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

Simply Authentic...Your Soul Voice is Calling. Asking for Help

Asking for Help

I did something radical.

I hired a professional organizer.

This may not be a departure for you, but – trust me – it was for me.

See, the thing is, I’m a pretty darned good organizer myself.

I’m not going to change the oil in my car. I pay someone to do that. I have no desire to mend my coats when something rips – they do that at the dry cleaners. But organizing, I can and will do. At least once I helped a friend get organized for moving when she was feeling utterly overwhelmed.

It’s just I saw this post from a colleague on Facebook that said half off organizing services – regular price $40 per hour, now $20. And I immediately thought of my spare room. I had been “meaning” to get to that right after the new year…after the Christmas tree was taken down, the wrapping paper and ribbons were put away, the boxes I didn’t use to ship holiday packages were broken down and recycled, etc.

Everything had been piling up in the spare room – where friends sleep when they come to stay overnight. It had gotten to the point I had jars and cans of food on the bookshelves, a crock pot, blender and other kitchen items in there (there isn’t a lot of storage space in my kitchen), corners were jammed with stuff… It just felt icky in there.

And here comes this Facebook post. So I jumped on it.

For exactly $40, two hours of Pauline’s time, my spare room was completely transformed. She found room in closets and the kitchen I didn’t know was there, and when she was done, the spare room looked pretty instead of just functional. It feels great now, or as my fiancé worded it, “The energy has completely changed.”

I have asked friends for help decorating and moving before, and I have also given it.

This just happens to be the first time I have paid someone to do something I could very well have done myself.

It was worth it.

Authentically Yours,

Laura

Simply Authentic...Your Soul Voice is Calling. Time after Time

Time after Time

I don’t know about you, but I seem to have an issue with time. I think I never have enough. There is so much I want to do, and not enough time to do it.

As you can imagine, boredom is not a word I use or can relate to. Yet I often find myself looking at the clock, thinking I have to do M, N and O before P happens. Which just makes me feel stressed and…guess what? Often late! This is so much horseshit I have been feeding my brain.

When engaged in an activity that sings to your heart, there is no sense of time. It naturally unfolds.

I knew this when I was a little girl!

The answer is: I have all the time in the world. In this moment.

The question is: How do I want to spend it?

Authentically Yours,

Laura

Simply Authentic...Your Soul Voice is Calling. Being Visible

Being Visible

It is only by risking ourselves from one hour to another that we live at all. –William James

Living through enough, we all come to this understanding, though it is difficult to accept: No matter what path we choose to honor, there will always be conflict to negotiate. If we choose to avoid all conflict with others, we will eventually breed a poisonous conflict within ourselves. Likewise, if we manage to attend our inner lives, who we are will – sooner or later – create some discord with those who would rather have us be something else. – Mark Nepo, A BOOK OF AWAKENING; January 17: The Friction of Being Visible

Learn how to say no. The art of saying no with grace and ease is one of the most important skills you can ever develop. The beauty of midlife is that you’ve now paid your dues and have had enough life experience to know what is likely to drain you and what will replenish you. In her groundbreaking book THE ART OF EXTREME SELF-CARE (Hay House, 2009), my colleague Cheryl Richardson writes, “Funny, but after years of practicing Extreme Self-Care, I’ve realized something ironic: if you want to live an authentic, meaningful life, you need to master the art of disappointing and upsetting others, hurting feelings, and living with the reality that some people just won’t like you. It may not be easy, but it’s essential if you want your life to reflect your deepest desires, values, and needs.” I couldn’t agree more. Which is why I loved the chapter in her book entitled “Let Me Disappoint You”! – Christiane Northrup, THE WISDOM OF MENOPAUSE

Being visible in the world as your authentic self may not always be easy. But who at the end of life will say, “I wish I had changed myself more to try and make others happy”?

It wouldn’t work anyway.

Authentically Yours,

Laura

Simply Authentic...Your Soul Voice is Calling. Mental Rehearsal

Mental Rehearsal is Powerful

Great golfers and surgeons go over their game, their surgical procedures, in the mind ahead of time.

I do the same thing when I am in a play or preparing for a performance.

What mental tape are you playing right now? Are you preparing for what you want?

            From YOUR BEST LIFE YET by Joel Osteen:

Osteen tells the story of a little girl named Tara Holland who grew up with a dream of becoming Miss America. When she entered the Miss Florida pageant in 1994, she became the first runner-up. She tried again the following year and again was first runner-up. Tara moved to Kansas after that and in 1997 became Miss Kansas and was crowned Miss America that same year.

            As Osteen writes, this former Miss America could have easily given up. Instead, she chose to rent hundreds of pageant videos and watch them multiple times, always seeing herself in the experience of receiving the crown and walking down the runway wearing it. “Another reporter asked her if she was nervous walking down the runway in front of millions of people watching on television and with the announcer singing the famous Miss America song. Tara’s response was interesting. ‘No, I wasn’t nervous at all,’ she said. ‘You see, I had walked down that runway thousands of times before.’”

Authentically Yours,  

Laura