Julia: August 2007 Archives

We have been in need for awhile--and now in dire need--of having our master bathroom--our Lilliputian master bathroom--remodeled, due to some loose tiles around the shower which have fostered mold and rot of the wood structure. No point in just fixing that, when we're going to need a complete remodeling for when we sell the house in a few years, so...

Earlier this summer, I got some designers lined up to come over to give us ideas and estimates, and our first one was a design-build guy who was not very warm, and not very creative--clearly not anyone I was eager to work with. His talk of this crew and that crew trooping in and out of  my small bedroom and tiny bathroom in our little house while I was at home trynig to work (I'm used to peace and quiet to write, etc.) gave me the willies. I am very particular about the energy here--it's my spiritual cave. So, because the thought of going through all that so turned me off, I just cancelled the other appointments and postponed the project!

I said to mySelf, "the only way I'm going to be able to stand this is to do it in Easy World. I would love for it to be arranged so that I can be gone while it's going on." I tried to figure out how that could happen, but felt very overwhelmed and was very clear I did not want to have to figure it out! So I put it on the back burner and went on with my life and figured I'd be given notice when it was time.

But the moldy shower continued to haunt me and the thought of falling through to the basement while I was showering has been a constant niggling fear...

Meanwhile, in what seemed a totally unrelated event, Rick and I decided we'd like to vacation at Lake Michigan in September where my family has been going for generations--just the 2 of us (plus the pups) for some much needed R and R together. Rick had 2 and a half weeks of vacation saved up--just enough so that we could drive up (2 days there and 2 days back) and have 2 full weeks of time to just be there, so we set it up to go.

One day, while showering, appropriately enough, and seemingly out of the blue, I remembered a guy named Patrick that I had connected with while looking for a house/dog sitter a couple of years ago. We had emailed back and forth a bit because he was into Gary Renard's first book (based on A Course in Miracles) which I had helped promote via an Amazon best seller campaign. At the time, he told me he did renovations and handyman stuff, so I found his email address again, sent him a message, hoping his address was still the same. I heard back from him right away and we set up a time for him to come and talk to us.

Long story short, he was delightful! We LOVED him, and feel we've reconnected with a long lost spiritual family member! I knew right away I would not mind having him in my space, and since he does all the work himself, it would be the least disruptive to my peace. He estimated it would take 2 weeks, plus or minus, to get the job done. We discussed that we would be on vacation in September and he said that was fine as he was busy till after we got back. So we planned for him to start in early October. Then he volunteered, "too bad I'm tied up with a big kitchen remodel while you're gone--wouldn't it be great if I could do it while you were away and you could come back and it would be done like magic?!" OH, yes it would! He said he'd let us know if his schedule changed, because the kitchen lady was having a hard time making up her mind about things.

Fast forward a few days and he calls to say his schedule just opened up and that he can, indeed do our bathroom while we're on vacation! AMAZING!!! AND, he's going to take care of the garden while we're gone! His business name certainly seems appropriate: Happy To Help Home Improvement!

So, though it's required a lot of time and energy to get all my choices made and the gazillion pieces and parts chosen and ordered before I leave, everything is falling into place beautifully!

I sooooooo love Easy World.

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The only kind of action that works in Easy World is inspired, energized action.

Let's examine those words "inspired" and "energized." Inspired means that Spirit is motivating you from within. Your Spirit, being in continuous, perfect alignment with Easy World, and therefore, able to see the workings of the Whole of Creation, knows exactly what needs to be done and when. It informs you as to what you need to do in order to facilitate the perfect, harmonious outworking of things, and gives you the signal to do your part when the time is exactly right to do it. That's inspiration. Along with inspiration, you will feel energized to do whatever it is.

Energized means that the energy has welled up within you to do what needs doing. Feeling energized means you have tapped into the mighty power of the Divine Design for Harmony, the electromagnetic grid that under-girds Easy World. It means that you have sufficiently relaxed to be aligned with the Design and are thus "plugged in" to the immense energy that is continuously cycling there. (It is worthwhile to remember that it is imperative that you be relaxed in order to fully plug into the power grid!)

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I really love the part about where the energy comes from when you're inspired, and that you need to be relaxed to plug into it. That was new to me as I wrote it--that's one of the main reasons I love writing--I learn so much cool stuff that I've never thought of before! There's a lot more I'm eager to share, but I need to leave some of it a surprise for when you read the book!

We've begun early preparations for our vacation on Lake Michigan in September and I'm getting really excited. My awesome sister is letting us stay at her cottage, Sleepy Hollow, which has been in the family several generations.

We had planned to go to our own cottage (mine and my other sister's, which is really only technically ours at this point since my dad bequeathed it to us with the understanding that he will use it just as he has been until he's no longer able), but my dad will still be there, and Rick and I were wanting a relaxing time to be alone together, so Ann suggested we stay at her cottage. Because you can drive up to the back of Sleepy Hollow, it is a double blessing, since it is quite a walk from the parking lot to the other cottage and my knees are not ready for that yet. (They're getting there, though!) This way, we'll get to spend time with Dad AND be on our own.

Both of my sisters have been there most of the summer together, with various configurations of husbands, children and grandchildren coming and going. They headed home Monday and had an adventure they did not plan for. On their drive back to North Carolina, they got stranded in Findlay, Ohio, due to widespread area flooding which closed all the main roads. Fortunately, they got a room on the 3rd floor of the Holiday Inn, stocked up on emergency supplies at the Wal Mart across the parking lot, and were prepared to hunker down there for a few days. The water wasn't due to crest till the next morning, and be worse than the flood that wiped out the town in the last century.

Luckily, however, they were able to "escape" the area sooner than they expected by taking a circuitous route which took them out of their way, but at least, got them on the road again. Just as they were checking out of the hotel, local refugees from the flood waters were seeking shelter at the hotel, and they were glad they could free up their rooms for people who were under so much stress. They said there was a woman checking in when they left who was wet up to her waist from being in her flooded home. Yikes.

Anyway, thankfully, they made it safely home, just a day later than planned! We are intending that our own travels will be completely uneventful except for big fun. If you've read my blog for long, then you know that Rick and I love our road trips, though most are quite a bit shorter than this one!

Though we're not leaving for almost 2 weeks, I can feel the pressure building to get things done. So far, I've made lists, we've gotten the van checked over, I've bought a couple of comfy sweaters for those chilly mornings and evenings, and done lots of other small things not worth mentioning. There is much left to do, but I think it will be easier than packing for a plane trip--at least when you're in the car, you don't have to keep things so compact!

Our dachshund, Roly, really, really loves raw marrow bones. You might say that he is obsessed with them, and if you know dachshunds, you know that a dachsie obsession is like no other. He maintains a continuous prayer to the Bone Goddess, and I am she.

Though at most, he gets one, and rarely, two a week, Roly wakes up almost every day with the notion that today's the day for a fresh bone. He demonstrates the kind of unrelenting faith that most can only envy.

Roly is definitely a subscriber to the "sweat your prayers" school. No quiet, private prayer petitions or silent affirmations for him. An expert user of body-English, he really knows how to get the deity's attention and raise the energy for manifesting his desire.

Sometime after his post-breakfast tour of the yard and subsequent nap, he begins his campaign by giving me the look. It is an odd combination of open-faced, dewy-eyed hopeful gaze and dictatorial summons that seems almost to be shooting little energy hooks in my direction.

The look, of course, is accompanied by powerful mental telepathy. It would be very hard to miss what he is lobbying for. I easily receive the visual of the fresh, raw meaty bone segment he is beaming my way.

Then, if he thinks I am receptive at all, he begins the dance, a quivering whirl down the hallway toward the kitchen with Lassie-style summoning head gestures. You know the kind—in Lassie's case, it means: "Come with me! Old Farmer Jones has fallen down the mineshaft and needs his heart medication!" Of course, Roly's prayers are not so purely altruistic.

If he believes he's actually hooked me, he may even begin to squeak and whistle and plant himself in front of the refrigerator, shifting from one front paw to another, leaving no chance that I won't know what he wants. His ability to think affirmatively and to practice proactive joy and advance gratitude is to be admired by any student of the Law of Attraction.

Now—you should know that I love giving him and his sister dachsie, Lilah, their marrow bones. It's a delight to see them so excited and happy (if you can call being utterly blissed out "happy"), not to mention, it keeps them totally occupied and quiet for hours in what we call "the Bone Zone." Well, at least it does Roly. (Lilah's eccentricities are another story.)

I had planned to give them a bone today, but the darkening sky and loud rumble said a big storm was brewing, and I decided I'd rather not have a pig-headed dachshund determined to stay outside with his bone while winds were howling, lightning crackling, and rain and hail pummeling. Because as much as I love to give Roly a bone, I love Roly far more, and his total well-being is paramount for me. I will give him his bone tomorrow when conditions are more appropriate.

I have been looking at one sad-sack dachshund ever since he figured out that today was not bone day. When I tell him "Just wait till tomorrow," I can tell he is not comforted. But I, the wise Bone Goddess, can see what Roly cannot. I know that I will give him what he wants when the time is right.

As I contemplated this today, I began to see the parallel between our human desires, Divine Timing, and the wisdom of our God-Selves. Just as it is my joy to give Roly a bone, it is our God-Selves' joy to give us that which we desire. (And when we are as clear and expressive of our desires as Roly is, there is no mistaking what they are—but the truth is, I know he wants a bone even without his active campaigning!)

Sometimes we get so focused on and so caught up in what we want at the human/ego level, we are disappointed if it doesn't show up when we think it ought to. We may even think it is being withheld arbitrarily, or that we haven't made clear enough what we desire.

Despite how it looks from the Roly level of things, the Bone Goddess knows what he wants and is absolutely going to come through—but only when the timing is right. And so it is with what we desire and our own inner Bone God/Goddess.

Like Roly can't comprehend the weather issue the way I can, neither can we comprehend the myriad of things that can't be seen from the level of consciousness at which we're operating. We just need to know that, if we make our desires clear, the all-knowing, all-seeing Bone Goddess who loves us, completely and unconditionally, and has our highest level of well-being in mind, always comes through when the time is right.

We had a nice turnout for the teleseminar last night--we even had a woman call in from the Netherlands, where it was 3 AM--love those dedicated Europeans!!! In addition, we had some very electrical excitement. No--not just the energy of the topic, but there were electrical storms going on in the Denver area throughout the entire call. It caused weird phenomena like triggering the conference call announcements to go off spontaneously in the middle of my talk, and people getting cut off, including Rick (who was on the house phone) and me, who was using the office line.

At one point, I could hear the other people on the call but they couldn't hear me. So frustrating--I'm calling out, "Can you hear me?" and no one is answering! I loved what I heard, though, as they discussed the situation. People were lamenting that they had "lost" me and one lady very enthusiastically said, "And just when it was getting REALLY GOOD, too! Perhaps that was Spirit's gift to me, as it really was nice to hear. I don't always get such candid feedback!

Fortunately, Rick was able to reconnect and reassure them that I was going to be calling back in, so we didn't lose many, if any, of the people on the call, and I was able to get back in and finish. Folks had some great questions and I do LOVE answering questions!

On a different note, I connected with Amanda Tunney via Powerful Intentions this week, and have been emailing with her a bit. What an interesting person with an interesting project! She and her husband are raffling off the gorgeous resort in Indonesia that they built and have been running, and the drawing is August 31.If you have dreamed of escaping to the tropics and living an exotic, and, may I suggest, Easy World-conducive lifestyle (there is management and staff in place so you don't have to work too hard!), you just have to check this place out! Heck--it's relaxing and refreshing just to look at the pictures, so be sure to click on "Photo Gallery."

They want to move back to Australia and had the idea that they could create a contest for selling "Imaj." They've already sold their minimum number of tickets (25,000), so the drawing is on. If you're feeling lucky, you might want to spring for a ticket--they're $100 each. Just think--someone with powerful intentions and the right vibrations can have a $1.5 million property in paradise for only $100...

As I was swimming this afternoon in my fabulous Endless Pool, the self-same pool that started my whole Easy World awakening, I found myself in that ubiquitous workout struggle. You know the one: I MUST push myself, or I won't reap the benefits I need to lose weight / get aerobically fit / build muscle (you fill in the blank with your favorite exercise benefit). The problem was, about halfway through the most vigorous part of my workout, my body said  "no."

The harder I pushed, the more my joints, including my knee, which I'm intent on healing, protested, and with quite a bit of joint damage already, pushing through pain for me is Russian roulette. That has not always stopped me--I have reveled in pushing--and, hence, some of the aforementioned joint damage. But something different happened today. Today, I heard "no," and I respected it. I pulled back and said, "I CAN take "no" for an answer! I CAN trust that my body knows what it needs and doesn't need. And so I continued my workout, but at a natural, easy, comfortable, pleasurable pace.

But then "the voice" started up. Again, you know the one: The drill sergeant that is the compilation of every external authority you ever heard: "You're never going to get in great shape that way!" "How do you expect to do what needs to be done if you back off so easily?" "NO PAIN, NO GAIN." As if moving at a natural, easy pace in the water would be worth absolutely nothing. As if working out at lower intensity were a complete waste of time.

As this strident "voice" continued it's diatribe, the toxicity of it threatened to nauseate me to the point of having to stop moving altogether. I literally felt queasy from it. And then I knew that, if I were one to believe in evil--if I believed in the devil--that would be its essence.

I started to think about nature. There's no drill sergeant in nature! Have you ever seen a wild animal push itself due to some kind of nagging external authority? If so, it was an aberration! The only reason I know of that a wild animal pushes itself is to procure its dinner or to avoid becoming dinner. Animals move at whatever speed they do either for the usefulness of it or for the sheer pleasure--it's just what they do. If they're hurt, they back off and rest. And, yes, in such a case, they may well become dinner. But as far as I know, no one is out to eat me if I don't swim faster!

I haven't fully worked this all out, but what I do know is that the ego-based internal voice that we acquire from society telling us to push, push, push is toxic and unnatural, and I can definitely say "NO!" to it, even if it means not being at the peak of fitness. But I suspect one can become fit by following their body's cues as long as they are not split between what is natural and that nasty voice. Surely, like everything else, a lot of it--perhaps ALL of it--is in what you believe and what you tell yourself. I'm going to try telling myself a new, loving story about fitness.

Today I created a new Easy World tee shirt design, and the message on the back sums it up: It says, "I live in Easy World, where everything is easy. I breathe...relax...allow...enjoy,  act when inspired and watch the magic unfold." Does the toxic drill sergeant voice fit with that? I don't THINK so!

(To check out the new shirt design, visit the Easy World Boutique)

I came across the following while sorting through my EW notes and had the sense that someone might need to read it (maybe ME!):

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The more you are able to keep your mind from interfering, and the more you simply relax, allow, and have faith in the perfection of Easy World, the faster you will have the experience of things falling into place.

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Heads up--the August f'ree teleseminar  is this coming Tuesday, August 14, and the topic is "The Only Kind of Action that Works in Easy World"