Milkweed

photo courtesy of Babs Young, Eastport, Michigan

I have a friend who is an amazing photographer. She took this photo of the beautiful and mysterious milkweed plant and I wanted to share it with you. These wondrous plants grow in abundance where I live and I see them every day as I take my walk. I see them as they sprout up in the spring and grow and produce green pods that look full of life but then they just sit there for the longest time. Then, after the fall is well on its way, the pods dry out, turn brown and then BURST open releasing hundreds of seeds propelled on the wind by their little plumes of fluff. Like dandelions, the fluff gets scattered far and wide allowing the seeds to land all over the meadows and fields to begin a new life as they burrow into the ground, hibernating through the winter waiting for the warm wet weather of spring or summer so they can grow again.

But when they seem to be "just sitting there", they are providing lots of food for insects like bees and butterflies. In fact, the Monarch butterfly lays its eggs on this plant, the caterpillar makes his chrysalis on this plant, and the butterfly is born on this plant! Its Latin genus is named after the Greek god of healing, Aesclepius and indeed many folk cures are made from it.

It really is such a wonderful plant and is a great one to meditate on. How is this plant like we are? What has to crack open in us to release our seeds of new growth? Can we be as patient as this marvel of the plant kingdom waiting to mature and burst forth with our ideas, creativity, gifts? Where are you as it relates to the cycle of the milkweed?

Home Again

Finally home after a long time away. It is always so good to come back home. When I was younger I could hardly wait to travel, but now that I have the time to do so, I don't have the desire! Why is life so backwards? When we needed the space in our home for three growing boys and assorted animals, we couldn't afford to have a big home. When we could finally afford a bigger house, it was time to downsize. When I was young and thin I couldn't afford to buy clothes. By the time I could afford to get some new things, it wasn't fun to shop for old lady clothes. It is one of those paradoxes of life I guess!

Anyway, here we are, home again and settling back into our routine. If you could go anywhere, where would it be? For me, it would be here, at home, but it wasn't always the case. I had dreams of going many places and I did get to go to many, many places all over the world. So tell me your dreams...where would you go? Or what would you like to do? I love to hear about your lives....I love the sharing. So share away!

Woodsy Path

Story time again! This time the photo is this beautiful path through the woods....but WAIT! What is on the other side? And where did the road come from? Ah, it is YOUR TURN to write a tale about this road...is the road well traveled or the road less traveled .... or WHAT!

Something to do while I am leading the Feng Shui Institute International conference this week in Marco Island Florida. I'll be back online mid November! Everyone who writes a story will be entered into a drawing for a deck of Simply Color cards! Take a peek at them at http://www.lifepotentials.net/color/colorcards.php

Ta-Ta and have fun writing!

The Colors of Fall

I am always inspired by the colors that are predominant in each season of the year. I imagine the angels of color intend for that to be the case!

What are the colors of fall? Well, where I live here are the predominant colors:

Red, Gold, Orange, Yellow, Green, Tan/Wheat/Brown, Purple/Magenta/Deep Crimson.

This year all the colors are quite muted due to all the rain we have had here. Some years the fall colors are totally brilliant, but this year they are more muted and so beautiful in that understated way true beauty is.

So what do these colors want to tell us? Their main messages follow:

Red: Tells us that energy from the earth is available to us any time we wish. That red is energy and passion and courage. That it is luscious life force.

Gold: Tells us that we have a treasure within the core of us. It tells us that we have a deep knowing within that we can trust. It tells us that we are worth something and we are valuable.

Orange: Tells us that bliss is available for all of us. It tells us that our boundaries need to be in place for a truly successful relationship. It brings us creativity and joy.

Yellow: Tells us happiness is at hand. It helps with finding clarity and focus in any situation. It helps us assimilate knowledge and experiences.

Green: Tells us that nature is one of our best allies. That our heart center is the center from which we should be living. That our path can be clear to us if we have faith and trust.

Tan/Wheat/Brown: Tells us that friendship is important. It helps us connect to the earth and helps us stabilize. It can help us feel safe.

Purple/Magenta/Deep Crimson: They tell us that the Spirit is all around us. They bring us closer to a spiritual reality in our daily lives. They activate the higher mind consciousness and connect us to our spiritual centers.

I give thanks to the Creator for all the fabulous colors in our lives. And I love that fall brings us such a vibrant color palette to enjoy! Which colors in this palette resonate for you?

For more about color please see my website www.lifepotentials.net or my book, Simply Color, available on my website and on Amazon.com.

Divine Dominos

I've been reading a wonderful book for all you animal lovers out there: The Language of Miracles by Amelia Kinkade. She is a writer who can impart profound knowledge about communicating with animals in a very interesting and often funny way!

Anyway, I came upon this passage and I thought it juicy enough to quote. Enjoy!

"Still, Dr. (Edgar) Mitchell's argument is thought provoking: When humans and animals get caught up in the karma and energy of each other's fields, they form what is called a 'quantum entanglement'. A term of similar meaning in psychology is 'family constellation'. I like this image: you have your own personal solar system, meaning that you, your human loved ones, and your animals revolve around each other and affect each other with thoughts and actions. There's a certain sense of gravity and magnetism that holds your behavioral patterns in place. When one person or animal in the system heals or changes his behavior, it alters the dynamics of the entire constellation. (italics mine) That's why the idea of healing yourself is so important. If your spiritual and emotional growth can impact everyone on your pathway, eventually we can heal the world, one by one, by initiating a cascading catalyst like divine dominos tumbling all over the world. 'Love, love, love, love, love...' Wouldn't that be nice?" page 84

Imagine if in our quest to heal ourselves we could spread this healing to our loved ones, and out even further. I know this to be true because I've experienced it. So hang in there with your own path of healing. It makes a difference not only to you, but to all of us around you!

An Evening Walk

I went for a lovely stroll last night just as the sun was about to set. I took these photos with my cell phone so they aren't the greatest but I am hoping you will enjoy them anyway. Sunday blessings to all.....

Landlocked Salmon...they are about 24"


Tree Fungus

Yellow Maple

Leaves on the street

A Money Plant

Detach from the Outcome

photo from the book, Simply Color

As feng shui practitioners we work to bring in desired changes in our clients’ lives. Most people are looking for help with relationships, money issues, career paths, or health. Other issues do come up of course but those seem to be the ones that become the main issues in people’s lives.

However, change, no matter how much it is desired, sometimes comes in a package we do not like. I know of a woman who had a feng shui consultation and after the changes were made, her boyfriend broke up with her. She was devastated until she met the love of her life a few weeks later and realized her first boyfriend was lacking several qualities she was seeking.

Then there was the client who had been married several years and asked for help with the stagnant relationship. She was not happy when several weeks after she implemented recommended changes, her husband moved out. However, they both decided to work on the relationship and sooner than later, he moved back in and they had a second wedding!

Or how about the woman who owned a failing restaurant and came to her feng shui pratitioner asking for help? When her restaurant failed soon thereafter for good, she was furious. But what happened is that loosing her restaurant freed her up to move on to what she REALLY wanted to do: sing opera. And that is what happened.

There are countless tales of people who are seeking change and yet when it comes they do not trust what they get. The package is not what they think they want. They get angry. They may be hurt, or disappointed and certainly dismayed. And quite often they may lash out at the feng shui practitioner.

The point is, when change comes, it is hard sometimes not to question the result. The Tao or the Buddha or the Dali Llama would teach us that we are to detach from the outcome and enlarge our thinking to include the possibility that getting what we DON’T want might be the gift. As in the example above, the woman lost her boyfriend but found the love of her life. The restauranteur lost her restaurant but literally found her voice. The couple lost each other only to return to love together in a whole new form.

Change. It is constant. Sometimes we get what we want, sometimes we don’t. Can you think of a time in your life when what you didn’t get what you wanted turned into a blessing?