April 21, 2011: Start with yourself

Hola, All! As I was reading the book "The Intuitive Spark" by Sonia Choquette, a particular paragraph jumped out at me. It brought back to mind about how I was raised which affected how my children were raised.
" If you are extremely goal oriented, evaluate your self worth by your performance, and don't tolerate slipups, then chances are that your kids will also strive for success in the same way in order to gain your approval. This kind of upbringing creates extremely anxious children, making it very tought for them to access their intuition, because whenever we're afraid, our distress overrides our inner voice or completely drowns it out. As a result, we grow up listening to our fears instead of our heart."
I can relate to how my self worth was related to my performance in school, etc; how I started having headaches in high school, never realizing it was the stress I put on myself; how my intuition was shut down for years; and how I listened to my fears instead of my heart. None of this could I have verbalized for years, and yet, looking back, this one paragraph from Sonia's book seems to sum up most of my life pretty well. I can't tell you how thankful I am for the people, books and experiences in my life that started changing my perception of myself, because that's where it has to start. I love the song by Michael Jackson........."I'm starting with the man in the mirror, I'm asking him to change his ways, And no message could have been any clearer,......take a look at yourself, then make a change". What great lyrics; we can even learn lessons from songs! I hope everyone knows that each of us is worthy of the best that life can offer. That all of us, no matter what religion or no religion, are children of an abundant God Who always showers us with His Love. To forgive ourselves is one of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves and others. And, to connect with our intuition, is really connecting with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, which is in all children of God.
Pay attention to your inner guidance,
Dawnie

April 21, 2011: Workshop

Hola, All! In February I signed up to do a workshop called 'Guidance from Above' at Cathedral of Light; the workshop was supposed to take place April 16. Then, things started happening in my life...........such as cracking and having my tooth yanked out, my mom breaking her hip and having to go to rehab,and Kim and Austin visiting for two weeks. The last one was the only one that was pleasurable! I started feeling that I was going to have to cancel the workshop. That feeling became reality when I realized that I was going to have to pick mom up from the rehab in Round Rock and take her to a very nice assisted living/memory center in Belton. Of course, this happened the same week as my workshop. At that point, I cancelled the workshop, thinking that possibly I could do it at a later date. I wasn't upset because I needed to put all of my positive energy on having a pleasant experience moving mom to another place that she was going to have to adjust to. I'm sure it must be hard for someone who's memory is right on some days and out the window on other days. Last July she moved into the retirement center, after having lived in the same house for almost 40 years. Then she broke her hip and was moved from the hospital to the rehab center; now, another adjustment but this time she will be behind locked doors. That is why I needed all the positive energy that I could muster. After moving mom, I was drained for 2 days, and was so glad that I had the foresight to cancel the workshop. But, at Toastmasters on April 16, I gave an impromtu speech about Guidance from Above! I cancelled the workshop only to give an extremely short (7 minute) speech on the same topic. That was really fun! I gave the workshop no more thought until today. This morningI attended a book study, 'The Way of Mastery' which is led by Rev Kay, an 85 year young very wise woman who speaks to and hears from Jesus regularly. All during class I thought that she was looking at me more than usual. Of course, she makes eye contact with eveyone in the class; it just seemed different to me today. Maybe it's because I wanted to talk to her about things that were on my mind. After class I hung around to tell her that I wanted to visit with her sometime. But, even before I could say anything, she hugged me and told me that my workshop wasn't cancelled, only postponed. I was taken aback because the workshop wasn't even on my mind. Then, she repeated that Jesus had told her that it wasn't the right time for my workshop and that it would happen at a later date! I can't tell you how good it felt to have the workshop validated! I plan to visit with Rev Kay next week, and I'm sure that we will have a delightful time getting to know each other.
Listen to your inner voice,
Dawnie

April 14, 2011: Tooth

Hola, All! Several weeks ago, 2 days after mom fractured her hip, one of my molars cracked. When I went to see Dr. Jackson, the kindest dentist one could ask for, we talked about putting a crown on it........that would be the 7th crown in my mouth! I really wasn't in any pain, which was good since he didn't have a block of time to do it for 2 days. While at home a thought lightly crossed my mind about losing that tooth, but I dismissed it, not wanting to even think about that option. One suggestion that Dr. Jackson made was to bring my MP3 player and listen to music, or for me, to listen to meditative cd's. That was an excellent idea! The morning of my next visit Dr. Jackson talked to me about how he had to pull the part of the tooth that had broken but was still attached to the root. After he gave me a shot on either side of the tooth, he pulled the broken piece, only to tell me that the root was dead. He said, in his opinion, that I now had 2 options: to go ahead and crown the tooth or to pull it, which was his recommendation. He told me that this very same thing happened to his best friend, who elected to crown the tooth, only to have the tooth die 6 months later, and then it had to be pulled, which translated to more pain in the mouth. Not really taking any time to think about it, and feeling that I had already been told intuitively what to do, I agreed that it had to come out. He was surprised that I made that decision so quickly, but thankfully, I had already been 'warned'. For some reason, Dr. Jackson always refers the pulling of teeth to an oral surgeon, maybe because of complications that could occur....I don't know. , Dr. Steele, a kind man with an unhurried air about him, had an opening at 2pm. Truly I was hoping to go straight to the oral surgeon while my mouth was numb, but that didn't happen. My good friend, Jan B, drove me to and from my next appointment, since I had no idea if I would leave there loopy or not. After receiving 2 more shots, and given gas (which I have never had before), Dr. Steele pulled the molar but it really sounded like he ripped it out of my mouth! Almost the whole time at both offices I listened to a meditative relaxation cd over and over, plus I asked that Archangel Raphael surround me in his healing light. I know that Jesus was in the room with me also. I believe these are the reasons that I didn't have much pain afterwards, and that the hugh hole in my mouth healed so nicely. With graditude, Dawnie