Karen

Give me the flowers

February 13, 2016February 13, 2016 by Karen, posted in Angels, Grace, local fun, Metaphysical healing, my one word

This month, I felt drawn to attend one of Melissa Boyd’s programs where she channels messages from spirit, but I had no one to go with. By nature I am an introvert, and typically I am not a person who likes to go places alone. Other than, you know, a coffee shop with a book.

Anyway, this month marks the 20th anniversary of the death of my mother (on leap day). I think that’s why this month, I felt there was a good chance I might get a message from her, so I put on my big girl panties (actually, my big girl thermal panties -it was -3 degrees!) and went by myself.

Right away, I noticed the pretty pink vase with 3 tulips on the table. Three is my favorite number, and tulips are one of my favorite flowers. I thought that after the program, I might ask Melissa who did the flowers for the event so I could get me some of those flowers, and get me one of those pink vases.

Anyway, in the last ten minutes of the program I realized that I was not going to be one of the lucky ones who got a channeled message. I felt that my mother was there, though! I felt sad and disappointed that she didn’t get a chance to speak to me. I consoled myself with the knowledge that the other people present needed their messages more urgently than I did.

But you know, I wanted some validation that she really was there.

And then I heard Melissa say that she intended to raffle off the vases of flowers.

🙂

So I sent my mother a message: “Ma, if you’re here, give me the flowers”.

They called the first number.

Mine.

Thanks, Ma.

Postscript: It gets better. When I got into the car to go home, a song came on the radio. Here’s an excerpt:

“And I have need for nothing more
Oh now that I have found
That You are here with me
Yes You are here with me.”

(From Mountain of God by Third Day)

More Grace

February 11, 2016February 11, 2016 by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food

So, I was thinking about my affirmation, “Thank you, God. It’s my 11th day (on this day) of my first 100 days of Grace,” and it was drawing to a close. I was reviewing my day, looking for some evidence of Grace. Not much popped into my mind. And then, my daughter said, “Hey mom, someone at school is collecting for his mission trip,” and she handed me this crumpled up piece of paper with a small, black and white photo of three figures on a boat that said this:

MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN GUATEMALA! The April 2016 Guatemala Mission Team is working to make better health possible in 5 villages will hold medical clinics.

and had this website on it:

http://gracemissionalcommunity.org/, and to go to www.guatemalagrace.org for more information.

The pastor of that church is a Family Nurse Practitioner.

I am an RN…

Hello. Grace? I see you. I hear you.

My 8th day of my first 100 days of Grace

February 7, 2016February 7, 2016 by Karen, posted in Grace, Meditation, my one word

Days 1-4 were amazing. Days 5-7? The Grace was there, but I had to look harder for it. I had to look harder, but it was there.

So…Thank you, God. Today is my 8th day of my first 100 days of Grace. As I was getting in the shower today, I was saying my affirmation and thinking about what would happen today.

After I got out, the pink bottle that contains my shower gel caught my eye. I originally bought it because, in addition to truly excellent shower gel, it contains the name of my word for 2016:

Amazing Grace.

I decided to read the label again. Here is part of what it says:

“being a humble person can, and being a helpful person can guide you through your days with grace and gratitude.”

Ah. So. Grace can show up in unexpected places.

Amazing.

🙂

Book Review: SARK has a new book: Succulent Wild Love

February 5, 2016May 12, 2016 by Karen, posted in author, books, family, Life's too short to read bad books, no fear, relationships, writing

I am writing today about the new book SUCCULENT WILD LOVE by SARK and Dr John Waddell.

SARK’s books are lovely, bold, and vibrant celebrations, and this collaboration is no different. It’s as visually gorgeous, vibrant, and engaging as all of her prior offerings. In the past, she has written about being soulfully single and marrying herself, but in this book SARK is happily coupled. So happily coupled that she wants to share her ‘joyfull-ness’ with us (I am a wordsmith myself, so I especially appreciate SARK’s reconfiguration of words to suit her purposes).

SARK and John share six habits, which I think of as tools, to help us reach this joy-full state with our own partners. Because, as SARK tells us on page 25, “You can do what I have done.”

One of these is our Inner Wise Self. You know those voices you hear in the back of your head, chatting away all day long, mostly telling us untrue and unkind things about ourselves? Those are NOT your Inner Wise Self. They are your Inner Critics. But our Inner Wise Self is in there too! She is patiently waiting to muscle those other chuckleheads out of the way.

Hello, Inner Wise Self? HI! Long time no hear! It sure has been a while!
Um, oh, you’ve been here all the time? Duh. Time to start listening, huh?

Because you can consult your Inner Wise Self about anything. And everything. Can and should. You will receive loving, kind advice when you do. Let yourself listen to it. Let yourself act on it. Even if it’s scary. Especially when it’s scary.

Another of the six valuable tools they teach in this book is the one I’ve come to think of as the “Perfect Person” tool. John tells us on page 155, “Susan was being the perfect Susan, and any way that I was not able to see that was my responsibility.” Wait, what? Your partner is already perfect? So they do not need any fixing? So they do not need any fixing! They are already just fine! You are free! You can work on yourself, instead! As excellent this tool is to use in a relationship with your partner, I think it is equally as powerful, maybe even more so, to use in relationship with one’s children. Try it. Let me know what you think.

I have so little free time. I don’t waste it reading (or recommending) books that are not worth reading. This book is WONDER-FULLY worth reading!

If you are interested in buying this book, here’s a link to the product page on the New World Library website: http://bit.ly/1WdRY6c. You can also find it Succulent Wild Love on Amazon.

Enjoy!

My first 100 Days of Grace

February 3, 2016February 3, 2016 by Karen, posted in Angels, family, friends, good grief, He and me, Meditation

I was wondering once again this past Sunday why the heck I had chosen Grace to be my word–or more accurately, Grace had chosen me to be its person –this year. Brave, my word last year, was a

great word! A word you can sink your teeth into! Get your mind around! Get a grip on! Grace is…not. It’s elusive. Ephemeral. Unknown. Unfixed…kind of like me.

So my old friend Jane and my new friend Lisa and I were talking about this on Sunday, when they told me about the 100 day project they had started. They invited me to join, so I did.

Every day I say:

Thank you, God. I am in day ____ of my first 100 days of Grace.

Here is what’s happened during my first 3 days of my first 100 days of Grace:

Day 1 Grace: Jane introduced me to Lisa, who told me about her company Cosmic Tonic and T shirts that say Limitless on them (written in a special way). The song Limitless had been in my head all morning, and I had posted a link to it on one of my Facebook pages, The Metaphysical Nurse, right before I met her. (I know, right?!)
Day 2 Grace: Bill, my husband, finished reading the first book I wrote and he told me he loved it. One thing about my husband: He never lies, especially not to spare my feelings. YAY!
Day 3 Grace: The song King of the Road was in my head, and a brief flash of a memory of my mother singing it. A visitation? It felt like it was. A gift. The 20th anniversary of her death is this month, February 29.

That’s it so far.

Consider trying this for yourself!

**Here’s a clip of the song King of the Road being sung by one of my mother’s favorite singers, Dean Martin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZWvi0MaIZs

**Here is the link to some of the many posts I’ve written about My One Word. https://kwrites.com/category/my-one-word/

**I gave meditation a hundred days last year. Here is the link the Give it 100 website, which really helped me succeed: https://giveit100.com/

Dance Party

January 22, 2016January 22, 2016 by Karen, posted in Music, no fear, Party for one

Something unusual happened today: I have my empty house to myself! The planets must have aligned! This is as rare and as exciting to me at 53 as it was when I was 16.

As a matter of fact, the first time I was ever allowed to stay home alone in my house was when I was 16. I think my parents went out for an hour or two. I was giddy. I didn’t know what to do first. What I did end up doing was dancing on the coffee table.

Dancing. On. The. Coffee. Table.

Sadly, I can’t remember what the song was.

Anyway, to celebrate my good fortune, and to honor my 16 year old self, I decided to dance on my coffee table today, too (definitely a challenge-my present day coffee table is so much smaller than the coffee table of yore).

I do remember what the song was today:

Dancing with Myself by Billy Idol

What song would YOU choose for your own 5 minute dance party?

Life’s short

January 17, 2016January 17, 2016 by Karen, posted in family, good grief

So, this year there will be a February 29th. This is significant for me because my mother died on February 29th in 1996, 20 years ago. We sort of joked about how kind it was for her to pick a day that only comes once every four years so we wouldn’t have to be sad every year.

Ha. Ha.

the fam in billerica — The family in the early 70’s.

The irony of it is this: there is not a leap year every four years. Did you know that sometimes leap year skips (leaps? 🙂 ) its year? Yep.

Anyway, she was 55 when she died. Two years older than I am now.

She did have two years warning, but sadly, she was very sick from chemotherapy side effects for a lot of that time.

Today, I’ve been thinking. What if I only had two years left? How would the next two years be different for me if I knew they were the last two?

Of course, the lesson here is that none of us knows how much time we have. The reminder is that we can always choose to enjoy this day that we do have. Today.

What are you doing today?

Ho no!

January 2, 2016July 21, 2016 by Karen, posted in my one word, yoga

I got some unwelcome news today that my beloved Holy Yoga (HoYo) Saturday morning class is ending. Moving to Tuesday evenings. When I am at work.

My first thought was, OH NO!!! Then the Big Sad descended. I paused. I breathed (it was yoga class, after all). I could still enjoy this class, today. I could still Be Here Now.

I did my best.

My next thought was this: now there is room for something else to come in. I wonder what it will be?

There are some parting gifts. A new song that I am listening to now by an artist, with whom I was unfamiliar but with whom now I am virtual BFF’s-JJ Heller. See her Christmas song here-I know! It’s late! But better late than never.

But the biggest gift is this: as I am standing here in my kitchen, consoling myself with a Nonni’s Biscotti and Spicy Eggnog coffee, I checked out the annvoscamp.com website and as I was scrolling around, I saw this quote:

* Grow Brave. Grow in Grace*

Grow Brave. Grow in Grace.

Which is basically the same thing.

This was on it! Brave was my 2015 word! Grace is my 2016 word!

Amazing. Grace.

Deconstructing Christmas

December 29, 2015 by Karen, posted in Holidays

It’s high time to start

deconstructing Christmas, but I am not motivated. I think I have too much stuff.

We have a real tree this year, which began dropping huge quantities of its needles as soon as we got it. We then tracked them into every nook and cranny of our home.

I’m afraid my husband was right. We’ll be finding pine needles well into the summer months…

What if I purge half before I pack it all back up?

That feels like an inspired thought to me. 😊

Connection

December 6, 2015December 6, 2015 by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, friends, Holidays, Karen's Kitchen, my one word

I was just watching Valerie Bertinelli’s new cooking show on the Food Network. It turns out that Karen’s Kitchen isn’t so different from Valeries’s Kitchen. She was making a buffet for a Christmas gathering and it consisted of lasagna, salad, and a favorite Italian cookie from childhood.

I realized as I watched that one of my own favorite Italian dinners is the same. The lasagna recipe I remember from my own family dinners of yore, salad, and a different cookie, but still a favorite Italian cookie that I grew up with (I am not surprised that both of our dessert recipes include chocolate… 🙂 ).

Of course there are some differences, the biggest of which is this: Valerie has both of her parents with her. Mine have long since departed.

At the end of the show, I was surprised to hear them talking about choosing a word for next year! Their words were much different from mine (Hello, ‘Butter’? ‘Bacon’? How did I not think of using a food as my one word? Ha!).

Lesson: we really are all connected, aren’t we? We can be connected to people that we have never met by our food and our (Italian) heritage, as in this case, but there are many other ways that we can find connection in our everyday lives.