It appears that many of us have not considered the rules of etiquette upon using our various mobile devices so I thought I’d share some of the rules I try to adhere to myself in hopes that some of you may feel (and act) the same way…..(as with all LRK posts, please take what you want and delete the rest!)

1.) When having a conversation with someone in-person (in the flesh, face-to-face) do not accept a phone call unless a.) it is an emergency or b.) before you began your f2f conversation you told them that you were expecting a phone call.

2.) Do NOT text and drive. Do NOT text and drive. Do NOT text and drive. If you suddenly realize you have to text someone a message, pull over–type it up—and resume driving.

3.) As important as I’m sure you are, when you’re out in public walking from point a to point b you probably don’t need to check your email or your face book status. Seriously, what if that perfect man or woman was walking by right then? Perfect missed opportunity.  And if you don’t care about that you might not see the abdominal snowman behind the bushes…

4.) Practice times of not using your phone at all.  How would you engage in life?  What would you do with your time?

5.)  Spend as much time evolving your friendships offline and in-person as you do on-line.  It engages different synapses in your brain.

6.)  Do not check your email, Facebook or other social networking sites when you are in the company of someone else unless, of course you’re taking a photo of the two of you together to share.

7.) Do not text during a conversation with someone else unless it pertains to an agreement you have with that person.  Look them in the eyes and be there in the moment. Practice being present.  Oh get over your shyness?! Focus on the other person and ask them questions about themselves. Be curious!

8.) There is nothing quite as obnoxious as seeing someone out for a walk with their dog AND ON THEIR CELL PHONE.  Give it a rest people.  Be there with your dog.  Go on your walk, breathe in the fresh air, watch the birds fly and make/take your phone calls when you get home.

9.)  Building on #8, well there is one other thing about as obnoxious and that is talking on your cell phone when you’re out in nature.  Hello? It’s not wall paper people!  Be still, take it in, enjoy.  You’ll have plenty of time later to talk all you want on your cell phone. You just might miss a gaggle of fairies dancing around the mushroom ring!

10.)  Repeat as many times as warranted: My mobile device is here for me to use it for my convenience (it is not here to impinge upon my life and gobble up space).

I’m sure there are many more, in fact, I’d love for you to leave your additions!!  Leave a comment with your ideas.

“They” should warn you about things like this.  If an Australian Shepherd ends up in your pack of life, be prepared for more to merge in at a later date.  One of our first clues to Aussie dog owners tending to have multiple Aussies was last summer while vacationing at the beach when we met a woman who had three champions playing frisbee with her all up and down the beach!?  They all got along so well together and they just seemed to fit together perfectly.  You could almost see them, in your mind’s eye, herding flocks of sheep across the rolling green hills of country-islands across the ocean.

  So it should come as no surprise to us that after only a week of seriously looking into a new litter-mate for our small pack of an Aussie and a Lab, who would fit in the most seamlessly like he’d always lived with us but “George” who ended up at the shelter as a stray.  They figure him to be about 7 months old but I think he may be a little bit younger.

George and Paul (yes, you know any more dogs we get will be named John and Ringo…) acted like they fit together like peas and carrots from their first meeting.  I didn’t go with my husband for the “meet and greet” between them because I have a hard time going to any kind of animal shelter since I end up wanting to bring everyone home with me.  Soon after the time he made his appointment to take Paul to meet his new possible sidekick, I got the most happy voice mail from my husband telling me that they were getting along famously and riding together in the back seat of his car with no problems at all.

Our Black Labrador, The Grand Dame we call “Reality”, likes him too.  And he defers to her better judgment in cases where both he and Paul get a wee bit too rambunctious for the regal black lady of our abode.  I’ve had dogs all my life, in fact, I say often that I was raised by a Boxer because “Duke”, my parents’ first dog-child, used to watch me in the front yard when my mom went to talk to neighbors in the hood and not let me wander out of the yards’ parameters.  I’ve been around German Shepherds when my mom was into showing and breeding them and raising champions, Great Danes, Wired-haired Dachshunds, Chesapeake Bay Retrievers, Schipperkes, Dobermans, Cairn Terries, Golden Retrievers, an Irish Wolfhound and a Cockapoo but I’ve never had an Australian Shepherd, until now, which seems to be a breed all unto itself.

I’ve made my husband promise me that we will find a trainer (for us more than the dogs) who specializes in Australian Shepherds so that we can make sure that we keep their bright little minds busy and occupied with little chance of circling around in on itself and becoming really neurotic!!  After four years of talking and communicating with the Paul-dog, it wasn’t until this evening with the addition of the new George-dog, that Paul acknowledged that my words were reaching him when he came to full alert because the next door neighbors with all their kids were home. This is usually the time that he loves to run to the window and bark as if Attila the Hun himself was outside trying to break in.   We’ve tried all kinds of things with him to get him to stop to no avail when, surprisingly, all I had to say to him this evening was “now Paul, think really hard how you want to react to this…you’ve got the little man George watching your every move”.

I’m sure it won’t surprise you at all to know that Paul did not bark once. Well, maybe once but that was only when one of the neighborhood kids actually came up to our door and knocked on it to give us their annual family photo Christmas card.  Even still, Paul did not bark as loud or as long as he would of before George (b.g.).  All this goes to show that I’m pretty sure everything you say and do with an Aussie goes in their ears and stays there.  I’m also beginning to realize that there is probably an exhaustive list of all kinds of things they can do but….ONLY WHEN THEY WANT TO DO IT.   So, the trick for us is to learn how to gain their respect and attention so they’ll want to do what we say.

I really feel sorry for those humans who don’t enjoy animals as much as we do.  I’m sure if you are an animal lover that you have many examples in your own life of how being in a relationship with them has expanded and grown you in your “being” experience.  In fact, I would love to hear stories from you about what you’ve learned from your animal friends.

Until then, picture me running around the foothills of the Texas Hill Country with my Aussie dogs and send us all a little prayer would ya?!

Yeah, this time of year is pretty crummy for many people but for the first time in a long, long time I’m feeling very happy. I’ve even started mailing off some Christmas cards.  I’m not sure exactly what pieces of my puzzle moved into place to help me to feel fulfilled and happy right now, but whatever they are and however they moved I’m very grateful!

Only someone who has suffered from depression, anxiety, panic attacks, PTSD and phobias can really understand what it is like to weather through the onslaught of all the happiness and cheer that is tossed around this time of year. It can be really painful physically as well as emotionally.  Tonight as my husband and I were watching a French flick and both dogs were curled up on either side of me with a roaring fire in the background, in the middle of feeling all happy and grateful, I had a very quick flash of remembering how afraid and totally alone I felt–definitely when I was living on my own before we got married and sometimes even during those blue depression times long after.

Something we humans don’t talk with each other about a whole lot about how durn scary and sad it can be sometimes as we are traversing through this life of ours.  Even when the sun is out and warm through the shirt on our back, we can still have times of feeling as if the world could care or less about us.  It’s as if we were standing on the outside of the snow globe of life looking in and knocking loudly but nobody can hear.   When you’re feeling blue and/or afraid then people around you acting all  happy can feel especially jarring or grating.  When I first began seeing a therapist years ago to finally confront the depression and anxiety that I had been walking around with for so long, I described the way I felt to her in that my life felt like I was walking around inside of a B-rated horror movie. Nothing felt good. Everything hurt or was scary at some level and in some way.  Thank God that within a very short while of talking things over with her, I began to feel a release inside of me that had been gripping my heart and stomach which allowed for me to see and experience some good things in my world at least some of the time.  I didn’t always feel it and there were many days and weeks when it was all I could do to show up for work and then come home to curl up with my dog and cat and watch television until blessed sleep took over.  But I kept pressing on. I had remembered sparkles of feeling good when I was younger and I was determined to feel that way again. I was not going to let this dark cloud have control over my life and I was willing to go to therapy every day for however long it took  if that is what it would take for me to get better.

Today, I’m grateful to report that many of the pathways I began years ago towards helping myself get better such as therapy and various 12-step programs to address addiction and spiritual/religious programs to expand my understanding of God, all of these helped me to release the bondage of the past so that I could live in the peace of today.

The good news about feeling blue is it means you’re sensitive which means that just as you can feel the fear and sadness about your life, you can also feel the beauty and joy.  It’s such a bitter sweet thing to be human.  I’ve written before about a memory I had one day while I was driving through Zilker park which is located down by the river here in Austin.  I pretended that I was talking to an angel and I asked this angel why we humans have to feel so much pain and the angel began asking me if I even understand how truly miraculous it was to be human.  He said that in the world where he lives, he cannot feel the intense beauty of the heart, soul and flesh in the way we do here on Earth and went on to say that even the most searing experience that breaks our heart is achingly beautiful to those on the other side.

Well, I don’t know if I was really talking with an angel or if all my egos (Id, super, etc.) were creatively working out my quandary to help me find peace….but I did feel better after looking at my life as if I was seeing and feeling it through an angel.  Everything became that much sweeter when I thought of my life in that way.  I still remember how beautiful the sun looked glinting off the leaves of the trees as I drove down the street having this conversation in my head.  That’s how I feel this Christmas/Hannukah/Solstice season….very peaceful and with a simmer of happiness.  It’s not a manic excitement or tipping point joy but rather a very subtle feeling of hope and wonder.

I invite you to write me your comments about how you feel this time of year (even if you don’t celebrate any of the holidays happening now).   Would really love to hear from you

Thomas Leonard, Founder of CoachU (along with many others), Coachville  and many things Coaching….created a “distinctionary” (can be found at Coachville.com) that takes a look at two similar words and explores them to find which one goes a little deeper for a richer experience.

Here is the one for Fulfillment vs. Satisfaction:
Satisfaction is the sensation that you feel when your needs are met. You’re satisfied; you’re satiated. Fulfillment, however, is the deeper, more soul-oriented feeling that one experiences when they are expressing their values, as in being themselves. When an artist is creating, they often experience fulfillment in their work. However, when the artist is getting appreciation, which perhaps may be a need, they’re going to feel satisfied but not fulfilled. Both are good, but fulfillment is a richer experience.

I realized when I was talking with my mentor on Friday morning listing the top things that I’m putting my attention to (trust me, you don’t want me to list them here because it might make your head spin how much I do….) and I knew that blogging was something that I never want to give up.  It gives me such a sense of fulfillment to blog because it’s a way for me to help you readers feel connected and if not understood completely at least that someone is hopping up beside you to let you know you matter  (or hey I’m good for a laugh or two sometimes at least!).  In spite of the fact that I don’t get paid  to blog, I have to write to get the ideas and feelings out of my head and on to the page or the ideas will just keep piling into my brain taking up space.

When we looked at my blog talk radio show (www.blogtalkradio.com/hope42day)  I realized that most of the time I feel satisfied doing a show but I don’t always feel fulfilled.  Now I’m not quite sure why that is except I think it may have something to do with allowing other people to give their opinion to me about how I could ramp my show up to the “next level” (e.g. weekly shows) or solicit corporate sponsorship that would allow me to have some paid help etc.  That all ends up feeling like a full-time job to me pretty quickly, not that I wouldn’t want to have a radio show that I could get paid to do full-time but I’m pretty realistic when it comes to this and know that I’d be getting paid part-time to do an over-time job.  Not too sure that is something I’m interesting in doing.  For right now, I’m okay with just feeling satisfied with my show as it is on my own time schedule.

I think fulfillment is something that comes from deep inside of us and so, for me, it’s got a spiritual nature as well.  It’s kind of like when you do or say something nice for somebody and get filled with that all-over glow inside and out.  Who doesn’t want to feel that way? I sure love it?!?  Makes me want to keep on finding ways to be kind to others just to get that “soul-hit”.  Conversely, I feel satisfied after cleaning the house spotless.  I love nothing more than to clean every dust particle off of every surface and floor, organize things, neaten things up, add a spice or flair of decoration and then walk from room to room admiring my work.  That gives me a huge feeling of satisfaction but I definitely don’t feel fulfilled.

How about you?  What gives you a great inner sense of fulfillment?

Surely you’ve heard of a Doodle?  I’m not talking about the the kind of doodle you draw, no, I’m talking about the dog!!  There’s all kinds of Poodle mixes that are Doodles.  The most commonly known mix are the Labradors and Poodles or the Golden Retrievers and Doodles.  You can go to http://www.doodlerescuecollective.com/ to find all kinds of Doodles looking for homes who are located in the United States.

I fell in love upon first sight with a rescue-Doodle over lunch at a local restaurant the other day.  Now, most people who know me know that I am an animal lover. But being an animal lover doesn’t mean that I fall instantly in-love with every animal I see nor does it mean that I want to take every animal home with me. Then there are those special animals that you just instantly feel a bond and connection.  Many years ago, I strong-armed a good friend of mine into giving me a Cairn Terrier puppy that she had rescued off of the streets of Mexico.  My friend had named her “Breakfast” because they had happened upon her and some litter mates after a hard evening of tequila drinking and hungry for some…well…you know…breakfast.

all this to admit to you that in my past when it came to falling in love with a critter (much less a boyfriend), I pretty much would do anything to bring them into my world.  Fast forward to today and I have a loving husband, two great cats and two great dogs.  I certainly don’t have any unmet needs happening in the animal sector of my life.  But there we were sitting in the cafe minding our own business when a movement caught my peripheral vision and I saw a fairly good sized dog, probably 80 pounds maybe 90, with longish hair that was multi-colored with brown, dove-grey and blonde plus she had bushy eyebrows and whiskers!   There was something about her countenance though that got my attention.    Shortly after I spotted her, one of the ladies sitting across from our table got up and went outside to meet her too….so it wasn’t just me!

I resumed eating and conversation with my family and tried to think nothing of her again but just as we were leaving, I listened to that voice in me suggesting that I go out on the patio and meet the dog.   Having dabbled with animal communication over the years, I’m fairly certain that she was beaming us vulnerable humans inside to see whose interest she could catch.  She walked right up to me very calmly and I asked her human-mom if I could meet her.  Her mom told me that her name was “Leah” and that she was a Black Labrador/Poodle mix.  She is not even two years old which blew me away because she was so calm and very present.  If dogs meditate, this one surely does.  Very Ommmmm-ish.  And happy. And curious. But not putting herself on you.  If her mom hadn’t been so nice, in another life I probably would have tried to walk away with her, but she was obviously happy and cared for very well.  Now instead of fantasizing about some guy other than my husband, I have pictures of the Leah-dog floating in my head.

My husband and I have always adopted from the pound or rescue (except for Buckwheat our Golden who was “gifted” to us).    Our “Reality” (Black Lab) is getting on in age so we know that sometime down the road we’ll be looking for a new litter mate for the Paul-dog plus we need to give Re-Re time to relax in her retirement years.  You probably have guessed that I’m going to lean heavily on us considering Doodle Rescue.

Leah’s mom tried to do the right thing by telling me about the plight of “designer-breeds” such as the Lab/Poodle and the demise that many of the dogs find themselves in when the humans don’t like them for whatever reason but I couldn’t bear to hear another story confirming for me how dense we humans can sometimes be.  Nevertheless, I was glad that she told me about Doodle Rescue and made me aware of Leah’s story.

I secretly think that Leah is an “angel-ambassador” for Doodles everywhere., but I suspect there are more “Leah’s” out there to be experienced so dear readers my suggestion for you is to keep your antennae up and your heart open because who knows, you just might find yourself falling in love with a Doodle.

If I had given birth to children, I’m pretty sure that I would have felt like I was the first person who had ever experienced the unique feelings that come with the miracle of bringing life into the world even though there have been all kinds of women who have given birth for thousands of year.  I know that, for me in that situation, I would have felt that I was different from every other woman on the planet.

So why would I expect to feel any other way about other major steps in life such as helping family and friends figure out where they want to call home and how they want to live their lives til the end of their days?  Same goes as I look down the road for my future and contemplate where my husband and I would like to be (both figuratively and theoretically).  It’s amazing how steeped in denial we can be about life choices like this even with all the swirling articles, stories, documentaries, lectures, movies and so on out there to remind us.

Over the last year, I experienced helping a good friend walk through the process of realizing that her debilitating illness had taken her to a point that living in her home alone was no longer a safe option for her.  During her life, she had enjoyed knowing that she had above average intelligence, a good education and had experienced many examples of competencies and success both in the business world as well as her private life. So you can imagine how difficult it was for her to accept that she would have to move to a residential apartment and downsize considerably.  Oh by the way, she was a good twenty years younger than most people are when they have to make these kind of decisions.  Within a short time of moving to her apartment, her illness got progressively worse with frequent trips in and out of the hospital.  She tried to stay in her apartment and hired 24 hour home health care but that was sorely lacking from the inexperience of her helpers to the fact that one of them stole her narcotics.  About three months before she passed away her illness had taken such a turn for the worse that all the medical authorities predicted that it would be just a matter of time so she was received into the hospice center of her choice.  Within a week of being in the hospice center it became obvious that she had rallied so her family came together to help her make a choice of where to go to next.  A nursing home was chosen that was supposed to be “good” and “clean”.  My friend threw as much of a fit as she could about not liking it and wanting to move immediately but we were told that this kind of reaction was normal for someone who first enters nursing care and to just give her time to adjust.

What did I know? I’d never had to deal with this in my family and certainly not with any friends.  Luckily for my friend, her son heard her requests and helped her to find a much better facility for her to live out her days.  It still wasn’t the Taj Mahal of nursing care centers, but it was light years away from the first place that she landed. Oh, did I tell you that she went through a confusing time period there of not knowing how much money she had in her accounts and what she could afford to spend in the way of nursing care and accommodations?  That was enough to get me to pay attention to how we spend our money and what our retirement plan is all about!

Fast forward to this past week and one of my family members told us that they were looking down the road to where they wanted to call “home” for the final time.  Luckily for this family member they have a good pension as well as a family trust so they have been able to find a retirement and continuing care community with all kinds of choices for care that also does not feel like an “old people” place.  I think this may be how the one percent gets to live or at least have excellent choices available to them concerning whether they stay in their own home with help or move into a community with all kinds of bells and whistles.

As I look down the road for myself (even though I’ve got a good 20-25 years til I have to really make some concrete decisions) I realize that a.) I’m very grateful to have good help, b.) I’m very grateful to be married to whom I am married and for the choices we have made in our lives and c.) Although I appreciate lovely surroundings, pretty much if I live where I can enjoy the ocean and nature, I’ll be happy.  If I need it, I’m sure there will be health care workers who love seaside communities as much as me who can come visit my cabin.

Every once in awhile if I’m lucky, some of the wisdom and/or other people’s lessons make an impact on me and cause me to really consider what actions I want to take in my life instead of just floating along as a passive victim just taking what life dishes out.  I understand that I don’t have control over pretty much anyone or anything outside of myself; however, I can pay attention to how I’m feeling and thinking and take actions towards that which I believe so that I can live in concert with who I am.

I tell you what, if looking down the road now means that I might have to drive my twelve year old car just a wee bit longer so we can sock away some more money for a comfortable retirement I’m so on board with that now!  Sometimes delayed gratification is really the icing on the cake.

How about you? What do you see down your road?

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?

There my husband, brother-in-law and I were sitting in the new south Kerbey Lane Cafe waiting for our lunch and talking over country & western music when my b-i-l decides to start waxing philosophical about what happens to us–our essences–our energy after we die.  Now, most of you who have been reading my blogs for awhile probably have a pretty good guess as to where most of my beliefs tend to veer off on topics such as these. And my husband and I have had all kinds of conversations over topics such this one over the years but I got to tell you that I was happily surprised to hear my b-i-l just breaking out into such an esoterical topic right smack dab in the middle of the day.  I pretty much always welcome good conversation.

According to my b-i-l, we are a composite of energy from all kinds of things and when we die all of our energy goes to making all kinds of other things whether it be human, animal, insect, vegetable etc.  and in that way we do carry on.  I realized as he was talking that, for the most part, I agree that our energy does disperse and is adsorbed into making new life but I also believe there is that part of us called the soul that binks off into the space between the material and in-material to reconnect with the divine.  To my brother-in-law’s credit he was able to shrug his shoulders about some of my far out postulating and at least ponder the possibility.  Still, I was just thrilled that there we three sat having this great philosophical conversation as if we were in the middle of our own movie like, “Dazed and Confused” or perhaps our own lunch-time version of “My Dinner With Andre”.

After our lunch, I thought about our conversation and realized that in order for us to get to participate in a good conversation (besides being someone who can come up with great ideas and questions), we have to be open to hearing opinions and ideas which may not be exactly, if at all, like how we believe or think.  One thing  I’ve learned about myself over the years is that very often I formulate and make quick judgments about what someone is saying without really delving into what they are saying further with them and at least asking clarifying questions to understand what they are saying.  Ye gads am I not a talking processor of my thoughts and feelings whereby sometimes I don’t really know what I believe or think until I’ve been talking for awhile and have allowed time for my thoughts to unravel?  Why can’t other people be the same way as me?  Maybe some folks engage their mouth first before thinking through what they really believe and want to say?

Maybe this all seems really obvious to you but sometimes the most basic rule of thumb takes awhile to connect the dots in my brain.  Whatever the case may be, I’m grateful the dots that needed to connect were able to connect for this conversation with my b-i-l and husband so that we could have a good conversation.  And even after 21 years, get to see sides of each other that we may have not seen before.

How about you? Are you open to good conversation?  What is good conversation to you?

My father gives all kinds of wisdom to us kids with sparkling eyes, specific ways he moves his hands to underline a point and just the hint of laughter in his voice  sometimes followed with the infamous “horse bite” where he’d grab a knee with his hand and squeeze.  I’m betting that the saying “reaping the harvest of hard work” must have come down the line at some time in my life from him.  When I was younger, especially when I was a teenager, a lot of the life lessons he taught me were received with both of my eyes rolling at a real or an imaginary audience but his point usually did hit home even if I’d have been damned to show anyone that it had!

This week, mi padre is visiting for the Thanksgiving Holidays along with my brother-in-law.   Tonight we all got together for dinner and had a really nice conversation and time.  It was especially nice for me to be able to hold some kind of semblance of an informed political conversation with my Dad (he’s a retired USAF Col) sharing some of the ideas and knowledge that I’m receiving from the political science class that I’m taking this semester.  What is especially heart-warming is that I want to hear whatever experience, strength and hope my father shares without fearing being offended or irritated by what he says.  I think the gift of my being able to have an open heart is largely in part because of having done a lot of deep soul searching work and taking all kinds of steps towards the life I want to live and have.

It’s taken me 275 words to risk receiving the same response from you  that I used to give my parents by sharing that if you do the really hard work  and invest time, attention and action into doing your best with family, friends and work you will reap the benefits I promise you.  It’s just that sometimes the rewards for all that we’ve put into our selves and our lives definitely doesn’t happen on our time line (instantly) nor does it always come in the form or fashion that we expect (fame, fortune, insert your expectation here).  I realized I was reaping the harvest of hard work tonight because of how I felt spending time with my family.  I felt happy, sane and calm.  Really!?!  There would have been a time in my life that if you had asked me how my family time was, much less around a holiday, you would have never seen “happy”, “sane” or “calm” in my description.  Today, most of the time there’s a good chance you will.

Maybe this thing about hard work and reaping the harvest somewhere down the road seems like a no brainer to you.  Perhaps that completely makes sense to you but for me, especially in this instant everything kind of world, that wasn’t what I wanted to hear.  Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that every lesson and everything that you learn and work to improve in your life has to be hard work, not at all. What I am saying is that if you sometimes feel hopeless or wonder why the hell you put forth the effort to improve yourself and/or make a difference — you will reap the rewards of your efforts today somewhere down the road.  I believe there is a universal law at play here that has to be reconciled with your input.

So take some time today to think about where you’ve put your intentions and efforts and know that the universe is paying attention.  We don’t always know when or how the universe (I call it the Divine) will respond, but have confidence that there will be a response.

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!