Keep it Light...Enjoy Yourself Today (heck do it everyday)

So I got back-blogged again...I'm not sure if it's because I got feedback that someone was proud that I was actually keeping up with the blogging, so my unconscious did some self sabotage.  Excuse my self judgement spouting but it's a possibility.  The other one is that I didn't have so much to say on a topic and sometimes silence is an acceptable response.  I think silence is a more effective tool for us then any of us use.

So I have 3 love fortunes, to catch up on here as I want to list them all.  If my beloveds took the time to come up with 365 of these...the least I can do is acknowledge each of them.  So there was "I love the energy you bring"...as a person who is all about energy as the common denominator to the our physical, emotion, mental and spiritual health, this is a nice affirmation; however, the intention is the energy I bring to interactions.  And I have to admit inside sometimes I'm not feeling very inspired and I have the woe is me moments.  However, I can remember how it feels to be inspired and hopeful, so I can fake it until I make it.  And I do that, not to be ingenuous or pretend to be something I'm not...I do it because eventually it is how I feel (it's a bit infectious, if I do say so myself).  I also don't believe that misery loves company.  Well maybe it does love company, but I don't think that jumping on the misery bandwagon is helpful.  The more that jump onto that boat is like adding lead and then we sink and we never transform.  So instead, if I bring a sense of play and optimism, I lighten up and then can come up with some creative solutioning to the challenges of the day or the week or the....(you get the picture).   As you know I like to equate things with songs, my first instict was to choose Cyndi Lauper's Girl's Just Want to Have Fun but I have another one for you.

Next love fortune is...drum roll please....I love how others are smiling around you.  So I don't know if I've noticed this, so I'll just trust them on this.   The question to ponder is are they smiling because I am there (which my ego would like to believe) or is that I gravitate to smiling people (which would also be true).  Not that I'm not willing to be there for a frowning friend in need (I'm pretty devoted to my friends as I don't believe in being a fair weather only friend either); however, to stay positive, I need to feed that and hence I may gravitate to the smilers...so perhaps it's a little of both...after all life is an AND not an OR.

And yesterdays love fortune that got me to saying, get your ass in gear Lulu, is I Love How Your Understanding.  And you know the humor in this is I don't have a fucking clue.  So what appears to be understanding from a non-judemental place is that I don't understand people and there motives.  I also know that not everyone has the same integrity rule book I do (not that mine is the highest on the pious list) and I also don't know every little life experience that they have had that would influence who they are, so how can I not be receptive and just take action from what they present than label people as bad and wrong and stay pissed at them for going against my rule book.   I can't judge until I've walked in someone elses shoes and I barely fit in my own  Life happens and it's what we do with it, not what we judge others as...plus you know I prefer to enjoy myself so if I'm not open to the fact that someone may act differently that I would like, I'm going to add more lead and sink like the titanic.

Total Receptivity Under Skeptical Times

I love your trust in others is the fortune cookie of the day.  I have to admit I don't know if I have trust in others as much as I have trust in the perfection of life and others are a part of life.  I actually have a hard time depending on people...hmmm, is that the same thing...maybe not.

I would say that I've always had a higher average degree of trust and that's basically because I really don't believe in evil, per se.  I believe at heart most people want to do the right thing and what they choose as a right thing may be less then upstanding because of fear and control issues that they have and their lack of trust or their attachment to the results.

The other thing that helps my trust is age and perspective.  Things in the moment can be painful and yet I've learned over time that in the end it was what I needed to go through to be open to the next amazing experience.

I actually came up with an acronym for trust which I like.  It's Total Receptivity Under Skeptical Times.  And we have to be open to what is in front of us as that is all we have...the past is over and the future hasn't happened yet.  So if we don't trust what's in the moment life is really bleak...and didn't I tell you, positivity makes life way more enjoyable.  I guess we could be miserable but then I'd just want to nap all the time because that is just exhausting.

Probably the quote that summarizes this the best was shared with me by my friend Julia.  "It's going to be alright in the end.  If it's not all right, it's not the end."  I probably should have just shared that.

So just surrender to the moment...this leaves me with sharing a song that is wise and touches my heart.  This is the best youtube version I can find which is a little long, if you don't want to listen to the entire 11 minutes, it's the first 4 that summarizes the intent...he roles into a kirtan which is also beautiful...just don't want you to be discouraged...Trust me!!! (tee her)

Plessure Principle

"I love that you approach life with laughter and life" was todays fortune cookie.  I was about to reply mockingly, do I have a choice.  And of course, we always have a choice...we even have the choice not to choose.  So truth is this is a survival tactic.  It doesn't always feel conscious but trust me when I say I was far more uptight and took everything way more seriously when I was in my teens and 20's.  It's evolved over time and the more I do it, the better I get at it and the better the quality of my life has become.  And I've learned that is just exhausting.  Don't get me wrong, I even though I use humor and laughter and optimism (or healthy does of rationalization depending on your perspective), I take everything seriously I just try to make lemonade out of lemons.   I believe in being a co-creative partner with the universe in my life and I get to have a say in the outcome and by taking a playful optimistic approach that is what I will magnetize. I also believe in making lemonade our of lemons, and laughter and light are the sweetener.  It's really the pleasure principle in action.

So why bitch, just enjoy yourself...and dance along, if you please....

From Subtle to Sublime

I love how you notice the subtle things is the love fortune that I was focused on yesterday.  And I guess because I'm more interested at what is going on under the mask than what the mask is portraying.  Life is so much deeper than what we see on the surface.  And also this had a slight diversion for me yesterday as I believe the messages from the universe can be subtle at first and if you aren't watching than you can sometimes feel that the universe is working against you then with you.  And that is just a bold face misconception.

What had me focused on the subtle more intently was the Receiving Project.  Through a delightfully synchronistic way I discovered this and although not much about these concepts are new, I decided to give it a shot.  After all, I can often get distracted in my day to day and can always use a refresher.

Wait, I put the cart before the horse, this is a 32 day E-program (that is free - how's that for a gift from the universe) to help us get better at receiving.  Many of us are more natural at giving than receiving.  Although I do believe in miracles and believe that you can win the golden ticket overnight more often than not life is incremental in it's improvements. I also have a theory that what we believe is the magic ticket was just the point that we began to notice and that the changes were happening for a while leading up to it.

And just think about it.  If you kept offering a great gift to a friend and they kept saying no thank you or not appreciating it, you'd probably stop giving it or give it to someone else.  The universe is our friend, even if it's not on your Facebook or twitter list.  So I think it's important to acknowledge the small things as we don't want the universe to stop and if we show appreciation, the universe can get even more generous.

I'm only on day 3 of this receiving project myself and yesterday was to be a look out for what you receive.  And had that not been in my mind, if you asked me this morning what I received yesterday wasn't much.  And there were a series of nice interactions and compliments that happened to me that I tracked, including a shout out in a locker room from my friends, that when asked "what did you receive yesterday" the old Lulu would have said nothing.  Yet yesterday I received quite a lot of small sweet presents.  And when we notice the subtle the life can feel sublime.

And since I've been on a theme of sharing music videos.  Not quite sure why this one but Freckles can be subtle too...and I really like this song...it's got a great message...plus the images in this version are sweet...so receive this.

I have a few p.s.'s that I thought of on the subway. Some people don't like to receive because they feel like they owe the gifter and don't want to be in debted to anyone. Unless the person states that as a condition, the answer is no. Don't get me wrong you do need to be in the flow of giving and receiving, it's just not tit for tat. We receive from one and sometimes we return a favor or we can pay it forward or be generous in another way that seems unconnected. Yet that is also a misconception, we are all connected. And in truth the debt and asset account of giving and receiving is more universal and we need it to balance it out in the end and WE ALL have a role to play and we can alternate roles from time to time so it isn't one-sided too. You also can't under-estimate the gift in giving. I receive great pleasure in giving. So when I am stifled, I can get cranky. People believe Mother Teresa was selfless. No one is selfless and yet some of us get the bigger picture. And that truly is sublime.

The Anti Poker Face

So today's love fortune is I love the faces you make. I know I wear my heart on my sleeve and am expressive in story and tone; however, since I'm not practicing in the mirror, I would have said he was exaggerating. Would have is the key word, had my friend not taken these candid shots on the day of my birthday ride.

Who Knew?!?! Can't say I'm proud nor will i be listing this as a talent on my resume, but I do admit when I am wrong. He was not exaggerating when he says I make expressive faces. It makes me giggle now to think of the scenarios and types of faces I may be making during different activites...this can become fun...maybe I'll become Lulu, the Woman with 1000 faces.  Or maybe I'll use that to my advantage and start to get really good at poker and be known as the anti-poker face. Which leads me to share something in theme with yesterdays Feisty....drum roll....I give you Lady Feisty...no sorry Lady Gaga

Feistily Perfect!!!

So yes, todays fortune is I Love How  You Can Be Feisty.  I have to say I giggled with delight on this one.  And said yeah I guess I am and don't you just like the way the word sounds.  And I particularly like to role out the F and make it more like Ffffff-ice-tea!!!!

I guess that alone makes me feisty.  But if you've been reading my blog lately, you know I like to reference the dictionary to make sure I really understand what it means vs my interprestation.  So The Free Dictionary Online has:

Feist-y

 1. Touchy; quarrelsome. 

2. Full of spirit or pluck; frisky or spunky. 

Hmmm, I like to be considred full of spirit or pluck.  Filled with pluck...pretty cool huh.  Frisky and spunky are pretty desirable attributes in my book too, but touchy or quarrelsome...not so much.  Although, if I'm going to walk my talk. I have to own both sides of the coin; otherwise it's a bit of denial.  So yes I have my moments of touchy and quarrelsome at times too.

And, without getting too psychological, because of some nasty experiences with rage-full people, I resisted owning that I may have had some anger at times which could result in the touchy and quarrelsome behavior because I didn't want to be an angry or mean person.  Yes my inner logic didn't totally fly as there is appropriate anger, but my mind would do that pendulum swing of all or nothing sometimes.  Can you relate?

Yes I understand know that life is a gradation of grays and not black and white.  And the opposite side of touchy and quarrelsome aka black is plucky and spunky aka white.  In my denial of the black...I also denied myself the pleasure of the white (or the gray in between).  And I guess I it took me a while to proudly own my feisty once I even realized I had it.  And trust me, now I know I have it in the black, the white and the more than 50 shades of gray in between...

And a current and appropriate representation of feisty comes from an icon of feisty, P!nk (yes if you read my post concert blog I have a girl crush).   A friend recently told me there was something on YouTube about her stopping in the middle of a ballad while in concert because of a crying child and fighting parents.   Oops, I was about to give the story away.  Watch this!

And as an icon for feisty, I also feel that her F**kin Perfect video is a great example of misunderstood feisty.  And the concept of Perfect most definitely gets my feisty up. That is because mostly there is a stepford style of perfection that is implied with this word. So when you are limited by the fairy tale images of perfection that you have in your head, more often than not. everything falls short of perfection, which can leave people feeling defeated and deflated. However, if we see perfection as a journey and not an end goal. we can begin to breath. And if we take it a step further and realize that,wherever we are in the moment, we have perfection because it is an opportunity/gift of the moment. If things are in alignment or better than our fairy tale image, then its an opportunity to be grateful and make the most of it and actually enjoy our lives. And if it is uncomfortable and challenging, its an opportunity to be courageous by holding space for the emotional angst and mental masturbation your probably going through over i... or, even better, turning this lemon into lemonade, by making a lifestyle change to alter the course of where you are. And remember life is change, just because something is enjoyable and comfortable today doesn't mean it will stay that way...did I say Perfection is a journey.  So life is always givings us opportunities to practice and live perfection in action and not in our minds. I told you it brought my feisty up.

P!nk said in concert that she's omitting the F**kin (one of my favorite expletives) now that she's a mother. So I have another F word to substitute and although it would be a mouthful to sing it, I'll imagine she's singing Feistily perfect... So enjoy this too.

If It"s Good Enough For The Monkees

So yesterday's love fortune was  "I love to daydream about you in class."  So I'm not going to debate the veracity over this one and I'll give credit for creativity. So I'm a big proponent of dreaming. When I was leading New Moon New Life Ceremonies, I used to call the participants dream weavers manifesting their dreams into reality. I can't remember who to credit for the quote but it went something like this. "If you can dream it, you can imagine it.  If you can imagine it, you can manifest is."  Enough said. And when I was thinking last night of what to post I thought of this little diddy by the Monkees.

There is also the George Carlin quote, "They call it the American Dream because you need to be asleep to believe it."  Which goes to why day dreaming is even better an extra step to consciousness.  Did I tell you all that I can rationalize anything.

Although just before I decided to put my fingers to keyboard I remember a Camino story.  The way I found this quote while backpacking approx 175 miles through Spain was is a long one (that I'll tell anyone over a glass of wine) so I'm going to go straight to the treasure"0, which is this quote from Inspirational author, Paolo Coelho.   "Fight for your dreams, otherwise others will impose theirs on you" (It came with a graphic which I found at another synchronistic time via facebook a few months later as a reminder at a synchronistic time, but of course.  I cant find at the moment which came synchronistically and it's making me wonder my first experience is a dream but that's part of the story and I'm nothing if not resilient so I'll search later)  But while I was searching here is a random pic of something I found on the street which apparently is a genuine street graffiti by James De La Vega that I found while wondering the streets

Yes, I'm a fan of dreaming!!!

P.S.
Eureka, it wasn't a dream, well at least finding the picture on facebook wasn't the dream, the camino on the other hand may be up for debate...tee hee

P.P.S
Hah or should I say aha!!!  When I first was introduced to this quote I had an oh shit moment and said dang what is my dream it doesn't feel specific enough although I knew I was a big fan of dreams.  And I had to fight a littler harder to share this so maybe I am fighting for my dream after all...I considered myself more a lover than a fighter but in this case, I'll make an exception.  Ha, ha, ha, ha,.....