Gypsy Card Reading Reiki Master Hypnotist

In the Chair Day 3.5

2012-09-22T19:43:00.000-07:00

Day 3.5? What the heck does that mean? It means that my follow up appointment at the SWIHA hypnotherapy clinic is tomorrow and I can't help wondering what it will be like. It also means that I'm supposed to be cleaning my kitchen. :-)

Every night as I go to sleep I ask for protection and guidance. Some nights I have dreams that I believe are guidance. It was just such a dream that led me on this quest for hypnotic assistance to begin with. Of course I'd rather do it myself - wouldn't we all? But I already know that if I could do it myself I would have by now. That doesn't necessarily make it easier to admit the need and get the help... it just makes it necessary. I decided long ago that I am willing to do whatever it takes to heal. Whatever it takes.

And so when I have a dream that seems like guidance, I follow the guidance and trust that God will put me in the right place at the right time and connect me to the right people. So far that seems to be working.

I had another dream recently, one that told me the next step. I'm not sure how that next step is supposed to go. For the first time, I will be going to a hypnotherapy session without having already a good idea of what will or will not work. I just know what I dreamed and what it means. I'm already connected with the right hypnotherapist and I can't wait for the next step!

.

My First Handfasting

2012-09-16T19:58:00.000-07:00

Back in July I was ordained on-line at the Universal Life Church Monastery. I've always wanted to be a minister, and now I am one! Granted, it seems like a strange way to go about it, but really I agree with the tenet of the church, which is simple and easy to remember: Freedom of religion as long as it does not harm anyone or interfere with the freedom of any other.

Not even half an hour later a line started forming for my services as an officiant. Not literally a line, but literally less than half an hour later I had my first person who was looking for an officiant. And then I got another, and then a third.

Then last Thursday I got a text from a friend, "our officiant canceled, would you be willing to do it instead? We have the words." I was planning to attend the wedding as a guest, instead I got to officiate. I don't have a very Pagan/Wiccan background and so my knowledge of handfasting was very close to zero. The only thing I knew about it was that my church had a certificate of handfasting that I could order. LOL

In renaissance garb, at the arboretum, we had a non-traditional non-denominational handfasting/wedding. I'm pretty sure that was the most fun I have ever had doing anything. Ever. Bring on the weddings!

In the Chair Day 3

2012-08-26T17:38:00.000-07:00

Although satisfied that something necessary was accomplished two weeks ago (In the Chair Day 2), I was not actually convinced that what I had wanted to accomplish had been accomplished. I knew there was energy work to be done, and I also suspected that the main thing I wanted cleared had not been cleared.

During a lovely visit with my mother I had an opportunity to do the energy work. That was pretty interesting, actually, because for the first time ever I found myself whining that clearing the energy block was going to hurt. A dark wedge had certainly been embedded pretty deeply, and it had been held in place by the rock that was destroyed in the chair, but ... did I really want to keep it just because getting rid of it might hurt? No. I reminded myself that what hurt was that it was there and once it was gone it wouldn't hurt. So that part got done relatively easily.

In my mind's eye, I could still see the person who went unnamed during my first trip to the chair. I was pretty sure that meant the person was still there, and I was planning to write and record a script for myself to finish this part of the work. That was when I received an email from the Southwest Institute of Healing Arts (affectionately known as SWIHA) notifying me that they had a hypnotherapy clinic coming up. Ta-daa! I did both my hypnosis and my Reiki training at SWIHA, I know how helpful it is to have clients during clinics, and so I usually try to be a client when I get an email. The timing couldn't have been better!

Plan A was to go ahead and write the script, then take it to SWIHA for the lucky therapist who drew my straw to read to me. But... aren't clinics supposed to be practice? Yes they are. Did I really want to interfere with that? No, not really.... Ok, fine, I decided to go with Plan B and trust that God and the Universe would provide the right hypnotherapist, and all would go well.

The short version: I got the right hypnotherapist and all went well. :-)

The details:

As per the usual, I met my hypnotherapist and observer in the lobby of the SWIHA Clinic. We went to our assigned space and got settled. I put the problem to the hypnotherapist. Said what had been accomplished already and what I felt was left to be accomplished. We discussed scripts - the hypnotherapist initially seemed a little uncomfortable with what I was after and would have been perfectly happy to read my script to me (had I actually prepared and taken one).

Instead, we discussed script options and what elements I considered key for any ad-libbing that might happen. That ad-libbing was, in fact, likely to be necessary. I felt we started out with something that we all (including the observer) believed would work. Yay for Plan B!

This time there was nothing for me to argue with. I followed along just as closely as I had in the previous session. In fact, I was following so closely that for a moment I seriously questioned whether I was hypnotized - but, once again, I passed more than one am-I-really-hypnotized test. (My eyes were glued shut, my arm was stuck down.)

When I reached the "house" that I was supposed to be reaching, it was actually a giant blue shoe with a red roof. "Ha!" Says my peanut gallery, "of course it was a shoe!" No, not of course. I found that quite annoying. There was an old woman who lived in a shoe.... I'm not the one with all the children! It was actually quite upsetting.

My hypnotherapist told me that I could change the outside to look however I wanted it to look. Oh! Yay! I made it as opposite as possible. A white clapboard house with green trim. There was still a toe sticking out on one side and a could see a bit of shoelace hanging down....

My hypnotherapist told me to look in the window. I didn't need to, I knew the stupid SHOE was in there. My hypnotherapist said there was a picture of me in there. Immediately the image of me in red was there. My hypnotherapist said it was an image of me when I was fit. The red image was quickly replaced with a different image. One I actually didn't expect, but certainly one that worked for me!

We went inside. We found all of the junk and clutter, and a person. Many people. But mostly the one person. We told that one person to leave. To leave and take everything that wasn't mine along with him. To leave and take all of his people along with him. To leave and not come back. The shoe sort of deflated and faded away.

When my hypnotherapist said that the person couldn't come back because he didn't have a key, I busted out grinning. Nothing has felt that fantastic in some time. He doesn't have a key! He can't come back! YAY!! It was a bit difficult to watch him walk out and away... but it was also a tremendous relief. Tremendous.

We did the clearing up, we made sure the room was clean and clear, and I was out before I could be counted out. Whoops, I maybe should have given warning about that - I typically come out of hypnosis quickly.

What a fantastic experience. I had the giddy feeling of release that I expected. The hypnotherapist had some additional suggestions for things that I hadn't thought of - including a follow-up at the next clinic. What a great idea! I'll be there!

Here's hoping some of my readers will be there too. It is always well worth the time to visit the SWIHA Hypnotherapy Clinic. But don't take MY word for it....
.

In the Chair Day 2

2012-08-12T11:37:00.003-07:00

On Monday I went to see Don Rice for an initial consultation (In the Chair Day 1). On Saturday (yesterday) I returned for my session. Today I feel capable of writing about my experience.

The fun thing about being a hypnotist getting help from a hypnotist is that the conscious mind can amuse itself by noticing the hypnotist's methods. Ha! Now there's a sentence for you.

Don doesn't use any methods that are different from the methods that I use, he just uses them differently. And that, to a hypnotist, is interesting. Of course, it can also be a little disconcerting. Instead of going happily off into relaxation and thinking whatever fluffy little thought comes along, my conscious mind decided to pay close attention to every single thing Don said or did while I was in the chair.

I enjoyed it tremendously. At no point did I lose track of what he was saying and hear the beginning of one sentence and the end of a different sentence as one statement. (A usual hypnosis experience that I, personally, find very annoying when I'm the client.) Instead, I followed along closely and could observe my own subconscious responses to the suggestions he was giving.

I admit to helping things along a little. "Am I really hypnotized?" I thought to myself. "I don't know," I thought back, "let's find out. Try to open your eyes, can you do it?" No. I couldn't. OK, there's a good indication that I've entered into hypnosis even if I think I might not have.

Even more helping: "Uh-oh, he doesn't know I'm allergic to roses. Well that's ok, every time he says 'roses', I'll just hear 'tiger lilies', that will get the same result." Any client can consciously make that type of a substitution without endangering the work that is being done.

I also admit to doing a good deal of critiquing. "Why is he saying it that way, it would make much more sense to me if he said it some other way. He's using the wrong words. How in the world is this supposed to work when he's using the wrong words? Just shut up and listen."

Critiquing is not the same as changing, and does not automatically mean rejection of the suggestions. On the contrary, it means that the conscious mind has found something interesting to do while the subconscious mind is busy taking the suggestions being made. It was probably my subconscious mind that added the thought "just shut up and listen".

Additionally, I got to police my own resistance. Resistance? You might ask, why would she have resistance? Like everybody else, the reason I needed outside assistance was solely due to a secret inner reluctance to make a specific change. Resistance shows up in lots of fun and interesting ways - for example, I slept right up until it was time to leave for the session. I woke with the thought that my appointment was already over (an outright lie), and had barely enough time to throw on some clothes and tear over to his office. As you can see, lower levels of resistance can be overcome by force of will. It's the really deep resistance that we need help with.

And I did have some deep resistance. "He's not saying a specific name, if he doesn't say the name, I don't have to do that part."

"Yes you do have to do that part, it's why we're here."

"Well I'm not going to."

"Yes you are."

At one point, my subconscious mind had received a suggestion to take a particular action, and to raise a finger when that action was completed. The action seemed to be completed, but my finger stayed put firmly. "Why isn't my finger lifting?"

"It isn't done"

"It looks like it's done"

"You can't see it any more"

Oh I can't, can't I? I took charge and let Don know that it had gone where I couldn't see it. With promptness he brought it back to where it could be completely resolved. My finger lifted, not with enthusiasm, but it did lift. Noting the lack of enthusiasm, Don verified that the work had been done, which it had.

Deep resistance is no match for deep hypnosis. I had gone very deep indeed, and with Don's fabulous assistance the job definitely got done.

That's the thing that is the most fun about hypnosis - everybody wins.

In The Chair Day 1

2012-08-06T17:59:00.004-07:00

If there is just one thing that I know about the art of healing it is that however much we can accomplish on our own, we simply can't do it all that way. If we could do it all ourselves, we would and there would be no need for healers! The category that I call "healers", by the way, includes all of the medical and psychiatric professions right along with counseling, as well as hypnotism, reiki, acupuncture, chiropractic, reflexology and all the rest. Truly if we could do it ourselves there would be no need for any of those options. So that's why when I had a dream that told me what needs to happen next, I made my own appointment with a hypnotist; we can't do it all ourselves.

Today was my initial consultation, and it was very different from how I do my initial consultations. (You see, there's an added benefit for me, since I get to learn something about how someone else approaches a session.) That's not a bad thing, simply the truth. I always have a very difficult time explaining myself and today was no exception to that. I have something specific that I want to accomplish. I know that it is related to something else, but it is not the something else that I am currently concerned with. That's difficult to explain.

But, it was an initial consultation. I got to be in the environment, talk with the hypnotist... oh yeah, and speaking of that! Like anybody else, I absolutely HATE having to talk about what is going on. I just want it to go away without having to explain it to or (shudder gasp) Feel it in front of someone else. Do my clients have the same difficulty? Oh yeah, they do. The number one thing that keeps people from getting help from a hypnotist is fear of being out of control. The number two thing is fear of making fools of themselves.

Hypnosis session on Saturday, can't wait to find out how it goes!

Bad Karma - No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

2012-07-30T18:17:00.003-07:00

I have returned from a fabulous trip to lovely Albuquerque, NM, but I had an adventure on the way there that I would like to vent about.

Heading north out of Phoenix on Friday afternoon I had one of those annoying experiences that I'm sure anyone who drives in Arizona has shared. In the right hand lane, traveling just over 75 mph, I caught up to a truck who was clearly not going 75 mph and had not been for some time. I moved left to pass said truck. Said truck immediately corrected the situation by accelerating to the same speed I was traveling. (The infamous, "you can't pass me because I'm not going slow" maneuver.)

So there we were, essentially corner to corner, but with perhaps half a car length between us in the forward direction. I held my position, because my experience has been that people who speed up so as not to be passed usually forget that they sped up simply to foil someone else, and drop down to their original speed in a matter of moments.

This was the situation when I saw in my rear view mirror that there was another truck approaching. I waited a little further but when truck #1 did not slow back down, I thought it would be considerate to move back over behind truck #1 so that truck #2 would not be boxed in when he caught up to us. You know, since we were going the same speed in different lanes.

Truck #2 caught up to us and moved left. He pulled up alongside my car and matched our speed. As soon as truck #2 was in position, truck #1 slowed back down. Of course. But... so did truck #2. I was understandably frustrated by this. We were the only three people for miles, for heaven's sake, did we really need to be going slower than the speed limit all within inches of each other? I turned and glared at the driver, who looked straight ahead without flinching. Fine.

Truck #2 then decided to increase speed by approximately 1 mph. As soon as the cab of his truck had inched past the windshield of my car, he MOVED OVER into my lane. Now I'm sure that he was bluffing, because I'm sure that he knew perfectly well I was there, having put me there himself, but on a curving mountain road at somewhere near 70 mph is it prudent and safe to assume that someone is bluffing and won't collide with you? It is not. I did the predictable, stomped on the brake, leaned on the horn and gave voice to some very unladylike phrases.

Truck #2 pretended not to notice and continued to move over until he was behind truck #1, who had slowed down even further when he heard the honking. As soon as he was all the way right and I was all the way behind him, truck #2 moved left again and resumed his original speed.

There had been enough time for me to notice the bumper stickers on this truck - "Once a Marine, Always a Marine", "Proud Veteran of the U. S. Marine Corps", etc. But not time enough for me to get the license plate number. So I caught up to our esteemed Marine Veteran just long enough to get a good view of the number. It was an AZ Veterans plate, 0R783 (maybe OR783).

First of all, how proud the armed forces must be to have someone like that representing them to the general public. Second of all, as much as I would have liked to stalk him to his destination and inflict some sort of damage, I did recognize the opportunity to leave his rude response to my courteous action to the karma police. Go get 'im, karma police.

For crying out loud.
.

Synchronicity

2012-07-26T22:34:00.002-07:00

Has anyone ever noticed the way sometimes things all seem to fall into place easily for everyone involved? What? You've all noticed that? Well go figure!

That unsettled feeling left for a while, but it's back. Things are changing. At least it seems like they're changing. Something is happening, anyway, and it isn't just me. When a coworker says, "things are strange lately" the day after a friend says that the ground is shifting, in the same week that I've had my own symptoms... well, it seems fair to say that we birds of a feather are experiencing something out of the ordinary.

Not just out of the ordinary - positively out of the ordinary! It seems to grow a little brighter.

Meanwhile, back on the ground... I had a dream. In the dream my mind seemed to be quite clearly telling me something. And so I have done what I encourage so many other people to do and booked an appointment with a hypnotist. You see, as a hypnotherapist, I have no excuse for any qualms I may be feeling - I know them for what they are: fear of change. But really, what else is there but change? Fearing it doesn't stop it. So in about 10 days I will take a deep breath and take my own advice.

As soon as I had that appointment set up, someone made an appointment with me. Coincidence? Perhaps....

Soul Groups

2012-07-22T07:15:00.001-07:00

Lately I have been thinking about the nature of soul groups. My short story book talks about my own group, and that has of course been the extent of my own knowledge. Recently I was in contact with someone who has a very different type of soul group to talk about. And there are books. Every group seems a little different, and yet we are all groups.

My group has been through, we believe, many lifetimes together. We have a definite structure, we each have a role to fill. But in this lifetime we are not organized as we have been in other lives. Nevertheless, we have a shared mission of healing. We heal as individuals and we also heal as a group. We do this by learning how to ground the new vibration.

There seems to be an interesting balance to be achieved between the individual and the group. I, for one, notice when the support from other group members is withdrawn from my own path. Regardless of whether I feel the path is that of our group, there comes always a point at which the other members decline to participate

What of other groups? Do they experience the same fluctuation? I suppose that they do. Some deep inner knowing tells me that other groups fare as we fare. Bring in the vibration, ground it in living it, support and don't support each other.

A group, loosely.

Build It!

2012-07-15T23:40:00.001-07:00

No more than five minutes after I clicked the button that made me an ordained minister, there was literally someone knocking on my door who needed a wedding officiant. As soon as I had a brick and mortar office to use for hypnosis and reiki, people started calling for appointments. Within weeks of publishing the first short story book about past lives and soul groups I was introduced to someone who might need the knowledge I feel prompted to share.

I've always heard that if you build it, they will come. Now I have evidence of that and I am encouraged to keep building. I am also encouraged to pass on the word - whatever your dream is, build it! They will come!

Only One of Me

2012-07-01T01:11:00.000-07:00

So much to do, and only one of me! Today I got my new glam hair style. I looked at houses, napped, talked with friends, and should be sleeping instead of typing. :-)

Now that I finally have a decent office space for my hypnosis practice it strikes me that I just might need to organize my hypnosis resources, so I've been doing that. Wow I have a lot of reference material. Which means, extra wow, I have been through a lot of training. So many interesting things can be done with hypnosis - I want to specialize in all of them!

My new certificates from the American Board of Hypnotherapists and the National Guild of Hypnotists have arrived and are ready to go in frames for display at the office. But I haven't yet updated my web site to include the link to the paper copy of the book at CreateSpace.

So much to do... and all of it so interesting and entertaining. Life is good. :-)

Thought Jam

2012-06-23T11:31:00.002-07:00

So many topics, so little time! I'm still working on meeting the challenge to provide 10 questions that relate my book to the topic of self-esteem. Don't get me wrong, I don't think it's difficult to make the link, I just find it more difficult than expected to make the link multiple times in multiple ways. It's a valuable exercise. Go ahead and try it - take your pet hobby and find 10 ways to link it to improving self-esteem. I'll be interested to know how it goes, too, so be sure to let me know! :-)

Meanwhile, in soul group news, I hear that help is on the way. That would be so awesome. I've been experiencing a sense of anticipation and having some invisible conversations. An invisible conversation is what I call talking with someone who clearly isn't there physically, but who just as clearly is there. And I don't mean while walking down a public street pushing a shopping cart full of treasured belongings. At any rate, publishing the first book shifted the flow and help is on the way. Exciting!

Help won't come a second too soon, either, as I have been feeling unusually unsettled for the last few weeks. Paradigm shifts are all very well in concept, but in practice I find they tend to be disruptive and challenging (as well as intensely crabby) periods. I truly dislike being unsettled.

Hypnosis

2012-06-16T08:41:00.001-07:00

So I want to talk about hypnosis for a minute. Just for a minute, because anybody interested in the subject can immediately find many excellent references just by typing "hypnosis" into the Google search engine. There is a ton of information out there. Of course, most of it is repetitive, because hypnosis actually isn't a large topic. Many different people offer hypnosis services. Hypnosis itself, however, remains the same.

As is to be expected, there are differing schools of thought on how hypnosis services should be offered and used. One school says that only trained psychologists should be allowed to hypnotize people, because only psychologists have the proper training to appropriately handle whatever comes up for a patient under hypnosis. Another argues that since hypnosis is a natural state, one that can be self-induced, a psychology degree is not necessary. A third school considers only the entertainment value of hypnosis. All three of these schools of thought do agree that some sort of training is necessary.

And I agree with that. It is important to know the fundamentals, such as what questions to ask someone before the hypnotic session begins and what explanations to give. The basic workings of the human mind, how to identify and verify the hypnotic state, how to elicit information without asking suggestive questions (or, in the case of entertainment, how to make amusing suggestions), and how to address whatever comes up for the client are all very important.

Certification with any of the main hypnosis bodies indicates basic training levels. Renewed certification demonstrates a commitment to continued learning and education. Personally, I have found that hypnosis training outside of mainstream degree programs tends to be based on the idea that the certified are somehow still lacking. They don't know enough, or they don't know it well enough, or they only think in boxes. I agree that we need to expand our views, but I don't agree that is because of some fundamental weakness in our initial viewpoint.

My certifications have lapsed during the time that I have been learning to work at a nuclear power plant. But since I have now produced the first book and am working on the second, with all of what comes with that, I am about to go bring my certifications up to date. After all, I need to demonstrate my commitment!
.

The Fast Lane

2012-06-09T10:20:00.000-07:00

Wow, life sure started moving quickly! The Nook version of the book is out, and I'm on the last round of proofs for the paper copy. I think the paper copy will have to be too expensive, just to cover printing costs, but still it's good to have it out there. And I'm working on the second book. whee!

My idea is to update this blog weekly - the only possible way to keep it up and keep my day job. But I neglected to post last weekend in favor of upgrading my web site. The host I use is hostbaby (because I started with the CD, so music made sense), and they just updated their site builder. There are some things I'm not thrilled with about how the new site works, but I do like the new look! www.mmmhypno.com

I'll be doing an interview on an achieve.com radio show soon as well. The focus of the show is building your self-esteem and recognizing the power within you, and I say that sometimes self-esteem issues have roots in past lives. Truly, the power lies within. Yale, the host, is a coworker who read a proof copy of the book and liked it well enough to agree to interview me. I am very excited about this!

The prednisone experience sent me to see my nutritionist at the beginning of the week (which I was planning to do anyway but not getting around to in a timely manner). He's amazing, and I already feel much better. So I'm back on track with the physical healing part of my life. Part of grounding the new vibration, bringing in the light, is getting the spiritual and mental in balance with the physical. At least that's how it is for me.

So there's my week!

A New Phase

2012-05-25T12:33:00.001-07:00

Wow, another year gone with nothing much said by me. It turns out that learning how to be an engineering tech sr in reactor engineering at a nuclear power plant is a rather consuming business. Lately there are signs, however, that I've assimilated the bulk of it all and can now begin adding back pieces of the rest of my life.

God slowed me down for a couple of months with a respiratory ailment, and while I'm glad to say that I'm over it now and ready to return to work, I'm also very glad I had the time to recharge spiritually as well as physically. I got to do some reconnecting with friends, a LOT of reading on my favorite esoteric topics... and I self-published a short story on Amazon.

Ha! I never know what's going to come next. I was reading Mystic Christianity, by William Walker Atkinson (also known as Yogi Ramacharaka), when it came to me again that I need to publish the past life stories on Amazon. I had the awareness that I could publish them as individual stories instead of trying to compile one large book. And so I did.

I've always intended to publish, of course, and so all along I have been working on getting each unfolding written in a polished form. Therefore when it suddenly became time, I was actually mostly ready.

In fact, the same is true of all of my metaphysical pursuits. Over the years I have built a framework, and so whenever it is time to use that framework, there it is. Hopefully I can keep up with myself this time!

Kindle Version. Paperback and Nook versions coming soon!

Another Year

2010-02-22T20:46:00.002-07:00

Wow. So my best friend dredged this blog up to remind me, and I'm astonished to find that it's been more than a year...

The Laveen BBQ had meat this year and went extremely well. It was, in fact, raining everywhere else in the valley. As I drove to the BBQ I found that there was a hole in the clouds above and all of Laveen was in sunshine.

I'm still trying to build a practice and it's still slow going. I have what seems to be the prospect of a job, but they haven't called yet. I'm going to start attending networking events to see if I can find something other than 8 hrs/week of tutoring math.

Bees and roadrunners have been showing up - generally telling me to make plans and stick with them. Hope that's true!

2009-03-02T19:34:00.005-07:00

I LOVE my new Kindle2. Love it. I've done more reading in the last three days than I probably have in a month. It's a fascinating toy. I'm sure the fascination will wear off, but when it does I'm equally sure that it'll be just as awesome in a different way. I mean, once I'm used to using it, I can tell I won't be aware of it. Reviewers say that it "disappears when you're reading", which is as it should be. But I confess that it isn't really disappearing to me right now because I'm having too much fun with buttons and gizmos.

My favorite things:

The ability to highlight and annotate. Really well done Kindle books, I find, have all sorts of navigational links built right in. But if they don't, I can make up for that with the highlighter. And if I have thoughts I can digitally jot them right in using the keyboard, which is astonishingly easy to use compared to texting on a cell phone.
Wireless shopping! And sample chapters! I can download the first chapter to see if I like the style of writing, and I can keep that sample for as long as I like. I can also put something on my "save for later" list. I can shop right at the Amazon Kindle store, although I find that a little cumbersome and prefer to shop at Amazon. I wish I could have an on-line wish list that would transfer to my "save for later" list, maybe that's coming.
Portability. To the people who insist that nobody needs to drag a reference library around with them I say this: What sort of boring life are you leading, anyway?? My first downloads were all of my favorite references that are available in Kindle format. The psychic fair on Saturday was extremely slow, and my helper and I entertained ourselves by looking up animals and reading dream meanings. We were about to break out Heal Your Body and start diagnosing symptoms, but someone stopped to talk to us, so we didn't make it. Can I do that without a Kindle? Only if I'm dragging a ton of books around with me everywhere I go. The Kindle weighs nothing (relatively speaking), and fits in my purse!
How easy it is to use. The interface is very intuitive, and the instructions are very clear for anything less than intuitive. There are features that I haven't tried yet, but the dictionary and search functions are fantastic. Particularly when combined with the ability to highlight, bookmark, and annotate.
Battery life - even with being on line, I just now got the low battery warning. And I already know that I can read while it charges. Awesome!

Have I mentioned, yet, that I really really LOVE this gadget? :-)

.

2009-02-22T21:52:00.008-07:00

Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans. I planned to refinish the tub, drive to Albuquerque for a week, and drive back.

Instead, I applied the first coat of finish, and then drove to Deming to retrieve my mother from a hospital after her car rolled around on I-10. She's fine. Nothing broke. Some bruises, some minor scratches, that's it. I am thankful.

Deming, I learned, is a five hour drive from Tempe. We stopped for a nap outside of Tucson on the way back. I tried to apply the second coat of bathtub finish within the specified timeframe, but it turned out that I was tired and befuddled, so really what I did was screw it all up. I'll have to get another kit and start the whole process over. But at least the first coat was decent and it corrects the problem I set out to correct.

We drove back to Lordsburg on Friday to get all of my mother's belongings out of her car. The wedding cake smells like cake but looks like paste inside its cooler. In stark contrast to that, we took four bottles of champagne from the car intact. There was only one wine bottle that broke so that the car and my mother reeked of alcohol. All of the wine soaked contents of my mother's car are now sitting aromatically in the trunk of my car. The car was a Subaru Forrester.

We also drove back to the crash site to make sure there wasn't anything left there and generally look at it. The cop was there taking measurements for his report, and so he walked us through the scene. That was probably a good thing, but I did find it stressful. I took plenty of pictures, but didn't think the skid marks and trenches and broken fence posts would photograph well with my cell phone and so don't have any to post here yet.

Since I'm not in Albuquerque like I thought I'd be, I was able instead to do some work this weekend. Provided party services on Saturday night, worked with a great hypno client on Sunday afternoon.

I am so tired... and I can't use my bathtub until Tuesday!
.

2009-02-15T23:00:00.002-07:00

So about that surprise block party... I suppose if either of us were sports fans my friend and I would not have been surprised, considering that the All-Star game was here today. We did figure out the overall theme and put it all together. But how fun is it to think you're doing one thing and find yourself at a block party instead? If you don't know, I'll tell you - it was fun. :-)

Today I was a useless blob all day and then I realized that I should be getting my bathtub ready for refinishing and became a frenzy of activity at 9:30 pm. Really it's absurd. Better than it was for a while there, but still a very unstable schedule.

Therefore, even though I've been planning a post in my head about disembodied spirits in general and the finer points of exorcism using hypnotherapy methods, today is not the day. Maybe tomorrow.

There. That should make you tune in!
.

2009-02-13T18:09:00.004-07:00

Once in the stillness of a lazy day she turned from him and walked away. His hand reached not to keep her there; her back to him, she did not care.

There in the shadow as she found her way she moved along on feet of clay. His voice called not for her return; a sound for which she did not yearn.

Once in the tempest of a storm-tossed night she ran from him headlong full flight. His eyes looked not to see her go; her back to him, she did not know.

Clear through the woods her heart did sing, she rushed along on feet with wings. And when at last she did take flight... all the wrongs at once came right.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Oddly, I find that things I wrote ten years ago or so are all true today. Prophetic without realizing it... or could it be manifesting?
.

2009-02-08T19:09:00.002-07:00

So about that BBQ free Laveen Pit BBQ... it has been dubbed the Lavegan Pit BBQ. I can't imagine how disappointing it would be for the organizers, vendors and performers to have the pig come out of the pit the wrong temperature. They couldn't serve it, and so we had the option of eating rolls, slaw, beans and cookies, or taking ourselves somewhere else. And that's how we ended up at a Red Brick eating pizza four hours after we thought we were going to be eating BBQ.

Four hours later because of course we still caroused the stalls, such as they were, and checked out the old cars and took the kiddies in the group on rides. I found a hot pink bracelet that matches the hot pink earrings I happened to be wearing. And also a couple of neat things to give to my mother.

So I worked most of yesterday, and got to spend some quality time doing fun things with friends today. Life is good! :-)
.

2009-02-08T01:24:00.004-07:00

Sunday, February 8, 2009 - 2 am (or so)

I love psychic musicians. True, that might sound like a sweeping generality, and maybe it is. However, I can't help noticing that almost all of the best relationships I have are with musically inclined people who are very far over on the intuitive side of things. Let's count.

My musician. (I call him that even though really he doesn't belong to me at all.) The greatest gift I ever received while working in the soul-destroying life-sucking career field. At any rate, he's a musician. Plus! We have dreams that we both remember. I call them spirit dreams.

My piano teacher. No, she isn't teaching me to play piano, that would be a losing proposition. She's a friend and she teaches piano to people who actually have some aptitude for the instrument. And yet! I met her in hypnotherapy class. She's extremely intuitive although she does not consider herself psychic, but she definitely belongs on this list.

My friend the closet dancer. Forget it, she isn't dancing in your closet! She's from a very musical background, and although she doesn't play an instrument she has dance in her blood the way musicians have music in theirs. Most dancing works out better with music so I say she counts, and guess where we met. That's right! HypnoBirthing® class. She's at least as much of a whackadoo as I am. At Least.

My legal eagle friend. We met in a way that had nothing to do with hypnotherapy. At a spiritual gathering, in fact. And she plays an instrument. And she's very intuitive indeed. Not to mention her very strong focus on healing work.

So I think the odds are very good that what I need in a relationship is a psychic musician! Glad I finally got that sorted out!

Perhaps I should consider calling it a night. What a day, though - I participated in a wellness fair by providing Reiki treatments on a donation basis, and I went straight from there to birthday party where I was the tarot reader. I thought the band was great, but unfortunately what I was doing forced me to tune a lot of it out. It takes a little while to wind down after a full day - but I have a little four-footed friend stomping all over me and insisting that it's time for bed. He's usually right, so off we go!
.

2009-02-04T13:16:00.002-07:00

What I'm really appreciating about this new lifestyle is the way that every time I start to feel like a complete slacker, I find something to do so that I don't feel that way.

I slept too much yesterday. I was feeling sluggish and disgusted by that, when I had the thought that maybe it was time to write more of the castle story. I tend to forget that the sleep disorder was related to that. So I sat down and wrote. The story could use more polishing, but the whole thing is now down in black and white. I'm aware that I could fill in more detail but find myself deeply reluctant to do so. Which is fine with me. What I have done has been difficult enough.

I spent some time looking into publication methods. I thought I wanted to go the traditional get an agent route, but maybe not. Maybe one of the hybrid methods would be good. Fortunately I don't feel the need to actually decide until the book has been written. I got started with the modern day chapters and realize that it's going to take some work to get my story organized into a clear presentation of my ideas.

On another note, what a great super bowl game! I'm not really a sports fan. I don't follow anything, don't watch it on television... but this year I really wanted to watch the super bowl. Maybe because of the miracle of the Cardinals having made it that far. And you know, it was a good game. I couldn't help noticing that the Steelers are roughly 10% larger in physical size than the Cardinals. And even though they couldn't hold the lead, I thought it was very impressive that the Cardinals even took the lead. It was a good showing and they have nothing to be ashamed of. Okay, maybe the personal fouls were a little OTT, but whatever. Go Cards!
.

2009-01-31T10:32:00.002-07:00

It's amazing the way gratitude and loving one's life vanish when a cold arrives on the scene. I've been fighting it off for over a week, I thought successfully, but it appears that I'm succumbing after all dagnabbit. Well it won't be bad and it won't last. So there.

Today's horoscope says to let someone know how I feel before it's too late, because I've been sending mixed messages and the other person doesn't know how important they really are. Huh. I can't really imagine that... and if I could imagine it, I have no idea who it would be that I've been confusing so. So much for today's horoscope! I think I'll take the opportunity to learn how to read tea leaves instead.

I sent out feelers for a super bowl party. Everybody knows I don't care for football and don't have a television, but for some odd reason this year I want to watch. Maybe because of the miracle that makes the Cardinals one of the teams. Maybe because I'm finally over having football rammed down my throat in stereo all those years ago. Whatever the reason, I'd like to watch this year, surely there is a party I can crash.
.

2009-01-30T10:26:00.013-07:00

I think I must have forgotten what it feels like to be alive. There's nothing like a blood sucking soul destroying job for killing any inkling of joy, gratitude, freedom... So when it returns it's like a miracle. Nowadays I wake up grateful and looking forward to my day. There are moments when I actually love my life. Good grief, I had lost my belief that it was even possible to love my life!

We have recorded our second CD, Healing Rain. I'm not sure how I feel about this one, but I know that I cried after recording it, so I'm pretty sure the script works. :) As if it wasn't enough to cry after recording, I cried again when we played it through to get the voice/music balance worked out. Good thing Randall knows how to be kindly entertained by a sniffling girl. We also learned with this session that we need to start every session with some sort of invocation or Randall's computer will crash repeatedly and none of his files will appear on the file list. As soon as we asked for assistance everything was fine for the duration, thank you Azrael. I think we're on to something.

But enough about the second CD, what is important to note is that we are finally starting to earn money on the first CD! Back in November, someone listened to one track on Napster, and as a result, in January we have $0.011 in the bank! Yes you read that right! $0.011

If the road to riches is paved with pennies, we are definitely on that road! :-D

My house has suddenly become much more organized and orderly, and any day now I'll have to start pursuing methods of garnering actual income. I know that clients are coming any day now!
.

2009-01-24T20:48:00.007-07:00

At last I have more things to say than I have time and space to type them. I'm always surprised by the length of my entries - it's the short version! It is! I swear!

I am excited to have a recording session scheduled for tomorrow. We've been trying for three months to put the second album together and it's thrilling to finally be there. Not that we've sold any copies of the first one yet, but that's a minor detail. We have a body of work that is waiting for us to present it, we can see it stretching out in front of us, and we know that it is ours. We should get on with it already. Poor Randall, I am always so impatient. He's not exactly what I would call a saint, but he is tolerant of me.

I am also excited to have a past life regression session scheduled for tomorrow. I learned some things with my surprise past life and I think it's time to address something else in the same way. One of my friends told me that in his experience there are physical symptoms that occur before a past life spontaneously surfaces. I had physical symptoms for a week before my surprise experience - I couldn't wake up, I was freezing, I had morning sickness. Morning sickness. There was no way, it was so confusing. But in retrospect it does seem reasonable that the recall of being poisoned and buried alive while in the first trimester of a pregnancy in another lifetime would lead to queasiness, sleepiness, and coldness in this lifetime.

So lately one of my eyes has been bothering me. Not just the eye, though, that whole side of my face, on down into my neck, shoulder, and upper arm. I keep having an image of something that seems extremely violent and that is probably related. Not that I want to visit another nasty rotten experience... but I would like to have my eye back.

I think the way it all works is amazing, simply amazing. The ability to heal is such a blessing, even when the process sucks. My agreement with God has always been that I will do whatever it takes to heal, and yet I was skeptical, I didn't believe, I sat on the fence... and now I am led to share Truth as I know it. My past life regression book will be a great book, it really will.

I bet this post is long already, and I'm not really finished....
.