Lesley’s Blog

In the quiet of the morning, I was sitting waiting for my coffee to be done when I noticed the light coming through the window was hitting a colored glass in the open cupboard. The clear glass with swirls of blue and red was illuminating the corner of the white cupboards interior. I love it when the sunlight has you looking at a common object in a different light.

I wondered as I gazed at that light “Can I capture the true essence of what I’m seeing on my camera?” Knowing full well that by the time I retrieved my camera the sunlight would change even if ever so slightly. I did it anyway. After playing with the image and creating a few more with the sunlight my mind drifted to other things.

One of the Winter Solstice celebrations that I attend, participants are asked to bring two things. One is a burnable object that will be thrown into the bonfire. This object can be something you created or an object in nature. The intent of the object is to put your energy into it with something you want to let go of, such as sadness in your life or anger that you have been holding on to this part year. It is a house cleaning if you will, an opportunity to release into the fire that which you have been holding onto that no longer serve you.

It has been said that the universe doesn’t like a void. If you release something in your life that no longer serves your best and highest interest the universe will fill it with something else unless you are prepared to fill that space. Symbolically, energetically and physically when you place your burnable object into the fire you have opened up a clean space in your energy field. Now, what do you do with that space?

On Winter Solstice you fill it with light, hence the second object that you bring is a gift of light. Guests are instructed to wrap the gift placing no identifying marks to tell who brought the package. After the bonfire part of the ceremony is over people are invited to share in a potluck. In the center of the table are all the brightly colored packages and at the end of the meal the first gift of the night is chosen and the unwrapping begins.

There is an excitement in the air as you chose from the pile knowing what is given is in the spirit of joy. The joy is in finding a gift that that will light the void created by releasing your burnable object. Anticipation also fills the air as you wait to see who will be attracted to your gift.

The most common gift of light is……. you guessed it a candle. Most people think in terms of the physical form of light and how you can give that form to others. Candles light our way in the darkness. Being that they are the element of fire they also create magic and all of us hope for a bit of magic in our lives.

The fire of a candle helps to transform one burnable object into smoke and ash. The smoke rises up into the atmosphere and the ash is returned to earth, each cleansing and life giving in there ways. The fire also connects us to the other elements; air, earth and water each have their own magical properties.

Other favorite gifts are crystals, rattles, beaded necklaces to name a few. Sometimes it is not in the receiving of the gift that illuminates your being it is in the person who shares with you what that gift meant to them when they were draw to it as a gift of light. Just as the morning sunlight opened the way for me to see an ordinary colored glass in a different light, so might a gift you receive bring illumination to your life by looking at through the eyes of another.

All too often we are programmed to see things one way, that is until someone else shares their thoughts and feeling with you. Suddenly you find yourself considering other possibilities; new avenues open up in front of you leading you to perceive the world around you in a different light.

When you let go of the darkness that seems to surround you what light will you bring into your life to hold that space? This Winter Solstice what will your gift of light be?

“In the right light, at the right time, everything is extraordinary.” Aaron Rose

Bringing in the Light

In twenty-one days the sunlight will begin to return to the Earth with each day’s sunlight lasting longer. For many around this time of year the darkness is overwhelming instead of comforting. The modern world has found ways to extend daylight hours. Instead of slowing down, going inward to seek solute, man keeps up a hectic pace expecting more and more out of them selves. Numerous people feel the overload of keeping up, which is then quite often transferred to their pets, leaving them feeling heavy and weighed down.

It is for these people and their pets that I offer up prayers on Winter Solstice. Each day in my morning meditation, I send out the light to all in need of love and compassion. On December 21st at 12:47pm Eastern Standard Time, 11:47am Central Standard Time, 10:47am Mountain Standard Time and 9:47am Pacific Standard Time, I will be sitting in pray sending out joy, appreciation and gratitude.

I invite you to join me and others to do the same. This is a time that I open the pray for you to email me names of people and animals that are in need of light. I ask two things; please let me know if the name you sent is a pet or a human and if it is male or female. When I am in the space of prayer I will read the names out loud surrounding them with love and compassion. The prayers at this time will be carried on the increased light of the hour.

When you let the light inside of you shine, the greater the energy, the greater the vibration of the light that you transmit to those around you. The simplest way to take part, is to sit in a quiet spot, light a white candle and let your emotions of joy, appreciation and gratitude pour forth from your heart. This is a lifelong habit that will bring changes in your life. It is only when you change do others around change as well.

Sent with love, light and blessings,
Thank-you
Lesley

All names must be sent to my email lnase20@moonspinnerstearoomshamanichealing.com no later than December 20th.
Moonspinners Tearoom Shamanic Healing

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The menu of Thanksgiving Day is always pretty much the same each year. You eat the food that you remember from your childhood memories so there isn’t much to think about except the timing. I spent the morning before Thanksgiving picking up last minute ingredients that I forgot. Only to get home and discover that the 5 gallon bucket I purchased with the white top for brining the turkey has disappeared into my husband’s collection of useful tools. Heaven only knows what has been in that bucket since last Thanksgiving! Out to the hardware store for a new bucket and home to start the marathon baking session.

One 16 pound turkey set in the brine with top on tight is now sitting on the cellar stairs. Shoo the dogs out of the kitchen telling them over and over again the turkey that keeps bring them back in is not for them. Pie crust has been made and placed in the refrigerator, minus the piece that my cat Flip insisted in a loud voice he needed. He ate it and then understood I was not preparing a tasty morsel for cats.

Pecan pie not my normal pie fair just had a yen for trying something different, looks good in the oven. I move on to assembling the Cranberry Orange bread. I am not a lover of cranberry sauce although I do love this cranberry bread recipe. It is a dish that brings back a memory of one of the first times baking it. I was twenty, staying at my grandparent’s house during the Thanksgiving holiday. They lived on a farm and my grandmother was known for her baking and making of food for all who came to the house. Perhaps I was a bit worried that my bread wouldn’t measure up to my grandmother’s baking skills. I still can’t make a pie crust like she could. The bread had been place in the oven when it dawned on me. I had forgotten to add the sugar. I quickly pulled out the loaf pans and cut in the sugar mixing as best I could. It wasn’t the prettiest looking bread top you ever did see but at least it was edible.

Bread done, with all the ingredients added in the oven it went. With an hour to cook, it was time to take the dogs for their walk. My Great Dane Elera is notorious for snitching food off the counter. It is hard to resist the delicious smells that hit your nose not to mention that your head can sit on the counter. Last year, I was out walking the dogs while my lemon meringue pie cooled on the stove top. The dogs suddenly lifted there heads and took off running for the house. My husband saw only the dogs and wondered what happened to me, he came looking for me. When I saw him alone I asked where the dogs were. In a laid-back voice he replied “In the house.” By the time I got back half the meringue was gone and Elera was working on the lemon filling. My husband, feeling like that was his half of the pie ate from the dog side.

This time the walk was uneventful, bread cooling on the stove, and one lemon meringue in the oven. Elera sat watching every move I made in putting that pie together as I poured the lemon into the pie crust a fine Dane spittle was pouring out of the sides of her mouth down onto her chest with a slimy puddle on the floor. No pie this year I told her. I could hear her reply “Awww shucks!”

To save on early morning kitchen mess while company arrived I made the mashed potatoes set them in the refrigerator to chill over night and chopped the stuffing ingredients.

At 5:30 AM Thanksgiving morning, I rub my eyes make my way down the stairs to the delight of the dogs and cats who thought it was time to get feed. I banished them all to a bed or out the door till later much later. In my sleepy state I manage to spill only a small potion of the brine water as I lift the turkey in its 5 gallon pail up to the sink to pour it out. No problem that’s what I have dog towels for. As I assemble the stuffing for the turkey I discovered the one staple I can always count on in my household is missing. Raisins! Time to improvise and suffer the consequence later, I used prunes. What do you expect at 5:45 AM! With the bird in the oven and the time calculated sure all will be ready for 1 PM dinner. Back to bed I go.

7:30 AM the animal kingdom tells me I have over slept and it is time for them to eat. By late morning I smell the turkey and think “my, that smells awfully like a done bird”. At the same time the kid’s text to say they will be here at 12:30. With a thermometer I discovered that my nose was right the turkey is cooked. I let it sit while the table is being set; the rest of the food is prepared the stick the bird back in the oven for a quick browning.
Everything is served and a new memory ensues, my granddaughter of 9 month tastes her first turkey while sitting in a high chair refinished by her Opa. It is a chair that he and his sister sat in as well as our two children and now the next generation. With bellies full and clean up approaching I take my granddaughter upstairs to play my work for the fest is done. Our day continues when extended family members arrive for the traditional family walk and one more dog. It is a time to get caught up on everyone’s lives and to be grateful for the moment of the day. Desert and coffee are served at the dinner hour followed by a rousing family game full of laughter. Thus ends another day of giving thanks for all we have received in the past year. The feasting still goes on as we revel in the eating of leftovers.

This week, I travel to California, visit my daughter and son in-law, keep working on my book and write the story that has been floating around in my head for Winter Solstice celebration.

It never fails that the universe brings those who are in need guidance. There is always a connection to what you are doing in the physical world and the spiritual world. Here is an example:

When I returned home from the Equine Affair in Springfield, MA I had a request from a lady who had attended an animal communication workshop I led. She started out by saying I know your more into the healing of animals but I was wondering if you would help me with a horse that I feel a very strong connection to. I want to know if this horse would like to live at my place and do the type of riding/horse work I am interested in.

She made me smile; I have been helping a friend for years with racetrack horses that are being offered up for a new home and a new type of lifestyle. The journey looks like this, I project to the horse that she is considering pictures of her, her barn, pastures, and other horses she owns. With each step, I am taking careful note of the horses’ stands, facial cues and body actions. This is what helps to determine how the horse feels about what is being asked.

In the case of my friend, she wants to know if the horse she is looking at is up to the challenge of trail riding and learning to jump. So I also project scenarios of trail riding and jumping, with each of these I feel the horse’s body rhythms. I ask if horse is moving as one in harmony with a rider. I want to know if it can they feel the beat. All living things have a vibration, if this vibration flows with the scenario of what I am projecting I know that it can and will adapt to learning a new job, a new lifestyle.

That is the simplest way of saying what I do although it is not always as easy as that. There are many other factors that I take into consideration when I journey and when I talk to the client about what I discovered. For many clients who work and raise animals they are finely in tune with the animal work my input is just another means of helping them work in conjunction with the animal’s energy. That is what the lady who emailed me was asking. We spoke this past week and she is now preparing for this horse to come live at her barn and work with her. She will be using the information I related to her about the horse and some of the techniques she had learned through the workshop to make this a smooth transition for both her and the horse.

We all want to know if our instincts are leading us down the correct path. There are no right or wrong in any decisions we make only a new awareness to our lives and to the animals that share our lives. It is my pleasure and honor to work with both humans and animals to help them come together.

My friend/client Carol asked me if I would like to visit her when she went to the four day Equine Affair held in Springfield, MA this past weekend.

A few years back, Carol was considering a retired racing horse named Zealous. She asked me to journey to him to see if he would be up for living a new life. She wanted to know if he would like to live on a farm with other horses, (I send him a picture of the barn, pasture, landscape and house) to ride on trails (I send him pictures of riding in the woods and across open fields) and learning to jump (you got the picture). Zealous was very interested. He did come to live with Carol. Quite often I will receive a photo of a horse that she is considers taking it on.

Carol says “The work you do is another tool I have in helping me evaluate the horse and understanding the horse on another level.”

This summer she was working with her horse Birch with jumping. Birch just wasn’t getting his feet in the right position so she asked if I would talk to him. I asked her to show me pictures of what you want Birch to do. After our session, both felt more confident, the messages were getting across. Birch understood what he was being asked to do and made great strides in the work.

Carol thought I would enjoy seeing other horses, riders and trainers, which I did. In my minds eye, I see a giant screen where the animal is. It is from here that images are projected back and forth, the more images I have in my repertory the better I can convey the message. Being at the Equine Affair gave me many images as well as an opportunity to tune into the horses at work, play and rest.

Next time someone asked for help with jumping or other messages that are not being sent or received properly I have more of my own tools to draw from.

Read more about Zealous in my up coming book.

Sorry that I haven’t posted over the summer. I work for myself with the Animal Communication and Healing work as well as being part of or leading ceremonies/rituals with group. This is the work I love. In the summer, I have also managed my families campground offices for years and am easing out of that obligation as my own work and writing are pulling on the heart strings.

If that is not enough throw in my daughter getting married this past July in Minneapolis, MN, having a wedding reception this fall in VT and my mother moving back into the family home while her apartment is being constructed.

Whew! Life has been full of joy, gratitude and transition. I will be posting some of the spiritual events that took place this fall along with parts of my animal work that I have been writing about. Please check in and feel free to connect by comments.

When writing a section in my book introducing people to the idea that they can communicate with their animals I found all the positive reinforcements being written about and then came the word doubt. Days later I woke up with examples of animals that have doubt when humans are involved. Animals never seem to doubt their abilities only the human judgment.

A horse will stop at the small narrow bridge a person is asking it to cross over refusing to walk over it. The horse does not doubt its abilities to walk over the bridge just the human’s decision and until it gains a greater understanding of the bridge it will not cross. The horse reads the riders energy field as they sit upon their back and the energy surrounding the bridge.

When arriving home from doing errands my mastiff, will refuse to get out of the car, she reads the look on my face seeing my energy she doubts that I am done using the car. She will happily wait in the back seat for the next ride she is certain now will come. Many a time she is right and other times I have to convince her that what I have to do has nothing to do with the car.

A cat on the other hand has no doubt in its mind. Right now, PeaNutty is certain that his antics while I’m typing will make me stop giving him the attention he wants and I will walk into the kitchen and feed him. My brother’s cat Corey had no doubt in his mind that he would catch the squirrel he was chasing. Even as he went up the tree fast on its heels, he never looked back or down to see where he was he just kept his eye on the squirrel. So it came as a surprise as the squirrel jumped from one tree branch to another tree that he had no foothold as he followed but he never doubted his skill. His success rate was so high in the skills of catching squirrel, chipmunk and mouse that he repeated the tree chase over again.

Humans give off the signal to other humans as well telling them that we doubt our skills and abilities. That doubt is then mirrored back in the look and energy that the person in front of you is giving off. Change your thoughts and you will change your energy field. The more confidence you give off the more the natural world accepts and sees you as a strong person.

Enjoy the observations below.

A 100 days

The news this morning was all over President Obama’s first 100 days in office. I watched long enough to see photos that the official photographer had taken. Then I found myself pondering does the President stop to ask everyone around him, “So how am I doing in my first 100 days?”

I don’t quite accept the notion that it is human nature to inquire of others how they themselves are doing. I think that we have been trained over the years to look to others reactions and comments to gage if one is doing a good job or not. We are taught to set our goals and timelines marking off each plateau when reached to be successful and achieve greatness in our lives. We have been trained to search outside ourselves to find fulfillment in our lives.

Over the weekend, I saw the movie “Doubt”, set in 1964 it relates a time when not only political change was occurring but also moral changes were sweeping the nation. As a verb doubt has several meanings: To be undecided or skeptical about, To tend to disbelieve; distrust, To regard as unlikely and To suspect; fear. The movie took us through all four definitions. The priest gives a sermon and the nun voices out loud that perhaps he is talking about his own life, his own doubt. The young nun who voices her concerns about the first black student in the school when he returns from seeing the priest. The principal, the nun who’s questioning of a person whom she has an allegiants to, the priest, taking action against without knowing all the fact only your own moral assurances that you are absolutely right in your judgment of the situation.

Doubt, it can creep in slowly or it can be one look or comment that makes us second guess our own judgment. Do you hold your head up high with your shoulders down chest erect? Or do you find your body caving in, head down, shoulders rounded and slightly forward? Body position has a lot to do with your self esteem. When you carry yourself up right with head held high looking people in the eye you give off the aura of being in control of your own destine. The energy within your body easily flows through you and around you. This in turn helps to ward off those times when you feel doubt about yourself or your actions.

Other people react to our energy and word through their own up bringing and mind set. What you say today with love might set off fear and distrust in them. Tomorrow is another day, another time to assimilate the energetic change that occurred within your own energy field. One of my favorite lines in the movie was the scene where they are discussing the song “Frosty the Snowman” for the Christmas pageant. The priest and the young nun love the idea of including an up beat fun musical number. The principal sees the song as totally in appropriate with its “magical thinking, you place a hat on a snowman and it comes to life” It is that magical thinking that intrigues many of us and encourages us to place the hat upon our heads.

Animals use the language of body positions all the time. Two dogs met one with head and tail up wagging, the other with head lowered, eyes wary and tail at half mast. With a few sight movements the dogs will determine if they are friends or foe. In a pack the same thing happens the pack will determine if this new dog needs to be taken down or accepted into their fold.

Just as in the dog world we want to belong to the pack and to be accepted by the pack as having value. The priest saw his open friendly caring way with the students as being threatening to the nuns (the pack) the old system. He was angry with the nun and the way that she approached him. It threatened his well being not his believe in him self. He told her that there are things that she didn’t understand and he was not at liberty to share with her. He chooses to move on and not take on her doubt and fears.

Doubt in ones actions and word can be used as a useful tool to step back and reevaluate where you have been and where you are going in your life. Goals and timelines add to you wellbeing not to your self image. The best way to combat those times of doubt is to bring into your mind and physical energy field someone whom you admire. A person who displays the traits that you want to emanate in your life at that given moment, feel there life force flowing through your veins giving you the courage to follow your dreams. Doing this exercise time and time again will help you to develop your own way of walking in this world.

A 100 days, a thousand days does it matter? No for each day is as different as a snowflake and you never know the hat you wear now will be a different hat in 100 days. Ask inside yourself, open your heart and say “So how am I doing today?” then wait for the reply.

Joseph Campbell said “You must have the courage of your own belief and leave it to somebody else to verify your authority for himself.”

I don’t know when the actual shift in mankind began between being and doing. Perhaps humans made a gradual transformation from being one with the land to having to always be doing something to the land. The biggest changes in man’s life came with the Industrial Revolution. The need to build, to invent, to explore and to conquer new horizons in many different fields was a time when the world sped up faster than it had before. It was a revolution of power, with cotton mills, steam engines and railroads. Man would never sit still again. The introduction of computers and the internet in people’s lives has also been an era of time speeding up. Technology has changed so fast that what you buy today is out of date tomorrow. Information you want to know can be retrieved in less than a minute. We have become a people of doing, measuring our lives by what we achieved in a day. To many the concept of sitting and just being one with the universe or the source of all is unheard of.

My friend and healer Forrest Green during a recent workshop shared his believes, teachings and what he knows to be true. We each have our own unique “soul signature”, a vibration that is our soul note.  This soul note is the essence of who we are and why we are here in this life at this time. It is during times when we sit quietly in nature that we are connecting to our soul signature. Above our heart and below the notch at the base of your neck, what may be called as Forrest says our 4 ¾ chakra, is where our soul signature resides. Sit quietly with your intention upon this spot and practice just being with yourself.

Mother Nature is one of our greatest teachers in Soul Being and connection to our essence. A tree lives in harmony with the elements of nature, wind, air, earth and fire. The tree sends its roots deep down into the Earth, the bigger it grows the deeper the roots, the deeper the roots the stronger the connection to self or soul. The tree collects the rainwater that falls. It soaks up the nutriments that the water provides just by being present. The sun sends down the fiery heat of the day, the tree absorbs the warmth through its leaves, thus supporting the soul essence of the tree through growth. The air that surrounds the tree also gives and takes. It up lifts its leaves moving them from side to side for equal exposure and blows away what is no longer need.

The animal world also displays its soul essences in soul being. No animal is ever trying to be anything other than it is. A cat is always a cat, a dog is a dog and a horse is a horse. As an animal communicator, it is the animal that shows me in pictures or live action what it is that they want to convey. The pictures are inherited traits that are true to that breed or species of animal. It is then my job to relay to the owner what I see, hear or feel. The soul doing in animals is related to their unique attributes. When a behavior is unwelcome by an owner than the animal and owner need to come to an understanding which often leads to taking an action. The action that is taken is a pathway to regaining balance in the relationship between animal and owner. When harmony is reach than the soul note sings. A toothy smile on a dog, a purr from the cat and a head shake with a whinny from the horse are outward examples.

An infant is in the ultimate form of being. Breath work takes us back to the time of infancy, the slow deep breathes into the belly and the all out exhale. Granted life for an infant isn’t all about being. There are those times when action is required to get your needs met. At those moments it’s put back the head, open the mouth and bawl. Once satisfied you hear the soul note in the gentle cooing an infant makes.

Breathing slowly and deeply into the belly, holding your focus on your 4 ¾ chakra will connect you to your soul signature. That place within you that is the essence of who you are. Leave the mind and the body behind, come into your feeling center. It is from here that you can explore your life’s purpose. It is the place that inspiration springs forth and imagination takes hold giving shape and meaning to your creation sending a vibration out into the world. As in the Law of Attractions, this vibration is sent out into the world linking up with other like vibrations. So that when you are ready to take action, soul doing, the doorways open up to you. Guiding you down the pathway where you already sent out your intention.

All the energy that ever was or ever will be is here right now. Energy never leaves it just changes form. This is not a direct quote yet the words inspire me. I once heard that the air Albert Einstein breathed in and exhaled is still here today. I love the thought that I too can breathe in the very air that inspired him in stillness. Where insight lead him in his life journey. As a medium, I know that our love ones don’t ever totally leave us for if they did how is it that I can see and feel their energy when I give people readings? As a healer, when I clear unwanted energy from an animal or person auric field it just doesn’t go away it transforms into a crystal clear energy that can and will be used again and again.

I invite you to take time with yourself and with nature, to let go of the past and future, to be in the here and now. I invite you to seek the space of soul being so that you can tune into your “soul signature”. As Forrest says “Within this space there is a sense of peace and power and a greater capacity to “listen and to know,” to more deeply perceive or sense what is right for you on your SOUL path and in living your SOUL purpose.”

 

 

 

 

To learn more about Forrest Green’s healing work visit Soul Source at www.soulsource-energetics.com/index.html

To learn more about Lesley Nase’s work go to www.moonspinnerstearoomshamanichealing.com/

“As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.” Henry David Thoreau This is one of my favorite quotes and my constant reminder that with any goal I set I must imagine myself walking as if I have already achieved it. I think those thoughts that will bring me to the goal I desire. After I wrote “Did you set your Goals for the New Year” my girlfriend Patti sent me an email “Well said my philosophical friend!” I took it as praise for the writing but what struck me was the word philosophical. I had to ask did I set out to write lofty ideals without realistic expectations. No, I wrote what I believe. Now it would be nice to connect the dots, to give understanding to others. Every morning we awake and take stock of our bodies by stretching our limbs and give thought to what the day will bring. If upon awaking you find yourself grumpy, irritable, and/or angry than your day will reflect your inner mood. The good old stub you toe and the rest of the day bring you much of the same pain. If on the other hand, you awake joyful, peaceful and full of love your day will find a path of ease. My day starts off with declaring “This is going to be a GREAT DAY! Even now as I write those words I can feel my heart chakra opening up sending out a pulsing wave of love throughout my physical body. The animal world sends out their own unique waves of energy. Dogs that wag their tails so hard that the whole body wags are sending out vibrant vibrations of love / joy. When I work with horse that have past to the other side I am often greeted with head bobbing up and down, a whiny and a slight shutter that runs all the way down the spine and out the tail. Cats are a bit more demure in the sending of love and joy with the purr that resonates within the core of their bodies. A purr can be so subtle and soft you wonder if you are really hearing it. Flip, whose nervous system was thrown out of whack when he was struck by distemper as a young kitten has a purr that is so slight that I often touch him just to feel the vibration. Where my Jasper’s purr is one of the loudest purrs I have ever heard. Only Jasper can wake you up in the night by purring and he’s not even on the bed! In humans, it is the thoughts in our mind that send energy waves throughout out body and into our heart. This energy quickly scurries throughout our physical body and into the energy field that surrounds us. It doesn’t stop there it keeps going outward like a pebble in a pond, carrying that vibration to people near us. If the emotion is strong it the energy will be sent even further. There are times when my day is happy, moving along with effortlessly only to feel ill at ease. I run a quick mental check of my own thoughts and of my energy system. Is it me I ask myself? Or is something else that has happened? When I have determined it is not me I will often turn on the TV or public radio to hear what is happening in the country or world. During times of high stress and trauma people send out waves of emotional energy. Like a beacon from a lighthouse that energy broadcast can be of unhappiness, alarm but mostly big time fear. As animal reacts on instinct so do humans. The fear of the unknown is one of our biggest obstacles and our greatest teachers. Ask yourself if how you are feeling is true to how you really feel or are you just reacting to another’s emotional energy. When we react to energy that is sent our along the Ley Lines of the Earth we are feeding what is know as the collective conscious. We are helping to spread that emotional turmoil to others who are not physically apart of the trauma. It also works the other way. On January 20th, I like many millions more was caught up in heart warming joy that filled my very soul with hope. I watched riveted to my seat as President Obama to the oath of president sending a message by the way he stood holding his body and through the vibration of his spoken words. The energy waves of joy, hope and love were then transmitted by the people standing in the mall listening. Their minds grabbed onto everything around them. Their hearts took the feelings projected by the mind and sent out waves upon waves of overwhelming joy, hope and peace. This is the type of energy that gives you a massive high. For days after wards you bask in the glory of the day reliving it every time you tell where or what you were feeling. As I watched the people on the mall explode with cheers a memory flittered across my mind. It was when I was a child in my grandfather’s cow field with my siblings and cousins. We were walking through the pasture to the electric field. The older kids telling the younger ones “It wouldn’t hurt! Don’t be a chicken!” The bravest of us stood nearest the electric line the rest of us held hands in a straight line parallel to the fence. The fence was grabbed and the electric current ran though all of us sapping the last in line with a gasp. That was the current that ran through people as they listened to President Obama. Setting your goals can give you that same high, your ego is bursting with pride from all you will accomplish in the days to come. The reality is that if you do not take action toward accomplishing your goals you will crash and burn with your ego reciting in your mind all the excuses of why you will not succeed. That is why I tell the ego: “As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind” It is said that it takes “21” days to form a new habit. So give your goal(s) daily attention for 21 days and see what happens. Another signpost that is always talked about is the first “100” days in office, “What will the President accomplish in the first 100 days?” proclaims the news media. Since the president was speaking to all of us a movement of called The Pledge has been launched. People are making daily pledges designed to help the president and the country by doing their part. Some declare the simplest of changes to be made in their everyday lives. Some pledges talk about enormous change that will take many people and many resources to see it become a reality. Each pledge is neither too small nor too big when is a personal commitment to change. It is the same for our personnel goals How will I take steps in reaching my plans for myself and in doing so helping others reach theirs? By walking a path that is true to who I am and what I believe in, talking the talk and walking the walk. Everyday I see and read my vision board where my goals are posted. Everyday I think of ways to work on my goals, I form and reform my plans. One of my goals is to write and publish a book dealing with Shamanism and animal communication. I have been encouraged to write and submit a proposal to an agent. I have an ego that says “What makes you think you have anything to say that people will want to read?” At first I enthusiastically I researched everything I could on “writing a successful book proposal” I brainstormed all the particulars that needed to be included in the proposal. I wrote out paragraphs detailing the whys and wherefores of my story. Then I sat down to write the actual proposal and found that I had a so called formula that had worked for others only I didn’t hear my voice within what was written. I felt like I had lost a part of what makes me who I am. Fear set in, I took a deep breath released it slowly letting go of the doubt and setting aside all I had prepared. I went for a walk, listened to the sounds of nature and asked for guidance. When I returned home I had a plan to sit at the computer every day and write. No time limit, no expectations and no ego i.e. inner critic telling me no. This is my “100” day commitment to one of my personal goals: To write my story everyday in my own voice. Some of what I write you will see and some you will have to wait for the book. I am following Henry David Thoreau’s quote to help me find my way. “To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.” As a side note: I pledge to continue to seek ways to protect our natural resources. To speak up for our four legged, winged, swimming friends who have no voice of their own by writing to congressman and senators. I pledge, to continue to volunteer my time at the local animal shelter, by raising money, helping to plan its future and to do healing work on the animals in its care. I pledge to stand up and make my voice heard.