The Extinction of Unexpected Couples? or How Online Dating is Going to Ruin the Fun for the Rest of Us.

Recently, a friend reached out to me with a brilliant idea, she was going to set me up on a blind date with a friend of hers that she thought I would hit it off with. I've never been on a blind date so I thought, what the heck, why not? I've been pretending to online date for the past few years, and I say pretend because I go back and forth between actually following up and putting my energy into it. Which, I get, defeats the purpose, but I can only get so excited about so many people and send them enlightened, enchanting messages, only to never hear back from them all the while receiving messages from the douche bag who leads with, "Want to fuck?" for so long.

Its disheartening, so I immediately jumped at the idea of getting set up by a friend who knows me, knows who I am, what I like and presumably knows the guy she has in mind for me and thought, hey, they'd make a cute couple.

My girl texted me and said, "Can I give your info to my friend?" to which I replied, "Of course." "Great, sending it now," she said.

I never heard from the guy. Naturally, I asked my friend what happened. And she said, "Oh, he only dates Asian girls." and since I am most definitely not Asian, I didn't even get the chance to meet him.

Fine, I don't NEED to waste my time on a guy who does not want to date me from the get-go, but I had an epiphany after this happened. If this, order exactly what you want, down to height, hair color, ethnicity, online dating continues, we are going to see the Unexpected, "Really, THEY'RE together", kind of couples go extinct.

I may not be Asian, but WHAT IF, the two of us met, sparks flew and we found the love of our lives in an unexpected place? He'd spend the rest of our relationship looking at me, thinking, "Wow. Who woulda thunk it?" And maybe people who knew him would think, "Whoa, I thought he only dated Asian girls, how weird that he would fall for a white girl." (Which boggles the mind on a whole other level, because when do we get to start falling in love with people's souls instead of their packaging? But that's a whole other rant.) And perhaps I would be thinking, "I never thought I'd fall for a guy who's shorter than me, but WOW, just being next to him excites me, challenges me, inspires me. . . it doesn't make sense, but it does."

No one understood Mila Kunis dating McCauley Culkin for so long, but something about it worked!

Online dating may be expanding our dating pool by giving us access to people we'd maybe never come across, but its also limiting our ideas about what is possible. I've met many guys from Online dating and it is amazing how many times I've been VERY into someone via text and email but the second we got in the same room, face to face and felt one another's energy we were like, Holy cow, this is not going to work and WHY did I send him those racy pics? And vice- versa, walked into a room, made eye contact with a complete stranger, felt that spark, that pull, the magnetism and the knowing that somehow they were going to be a significant part of my life, even though had I come across them online I'd have swiped left.

Open your minds, open your hearts, get your head out of your computer and be OPEN to the unknown, that, my friends is when life gets FUN!

A Poem I wrote today.

A Lesson

   Together we found destiny  
   Together we destroyed love  
   Together we knew deep connection  
   Together  we held one another back  
   It's not supposed to happen like this  
   The knowing, trust and guidance should show  
   That no matter where we are in life  
   A true connection between us remains.  

   So, how to move forward and know its right  
   With other lovers, joys and pains?  
   To release a destiny we've always known  
   Learning lessons that are vital to truth  
   Understanding that what's meant to be is  
   And accepting true heartache as the norm   
   There will always be a mourning inside  
  As I release you, you release me  

To fully experience life.

~ Creating a Vision ~

This blog originally appeared as a guest blog on http://psychiceveryday.com for Kris Cahill!

Creating A Vision

The idea of creating a vision always seemed like an impossible challenge. Meditating. The mere practice of breathing and imagining my life as I envisioned it seemed nearly impossible. Impossible and Staggering and Stifling, definitely all of the things that meditating is NOT supposed to be.

If I were to envision myself meditating it would play out like a scene in a movie.

Fade In

INT : Elizabeth’s lovely apartment

Elizabeth sits in the middle of the floor on a cozy pillow with a single candle lit in front of her.  She has her legs crossed like every good meditating student does with her hands facing upward on her thighs.

She takes a deep breath, and another one. She adjusts her position on the pillow. She takes a determined deep breath.

                                                ELIZABETH

                        You can do this. It’s easy. Just breathe. Focus.

Elizabeth takes another deep breath. A few minutes pass. Slowly Elizabeth opens one eye, and then scrunches them both shut again.  Letting out a frustrated sigh.

                                                ELIZABETH

                        Maybe if I lay down. Ya. That seems like a great idea.

                        Let’s try that. Good call. Much more relaxed.

Elizabeth lies flat on the ground, shifting a little, back and forth. She finally seems to relax. A few minutes pass and we suddenly hear a loud snore. She’s asleep.

END SCENE

You get the idea? I’ve made meditating and being able to create a vision in my head so important in the past that I’ve actually talked myself OUT of doing it. Who needs meditation if it’s so stressful? Isn’t meditation supposed to actually relax you?

Still, the subject of meditation kept coming up in my life. I’ve learned that if something continually makes an appearance in my life it’s probably something that I should be reading, studying, paying attention to, etc.  I decided that I would take one of Kris’s Grounding meditation workshops and it was through Kris that I discovered my secret to creating a vision!

Creating a Vision MUST BE FUN! When Kris first introduced the idea of a grounding cord going from my first chakra to the center of the earth to me she gave me a vital piece of information that I was missing. She told me that I could envision the grounding cord as any color, any material, and any shape that I liked! It could be red, shiny sequins, or a brilliant, blue waterfall, a strong, beaming, stream of light. It didn’t matter what it was, as long as it was fun and it made me laugh.

As long as it is fun and makes you laugh. This one simple suggestion has cracked open an entire world for me. Which, when I think about it, makes sense. I LOVE to laugh. It is my number one favorite thing to do on the planet. Well, maybe kissing is number one, but laughing and making people laugh run a very close second.

With Kris’s piece of advice I moved into her Psychic Meditation Workshop and soon discovered that I could visualize a rose to put all of my stresses into, watch it turn brown and die and then delight in blowing it up! Sending all of that energy and stress back where it came from was so freeing!

Being clairvoyant and seeing visions or symbols as guidance was a whole different beast. Even though I had now found freedom in meditation, which I began to think of as daydreaming; what’s more fun daydreaming or meditating?  Daydreaming, hands down.  I suddenly found myself sitting in silence with a massive smile on my face as I imagined my wedding, or arriving on set everyday for the television show that I’m a series regular on. Once I started to open up my own psychic gifts and make an attempt at clairvoyance I thought for sure that I would not be able to do it. I was in no way, shape or form a clairvoyant. 

I didn’t realize that clairvoyance has such a broad definition to it. The term clairvoyance (from 17th century French with clair meaning "clear" and voyance meaning "vision") is used to refer to the ability to gain information about an object, person, location or physical event through means other than the known human senses. I know that this seems like a standard definition, but another amazing teacher I stumbled upon helped me to expand my understanding of it. This January I found myself in a Psychic Mediumship Development Class taught by Marilyn Alauria, one of the best Psychic Mediums out there, and it was through her class that I realized I was already clairvoyant.

I have for the past 6 months or so, consistently looked at the clock at 2:22, 3:33, 4:44, etc. Marilyn stressed to us that seeing repeating numbers, specific words, or a specific animal over and over again are also considered a form of clairvoyance. It’s having the wherewithal to recognize the signs and being able to interpret them that makes you a practicing clairvoyant.

As class progressed with Marilyn we were introduced to our guides. I instantly thought, there’s no way I will be able to recognize my guides, let alone be able to talk to them. Just then, Marilyn said the magic words, “It doesn’t matter if it’s actually your guides or your imagination. Run with it, run with anything you get and before long you will see that you are actually being given a guide instead of making one up.”  The freedom to have fun, the freedom to play and the freedom to imagine is all it takes to connect to your own clairvoyance.  I chose in that moment to just run with it and when a sprite like little guide appeared at my feet I thought, hmmm, that’s funny, why not? This particular guide doesn’t really make an appearance any more, so its definitely possible that he was one that I imagined. The point is, is that it doesn’t matter. If we can get back to our sense of play, vivid imaginations and getting lost in daydreams we will all be able to create the most incredible visions for our lives. The greatest thing about this is that whether we see quick results or not, we will want to keep doing it simply for the fun and the escape that it provides.

I was also introduced to my “higher self” through a meditation in Marilyn’s class. I don’t think that I would have had such a strong image or knowing of my higher self without the permission to play. When I think about what a “higher self” is supposed to be I instantly get images of Gandhi, Buddha, Jesus, or someone like Mother Theresa.  My higher self is ridiculous. She’s funny, beautiful and creative. A heightened version of myself . . . or a higher one, ahhhh, now “higher self” makes SO much more sense. Just kidding.

In the meditation, Marilyn led us to a house where our higher selves lived. She asked us to walk up to the porch and climb the stairs to the front door. My higher self was standing behind the screen door of this lovely, Craftsman like house, waiting excitedly for me. She was about to open the door to greet me when Marilyn said, “Walk through the house to the sunroom where your higher self is waiting for you.” My higher self suddenly exclaimed, “Oh!” and turned and ran to the sunroom. Once I arrived there, she was sitting in a chair with her back turned to me, I entered, and she turned dramatically towards me. Such a ham!!! Since that meditation I’ve begun to call upon my higher self a lot for guidance and understanding. She never disappoints.

I know that you’re reading this thinking, “But couldn’t that still be your imagination?” I would agree with you, except for the fact that she now appears to me when I’m not trying to connect with her. For instance, I was at Cardio Barre, an intense workout that I love, but is really, really hard. One day I was feeling particularly weak and down on myself, not sure if I could continue. I suddenly had a vision of my higher self. She was dressed in a 1980’s style, insanely high cut leotard with tights, leg warmers and full on headband taming the wild hair. She was probably working out to a Jane Fonda video, but whatever it was, she was really into it, having a great time and encouraging me to do the same. I think I may have even laughed out loud in class, which always goes over extremely well in the middle of a class workout, no one looks crazier than when you’re laughing out loud doing a brutal workout. Who cares? It got me out of my momentary funk and I was able to kick ass during the class! Man, I love that crazier, higher self of mine. Her flair for the dramatic is off the charts!

Whether you’re trying to tap into your clairvoyance, struggling to meditate, visualizing the life you want or simply daydreaming, I urge you to allow fun into your practice.  If anything, it will brighten your day; give you a much needed laugh and brighter smile. My guess is it will also give you a clearer vision of your own life. Clarity is key. Happy Daydreaming!

You can reach Kris Cahill at http://psychiceveryday.com or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kris-Cahill-Psychic

and you can reach Marilyn at www.moonridgespirit.com

A Loss that's Too Painful to Fathom; Until it Happens. Shattering Our World as we Know it.

It has been a rough start to the New Year. My family has suffered an immense loss. My cousin Kai, a funny, light, bright, sensitive, amazing person passed away on 1-3-2011. He had been sick with flu like symptoms for a few weeks and a severe infection took over his lungs. He went into cardiac arrest on 1-1-11 and while they got his heart to beat again, he never returned to this life.

Kai was funny, ridiculously funny, with such an incredible love for life. He lived everyday with such amusement and joy. He loved to make people laugh, to be outside, to spend time with his family, and to just be ridiculous.  He was capable of an immense amount of love for all who came into his life. While Kai came into my family as a "step", his father married my Aunt, he and his sister, Jen, quickly became more than "Step" members of our family! The bond they formed with their "Step-Siblings" Liberty and Hunter, is stronger than most blood siblings I know. 

What is it that makes losing someone so young harder than losing a person who has lived a long life? Not that losing a Grandparent or someone who is in their 80's is any easier, its just that you're almost, subconsciously ready for it, or prepared that someday soon they may be gone from your life. When the rug is ripped out from under you and suddenly your 37 year old cousin is gone, words can't describe the loss and sadness. The wondering? The questions? The WHY Kai? Why did he have to leave us?

Its hard but, I trust that he has a higher plan, that it was Kai's will to leave this planet and shine his bright light somewhere else. That he is needed somewhere else. I trust that there will always be a part of him that will live in my heart and the hearts of every life he touched. I know that my soul will encounter his again in another life, a different place, a new time.

 As we've gone through this loss as a family, we are reminded that life is short, and its so important to truly connect with those you love and to tell them everyday just how important they are to you.

I would ask that right now, you take a moment and let the people in your life who are important to you know not just HOW much you love them, but WHY. What is it that they bring into your life? If I could talk to Kai again I would let him know how much joy and laughter and love he brought into my life every time I saw him. How important he was to me. I hope he knew that.

Don't let death remind you that its important to tell people you love them, that every moment you live your life, you should be IN the present moment, Hyper -aware of who you are connecting with, not texting, checking out or wishing you were somewhere else. There is no replacement for the love of family and friends. Our lives would be meaningless and frivolous without other souls to travel through life with, experience emotions, and connect with.

Go LIVE your life.
Go LAUGH out loud.
Go PLAY in nature.
Go SHARE your gifts with others.
Go CHERISH every relationship you have.

Otherwise, Kai is going to be pissed. I for one, do NOT need to be haunted by a playful spirit who I am sure has ALREADY figured out some crazy ways to haunt us. ; )

Publishing this blog at 11:11. Fitting.

Love.

Shattering Honest Connection, Real Feelings and Male/ Female Friendships.

A crush is a powerful thing. Your crush remains powerful until it becomes known. When you see someone that sparks that spark and ignites that hope, there's not much you can do to destroy the image of them that intrigued you in the first place. It usually only starts to die or erode the more that you actually interact with them. I personally LOVE crushes. I LOVE the excitement of meeting someone new and dancing around them with a spark of interest and laughter. I say dance because that is how it feels when this magic happens; like your energy is dancing around one another.

I have crushes ALL the time. Sometimes they last a moment, sometimes they last years, sometimes a few days,  but they all pan out differently. I have been working on living a year of honest connection and doing my best to connect truthfully with everyone that I come into contact with. It has been an interesting journey so far, but sometimes it creates confusion amongst myself, and the person I'm connecting with. Think about this, when was the last time that you actually looked someone in the eyes? I ask, because I have noticed that there are an alarmingly SMALL amount of people that will actually look you in the eyes when you talk to them. I was one of those people, and I had no idea, until I realized, that I could not tell you the color of my best friends eyes. How was that possible? I live with Megan, we work together, we hang out together, spend a lot of time together, yet I couldn't tell you what color EYES she had? I was shocked. I thought, wow, this is a serious problem. From that point on, I vowed that I would know what color of eyes all of my friends have. I took it one step deeper and embarked on a journey of growth that is ongoing (obviously) as it always should be, and it has now evolved into connecting on a deeper level with everyone I interact with.

Here lies the issue: People do not connect on a regular basis, face to face, or voice to voice even. A lot of time is spent connecting via Facebook or texting,  and I.M.ing, that its almost as if we have forgotten how to connect with each other if its not in digital form. I try to go through my days now making eye contact,  sending them my energy and being open to receive others energy and what they're all about.

It has been an interesting experiment. They get confused. I get confused. Why? Well, I meet someone, look them in their eyes, they make eye contact back and that dance of energy starts to happen, but because we're so unfamiliar with such a connected exchange, people misinterpret its meaning.  Suddenly he thinks I'm interested, or I think he's interested. We have an interesting conversation and connect on a deeper level, I think wow, this guy is awesome, I could date him, and then he mentions his live in girlfriend, wife, etc. Make sense? So, my question is; is it just that we used to know how to play this game and dance this dance with one another and we've simply forgotten? Because when we connect in this manner as opposed to crafting a well written text, FB message, online dating profile, etc, we have the time to craft it with a perfect amount of wit and charm, with the safety of deleting things we are unsure of?? Limiting and deleting the delicious flaws and flubs that make all of us so beautifully human?

Is this an ability that we have lost or simply a new skill that we are cultivating? Its fair to say that most relationships in the 50's and 60's were lacking a deep, emotional connection. (Of course there are exceptions, my grandparents being one of them). A lot of people found their husbands or wives within a five mile radius to the home they grew up in. Today, it is entirely feasible to meet the love of your life within the confines of your own home, even though they live across the world in Singapore. The world has gotten bigger and more accessible, all the while making it feel smaller and smaller. I often think about what my life would be like had our world remained small and limited. Would I have found a boy in my hometown that I settled down with and raised a happy family?! Maybe? Or perhaps all of the past generations and their struggles to define relationships and break out of traditional molds have led us to this exact place?

Which leads me to my next question. Can men and women simply just be friends? I've had multiple conversations about the differences between men and women. Since the dawn of existence men were designed to spread their seed and keep the human race alive, while women were built to nurture and mother, take care of the human race. Is it so embedded in our bodies from past lives and experiences that we are unable to overcome our cave man tendencies? Or is this a convenient excuse?

Someone said to me recently that in every man/ woman friendship there lies different degrees of sexual attraction. I would like to think that I am adult enough to be able to control my attraction to someone that is unavailable or in a relationship. And I will say that so far, I have been.  There have been studies about the science of attraction and proof that levels of desire and chemistry vary within different partnerships. That the more time you spend with a partner with that high level of chemistry the stronger it gets. Does chemistry have the ability to override judgment, morals and ethics in solid, trustworthy, reliable people? I can't say that this is something I've ever experienced. There were boys in college that were in a relationship that I enjoyed getting attention from, but it wasn't a chemical thing. Back then it was an insecurity issue, and having myself validated through their attention.

One thing is for certain, human beings are complex, complicated people who have to be able to function in ever changing and challenging environments. I LOVE IT. I love the ride and the experience of showing up and being 100% present in every moment and every connection. I don't know that there are answers to all of my questions, but I'd rather buckle up and swerve through this little obstacle course we call life than sit in the driver seat terrified to turn the key in the ignition.

Get out there and shatter that facade of connection you carry with you. Confuse yourself. Confuse them. Let's dance. 

Shattering the Unknown, Scary, and Mysterious "Feelings".

A beloved member of my family posted this on Facebook, "Is it possible to describe feelings? If so, how do you learn?" 


Which got me thinking, how do you describe feelings? How can you eloquently describe the pain, happiness, loss, freedom or bliss that you feel inside? There are plenty of descriptive words in the English language, but do any of them actually describe what it FEELS like or what you're GOING through?  What is a feeling?


The dictionary definition of feeling is: 
1. An emotional state or reaction 
      --feelings, the emotional side of someones character: emotional responses or tendency to respond.


SEE NOTE AT EMOTION  . . . which is . . .
A feeling can be almost any subjective reaction or state; pleasant or unpleasant, strong or mild, positive or negative, that is characterized by an emotional response. 


An emotion is a very intense feeling, which often involves a physical as well as a mental response, and implies outward expression or agitation.


So, order to feel one must emote and in order to emote, one must be in touch with their feelings. There has been a lot of exploration in my world about this precise subject lately. I have been in an acting class since January and one of my biggest challenges has been reconnecting with my emotions and allowing myself to truly experience the way I FEEL. I don't know or remember WHY I learned to push my emotions down and in, instead of letting them come up and out. I DO remember that when my Grandpa died I made a conscious choice to remain "the rock" and the "strong one". I remember being at the funeral and barely crying at all, including through my Grandma's rendition of "Wind Beneath My Wings" which she SANG at the services to the love of her life, the wind beneath her wings. EMOTIONAL is an understatement. BUT, at the age of 14 I didn't let myself walk through it. I did eventually break down months, maybe even a year later, at youth group, finally allowing that feeling to rock my body and soul and release in true emotion. 


I was in a relationship about 18 months ago, the first "real" relationship I have had in my short life. And before you get angry, Bateman, I mean "real" in terms of length of time and the fact that we lived together, met one another's families, etc. Not whether or not our feelings were real, or the connection real. . . there it is again, that word, feelings. How do you have feelings for someone? Can you adequately describe what love is, loneliness? I'm getting ahead of myself though, rewind, back to the relationship. We had a great relationship, it was fun and exciting and full of lots of adventures. We both knew from the beginning that we didn't want the same things out of life, i.e., I wanted kids, he didn't. BUT we were having so much fun that we just kind of kept brushing things under the rug, we can deal with that dust and grime later, for now, WINE TASTING! Yippee. What I learned is that if you're brushing issues under the rug, chances are that your feelings are also getting shoved back under there as well. No matter how much you love someone, or share with them, if you know deep under that rug that they don't want to experience life with you, fully, in the way that you want to, you can start to resent them and your feelers get hurt. It doesn't even matter if you can logically understand in your brain that it is not personal, they just don't want that, its not that they don't want you, they just don't want that. Your little, or big, heart will ache and hurt and bleed (which in reality is good, because it means its still working) ; ) and in order to continue having fun and moving forward, we shove our feelings back under the rug too. 


The problem lies in coming out of it, realizing that you haven't allowed yourself to feel the sadness, loneliness and pain that comes from ending a relationship, a friendship, a connection, a love. I could blame my lack of emoting on my former Lovah, but that wouldn't be honest, nor reality. Because, in truth, no one can DO anything to us. It is all a choice. We are the only ones who can dictate any part of our life. If someone has "done" anything to us, it is because we allowed them to. It's just easier to point the finger at someone else and say, why would you hurt me in that manner, than it is to look at ourselves in the mirror and say Why would YOU hurt YOU in that manner? Yikes. That is intense. Writing that sentence made me feel like I kicked myself in the stomach.  Nothing that my ex and I experienced was "wrong, or improper, or anyone's fault" It was simply the journey that we had to go on, and continue to go on everyday.


Its not like I've always been emotionally shut down or restricted in relationships! Just ask Ryan P. my first love and boyfriend from the 3rd through the 5th grade. I don't know if he remembers this but the drama queen inside of me sure does. I was upset with Ryan once in the third grade because I believed he liked my friend and was acting inappropriately. We were in separate classrooms, but my teacher had asked me to deliver something to his teacher and I felt this was an ample opportunity to express my emotions. I walked into that classroom where they were watching a movie, handed the papers to the teacher, turned toward Ryan, removed the rings he had given me and threw them at him. Stormed out. I am so awesome.  :)  Don't worry. We made up and continued our innocent love adventure through 5th grade. 


When I'm in acting class and a scene calls for emotion, I panic and get in my head about how I am going to create this emotion?! I am learning that I simply can't create emotion, that I must step into the experience and open my heart in order to move into emotion. My brilliant acting coach, Dee Wallace, can simply stop the scene, ask me to open my heart, guide me to an experience I have had, and the entire emotional life opens up, simply, truthfully in an honest and connected way. The beauty of it is that it never feels the way I expected it to. It's always SO much better. 


I have been reading a book called, "Women, Food and God" by Geneen Roth that was given to me as a birthday present by my sweet friend, Amber. The title of this book makes it seem like its very specific to women, people with food issues and those that believe in God. However, the subtitle of this book is "An Unexpected Path to Almost Everything".  Geneen has developed a retreat and her life's work is with women who struggle with food, over eating, under eating, bingeing, etc. Her philosophy is that if we can understand how and why we eat the way that we do, that we will be able to understand our lives and why they are playing out the way they are; that " Our relationship to food is an exact microcosm of our relationship to life itself."  She asks the women in her retreats to stop, take a moment and breathe into whatever feeling they are experiencing when they eat. Are they doing it to get lost? to forget? to disappear? What does the feeling FEEL like? Is the loneliness a large pile of ashes sitting on your chest? and if you breathe into the ashes, what happens? IN almost all of the cases, breathing into the pain and loneliness isn't as bad as they all thought. "The simple fact that her pain can be touched and it it won't destroy her means that all is not lost or hopeless or unredeemable." 


If we allow ourselves to feel, understand and experience our feelings, if we have a "willingness to engage with and unwind the suffering rather than be its prisoner. . . the exquisite paradox of this engagement is that when suffering is fully allowed, it dissolves." 


I have never associated myself with an eating disorder or a problem, but I have definitely spent the last 7 years focused on it, losing a lot of it, gaining some of it back, forgetting about it, focusing on it, not being comfortable in my own skin, being a size 8! a size 8! and not knowing who that person was??! Who am I at a size 8? I must be a different person than that one that was a size 16?! The real bitch of it is, is that I'm not. I am who I am no matter where or what or who. I am me. I have spent the last few years expanding my life, raising my vibration and being in touch with just WHO AM I? Who is Elizabeth Mihelich? It hasn't been and its been a breeze all the same. A continuing process, that as Geneen says, " "If these women could unpack their pain (beginning with allowing themselves to use food as a way of supporting rather than punishing themselves) and tell the truth about their lives - (paraphrasing poet Muriel Rukeyser -- the world would split open." 


"When you sense yourself directly, immediately, right now, without preconception, who are you?"


Geneen's main lesson is that its not actually food that we are hungry for, but a spiritual life, a connection with the soul that we are starving for. The life force that sustains us, gives us our intuition and knowing, our empathy and ability to LOVE someone. 


Do you realize everyday what a miracle life is? That we can wake up every morning and simply DO anything we want to?? That we can choose to lay in bed all day entangled in passion with someone we love? Choose to explore our being-ness in art, singing, dancing, photography? Celebrate the AMAZING, BRILLIANT, living, breathing thing that our BODY is. Remember anatomy class? all those crazy systems working together to keep us standing upright, walking, talking, DANCING??! It is mind-blowing. THEN add in our ability to connect with other living things, humans, animals, people. . . wow. just wow. There are almost no words that can describe that incredible miracle that life is. You know if you workout on a regular basis, your body WILL get stronger, and your muscles will change? How about today, when you look in the mirror, instead of saying, "You're fat, I hate you. What's wrong with you?" you look at that mirror and say, "I love you because you CAN change. You are amazing. You are strong and sexy and healthy."


Life is for living and emotions and feelings are a gift. So, no matter how you choose to describe them or understand them, just choose to let them in. Open your heart and experience everything. You could experience a great love, one that you never knew was even possible, and then you could experience the crushing realization of the loss of that love. At least you will have experienced it and if you're aware enough, you will learn from it, you can shatter the facade and step into the reality of being.


Why not? What have you got to lose?? Everything and nothing.


Open your heart and step into the experience of your life.








*All quotes above are from "Women Food and God" by Geneen Roth.