Email Reply this morning to a good friend:

I hope America wakes up too...

I was thinking of you in the shower and here is the words that flowed from Spirit to you:

Madness is the only way I can describe what is going on and I am feeling seasick as I try to find balance on a teetering boat.  I am sorry that you and Arvin feel unsafe.  I am sorry that Al whose name isn’t Al felt a need to change his name last year to try to fit in and assimilate and not stand out because he feared discrimination.  I am sorry that you worry.  I am sorry that this country has started to feel incredibly unstable.
 
Now that I got the’ I am sorry’ out of the way I have a message for you.  You are safe.  You are blessed.  You will always be taken care of in this life by the supreme Source that supports you.  But you will stand of the precipitous of the unknown too.  This will be your challenge.  You will have to sit and bask in the unknown and this will be your life challenge.  
 
It won’t be easy for you because you will not allow it to be easy because fear will rule you if you let it.  You will go from one unknown situation to the next with worry, fear, and trepidation.  You will by stymied by the life of your mind if you chose to be.  This will be your challenge.  Not to let fear rule you.  This is our nations’ challenge right now.  Not to let anger and fear rule us.  To chose Love.  In ever opportunity to chose love, hope and inner peace.  
 
When we went to school together there was always the next thing to be worried about.  First, before I even met you it was where would you get in to school in the States and where should you go?  Then it was the money to pay for your education.  Then it was passing each class. Then it was your greencard. Then it was where would you live.  Then it was finding a job and making sure that you worked an untold amount of hours to have enough money. There was always something for you to worry about and each time you were supported.  Each time you were supported.  Each time you were supported.
 
Please remember this.  Each time in your life when you sat in fear it was unfounded.  It all worked out.  I cannot promise you now while you sit in uncertainty again that it will work out exactly the way you hope or want, but I can promise you it will work out for you.  Your life will go on as YOUR LIFE IS BLESSED and will always be blessed. I feel it intuitively.  You are blessed.  There is only one problem…you don’t know it.  Sweet Sister please, please know this and then your life can be the sweet life that it already is. 
Big hugs

I was coaxed out of bed this morning by thoughts, dreams and sounds.  I hesitated to look at the clock because it might be too early.  What is too early, I think?  Most people would say 330a too early but the ayurvedic doctor I went to a few days ago said that those with a Vata constitution (which he deemed me to have) often get up between 3-5a as this is their most creative/energetic time of day.  They should try to eat their biggest meal around 11a and a light dinner with an early bed. He told me that I am also Kapha with just a little Pitta.  I would have thought more Pitta than Kapha but I am always cold and Pitta means fire so maybe he’s right. If I had more fire I would be warmer? 
 
I ran around yesterday and did a bunch of things starting with a cycling class at the gym and then off to a specialty market for a certain kind of curry leaves and yellow mung beans that Vishnu instructed me to get.  I made homemade yogurt that didn’t quite set right, and an Indian chicken dish that turned out delicious with warm spices blended in, and yellow dal soup.  I gave Oscar his first bath since having eye surgery and bought a picture of a chair for DC for Bill, a photograph that someone I know from Philly took.  I ran into Amy the photographer at a yoga class one day last summer both of us former yoga teachers and living here locally.  She now works as a life coach.  We share mutual friends and it was fun reminiscing about what had been for each of us so long ago when we lived in Philadelphia as we sat at the end of class. 
 
When I met my friend for coffee on Friday at Odds Café. I noticed Amy's work on the wall showcased for an art show that next evening.  Quite good and my style, simply done with clean lines, and I love an empty chair in print. It felt good to support her and to buy a picture for Bill.  He wants to decorate DC and it seems a piece that will blend in well there.  He gave to me a gift last week so it seems fitting to give one back to him.  Out of the blue he sent Oprah’s new cookbook to me.  Knowing that I would like that. We are still kind to each other after 33 years of marriage.  A secret to a loving marriage is simply to be kind.  And that really isn’t hard to do with Bill.  He’s a sweet one.
 
My car (like Oscar) needed a good wash on this spring-like winter day.  Afterwards, Oscar and I ventured out for a walk around town before I cleaned out the chins room. We have two chinchillas Teddy and Little Man who are both quite messy so I scrubbed their cage and cleaned around the floor. The day was filled with activity and by evening I was ready to crash but my friend was throwing a birthday party so I went to that instead.
 
I ran into a therapist that I used to work with at the party and she told me that she doesn’t do therapy anymore but now has resumed an old career as a teacher.  I was surprised to hear this as she was quite good and seemed to like doing therapy; in probing further I heard that she had no choice.  Even though she did everything right, things went wrong.  She told me her story and in some ways it mimics my own situation.  The Universe jumping in and shifting things up for both of us in unlikely and disruptive ways necessary for our journey here.  She is doing better than I am and has moved on. 

She went to an astrologer in the mist of her turmoil who told her that regardless of what she could have done or did life was meant to crumble and her old life to die before a new one could begin. This brought her the peace that she was looking for.  I hope I can interview her someday for my web-site and tell you her story.  In sharing hers maybe you will hear mine. I left the party when it was still going strong after talking to an odd but interesting man who sat next to me at the table.  His eye contact was strange.  Not looking at me, staring at his food when talking but then looking up at full attention with soulful eyes.  Eyes like that cannot stare long.  His story runs deep with beginnings in Philadelphia before moving to Venezuela an ex-pat there. His father owned an oil business that he and his siblings have now inherited. He is grieving the loss of his sister who died right before Christmas of alcoholism. He too seems at a pivotal point in his own life questioning its meaning. 
 
I was glad to come home and curl up on the couch with Oscar, watching tiny homes (something that fascinates me---putting all of your belongings in nooks and crevices carved out in small spaces in tiny quarters--minimalistic living) I munched on as a portion of my chicken dish and a small slice of gluten free spice cake before heading off to bed with a full stomach.  

http://www.bluelotusayurveda.com
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​A lot of people use social media to share mundane things or for self-glorification. I try to use it to share interesting things with people. Ashton Kutcher

Today I was thinking that every thought we have reinforces the next one.
 
Yesterday was kind of comical.  My poor pup (Oscar) needed to get the sutures out of his eye area (his left eye was removed over the holiday because it became infected while we were away for the Christmas holiday and he was staying with friends). It was an ordeal until they gave him a shot of something which only marginally helped.
 
He was anxious on and off (almost paranoid) for the rest of the day whimpering. The garbage disposal stopped working and the windshield wiper fluid wasn't flowing even though I just added some to the tank, the face on my cell phone broke and then the power went out at my house.

But I remained calm. I kept my spirits up and it all seemed to end well.  The power went back on and Oscar stopped whimpering and I fixed the disposal and today the mechanic at Honda got my wiper fluid working again and didn’t charge me (my cell phone face is still smashed but I will get to that soon). I couldn’t help think that it all worked out because I kept my spirits high and didn’t get derailed.  I remained calm and positive and went to the gym that I joined this week and worked out and didn’t OD on sugar or overeat. 
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I do need to remember this for next time. It will work itself out eventually if I just stand back and don’t get stressed out AND stay centerd by remembering that every thought that I have reinforces the next one.
 
 "Today, no matter where I'm going and no matter what I am doing, it is my dominant intent to see that which I am wanting to see. What I do is miniscule in comparison with what I choose to think, because my vibration is so much more powerful and so much more important." Abraham

 This is the time of year when we look to start fresh and change habits that aren’t working for us.  We want to re-create ourselves in some way…we have our new Christmas/Holiday outfits on and now want to outfit our insides too with a new look and feel.  We have resolutions, something that we are resolved to doing.
 
Be it eliminating something or adding something like losing weight, exercise or stopping smoking we are hopeful that we can in someway better ourselves even if we don’t specifically define how. 
 
When we look to changing habits it might best help to look first at our motivation. Is it self driven or driven by another person’s want for us?  What is our motivational level scaled 1-10?  Is it low or mediocre—“I am going to try” verses “I am going to” Is there a potential consequence(s) if we make a change(s)?  (I won’t be able to go to the donut shop everyday and see my friends who hang there before work or after work I will need to avoid my favorite bar or my breaks at work will be cut short if I am not out there smoking with my friends.)  Every action has a reaction.  Every change has a consequence.  How motivated are we to push through the negative effects in order to make positive changes that will in the look run provide betterment for us?
 
Habits are powerful…Habits are so powerful that we aren’t even conscious of the hold they have on us.  One of the first things that we need to do once we have firmly decided to change a habit is to see what other habits support this one. 
 
For instance, if you want to avoid the morning donut stop then take a different route to work—don’t expect to be able to willpower it through by passing the shop everyday.  You may be able to pass it once or twice without problem but after that..?  Our brains are wired by our habits so in order to change a habit we need to work on the neuro-nets (neuro-networks) in the brain to assist with this.  When we change our habits we create new neuro-networks in the brain that will help support the changes we have made.
 
Another important thing with changing habits is to realize that we are motivated by positive reinforcement.  If you want to give up the donut then we have to replace it with something else.  Find another way to work and maybe recruit a friend from the donut shop to join you in setting up a new meeting place let's say at a teashop instead.  If you want to give up the smokes then attend a smoking cessation class especially if you enjoy groups or take a coffee break, have a piece of dark chocolate or take a walk instead of smoking a cigarette.
 
Find out why the habit is ingrained in your behavioral patterns. Is it a sugar craving? Is it the socialization piece that you enjoy most? Is it anxiety?  In order to make a change you have to first analyze WIIFM….what’s in it for me to keep the habit and what is in it for me to change the habit.  Look at the positive reinforcer(s) of the habit, and how to replace it with something else.  Also examine what the consequences is if you don’t change the habit…obesity, diabetes, heart disease, divorce, loss of job, COPD, feeling crappy (low energy)…etc.

For example: I love sugar and need to do a detox of all the sugar I had over the holiday.  Luckily I was gifted with a bunch of herbal teas so I am hoping this will help me on my quest to once again minimizing sugar in my diet.  Ok…I need to change the language-ing here…I am not only hopeful-- I am on-board and ready!

My motivational level is 6 today. Once I get going my motivational level will continue to rise.  I need to detox first.   I don't have much sugar in the house right now which should help and being a lifetime member of WW will also assist me as I use their tools to keep me on point! Furthermore, Oprah has a webinar for member's this Thursday night which will provide further motivation to me.  Oprah's talks inspire me to stay on plan.

Good luck to you and to me!
 
(I recommend the The Power of Habit (if you want more detailed info on this). 
by DUHIGG, CHARLES