innocent black men and women being killed, innocent protesters being gunned down, the violence in our streets.

The seemingly impossible divide between left and right.

The loss of stability and security.

The loss of freedom to hug our friends, and so much more.

Later, when I looked at my Facebook feed I found more loss.

Friends mourning the loss of loved ones, beloved pets, careers that were once promising that have disappeared.

Grief. Mourning. Fear. Uncertainty.

Relationship Role Modeling from the Obamas

Sixteen years ago Barack and Michelle Obama’s marriage was about to crumble.

Michelle told her mother she wasn’t sure their marriage would survive.

Barack told his grandmother that Michelle’s constant nagging was driving him crazy.

They were drowning in debt from the Ivy League law school loans.

Michelle was the major breadwinner with her high profile, corporate job and two young girls to care for and she felt fat, unseen and unheard.

With Barack’s busy travel schedule, they barely had any family time. And she was tired of picking up after him.

One morning Michelle woke up at 5am. Barack was gently snoring next to her. All she could think about was getting out of bed and going to the gym….it had been months! Part of her resisted going….the girls would soon be up and would need to fed….but the other part of her thought, Barack’s a smart guy, he’ll figure out how to feed them.

Once she arrived at the gym she got on the stairmaster and quickly had a Wabi Sabi epiphany.

The Alchemy of Tragedy

I wasn’t born an optimist.

In fact… quite the opposite.

I was a moody, sullen, often seriously depressed child and young adult.

One night, at age 26, I decided that I was going to find the secret of happiness.

I was at a party in Coconut Grove, Florida, at the waterfront home of a millionaire, surrounded by people seemingly having a great time. I felt like such an outsider amidst the laughing, smiling party-goers. I had never felt so alone.

I wanted to have a great time, I just didn’t know how.

I thought it was something that just “happened” to lucky people.

In that moment, as I stood on the dock overlooking beautiful Biscayne Bay, I promised myself that I would do whatever it took to discover the secret to happiness.

During the next several years I went to therapy, read a lot of books, attended workshops and discovered that most of the time happiness is a choice. Even when really bad stuff is happening!

I found out that I am an HSP – a highly sensitive person and essentially very shy. I had to break through my fear of people and really make an effort to learn how to connect, make small talk, and allow myself to “be seen.”

26 pounds, a muffin top, and true happiness…

Thirty-six years ago I was obsessed with the ambition to attain physical perfection.

I had this idea that if I could weigh a certain amount, have my measurements be an exact number, have my hair the best length and all ten of fingernails “long” at the same time, I would be perfect and with that perfectly happy.

I spent a year working out two hours a day lifting weights, running, doing sit-ups and squats. I carefully measured and tracked everything I ate, and I weighed myself daily (ok, multiple times a day).

And, then one day it happened. I got up, stood on the scale, took out my measuring tape and voila – perfection had been reached. For a few moments I was in bliss. 

Making Room For Surprises & Miracles

There once was a woman who saw on TV that her neighborhood was about to be flooded and the officials said everyone should evacuate.

She believed that God would save her, and she ignored the warning.

Then a city worker knocked on her door and told her to leave for higher ground and she said no, “God will save me.”

Then the floods came, and she had to run up to the second floor to stay dry.

A boat soon came to her second story window to rescue her and she said no, “God will save me.”

The water then filled the third floor and she ended up on the roof of her home.

A helicopter came and she said no, “God will save me.”

Finally, some good news….

According to the Vedic tradition, we are now in what is called Kali Yuga, the age of darkness and ignorance. A time when people further down the path of dishonesty, and virtue is of little value. Liars and hypocrites rise. The human diet is now ‘dirty’, and the environment is now polluted. Supposedly this will last 4,000 years.

However, according to my friend, spiritual leader Roger Gabriel there is another, brighter point of view.

My Favorite Lockdown Distractions

TV, Books, Beach walks and Travel Memories are all the top of my list of how I’ve been keeping myself amused this summer. FYI, none of these activities fall into the category of spiritual or personal growth.

TV – Brian and I have fallen into an early evening routine of watching a couple of hours of TV together. Since we can’t go out to the movies, we have a found some series that are just as exciting. Our favorites are on Netflix. We’ve watched all of the episodes of White Lines, a decadent, sophisticated mystery of drugs, sex, and murder on Ibiza.

Next we watched Money Heist (created by the same producer as White Lines, Alex Pena who’s storytelling chops are spectacular). It’s a thriller of crazy bank robberies in Spain with an eclectic, captivating cast of characters.

Catch A Wave (In Spite of the Wobble)

The first thing I see out my window each morning are the surfers. We live across the street from South Bird Rock, the best “break” in San Diego and only the most expert surfers dare to ride here.

Not only do you have to be an advanced surfer, you also have to hike down a cliff and then paddle out a quarter mile or more to get in position.

Some days, like today, there are as many as a dozen who are wildly riding the high surf.

Other mornings there are just a few wet-suit clad dudes sitting calmly on their boards scanning the horizon for the next wave.