To Find Your Voice Ignore the Rules

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I’ve known I wanted to be a writer since I was 3.  What I didn’t know was the convoluted path it would take.  Even as I was praised as a storyteller, winning fiction writing awards beginning at 6 of years age, I was getting pushback, the harshest coming from a woman of influence – my paternal grandmother.

I now understand she was putting the burden of her need to live in reflected glory/accomplishment on my young shoulders.

My education drove very strict grammatical rules into my head.

Most of which didn’t and still doesn’t apply to published works.

I excelled.

Was reading college level at age 7 – tested 99th percentile in the country – qualified for the new Mensa for children program.

All of which did little to help with my dream of becoming a published storyteller.

Arbitrare This!

Oh – is arbitrare a word?

Fast Forward through a successful multi-decade career in tech to 2003.

Enter Fate!

A merger from hell led me to know that if it was ever going to be –

The Time to Write is Now!

I’d wanted this for as long as I could remember and yes – I remember being 3 and giving my mom a poem I’d written [to her] in gold crayon on a red construction paper heart I cut myself and declaring I was going to be a writer.

Yeah but

Back to 2003

Even as I was working to publish Kerry’s Game – I was working on a doctoral thesis in holstic medicine.

Another passion.

This necessitated I not only spend hours in the scary basement of the science library at Stanford

Hey – it’s dark and creepy in that corner!

It required I purchase a book on the accepted writing style and grammer for a doctoral thesis.

My Masters’ thesis didn’t require this.

Detour Ahead!

My literary plans were derailed by Fate when an adjunct professor who read my thesis encouraged me to turn it into a book.

Which I did.

And detoured further via EMF Sensitivity which led me to publish nonfiction first.

I had multiple individuals begging me to give them unfinished work which I refused to do – on ethical grounds among other reasons; as in it wasn’t finished.

Skipping around a bit – including the impact of Smashwords on the industry …

Once I  published and subsequently dealt with the fallout of that lifetime achievement award I returned to my original dream.

Published storyteller.

I invested in my dream.

Time and money.  LOTS of money

Classes and conferences and more time.  

I ran into rather interesting challenges.

No one told me not to quit my dayjob. Quite the opposite.

I received a hand-written letter from an editor at Tor-Forge explaining their slots for a particular paranormal fiction angle were currently filled and inviting me to submit more of my work for consideration.  

Aspiring published writer gold.

Fate intervened

Beyond the scope of this article.  

Then intervened again.

Cue Mark Coker founder of Smashwords.

The man who upended the industry I was just breaking into had watched his wife suffer the hoops of fire aspiring novelists are put through and decided to do something about it.

For details visit his site.

By the time I was listening to him speak at a conference in Anaheim I was self-pubished and on my way to a flourishing writing career.

My dream.

I didn’t feel an imposter.  That didn’t mean I wasn’t ill at ease. 

I was writing by someone else’s rules and the vernacular that went with those rules. I hadn’t found my voice.

Full Circle

It was while reading one of my favorite books [I’d written] that it came to me. I’d written my stories as if I was working for the Big 5 when I wasn’t!

Their rules. Their voice.

Smiling from the Aha! moment I began editing with the warm feeling of someone who has found their voice!

I can finally write as me as opposed to a representative of a corporate standards list.

Stay tuned!

Site Update

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Happy Autumn!

My favorite season.

Over the past months I’ve focused on healing after severe burnout.

Even as I wanted to work on a vision for my writing career.  

Walking countless miles I examined the possibilities.

And felt ill even thinking of writing.

I was fully prepared to walk away from writing forever if that’s what I needed to do to stay healthy.  There was just one tiny issue.  Writing wasn’t just a job, it was a lifelong dream.

I couldn’t get the maxim God never puts a dream in your heart without giving you the means of fulfilling it out of my head and heart.

While walking mile after mile – rain snow or shine – I prayed for guidance.  

Ask and Ye Shall Receive

Over the months I came to see that it is possible for me to continue along the path of my dream provided I start over and – most importantly – I don’t go back to doing things the same old way.

A way that led me straight into burnout.

Simply giving myself permission to dream of the possibility I might be able to write again terrified me, so I acknowledged it as a possibility and set it aside for several months more. 

Light At the End of the Tunnel

A light that thankfully was not an oncoming train!

I started with blog posts and when that went well gave myself permission to dream of more. At the same time I kept my focus on healing.

Walking is wonderful for body mind and spirit.

The vision started to crystalize but I struggled with details such as layout and organization and soon came to realize I was overcomplicating things.

Again.

I’ve finally come up with a format I can live with.

As someone with a passion for excellence, I’m picky.

In the coming weeks I will be implementing the changes which will include

  • Work on EMF Sensitivity
  • Work on the Psi Side
  • Fiction
  • New nonfiction work I will provide details for in the near future

When it comes to blogs, rather than overcomplicating things by filing posts in different locations,  I will simply make sure the subject is in the title.  

Readers can decide whether the subject is of interest.

I look forward to sharing my desire to make the world a better place through Creations, Communications, and Research in the weeks and months to come.

Stay tuned

Validating EMF Sensitivity Findings: Better Late Than Never

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Four years after surgery for a brain bleed I began experiencing horrible migraines.  

Why now?  

Seemingly unrelated to the arterial rupture clamped with a titanium clip it was a puzzling, if miserable, period of my life.

The pain was not only intense it was unresponsive to any but narcotic strength medication.  Since I despised the way those medications made me feel it became a constant study in frustration as to how to relieve pain that drove me to my knees in tears.

While I searched for a non-narcotic solution I demanded the smallest dose of the other.

Cause and Effect: An Unwitting Introduction to EMF Sensitivity

  It was while discussing the periodic and debilitatingly painful episodes at a family gathering I got my first look – thanks to a savvy aunt – into what it meant to be EMF Sensitive.  

Atmospheric EMFs

My maternal grandmother was carefully questioning  me about the headaches in an effort to see if their was any pattern that would help us understand why they’d started out of the blue.  Sitting at the table was my Aunt Anne who said, “Your headaches are related to thunderstorms.”  

She figured out that approximately 48 hours after I got a migraine, a thunderstorm occurred. She also pointed out the pain resolved once the system moved out of the area.

We spent the next half hour trying to figure out what it was about the storms specifically that instigated the painful headaches and though no real conclusions were drawn my aunt was certain it was the lightning.

Electrical right?

Think Again

If that was the case then why did I feel so good while living in Florida in an area considered the lightning capital of the world?

I feel wonderful whenever I visit the state and it’s not just sunshine because I lived in sunny So Cal and I’ve lived in Phoenix yet did not have this same sense of physical well-being.

I did not get headaches while living in Florida.  

They started the spring after my family moved back to Michigan.

It wasn’t until 2011 – after years researching a phenomenon called EHS – what I called EMF Sensitivity – that I learned that atmospheric EMFs associated with storm systems are of the same ultra-low and very low EM frequencies that wreaked havoc with my health.

Which was why I was researching EMFs in the first place.

Understanding is Not a Cure

Knowing why I got horrible migraines 48 hours before a thunderstorm was all good and well but it didn’t offer any solution.

None of the remedies I had for my sensitivity to geologic and technologic EMFs worked for the atmospheric EMFs.  

Never Stop Learning

In subsequent years I gained incredible insight into EMF Sensitivity, including coming to understand the root cause and thus a cure.  I also discovered numerous remedies at all price points with no need for a doctor’s prescription.

I wanted remedies that were easily affordable and accessible to anyone.

I was thrilled to share my findings with the world through my release of Riding the Waves: Diagnosing, Treating, and Living with EMF Sensitivity.

As well as follow-up books on the subject.

While I’d made incredible progress and was living a relatively normal life, I was still struggling with migraines before thunderstorms.

Which were unfortunately all too common where I was living when I released Riding the Waves.

A Decade Later

It was while living in an area known for rain that I finally had a breakthrough.  

Rain Yes But…

Though we had our share of rain thunderstorms were a rarity where I was living.  This suggests it was something about atmospheric conditions tied to rain.  However…

I remembered living in Sunnyvale, California during a time when local rainfall broke records and not experiencing any migraines. Adding to the argument disputing the migraines being tied to rain was the fact I was getting the migraines during the summer too.

Pressure Drop

Research and a barometer purchase showed the migraines happened approximately 48 hours before a serious pressure drop. That they happened in the summer was due to the fact the pressure dropped as the temperature rose.  

I was able to determine the temperature had to rise sharply in a very short time for the pressure drop to induce a migraine.

Yeah, Okay, But…

I still had no way of treating the migraines and I refused to take narcotic medicine.

I’d had some luck with potassium supplements but it was not consistent.

As I document in Ignoring the Rules: An Intriguing Approach to Resolving Calcium Toxicity, I was able, through constant research, to determine the migraines were the result of the scar tissue – made up mostly of calcium – reacting to the atmospheric changes associated with pressure drops.

Like temperature, changes in pressure are a product of EMFs.

Through a lot of trial and error that drew on years of research I was able to discover a cure for the migraines.

Included in the book.

Two days ago as Idalia was making headlines I came upon an article that validated my experience; that it’s possible to sense EM frequencies associated with thunderstorms.

And, as I write in Riding the Waves, EMs associated with tropical storms and hurricanes.

It’s hard to put into words how it felt to see my observations backed up by other researchers; researchers who are going to conduct further study into how these EM frequencies affect behavior in a living organism.

Talk about validation!

It hasn’t been easy writing about a subject that continues to be controversial, to rile emotions, so when I come across this type of information it’s another brick falling off shoulders too often burdened by weighty matters.

Of course I also had to consider it meant I’m a shark.

Kidding, naturally.

To my delight, a day later another EMF article crossed my desk and while this one relates to a different part of my experience it’s every bit as validating.  Needless to say I’ll be sharing that information in the near future.

Stay tuned.

Writing Crystal Visions

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Hey y’all 

Typed with a Midwest accent

I haven’t dropped off the planet, just gathering my thoughts.

Lots of projects under consideration.

The biggest hurdle at this point is deciding how to do a site layout that reflects my vision. I’ve always been a visual person, one who sees things then works to recreate what I see in my mind’s eye.

So readers can immerse themselves in that vision.

Vision as Part of the Process.

When writing, my visual process makes it so I not only see characters, colors, settings in equisite detail, I can smell the smells.

Whether they come from shampoo a character uses, a by-product of what is going on in the scene – i.e., the aftermath of a battle – or from memory – i.e., a hospital or elementary school.

When I set fingers to keyboard I literally have images of characters, settings, smells in mind.  It’s why I so easily identify with my characters.

Which helps when writing from their point of view.  

I see them with crystal clarity.

As if they were standing in front of or beside me.

Speaking of Crystal Visions, the song of the same name – by The Big Pink – is pretty sweet.

On the Red Riding Hood Original Motion Picture Soundtrack.

I imagine other novelists have this ability.

As would song writers, painters, sculptors, photographers, and a myriad of other artists, including actors who create their character as they see – and feel – in body and soul.

What makes this phase of my career challenging is that despite the tremendous improvements in tools and layout options available through WordPress, I’m concerned about making the layout overly busy.  

I want to represent multiple projects in one place without making it cluttered.

As with many disciplines (i.e. writing software code**), there are numerous ways to accomplish what I want and plenty of tools for doing so, but it’s wanting to match what I envision with what is displayed that has me taking time.

Considerations

Some projects will remain under wraps.

I’ll be revealing them in the near future.

Some are topics I never walked away from.

They’re integrated into who I am, woven into my life in a way that means to abandon them is akin to pulling a thread and watching everything unravel til nothing’s left but a spaghetti mess.

That doesn’t mean I was obligated to share.

In spite of a passion for making the world a better place.

Going back to the way things were would only land me in the place that drove me to step away to being with.

The way I’d been doing things resulted in serious damage – to me.

It was as if – metaphorically – I suddenly found myself in a ballroom so crowded I couldn’t hear myself think.

Let alone breathe.

As I go forward with these projects I’m taking my strengths and vulnerabilities into consideration.

As I honor my passion for making the world a better place.

Among the myriad of topics attached to various projects are EMF Sensitivity and life through a Living the Psi Life lens.

Stay tuned.

**  A big part of why I refused to do coding on-the-fly as part of my technical consulting is the simple fact I would be setting the sales rep up for failure.  I’d either be trying to deal with a predecessor’s code or writing in a way that meant whoever came after me needed to understand where I was coming from – at that moment – in order to support the customer.

Never mind that whatever I did wouldn’t be supported if the customer ever called the help desk.  

Ah, but that is a story for another day.

Self-Care and The Important Follow-On Question

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As with so many, the fallout from the pandemic spurred me into taking what action I could to ease suffering – at personal expense.

Serious mental, emotional, and eventually physical burn-out.

Hitting a wall I elected to do something that would have appalled my corporate self.

Gasp!  Self-Care

To put in perspective, my primary influences growing up came from the Greatest Generation.

World War II Vets and war brides.

You didn’t complain.

Grit and heart and self-sacrifice for the greater good won the day.

This is the philosophy that underpinned my decades as a woman in the male dominated field of tech.

Eons before the Me-Too movement.

The idea of self-care was akin to betrayal.

Selfish!

And so it went.

By the end of 2022 even I was coming to see if I didn’t do something my health was going to deteriorate to the point I couldn’t recover.

Okay, so Now What?

I didn’t make the decision for self-care so much as God made it for me.

My life literally ground to a halt and I wound up in the ER.

In the days that followed it occurred to me that in order to heal I would have to sacrifice something that was an indelible part of my life.

My writing career.

When I wound up in the ER a second time after a test result came back suspicious I knew that in spite of the fact I’d wanted to be a writer from the time I was three, trying to pull up energy reserves to continue might be dire indeed.

Nothing like waking to a call at 7am telling you to get to the hospital immediately because of a number on a blood draw.

A Warning.

The follow-up tests showed I was fine.

Thank God.

I raised the white flag and informed my family that for the foreseeable future I would no longer be writing.

Or doing anything that would take precious energy needed for my recovery.

Selfish.

But first I had to get past the philosophy that putting myself first was selfish.

Thank God for the more modern philosophy that points out – wisely – if you aren’t there for yourself you can’t be there for those you love let alone anyone else.

Repeat after me:  Self-care is NOT being selfish!

I spent months focused on recovery even as I tried to be there for those who needed me.

I’m grateful for family and friends who were there for me when they too were trying to pick up their lives from various – and not always Covid related – challenges.

Part of self-care included daily walks.

Starting at a little under 2 I was soon walking 6 miles a day 7 days a week.

For months the only thought I could identify was “What was the license number of that truck?”

Anything deeper got me into a world of hurt.

Extended members of the family were a bit disconcerted.

“What’s with -?”

Giving the most basic of answers I put my head down and foot to the pavement.

Walking cold or heat, rain, sleet, or shine.

It was months before I could muster up the energy to utter – even mentally – the all-important follow-on question.

What’s Next?

I knew I wasn’t going back to corporate.

Hell I wasn’t healthy enough to do much – outside walking – but sit my butt on a couch.  I couldn’t commit to an employer let alone a customer!

Is that a Ray of – SUN?

Or is it hope?

One day while walking I considered that I really did want to write again.

It’s all I’d ever dreamed of doing from the time I was 3.

I also knew I was in no condition to even try.

The mere thought caused serious mental pain.

It was out of my hands.

I turned it over to God.

I also acknowledged that I may never be able to go back to writing.

Though that rubbed against another philosophy I was raised with which was God never put a dream in your heart He didn’t give you the means to achieve.

It’s a weird place living in the twilight of a dream shredded beyond recognition.

You’re so tangled in the confusion and pain of the idea of never again doing something you loved – that had been living inside of you since you could first put crayon to construction paper – you can’t give voice to the fear

The horror.

Not even to those who love you and want you to not hurt.

I couldn’t voice the fear even as I was willing to give it up forever if that’s what it took to make me whole again.

A Way Forward.

It’s early in the process and I’m taking it in baby steps but I intend to resurrect my dream.

As God wills it as my dear cousin likes to say.

I intend to tap the dream to be a writer to follow my passion.

Making the world a better place.

Stay tuned.

Manifesting 101: Be Careful What You Wish For

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Note: Longer post.

Be Careful What You Wish For

This maxim has taken on new meaning for me of late.

I love finding fun ways to use my last name in writing…

It all started with my hair.

Note:  I had a very interesting upbringing filled with some very interesting characters including more than one whose perspective and values were questionable.  These people and experiences shaped the events of my life giving me perspective.  I know where I came from and how it shaped me.  If it’s crazy or outrageous I generally – at this point – just roll my eyes. I’m sharing what I believe helpful – in this case – for manifesting.

Like many of my Celtic relatives and ancestors, I’m a towhead.  In my case, not only was my hair very blonde as a child, it was poker straight as it hung down to my waist.

At least it did til the brain surgery when half was shaved off and my dad cut the other half so it would grow in symmetrically.

Around the age of 7 a couple of relatives decided I should perm my hair.

Because, they said, it would make me prettier.

My mom and dad weren’t thrilled with the idea but these relatives cajoled 

One of them threatened

Until they gave in.

Pick and choose your battles was a maxim my father preached even if it fell under the “do as I say not as I do” maxim.

I well remember sitting in the kitchen of one of the relatives and being submitted to the most noxious chemical odors of a home perm in the name of making me prettier.  I’ll admit I did like the perm and the curls.

Until I went to school and was brutally roasted by the other kids for them.

Eventually the perm grew out and I managed to avoid any more until deciding on my own at 13 I wanted one.

The years went by and though I generally styled my hair with the times

Good ol’ 80s mullets

I didn’t think much about perms and curly hair.

Unlike my goofy relative who continued to tell me I would be much prettier if only I had curly hair.**

Your Wish is My Command.

Then a curious thing happened.  

I was working in tech and straight hair a la Michelle Pfeiffer in Tequila Sunrise was all the rage.  I, however, wasn’t sold.  More often than not I just pulled my hair up.  

Hauling round VJ290s and MicroVAXes and crawling around in data centers laying cable and troubleshooting isn’t conducive to much in the way of fancy hair styles.

A Consultant’s Work is Never Done.

It was the Golden Age of Tech and I was living on planes.  

Flying out Sunday or Monday, back Friday or Saturday, then out again Sunday or Monday – for months straight.

Wouldn’t It Be Cool…?

Famous last words.

I loved the movie Tequila Sunrise for a number of reasons, including that it was set in So Cal, a place I loved.  I admired Michelle Pfieffer but didn’t envy her hair.  In point of fact, I thought it really would be cool if I had hair that was curly.

It ran in the family so I knew I could have had it.

Next thing I know I’m living in California.

Job transfer.

You’re Kidding.

Foot Locker thickens the plot.

Needing new tennis shoes I headed to Foothills Mall where I stopped at Foot Locker.

Don’t think it’s there anymore.

As I was checking out, the woman helping me slipped a sample of Pantene shampoo and conditioner into the box.  

When I pointed out it was for curly hair I didn’t have she shrugged and said, “So? It’s free.”

Um, Aaron?  

You aren’t going to believe this…

After towel drying my hair I looked in the mirror to see…

???

Curly hair!

I phoned Aaron and told him the deal.

I couldn’t believe it!  

Could shampoo really make someone’s hair curly?

Something in the Water.

Without going into it, since I already have in a number of books on various aspects, the mineral content in the water released my naturally curly hair.

Whereas calcium in the water in Michigan kept them straight.

What You Wish For.

The water may have unlocked the curl in my hair but it was also contaminated with heavy metals that wreaked havoc with my health and while I’ve addressed that issue I’ve been left with a glaring truth:

When you manifest you have to be prepared for what goes with it.

The positive is I now consider – as fully as I can – what may be involved if I get what I say I want.

I examine, to the best of my ability, the trade-offs.

To a degree we can never know what it’s like until we’ve been there but I believe I’m wiser now about what I aspire to.

I hope by sharing this story others can benefit.

Be well.

** When my hair darkened in my towheaded adolescence this relative kept trying to get me to dye it blonde because – apparently – I was no longer pretty.

Some people and their oddball values.

To Manifest, Observe

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I haven’t fallen off the Earth and while I’m still focusing on self-care I’m taking an opportunity to post a story about manifesting along with a couple of cool EMF links.

To Manifest, Observe.

In these past weeks I’ve noted numerous situations in my life that started with the thought “Wouldn’t it be cool?” somewhere along the way.  

I’m also seeing you need to be ready for what goes with that manifested cool.

I’ve often advised people that if you want to see more amazing events and coincidences in your life, start by observing them then watch them multiply.  This is especially true with manifesting.

Observe the small as well as the big manifestations and note the miraculous in all of it.

As I continued to focus on situations in my life that had come to be I considered the length of time some of them took.

Yes, the prevailing thought is everything in its right time but I like to see signs of progress to keep me motivated along the way.

Last night I was treated to a reminder that I’m not alone on my journey of healing; the universe has my back.

That was fast!

Night before last as I was drifting off to sleep I thought how I missed listening to morning talk radio from LA radio stations.

They have a unique humor I truly appreciate.

I then thought how with a little effort I could listen to any station over the web.  This led me to thinking how cool it would be to listen to radio in other states which led to me thinking how cool it would be to listen to radio from other countries.

I knew all of this could be achieved if I did a little poking around on the Internet.

After that brief consideration I feel asleep and gave it no more thought.  Last night a friend sent a link that definitely got my attention.  It’s a program that allows you to tune into a radio station anywhere in the world.

I stared at the screen and considered my thoughts from the night before.  

How cool would it be…?  

The words are a take on the “Wouldn’t it be cool?” thoughts that have often manifested into my reality.

Going as far back as statements made as a child.

I quickly thanked God for the reminder I’m not alone.

The universe has my back.

On the EMF front.

While I’m not actively working on any EMF Sensitivity project I’m always aware and since I have a passion for learning am pretty much always observing and noting.

A great foundation for observing syncronicities leading to more of them.

I came across a NASA project that intrigued me since it focuses on Ultra-Low and Very Low EM frequencies.

The frequencies that were the bane of my life til I cured myself of EMF Sensitivity.

I signed on and took a listen.

I was curious to see if the sounds would sicken me.

I’m happy to report that I had no negative repercussions from listening.

At one point it sounded like water.  In another, like an empty potato chip bag being crumpled.

I’m sharing the link in the event others would like to participate in the project.

I’m also including a link to one of my favorite music videos, Sir Nigel Stanford’s Cymatics.

The effect of cymatic frequencies on matter.

I believe those with a passion for music as well as physics, math, and/or space would be good at this NASA citizen scientist project.

I wish everyone well.

Elizabeth

MEDITATION: NOT ALL MENTAL MOVIES DO THE TRICK

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In my early – mid 20s I dated a guy who was big into meditation.  When stress hit my life like a tsunami he suggested I give it a try. Unfortunately, I could never manage to quiet what various meditation teachers refer to as the monkey mind.

All the chatter that rears its head when you try to experience a moment of stillness.

I read up on and researched various techniques but nothing ever worked consistently.

That monkey mind never stopped chattering away.

He eventually suggested I just give up since it was frustrating me to no end.  Though disappointed I agreed it was the path of least resistence.

I was stressing myself out about it which more or less defeats the purpose of meditating to relax.

I did have a bit of success in what I call walking meditation but it is kind of cheating since I did not quiet my mind during those winter walks.

I used the time walking those winter nights to sift through my life and see where changes needed to be made.

A break-thru came when I bought Dr. Taub’s Seven Steps to Self-Healing Pack.

I’d never heard of guided meditation but listening to those tapes showed me that even those with chatty minds can meditate.

Silva Icing.

In 2000 I took the Silva Basic Lecture Series from a lovely woman in Akron, OH.

Aaron, who used to listen to the Dr. Taub tapes alongside me at night agreed to go with me.

For years I did a kluged version of guided meditation based on imagery from the tapes as well as whatever I produced on my mental screen during Silva.

Creative Visualization – Not

Starting in 2017 I switched from the scripted meditation I had been using for years to reviewing my novels before bed.  

I had become proficient in creating vivid images while picturing characters, locations, scenes, so it seemed like a good idea.

For the next several years I spent evenings reviewing scenes from various books in my mind and though it generally helped me fall asleep it hid a problem.

It wasn’t having the same beneficial effects as guided meditation!

This might have gone on indefinitely were it not for a series of emails between a friend in Florida and myself.  Rereading my words a few days after I sent them made me see I needed some serious change in my life.

I wrote about this in the Tune the Dial post.

To marry action to intention I began doing my old meditation routine in place of general mental movies.  Immediately, my life began to change.

Especially my health which needed tweaking.

My energy levels went up within days and that led to reguarly engaging in exercise which led to more energy which led to…

You get the idea.

In addition to physical benefits the universe began putting in a helping hand in the form of books coming into my possession at the right time.

I think it was seeing I was serious about improving my life – not just talking about it.

I’ll admit it was tough to get back into the routine of guided meditation, not because I had trouble quitting the review of novel plots before bed but because I was so rusty at the routine I’d done for years.

Persistance Pays Off.

Knowing it would all fall into place if I kept at it I kept at it.

And life continued to improve.

The plan is to keep up routines that help me achieve various health and well-being goals.

Routines that begin with the nightly guided meditation, one that includes prayers of thanksgiving.

The Take-Away?

I learned the hard way not all mental movies achieve a state of relaxation and that guided meditation is as beneficial as TM.

Especially for those of us with chattier minds.

Note:  That Monkey Mind

I long ago earned the distinction of always thinking but there was, I now realize, something else going on; something that interfered with my ability to still my chatty multi-tasking mind.

Birth Control Pills and Copper

Birth control pills have been linked to a buildup of copper.  Excess copper can cause chatty racy mind.

Taking zinc and potassium can help but until and unless there is nutritional balance, it may continue to be a challenge to quiet the mind.

I’m sure other medications can have this as a side effect.

NOT THAT I WANT THIS BUT WOULDN’T IT BE COOL?

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Finally getting around to another piece dealing with manifesting.

I’ve got a lot of writing andirons in the fire these days.

It has to do with manifesting by proxy.

You get to enjoy something but you don’t have to live it.

Let me explain…

Especially since prevailing theory is you have to work for something.

A theory that, a Midwesterner by birth, I am more than familiar with.

It all started with the phrase Wouldn’t It Be Cool…?

Come on, you can’t be that surprised.

However, there is a bit of a twist.  

I didn’t actually want what I considered would be cool.

The Scene

I’m 7 and watching Jacques Cousteau on some docu-show on TV.  I was actually bored until my dad pointed out that the people he was working with were raising their kids not in a traditional sense like I was living but on the ocean.

“You mean that boat is their home?”

That boat was a gorgeous sailing yacht.

“But what about school?”

That led to an in-depth discussion about homeschooling and what living a nontraditional life can teach.

Wow

No boring school?  No nuns?  No stinky classroom that was ungodly hot in the late spring/early summer?  Cool!

Where do I sign up?

I can see why my dad was good in sales.  He has a way of presenting a vision that really draws you in.  However, he didn’t like to deal with the devil.  

You  know – the details?

Knowing this I wasn’t too keen on his version of how we’d make it work.  

Living on a rusted out abandoned oil tanker in the Louisiana bayou doesn’t compare with what I saw on TV.

My vision was – living space wise – a bit more traditional.

My dad subscribed to Yachting magazine for years and I would lay on my stomach in the living room listening to Rubber Soul or Emerson Lake and Palmer Works I and flipping through the pages.

I also frequently listened to Queen’s Night at the Opera.

I was fascinated by the images in the magazines.

I loved the creative utilization of space – even as I was confused.

“Where do they put the toys?”

My dad explained – by way of answer – the dramatic differences in lifestyle between someone living in a post World War II tract home in a Detroit blue-collar neighborhood and someone following a dream by living it.

He pointed out things I believed sacrifices – no room for toys – were not considered such by those living the dream.

That night I stared up in the dark and thought about the kind of people who raised their kids living on the sea with a boat for a home.  The more I thought about it the more I decided it was cool.

Very cool.

They weren’t afraid to do what it took to live their dream.

I decided such people were brave.

I admired them for not worrying about what the neighbors thought about what they were doing since it was different.

Something I heard endlessly at school, in the community, and in my family.  

That circled back to courage because it takes courage to go against the grain.

Think Jonathon Livingston Seagull, a story my dad used to read to me.

Though I loved the idea of traveling the world and I didn’t mind going against the grain, I didn’t want to live on the ocean.  That didn’t stop me from watching documentaries or reading sailing and yachting magazines or befriending people who owned boats.

We had a Criss-Craft for awhile and used to take it out regularly on various Michigan lakes, fishing and water skiing.

Fast Forward

I’ve done my share of traveling – and boating.

Have a few friends who own sailboats.

Wouldn’t It Be Cool – By Proxy

Not only do I have friends who own various boats including sailboats, I know some who live on their boats.

One couple I know lives part of the year on a houseboat up in Alaska tagging ocean critters for research and conservation purposes.

Most incredible is that I know a family living the Jacques Cousteau way.

They make their living a little differently but they are living their dream in the way I always thought would be cool.

Even as I didn’t want it for myself.

When I first met them I felt an immediate rapport.  So many of our views about living a nontraditional lifestyle were in sync.

I like to say we did on land what they do on the ocean.

I told them I felt as if in meeting them I’d met celebrities from a childhood dream.

They are the most wonderful upbeat people living a wonderful dream.

A dream they built together.

Tune the Dial

I’ve mentioned the first line on my white board is Tune the Dial to remind me to start my day thinking about something or someone positive.  I also have a little drawing of a sailboat as a symbol of this family who followed their dream.

A dream more than a few people thought they were nuts for pursuing.

Thinking of them puts a smile on my face because thinking of them is thinking of what I admire.

Following their hearts and living their dream courageously.

They are the perfect inspiration but more, they are a manifestation from my youth.

One I can enjoy even though I didn’t do the work – living on the water.

Now isn’t that cool?

VISUALIZATION: IF YOU CAN’T PICTURE, DESCRIBE

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Finally getting around to a post about an aspect of Visualization for manifesting an outcome.  I don’t know that it was what I planned to do this morning but after an email I got last night I decided to go ahead with it.

I do want mention the prayer success rate I mention from Grace Cathedral – 100% – was measured by success in prayers I said not only for myself but for others.

People who were trying to deal with/recover from an illness or trying to conceive, looking for a house, a job, etc. 

When I do meditation/prayer I do say things for myself but more often than not I’m praying for someone else.

Which leads to…

A friend informed me several weeks back she was facing a health challenge.  I replied with a promise to do Silva healing techniques and then explained what it was about and encouraged her to take the BLS so she, too, could learn the techniques and have others work on her case.

I also gave her the website to put her info in so others could work on her case.

I have my own version of healing that like my meditation/prayer style is a kluge of various techniques I’ve learned or absorbed throughout my life.  I do, however, frequently integrate the Mirror of the Mind technique when doing a healing.

I’ve had incredible luck with it for healing.

The technique involves visualizing the problem in great detail then sliding a frame over – in the mind’s eye – and visualizing the solution whereafter you only visualize the solution.  Since I do a kluge, rather than visualizing my friend and the specific image of an outcome, I visualized an email in which she communicated a very specific sentence.  Last night I got that email.

Two months or so after I began working her case.

This ties to the original post idea which is why I led with it as an example.  Now, I’ll elaborate.

I’ve written of having luck with Shakti Gawain’s Creative Visualization Workbook.

 Within it there are a number of techniques to try when trying to manifest an outcome.

One of the more successful techniques I’ve used is the Ideal Scene technique in which you describe your ideal scene/outcome as if it’s already happened in detail.

Though not too much detail.

ie., If you want a house, describe the neighborhood and the number of rooms, etc but don’t choose a specific address because the house may belong to someone else or is meant to belong to someone else.  Same with a relationship. Describe what you want in a relationship rather than a specific person as they may belong to someone else or are meant to belong to someone else. Same with a job.

The universe will have something ideal for you.

As I was considering how often I’ve had success with this technique I recalled a fellow Silva student who had difficulty visualizing.  No matter how many helpful suggestsions he got he just couldn’t bring to mind an image.  Knowing there are others out there with such a challenge I thought to share an alternate approach.

Describe

In my recent situation I visualized the email.

A bit of imagery involved but most people have received an email so I think it’s easier to imagine getting an email with specific information/news than creating a more complex image from scratch.

I imagined in my white framed mirror getting an email from my friend in which she wrote a very specific sentence to do with a test result she would be getting.

I also did other healing techniques for her.

Yesterday I got a nudge to ping her and see how things were going.  Last night I received a reply.  When I read the exact sentence I’d imagined receiving from her?  

Success!

I felt wonderful and excited.

I have consistently had good luck with Mirror of the Mind but this was a twist on a typical healing technique.  

Rather than visualize an image with the outcome I visualized the words/the message.  

It worked!

This morning I sent back an email in which I shared this success story.

In Silva we are advised to recall a recent success when working a case as it boosts future success rates!

I’m taking the opportunity to share the twist on the visualization technique with readers since I know some have difficulty picturing a specific outcome.

When you can’t visualize?  Describe.

Note:  If you don’t get what you are working on it may be that you are not meant to have it.  Popular philosophy on this is the reason is the universe has something else in store for you.

The universe has you covered.

Be well!