La Corazon

Here I am in Mexico again. This time to help Glenn with surgery. We are actually in the small town of La Cruz Huanacaxtle at the north end of Banderas Bay where Glenn and La Sirena (his schooner) are in the La Cruz Marina. The town is named for the cross at the center of town made of huanacaxtle wood. It is the perfect place to have heart-related surgery, because being here as a gringo, one sees just what is missing from the culture we come from - The Heart. Despite the fact that these people are being invaded by the new marina (which is being built to dock 500 boats thus nearly doubling the population of the town); the new condos going in; the hotels that are being planned; they are gentle, smiling and caring for us, the strangers that will soon ruin the town. Glenn has been here 4 months and already the locals know him and care about him. When they saw him with his arm in a sling, they asked what happened and seemed to really care when they heard the answer. Children walk freely, unafraid. Their faces are open and innocent. They smile at strangers as if they were family. I feel like an alien sometimes, not because of the way they treat me, but because of my own lack of humanity. More and more expatriots are moving here from the States, Canada and Europe. Will we bring our sickness of the heart with us too? Or will we instead entrain to their hearts which in the long run, are stronger than ours.

Flower Power

Recently I went to see Thomas Moore at the Church of the Incarnation in Santa Rosa, sponsored by Copperfield's Books. I was inspired by his talk. His most recent book, A Life at Work: The Joy of Discovering What You Were Born to Do, says that finding a life's work is an alchemical process that leaves nothing out. All elements of your life, including the failures and disappointments go into the mix. He illustrated his talk with the story of Rapunzel, who ended up in a tower due to a compromise her father was forced to make with a sorceress. This got my attention, since I played Rapunzel in a Girl Scout play when I was 11. He makes the analogy between early success in your work life and being locked in a tower. That is, sometimes success keeps you from growing and moving forward to what you really were meant to do. For those of us who are still wondering what we will do when we grow up, this is a relief. I can see now that if some of my earlier jobs had not been so unsatisfactory, I would have stayed. The first book of his that I read was The Re-enchantment of Everyday Life, so the dedication he wrote in my copy of his new book: "Do your magic, make us an enchanted world", brought me joy. I had just remembered something wonderful about my childhood. I used to spend hours outside with the plants and flowers - playing with the flowers, talking to them (as I still do today). "An only child" I never felt lonely and now I know why - I was surrounded by all the plant beings! I had a vision of myself in the midst of a whole world of smiling flower faces. Moore says we cannot forget how our past is a part of us. Rather we should mine it for all its worth. Re-examine our past and see if our relationship to it changes. It has taken me all these years to remember that I have always been connected to "flower power". No wonder Flower Essences and Essential Oils - Flower Therapy - appeals so much to me. I am seeking certification as a flower essence practitioner. I need a number of case studies. If you would like to be included in my study, please leave a comment with your email and I will get in touch with you. Best if we can meet in person at least once. So... near Santa Rosa or the Bay Area only, unless you are traveling this way.

Across the Universe

Finally got to see the movie "Across the Universe" on DVD. Wish I had seen it in the theater at least once. It was "trippy". A real stroll down memory lane. I cried with every song. I remembered when each song came out and what I was doing and thinking. I realized that was 40 years ago and more. I remember when I saw the Beatles in 1964 at the Cow Palace in San Francisco with my cousins Frank and George (Frank's younger brother), my aunt Frances and my Mom, Katie. I don't remember if anyone else was with us. I was 16. Imagine going to something like that with your mother! Things have changed. We didn't think it was strange. We were happy they took us. When the Beatles came out everyone started screaming and jumping up and down, even our mothers! I made my way through the crowd and actually started climbing on to the stage, reaching for John. He was closest to the side I was on, although Paul was my favorite. A female cop grabbed me an threatened to take me to the infirmary if I tried it again. Of course, I obeyed. In the west, popular music defines an era. The Beatles were a huge part of my younger days. The film uses their music effectively and appropriately. Earlier in the day, I had gone to a reading and book signing by Natalie Goldberg. She said she has been earning a living writing for 21 years. She's written 11 books. Her latest one Old Friend from Far Away. She talked about how a memoir could cover a part of your life. It was not a chronological account, but, say, your life in terms of lemon-meringue pie. This film shows how our lives were interwoven with the music of the Beatles. How it defined a generation. From the naivete of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" to "Why Don't We Do It in the Road". We all changed a lot in one decade. The whole world changed a lot in that decade.

On the Way to Enlightenment

For my readers, please forgive some of the strange ads that are appearing these days. The device they give us to screen and delete these ads is not working right now, so... Sorry! Perhaps that's because of Mercury Retrograde. Wow! I had no idea so much time went by since my last post! Well, you know what they say about time. I've been taking two on-line courses that take way-too-much-time (Powerpoint and Dreamweaver). My website www.wisewomenofthewest.com is continually evolving and growing and these programs will take it to a whole new level. I've also been "having fun" doing things way outside my comfort zone and expanding myself out into the world. One thing is the Enlightened Entrepreneurs Intensive training by Edward Mills. That is definitely pushing my buttons, (yes, I still have buttons) and Jane Bell's Flower Essence Practitioner Training which is moving things around in my psyche and emotional center. I guess it's time for inner-work again and flower essences can certainly do that. I had quite an experience Saturday with a colony of deep orange flowers and a hummingbird. Marvelous! Hummingbird has special significance in the indigenous religions of Mexico and since I am currently expanding my life into Mexico, it was a gift to have that encounter.

Wise Men I Know

Yes, as I said before, I am for harmony and balance. I gotta tell you about my cousin Frank. At 60 he ran his first marathon last year in Las Vegas and loved it so much he's doing it again this year. Here he is at the beginning of the race where it's 32 degrees!!! It was a fund raiser for the SF AIDS Foundation and he raised way more than expected. When he wrote me and said "I am training for the 2008 San Francisco Marathon. It is a fund raiser for the SF AIDS Foundation. For more info click on the web link
SF Marathon", I couldn't believe it. This guy has discipline! He's been working out for at least 25 years or something.
Here he is at the end of the marathon last year - 26 miles!!! .
I bet he's warmed up now. He has always been special to me. Better than a brother, a best friend. As kids we saw every horror movie they made. One time we saw a double-feature (yeah, we could see a double-feature for a quarter) "Giant Gila Monsters" and "Attack of the Monster Shrews" or something like that, 3 times each before our mothers picked us up. Usually we just went on our own, but that time they had dropped us off and told us to stay there until they came back. They had a flat-tire or something and it took hours. No cell phones then. We knew the dialog by heart. In high school we both loved to dance and danced together because nobody else knew how. We belonged to a square dance club and went roller-skating. In our twenties we went to Hawaii and Canada. He was in my wedding. He taught me about the Law of Attraction before it was popular. He has always been a positive "can do, will do" guy and I will always love him. Good Luck Frank!

Eek! I'm Turning into a Geek!

Yes, I'm afraid it's true. Although there are those who might say I've always been one. The word did not exist when I was in high school, nor did the word 'nerd' for that matter. How old is she? you are probably asking yourself at this point. Well, let's just say when I was in high school, I was in the "smart" class and most of the guys in that class were definitely what I would call nerds. I guess that made me one too. So what's happening now? I'm taking 3 on-line classes from Santa Rosa Junior College, and between those and all the other things I have going on, I think I spend at least 10 hours a day or more, on a computer at home. I am hoping to learn enough Dreamweaver to put up my own website because the platform I am currently using is so inflexible and I want to improve the appearance. I have many plans for www.wisewomenofthewest.com . Might I add that you can now purchase some of my herbal products and several different astrology reports from there using PayPal. I have had to schedule "days off" now that I work from home since I am actually working more now than ever. But I love the flexibility of being able to eat when I wish and wear what I want. That was always a problem for me. I am a grazer and like to nibble small amounts of food throughout the day. Most jobs have a "lunch hour" usually a half-hour in which you must force-feed yourself in order to stay alive. And the breakfast thing was also a problem. I just can't eat when I get up in the morning. I need time to see what I want to put on my stomach. When you work "in the world", you either don't eat at all or you make yourself eat something to "start your day right". Let's not get into the issues I always had with the bathroom, except to say that my last job as a Letter Carrier was a real doozy in that department. Out on the route as a Rural Carrier, I had to find places in the woods. As a City Carrier, I sometimes had to ask people to let me in their house. That is really embarrassing and if you deliver mail in a neighborhood where everyone is away at work, man, you are really in trouble. Since you can't "deviate" from the route, you can't get in your truck and drive to a public bathroom. So, again, you have to closely monitor your food and beverage intake so that you won't have to "go" for the several hours you are out on the route. I wonder how many Letter Carriers end up with bladder and colon problems? Hmmm, I wonder if anyone is doing research on that one? Oh, I'm so glad those days are over. Now, back to my .....

Wise Women I Have Met

As you may have noticed if you've been following this blog, I write about a number of subjects. It's just the beginning. As the title of the blog and my website www.wisewomenofthewest indicate, I am interested in empowering women (not at the expense of men), but as a step toward the balance that needs to occur for human beings to move towards harmony with Nature. In tune with empowering women, I want to tell you about Deanna L'am who I met at our Joy Road Fall Art Walk and Sale in Occidential. She was with her delightful daughter, who sort of reminded me of myself at her age. Deanna is a wise woman if ever there was one. She has a beautiful website at www.deannalam.com. And a new book out:
Becoming Peers - Mentoring Girls into Womanhood, (Red Moon Publishing, soft cover, 168 pages).