Fall…leads to…

Fall is here. I love Fall, ( however, I used to dread it).

However, I am not a huge fan of Winter which comes next as you know. A couple of years ago I decided that the best way for me to get over my frustration about the Winter is to accept it, hook line and sinker. One way for me to do that is to welcome Fall with open arms. It’s just easier to embrace it rather than dread it. Of course, the irony of all of this is that dreading anything in the future takes us way out of the present moment which is the only thing we really have. This moment.

But, here we are on the near finish line of 2010.

A little under 4 months to go.

I would be lying if I said that this year has been an easy one for me.

2010 has been a great transition period in my life. Some days transition feels like limbo.

:):)

I asked for this transition and while it has been a huge gift in many ways, there have been many mornings I woke up  feeling lost. While I know that feeling is all part of my journey, it feels lonely and challenging many days.

On the positive side, I have been blessed to take time to complete my book, and to go inside and see what I really wanted.

At the same time, I have stayed in action on the answers I receive from the universe and am practicing patience on so many levels.

I also have taken many moments to find silly thing that make me laugh such as this.

Movement Led Me to Patience

As a body image mastery mentor, you can imagine how important movement is in my life. Last Fall, I took a class to challenge my body. It was called Black Diamond Glutes and it certainly challenged me.  I blogged about it, talked about it and I really enjoyed it. However, it really hurt my left knee. I had surgery years prior on my right knee and so this knee drama has been going on for years.

I LOVE to work out (it was not always true for me and it is now). It is a BIG part of my self-care. It is how I honor my body, the one true home that my soul gets to live in, and it is how I honor my spirit. I truly appreciate and own the emotional peace and relief that comes from 60 minutes of exercise a day – so much so that I often do two or three times that much. Not any more though. Now, I basically take all of the effort I used to put into exercising my body, and pour it into being PATIENT with it instead.

I suppose that one of the lessons I am privileged to learn through my injury is a renewed understanding of the issues many of my clients face. Because one of the side effects of not being able to exercise is that I am gaining a little weight. The myriad of feelings around this, and turning my expertise INWARD, has been really meaningful. You see, body image mastery is absolutely NOT about weight. It’s about honoring ourselves from the INSIDE out. It’s about creating enough self-love and self-care that we no longer abuse ourselves with food in any way. No binging. No starving. In fact, after a while, body image mastery leads to a love affair with food – HEALTHY food. It leads to loving your body so much that you WANT to exercise – partly to BE healthy and partly just to CELEBRATE.

My primary work in the world is to be healthy, physically, emotionally and spiritually and I am! However, things like an unexpected weight gain can feel troubling. And even though I know the weight will release itself,  it is not always easy. I am here to practice what I preach by observing my fearful thoughts and watching them come and go. So yes, I am holding on to my deep love and appreciation for my body and taking care of it while it heals. Every day, I kiss my left knee, I  talk to it and let it know it is healing and loved so much. I treat it like I would a little baby. I pray for it. I meditate on it and I trust it is healing. We can do that to every body part we have. Our body will drink it up. Who doesn’t want to be loved up? I do!!!!

I have a tradition that in the beginning of every year, I pick an angel card that dictates my word for the year. This year I picked willingness! I love that word. And still I am adding another important word to represent this year. PATIENCE. Patience has really become my keyword for 2010.

What is your word for this year?

For the last 4 remaining months this year?

I welcome hearing from you.

2010 is going to be a powerful year.

I feel it, I sense it and I own it.

A gift to you all to create a practice before each meal in this New Year.

I think it is a delightful way to start 2010.

With a loving practice for your mealtime.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Recite before each meal.

This food is a gift from the entire universe.

The land, the sky, the ocean and the work of many people.

May I be the presence that deserves to receive this.

May I learn the right way of eating.

May I receive energy and be protected from illness.

May I walk the path of wisdom and love.

When I eat may I not forget the people who are now suffering from hunger in the world.

In this food, I see the presence of the entire universe supporting me.

-Mayumi Oda

And I offer you this from my heart for 2010.

May you be a guiding light for yourself and others who need protection and love.

May you be a ship to help others cross their ocean.

May you be a bridge for those who cannot find their way.

May you be the natural born  leader you are.

May you be love and live love and be the light you already are.

I Love You, XO

Laura

Happy Thankgiving all.

Leah and Leigh,  thank you for celebrating the holiday with us down under.

Leah, I love your description of your husband Leigh who I know is a treasure.

Of course he is, he is married to you Leah.

It’s late here in California, want to share my affirmation for today and call it  a night.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I think positively about myself and others because I know those higher truths are supported and made manifest by an impartial and nonjudgmental universe.

XO,

Laura

Just notice without fueling the feelings is something I say alot to my groups of students.

Just notice.

Observe your feelings and feel them, knowing they are not you and you are not them.

They come and they go.

I have feelings, I am not my feelings.

I had some strong feelings come up this weekend when every time I logged onto the community site, no one was there. UUUUMMM!

I felt fear, frustration, confusion, overwhelm and then CALM.

All these feelings over a tool…that some people may or may not choose to use…it is all good.

I do want more than anything to provide the best possible tools for women in this community and how that will look, the universe will reveal. As long as I do not get attached to the outcome and what I think is right.

The universe has a way bigger plan that I could have.

Learning, living and loving and letting go…words to live by…

XO, Laura

Great call tonight!

How do you know you have forgiven someone?

Great question and I want to reiterate what I shared about on the great call tonight.

I define forgiveness as freedom.

Forgiving my past, saved my life. That I know for sure.

Forgiveness is often collapsed with forgetting and one thing has nothing to do with the other.

Forgive does not mean forget, it means FORGIVE…

People ask me this all the time…how do I know if you have really  forgiven yourself or another person, place or thing?

A simple answer is  when you think about them or the incident, or yourself,  revenge,  shame, pain, blame and guilt do not show up.  Neutrality, balance and inner peace equals freedom and that is forgiveness.

Ask yourself, how has forgiveness served you and how is holding pain or resentment towards another holding you back in your life?

And I invite you to ask that question to yourself about your self forgiveness…

Why can you do it for others and not for yourself?

Good place of inquiry.

Ask the universe for support, ask your pinky power partner for support and know you are being held and loved.

Good work, learning, loving and letting go!

XO, Laura

Your blog today was incredible.

Thank you for sharing your wisdom and heart centered words.  I loved it and I love you!

I want to talk a little bit about the issue of trust and safety.  Next Tuesday, November 3^rd at 7 pm Pacific time, I will be interviewing Kelly Rudolph, founder of www.positivewomenrock.com, an online community to empower women.

Kelly Rudolph
www.PositiveWomenRock.com
SURVIVE! Self-Defense LLC

Kelly has been a leader in the movement of personal safety.  I will be interviewing Kelly and one thing we will be discussing is desperation and neediness and how those things lead to vulnerability which leads to being a target.

If anyone wants to be on the call with Kelly and me live, (it will be recorded) please email me, laura@onepinky.com and I will get you the call in phone number and pin.

I hope many of you will join Kelly and me.  She is incredible and committed to women’s safety, empowerment and well being.

The key in life is to self correct. We get up, we fall down, we get up, we may fall down and what do we learn in each situation counts and matters. All leading to the whole picture and staying no matter how many times we fall is the name of the game.

For me, I have a pattern. I trust people because I see the good in them. The universe is constantly knocking on my door saying Laura, you have to be more discerning.

I had an incident happen today where, and unsafe person showed up at my door step, and I almost took the bait. I felt so sorry for this person and wanted to help them and they were dangerous.

Again, I want to believe people are good and they are. However, some of them have illnesses. Mental, emotional and physical illnesses that are way beyond my ability to heal and help. I want to save the world and I know I cannot….I can only serve and help those willing and able to help themselves.

So my personal lesson today is to be more rigorous about checking people out and not be so trusting all the time and follow through with my gut check. It always works. My body always knows. When fear gets in the way, we often become weak and make decisions further away from our truth. I get it God. I am listening. I say we meaning me…and hopefully some of you out there can relate to something being shared here.

Someone just sent me a great email and in it, she wrote, H is for Holy Crap!

Holy Crap, I lovingly learned something profound today, had a powerful OnePinky call, and made it through the day safely and healthy. It was a great day.

I am blessed.

Sending you all love and gratitude as we get closer to November, the month I focus on Gratitude. (I do every day and especially this coming up month!)

Much Love, XO

Laura

Leah,

You are amazing. Love that you “jumped in”, let go of any monkey mind and allowed your Mum to film you. You Tube, whooo hooooo!

I just love that!

And how cool was it to see you in your hat holding Taylah????  Taylah is so cute and so shy. I love it.

And tell you Mum she did a great job and I love her camera. (what kind is it?, a HD flip?)

I totally love it.

I have been busy and in and out all day. Showed your video to some of my Pinky’s/friends today and they just love it.

I went and spent some time with Ginger today who is a Pinky as you know and she just thinks you are lovely Leah!

She was very excited to see the video and sooo proud of you.

I agree with you that at day 19, it does not feel hard, it feels good…really good to write, to connect, to hold and love and no matter how many miles, it feels like you and I are with one another.

Tonight is late and will be a short one….no holding back on the bigness of this great challenge and my appreciation and honor and respect for your willingness and commitment.

Your heart and soul grow, you get to see your essence glow as your body shrinks with time….and it will…because your commitment is solid and trust me the universe is listening to every call and word….

I am so proud of you Leah!

XO, Laura

P.S. Give your Mum a great big hug from me and tell her, “she did really good” with raising you…and thank her from me for that great video. How was the swim? I have to admit it looked a bit windy and the water looked rough. How was it?

I love how you make your prayer and closing no matter what your day has looked like, “I am practicing to Love, Learn and Let go”.

YES YOU ARE LEAH!

I promise you that my dear Leah.

You are practicing that because you are STAYING in the game no matter how sick you may feel, how much you eat, how not perfect you are, no matter how loud your inner critic gets, no matter how critical others get of you, no matter what others opinions are of you, etc…The key is to STAY and be with it all, not matter how rotten a moment looks, a minute looks, an hour looks and a day looks. The key is to STAY…

One of my OnePinky Alums, LauraLee (who is a love!) sent me these two short inspirational videos today and I was guided to share them with you and others who are reading this.

http://www.simpletruths.tv/store/videos/EENPvideo.html

http://www.simpletruths.tv/store/movies.php?movie=FJOY

Leah, I guess I am supposed to cry a lot today as I got this sinus attack and my eyes have been crying and tearing all day. It got so bad I just had to lie down, which I did. I got up and created two great posts for the September lessons in the community which will be up by tomorrow. Check them out please under course material.

I pray you are feeling better and are in acceptance about this moment and the mystery of it. Expect a miracle in every moment and even if it is not visible or obvious, never underestimate the power of the universe!

Look, you came into my life and I could not have written the script 3 months ago about finding you. It was the expectation of “expecting a miracle” that drew you in and just think of what the universe is conjuring up now. A trip to California for you!!! and Leigh! sooner than you think??? Expect a miracle…(and give Leigh a big hug from me too by the way!)

You are one in my life Leah! That I know for sure.

I love you and I appreciate you so much,

XO, Laura