Yard Sale Season is Here

With the advent of the cooler weather, garage sale season is starting. Just sharing some fun finds to start off the season.

An older woman was selling her mother's lace, some of it is antique and some handmade in the 1930's. She sold the whole lot for $0.25.



Here's Jasmine playing with her new microscope--a la rummage sale.

Freedom and Vision

I did go back to Lola's website and somehow it helped me make a major shift. First, I read her biography in which she started doing art very recently in her life. Her vision of art is the same as mine has become. And because I am so ready to shift in this area, I find reason to everywhere. So...I'm ready to take my art and music seriously.

Lola Jones' painting White Cranes

Most importantly, I got it. I don't think it was specifically something I read but...it hit me. I am God. I've said this affirmation "I am a Divine manifestation of God" more than a thousand times in the last 5 years, but I didn't really get it. I am God. And I can relax and enjoy life. Finally.

My vision of my best life is coming more and more into focus and is more beautiful than I could ever imagine. And that's my job--to imagine it.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And of course thank me.

Isn't Art Democratic? The Importance of Self Initiation

Our homeschool group has decided to do a craft or project each month led by a different parent. This month Jaime led the group in making Thanksgiving banners. I dropped Jaz and the supplies off and ran back home to finish up something. By the time I returned, Jaz was well on her way to creating her own banner. The other mother's were quite impressed--I think particularly by her initiative. All the other families with younger children were working together with mom directing the action.

Jasmine's thanksgiving banner

One of the many gifts of natural learning--sometimes called unschooling--is the ability to initiate and complete a project of one's own choosing. This is complete opposition to way children "learn" in school. Virtually, every moment is directed by the teacher and even when the students have a choice, it is a very limited one.

Because of her experience with natural learning, Jasmine sometimes comments about art projects she's done at summer camp or Brownies, "They made us do it." She understands already that compulsion is the antithesis of true creativity.

Jasmine went to public school for 4 months last year on her own initiative. And so I found myself entering the school setting for first time in many years. Every day, as I entered campus to pick up Jasmine, the words "passive consumption" came to my mind. I was struck by the way the children just passively sit and consume whatever the teacher tells them. It's strikingly different from a life lived learning in freedom. Left to their own devices children are active initiators of their own learning.

Maybe because I knew the art teacher and watched her struggling with "behavior problems", I was really struck by the incongruity of art being taught in a dictatorial system. Is this really art? Being told when to turn on, when to turn off, and exactly how?

I picture art being taught in a democratic school. The art room is stocked and available to students whenever they want to do art. The teacher is available to help student with technique etc if they ask for it. Isn't this a much more beautiful vision'than what public schools offer our children?

To learn more about democratic schools, start by visiting The Sudbury Valley School on-line. They have numerous articles and book chapters to read. Their book A Legacy of Trust: Life After the Sudbury Valley School Experience by Daniel Greenberg and Mimsy Sadofsky was influencial on my path to natural learning. It is a compilation of research and surveys done on graduates of Sudbury Valley School. Reading it helps put to rest any nagging worries about college and adult success for those of us who choose to allow our children to determine their own educations.

Connie Talbot and other Favorites

Here are some of Jasmine's favorite movies.




Yod-a-ley-hey-hey!!!

Opening to Love for Myself

I've been focused almost completely inward for two or three days. I'm really seeing how vicious and cruel I am to myself. I've been practicing loving myself and doing a lot of Ho'oponono and suddenly I began loving myself fiercely. I am going to love myself no matter what. I will love myself--and fiercely--no matter what I eat. I will love myself if I grow as big as a barn. I will love myself if I never clean the back patio, if I never clean anything again. I will love myself if I play computer games, even if that's all I do for a year. There is nothing I can do that can stop me from loving myself. What a beautiful miracle!

Recently, I posted some about my relationship with music, and truth be told I've always wanted to be a musician. I've never told anyone this and only since I've been on the LOA path have I admitted it to myself because I don't believe I have any talent. And we all know about self-fulfilling beliefs.

During this inward time, a memory came to me. As a teenager, I loved classical music. My mother did not like music and I was not allowed to listen to music at any kind of volume. I did not have my own stereo, so I spent hours laying on the floor with my ear pressed against the household stereo listening to my dad's classical records. Even now I'm realizing that we--my sisters and I--played Disney albums (e.g. Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book) fairly loudly, so maybe it was just me who couldn't listen to music I liked except with ear pressed to speaker. Looking back at it as a mother, it's hard to believe trying to thwart your own daughter's passions--esp for something as benign as classical music.

At this same time, I started playing the piano again. I'd had lessons when I was younger until I wanted to quit them. (That's another story.) My mother hated for me to play. Fortunately, my father loved it. He even got her to tune the piano; I was the only one using it at that point. Yes, I came by it honestly, not supporting myself in what I love. And, again, it is time for me to love and support myself.

This evening Jasmine was off at a Halloween Carnival and I was inspired to check up on unschoolingmiracles, an e-mail list I love but have not visited for many months. And, lo and behold, I found what I needed to hear. Both of the following are quotes from Arnold Patent's book, The Journey; the second was posted as what a member started her day off saying.

There is no one as powerful as a person who feels loved and supported.

I absolutely adore who I am!
I am totally enchanted with every aspect of my life!
I fully appreciated the richness and support each event of my day brings!
And, I consistently allow myself to feel the Love the Universe showers upon me, and all else, in this beautiful, infinite day!

Some people I respect on the list are also into Lola, so I followed a link to her website. It looks about right for me now. If so, I'm sure I'll get back there soon.

Jaz has been busy with a Brownie service project, a dance performance, getting ready for Halloween, learning about Gypsies, learning to knit, watching Shakespeare plays and numerous other things. This morning I turned her onto a You Tube video of a child singer. She spent the morning curled up in a blanket watching You Tube videos of child stars; a perfect way to spend a blustery day. She's preparing her own post with videos that inspired her and this evening she stretched as I read to her. She then made a list of things she wants to do tomorrow; stretch and exercise, practice singing, work on a story she's writing, etc. Suddenly she is ambitious.

Allowing music and dance

Exercise is easily entering into the rhythm of my life and I am so glad. It was past time. Today I jogged/walked around the park a few times after our homeschool group met and this evening danced Gabrielle Roth's 5 Rhythms. I haven't done this in so long and it was wonderful. The 5 Rhythms are Flowing, Stacatto, Chaos, Lyrical, and Stillness. Dancing these 5 rhythms in that order is always an amazing experience. I feel so refreshed, alive, and lighter when I'm done. At times in the past, I danced them often. I also play the rhythms on the piano or guitar, which is extremely freeing. I haven't done that in a while either. Here's some clips so you can experience it a bit:






I just found out a friend of mine here is into dancing the 5 Rhythms and there's this lovely space to dance just a block away at the Curley School (a historic old school remodeled as artist live/work apartments) that hardly gets used. I'm going to see if I can get something going. And Jasmine loves dancing the rhythms, too. Yes, thank you. It's lovely when our interests intersect.

I've been hoping music would enter the rhythm of my life easily also. And I guess it is in a way. I've been drawn to read Hazrat Inayat Khan's Music. It is confirming for me what I want out of playing music. I've always been drawn to playing music, but I don't have the natural talent of hearing a piece of music and playing it. I've always improvised, allowing the music to just flow. I love doing it, it is so healing although shutting off my inner critic sometimes is not so easy. BUT--and it's a big but--I have never thought of myself as a musician or having any musical talent because I don't play songs. AND I've always yearned to be a musician or take my music more seriously. AND because I don't take my passion seriously, I think it's a "waste of time" to play.

Lately, I've been realizing that maybe the reason I don't have anatural talent for playing songs I hear is that is not the type of music I'm to play. And truth be told, even though I prefer playing the soundscapes I do, I could easily get caught up in the world of playing songs. It's probably--OK, most certainly--just the way it's supposed to be.

I've also been reading, realizing, and accepting that playing improvised music is the perfect thing for me to do. The Hazrat Inayat Khan book is so meaingful to me right now and isn't it amazing that it's been on my bookshelf for something like 4 years and I never read it until now. Here's another fabulous piece I read today from Hazrat Inayat Khan's Music:

The music of the universe is the background of the small picture which we call music. Our sense of music, our attracion to music, shows that there is music in the depth of our being. Music is behind the working of the whole universe. Music is not only life's greatest object, but it is life itself. Hafiz, the great and wonderful Sufi poet of Persia, says, "Many say that life entered the human body by the help of music, but the truth is that life itself is music". What made him say this? He referred to a legend which exists in the East and which tells how God made a statue of clay in His own image, and asked the soul to enter into it; but the soul refused to be imprisioned, for its nature is to fly about freely and not to be limited and bound to any sort of capacity. The soul did not wish in the least to enter this prison. Then God asked the angels to play their music, and as the angels played the soul was moved to ecstasy, and through that ecstasy in order to make the music more clear to itself, it entered this body. And it is told that Hafiz said, "People say that the soul, on hearing that song, entered the body; but in reality the soul itself was song!"

...this legend reveals to us...that the only reason why the soul has entered the body of clay or matter is to experience the music of life, and make this music clear to itself.

Really, I thought it was to worry about getting the house clean. LOL

A magical moment I want to share from our homeschool park day--the three teenage girls spontaneously organized games for the younger children. Here they are playing Red Rover, Red Rover.



....and sometimes a girl's just has to dress up as a medival princess.

The Best Day Ever 2

We've been often getting watermelons in our CSA shares for months now. I cut up the whole watermelon into chunks putting it in one big container and then cut up the rind in another. Then I can just grab some melon for breakfast or some rind for a salad. This morning, as I cut up a watermelon, I remembered that today is the best day ever, and instead of being a task, I appreciated the abundance and wonder of the watermelon.


I watched the rest of Hamlet (a very long movie) with Jaz and finished up several half-finished blog posts while Jasmine organized her CDs. And then lunch and off to the park for Girl Scouts. We got there early and I sat in the sun to read while Jaz played. It's so nice to be out.

I remember it was the best day ever and felt the tenderly beautiful kiss of the sun, while I read this from Music by Hazrat Inayat Khan:

Some Sufis who adopt a certain method of progress on the spiritual path...are known as dervishes. [They] have great powers of wonder-working and of insight. The are dreamers and lovers of God. The worship God in nature, especially in human nature. Among many ways of spiritual development they have one called Suma, which is listening to music. They listen to music in an assembly of the initiated...[and] address on another saying, "O king of kings, O sovereign of all sovereigns'' and are mostly clad in patched robes or in rags. They are the ones who are really entitled to enjoy the beauty of music; whose spirit and soul are responsive, with open centres, who make themselves into a medium of resonance for the music they hear: wherefore music touches them differently from any other people: music touches the deepest part of their being. Thus moved by music, they manifest various states. Anyone among them who is moved by the spirit may manifest ecstasy, Wajad, in the form of tears, sighs, or dance.

But one can learn from this the theory of the whole process of their spiritual development. By making God their Beloved, and by seeing God in the sublimity of nature, they created the presence of God....

At the community center where Jasmine's Brownie Troop meets, there is a small workout room with a weight machine and several treadmills, stationary bikes etc. As I ran on a treadmill, I remember it was the best day ever and instead of watching the readouts and thinking about how much farther to push myself, I enjoyed running into my best life surrounded by love. And when 3 other people showed up (the weight machine can only handle two) instead of grumbling to myself about not getting to use the machines I want when I want, I remembered these women are Queen of Queens and enjoyed their presence.

After girl scouts, I sat and read some more while Jaz played.

The musicians of India devote twelve hours or more of the day to the practice of different rhythms, improvising on them. And in the end they produce a psychological effect which is not music but magic; a magic that can thrill a person and that can penetrate the heart of man. It is a dream, a mediation; it is paradise. When hearing it, one feels one is in a different world....Instead of being played before thousands of people, only one or two or three persons of the same quality and nature come together to enjoy that music thoroughly. If a foreign element is present the musician does not feel inspired.

Once a musician was invited to play the vina. The musician came and was welcomed. He uncovered his vina. Then he looked here and there, and found some discord. He covered his vina, saluted and began to leave. Those present felt disappointed and begged him to play; but his answer was, "No matter what you give me, I do not feel like plying." This is a very different thing from making a programme months ahead....A singer in the East never knows what he is going to sing before he starts singing. He feels the atmosphere of the place and the time and then begins to sing or to play whatever comes to his mind.

It is the best day ever to sit under trees during a beautiful sunset watching the children play and reading exactly what I need to. Thank you.


This evening, I was in the bathroom. Usually I notice it's a mess, but as I remembered that this is the best day ever, I felt grateful and my soul opened up to the love and beauty always around me.

The most common thing I noticed with my thoughts is that I'm nearly always thinking, I "should" be doing something other than what I'm doing. If I'm cleaning the house, I "should" be getting some exercise, if I'm helping Jasmine with something, I "should" be cleaning, or if I'm blogging I "should" be playing music. On and on ad infinitum. But when I remember it is the best day of my life, I realize that it's all just perfect the way it is. To quote from Hamlet:

"There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so"

The Best Day Ever

I woke up this morning eager and excited to take a bike ride out into the desert. Yeah! I am allowing more physical exercise to enter the rhythm of my life...and it felt wonderful!

I came home and started cleaning the front porch but got distracted by making breakfast for Jaz etc.....and a little brownie finished the job thoroughly all the while singing happily. Life is good.

......And more raw food prep--a dehydrator full of favorites, apple coconut granola, coconut green apple wraps, burgers, and chocolate mint cookies.....And more Shakespeare Hamlet.... And a bike ride to the park with conversation for mom and play for Jaz...And new books from the library including Felt It! Stitch It! Fabulous!--a fun book on how to take old wool sweaters and felt them and turn them into something else. So if you have old wool sweaters wanting a new life check it out. It looks fairly simple.

I'm getting ready to do a knitting project. Jasmine wants to learn to knit so we are finding projects for the both of us. I plan to knit a wool hat and then felt it. More felting books will arrive soon. Thank you for awesome library service.

...And last but not least I remembered today and told myself often.

God's will for me is perfect happiness
I accept God's will
I deserve the best
I am entitled to miracles
There is nothing but love

The miracle being that I remembered to remember.

...and somewhere today I read this--I think it is a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson-- but for the life of me I can not remember where. "This is the best day of my life." And when I realize it is so, it is. This is the best day of my life because I remembered that God's will for me is perfect happiness and I accepted it. I remember that I deserve the best and am entitled to miracles. I went on an awesome bike ride and am ready to start adding exercise back into my days. The weather is lovely and I am ready to live a life of joy and give that to my daughter.

Tonight as I sat down to blog, I was called to read about the astrological transits currently affecting me from Robert Hand's Planets In Transit: Life Cycles for Living. Here are quotes from a few of these many transits.

"Make whatever changes are necessary so that your lifestyle more accurately reflects your intrinsic reality. Both your body and mind must be in shape for the impending emergence of your energies into the outer world, where everyone can see them more clearly."

"One thing is clear. At this time in your life you must make changes at the most fundamental levels."

"This is one of the most important transits of your life."

"Now is the time to make sweeping changes, not only is your consciousness, but also in the circumstances in which you live....If you are flexible, you will be able to start a whole new phase of life....You will have a new birth of awareness, and you will be able to deal with your life unhampered by old patterns of thought that have limited you. "

Yes, it's true, tectonic change is going on for me and I am so glad. I don't want to live the old way anymore. Thank you, stars and angels for helping me to know this with no uncertainty and make the changes in my thinking that take me to my best life.

Movies, movies, movies

My mom has been sick and Jasmine now has caught it. What a perfect time to watch movies. Yesterday evening she got her grandma to watch The Taming of the Shrew with her. And this morning she wrapped up in a blanket and watched Much Ado About Nothing with her mom. I shelled fresh local pistacios from our CSA share while sharing my daughter's passion for Shakespeare with her.

Jasmine felt better this evening, and continued preparing her Halloween costume--a gypsy. She watched Latcho Drom, a documentary about gypsies, and made angle bracelets out of bells and beads.

Latcho Drom-"safe journey" in Rom-follows the path of gypsy migration from Northern India to Egypt, Turkey, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Spain. A stunningly beautiful movie, it has no dialogue or explanation, but lets the action and music speak for itself. Since Latcho Drom is one of my all-time favorite movies, I am posting excerpts from it.










This evening, Jasmine picked Lives of the Presidents as a bed-time story. No, the learning never stops.

The Greatest Love

I laugh when I hear the fish in the water is thirsty. ~Kabir

When you want only love you will see nothing else. ~A Course in
Miracles

Love Is

Love is not a treasure hidden away in a dark cave,
To be found by patient searching,
Or stumbled upon by accident.
Love floats in the air
Like the molecules of oxygen
Hungrily consumed by our bodies,
To be inhaled into our hearts
And manifest in the eyes and ears
Of those we see around us.
See not the body, this outer shell,
But know the one within.
For here is your soulmate.
The one you seek.
Found in every one you meet,
No matter who they are,
Or what they know,
Or how they understand it.

Love is within your grasp.
Reach out and take it.
For as you give it, it is returned.
Say the magic words I love you
And it will appear.
To stay? It doesn't matter.
Enjoy the gift and treasure it.
For if it goes away,
Another will appear to fill the void.
Just say the magic words.
--Ivey Brown www.angelfire.com/al/harmonyinlife/index.html