it's funny

i just sat down to my computer with tons of energy and a million and one things to say. and now that i'm here... nada

it's been a day of revealing moments and tons of synthesis. my body has been through the wringer and i'm feeling a bit like i have a heard of elephants running about in my gut. i felt so eloquent 2 minutes ago, but then i sat down and stupidly responded to an email and now... it's all gone for the moment.

so... i'm going to go follow my pleasure, see where it leads me and hopefully i will be back with words of inspiration.

but for the moment consider this. consider comes from con sidere--with the stars. next time you find yourself considering a big decision, look up and realign with the stars, they will lead you to your answers and possibly grant your wishes.

this american monk

So my therapist sent me an email last week about this "amazing guy who's taking the internet by storm." He's spreading the word and "giving" away the knowledge that he's accumulated through his journey. It's fun... I just did his daisy pond meditation and found it to be relaxing. Give it a glance if your interested.

The sneaky secret behind it all is you have to spam your friends in order to earn points to unlock more of the lessons. I hate it when people do that. It's not that I don't want to share, it's just that I'd be more likely to do it if it wasn't required of me.

So I'm taking a "lazy" approach and not earning my "karma" points through emails. Instead I'm letting you decide if you'd like to see the information. I have to say I do like the idea of adding to the "tipping point" of human consciousness. In my opinion, the more people who meditate, the less we have war, violence, and stressful interactions.

The American Monk

Our Goal is to Improve 1 Million Lives
Learn More and Join the Cause

www.TheAmericanMonk.com

Tips for a Healthier Home

Since it's Breast Cancer awareness month I thought I'd share some healthful tips to reduce your exposure to toxins. These tips are modified from ones that printed in Body and Soul magazine.

1) Inspect all products you put on your skin. Shampoo, lotion, cleaners, dish soap, bath, cosmetics, etc. Your skin is your most absorbent organ, everything you put on it goes through it. Check labels and reduce your exposure to petrochemicals, talc, and other harmful poisons. Here's a list of companies that have gone toxin free.

2)Assess your clothing. Where does it come from? What is it made of? What is it dyed with? Choose to educate yourself on where clothing is made and the fabric that are best for the earth. Yes you may spend a bit more for organic clothes, however you will save a ton on the impact of the earth. Reduce your carbon foot print even further by buying used clothing at thrift stores, vintage shops and consignment spaces. Better yet host a party with all your friends and trade.

3)Food. READ INGREDIENTS. I know it's a chore but sneaky marketing laws allow nasty stuff to get through the organic label. Buy things with ingredients you can pronounce and save a bundle by visiting local farmer's markets for fresh produce, herbs, cheese, breads, and flowers.

4) Assess you home. The big surfaces in your home affect air quality the most. Consider using hardwood, ceramic or stone flooring instead of chemically derived carpet. If painting consider paints low in VOCs (volatile organic compounds) better yet try a natural plaster finish tinted with earth based dye.

5) Sleep. Since you spend roughly a third of your life here "green" this area first. Invest in a mattress of latex foam, cotton, or wool batting. Replace synthetic pillows with wool or cotton, and look for unbleached untreated linens. I can attest since we bought out organic bed a year ago I sleep much better. We bought ours at Soaring Heart and the best thing the latex mattress will last minimum 20 years and we can replace the cotton futon (get it re stuffed every 3-5 years) for cheap!

6) Car. make sure you aren't leaching car fumes into your home. Obviously if you need a car it'd be best to have an electric on, if you can't afford that buy one that's less hard on the environment. If you own a car, participate in bike to work, riding the bus or walking anytime it's possible. If you work from home consider why you need a car and play with the idea of finding a flex car. There are 298 flex cars in Seattle, 11 in west Seattle, 4 within walking distance to my house. My goal by the end of 2008 is to get rid of one or both of our cars. It's a waste of money, time and frustration. Always keep a window cracked in the car as the inside of a car is the most toxic place you come in contact with on a daily basis.

7) Keep informed. My favorite sites are Tree Hugger, GreenOptions
and this amazing woman has committed to 365 days of finding solutions to live a greener life...

8) Evaluate how you cook and store food. Plastic is handy but evil... limit your usage. Non-stick pans kill birds and small dogs with their toxic fumes, should you be eating out of that? (I still use mine too) When you buy new things take these thins into consideration, store foods in glass and cook in stainless steel.

9)Dump the "magic" cleaning products. If you have to call the poison control center after ingesting it you shouldn't expose it to your skin or lungs or eyes. I used Method products, my friend uses Seventh Generation. both you could ingest and only end up with a tummy ache, yet they kill germs, clean well, and smell amazing.

10)Look to your pets, garden and outdoor spaces. Do you use pesticides, herbicides, weed block, super lawn enhancers, etc. Do you then let your pet and/or child and/or self go out in that? Once again skin is the most absorbent organ and you/your pet/your child is taking it all in. Not to mention it's running off in the rain and creating havoc in local water systems and killing fish/birds/good bugs. Try natural alternatives, companion planting and build a bird house for day bugs and a bat house for night bugs. Look at what you feed your pets. With all the scars earlier in the year people are switching to natural pet foods. again read the ingredients. Also look to pet products and search out natural alternates to poisoning them. (and then let me know cause i still use that nasty flea meds on them)

it's so beautiful

NGC 3603, a prominent star-forming region in the Carina spiral arm of the Milky Way about 20,000 light-years away, image reveals stages in the life cycle of stars. (from NASA image of the day)

There are times when I look at images such as this and can't believe it could possibly exist. How can that exist? From here on Earth we see so little, especially now that I live in Seattle with all its clouds and light pollution. And then I remember a night in New Zealand heading for the bathroom at oh-dark-stupid. I gasped at what I saw, and I wept at what I and countless other people never see-- the brilliance of billions of tiny points of light.

There are also times when I know I am connected with something larger than myself, larger than this planet... I feel the pulsing and dancing of the stars. They call to me and I remember how far the web of everything stretches, and I feel as if I can breathe again as I expand across the universe. May you dance with the universe reminding others to let go and dance with you.


“You need chaos in your soul to give birth to a dancing star.” Nietzsche

Dark Chocolate

Yummm! dark chocolate. With the weather turning to cold nights and blustery grey days I have been craving sweets. (and baked goods, and soup, and more baked goods, and sweets)

Let's talk about how dark chocolate, in moderation, is really good for you. It has stearic acid (a fatty acid that has a neutralizing effect on cholesterol!) There are many essential minerals including magnesium, copper, potassium, manganese and flavnoids. Flavnoids are of significant benefit because they act as a natural antioxidant and neutralizes free radicals that can damage cell and tissue in the body. Dairy interferes with this process so adding milk to chocolate, tea or other lovely free radical fighters makes it all null and void.

The darker the chocolate the lower on the glycemic index it falls, thereby contributing only small fluctuations in blood glucose and insulin levels.

The problem with these articles is no one tells us what "in moderation" means, so here's my take. I get to eat 3 squares of a 12 square bar a day. Drawing out my $3 dollar chocolate bars life to a whole 4 day s of bliss. Someday I skip this indulgence because the sun is out or I'm busy and don't crave sweets. The delight of all this is I go through about one bar every week to 2 weeks. Not bad considering I used to consume a giant Starbucks cookies 3-4 times a week and have worse sugar cravings. So eating dark chocolate has actually made me loose some weight gain due to high' and lows of sugar cravings and blood sugar crashes.

Dark chocolate has helped balance me. What a great thing.

Spiced Hot Dark Chocolate

swap soy milk for regular milk to ensure that the chocolate's antioxidants are absorbed.

1 quart soy milk
6 ounces dark chocolate chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8-1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground salt

in a small sauce pan combine all ingredients and whisk over medium-low heat until the chocolate has melted completely and eh mixture is steamy and hot. (about 5 minutes)

here are my favorite dark chocolate companies... all organic, all free trade
www.dagobachocolate.com
www.greenandblacksdirect.com
http://www.chocolatebar.com/index.asp

Enjoy!

once upon a time...

there was a woman who HATED to ask for help. Then one day she had an epiphany, if she couldn't ask then no one was free to ask for her help. This confused and saddened her because she truly enjoyed helping other people. (this also applies to always saying "yes", if you can't say "no" once in a while then you really aren't free to say "YES")

She started small, asking for little things progressing on and on until one day she sent out a plea to all her clients and even out over the Internet in her blog (which she's not sure anyone reads) Now anyone could view her need. This made her feel oddly insecure and relieved all at the same time.

Maybe no one would respond. Maybe the sophisticated spam filters would gobble up all her emails. At this point it didn't really matter. She had done it, she had asked for help with something BIG. Her career. She had essentially admitted that she was struggling. Struggling with confidence, paying the bills, and finding people willing to pay her to help heal them.

At this point she had a minor breakdown and wrote a whole story on her blog in the third person.

But it didn't matter because the fear that used to clutch around her ribcage at the thought of asking for help, or needing anything, loosened a bit tonight and well she (I) need to celebrate that! Thank you for playing along.

And she lived happily for a few moments and then life continued with it's usual ups and downs.

The End

magic and art

Well I just sent out a mass email to all my clients asking for their support in helping me find clients. I kinda hate mass emails, but this one was special... this one had a very specific intention behind it.

What I have discovered in the last three weeks is that just that action alone will produce at least one new client. Possibly from a referral but most likely they will just randomly show up. It is amazing how that has been happening lately. I put up fliers in West Seattle and people take a flier form Fremont and decide to call. A women meets another woman I worked on once in a yoga class and she calls, I work on my web site and someone finds my profile on Biznik and calls me to do a presentation. WOW! Can the world be anymore random? Thank you whatever forces are at work! I am truly grateful and I am learning how to not be scared of this amazing thing.

And so because magic happens when you put it out there....
I need help manifesting 8-12 clients a week. Just visualize for me, no need to mess up your life, or re-arrange things to try and come in (I'd love to see you if you have the time!) Just after reading this whisper out into the universe...
"Amy would like to see 8-12 clients a week, it'd sure be nice if you could make that happen."

If you want to do it more than once, knock yourself out!

Let me know what you need and I would be more than happy to whisper it out for you.

And now, because I used to be an art teacher... I leave you with a study of masterpieces to understand global warming