Tuesday, February 19, 2008

A Gentle Reminder

You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn’t serve the world.
We were born to make manifest the glory that is within us.
It is not in some of us, it is in everyone.
-Author unknown

Does anything really need to be said in follow up to that? Have gratitude for the lovely perfection that you are! Peace!

Thursday, February 14, 2008

OHHH...The Glorious Day of LOVE

Happy Valentines Day! These days I have my nose in Lester Levenson's book, "Happiness is Free...and it's easier than you think!" You may be thinking...oh yeah....just another one of those mamby pamby self help books. Perhaps, but none the less it is ranking up there as one of my favorites. Why? One word, Simple. That's right, the book is simple.

Basically the author, Lester lead a life of what most of us would classify as normal. He graduated from college in 1931 and went on with a successful career as an engineer for twenty-some years dabbling in various other business along the way. By 1952 he had been through constant illnesses...enlarged liver, kidney stones, spleen trouble, hyper acidity, ulcers and 10 years of migraine headaches. It was all topped off with a second coronary thrombosis and was told he might die anyday. So he went home and realized that all the knowledge he had accumulated over the forty-two years was of no avail. He had reached the end of the line without real happiness and without health and now he wanted it more then ever.

So he began asking himself what he really wanted out of life, now that his days were numbered. His answer was happiness. To dig a little deeper, he recalled the moments in his life that he had felt the happiest. What he discovered was, it was when he was LOVING that he was the happiest. That happiness equated to HIS capacity to LOVE rather than TO BEING loved.

Sweet...simple...and true. It does feel better to LOVE than to BE LOVED.

On this day of love, perhaps take a minute or two and recall a time in your life when you were in crazy love. Pull up and dissect high moments of loving in your life. Do you too get an inkling of a feeling that it was when you were loving someone that you had the highest feelings of love and happy bliss? What an appropriate and good exercise on Valentines Day.

My take away from all this is...what can I do today for the ones I love? We all have heard it is better to give than to receive. Lester is right on!

Five Simple Rules for Happiness
1. Free your heart from hatred
2. Free your mind from worries
3. Live Simply
4. Give More
5. Expect Less

Monday, February 11, 2008

Hang with me here a moment...

Have you ever read or heard something and it didn't quite sink in? Sure, you could understand a portion of the message, but the rest just flew somewhere over your head! Quietly you choose to put it away for later, and when the later date arrives, for whatever reason, this time...IT ALL MAKES SENSE!

Well....I would like to share something similiar that just "illuminated" my heart. Some of you may be familiar with my spiritual teacher John Douglas. Everyday I listen to many of his meditations and each day they sink in deeper. Today, while taking myself for a walk around the indoor track of my health club...not a "work out" walk but rather an empty your mind kind of walk....sort of like a beach walk. Well, peaceful it was. It was like the top of my head opened up, I gave every part of my body permission to relax and swing free, and my thoughts were free to leave my daily to do list and playfully immerse themselves in all things possible. To just observe and not analyse. AAAhhhh...how delicious it was.

That said, I titled this blog, "Hang with me here for a moment..." because that is what you may need to do as I share me deep thoughts while riding on the words of my spiritual teacher on this snowy day following my bliss walk. My thoughts here may "reach you"... or not...just as mentioned above. If not, perhaps just come back to it...if you choose.

Here it goes...

"Emotional impressions in the molecules of your being are now letting go" -John Douglas

Deep inhale.....and exhale every last bit of air in your lungs...hhhmmmm....be free, loose, and open...how good it feels. Allow your crown chakra, the top of your head, to receive the divines thought forms as a download into your pineal gland...the center of your head. Do not judge what images or thoughts you receive, let them flow in and flow through you...listen. What do you see....what do you feel....what do you hear? Do not judge...your response is to just do the next thing in that very moment according to what you are receiving. Allow yourself to stay in motion with the thought form and go on to the next thing it is guiding you to do...and the next thing....staying in the flow.

Should you halt the thought form and park it while you analyze it, the thought form locks down and constricts the energetic flow which was keeping it in motion. This results in a physical block at the cellular level of your body. We label this physical block and constriction with an emotion or pain and it becomes ours....our identification...."I am in pain....I am depressed...I am stiff" Now you have to work to let it go...

Resist the compulsion to park and analyze your thoughts...let them flow in...respond to the ones that "illuminate" your heart and take a step in that direction staying in the flow of all things good.

Be open, loose and free. Do all you can to be the observer of your mind and life...not the operator working over time. Be still...calm down...allow all to be...just as the falling snow...tomorrow will be just perfect...just as it is this very moment....perfect.

peace

The Hip Goddess Club

The Hip Goddess? What is that? OH PLEASE! Stand up right now ladies....walk over to the nearest mirror..and take a look at that BEAUTIFUL, STRONG and POWERFUL being looking back at you. Does she look familiar? That's right sister....the Hip Goddess is YOU!

Coming soon, Opulent Living, Inc presents, “The Hip Goddess Club”. A Monthly girls night out to learn, share and express yourself on topics related to being the powerful Goddess you are, living a wholistic lifestyle, and of course all things trendy and HIP!

Come join the Hip Goddess’s beginning in March to stay in touch with friends, meet new ones, learn something new & express yourself!

Check in with Opulent Living at http://www.susiesondag.com/ under “Events” to confirm our location and first date of Thursday March 27th!

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Monday, February 4, 2008

WHAT! More Snow?

You are kidding right? Clearly the local weather man is not winning a popularity contest in my family room tonight as he breaks the news of yet another foot of snow to arrive in Chicago by 3pm tomorrow.

Oh help me Rhonda, help help me Rhonda! What's an Iowa girl to do when at the age of 7 she committed herself to the California sun upon her first glimpse of the Beach Boys album! And, oooohhh...when the needle hit the sweet spot and THE song was set free from the record to her ears, "A ba ba ba ba bab aran!"...this Iowa small town girl's heart would be forever committed to the sun and fun. A much better idea then snow forts and sleigh rides down candy cane hill on a silver "saucer"....that thing never did work.

So with this announcement I affirm the fact I would love to hop a plane out of here to feel the warm sunshine on my bare shoulders. But I guess I do, and do not have a choice. I don't have the option of stopping the snow...because it is coming! I do however, have a choice to accept it and love it up.

Well surfer girl, what's it gonna be? Fight it or surrender? Hhhmmm....

I choose to surrender and love the pretty white stuff that makes our city look so pure and quiets us all down. I will relish the fact that I couldn't get my car out of the alley if I tried! I will heed Mother Natures advice, and slow down a bit. Perhaps stop running here and there, as fast as I can. I will bundle up, take DEEP LONG breaths of the cold weather outside and take lessons from my dogs as they light up like firecrackers and play....just loving what is!

But even as the snow falls, I can still crank up "Barbara Ann" and dance around the room in full freedom knowing the sun and heat will come again.... and with it all things new!

Saturday, February 2, 2008

5 Ways to Live and Work with a Wholistic Lifestyle

First of all remember....“No matter where you are, it is OK….just LOVE yourself”

Below you will find few BASIC guidelines to help get you on the right track. I have to remind myself, I am not going for perfection. Do the next thing in the direction you choose to go and enjoy the process. We get better each day....thank GOD!

1. Attitude, Responsibility, Power
You have a divine being inside your physical entity. Take responsibility for your life and find a reason for living. What is your legacy? YOU are the powerful creator of your life.

2. Dietary Upgrade
Begin today by upgrading ONE thing in your diet. ADD IN vs. TAKE OUT. Set a goal to consume an organic whole plant based diet for cleansing and rejuvenation.

3. Exercise and Hydration
Develop a physical resolve that suites you to free your mind, deepen your breath, and pump your heart. Drink clean, filtered and “blessed” or charged water. Observe your bodies many cries for water.

4. Rest
Quiet the mind. Budget your energy. Balance your rest with your physical exertion. Animals in nature don’t sleep, they rest. We’re a “vertically” addicted society…animals lie down.

5. Environment
City living equals lots of airborne pollutants. Do you own a good air filter and water purifier? Understand the importance of cleansing your body just as you do your home.

Wholism is taking personal responsibility so your being can THRIVE. Have 100% commitment at all costs, believe in yourself, and no backing down. You ARE living your best life!