ETL 2016 Summer of Hope Tour - Vision Quest Begins

Friday was my first day off from work. I had a good talking to myself, "Pati, you're going to have to make something happen if you want to go on this tour." Just then a local morning talk show was on the television and I decided to email them and they had an opening on Wednesday.

That won't work! I had plans to leave on Saturday. Another good talking with myself with a reminder that a vision quest is simply about following the flow of energy. And so I changed my itinerary and will be leaving right after my interview on The Morning Blend, Tucson, AZ, on Wednesday, June 29, 2016. (If we can get a link, we'll post it on our website.)

Wednesday, June 29    The Morning Blend Line-UP… Look!!! We're on it!!!! 

--Outdoor Living At It's Best With Danny Lipford
--Humane Society Of Southern Arizona
--Evolve To Live
--Summer Style and Skin Health Cheat Sheet
--New Hope For Cancer Patients
--Wheeler Dealers
--Duel Volleyball Club
--Arizona Highways Magazine

Watch for my progress on Facebook and invite me to visit you when I'm in your area!

ON THE ROAD AGAIN!!  See ya soon! Pati

TIME FOR PAUSING….PERSONAL VISION QUESTING

Recently, I've accompanied two clients on vision quests, and had my own personal one recently as well.

A Vision Quest is simply a time that one pauses and watches for all the signs of support from spirit.

Vision Quests happen for different reasons but basically, one just takes time away from the normal mundane challenges of everyday life.

If you're feeling stuck, if you're job is boring or you just feel like you need a change, a vision quest maybe the answer.

Take some time just for you! However that looks, from an hour to a day of reflection, road trip or vacation! Just be sure to watch for signs of support from spirit. What animals do you notice? What numbers are you seeing? Words on signs or in songs that are playing, forms you see in the clouds or trees. Take a minute to jot them down for further reflection later.  You'll begin to see where you need to make changes in your life. Simply an attitude adjustment or perhaps a physical change.  HAPPY QUESTING.

Mercury Retrograde (Communication Planet)

"For the next few weeks you could feel like you're driving backward in a swamp without a rear view mirror after a few shots of tequila." Simone Butler states in her most recent blog.   http://astroalchemy.com/driving-backward-in-a-swamp-2-22-13/ 

Mercury Retrograde officially began at 1:41 this morning, however you may have been feeling its effects for the past week. 

I have a friend on a vision quest (perfect timing...spiritual support) and he's coming up with the craziest experiences, so crazy, you'd think they're made up, but not so! (Mercury Retrograde - magnifying our vulnerabilities and fantasies, but also bringing deep insights through our intuition and dreams! ) 

He's learning to stay awake and conscious on his journey. He's a 75 year old male. In the beginning of his trip he was getting picked up by hookers (LOL) and his journey last night took him to a bikers bar! When asked if he voted for Obama by a biker chick and he said yes, he was advised to leave quickly...which he did, (without any emotions attached)....something he possibly wouldn't have done a week ago! Nice job G! 

The muck that's being stirred up in our lives is a gift for us to see what's lurking in the bottom of the pond in our life. Where are we holding in our bodies past hurts that are now being exposed, allowing healing on a deeper level. 

Let it happen. Stay present and breathe....deep slow breathing, all that matters is the breath! 

Don't let fears and frustrations rule this next phase of your life. Practice Clear-Direct, Communication in every moment and let your imagination imagination use the stirred up muck as fertilizer for new creative projects!! Happy Creating! 

VISION QUEST IS LIKE A BOX OF CHOCOLATES, YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT YOU’RE GOING TO GET!

I’m in Salt Lake City and heading back to over 100 degree temperatures tonight. I thought it was interesting that my confirmation number begins with GPS...GPSX7B.

Again, I haven’t had any vacations for quite awhile. These trips are vision quests. As Forrest Gump puts it," Life (Vision Quest) is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get.” An important part of Vision Questing is not only taking time during the time away, but also after, to check in with myself. It’s important for me to take time for reflection to see how far I’ve come and where I still need to heal and where the refinement of skills are still needed on my personal journey.

The questions I’m asking myself. How did I do on this trip? Where was reaction and resistance emerging? Where was the brat running the show? Did I allow the wise parents to rise up and love her? Did I allow the wise parents to reassure her in her panty twists, that everything was going to be ok, that they had her back? Where did I still loose myself? As a friend recently put it, “I don’t want to inflict myself on anyone. (Definitely still a place for healing, codependency still alive and well.) Who inside me still needs outside approval, wants to fit in and who am I still seeking acceptance from? Where did I give away my power? Where did I live unconsciously, reverting back to old patterns and habits?

Conversely, I also need to remember how I was supported and rejuvenated. How from the very beginning the trip went smoothly. (When I arrived in Oakland, the billboards and angel numbers were amazing.)

Where had I grown and where had I stretched myself? Where was I joyful, full of love and light? Where had I allowed fun and excitement to enter into my soul?

By my answering the call of the Yuba, (through resistance) gave me a sense of replenishment, just by being in its energy. (The water was too high and too swift for swimming. Something very unusual for this time of year.) By driving in my daughter’s new red VW Eos (The Greek Goddess of the Dawn) convertible the cobwebs were cleared from my head. And riding a horse and just being around the baby horse helped me to regain a new zeal for live once again.

After having dinner at a mexican restaurant, I had a new vision for a property that I have my eye on in Tubac. And as my shaman friend pointed out, having several opportunities to work in Tubac, that Arizona is calling me back, just in this moment. So from Salt Lake City, I’m on the road again! Happy Summer!

OPINIONS

Opinions are like assholes, everyone’s got one. We sometimes forget the fact that people and their opinions are very small in the bigger scheme of things. We act as though they are as big as the ocean and yet they are simply a drop of water in the ocean. When you see it on a scale like that, the opinion of another hardly matters.

At times in our lives, especially when we dare to live outside the lines that have been drawn for us by our society, we’re going to hear the opinions of others, if we’ve asked for them or not.

I decided to look up the word opinion. 1. a belief or judgment that rests on grounds insufficient to produce complete certainty.
2. a personal view, attitude, or appraisal. Doesn’t sound like an opinion has much value does it.

When we have the courage to follow our gut instincts and know that it is time for a walkabout or vision quest in our lives; a yearning to discover who we are, deep within our souls, it can be confusing to others who don’t understand or have the courage to say Yes to the unknown.

It is then that we simply have to stand in our knowing that the path that we’ve chosen will be in complete and full alignment with the cycles of our life and the journey that our soul is on. Trusting that we will be fully supported by God knowing that we are cradled in the Universal Flow of love and energy.

It is great to listen to the experiences that another has to share, that’s part of the learning process. However, the only opinion that matters is YOURS!

BECOME INDEPENDENT OF THE GOOD OPINION OF OTHER PEOPLE!
Happy Trails!

PERCEPTIONS

Once again, people’s different perceptions comes into my awareness. We all have our own ideas of words, places and things.

For example: Recently I was driving to Las Vegas to move some furniture and transfer cars. However, whenever I told anyone that I was going to Las Vegas, well, you can imagine the comments! Most of them were of hooping it up, gambling, drinking, shows and “Whatever happens in Las Vegas, stays in Las Vegas...kind of attitude!” Even the man at the gas station only 2 hrs from Las Vegas, made such comments. Now the reality was that we were moving furniture, cleaning and organizing. Not quite the same picture is it.

The same was true about my recent Vision Quest, in Switzerland/Ireland. It was thought of by most as a vacation. It was definitely not! It takes conscious awareness, staying present in every moment, to move through a walkabout. Just to mention that I was there for St. Patrick’s Day brought up many different, Mardi Gras, like comments. It’s not how it was for me at all, but that was the general thought that most others had of my trip in general. Living in the moment, I was in regular panty twists, where am I going, how am I going to get there, where will I be staying, missing at times, the familiarity of where I had just left.

I thought back to a job a couple of years ago. I had told the owner that I was computer literate. I was from my viewpoint. I could do most anything that I needed to and what I couldn’t figure out, I would ask. Several months into the job, it was brought to my attention that I had possibly fabricated a bit about my computer expertise. I listened to the concerns. I thought about it and realized that I was computer literate from my experience. However, this was a younger woman, an electronic wiz, I was used to a PC, we were using Apples, and so to her, it looked like I didn’t know anything, to me, it felt like someone had put a demon in the computer. Things were just enough different that I felt like I didn’t know anything.

BACK IN THE USA

I just arrived back from my Vision Questing Tour in Switzerland/Ireland. While there are many fun and positive things that came from my experience away, there were as many learning opportunities, aka, panty twists:-) as well!

But for now, I’ll just share a few highlights from a recent conversation that I had with a friend. I was asked, what stood out most in my mind from my recent travels. (Some I have already shared.) Driving for 2 weeks on ‘the other’ side of the street is always a bit tricky to begin with, however, my last trip from Kerry to Dublin, I felt like a pro, having learned to navigate the roundabouts once again. Coming back to the states, is always a bit of a challenge, driving on ‘the other side’ of the road again! It takes a conscious effort on my part.

I met a woman on the plane, who had never volunteered at the St Patrick’s Day Parade in Dublin, except for this year, and she got me a ‘job’ for the day that was remarkable. I could have been given a myriad of tasks and yet, I had the duty of walking dignitaries to their seats in the Grand Stand, walking right down the middle of the parade route where over 500,000 people awaited the beginning of the parade. (I pretended they had all come to see me:-)!)

I met a man on the plane from Switzerland, when he reached into his pocket and handed me his fountain pen when i was given a customs form to fill out. He said if I made it back to Dublin to give him a call and he would take me to lunch. I did make it back to Dublin and it took a lot of courage to call him. He picked me up at my hotel, had called ahead to a lovely restaurant, to see if they were open and made reservations. We began with a pint, starter, lunch, cocktail, dessert, all taking about 3 hours. We had a lovely conversation and then he dropped me to my next place by the sea for the evening. It was a great way to experience how I wish to be treated.

I drove for 1 week around the island with my friend and we experienced seaweed baths in Sligo, toured the Guinness Storehouse, toured the Bushmills Whiskey factory,saw the Great Causeway, drove through the Burren and saw some amazing countryside. My favorite memory was at the beginning of our trip when we saw a herd of sheep climbing a hill with a sheep dog nearby. Upon closer observation, there was a farmer carrying a 50 lb sack of feed on his back, they were following him. There were many baby lambs by the end of our trip lying in the fields while their moms were eating.

Even though we were in ‘Northern Ireland,’ a place people from the south are not crazy about going to, everyone was lovely to us. I later learned the history of the dispute between two areas.

I spent a few days in Dingle, with a major geo-temple, Shamanic Astrologer. We created ceremony around the equinox, for healing and peace for the world. We drove to the Burren and had an incredible hike in a very sacred space. It appeared to me to be the dessert of Ireland.

I spent several days with another friend and his family, finishing some organization from a previous house remodel and a couple of nights in very old castle like accommodations.

I flew back to Chicago with 4 seats all to myself. I had simply asked as I checked in, if there were any seats available with no one sitting next to them. The attendant said, yes, if I wanted to sit in the middle rows. She gave me an isle seat and blocked the one next to me. I didn’t know this was possible and so I’m sharing this information with you. I am currently in freezing Chicago helping to move one of my daughters back to the west coast.

Thanks for sharing my trip with me. it was fun to be away and it’s good to be home.

WHY GO ON A VISION QUEST

You may ask yourself, why does she go...when it's not so easy. We'll, I guess for me, the opportunity comes and I have the courage to say yes.
Vision Questing is full of adventure and surprises, however, there are as many, if not more parts of being in the unkown, trusting, being taken out of your comfort zone, having to think in a new way and paying attention to who God puts in your path. I have been on this Vision Quest track for awhile. My first trip to Swiss and Ireland happened in 2005. I am more confident and secure, knowing that I'm being watched over every minute, even when it doesn't feel like it.In fact, my Irish professor friend just emailed to see if I needed help getting to Killarney when I arrive back to Ireland. I was happy to report that this time, instead of crying in his office, I was taking the bus to the train and even making a connection. Now guaranteed, it is NOT going to be that easy, coyote medinine (the trickster) is always along to keep things intersting.
On these vision quest journeys, while it would be easier for me to stay in one place, it is not the longing of my heart. Everyone is not called to be a gypsy. In fact, I'll be growing a few shallow roots when I return to the states. I had set in my intentions to have a lovely place to live and work when I return from this trip and this is what they...God, the Universe...The Powers that Be...sent me. I have the great pleasure to be house sitting for a beautiful home in Tubac, AZ. You can see it online, www.judimonday.com, it's under Tubac, $600,000. You're invited to come for a visit, relax,vision quest. See ya in Ireland....

SIDE NOTE - VISION QUESTING, ANXIETY!!

Just as an added little side note, Vision Questing doesn’t come without its issues. I’m in need of constant support from many different sources and on many different levels, physically, emotionally and spiritually.

For some it may appear a bit intriguing, however, I know for others, they can’t think of anything less interesting!

While I am certain that I was to leave the security of where I had been living for the past 3 months and the doors opened for a trip to Ireland, now that the time is getting closer I find myself in one of my panty twists.

Where am I going? Where in the friggin’ hell am I going? What am I going to do for a full month? Where am I staying? I keep thinking of different excuses not to go. My daughter needs me to horse sit; help her move...the Uncle of a friend of mine could use me to help him when he gets out of the hospital and I’m sure I can think up a couple of more distractions! I think the Universe is pretty tricky, as my ticket is non-refundable!

What make it extra difficult is traveling alone. My first trip to Ireland, Switzerland and Spain, revealed to me, that while I was physically alone, I was never truly alone. There was always support on a spiritual level. But dang it.....sometimes you just need God with skin on!

I called my shaman (support person). “This trip is like getting your PHD. You’re going for refinement in what you’ve been getting training in the past 10 years. You’re ready for this! Just feel into to the unsettled feelings and breathe, see who inside still needs reassurance and love.”

With that, I’ll go back on my retreat here in Chicago and try to stay in the moment, trusting things will unfold as they will...

Learning to Be 10 Again!

Trying to consciously move into the second half of life my traveling companion and I have taken on the philosophy of "What would a 10 year old do?" followed by "Lets do that! We found ourselves on the freeway, driving by Indianapolis. I began a ten year old protest..."I think we should take the scooter off the back of the motorhome and drive downtown." My friend was apprehensive as this is her maiden voyage with her new RV and downtown seemed a bit scary to her. We have totally different view points about living. We're both making the shift into the second half of life but I've been at it a bit longer. I have a lasso around her waist, not pulling her unwillingly, but just as a guide so that she can find me.

Well, we did stop and drove through the city, with the wind blowing in our hair, sun and smiles on our faces... we were rejuvenated.

Imagine, being rejuvenated by playing!

We then spent 2 nights at a KOA camp in Indiana, where we stayed in bed (more like a teen :-) but it worked, we read and wrote. Then cleaned and did laundry, (definitely not like a ten year old, however necessary :-P ) then we swam and laid around and read and ate.

Later, after everything, we were very tired so I took a nap :-[ ( more like an old person or... baby) then had a beer, chips and salsa (certainly not like a ten year old, well, at least the beer part!)

Our first "fun" food of the trip, as we've been trying to not eat like a ten year old but like fat ladies who need to loose weight!) Wait, wait, let's reframe that last sentence, We've been trying to eat like we're people who care about how their bodies are working!

Next we saw a sign for a hayride, then totally forgot about it until the old 1920 tractor came to our door to pick us up! We came back and took a hike through the woods, and then watched an outdoor movie complete with lightning bugs! (A blast from our past, as we both spent time in the Midwest as children!) We walked back to the motorhome to try to learn Itunes on the computer. (Very unlike a ten year old, as they we born knowing it!)

Trying to learn to stop and smell the roses makes me tired! So we went to bed which was made. OK well so we haven't totally mastered being ten again...hey, but it's a journey! Happy Playing!

Swimming with the Dolphin - Spiritual Support Abounds!

THE DOLPHIN

My friend and I had been talking about swimming with the Dolphin in Hawaii for a long time, while I never really felt a strong heart pull to do it, however, it intrigued me and so I said, nonchalantly “Well, let’s go!” and with in the year we had found an extreme bargain, booked the flight and put thought of Hawaii on the back burner of living.…well, that is until one day she called me to said the airline we had booked our tickets with filed for bankruptcy, but her husband had found another airline but within 2 days they had also closed their doors. The tickets on the remaining airlines were going up steadily and our $400 ticket was now going to cost us nearly $800! Whoaaa baby!
I took some time and did some meditation wondering if we were supposed to go just now…if felt like, yes, this is the time. Well then, somebody better help get a reasonable price and there it was, with one push of the button on the computer there it was a ticket for only $12 more than the original ticket. Dolphin, here we come!
My friend has time shares in Hawaii and so had been there many times swimming with the dolphins. She had such a pull to swim with them that after one of our 3 hour swims, she decided to go back in and I put her on a “time out”…she’d follow those boys anywhere!
Our first swim with the dolphin was on a commercial boat. Only 7 other people and by ½ way through the swim only ½ of us got back in the water so it was very cool. While that was the only time we were with a group, I was very grateful for the experience of swimming in the ocean for the first time in many years with “professionals” around. I loved that I was able to recapture my diving skills. But from then on – we headed out on our won, in search of the dolphin. We swam with them several more times but it was our last swim that was intense and a very powerful, spiritual experience.
We had rented the movie, “The Eye of the Dolphin.” At the end the message…we can connect with dolphins spiritually…we just have to learn to listen.”
The day before our last swim we were headed for a remote beach that wasn’t well known. We had several diversions that kept us from making that particular beach that day. We started the day started out needing gas but neither of us had brought any money. To go back to town wasn’t an option as the traffic was stop and go going back to town, so we went to a closer beach we had swam with the dolphin before. On our way back into town is when we picked up Brett. Later after dropping Brett off…a car accident. No one was hurt, just a little diversion a diversion that later proved to have been orchestrated for our surprise party the following day.
Next day, full tank of gas, wallets in the car we head out, our last day to swim with the dolphins we find our way down the windy hilly reminding me of the little beach towns we used to visit in Mexico. Little homes built on the hill side as well as along the edge of the sea. We find the place the tour book spoke of…a little church at the end of the road.
We gather our masks and fins and towels and look around. Now which way? The sea on one side, homes on the other side of this lava covered path, with several forks…a young man comes along…”stay to the left” he offers advice to us.
We stay to the left, uneven lava makes us cautious on the trail. Still wondering if it’s the correct path, we plug away, hoping across rocks to help with crossing in front of a cement wall that holds the sea back from a private camping area.
There it is just ahead in the clearing a beautiful coconut grove with a curved black sandy beach engulfing the bay. We’re the only ones there….my friend cries out like it’s Christmas morning and she just discovered Santa had arrived, “There they are!” Indeed, there they were. We hurriedly put out things down and put on our mask, snorkel and fins and we begin what ended up as a three hour private swim, alone with our friends,our soul comrades; the dolphin. A couple of people came at different times for a bit, but basically we were all alone.
While it is absolutely their pattern to come into the bay to rest in the day, two dolphin absolutely, intentionally pulled away from the pod and swan with us specifically. They were so close we could have reached out and touched them, but following the “rules” which are no touching the sea life, we just sent them love and gratitude for being with us.
They feed at night and in the morning come to the bay to rest by shutting off half their brain and closing one eye, staying close together, gliding back and forth, resting. Now and then several would break away and play for a bit, but quickly returning to the pod. They also like to play the leaf game. You take a large leaf into the water and drop it in front of them and they pick it up, swim with it and drop it back in front of you. It’s absolutely amazing.
My one regret, a lady coming into the water said she saw a shark, I was on my way out of the water and hurried up the process, not liking to touch the bottom, swam with my head above the water as I didn’t want to see him. Later, reading in the guide book, on hammer head shark lives in the bay and is completely harmless. I’m sorry I let the fear of another penetrate me.
It had been 3 hours of swimming with the dolphin and they were becoming more melancholy, and I decided I too needed a rest. I climbed out and lay on the towel; covering with another as not to get too much sun. Finally my friend joins me. I lie with my head on one of the packs; she resting her back on my legs. I commented, “It totally feels like an “after glow” experience, maybe like after a orgasm, just resting in the bliss, the calm and peacefulness.
I added, “The only thing that would make this better is water.” After 3 hours of swimming in salt water, a swig of water would have been grand and we had left ours back at the car.
With that comment I noticed to the left behind the coconut trees, clouds forming, too early for the common afternoon showers. The wind kicked up blowing through the coconut trees and the sound of the rustling leaves of the trees was magnificent. Steadily the clouds began to glide towards us and little droplets of rain gently fell upon us. I said it was like angel kisses. I wasn’t smart enough to tilt my head back and open my mouth, but I was present enough to totally appreciate that they were indeed kisses from the angels.
I began to watch the clouds move slowly past, like watching a movie; they parted and the sun peeked through and I noticed the face of a wolf. What else played out in the clouds, 6 dolphins,(joy) turtle,(navigator) butterfly (transformation) kissing the silhouette of a face. (In Native American Spiritual Tradition the animals have meanings which I put in parenthesis.)
I sat up and began to write. “Oh my gosh! I know exactly what this is! This is an Initiation – for both of us!” I had been planning a ceremony for my friend – a Rite of Passage, but this was for both of us. I say to my friend “We are being initiated here!” She too began to watch the clouds forming into shapes that had meaning for her.
The winds calmed, the dolphin had disappeared but made one last appearance to say goodbye. We acknowledged and sent them love and gratitude.
My friend asked me to read to her what I had written. As I began to read from my notes the wind stirs and the trees begin to blow once again – for me, a confirmation that I we were right; We had been initiated!
Next to our towels was a beautiful branch with coconut buds on it – symbolism of course. I had noticed it, but it was my friend who picked up. I said she should take it home, but when she decided not to, I took it as a reminder of this most spiritual experience.
The next day, before we left, my friend was returning from one last attempt to see the dolphin, when a favorite song of hers came on the radio. It was so meaningful for her she couldn’t turn it off; it was “I’ll Always Remember You.” She came back in of course with her thinking she would always remember the dolphin and yet, I took it as the dolphin saying, “They’ll always remember us!”
I believe that they too had as much of a spiritual experience as we did. While I tell the story from a factual viewpoint, it wasn’t until a week later traveling down south that I integrated it into my heart…by being.
I was listening to a Garth Brooks song and I began to replay it over and over again…”It was you.” It was about my experience with the dolphins. I knew it on a soul level and the tears began to roll down my cheeks. “It was you, it was your heart that shined guiding my heart to find, this place where I belong…you reached into my heart and you found the melody and if there every was somebody who made me believe in me, it was you…it was your voice that gave me wings, (flash back to the sounds they made underwater) …with God’s great angels like you”…Next I noticed a license plate with the whale tale on it with the letters AQ ANGEL – for me aqua angel….The Dolphin! I looked down several times and saw a small jumping dolphin on my left wrist with the Evolve to Live symbol behind it. A constant reminder that I’m not alone in this venture, that I am supported and held in highest regard by all that lives.
Trying to start a business to help people in transition, I believe it is the dolphins who are the cheerleaders, whose energy is opening the channels for Evolve to Live to be born. I applied for a credit card (something I had been declined from for the past 5 years) and I was sent one in the amount of $2,000 and the front of the card… a dolphin, which I had selected from a variety of choices. It was astounding to me.
My boys had brought back a dolphin key ring for me from Mexico. Then this last miracle…I had put on my first Evolve to Live Seminar and only 2 paid people attended. While I took my time sitting on the pity pot, I walked to the end of the pier in Huntington Beach and there he was, a lone dolphin swimming at the end of the pier. He made my heart sing, and for me, the message was “Don’t give up on Evolve to Live.
My friend who accompanied me to Hawaii has a heart to save the dolphins and after our first swim, she got out of the water and very calmly said, “I have to do something about them getting caught in the fishing nets.” It was so calm and clear that I knew it was a “knowing” not something she had come up with out of desperation to help. I told her, that maybe her campaign would be something that would manifest itself through Evolve to Live, maybe something as simple as a petition to be circulated at seminars or a blurb on the Evolve to Live website. It seemed to be simple but will make a big impact on how our friends are treated.

Next: The miracle of the manta ray's.....