Thoughts.com

may 26, 2012 - New Venture for Ms. Ellie!

Hello! 

Today is Friday and I decided to write Saturday's blog today because we don't have Internet out at the river.  I have an announcement to make and I really haven't given it a lot of thought because it has all come about naturally, organically, and seamlessly, if you will!!

I used to blog here under another name for five years.  I loved it!  I met people who are still friends to this day, many of whom I've met in person over the years which I've loved even more!  But, I was tired of blogging about my dating life and decided to put dating on the back burner for a while.  It was draining me, confusing and not enjoyable, at times.  I let it go and gave my future romantic life a break :)  Dating was not serving me well and I felt like I was wasting time when I could be doing other things.  It was then that my novel came out of the box for the first time in three years.

A NEW PATH.

On 1 January, I began blogging as Practicalspirituality365 and that's where we are today.  I love communicating with you and sharing my views on how to live a more authentic and joyful life!  I am learning through this process of blogging and I know I will grow, as well, which is inevitable.

Those who read me from 2007 to 2011, know that for over ten years I facilitated creative groups using the seminal book on creativity and unblocking the inner artist, The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron.  I've continued to coach people who have asked and I've walked alongside many people over the years.  I never called it coaching, however, I'd heard about it.  I've never advertised, myself either.

Well, through writing my blog on spirituality and spiritual issues, I discovered Twitter and my son encouraged me to begin tweeting!  Practcl_Spirit my username.  By Tweeting, I discovered and met many people on paths such as mine.  Some call themselves lightworkers, coaches, intuitives, angel helpers, and there are many Reiki practitioners, as well.  Twitter has been great in that I have 'met' many great people by following their blogs and websites and have attracted many wonderful followers for which I am grateful!

Then, about three months ago, a friend encouraged me to set up a Facebook page as Practical Spirituality WV and I did :)  I met even more people and have made old and new connections there!  I began belly dancing with a new friend (well, I've miss two classes, though!) and reconnected with a woman who was in my first The Artist's Way class in Belgium, back in 2005.  Wow :)  She is still in Belgium where she continues to write novels and children's books.  We began exchanging emails and to make a long story short, she is now my mentor!  I am ready to see my historic novel published and she knows the ropes!  I sure don't and I am blessed to have her in my life!  I also met people who are editors and other bloggers, as well.

Then, earlier this week, my friend asked me if I still coached people and I said yes.  We are now talking about me being her coach :)  I've not made coaching a business, but I certainly have treated it like one with professionalism and love.

BRAND NEW PATH!! 

I am ready for this new venture in addition to continuing to edit the novel, publishing a poetry chapbook, giving Reiki sessions, and painting.

Can I do it all?  Yes, I can because I am passionate about ALL those things and I want all them to happen!

So, if you are curious, have questions or are you are interested in coaching, please email me here at Thoughts.com.

Namaste and Happy Memorial Day weekend to you!  Off I go to the river!!!  Be safe and be blessed!

Ellie

may 25, 2012 - a seamless life

good morning! 

my sleep time last night involved dream after dream, but for the life of me, i can't remember any of them.  one dream seemed to meld into the next with no beginning and no end...seamless.  i wouldn't say i woke up refreshed, but i didn't wake up tired, either.  i did wake up with a vague upset stomach, high in the abdomen, though.  so, i'm drinking hot tea and hope it settles down, yuck.  i almost feel nauseous, too...

and, just as quickly as i've typed my symptoms, i'm going to forget about them!  i have no time for a stomach ache!  i'm going to sit quietly after i type this blog and put my hands on my abdomen and send energy to my tummy.  i think it's time for self-reiki :)

the reiki sessions i give clients and myself normally last 50 minutes with five minutes on either side to energetically prepare and 'detox' the room and myself.  But, a 15 or 30 minute session can bring in as much energy as a 50 minute session.  i think i need one before this memorial day weekend begins!

the pugs and i are going to the river this afternoon to get things ready for our girlfriends who are coming in tomorrow to spend the weekend with us.  my co-owner is driving up with her dog, too.  should be a fun girl's weekend :) BUT, we don't have internet out there, so you won't see me until monday or tuesday!  i'll miss you!!

seamless....this word has returned to my subconscious from the first paragraph.  seamless.  i like that word.  the first thing can comes to mind when i think of the word is a vision of watercolor paints brushed on a blank piece of cold-pressed watercolor paper.  colors running together and puddling to create a new color not yet on the color wheel.  have you ever dropped colored ink into water?  the images are amazing!! 

in my mind's eye, i see the front of a piece of fine needlepoint or cross stitch where bright cotton threads come together and a picture begins to appear.  we don't know if the threads are one or continuous until we turn the linen or cotton cloth over and see where tiny knots have been made.  seamless or not?  all parts of a whole, i think.

are our lives seamless?  do you sometimes look back on a time period and see what you originally thought were disjointed events and random people that actually came together to form your future or at the very least, had a significant meaning in your life?  i have.  it's fascinating!

seamless...my life has not been entirely seamless, but i learned that when i got out of the way of myself and allowed the energy to flow, the results were surprising.  when i've allowed God and the universe to work on my behalf and take charge, i've seen wonderful things happen.  when i've not stopped to put a wall up where none were needed, i've seen seamless in ways that i could not have imagined. beautiful things happened.

our lives won't always be pretty, all rainbows and unicorns, no one believes that more than i do as a realist who is also a glass overflowing type of person.  i believe that our lives can be a helluva lot easier, more productive and magical when we get out of the way and shove EGO out of the way in the process.   life can be pretty messy and confusing, at times.  it's true.  so confront the messy bits and if you have to fix something, say something to make things right, do it.  you have nothing to lose and everything to gain!

then, seek out harmony, love, peace, and joy within yourself and keep those beautiful gifts right up front and on the surface.  once we make things right with someone either by our actions or with an apology, it is out of our hands!  leave it there and let people and situations go with love if you have to.  it is none of your business what someone does with your apology or kindness.  nothing has to be forced at that time.  that was a lesson i had to learn.  not to direct what someone does with my apology!  hard lesson :)

the longer we continue to harbor grudges, anger, resentment, jealousy and pettiness, the longer we remain mired in the muck.  this can create stress, blocked energy and illness.  release yourself and release others. give yourself that gift.  when released,  you will feel the flow again, the energy will ramp up, and life will again feel seamless.  you are in harmony with the universe at that point and yes, this process will probably go on all our lives unless we move to a cave and never come out!

my tummy actually feels better now but, i'm still giving myself a reiki session.  i'm worth it :)

have a safe, fun-filled memorial day weekend, everyone!

namaste, peace and love,

ellie

may 24, 2012 - that very thing!!!

good morning! 

i've decided that i don't want to capitalize anything today and if i like this, i might just never capitalize a blog again!  i can certainly type faster and i like how this looks.  so, here we go!

after my lightbulb moment about energy and blocking energy after i wrote yesterday's blog, i did a lot of thinking.  my day was a blur of activity yesterday afternoon, so i wasn't able to really think about it until late last night in bed.  not a great time to do heavy thinking, mind you and i don't remember dozing off, either :)

what i do remember :) is thinking that we can sense negative energy and low frequencies in people we meet.  I certainly can; I honed that sense from childhood - my father was a high functioning, weekend alcoholic.  i got very good at gauging the temperature in the room he was in before i entered (or the house for that matter), sensing what type of mood he was in, and i am excellent at sensing hostility and negative vibes in others, thanks to my father, as well.

if i'd been the type of kid who just ignored him and young adult who never spoke with him again, i might have missed out on that gift.  that gift was what kept me safe and employed in residential treatment centers with kids with severe behavioral, mental and emotional issues.  i sensed when a fight was about to go down and i sensed when all hell was about to let loose.  i trust that instinct.  the same gift has served me well in social work, as well. i worked with low income, immigrant families who lived in the roughest neighborhoods of northern virginia.  i had to have my wits about me and could tell if someone was bs'ing me, too.

intuition and rooting out the cause of an issue are other gifts that i have.  i have a finely honed bs meter, too which stems from learning to read people's faces, their body language and eye movement.  all the negativity i experienced in my home with my father prepared me for my life's work.  i find that incredible and yet, so simple.

my eldest sister, a half sister, gave up on my father and never spoke to him again.  she lives in nh and we haven't seen each other since my niece's wedding...gosh, must be about ten years now?  she decided to protect herself and her children, shut him out of her life and, i have to wonder how different my sister would be if she had been a little more feisty and fought back like i did.  Hmmm...she withdrew from our father and also withdrew from me and many others of our family.

i am able to block out people who are not for my highest good.  i've done it.  others continue to be in and out of my life...mostly because they have other redeeming qualities that i like - a good sense of humor is one of those qualities as well courage, strength, and grit.  some people are in my family and i can't get rid of them, like my father's wife and before her, my mother-in-law :)  mil now deceased.  toxic and negative, both of them.  i stay clear away from my father's wife these days...

but, interestingly enough...my father's wife was the one who gave me the book "the artist's way" by julia cameron that changed my life completely.  see what i mean?  good and bad, toxic and beautiul.  energy is all that and more.

i am now more of an observer of people.  i am fascinated by what makes people tick and why people do what they do.  i also enjoy self-analysis and personal challenges.

so, when i come across a person these days and i sense negative frequency or energy, i just observe because you just never know what that person has for you.  it could be that VERY missing link or the VERY 'thing' that puts you on your new path and changes everything for you.

food for thought :)

i send you loving, white light of grace, friendship and love!

namaste, peace and love,

ellie

May 22, 2012 - Good Vibrations!

**  I wrote this 20 minutes ago and was Tweeting when I had a lightbulb moment!!  Please read to the end :)  **

Good morning! 

I hope you slept well!  I would have slept better if we hadn't had a thunder and lightning storm late last night which meant the Pugs wouldn't go out and do their business at the end of the evening.  They barked and barked every time the thunder boomed over our heads, poor babies!  Can't say that I blame them for remaining inside, who wanted to go out in that light and sound show?!  I believe it was around 1:30 am when it all got quiet out there.  I knew all that would mean that the Pugs would wake me up at the 'butt crack of dawn' (as my daughter loves to say) to go out and they did.

So, the butt crack dawned :) and both dogs were whining and pawing at my bedside at 7 am like a couple of toddlers on a Saturday morning!  I managed to shush them a couple of times which worked for about a nannosecond of quiet and then, I tried explaining (with eyes closed) how Mommy needed a bit more sleep.  Yeah, that worked like a charm too, but I did manage to get 20 minutes of quiet out of that!  I then threw a pillow in their direction when the whining grew fever pitch and all they did was climb onto the pillow which lay on the floor and continue whining.  Nice :)

Time to get up!  I give up!

What are my gorgeous Ozzy and Lulu doing now after I groggily padded downstairs, let them out for about five minutes, fed them, made coffee and am now WIDE awake?  SLEEPING!!  Yeah, snoring softly and there is no chance I can fall asleep again!!

Nice :)

So, frequency.  I'm LOVING Penney Peirce's book called, "Frequency".  I read it before falling asleep and I love how she writes. We either work in a high level of frequency where positive things can manifest themselves for us or we can choose to be/remain in the lower ranges of frequency where more negative things can occur to/for us.  We can also change our frequency like a radio.  How?

By choosing a higher frequency and by being cognizant of negative energies around us in people and in situations that arise.  I was working on a high frequency when I went to the river last week and everything was going well.  People around me were happy, good things happened with renting out the boat dock sides, and our gatherings were joyful...that is until ex-boyfriend showed up with all his negativity and toxic behavior.  I got sucked in on Sunday and it ruined my day.  Or, should I say, "I allowed it to ruin my day."

I allowed him to unbalance me and allowed myself to remain mired in the muck he dished out until Monday.  I lost my good energy and the black rain clouds rolled in, figuratively and literally.  On Monday morning, I took my energy and power back.  I let him go in LOVE and asked friends not to mention my name in the same sentence as his.  I had to and I have to remain on my side of the river for now.

In an email to a friend last night, I used the phrase, "I am again untangling myself from him" because that's how it felt.  So, I used that vision and I visualized myself removing chains from around my body and with every link removed, I visualized light reaching me and emmanating from within my body until I was a glowing, beautiful ball of pure light!  I felt lighter!

Visualization is a beautiful thing.  The chains were symbolic and I did feel the tightness in my body when I was around him on Friday.  No more.

I realized last night that his 'chains' have reached mutual friends, as well.  I have removed my chains and myself from the toxicity, but they haven't and it's not my business whether they do or not.  I don't have to join in, I can remove myself and remain detached until I feel it's safe for me to emerge. 

BUT, herein lies a potential scenario - these friends say they feel trapped in the middle of both camps.  I wrote to say not to worry about it. I am entirely okay with their friendships with him which are older than ours.  If these new friends choose his camp, I'm okay with that.  I realize that people will do what they feel they must do and it isn't my place to judge or manipulate things my way.

What I would be doing by judging or swaying them to my camp is inviting that negativity again!  No, thanks.

I bought the river property alone.  If I end up alone at the river, I do. I didn't know a soul when I bought and I play alone very nicely, thank you.  The river is my sanctuary, my refuge and my city escape.  It has beautiful light, gorgeous views and it's wide open; the view goes on and on, up and down river.  There is great energy there and I will protect that frequency!  I will keep my frequency as high as I am able to. That's my job :)

Namaste, peace and love,

Ellie

LIGHTBULB MOMENT - By removing myself from ex-boyfriend and our mutual friends, I am putting up walls that might prevent good energy and higher frequency from reaching me, as well!

I must allow all energy to flow through and around me freely. I must not stop anything from flowing - it's not my job...and it doesn't serve me, either!

Didn't I just say that in the blog above about controlling the sitution with friends??

OKAY, I get it :)  Got it?

Namaste!

Ellie

May 21, 2012 - Answers to Your Questions

Hi there! 

I received an email yesterday afternoon about my blog.  In this email, the person asked me two questions - what my personal life has to do with writing a blog about spirituality and what qualifications I possess to be writing about the topic of spirituality.

Excellent questions and I thank you, blogger!  I thank you for posing those questions and no, I'm not offended.  The fact that you're reading me and felt compelled to write is awesome!

I have no qualifications to write a blog on spirituality and the path toward wholeness other than this alone journey with much experience and links to my childhood, being an American and a Puerto Rican, being a woman, links to my two ex-husbands and their families, my children, motherhood, my family members, my single and married lives, university studies and graduation, jobs, volunteer work, art, writing, Reiki experiences and Masters, massage therapy graduation, social work, separation, loss, suffering, pain, illness, great health, nature, lovers, dates, friendships, relationships, my many animals, addiction, dreams, dreams realized, loves and loves lost, death, birth, beginnings and endings - real and imaginary, dreams, hopes, and courage, teacher, Master, and student status, therapy, counseling, blogging, and lastly, I have an Ego with which I wrestle every day.

- all are connections to the Universe and everyone in it.  I am no different and yet, I am uniquely different.  We're all qualified to write about our journeys, whatever they may be.  I am qualified to write this blog on my spiritual journey because I am part of the human race.  I am qualified to share my journey. 

I am compelled to share my journey through writing, blogging, poetry, photography, teaching, and painting.  I am compelled to share my journey through my daily interactions with people.  Blogging keeps me accountable and when I write, I don't lie to myself.  There is no growth in living in denial nor in putting up a facade and hell, I love a challenge!

I want to be the best ME I can be.  I work toward that goal through reading, being intuitive, learning, talking with others, sharing, prayer, talking with God, meditation, dancing, fishing, laughing, sharing time with my beautiful children, sharing wine with friends, walking my dog, boating, gardening, cleaning, belly dance, loving, noticing what angers me and thinking of why certain people, places and situations get my goat.

I continuously peel back the onion that is me and uncover the myriad layers that hold me together only to reveal, many times to my surprise and dismay, more layers beneath yet to be uncovered, looked at and dealt with in my own unique way.

So, these are my sincere and humble answers to your beautiful questions, blogger.  Again, thank you for writing me.  You have encouraged me to again, think about why I do what I do!

Yep, I'm damn qualified to write about spirituality and if you are living and breathing, so are you.

Namaste! 

Peace, love and many blessings to you,

Ellie