The year of 2016 has been a banner year of self discovery for me!! What a whirlwind of knowledge and experiential learning–and this is my review of such a productive and enlightening year:
After having completed Dr. Alison J Kay’s teleseries which had begun in Dec 2015, but wrapped up in January 2016–see more about that here, I believe it certainly set me up for quite a fantastic 2016! And I highly recommend Alison’s courses to everyone–especially if you want to have a banner year!
I began volunteering in January/February at Awakening Wellness center. I so loved meeting so many people there and being off service. Just the energy of being in a wellness center, where people could come for sessions and I could learn how to help, was such a joy! My heart warmed with each and every connection.
During this time, I met my naturopath and was urged to go back to a diet my husband and I had tried, but had given up years earlier–Dr. D’Adamo’s Eat Right 4 Your Blood Type. Two days after changing my diet, the stiffness in my ankles disappeared! Over the next few weeks I could think more clearly. As the months went on it became easier and easier to avoid the foods that Dr. Peter J. D’Adamo tells me are toxic to my body.
Then in February, I took Rev. Michael Beckwith’s six-week Master class online with Mind Valley. (Cost: About $300) I wrote a blog article especially about the program here.
The following is a brief summary of what I learned:
- I learned and implemented the following thought: I cannot stop birds from flying around my head, but I can prevent them from nesting in my hair.
- Affirmative and agenda-less prayer and meditation can always shift me back into Gratitude.
- Faith, only as small as the size of a mustard seed, is all it takes to move the proverbial mountains in our life. Really.
- Stay my attention on the changeless reality of my inner self, don’t look to the external world for fulfillment.
- Silently converse with my own heart, commune with joy in my heart.
Meditate or affirm in prayer: I renounce any sense of being bound by personal history, habit, experience, or circumstance. I’m free as spirit is free.
In March, I volunteered and had the ultimate privilege to greet every vendor as they were setting up at our huge Awakening Into The Sun (a Zen festival) in downtown St. Petersburg. I had the utter joy of bringing in two vendors to the event too! Emily Stein and the Breakthrough group.
Throughout the two day event, I kept checking in with them–’cause that’s how I roll! I always want to ensure everyone’s ease and happiness while they’re at this fantastic event. We also bought concert tickets for, and attended, the Awakening pre-show. Both my husband and I immensely enjoyed the entertainers! They were all aWEsOMe!
Emily Stein (whom my husband and I took a class with) was one of the Awakening Into The Sun vendors. And I got to meet Emily’s mom! I love these powerful ladies! Such vibrancy! Beautiful spirits! I’m looking forward to spending more time with them in 2017.
Also that month, my daughter experienced a miscarriage. It was gut-wrenching. And since I’ve never been through it, I was truly at a loss for words. I felt helpless, without any way to offer her comfort. And since I had also signed up for, and was in the beginning of an eight-week class, though I wanted to grab a flight to New Hampshire to hug my daughter, I couldn’t get there until May. To ease the gap, and also to help my daughter in any small way that I could, I remembered that a friend of mine and hypnotherapist, had written a book on the subject of miscarriage. And it’s not a subject that very many people talk about!
So, I bought both of us a copy of Angel Babies and we read it together (via distance) and I believe that helped (at least a little bit) to ease my daughter’s mind, as well as, help myself–as the grandmother–to release my sad emotions and also feel and somehow relate a bit more to my mother’s feelings of loss–as she had lost five babies (my unborn siblings) when I was a child. You can find Patricia’s amazing book “Angel Babies” here. (Cost: Book: $15.95 or less on Amazon. Being able to offer comfort: Priceless)
As for that eight-week voice / energy class, I was able to continue, and I am sure it helped me too (to ease the sadness I was feeling for my daughter) with the Breakthrough Performance Workshop — and it did turn out to be a phenomenal experience!
Every week our little group of would-be singers were given a song to sing, sometimes a song we’d never heard of, and we would break through any mental barriers, stretch our voice, find our courage, and build our confidence by practicing the song at home, and then in front of the group at our next practice. Eventually, we videoed each other and learned what we liked, or didn’t like about each performance to build our stamina, poise, and performance ability.
When the night of our concert finally came, even with a pulled neck (which was my silly fault for trying to get into a way too tight garment) I got to do something I’d always dreamed of–to sing a solo with a live band! (Cost: $1200 plus)
After all of this amazing work, you must know how strong I was feeling, emotionally and physically. I’d been doing Pilates for about a year at this point, so on April 21 when I tripped over an ill placed box of printer paper, it really jolted me. I thought, “oh no, now here we go” and figured I might have really hurt one of my wrists, which I had landed on with nearly all of my body weight. But, to my joy and surprise, I didn’t break any bones and I healed quite quickly–only needed a couple of massages by my friend Tiffiny, and one acupuncture treatment. Read about Tiffiny’s massage therapy here.
(Cost over $200; and never got compensated from workman’s comp)
On May 5th, I was blessed to spend Mother’s Day in New Hampshire with my daughter and granddaughter. How much love! Like a sponge, every time we’re together I always soak in every moment. Lots of laughter, play, hugs, kisses, and singing! However, there was something or other in their hundred year old house that irritated my eyes and lungs, so once I returned home, I coughed for a couple of months and couldn’t sing for a long time.
In May, I also joyfully became a Florida Notary Public. And performed my first official wedding for Jessica and Phillip Walling, May 21st, 2016 at a beautiful outdoor venue. If you know anyone getting married in the Central Florida area, Tampa Bay area, or eastern part of Florida, let me know! It thrills my soul to be able to officiate weddings! I love being able to bring two people together with love and harmony.
The most fantastic news came by June–my daughter had conceived again!! And the most aWEsOMe of news was that… she’s having TWINS!!!!
The summer seemed to keep me busy… I attended several different meetups and finished several books.
In September, instead of my usual pilgrimage to New Hampshire for my granddaughter’s birthday, I’d learned that my daughter’s father and his wife were going to visit. So, that freed up my schedule. And I took advantage of this for ME! I took a once in a lifetime trip to Sedona AZ.
Unlike any other vacation, this trip was just for my Self, with two facilitators I have met and worked with, along with twelve other like-minded ladies, most of whom were unknown to me before the journey, but most became friends! I was full of Energy the whole time I was in Arizona, and felt like a kid again while hiking and exploring!! You can read the blog article I wrote about my Sedona trip here.
The downside was that while I was away, my husband fell and broke his wrist and our fridge quit working. I came home to my hubby needing me to help him get out of a shirt, empty and clean out our fridge, wash dishes (which he normally does), and so on. Our joke was that I climbed five mountains in five days and didn’t even break a nail, but he fell coming into the RV and broke the first bone he’s ever broken in his life. We tried any way we could to make light of the situation, so that I wouldn’t feel bad about having taken my solo vacation, and to help him heal and not feel depressed about not being able to play guitar, and not feel guilty about not being able to do regular household tasks.
However, three days after I arrived home from Sedona, I began coughing. Eventually, and not soon enough, I went to see my naturopath, Maggie. If only I had went to see her sooner, I’d not have suffered for a month or more! I found some relief as soon as I took the first homeopathic remedy–which, I realize, sounds incredible!
Apparently, I’d had several different kinds of things going on. I had markers for viruses, mold, two kinds of flu, and mycoplasma. Physically, I was a hot mess. I made a vow to refocus my attention on getting well–and staying well!
In September, I met Dr. Ronald K. Porter at Miracles bookstore. Ronald teaches Pranayama breathing and yoga and this was a workshop that I definitely needed. (Cost: $10) A nagging nerve pain that I’d had in my right knee was healed during the workshop–only from my focus on learning the breathing techniques!! I was thrilled! I loved the class so much that I started going to Dr. Porter’s yoga classes at Metro and invited friends to join me! Also, when Ronald was teaching the Pranayama class at Miracles again, I invited my friend Karen to go with me–and we had a great time!
Also in September, I attended a free yoga movie night in Sarasota and bought six DVDs directly from the filmmaker ($100). At that event, I met a new friend and she invited to see Sadhguru (who would be in Sarasota a week later). As it turned out, I was given a promo ticket for writing a blog article about Sadhguru’s book launch event, and received a copy of his new book!) What’s really interesting about this, and totally synchronistic was that all of this occured just a week after finding Sadhguru on YouTube while searching for more videos on Pranayama breathing!
November brought more enlightening events. On the 9th I attended a healing workshop at Heatherhoney’s center in Brandon. There I met Veronica, who facilitated the event and used Young Living essential oils to raise our vibration. Now I have been a Young Living essential oils distributor for years, but I’ve only used the oils in my own self-care and to give as gifts when I meet someone in need. So I’m always happy to continue experiencing how I can share these healthy oils–this event gave me more ideas on sharing.
I arrived early to the meeting and talked with Veronica a bit about a friend of ours who is suffering with ALS. Veronica asked me if our friend would be open to Alternative treatments, and if I had heard of the Medical Medium. Anthony William, the Medical Medium, has millions of people listening to him. And now I am too. Naturally, I was super excited to learn that there might be other ways to help our friend, so I passed all of what I learned to our friend to potentially ease her suffering.
Mid November, I took six FREE meditation classes from BKTampa.org – Brahma Kumari’s on Saturday and Sunday mornings in Tampa. Yes, I had to make the effort to drive 20+ miles to attend, but it was so mind expanding! I am grateful that there are teachers who make themselves available to teach meditation to anyone who will take the time to learn.
In another synchronistic meeting, I was invited to, and attended a healing event at the beautiful and energy-filled Crystal Bay hotel in St Petersburg, where I received a word from Dr. Mark Tong about exercising and that I should continue doing so. How could he have known that I had ramped up my yoga and Pilates!! Wow! After the event ended, my friend Terri introduced me to Linda McCarthy. As Linda and I talked, I experienced God bumps, which always validates that a conversation is of utmost importance to me (or perhaps, to my Soul).
Linda and I talked outside of the hotel until nearly everyone had gone. She gave me the audiobook called, The Reconnection. This was only just a week after I had found Dr. Eric Pearl on YouTube!!!
As the year ended, it found me celebrating a full and robust year of learning and implementing many of the new found mind-body and spirit-filled tools, which have increased my confidence, health, and well-being to overflowing!
I continue daily to practice meditation, yoga, Pranayama breathing, Pilates (twice a week), and singing / chanting to reach a higher and deeper sense of self and spiritual connectivity with our Ever-Living, Filling-All-Space, LIMITLESS Creator. Oh what a profound and beautiful year it has been!
I send you all many blessings, in ALL ways for a brilliant and uplifting 2017! Happy New Year!
OM
Take it upon yourself to be healthy, joyful, wholly vibrant, and beautiful.
A bit about me:
An Amazon bestselling author of two co-authored books: “Transform Your Life Book 2 Inspirational Stories and Expert Advice” and “Energy of Receiving”, both available now.
I am available to come to your bookstore, crystal shop, acupuncture / chiropractor office, or other holistic / natural healthy lifestyle business for books signings and lectures. For information on both of my books, visit my Amazon author’s page — Click here.
If you’ve beat a chronic health challenge by alternative, integrative, or other natural remedy I’d love to hear about it.
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Send me an email and keep in touch.
To learn more about me Click Here –>> Take it upon yourself to be healthy, joyful, vibrant, and beautiful.
UPDATE 9/12/2018:
The book that’s been in the making for 13 years, Take It Upon Yourself to Live a Wholly Vibrant Life, is now available for online sale and distribution (PDF format).
Buy it here: https://beingwhollyvibrant.wordpress.com/2018/09/12/book-launch-take-it-upon-yourself-to-live-a-wholly-vibrant-life/
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