like minded

Have you ever wondered why sometimes you work hard to go

out the door to an obligation or to wonder why your health

is failing as you age.  Here are 3 things that impacted me these last 6 months!

Dear Food

I know that I am not your best friend and I am not going to say that you and all your food groups and tastes and texture are hard for me to digest into my stomach.  So let us make a truce .  I love you food and I have a challenge as when I encourage my body to eat more of you than it can handle.
So I am practicing the art of small portions and slow eating, like chewing slowly and pausing after a few bites.  This may sound easy for some but it is a challenge for me.

Then I can appreciate you food and we can get on a more like minded relationship.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Church

I am not feeling any connectedness at my church and I attend once a month.  I took a progressive Christian course for 10 weeks this last fall.  It was hurting my brain, or helping it, I'm not sure which.
Part 2 of this course is on now and I declined to re-join after Christmas.  So this is the first time I am writing something about it.  I can't make a stance (yet) or maybe I just did.

"It is for those who have stopped taking the church seriously at all.  Many people of deep spiritual integrity simply cannot suffer the shallow message of the churches of their birth any longer. They have an intuitive sense that there is more to Christianity than the rigid rules and theological constructs of the past." (Excerpt from Rev. David Felten and Rev. Jeff Procter-Murphy)

I am open-minded about my faith and this must have been what I required to fuel my belief.  Some interesting things came up but it challenged my belief and I liked my faith before I took the class and I did get educated on the bible stories and what they mean in our words today.  It was deep and our Minister said it would bring questions up and it is all about having those questions and not definite answers as the bible is stories written to teach us how to live.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Gym/Team Training

This is my like-minded place.  The trainers and the gym owners are there for ME.  I put in the effort
and they make sure I do my training safely.  Here is  a great post on the trainers.

The people I train with are fun and very much in the same place I am.

This is a great go-to place!

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I am liking the mind of the person who shared and created this!

Do you like this idea?

know your truth weekend retreat for women

Salt Lake City

I Love My Life 2018

women's weekend retreat!

Here are some photos that show just a tiny bit of our weekend with women and fashion and dancing and healing our guilt and for me it was about talking about gray hair styling.

I could use a bit more product in my hair to edge my style!

see these 2 women - edgy hair styles

my sis is keeping her blonde for now - she is stylin' it as usual! 

shopping in the Dressing Your Truth store that was brought in just

for us

healthy food for lunches was provided

Carol Tuttle (I just love her jacket!)

A type 4 woman (on the left) and a type 2 woman (on the right)

Type 4's are bold and stunning as they can wear black and

the true primary colors

The woman on the right is a soft subtle type 2 energy

and her clothes are soft and muted colors and soft texture

I will tell my hairdresser about how to style and cut my hair
↡

can you tell I like my new hat as it is a very type 3 style which I am a type 3

I can wear the richer, deeper colors that tend towards a dirty grainier version

of the primary colors

↘↙

LOL!  my kind of accessories for Type 3

after our break-out sessions for type 3 energy profiling women 

(displaying all the colors we can really look awesome in and rock it!)

my sister is a upward and light very fun and cute type 1 energy profiled woman

It was so fun and easy to travel with her!

we enjoyed our stay at the The Hilton Hotel and used the pool and outside

decks and we also walked around the downtown area and got to see

all the Comic Convention costumes that were walking down the street all the time

we were there.  I should of taken a pic of the Mad Hatter family walking down the street - very awesome costumes.

There will not be one next year to attend so hopefully in a couple of years she (Carol Tuttle) will put on another weekend retreat.  

throw back this thursday

It's a birthday week;

my boy Graham's was on April 20 (a regretful throwback Thursday in a couple of days).

Had a tough, kind of annoying evening last night

I figured out it was about loss.

After 13 years of working

with grief I have figured out

one simple thing.

That sharp stone of grief in my pocket

pinches me every now and then.

So I am embracing this long

lonely desolate feeling I had last night.

He was in grade Nine here at Waldeck School;

his t-shirt and watch were purchases from

our skii trip in Banff a few weeks previously.

Just saying that the  statement that so many

refer to about "God does not give you anything that

you cannot handle"......

It is a misrepresented statement

God  hands out small doses of pain

to us when he feels we can accept something

about our pain, another little nugget of memory

regret, guilt.

He hands it out in little chunks.

That is what that statement means.

Little pieces of grief are added throughout the

years.  At first it is overwhelming and exhaustive.

That higher being or God, whichever,  is your belief

has it under control.  

Yes God has given me what I can handle, one small pebble or big

chunk at different times.  I have learned to be aware of when

he is "pinching me".

I am so grateful for what I still have.  Gratitude is the key for me

and once I remember that the pain  changes and subsides!

My Easter message I guess.

{love}

what is working for me

toque up

glove up

it's the heart of winter!

 as far as the new year that has begun,  I know what worked

for me in 2016 and that was exercise

5 days a week, and an average of 8,000 activity steps

a day

I have no goals or new year resolutions

I am just going to keep on doing what worked for

me last year

What is still working for me these last few years is blogging

and writing in my morning pages (journalling and personal prayers); photo taking!

 my new year 2017 quote.....

anything or anyone that does not bring you alive is too small for you.” 

― David Whyte, House of Belonging

My God Jar

Worrying,

fretting,

anxious,

overwhelmed

got a problem with no

present resolution in sight?

I have gotten in the habit to

write a concern or problem in

prayer or even a question on a piece of

paper to God.  I fold it and place in my God jar

under the desk and then whenever the problem 

creeps its ugly head at me I just say 

"God's got it"

every 3 months or so

I empty the jar and review

the requests/prayers!

who are your tribe?

I think we all need our own people

you know, the ones that "get you"

who don't care if you can't always be there

in the right place at the right time

but yet you know they will be when they can

I love direct answers about myself

that will teach me or remind me who I am

not being and who I need to be, at times

{get it}

find your tribe and bounce off them so they can

bounce off you 

not everyone is helpable,

not everyone has to be,

just recognize your people

it is grounding and connecting

{enough said I know you got it)

"I am attracting people into my life who respect and honor me,

and I respect and honor them.

I am grateful for the comfortable interactions I have daily with all the like-minded people who are in my life. " 

Carol Tuttle

watching over

I was looking at some free downloadable professional photos 

 from the Pexels website (thanks to a blogger friend at Words Art Life for this tip)

and this photo struck me the right way. I felt something when I looked at this

picture.. so here is what I felt:

I feel we are all sheep roaming about and we are all watched over, herded even, and when I see

these sheep and the sheep herder I think of life.  How we gather sometimes and then in this glorified 

country of Canada we know we can roam freely too.

I believe we are watched over with patience and love.

I know that I have been and still am guided, watched over,  listened to

by a higher being.  

one prayer answered

we have been sponsoring a 12 year old boy In Romania for 6 years now and he will be turning 18.  George and his community are doing well.  We will definitely sponsor another child. Sponsorship Works! Dear Mrs. KIRK, George and his community, Dolj, are in the final phase of sponsorship and we want to show you the difference you've made in the lives of the children living there. Visitworldvision.ca/Dolj and check out the video, blogs, and photos we've compiled from the community. What does it mean that we are in the final phases of sponsorship? In the coming months, you'll receive more information on what this means and what's next. We'll also tell you how our continued partnership will help change more lives. In the meantime, see how your generosity has transformed Dolj and the families living there by checking out their community page. Thank you for all that you do! Michael Messenger President, World Vision Canada WATCH THE VIDEO WATCH THE VIDEO

"It was a 180-degree transformation...

Chaotic prayer for Nice

Lord

O Heavenly Father

This devastation in Nice, on Bastille Celebrations Day, and

all over the world leaves me so detached.  I want to feel more for this horrible chaos.  What can I do to help? Give me your messages for kindness and to reach the unreachable humans with twisted sickness in their brains their perceptions on life, their life.  Only way I can stop it is to pray?  Sending money helps after the deaths, after the poverty.  This innocent country, so many countries are now reaching my heart, it is starting to glow with love for all of man and woman and child who have fear and hunger in their bodies.  

Give me the words Lord so I can write about my melting heart so I can reach out with impact.

I cannot understand

I am no longer detached

I pray 

In Jesus Name

Amen!

To feel grateful for small things when
World events are clipping at my thoughts of helplessness
Do we just keep being grateful?

fire session

some days I do not recognize my gifts of being and I do enough!

so here is my thing....

 drink coffee in a.m.
writing 3 pages in morning pages
read a daily scripture or write my own prayer
make Shakeo and drink it also include

w/2 glasses water
dress to sweat and hit play
2 more glasses of water
eat breakfast and plan meals
sit on deck as much as possible
make bed sometime in morning
post on my blog/FB
sometimes shop for groceries
better yet read when I can
which is quite a bit
write an article if inspired by moment(s)
talk to horses

I enjoy an hour or two of lazin' too

the fire starts inside
when a day goes by and I never stop to wonder
 am I bored? or I feel complete?
I write what I did that day
it starts in the morning just like I said
and the day builds from there 
but it has to start with writing, drinking,
sweating and planning!

 Did I mention I love purple?

Deservability

The process is individual for each and I have had a personal journey with healing after the year 2004. After the first shocking grief.  The devastating unthinkable happened to our family.  The death of our first-born son and Tom's only sibling brother.

I am now working through the companion book of Louise L. Hay's.  This treatment is my motto these days and I read it out loud while looking at myself in the mirror, as is recommended.

I know this sounds simple.  But to look at myself in the mirror and read this "treatment" out loud is quite a different feeling.

I am one with Life, and all of Life loves and supports me.

I am deserving, I deserve all good.  Not some, not a little bit, but all good.  I now move past all negative restricting thoughts.

I release and let go of the limitations of my parents.

I can love them, and I can go beyond them.  I am not their negative opinions nor their limiting beliefs.  I am not bound by any of the fears of prejudices of the current society I live in.

I no longer identify with limitation of any kind.

In my mind I have total freedom.  I now move into a new space of consciousness where I am willing to see myself differently.  I am willing to create new thoughts about myself and about my life.  My new thinking becomes new experiences.

I now know and affirm that I am at one with the Prospering Power of the Universe.  As such, I now prosper in a number of ways.  The totality of possibilities lies before me.  I deserve a good life.  I deserve an abundance of love.  I deserve good health.  I deserve to live comfortable and to prosper, I deserve joy and happiness. I deserve freedom to be all that I can be.

I deserve more than that.  I deserve all good.

The Universe is more than willing to manifest my new beliefs.  This is the truth of my being, and I accept it as so.

All is well in my world.

Louise L. Hay

You Can Heal Your Life Companion Book

I want my son and husband to read this treatment.

an original personal gift of love

I posted this on facebook yesterday

my sis had this painting done up for me

I am reeling with emotion from this

painting and the gift to me from my sis

such deep thoughtfulness..

Regina Artist Celine Giguere

"I know it has been a long and difficult journey.  You have amazed me with the strength and determination that has brought you to the place where you now stand.

Be blessed, strenghthened and encouraged.

I pray that you will be reminded of the act of laying your burden down (hence the satchel/purse laying on the ground behind her in this painting ) and leaving it on the ground behind you as you turn to face the path before you.

Close your eyes and breathe the air.  Embrace the journey that awaits you.

Let there be a spring in your step and a lightness to your spirit as you step forward."

its just so personal and respectful.

(Celine is an artist my sister and I both paint with once a month

in our "painting words for life" open paint workshop)

thanks and love to you Celine and my sister Barb

also my Dad paid for this painting when he heard and saw it

it is painful to see a family loved one go through pain and as a mother

or sister I would not want anyone to have this journey.  Life happens and choices are made

and reactions to it are the reward and gift!

oil and prayer

10 years it has been

I need some Frankincense to

go with my prayer this week

"He has put his angels in charge of you to watch over you wherever you go"

Psalm 91:11

(if you believe)

I believe and to place a picture of Graham here

is unimportant to me because I have my special box of

pictures from the past of Graham and Tom

that is what I have

that is how I accept

that I have pictures and memories

and I still have Tom!

so I love both of my boys

even when one is "up there"

and one is "down here"

I always have an overwhelming kind of feeling in this

mid week every year in January, and it is so....

lost then found

kirkville in transit moved our dog Summer to an acreage 3 hours from here

he stayed one day and one night with Mantracker on the new acreage and

then wandered or we are not sure if he followed Mantracker to work once he saw

the truck leave (only Summer knows)

he went missing Monday morning and was returned to the Regina Humane Society

Thursday morning and was fine except traumatized and his hip was sore

my friend Wendy and Gerald went to ID him at the Humane Society and he recognized

them

Wendy took him home and sore hip and all he flew into her little car to everyones' surprise and

Wendy said it was like "get me out of the slammer"  I won't wander again!  LOL!

the emotions that Brian and I and Tom had from losing this dog who has been with

us for almost 13 years and is still a very vibrant and alert dog was so sad, we just wanted him found.

thank you to this person that dropped him off

and thanks to Wendy and Mantracker for contacting the Humane Society with a description and

our phone # in hopes that someone will bring him in!

after we moved our stuff into the Condo quickly, we headed out to the acreage

and Summer licked my face and was happy happy to see us but he has also bonded with Wendy and

has now got a spot in the middle of the lane so he can see and bark at any intruders coming down the road

(this is a good sign)

golden touch

it seems everything I touch these days has my imprint left on it of coconut oil,

because that is what I use for my hands to keep them  free of bacteria and to control inflammation , you see I am on my 5th week of a strict diet and well here goes....

ode to parasite

i want to hold a sparkling wand

that once I have tapped and said my wish out loud

would lighten up my days with a golden 
promise that this bug in me will blow away
and i would welcome snow into my life in exchange

oh golden touch

day 12

this is day 12 of my Mala Meditation

i am so amazed at the power of

this meditation

each day i meditate with a different mantra

and I use these Mala beads, there are 108 sandalwood beads

on this bracelet,

for $5.24 I got these off of Amazon and they

come from Tibet via Singapore via HongKong

and in 2 weeks they arrived (just yesterday)

 the number of beads, which is 108, is for the mantras;

each time you say your mantra during meditation you move to the next

bead until you get to the end of the necklace.  You can wrap the beads around\

your wrist and wear as a bracelet too.

i moved my meditation cushion upstairs by the gas fire

place, very cozy and calming during this arctic weather.

a powerful mantra for me was "Sabbe Satta Sukhi Hontu" that is the Puli version meaning "May all beings be well and happy" . Once I said this  outloud or quietly to myself (either way works), 108 times, I was and am moved.

this is a surprising moving calming addition to my daily life and i

cannot believe how impactful meditation is when you can find a way

to let all those "sticky notes"  float away, on my to do list and scoot them away a few minutes each day.

May all beings be well.  May all beings be happy.  May all beings

be free from suffering.

"Sabbe Satta Sukhi Hontu"

mark your dates

 

November is a time when
the calendar is becoming a little fuller

my dates for November are
Nov 11 Remberance Day Service as the Swift Current Oratorio Choir
performs the song "In Flanders Fields", it is always appreciated to have our choir
perform as the power of the voices helps it become more emotional when
singing the hymns, so many comments last year on people's gratefulness! (love)

Nov 16 is a weekend in Calgary
to attend another Choices Seminars, extremely excited to be there and
feel the happy healing momentum.

while in Calgary I have a NUCCA check up.  It has been 4 months and I am
doing well. the past 3 appts this year I have not needed an adjustment as my spinal alignment is
holding well.  

On Nov 24th is our credit union Christmas Party
and  I am on the organizing team this year
for that, which means staying until closing time at 1 :00 a.m.!

how is your November looking?

loss

what do we do when things come down,

take our breath away,

leave us in a void

of emptiness and a stunned stupour,

my mom and dad are pretty healthy,

but it could be anytime or it could be years,

when one fails quickly.

  myself,

cannot relate to what it is like

to lose a parent or a husband

but I do know that after you lose a loved one,

you need to take your new "self" 

that has now been created due to the

loss and work with it, 

my eldest son left us 8 1/2 years ago,

I am not the same person now as I was then

I have learned, grieved, grown, grieved,

stepped outside the box with my new

tilted perspectives

when friends's and coworkers lose a special person

in their life, I stay quiet and reserved,

until I can "talk about my feelings and check in with myself"

maybe I will do nothing, maybe I will go over and hug that person,

maybe I need to get away for a few minutes

or maybe I need to send that person a card,

"I don't know"? but each of us needs

to look after our feelings once we are faced with

death at work, in our family, in a conversation with strangers,

words can bite, if the people or person around you is

not thinking or does not know your situation

let the water pour over you in a gentle way

and know that you will come out eventually

just open your mind and be brave, once you

know that you are starting to embrace something,

you are brave!

do not forget that.....

(under a cold freezing waterfall in Hawaii, it was so cleansing and

daring and brave and exhilirating)

Mystery Cross

my husband, Brian (Mantracker)

a couple of years ago

went to the safety deposit box

pulled out all the heirloom rings from his

mother, his grandmother, his great aunts, etc

and had a jeweller in Lethbridge called GOLDWORKS

custom make a Celtic Cross

and on the back was engraved

God,

family,

friends, self

in a circle

on the front of this cross, in the middle is a diamond .  I had purchased a wedding ring

at an estate sale in SC, because I had lost my wedding ring years before.  it was similar to the ring  I lost (original wedding ring),

however, Brian, bought me a new ring for our 25th anniversary, so 

I donated the diamond from the old estate sale ring for his cross and it

is placed in the center

He wears this cross all the time and 

it so happened he was riding on Friday night and felt something was missing and stopped his horse and checked his chain around the neck and the chain was broken, 

the cross was gone.

we have spent the last 48 hours looking for this cross out in the fields where he was riding, Tommy had his metal detector and we scanned the area several times

this made us extremely sad

Brian wanted to pass this valuable sentimental cross on as a family heirloom

we had given up yesterday

We new it would be a miracle to find it

I came home from work late last night,

and Brian said he had developed a rash on his chest

and could I take a look at it

so he opened his shirt

and their was his cross with a new leather rope linked to it

i couldn't believe it

so the story was.....

he went to put on his cowboy boots to ride just a few hours before I came home

and felt something in one boot

so he took it off

put his hand in to feel around and pulled out the cross

he held it in his hand

and stared at it for at least 5 minutes (he said)

how and why he did not feel it in his boot when he was riding

I don't know

must of slipped all the way down through his pant legs

and into his boots

Miracle!!

"the spirit and power of the cross" 

darkness and evil and superheroes

i am on a movie watching craze

saw amazing spiderman movie at the theatre

The Kings Speech;

Big Miracle;  (google these movie titles , I recommend)

and then last night

Dark Knight Rising

 pause for a moment here......

the horrific shooting in Colorado recently

has shaken some people up and some are saying

'I am not going to see the new Batman movie for fear

of possible ongoing shootings?'

when i was sitting in our little city theatre and the show had started

i saw 3 boys standing by the door and they did not walk in they were just standing and watching the show, i looked 3 times at them because it was bothering me and for a quick moment

i thought of how easy it could happen, (they were waiting for someone and did sit down eventually) BUT i relaxed and realized that the news and events in our world are always in our faces and it can bring fear and sometimes it can control the things you do or how you do them.

I do not want fear to engage my enjoyment of life, and I am sickened by what is happening in our world BUT there are so many great things happening and somehow DARKNESS always stands out first.

if you choose to watch this fantastic movie (yes, I said fantastic) because it was well acted and portrayed and I left knowing thaT darkness is scary but we always know of one or two heroes in our lives 

and leaders that sacrifice so much more to keep us safe.

relax and stay in the present, be aware

and enjoy what is here NOW

yes, I am very enamoured with Christian Bale, who played Batman too

you got to see how this motorbike operates and moves

as well as his batmobile, COOLIO! stuff

it is summer time and the livin is easy!

starting my vacation right now for 2 weeks

heading to Montana

for some "saddle and paddle" at the Gallatin River and horse and people training with

Buck Brannaman

Relax, their is a Batman in your neighborhood, think about it!