My Secret

Bob Dylan and Aldous Huxley say pretty much the same thing!

“The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of the child into old age,
which means never losing your enthusiasm.”
— Aldous Huxley

May your heart always be joyful
May you always know the truth
And see the lights surrounding you
May you always be courageous
Stand upright and be strong
May you stay forever young
— Bob Dylan

It’s my secret too, not that I think I’m a genius, but I’ve retained the childlike (not childish, there’s a difference) ability to revel in simple joys.

This is me at three and it’s really no different than the current me; same hair and same happy smile as I display a kitty balloon for the camera in my flower-sprigged nightgown.

Only now it’s Hello Kitty and whales and butterflies and seashells and daymoons that spark that pure bliss! (And Chanel.) And the Angels, of course.

I chose this version of Forever Young:

March 8 Isn’t Only About International Women’s Day…

Wishing a very happy International Woman’s Day to all strong, intelligent, talented, and simply wonderful women of this world!

Today is International Women’s Day, but really, EVERY DAY should be a day to celebrate women, to encourage a world where difference is valued and celebrated with all the ways we can forge women’s equality. 

IWD began in New York City on March 8, 1857 when female textile workers marched in protest of unfair working conditions and unequal rights for women. It was one of the first organized strikes by working women, during which they called for a shorter work day and decent wages.

For me, even more important than a single day set aside to commemorate women, March 8 is the day to rejoice in the birth of Angel Boy 2.0 on his eighth solar return.

I don’t know how it happened, but that child I love with all my heart is eight years old today! How is that even possible?

I still think of him as he was learning to walk…

and now running as fast as he can.

He’s an awesome soccer player; obsessed with Minecraft, (no longer Ninjago or even Pokemon), so his presents reflected that: a giant Minecraft Lego set, Minecraft underwear, a Minecraft joke book, and as many Minecraft t-shirts as I could find, all wrapped up in a Minecraft bag with a musical Minecraft birthday card. He doesn’t have any Minecraft video games, I’m happy to report.

Happy eight years around the sun, AB 2.0!

Enchanted Places

“There is a garden in every childhood,
an enchanted place,
where colors are brighter,
the air is softer,
and the morning more fragrant than ever again.”

Quote by Elizabeth Lawrence
Art by Jessie Willcox Smith (1863 – 1935)
Curated from Ravenous Butterflies

Surveying a Joyful Garden

“Beauty is everywhere a welcome guest.” – Goethe

Sometimes we don’t notice the beauty we’re surrounded with until we look with fresh eyes.

I was focused on a major cleanup project in the garden when I finally took a breath and looked up. It was only then that I noticed being surrounded with the joy of color. Everywhere I turned, I was greeted with the wonder of nature.

Blooming calendula…

Felicia amelloides variegata: ‘Variegated Marguerite Blue Daisy’…

“Let us come alive to the splendor that is all around us and see the beauty in ordinary things.” — Thomas Merton

 Yellow Marguerite Daisy…

…and prolific white daisy groundcover…

There’s so much to be grateful for!

Acacia in bloom…

“Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude.” — A.A. Milne

You’re totally right, Piglet!

All photo credit to Enchanted Seashells

Healing with Emotion and Body Code

I thought the first of March would be the perfect day to share a great therapeutic tool I discovered. Via a blogging friend, I was introduced to a healing modality that processes stuck emotions called Emotion Code and Body Code.

Both Codes re-align the physical body and release toxins, imbalances, and other misalignments.

I was lucky enough to be chosen by Intuitive Healing with Janice as a volunteer for three sessions, which meant I needed to learn all about it before the experience.

Janice says, “The technique works to identify and release trapped emotions.”

Emotion and Body Code are the newest, powerful tool in an energy healer’s toolkit. With them, one can identify trapped energies and imbalances in the body, decode them, alchemize (correct) them, and create an environment where the body can use its own intelligence to heal. The practitioner is the facilitator or radio receiver of information which is picked up from the subconscious of the client.

The Body Code method allows us to find imbalances in six key areas―Energies, Circuits and Systems, Toxicity, Nutrition and Lifestyle, Misalignments, and Pathogens―that are the root causes of our physical, mental, and emotional issues.

Intuitive Healing with Janice (she’s lovely, by the way) uses a form of energy work called The Emotion Code, where she helps people and animals literally get rid of their emotional baggage.  The technique works to identify and release trapped emotions; emotional energies from negative past events. Trapped emotions can cause sadness, anxiousness, block happiness, and cause them to feel disconnected from others.

Because trapped emotions are made of energy just like the rest of the body, they exert an influence on the physical tissues and can cause acute soreness and even more serious issues. They can slow down the body’s healing time, make you feel older, fatigued, and break down the body’s organs, glands, joints, and tissues. Releasing trapped emotions make conditions right for the body to heal itself physically, while emotional difficulties often disappear or become much easier to handle.

Often during a session, one might feel sensations such as tingling, tension, and/or emotional releases. The room may even begin to feel brighter. There can be a lightness or weight lifted

The goal is to bring the physical body back to homeostasis. 

Dr. Bradley Nelson, DC (ret.) is the developer of this advanced form of energy medicine. A holistic Chiropractor and Medical Intuitive, Dr. Nelson is one of the world’s foremost experts in the emerging field of Bioenergetic Medicine.

​His bestselling book, The Emotion Code, has been shown to help people all over the world rid themselves of their imbalanced emotional baggage. Many users of The Emotion Code™ technique have reported finding freedom from emotional problems such as sadness, anxiousness, and fear, as well as physical problems including fatigue, discomfort, and disease. A key element of The Emotion Code™ is removing emotional baggage that may be clustered around the heart. Dr. Nelson has coined this cluster of emotions as the “Heart-Wall,” and it has been called “the most important discovery in the history of energy medicine.”

I was fascinated by the process and what was revealed and cleared during my three sessions. Many people describe a feeling of inner peace after a session, as if a weight has been lifted. Others report better sleep, resolution of chronic skin issues, improvement in digestion, and a calmer, happier, positive mood. 

Since I’m always open to learning about and trying mindful tools, whether it’s meditation, conventional therapy, binaural beats, Reiki, or shamanic healing, I’d now recommend emotion and body code to the list. Best of all, Janice can practice this energy work via Zoom so her skills are available no matter where you live.

​Learn more at https://www.intuitivehealing.pro/

What’s Growing in the Garden

Mushrooms!

This is an indication of how much rain we’ve had in Southern California and just how soggy the garden is…and more rain is on the way.

Unidentified fungi appeared in the crevice of a split ficus trunk that was cut down a couple years ago because the roots were starting to come too close to the foundation.

I wanted to keep the stump instead of grinding it because I thought it was architecturally beautiful and now it’s decomposing exactly like I hoped it would.

These mushrooms are definitely not edible, right? They’re most likely poisonous and I’m certainly not going to find out one way or another. I’m not THAT curious or adventurous. Or dumb.

A day later, here’s how they morphed and darkened, plus it’s raining:

Fascinating!

I found a poem by Emily Dickinson about mushrooms…

The Mushroom is the Elf of Plants

The Mushroom is the Elf of Plants –
At Evening, it is not
At Morning, in a Truffled Hut
It stop opon a Spot

As if it tarried always
And yet it’s whole Career
Is shorter than a Snake’s Delay –
And fleeter than a Tare –

’Tis Vegetation’s Juggler –
The Germ of Alibi –
Doth like a Bubble antedate
And like a Bubble, hie –

I feel as if the Grass was pleased
To have it intermit –
This surreptitious Scion
Of Summer’s circumspect.

Had Nature any supple Face
Or could she one contemn –
Had Nature an Apostate –
That Mushroom – it is Him!

Open Portals and a Snow Moon

“The moon, like a flower in heaven’s high bower, With silent delight sits and smiles on the night.”
—William Blake

Today is the opening of the 2/22 activation portal that can guide us into meditative and reflective energies, as well as opening the door to the full Snow Moon on February 24. This Snow Moon is a micromoon, the counterpart to supermoons, as it’ll appear to be about 30% smaller because of its distance from Earth.

I went for a walk yesterday in the late afternoon and was lucky enough to see a daymoon, which is one of my most favorite sights. It already looked pretty full to me as she followed my path, appearing on the right or the left or directly in front, to accompany me home.

Don’t forget to charge some water along with your crystals. It’s the perfect time to practice some restorative hygge, Wrap yourself in a blanket near the fire or with a lit candle and create a cozy and comfortable space. Imagine a protective circle around you, acknowledging the earth and your spirit guides.

Happy Valentine’s Day 🩷

“I’m also just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her.”

Sending love and light on Valentine’s Day with a quote from one of my all time favorite rom-coms, Notting Hill. (Click on the title to see that clip of the film.)

Art credit to https://www.facebook.com/WorldofLovehearts

It’s A Mystery

I have a million seashells, well maybe not actually ONE MILLION, but I have a lot. Some are big, some small; many are so beautiful they’re lovingly displayed on shelves. To me, they’re all enchanted.

During the torrential rain when it was stupidly dangerous to venture out and I was forced to allow my leg to heal, I decided it was the perfect time to dust and rearrange my enchanted treasures.

In the process of relocating one of the seashells, I noticed there was what seemed to be paper stuck deep inside the cavity and that piqued my curiosity.

What was it?

A treasure map? A love note? Jewels?

Tweezers were necessary to extract whatever it was, and when I uncrumpled two pieces of thin yellow paper, I discovered THIS:

It appears to be a receipt from the Chong Hua Hospital pharmacy. It doesn’t say anything else that I can decipher. Google reports that this hospital is located outside of Cebu City in the Philippines.

Crazy, right? From the Philippines? Why was it in a seashell? How did it get there? How did it get HERE?

There was no date, no name, no treasure map, no smuggled diamonds, no love letter.

You can 1000% believe that I’ve peered inside every other seashell around here but they’re all devoid of any surprises.

The mystery remains…

My Soul Mate is a Monster

Sorry for the typo.

I meant to say my Giant Monstera is my soulmate. I certainly should have done a better job of proofreading…my bad.

This guy is the cause of my freak injury. I know I should hate him for it, but he’s so beautiful, especially when backlit by the sun.

I can’t help but love the source of my trauma, my pain.

You can’t really see it in this photo, but the reason why I raced down the stairs in slippery socks (and fell HARD) was to get the Amazon package that contained the moss poles to help my BFF climb to new heights.

When we first met (at Trader Joe’s) and fell in love, he whispered to me that a little support would make him happy. Since I love to oblige, it was an easy request to grant, however, this proclivity of mine set the stage for me to become irrevocably injured.

Deep wounds take a long time to heal, but my love for this Giant Monstera will last forever. Pretty soon I’ll need taller poles and more support because he’s growing and thriving under my care.

Love hurts, but isn’t he gorgeous? My monster(a), my soulmate.

Update on my injury: Stitches came out yesterday (after two weeks) but were replaced by a dozen Steri-strips to help the eight-inch gash finish healing, which it is,  but at a snail's pace, probably because I'm not a very patient patient. I'm a much better caregiver. The recommendation was no strenuous activity for at least two more weeks or it'll open up again and I'll need more stitches and the doc threatened me with an aircast to immobilize my leg. "Threatened" might be a SLIGHT exaggeration, but that's how I interpreted her words...