Responsibility: Who’s Is It?

emaxLeave a comment

Listening to Rag N Bone Man’s Skin

Powerful lyrics

My mind drifted to the people we believe we have responsibility to.

And how we ended up with these beliefs since we weren’t born with them.

Functional Dysfunction

Having lived the definition of growing up in a dysfunctional family it’s probably no shocker I might have an interesting definition if not perspective of who is responsible for who and what.

And how dysfunctiontals don’t miss an opportunity to put their responsibilities on others including and especially those too young and inexperienced and therefore totally unprepared to bear it.

Note:  The stories I share in my podcasts?  Trust me they’re stirring up memories that would be all too happy to stay dead and buried – but that wouldn’t help the world and those in it.

Nor would it honor those who gave me their trust and protection throughout the years.

Needless to say it’s taking a toll on me.

Choice

This isn’t the forum for going deep but I’m listening to this song and thinking of a man who made the choice to be a guiding light to someone; a man not much older who somehow surmised I’d missed out on a lot of important life lessons.  Dealing with life himself?  And adversity?  He stepped out of the rushing stream of life that was sweeping souls to the open ocean where … well you can imagine … to give me a fighting chance at survival.

He saw I was shark bait.

He risked his career and much more to be there for me not because he was born with a responsibility to me but because he chose to help someone take the next step.

As life would have it I’ve been gifted along the convoluted way to cross paths with people who likewise chose a responsibility to help me to the next step.

Including my beloved husband Aaron.

There are no words to express the depth of my gratitude to these souls but along the path of responsibility to my fellow man? I learned the importance and impact of something as simple as a smile or a hug.

And how it can transform someone’s life – like the lyrics of a song.

Be in the flow.

And enjoy the music of life.

Be well.

Life: 52 Pickup

emaxLeave a comment

Note:  This will be short and to the point.

Listening to More Than a Feeling by Boston.

Followed by Peace of Mind – another goodie.

About an hour ago I high-tailed it along my walk route to meet up with a couple who had a beloved doggie that got out.  I saw her a few mornings back and a mutual acquaintance put us in touch to let them know.

I met them at the location I saw her.

As Fate Would Have It…

Story of my Celtic life.

A young man taking a break from work chatted with me as I was going then coming.  Sitting here I was thinking of our convesation which led me to consider the ins and outs of life. A curiosity popped to mind.  

The Hand Life Deals You.

As in cards…

I hate this saying that was shoved in my face during my corporate years any time I expressed frustration.

By colleagues 10 – 15 years older though not necessarily wiser.

I suppose it’s a philosophical take on shit happens.

What They Missed.

Probably too busy trying to survive the same corporte morass.

Life doesn’t deal you a hand of cards like a poker game.  It tosses the damn deck and walks out without staying to watch you pick up the chaos.

Life happens.

Platitudes don’t.

We need to start giving ourselves credit where credit is due.

Be well 

The Voice Within

emaxLeave a comment

Was listening to the Voice by the Moody Blues when life smacked me upside with a message.

Believe it or not I missed the blinking neon traversing the universe.  Thankfully a good friend took the universal message – handed it to me so I could run with it.

Hey football season is upon us.  Perfect metaphor for a time that brings joy.

I grew up listening to this on 8-track tape with over the ear headphones.  And somehow in all those years I missed the message.

Or perhaps the message waited for me – for this day.

I’m writing content for the 3rd podcast in my Navigating the Holistic Path series.  

A central theme is the role of instinct in holistic caring for family. 

 Tired out from today’s work I decided to listen to tunes.  For some reason The Voice by the Moody Blues kept coming to mind so I downloaded it to a playlist I call LAStyle.

Playlist reflects an amazing beautiful incredibly creative period of my life as a teen of divorced parents living part-time in So Cal.

It was only away from today’s podcast work I was able to catch snatches of the lyrics.  I’ll admit originally when I heard “…calling you back to face the music…”  I thought the universe was taking me to task.  Then I heard “Understand the voice within…”  And “… trust your feelings it’s easy now.  Understand the Voice Within.”

Intuition.  Instinct.

Message received.

I’m grateful to my friend who mentioned this song to me recently.  

Look for magic everyday and you will find it.

Be well.

We Need Mentors

emaxLeave a comment

Enjoying a bit of sunshine and smiling because of a conversation that brought joy.  A woman was doing a service by picking up recyclables the county doesn’t pick up.

Ahem – clamshells.

She mentioned she used to work for the US post office which was a nice segue. I told her of people I know who used to work for the post office and a friend who currently does.

A friend who has been a mentor to me since I met him 36 years ago – in corporate.

After a wonderful back and forth she went on her way and I was left with my thoughts.  I couldn’t help thinking how throughout my life I’ve had the benefit of mentors.

People who shared and passed life wisdom to me.

I speak to this in my podcasts.

As I considered how fortunate I was to have not just one but multiple people in my corporate environment take the time and energy to mentor me I thought of the flip side to that.

What’s Axed is What’s Lost

I was in my early 20s when the Midwest went through yet another in the every ten years we go through a recession fun.  

Not.

The thing is I hadn’t been through it in a way that drove a stake into my empathetic heart before then.

I watched as in the name of cutting costs people with incredible knowledge and experience were the first to go while those of us who were just starting out were kept because we were cheap labor.

I later learned I was being underpaid by $18K.

I was not only devastated watching colleagues let go because they apparently earned too much I told management we were losing a precious resource.

We needed their experience! Their wisdom! You can’t put a price tag on that!

Experience Needed

I don’t think the powers that be got what they were going for.  After the senior consultants were let go a large number of customers dropped us as a trusted vendor/advisor.

They had a history with these consultants.  They trusted them.

When I showed up at an OEM site to address a critical issue the customer looked at me and said “Why you don’t look any older than my granddaughter.  What could you possibly know about this problem?”

In other words don’t worry my pretty little head about it?

I pasted a smile on my face and proceeded to assure the customer I could indeed fix a problem that had pulled the systems offline.

Costing millions of dollars an hour.

Inside I felt like jelly but I did get them up and running.

And chewed my mentor out all the way back to the office for putting me in a position I was in no way experienced enough to handle.  

His response?  “Did you or did you not fix their issue?”

Life Circles Round

I know that mentor – who is a beloved friend after all these years – will read this and remember that day.

And my panic even as he assured me he believed in me 100% and knew I could fix the issue and get them back online.

How did it turn out?

After they were up and running they took me to lunch to celebrate.

And raised glasses to the fact I indeed got them up and running so the car doors could once again roll off the line.

We need to tell our stories.

We need to mentor.

Be well

Metal in the Brain: EMF Life

emaxLeave a comment

It’s been a busy afternoon in EMF land.  I’m about to release an app and Handbook focused on Esoteric EMFs.

  

  • Ghosts
  • Psi
  • Hauntings
  • Sacred Spaces
  • Sensitivity to other People

And how these frequencies interact with and are impacted by

  • Geologic
  • Atmospheric
  • Technologic

EM frequencies.

Filled with tools and strategies that eliminate the negative impact of Esoteric frequencies the app and Handbook will appeal to novice and expert, to skeptic and believer alike.

As I was decompressing with music my mind drifted to one of my favorite human beings in the world.  My high school physics teacher Mr. Robert Parys.  I will never forget the day he learned I had a metal clip in my brain.

Titanium it was put in to stop bleeding from a subdural hematoma the result of falling off a diving board and hitting my chin on it on the way into the pool when I was 10 years of age.

He was – in a word – horrified.

“There’s metal in your brain?!”

As a 16-year-old I wasn’t particularly appreciative of the attention this got me.

I was the only female in the class of about 20.  Everyone turned to me expressions startled and horrified. You know – like I had a disease? 

Can we say “Yay?”

Note:  I had girlfriends who took physics.  They just had classes during a different time period.

To make matters worse – for me – he asked me to stay after class.

You can imagine what it was like to hear male feet shuffling by as they left. The sideways glances.

Oh just yay.

I tried pointing out I needed to get to my next class but he told me he’d write a note.

Joy.

The discussion led to more questions – his – than could be managed so he invited me to stay after school so he could learn more.  I had a job so this wasn’t easy but he was persuasive it would be worth my while.

I liked Mr. Parys.  He had a good sense of humor and related to students in a way that let them know he really cared about them, their dreams, goals, their success in life.

He spent time doing what he could to help students achieve their dreams.

Though I spent time answering his questions about life in the wake of an NDE with a metal clip in my head he is the one who gave the gift. Sharing his insight and access to materials meant I was able to conduct scientific research that helped me feel okay at a time when I didn’t…

I was still limping heavily after being paralyzed and my hair was still growing out after being shaved for emergency brain surgery.  You could still see a pretty big scar on my skull. Not a fun thing for a self-conscious teenage girl.

The groundwork he helped lay has led to the release of this app and Handbook.

Work that will help the world the way he helped his students.

His legacy lives on.

Teachers are amazing people who are often under appreciated.

I’m ever so grateful this one crossed my path.

The world benefits because he was a part of it.

RIP Mr. Parys.

Manifesting 101: When Dreams Don’t Happen

emaxLeave a comment

Listening to Bryan Ferry’s Boys and Girls smiling as a wonderful memory sweeps through.  

1994

Working in Santa Clara I would drive 92 to the coast after a long day.

Window down, ocean breeze the perfect antidote to work stress.

Seeing RVs and mobile homes on the beach gave me hope that I, too, could afford to live on the beach.

Midwest experience had me thinking you needed to own a mansion to get the view these people were enjoying.

Manifesting a Dream

As I took in details I imagined owning my own little piece of heaven by the Pacific Ocean even as I knew the commute would be no picnic..

92 is a windy path back to Silicon Valley.

As Fate Would Have It

Life had other plans for me.

That particular goal never manifested.

And yet….

Just listening to this album brings all the absolute joy and optimism of those evenings with the smell of the ocean breeze, the feel of cool wind washing my cares away.

The Lesson?

Even when life doesn’t hand you the dream you can still find and feel the joy of your dream.

Be well

Manifesting For Someone Else: Divine Timing

emaxLeave a comment

Did a working lunch at a local place with a good vibe.  A guy who works came in for his shift as I was walking out.

Walking home.

I stopped to chat.  In particular I asked about his family.

His grandmother lives in the path of the tsunami as well as typhoon season.

After assuring me all was good we chatted about music.

We’re both big time metal fans.

At one point I worried I was taking too much of his time.

He was the one talking but still.  It was shift change and the place was relatively busy.

I eventually made my way home and as I was waiting on a light at a busy intersection I hit the button for crossing then glanced back to see a guy standing behind me.  As he was taller than me – aka longer stride – I decided when the light changed I would allow him to go before me.

When the light chnged I turned around smiled and said “You can go ahead.”

As It Happens…

When he used body language to verify I realized a startling detail.

Walking Stick

The man was blind.

I never noticed the stick – only that he was wearing a fashionable hat to keep his face from burning in the sunshine and that he was taller than me.

I assured him he was safe and slipped in behind him to make sure no impatient drivers tried to do something stupid.

Wait!  There’s More!

Gotta love Ginsu right?

We got close to a very busy parking lot.

Fast food restaurant drive-thru at lunch hour.

I stopped and waited – called out to him I was going to keep us safe.

He had his cane going back and forth across the sidewalk.

I made sure the drivers ready to zip out of the parking lot saw me.

And by extension him.

We eventually went our separate ways.  As I was walking the final leg home I thought about the timing of it all.  I’d been worried I was going to get a worker in trouble for talking to him during lunch hour but if I hadn’t fought my initial thought to politely excuse myself so as not to get him in trouble?

I was really interested in everything the cool restaurant worker was telling me.  I did NOT want to get him in trouble!

I would have missed being there for someone who benefitted from my protective presence.

Divine Timing.

Thanks Universe!

Manifestation?

I was there when that guy benefitted from it.  I manifested safety which may have been on his mind.

It is a very busy highway with people who regularly fly through and do “No Cop No Stop” behavior.

Trust your instincts.

Be Well.

Podcast Resource Update

emaxLeave a comment

Sharing a quick update that I’ve added links referenced in the 2nd Podcast episode to the Podcast Resources page.  What makes this interesting in a synchronistic way is one of the stories I mention in this Podcast has to do with the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.  To understand why it’s particularly interesting I need to point out I wrote the script for the 2nd Podcast in early May.  I had no idea there was any sort of event regarding the Edmund Fitzgerald in the works.

If anything I’d think they’d do something in November.

Then I read the news this morning.

Turns out today is the day of the Edmund Fitzgerald Memorial Swim.  Specifically, the 50th anniversary.

Wow.

I love synchronicities because it’s the universe telling us we’re on the right path.  To round this out I’ll share a story from the Podcast.

My maternal great-grandfather emigrated from Scotland to Detroit whereafter he owned a shipping company.  One of the ships in his fleet was the PS Tashmoo.  The bell from the Tashmoo is in the Maritime Sailors’ Museum in Detroit.

The bell that Gordon sings rang 29 times for each life on the Edmund Fitzgerald.

My Story

I used to have a very cool sweatshirt with a picture of the Tashmoo on it.  Years back Aaron and I were walking in Union Square in San Francisco when an older couple stopped us.  The man said “The Tashmoo?  How do you know about the Tashmoo?  You seem awfully young for that.”

I explained the ship was part of my maternal great-grandfather’s fleet to which he told me he and his wife who was standing beside him had their honeymoon on the Tashmoo.  He told me what a wonderful time it was and went on to share stories about her grandeur.

Have an awesome day. I hope life brings synchronicities that make you smile.

Be well.

2nd Podcast Available

emaxLeave a comment

I’m pleased to announce the 2nd Navigating the Holistic Path podcast is available.  This episode highlights the influence of others on our decision to live the holistic path.  Includes holistic versus allopathic approaches to health and wellness and tools and strategies for living the holistic path.

Audio Only.

I made the decision to switch to an audio only format to provide a better experience. 

This episode is different from the Welcome episode stylistically even as I include lots of information on holistic health practices.  While I summarize at the end of the episode listeners will infer from the stories what tools and practices belong in the holistic bag of tricks.

I hope you enjoy learning about the influence of others – including family – on our decision to live the holistic path.

And the tools and strategies to help you integrate holistic health practices into your life.

Be well.

A Fun Memory

emaxLeave a comment

Decided to share a light-hearted memory.  I’m listening to the Who’s Boris the Spider.

Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy is a favorite.

In addition to listening to the vinyl we had it on 45.

The memory.

While working for HP I attended a class in Corvallis Oregon, the training focused on a new network router that would manage loads in different time zones. 

Follow the sun where as one region is going to sleep another is waking up.

The servers would take the load off the networks.

Spreading the load makes for better and more consistent performance.

There were two classes ongoing in separate rooms.  I wound up in a room full of HPers from Canada.  We clicked and had a lot of fun working through the labs.

The instructor who was a very cool guy from San Diego would come over to see what we were laughing about.

We finished the labs early so asked if it was okay that we went to lunch.  

Comeraderie and Fun Stories.

While eating in the cafeteria we exchanged amusing stories on various topics.  One was spiders – who was and wasn’t afraid of them.

I’m not but shared a funny anecdote where several aunts saw a little one and went shrieking after which my grandmother said, “Oh for heaven’s sakes you’re afraid of that little thing?” then took care of it.  

I’m chuckling remembering how they scrambled over each other in an effort to get away from where it was sitting on the wall.

One of the guys told a story that had us laughing.

Though we were all very sympathetic to someone being afraid like that.

He got home from work to find his front door wide open.  As he walked into the house he called out to his wife.

No answer.

He walked around the house becoming more alarmed as he couldn’t find his wife and she wasn’t answering his calls.  

Then he got to the bedroom.

His wife was standing on the bed staring at the top of the bedroom doorway.  He walked in, turned to see what she was staring at.

A small house spider.

Turning back he asked if that was the problem.

He knew she was afraid of spiders but had never seen her like that.

She didn’t say anything though he saw the slightest nod.  After taking care of the spider his wife went rushing past.  

To the bathroom.

Apparently she was convinced that if she went through the bdroom door to get to the bathroom the spider would fall the moment she was beneath it and land on her.

Back to Class is Back to Fun.

The second and last day of the training went pretty much like the first with the Canadians and me having a blast working through the labs.

Which increased in difficulty throughout the class.

When the instructor came over toward the end of the second day I assumed it was just to see what we were laughing about.  

A Spoonful of Sugar …

Helps difficult labs go down.

Turns out the other class was seriously behind.  Not only that they were apparently complaining about how difficult the labs were.  When the instructor asked if we had any insight into the stark differences we searched for something to say.

None of us wanted to bad-mouth fellow HPers.

One of the Canadians made a comment about Canadians being good-natured.

Implying the other group came from a different region [of the US] and was likely culturally influenced.

The instructor looked at me and said, “You’re American aren’t you?”

I explained “Yes but I was born in Detroit and grew up in Michigan about 30 miles from the Canadian border.”  

I also supported global supply chain for the automotive industry so many Canadian companies were customers.

The fun rubs off.

I hope you are able to find fun moments in challenging situations.

Be well.