Monthly Archives: February 2017

Being a Possibilitarian

22 Wednesday Feb 2017

Posted by in Traditions, Transformation

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Lately I’ve been working on a new philosophical mindset, or maybe it’s more accurate to say exploring an old interest in a philosophy of being a possibilitarian. Think of it as the next step up from being a positive thinker.   I went to see a woman in Richmond a few weeks ago, and I had “my bars run” which is a form of energy alignment by releasing negativity and other obstacles in our way, and opening ourselves up to more possibilities in our lives. Last Sunday I invested 8 hours and a few dollars and was even certified to be a practitioner in this. It’s called Access Consciousness. Here are a few shots from class.

One of the lessons I’ve learning is to reframe my daily affirmations to be more “possibility oriented.”  One of my questions to myself is: How does it get any better than this?  As in, what else is possible? The theory is that the Universe will show you how it gets better when I don’t try to restrict the outcome to what I think it should be. It has been a long and winding road since my days 20 years ago of reading The Celestine Prophecy, Something More Simple Abundance, Conversations with God, I’m Spiritual Dammit, and Outrageous Openness.  Now I have a deliberate way to explore this even more.

While I have thought of myself as a teacher for a long time, I have never identified myself a healer (except in a Mom-first-aid-and-related-parenting mode), or more particularly, a healer in Energy Work. I have benefited greatly from having Reiki, Healing Hands, deep tissue massage, salt spa, and other modality treatments, so I’m clearly on the side of believing in its power. I have also quietly kept pursing my own form of “law of attraction” and “new thought” and similar positive-oriented philosophies. It happens that they align quite nicely with the work I have done more formally in leadership development.

So last Thursday night,, I was working on a presentation I was booked to deliver last Saturday. It was okay but it isn’t exactly as good as I wanted it to be. I asked the Universe how it could be even better, which is one of the pieces of this new Access Consciousness mindset.  Then I took a break and started looking for the Introduction I had prepared early on (for the introducer to use on Saturday ).  As I was looking through my Word files, I found that I had already written a draft of the speech a few weeks earlier from when I had gotten confirmation of the gig, and it was BETTER than the one I had been working on the whole week!  The pieces of the puzzle came together effortlessly. I had forgotten that I had already sketched it out. But once I asked a higher power to help me do this BETTER, there it was! I laughed and laughed. It felt good, I relaxed, and eventually, the program went off quite nicely on Saturday.

All of this is to say that since Solowingnow, I have given myself permission to be and do and have things I might not have pursued while I was married. Kevin certainly would have supported it, but the point is I would have held myself back. Now I think this is all part of the bigger plan, that I am here where there is plenty of support and teaching available to me, in a place that has no preconceived ideas about who I am or what I’m supposed to do or be. I have a freedom here I don’t have when I’m a mom, grandma, sister, daughter, administrator, boss, even friend with a 20 year history. Here and now, I can explore this other possible me.

It’s kind of cool to be me right now.

Oh, and I need to practice this on other people. I am assured I can’t do it wrong (breathe sigh of relief here).  If you want to give it a try, give me a call or drop me a line. I need to do it in person, and you have  nothing to lose but some time (30-45 minutes). When I had it done the first time, it was if I had had a luxurious massage although by body had only been touched in minimal ways (head almostly exclusively). Try it, you’ll like it!!

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Less Than 100!??

08 Wednesday Feb 2017

Posted by in Gratitude, Uncategorized

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Yes, it’s true. Today I took my motorcycle to the State Inspection Station for the annual mandatory vehicle inspection.  The temp this afternoon was already over 70, so I decided it was a good time even though the sticker is good until the end of the month. The guy asked me if I’ve been riding much, and I told him, not really, that today was the first time in “I can’t remember when.”  He wrote down the mileage for the inspection report: 13,777.

I had to wait a few minutes while he checked brakes, lights, horn, etc. And very shortly he was done. I received a copy of the report, and as I was putting it away with my other registration and insurance paperwork, I pulled out last year’s report to toss.  I glanced at it and noticed the mileage from one year ago (admittedly, it was on the 16th, and today is only the 8th).  Mileage 13,699.  Wait – what?!?? Yes, that’s right, I had driven only 78 miles since last year!!!!!!

I remember when I got her, Valentine’s Day 2011, a gift to myself.  Kevin and I were in South Dakota, and I had two somewhat silly goals. (1) Drive “year round” by getting her out of the driveway at least once every month.  That first year I was chopping ice at the end of the driveway so I could get out and then go up and down the street because the road itself was dry and it was almost +40 degrees out. And I did it; I rode at least once every month that first year.   (2)  In this first year, by February 14, 2012, I wanted to have driven her 5,000 miles. I had a friend who drove 10,000 miles annually on her bike, but I was a newbie.  The Sunday before this magic day was up, I was still short. It was COLD outside, and windy, but the roads were dry. So Kevin bundled up with me and we drove around the countryside for a hundred or so miles until I turned the magic 5,000. It was a proud moment.

pat-black-hills

I used to really get into it!

And then today…78 annual miles … the proof stared up at me.  Uff-da! My first thought was, clearly it’s time to sell her. My second though was, I’m glad she’s paid for because if I was making payments on her while she just sat in the garage taking up space, I would not be happy. Then I thought, it’s time to go riding.

So I did. After what seemed like an hour-long ride , I stopped at Au Bon Pain for an afternoon coffee and a croissant. My hands were a little stiff from the reach between the clutch handle and hand grip, and the breeze made it somewhat cooler than 73 degrees on the back deck with my feet propped up. I looked at the odometer and was surprised to see I had gone all of 15 miles!!! Two more miles to get home, and I’m still short of 100 for the YEAR by 5 miles. But I just didn’t care to drive around so I could hit that mark. So I came home and put her away.

my-new-honda

My Honda VTX1300T

I don’t know if I’ll ride again….and that does make me just a little bit sad.  Maybe it’s time to release her to someone else who will get more joy out of having her. Maybe I should try harder (or just try) to find a riding group. Maybe I’m just done. I guess time will tell.  In the meantime, I will remain grateful for the good times we had together (Beartooth Pass, Pig Trail, Nashville construction zone in the dark and rain, Sarasota, Black Hills, and more). I am especially grateful that all my rides have been safe ones. I hope yours are, too!  If you don’t ride, please SEE MOTORCYCLES so they can be safe. Maybe they’re trying to hit 100…or 5,000 miles…or some other milestone.