Simply Authentic...Your Soul Voice is Calling. The Power of Words and Thoughts

The Power of Words and Thoughts

From www.tut.com (Mike Dooley)

You know, Laura, a kind word can move mountains and change lives.  But for those times when they’ve escaped you, when the right thing wasn’t said, or the time wasn’t right to say it, kind thoughts can do the same.

And better, thoughts have a way of lingering, seeking, and finding their intended beneficiary, unfettered by time and space. So it’s never too late to think ‘em, nor are you ever too far away.

Just a little something a tree once told me.

The Universe

Authentically Yours,

Laura

Simply Authentic...Your Soul Voice is Calling. Messages from Dream Time

Messages from Dream Time

Everyone dreams, but some people (those who say they don’t dream) don’t remember them. This is my understanding from personal experience, reading and talking with others. Since dreams are messages from the flowing unconscious – when our minds shut down and our bodies are resting – I’m interested in understanding dreams more fully.

I have a rich dream life, typically remembering at least one dream every morning. I have dreamt about (celebrities) having popcorn with Kurt Russell and a bunch of other people while watching a movie, sitting on a couch that curled like the late 1960’s. Having a sleepover with Julia Roberts at Oprah’s place with a pillow fight while jumping on the bed.  Having an amazing jump off the end of a dock into water where Tom Cruise guided me through a bunch of various sea debris along the side of a high cliff with trees on the top.

I have dreamt about (water) being on massive ship-like structures and other things that seemed like water park slides in the most unlikely of places. In my dreams at times I was high, high above the water and there were things (other boats, structures, debris) – below, in the water – that seemed scary to me and I didn’t want to jump.

I dream about sex like everybody; recently I dreamed I had a penis in each hand, and I don’t think I even knew who the two belonged to. In another my fiancé and I were having sex on an ornate bench with a richly colored cushion, under covers, in this elaborate ancient hotel-like setting with lots of balconies and open areas. Other people were probably having sex on their own ornate benches with richly colored cushions, under covers, but we were all into what we were doing and didn’t really notice.

I have dreamt about not being able to sleep over and over, although not in months now. Those were consistently some of my most agitating dreams—dreaming that I couldn’t sleep while I was clearly sleeping because I was dreaming! Almost always, there was a close family member (or an ex-family member from my marriage before I was divorced) in those dreams. They were almost always in a house with many rooms – which I kept going into to see if I could sleep there – and varied outside settings, sometimes…on water.

I have THE COMPLETE BOOK OF DREAMS: Julia & Derek Parker, which has been helpful in trying to understand the messages from my dreams.

A couple years ago a colleague loaned me a book I loved so much I later ordered a copy for myself. WHERE PEOPLE FLY and WATER RUNS UPHILL: USING DREAMS TO TAP THE WISDOM OF THE UNCONSCIOUS –Jeremy Taylor. Mr. Taylor worked with individuals and groups for over 20 years before he wrote this book…including even bringing dream work into San Quinton prison where the internal lives (these guys were not getting out) of the prisoners were changed dramatically.

Creating a dream circle is on my bucket list. (So is spending two weeks in Tuscany, becoming fluent in Spanish, actually utilizing the mediator certification I received about two years ago, etc. So I don’t know exactly when it will happen.)

What I do know is our dreams are messages from the Divine unconscious mind. By more fully receiving them and acting on these messages, we will come even closer to our richest, authentic inner nature.

Authentically Yours,

Laura

Simply Authentic...Your Soul Voice is Calling. Killer Chili

A Killer Batch of Chili

I’m not sure how the word ‘killer’ came to mean something wonderful (super-cool, kick-ass, awesome) while it also means someone who decided to take the life of another. Hmmm. Doesn’t look like Urban Dictionary will be helping me with this.

Another phrase I find myself using lately is SO good. I said this at Taco Bell not long ago. At breakfast at Miller’s Homestead Restaurant. And then when I made this killer dinner of browned and baked chicken breasts, garlic mashed potatoes with parsley, and cucumber salad with onions and dressing of light sugar, white wine vinegar and plenty of freshly ground lovely pepper corn blend. SO gooooood. Oh Lordy, so good.

I authentically love to cook. (Baking not so much.) Cooking feeds not just my stomach, but my heart.

We were pretty much snowed in that weekend (Portland tends to shut down with three inches of snow – and this was much more than that, plus freezing rain.) The morning after that scrumptious chicken dinner, I found myself imagining what else was in the freezer, frig and pantry, so that we could have something different and also spread out the leftovers.

I remembered this package of ground beef in the freezer and the idea of chili came to me. I mentioned it to George. He was way on board and asked about corn bread. We were in business right there.

George pulled the beef package and five jalapenos we had frozen from our garden last year out of the freezer, as he brought us generous cups of coffee.

With the ground beef and jalapenos thawed, I began the cooking process early evening, gave George the taste-tester job, and he suggested some killer seasonings I hadn’t used before.  A big huge YUM all the way around!

This is your Killer Chili! Use these (and/or other) ingredients in amounts to your taste:

Ground beef, cooked and drained

Salt & pepper

Finely diced garlic

Chopped onion

Chopped jalapeno peppers (if frozen whole and thawed, use a scissors to cut)

Chili seasoning packet

Can diced tomatoes

Can Rotel tomato chili sauce

Hot pepper sauce

Cumin

Dark chocolate (thin squares)

Celery seed

Oregano

Basil

Red pepper (ground cayenne)

Mustard, dry, ground

Canned beans, drained (we had on hand one can red kidney and one can white beans)

Mix all ingredients together, heat to bubbling, reduce heat and simmer until desired consistency and flavor.

(George’s original version includes cooked bacon, sliced and browned hot beer sausage, bay leaf, cilantro and crushed black olives.)

Serve with grated cheese, and consider crushing some green olives to put on top along with the cheese. I loved the green olive. Killer.

Authentically Yours,

Laura