Clearing the Inbox

I give up. I am going to quietly accept the fact that I will never have an empty inbox again. I deleted over 400 emails in the last 2 days. I have over 400 left. What ever. Enough.

However, my endeavor turned up some very interesting and thought provoking stuff. Like:

You can always tell an old soul, Linda, by how friendly they are to trees.
Very, very --- The Universe

"How can I be more like you?" she asked the guru. And the guru answered: "The best way to be more like me is to be more like you."
--Alan Cohen

You are perfect as you are, and you could use a little work.
Shunryu Suzuki-roshi (1905 - 1971)

Don't be concerned about being disloyal to your pain by being joyous.
--Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan

There is no way to peace. Peace is the way.
--A.J. Muste

I know God promises not to give me more than I can handle. I just wish he didn't trust me so much.---Mother Teresa

And a favorite:

Eye to Eye

I have a private/semi private class on Thursdays. It's a gentle class and most times ends up just being me and one other student. She's an old friend of mine so lots of time we talk the hour away and never actually get to yogaing, cept maybe relaxation. I really enjoy that class. We talk deeply, eye to eye, about how we feel... not just how we are.

I was thinking this morning how important that is. Most conversations in our busy life consist of

"hi, how are you?"
"fine"
"good, see ya!"

Sometimes we go into a run down of things happening in our lives, like an event calendar.

"well, we did this and little johnny did that and hubby has this going on...."

While searching in our purse for our keys. But I am lucky. Yoga, whether you do it or not, seems to bring about intimacy. There's just something about the sacredness of people breathing, really breathing together. The shared experiences during meditation. Even if you don't talk about what you experienced, there's a joining that occurs when all are focused on their energy, their breath, their spirit....Relaxing. After yoga, many times, no one leaves. They chatter, they commune and you hear words like "feel", "emotion", and words that describe feeling emotions. The more the students gather regularly, the more they talk. Before and after class. Sometimes it becomes hard to get them to start doing yoga.... LOL

My private/semi private student calls this mental yoga. I am so blessed that most of my friendships are with people who take some time to breathe now and again. My conversations tend to be a bit deeper with these people, we make eye contact, we let our shoulders down, we relate, sometimes we even allow quiet pauses and just sit together.... Mmmmm. One of the best things about a Restorative Yoga Day is the quietness within a group of people, eye contact and a smile says so much more than...

"well, we did this and little johnny did that and hubby......."

Can't wait for tomorrow! Ahhhh, realness. It's a beautiful thing.

Hope

Wow. Last night was incredible. At midnight, my son raises a glass of wine to toast a new beginning... to Hope. Rhia was on the live web cam celebrating, Barry & I, weeping, praying for healing and daring to dream.

I grew up on a street where my family and one other were the only "white" people. All of my friends were African American. We played together everyday. I never saw color. My mom and dad would probably be considered racist because they used politically incorrect words now and then but they never thought they were better than anyone else on the street. We were all just people. When my children were born, it was my fondest wish that they experience the same lack of color bias.... which was not to be.

In the last 10 years in my town there has been tremendous racial tension. My town has the reputation of whites being elitists who do not want "that element" in their schools. Us "white" folk are becoming the minority and there are quite a few "black" folk who are militant in their views that "they" will show "us." Our schools are battlefields, children acting out their parents emotions. It's been very sad. And shocking to me. I've had a really hard time feeling that I have been attacked and accused of feelings I didn't know I had.

In this election, once again, I didn't see color. I was a Hillary supporter because I love intelligence and contrary to many, I really like the Clintons. I think Bill Clinton was one of the greatest presidents we've ever had. I do not base my opinion of others on who they sleep with. When Hillary wasn't elected, I began to look into Barack Obama. After watching the debates and reading some of his speeches I was delighted to find the same principles that made me like the Clintons; intelligence, fairness, honoring life and realizing that power is not always about who has the bigger army... that negotiation and working with the rest of the world would be the best example of "power". Like Jesus, I believe that fighting is not the answer. Peace.... is always the answer.

Last night I wept. I was stunned at the depth of emotion. It hadn't occurred to me how important this was to African Americans until I was walking up to vote yesterday. Until my son came home from voting with tears in his eyes saying how he hoped this would make the African Americans realize that we are with them.... to heal this racial division and stop all the ugliness. To get rid of the idea that Americans don't care about the rest of the world, to eliminate the impression created after 9/11 that Americans are out to bomb and kill anyone that stands in their way no matter what the United Nations say. We were terrified all day that somehow, someway the election would be rigged and the American people would once again have to suck it up and deal when our vote didn't matter.

Change. Hope. I hadn't dared to dream.

The look in the eyes of the hundreds and thousands out in the streets, celebrating, weeping and hugging one another, regardless of race, leads me to believe I was not alone in my fears. And my joy.

While we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism and doubt and those who tell us we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people:

Yes We Can.

Barack Obama
President-Elect of the United States of America

Celestine Prayer Project

On November 4, 2008, the United States will engage in what is undoubtedly an historic election.

Our experience over the last year tells us overwhelmingly that Prayer Works. We have prayerfully visualized that rogue nations such as North Korea and Iran act to become a part of the world community, and both have moved to comply with UN mandates. We have prayed for the Iraq war to move toward peace, and by all measures that is occurring. We have prayed that hurricanes would diminish in destructive force and have been blessed to see the winds decrease.

Now, all day tomorrow, November 4, help us prayerfully envision this election being one of the most efficient and fair and fully exercised of any in this nation's history. Beginning early in the morning, let's join together, connect with the one God of Love, and see all involved in this election exercise their rights without complication, and after the choice is made, see the country come together in unity to chart a course of progress that will resolve its many problems and reach its greatest potential.

Let's hold this image in our minds all day...until competion.

Feel the connection!

Saving Daylight

Ahhh. The clocks went back. I feel better. I've been feeling really poorly lately but now it's better.

November. Already. Or finally, depending on your perspective.

Vote.

And if you need help making your decision.... well, I guess we all know who I'd advise you to vote for. I'm a big fan of intelligence, compassion and hope. Vote your heart. Or your gut.

Have you seen the pictures of my daughter lately? Who is that? Wow.

My stuff at Fabian House is actually selling. Isn't that amazing? Had lunch there Friday... I really like the owners. So sweet.

Went to St. Michael's yesterday. Apparently the shop owners there haven't been keeping up with the newspapers. Or maybe they just read the style section.... Did you know that at St. Michael's they sell EXACTLY the same thing that I make? Only theirs is $45 more.... The male outfits were entertaining though. LOL

Been helping out some friends with Reiki who were having trouble breathing. Today it's me. How strange.

Vote. And then come to yoga and let it go.... What will be, will be. Que Sara, Que Sara... Hey, where Doris Day?

Enjoy the beauty all around you today... take a drive down old 450-- it's gorgeous!