Love and Feeling ALIVE

Do you ever just love feeling LOVE? It is such a gift.

It opens your heart to the elements.
You feel electricity.
You feel vulnerable and excited.
You feel warmth and beating explosions.
You feel buzzing in your veins.

Everything is YES!
Everything is POSSIBILITY!

That is how I feel when I think of my husband. My greatest spiritual teacher, my greatest friend, my thrilling experiment in co-creation.

We have been through so much, we test each other, we push the limits.

He is so beautiful, so lovely and fulfills my life in ways I never would have experienced without him.

As we take the next few steps together to try the unknown, to see what we are capable of, I know that no matter what happens...
I am so grateful for my life with him.

The good, the challenging and most of all, the explosions of feeling ALIVE!

When Life Changes, Wait on Decisions

Now that we are in motion for the upcoming move 1150 miles south of here, I am amazed as new thoughts, feelings, and decisions come into my view. It is so easy to get caught up in the drama, and it is just as easy to stay out of it. All of the upcoming decisions we have to make could be an easy source for stress and drama. You think and think and think into the future and wonder what is the best choice to make. I have done that in my life and I have learned an important key to keeping it simple:

Making decisions in the present time is the best time to make them!

Otherwise, the stress begins to form because you are making decisions without all the real time information. Soon, your mind will create false information to fill in the blanks until you reach that point in time, and you end up making pre-decisions based on assumption.

Let me give you an example:
One of the most common questions I get is, "Where are you going to move to in Los Angeles?" Since I have never lived there I do not have an honest answer to that. And if I did know the area, what if the kind of home we want isn't available at the time of our move?

This is where being in the here and now is such a gift during life changes. I know where I will live, because I will be faced with a home we have looked at in an area I feel good in. The decision will be there... in that moment. And there is only 2 choices to make, yes or no.

When faced with a yes or no decision in the moment life is happening, it is so much easier to look at all the information you have up until that point, trust your inner guidance and move forward with your decision.

Decisions no longer become long month or year long dramas, they simply are moments in your life. The best part is how much more time it gives me here in the northwest, where I am currently making decisions for the upcoming birthday party of my soon-to-be-8 year old.

That is right now and that is where I love to live.

So many emotions, so little time...

Since the big news, and taking steps towards leaving (selling the boat, buying another hybrid car, renting the house, having a going away party for Charlie) I have been having a lot of emotions. I have been:
Happy
Excited
Scared
Confused
Sad

These feelings seem to come moment to moment. Instead of trying to keep a smile on my face and continue to tell myself everything is going to be okay, I am allowing the feelings to come and show themselves. I may be excited one minute, cry the next, smile after that, then talk about my fears and about missing our life here in the northwest.

I notice that there are so many passing emotions, thoughts and reactions, and since I am not holding any judgments to them, they are passing by in seconds. I am not attaching who I am to what I feel.

So many of us are afraid of being authentic and feeling what we are feeling in the moment for fear it will grow into something too big to handle. When you allow your feelings without judging yourself afterward, you let go of the story and there is no drama or analysis... it just is.

For example, when I talk about my fear of dealing with the high population of a big city, I don't attach the judgments "I am a big baby!" "Why do you say such ridiculous things?" "You will never be able to handle all the noise, you can't handle anything!" or "You have to figure out a way to stop this move!"

Instead, I just notice the feeling of fear. Recognize it as normal and natural and feel it. When the fear seems to take on physical pain, I stop what I am doing and feel it even deeper. Let it come through me like a shock wave. Once I do, I notice it leave me. I watch it dissipate.

If I go with the stories and judgments, I get caught up in another reality. The reality in my head, instead of my heart. Our thoughts can take over and prolong the suffering of emotions. We make our feelings more important than the moment and watch the story go on for a full length movie or even a mini-series or life-long soap opera.

If you begin to notice a story taking over, just take a deep breath to create a break in the action. Go into your body and feel what is happening in there. Let go of your thoughts and stay with the feelings in the now.

The here and now is where you will find freedom. For that is all we have.

Everything else is purely for entertainment purposes only.

New Move... Big Changes!

It's time to share with you all what is going on at home here.

While I was innocently on my 2-week non-computer retreat, my husband went out and used his amazing energy to find an opportunity and his dream job.

As I was driving home with the kids and only 4 hours to go from the sunny beaches in Santa Cruz, he shared the news. "We're moving to Hollywood!"

Yes, after living and very much loving the northwest for the past 13 years, we are moving from our small town of only 10,000 residence to Los Angeles, CA one of the biggest cities in the US with a population of 3,834,340! (and that is just in the city's huge limits, the county limits is almost to 10 million!) It is something to wrap our brains around...

It has been a few days with a whirlwind of amazing connections, flow and ease...
The kids are excited.
My husband is excited.
Even I am excited.

There are a few things that are keeping me on Rescue Remedy:
1. My husband is leaving soon... next week and will be down there 3 months before we all move down officially. Even though he will be visiting us and we will come down to visit him, this will be the longest my husband and I have been apart since we have met.

2. Leaving the cool, beautiful and green forest we live in to be in the small dry plots and high population of the hot and sunny city. The trails, the quiet, the serenity of living here is such a gift. My kids love to play in the woods and build forts and create games of amazing outdoor invention. It will be serious culture shock!

3. Smog. I have always been sensitive to it and I love the clean air on the coast of the northwest. There will be a huge adjustment here of relaxing and letting go...

4. Safety. I know there is no such thing as real security... but we don't have dangerous parts of town around here. I let my 10-year old walk to town (an hour long walk) with a friend without worry. This will also be a huge shift and I am actually curious to see how I feel when I am there. Right now, I can't imagine it.

The truth is, those are the only stresses for us as we look towards this new adventure! So we have decided to go for it. We have decided to move to Los Angeles.

My husband will be working in Hollywood, where he can see premeres for new movies right across the street. Where will we actually move to and live? Well I just don't know for sure yet....
If you know of a family friendly, relatively quiet neighborhood that won't be a huge commute from Hollywood.... put your vote in here!

Meanwhile what does this mean for Authentic Times, Inc.?
I will be slowing down for awhile (I guess that is why I was on retreat...) I will still be coaching, editing and doing the peace treaty classes, just less of it as we transition through the move.

Here is to change, courage and our new adventure!!!

Back From Retreat!

Wow! I not only was off the computer for a week, I was off for TWO!

So needless to say, it went really well...
It took me a couple of days of fighting my impulse to turn on my computer. Soon I felt like I really didn't want to turn my computer on ever again!

So I met with my amazing coach... took a few more days to reconnect with what I was really feeling and it that is when it hit me like a bouquet of Mother's Day flowers!

I was ready to turn on, but in my own way and at my own speed...

Yes, I had almost 600 emails when I returned (I will get back to you, I promise :)
Yes, there is a lot to catch up on.
Yes, the web spun without me.
Yes, I am so grateful!
This is how I feel:
Yahoo!
Getting back to work feels freeing and fun!
Thank you all for your beautiful support!

I thought about where my business is headed and where I want to go, and I feel ready to take those steps, clearly and with purpose!

What did I take away from this experience?

Trust yourself... even when you think you know better!

Non-Computer Retreat starts Now!

I wish you all a beautiful week! Here is something I would love to give you...

Yikes! A Retreat From the Computer

The time has come! I have decided to take a week retreat away from the computer for the first time since my trip around the US in '07. Am I having my doubts? Oh yeah, I am!
Here is why:

• My email will explode into outerspace and I will need a special team of highly trained experts to face it when I return.
• Those who are contacting me about coaching or editing may go somewhere else and not want to wait for my hiatus to be over. (One week on the internet is like a whole year in real life!)
  
• What if I don't want my hiatus to be over?
• I don't have a VA and am not sure if I should hire one to keep my businesses in the flow...
  
• I will be forgotten on Twitter and Facebook (Oh gasp!)

Time is from Monday, April 27th thru Monday May 4th. This may be longer, if needed through Thursday May 7th.

Can I do this? ...Yes?
I mean, Yes!!!
Is anyone taking bets?

Empower Your Adult!

If you missed the show, listen in to this one. On the Voice of Change, Sharon and I talk about the power of trusting yourself and moving forward. A really powerful show!

A conversation about "The Work"

This is a response to a conversation on the blog Waves Arising Suddenly about "The Work" and Byron Katie that I found after a disturbing post I found about what happens at the School for The Work.

I am grateful for Byron Katie's work for I have grown so much; This just teaches me that sometimes the initial inspiration is what we should focus on... I would love to hear your thoughts!

_______________________________________________
I am so glad to find a compelling conversation about thoughts and ideas of the work and the school for the work.

I personally had used the work for about a year, until I realized, I was continually doing the work on suffering thoughts over and over... I continue to share it with my clients and introduce it as a trick. (Tricks are not negative, they are just quick ways to help the mind end suffering, though do not prove lasting results without positive action.)

For the same reason I left AA years ago, the work is similar in that people are encouraged to stick with it forever, or they receive a sense of shunning. AA's motto is "jails, institutions and death" Katie's followers seems to say to those who argue that you are "fighting reality" or "fighting what is."

I am not saying these programs don't help millions of people, they do. I am saying that once they help you, please think about moving forward on your own journey without fear.

The experience I have had with those who have gone to the school is a sense of secrecy... and I never knew why. If it is joyous, share it with the world, right? They seem to have a "I know what you do not" energy about them. My thoughts have been, "It's only 4 questions. It's not hard to understand, what am I missing?"

Rick Ross' sharing of the school made me feel sad. Maybe that is what I was missing... what had happened to these people while at the school. Cult, fraternity or abusive family; or whatever you call it... anything that asks you to keep secrets for any reason, is going to create separatism with others and suffering in your spirit.

If the tool you are using to end the suffering does not truly end it permanently and encourages you to add their own philosophy onto your personal authentic journey for the long term, you will stray from walking your own unique path.

I encourage my clients, friends and family all to do what is right in their own heart, to trust and listen to their own guidance. Byron Katie is doing that for herself.

We also need to do the same.

smiles and blessings,
Rain

Listening to the Voices

Okay, I admit it! Sometimes, I doubt the universe will provide. As I continue to move forward and I do what I love, every once in a while a voice pops into my head that says,

"You are living in a dream world! Life is not a dream and you have to be rational and practical."

Do you know that voice? When you begin walking on your authentic path, this voice is LOUD! There is a real fear of the unknown.

However, as I have been on my true authentic path for the past 3 years, I have actual evidence that living a life that is from your heart and spirit can and does work, although not always as we first might believe it should. Lol!

So when that voice continues to whisper in my ear and flashes of doubt soon fill my head, I can immediately go into "hopeless."

However! I have discovered a beautiful trick that works and I want to share with you today.

When the voice is talking to you with fear, simply listen and sit with the discomfort without judgment. The most important thing is to let the voice be HEARD as you would hear a child.

As I continue to work with The Peace Treaty, I am becoming more conscious of these voices being children. They are us as children, who have become quite bossy and think they know best. However, they speak out of fear and as we all do when we are feeling fear, they just want to be heard.

So next time you hear the voice telling you, "You are foolish and living a dream!" don't fight it or try to put it out of your mind. Decide to listen fully as a kind, loving and wise adult without judgment. When the voice is done talking you might say and say with gratitude in your heart, "Yes, I hear you. It does seem scary. I am the brave adult now, who is ready to take that risk!"

Courage and joy,
Rain