The Theme Of The Day Is Perseverance...

The Theme Of The Day Is Perseverance...

I got up and started my day right with yoga and had a good breakfast at the hotel. Later that day Mercury struck when a guest speaker that was the subject of a journalism contest at the Journalism Association of Community Colleges  (JACC) was over two hours late and the conference had to push the contest deadline back by two hours. On the upside they gave us more time to write our feature stories on the downside, we had to write straight through an awards ceremony and the student mixer and I didn't turn in my final draft of the story until 10:45 pm. Overall though, the day went well. I bonded with two students from Foothill college, and got closer to my fellow journalist at the paper as well. I attended a very informative story creation workshop in the afternoon, which I learned a great deal about perfecting my craft from. Even though I could feel the lag of Mercury Retrograde slowing things down, the day felt singularly productive. And the speed bumps that I hit only only served as reminders that we might want to go over things with a fine tooth comb in our writing process.

On The Road Again

On The Road Again...

I've been on a bus 🚌 on the way to Burbank, California for the JACC Journalism Association of Community Colleges. It's been a long long rainy ☔ journey there and we still haven't arrived. There are delegates from three different community colleges aboard and we just made a stop for truck stop 🚚 cuisine. For the first day of Mercury it has been uneventful. Maybe that fact is because I tried to give myself ample time to do everything I needed to do. And I still managed to forget my tarot cards. I got my crystals and supplies to make Mercury Retrograde oil. I'm so glad that I got in my yoga practice before and who knows, possibly after I get checked into the hotel. I meditated. Now I just need to grab a crystal and hold onto it. I'm ready to face the day!

Taking Care Of Self

Taking Care Of Self

Continuing on the theme from yesterday, today is all about making sure my needs are being met, all the mean while, using love and compassion to accomplish that task. This means caring for others, but also making your you put a healthy dose of self-love into the mix. Finding this balance isn't always easy, but it's necessary if you are going to thrive and grow. I'm going to use this Spring to heal and renew, and find out what it means to put my needs first when it comes to my goals and dreams and also making room for the goals and dreams of those in my life whom I love and support. Maybe together, we can see that all of our hopes and dreams come true. Tomorrow I gear up for Mercury Retrograde and leave for JACC Journalism Association of Community Colleges to represent The City College of San Francisco's Newspaper: The Guardsman. I recently vacated the Culture Editor position which I held there for nearly two semesters so that I could focus more on my writing, learning the ropes of photojournalism and furthering my financial goals. This was one of a few choices I made to simplify my life and get a crystal clear picture of where I am heading in the coming months. I hope to get an opportunity to make Mercury Retrograde oil to stave off some of the symptoms of it's current cycle of planetary changes. I am actually looking forwarding to this trip and the irony with a little tongue-in-cheek amusement. I can't help it. I mean we are getting ready to embark on a journey half-way across the state to a convention that is dedicated to writing, media and communication. Gotta love it! I mean I can't make this stuff up. It's golden! This is going to be such an interesting trip!

Maintaining My Priorities And Energy Reserves

Maintaining My Priorities And Energy Reserves

OK. It's ironic that I'm talking about this as I have just completed two yoga practices and a High Intensity Interval Training session on but I did. You'll find the two sessions I completed in the videos below. The most important thing is that I'm gathering the strength and time to do all these things because I'm listening to the messages I received from Spirit about focusing on the goals that really matter to me and the wisdom from the fable of Saint Apricot in Tori Hartman's "Chakra Wisdom Oracle Toolkit" journaling workbook. It's amazing what you can accomplish when you don't have to worry about the approval or others or the guilt of not following your true path to please outside parties. Saint Apricot reminds me that it is often necessary to take the "road less traveled", as Robert Frost wrote in his seminal poem. I've had to ask myself how many times when I have ignored my gut and done things just to please others, have I ended up in a happy place where I felt good about my actions at a soul level? The answer of course is none of the times. All the times when I have (left the cult religion of Jehovah's Witnesses, when I was told that to leave meant destruction, moved to San Francisco with no job and not money, started doing yoga when I was told it was sinful, agreed to go with a close friend to Mexico and didn't know where I was going to find the money, left a job that was having a negative impact on my emotional health with no other employment in sight, embarked on a lifestyle that was far from the societal norms) I have found nothing but joy at the end of the tunnel. The advice is clear. I must follow my own heart and the yearnings of my inner spirit -- the whisperings of my Higher Self and Divinity. I must grow in soil that is hard to flourish in at first until I take root and establish something that I never knew I could and succeed against all odds. I must believe in myself!

HIIT...

And More Yoga... After everything was said and done, it felt good though! Now I have a JACC Journalism conference to pack for in Burbank, California.

Learning Self-Love

Learning Self-Love

Today in the "Chakra Wisdom Oracle Toolkit" by Toni Hartman I explored the lesson of Saint Apricot which tells us to value our worth and put ourselves first when necessary in order to live the life of our dreams and honor our personal truths and boundaries, even if that my mean that we lose the approval of our loved ones. Sometimes it's better to be understood and respected than well-liked. This is the realization that we all must come to if we are to truly be our own masters. I see that, as well as the areas in which I have given away my personal power to please others. It is now time reclaim those parts of myself and stand strong. It is now to for me to honesty see how much I am worth and recognize that lobe and self-respect are the birthright of every being in The Universe!

More On Letting Go Of Resistance...

More On Letting Go Of Resistance...

I'm back to allowing for the feelings of resistance that come up within me -- lending themselves to my issues with chronic anxiety (that feeling where I'm like a top that is all wound up with no place to spin out) and with trauma from my childhood and upbringing. Some days are better than others. And it's getting better and better the more I practice yoga and meditation and the more I do one thing -- let go of resistance to what is. Within me there is this need to control the outcome that I was struggling to get rid of. And now instead I'm letting it just be and seeing what comes up, then just seeing if it can release and float away like troubles on a cloud... The more I practice this type of allowing, the more that my worries seem to drift away. A few days I ago I was introduced to a mantra from "Rituals For Transformation" by Dr. Peter and Briana Borten. The mantra goes, "Thank goodness this is all being taken care of." This mantra reminds me that of the importance of letting go and letting God, Goddess, The Universe, Source, Higher Self, or all of the above if you wish, take your burdens and trust that they have your back as you move throughout the daily challenges that you must face in life. Then a deep inner knowing will emerge that no matter what happens, you are safe, you are loved, you are protected, you are worthy, and you are an eternal spirit whose light knows to limits.

Exploring My Options

Exploring My Options

I felt a bit out of sorts today -- a bit like I was searching but not finding myself. And then I had an epiphany! No matter how lost I might feel, I'm always found -- always cradled in the arms of the angels -- always loved by my Higher Self, my soul's consciousness. Today moved slowly and I felt cherished and protected... safe. There is something really beautiful in this knowledge. How do I perceive this on a daily basis. I went out to a Pub on St. Patrick's day in San Francisco. I felt strangely connected to the fun, but disconnected, like I was an outsider observing all the fun happening around me, but I was not saddened by this fact; I was content. Earlier that day a fire broke out in the North Beach neighborhood near where I work. It felt so close to me that it sent a thrill through me. I would have seen the flames shooting up into the night from where I was, but had suddenly be struck by a terrible urge to follow through on my plan to get ice cream at the famed Swensen's Ice Cream on Hyde Street of Union. "So far away so close," as U2 sang. There must be a cosmic symmetry to all this, especially with the amount of synchronicity I have encountered lately. Only time will tell, but the happenings of late seem especially important somehow. It could be my imagination, but it could be my intuition. I feel as if it's the later.