PART 4 GOOD LUCK? BAD LUCK? GRATITUDE

It seems appropriate, this being the week of Thanksgiving, to pause and look at life from perhaps another set of eyes. Seeing things from another angle… a new perspective can turn what appears to be Bad Luck into Good Luck!

First and foremost, we need to let go of control! Scary huh! But once we can let go of how we think things should be and say yes to how they are, then we are free to live in a state of gratitude. And when we can be in gratitude… for everything... we begin to live life filled with passion and joy.

Secondly, if we can stay living in the moment, there can be nothing but gratitude because we have no expectations and no regrets and so it is easy to be grateful for everything… just how it shows up. We can begin to turn what could be perceived as Bad Luck into Good Luck! It's all a matter of perspective.

I'm grateful for YOU!

WE PLAN AND GOD LAUGHS

I just watched the old movie, Evan Almighty. Evan, a newly elected congressman, wants to change the world and he has his own ideas how that's going to happen. When Evan tells God of his plans, God just laughs. 

This newest leg of my adventurous life was for a month in a lovely home in my old stomping grounds, Nevada City, CA.

I knew that I was leaving here, unless a job or housesitting opportunity presented itself. Not having the security of a place to return to, I spent the first week in depression (not trusting)....what's going to happen next. 

I talked with an astrological friend who said that things may not open up for me until Nov 27, the end of a Mercury Retrograde. While I don't get too caught in living my life by what's happening in the sky, I find it interesting to note.

The next few weeks, I was able to settle down and enjoying each moment, breathing through each panty-twist and enjoying my time here, while doing a tad of marketing for my work and visiting old friends.  Well, at least until a friend and neighbor to the house that I'm staying out announced that the owners were coming home on Tuesday! Yeah, this Tuesday, four days from now Tuesday! It was only two days different than what I had thought, but you would have thought they were talking about a month! 

Since nothing has seemed to open up for me and my not actually having any real plans, I decided to leave Tuesday afternoon and head back south, stopping in Oakland.

As soon as I let go of how I thought things should be, later that evening a friend called and told me that she had met an interesting lady who needed help with moving and possibly housesitting. I contacted the lady and she wants to meet on Tuesday, Nov 27 (After mercury retrograde. It's not good to start new projects during this time.) Of course! The day I was planning to leave!  Self-Care note: I told her that I needed to come and see exactly what she was talking about before Tuesday. My old self would have just agreed with her request. 

I meet with her today and my prayer is that it will be really clear if this is a job that is mine. I'll keep you posted:)  Happy Sunday! 

GRATITUDE SOMETIMES NOT SO EASY

As we near Thanksgiving our culture tells us that it is a day to spend with family and friends and to give thanks. Our religions tell us to give thanks everyday. But what happens on the days that there doesn't seem anything to be grateful for. I know, of course, you can always find something. 

I believe that everything happens in Divine Order, so even when things don't go as planned, I think it's to free up space for stuffed feelings and emotions to rise for healing and that something else is on the horizon that is BETTER! However, that doesn't negate the fact that some things feel, well for a lack of a better word, sucky in life.

I just helped one of my daughters move into her her studio in Oakland, a place she loves, a place that feels like home to her. (She went to college there.) Oakland, like all cities has good areas, not so good areas and up and coming areas, meaning people are moving into the not so good areas, buying and fixing the houses and claiming back life-giving space. The whole day that we were moving, she kept telling me not to leave anything in my car.

As you can imagine, making a decision to move and then doing it can leave a person wondering if they did the right thing, especially when the neighbors blared their music the entire first night! The next morning she went to grab a cup of coffee from the neighborhood shop and within five minutes her window was smashed and her backpack and computer were taken.

These are the times when it's difficult to find the blessings and things to be grateful for. 

With the people that I counsel, one of my issues with finding the silver lining in the clouds, (positive thinking) is that while it is absolutely imperative, (in its time) many times we gloss over the feelings that arise when the not so fun things happen. We just stuff them down, creating space for dis-ease to fester. 

These feelings are a gift. (There, there's something to be thankful for!) We have to feel what we're feeling. We have to talk about, analyze and see what other deep feelings and emotions space has been created for them to surface. Then, once that has happened and we've been truly able to let go and forgive, (A hint: it's mostly about forgiving ourselves.) then we can come to a place of real gratitude and thanksgiving. 

This is a beautiful short youtube you may enjoy. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXDMoiEkyuQ&sns=em

I am thankful that YOU are in my life!  

THANKSGIVING, IT TAKES A VILLAGE! WHY DO IT? LOVE

What in the world possessed me to make a community turkey dinner here in Tubac, AZ? Oh, yeah, I remember...It was to be a money making event that was to provide a place for people who had no family and wanted to spend time in a lovely environment. The menu was to be a smaller/healthier version of the traditional Thanksgiving Menu. What I was offering was something like this...an Organic Free Range Turkey, roasted garlic potatoes, root vegetable sauteed medley, salad and homemade pie.

What in the heck happened? Only 3 people registered and so I began inviting my friends and with that, something clicked in my brain and the old paradigm, the old model of how Thanksgiving should look quickly came over me! While there were lovely new dishes that everyone loved, the same old traditional dishes were there as well!

I shopped, prepared and cooked for days....By the time Wednesday evening came around, I looked at the 27lb turkey sitting on the counter and announced to my daughter, I’m going to bed! I’m not cooking that turkey! Feeling sorry for the situation I had gotten myself into she offered to help. She said, just tell me what to do. She began making the apple/pecan stuffing and somehow that gave me enough strength to continue. We stuffed our bird and put him in the oven to bake through the night. I woke up at 3AM to the smell of yummy turkey!

I did go to yoga in the morning and then, like many people across America, I worked non-stop until 6PM. Everyone was happy to chip-in, making gravy, whipping cream and cleaning up. I couldn’t have done it without everyone!

Why did I do it....We had the meal at The Floating Stone Inn & Aqua Spa and the owner did a little ceremony with the fire, asking everyone to take a piece of kindling and quickly add them, one by one to the fire, symbolizing the collective energy that we were about to share together and silently reflecting on the things that we were grateful for in our lives. From an elderly Mexican man to 2 young vibrant children and everything in between we were a diverse group.

When I saw and felt the love and gratitude that everyone brought...I knew why I had done it! It was because of LOVE! As many of us sat in the healing hot waters of the spa when all was done the conversation was “This was the best Thanksgiving I ever had!”

It was different/non-traditional but full of wonder, excitement and sharing.
I’m trusting that your Thanksgiving was lovely as well. This is a youtube clip that I loved, maybe you will too! Thank you for being a part of my life! I love you... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXDMoiEkyuQ