I Love L A!!!

Maybe it’s just me, but I Love L A!  It seems like all I ever hear are people bad mouthing the traffic, the people, the air…pick a topic and Los Angeles seems to be an awful place to  be.

My experience just doesn’t match what everyone is complaining about.  Just yesterday I was up North in the Oakland area and the local driver was talking about when he lived in L A and all the traffic that just crept along.  I listened and tried not to voice my opinion when all of a sudden we were in traffic that was creeping along.  That was the opinion I was about to voice, “there’s traffic in any city you’re in”.

What is it that you’re focusing on?  Just then he was sharing about a deer that was in one of his neighbors yard under an apple tree.  “The deer ate so many apples, it was so full and just didn’t want to move”.  One of the women in the car replied, “we don’t even have deer in Los Angeles”.  Uhh, now I had to interject, “well in my neighborhood, I see deer  once or twice a week AND the deer are either in my backyard or in my neighborhood streets”.  My zip code is 90049 which is a Los Angeles zip code!

Why does everyone think L A is just a cement jungle.  I guess I’m just so fortunate to have lived in gorgeous areas…Malibu, Pacific Palisades, Brentwood.  Then, I heard the same woman say L A had no trees.  Gosh, I was becoming very active in their conversation, “well, I guess that depends on where you spend your time…I’m around trees and trails on a daily basis and I live in L A County anyway”.

Later the same day, a nice guy I had been dating sent me a text saying how happy he was that I wasn’t from L A.  Hmmm? People seem to think that anyone who grew up in L A is somehow snobby or fake.  Yes, I grew up in Michigan, but my heart is from L A and I would never judge all people who grew up in L A as tainted or bad.  In fact, one of my best friends is phenomenal and she is from L A.  I’m sure there are plenty of women who grew up here that aren’t the typical L A women that people have seemingly stereotyped.

I guess if you’re looking and expecting things to look a certain way, they’re going to look that way.  Expect people in L A to disappoint you and they will.  Expect traffic to suck and it will.  The Law of Attraction is always at work in every area of our lives.

I look for the most positive aspects of people and things and I love the people in my world and my environment.  I’ve created it and it’s right here in front of me.  What are you expecting?  What do you want to see?  As the old saying says, “you get what you think about whether you want it or not”.

I love L A.  I live in one of the most gorgeous neighborhoods.  The people in my communities are all pleasant and friendly and most of them are real and authentic.  The air I breath is fresh with the ions that make you want to take a deep breath…ocean air and the smell of pine and eucalyptus on my hikes.

It’s been 20 years and I am still the same me.  I look at the women who have tampered with their faces and I see that when I smile, some of my lines disappear–so I keep smiling. 

I do notice some of the stereotypical L A women and I feel for them.  They’ve done things to their faces that make them look quite ridiculous.  Perhaps those are the women who have helped create the stereotype.  Sure, I think we need to feel good about how we appear to the world and do whatever it takes to remedy our appearance.  For now, I am doing some spiritual surgery on the inside and continuing to focus on my inner beauty.  As Emerson said…”as we grow old,  the beauty steals inward”.Just know this…I LOVE L A!!!!

Love Is Everything They Said It Would Be

I drove up alongside my former husband this morning.  It was Mother’s Day 2010 and we were both on our way to see our morning clients in Malibu.  We were married for 20 years but have been separated for almost 2 years.  It was kind of cool, in a strange sort of way, to see him in the car next to me.  We like each other–gosh how couldn’t we?

Time passes, people grow and change and expand in different directions.  We are definitely the same yet very different from when we first met 24 years ago!  It really is hard to believe that this amount of time has passed.

There are times when I feel that I transcend time.  It’s  very cool…I feel as if I’m the me I was before my first love showed up in my life.  Oh sure, I am reminded that I’m not 15 anymore but for the most part I really like who I am and who I’ve always been.

This leads me back to the husband I once had.  He too is the likable guy he’s always been–he is genuinely a good person.  I can’t imagine him being a bad guy in any way to anyone.  I’ve met a few of them lately and they have issues but when I think of the man who is now a free agent, there will be a lucky woman to match him.

It seems that first, she will be surprised that what she sees–she will get.  He is as authentic and real as they come.  He’s not messed up in the heart or the head, he just IS.  My greatest hope is that she will treat him with all the respect he deserves.

We met in college and continued onto graduate school together.  Then, we made a big change–we moved across the Country from Michigan to Malibu!  We carved out a life for ourselves, we grew together, came up against many challenges and kept moving forward.

Our relationship began to show signs of expiration.  Our lives began to separate from one another.   We shared so much together, so many experiences and places.  In time though, it seemed like I wanted to keep on growing and expanding and he didn’t want to budge.

This isn’t about what went wrong though, this is about what is right about us NOW.  My former husband is a great guy and there is just no way around that.  He is truly a man of  integrity.  We find a way to support each other in whatever way we can.  We like each other and always will.

There are times that I really miss hanging out with him.  I miss the pure sweet spirit that he is.  Never once, in all the years has he thrown any words back in my face to hurt or harm me.  Being vulnerable in love is so sacred and sweet and when it’s real, it never comes back to hurt!

I feel so fortunate to have experienced real love from a real man.  Even though what I feel for him is no longer a passionate “in love” feeling, I know what it is to BE LOVED unconditionally.  If it never happens again that will be okay because I felt it once and it was enough to last a lifetime!

Oh, and I just came across this performance by K. D. Lange and Oh My God, she is amazing.  Says it the way I am feeling it now.  Love is everything they said it would be!

All Cooperative Components

My life has been so magical lately that I just want to keep on getting out in it and see what happens next.  Today was a really long day…a 3.5 hour mountain bike ride in the heat of the day, 2 hours in the car to and from the trail head and I still found myself wanting to get out there and do something.  Yes, I wanted a nap but honestly, I have been experiencing so much synchronicity that I just pushed through nap time and looked for more life to live.

When life starts to get in the groove and it seems like all cooperative components come together for your good, who wouldn’t want to squeeze more of that out of life?   Here is a recent story:

One of my long time (16 year) training clients is taking a cholesterol lowering medication.  I am not a fan of prescription medicine and this type of drug has many side effects.  I had given him a 3 part article on these effects so that he’d be aware and able to choose for himself.  I consider it my job to make sure he knows what I know and I try not to shove it down his throat but get him information which he can choose to do (or not do) something about.

On a Wednesday I had given him the articles to read then I saw him again on Saturday.  I had spontaneously sent him an email in the morning suggesting we take a hike instead of meeting at the gym as usual.  To my surprise, he accepted (he hasn’t wanted to hike for about a year).

As we were driving to our hiking location, he explained that he read all three articles and they scared him.  He looked into who wrote the articles and concluded that he wouldn’t trust their word.

He went to The Mayo Clinic site and got the information he wanted to hear…that they were safe and he didn’t need to supplement with CoQ10.  As he told me, I listened but accepted what he said.  I was just glad that I could do my part and I wasn’t attached to his decision to do (or not do) anything about it.  In the past, however, I would try to convince him every way I could.  This day, though, I just let go and released any attachment to his decision.

On our way back he needed to stop at the pharmacy to pick up a prescription for his wife.  I had never really talked to Raj,  the homeopathic pharmacist (and traditional pharmacist) that he always raved about,  so he was excited that I was along for the ride.  As he approached the counter, I browsed the isles and the different supplements they carried.  I saw the CoQ10 supplement we had just been talking about and held it up for him and said, “look Arnold, here it is”.  The pharmacy technician at the counter commented on what a great supplement that is…especially for people who are on cholesterol lowering medications.  Arnold said, “oh really, why is that”.  She explained all the technical details and I remained quiet…this was working out perfectly.

Then Arnold asked the pharmacist what he thought of the CoQ10 supplement…Raj agreed, “anyone who is taking a statin should take this, it is so important”.  “Why didn’t Dr. Bateman tell me about this”, Arnold implored?  The pharmacist explained that some doctors stick to their medical training only and don’t look into any alternative options.  In the end, Arnold bought the supplement and I was thrilled.

What was so synchronistic about this was how perfectly all the information I had given him was validated by a brilliant pharmacist that he whole heartedly trusted.  Had I not suggested us taking a hike instead of going to the gym we wouldn’t have been together in the pharmacy and I wouldn’t have picked up the CoQ10 to be our topic of discussion.  It was so fun to witness.   I didn’t have to be pushy at all…I simply supplied the information, was unattached to the outcome then all cooperative components came together for the good of all.

Another cool part of this story is how Arnold reacted.  Ordinarily, Arnold is such a skeptic regarding the premise of Law of Attraction and Synchronicity, but as we left the pharmacy he said, “you know Tara, that was all very synchronistic…had you not suggested the hike, we wouldn’t have been together to visit the pharmacy”.  I was thrilled that he saw it right away!

I am just loving how this attraction based world of ours works.  Sometimes all ya gotta do is LET GO!!!

In The Vortex

What happens when you lock your keys in the car?  Do you get stressed and mad or do you stay calm and know that there is an answer that may come without having to deal with calling AAA?

My friend and I had driven 45 minutes to ride a new trail in Malibu on our mountain bikes.  We were enjoying the morning, getting our bikes ready and our gear together when the wind blew my door shut.

Unfortunately, I had pressed the lock button and my car key was in my camelback which was on the front seat.  Hmmm, my trunk was still open though.  We looked and sure enough there was a latch that when depressed may open through to the back seat.

While my friend pushed and pressed and prodded, she could not get that trap door to open.  This was all after fishing through all the ingredients in my trunk.  I store lots in my trunk!  She asked me to help push so we both dove head first into my trunk while our butts were the only visible part of our bodies–we were pushing together and still to no avail.

I had to laugh, really hard. Here we were,  butts to the world,  and I imagined what it would be like if someone were to pull up on that scene!  We then called over two guys who were also in the process of getting on their bikes.  They tried as they might but also with no luck.  Even though the sun was beating down and we couldn’t just get on our bikes and ride because all my hydration was locked in my car, we laughed and just relaxed about our conundrum!  Somehow we just knew there was a way into the car without having to go through the drama of calling AAA.

As I sorted through the trunk gear hoping to find a wire hanger, I found a 6 pronged pants hanger made out of thick plastic.  I held it up and we both laughed because that certainly wouldn’t be maneuverable enough to open the lock from outside.  Well now wait a minute…I noticed each level clasped together and if it clasped together it must clasp apart.

I unclasped one of the rows and marched over to the passenger door which had the window cracked.  It was so darn easy, I stuck the plastic down the cracked window, pushed on the lock and it was open!

The moral of the story for me was…it is what it is and if you stress about it, that won’t help.  We were relaxed and having fun.  We both seemed to trust that there would be an answer and together with that mindset, we made what looked like a “no way” situation into a “not a problem” situation.

Lately, it seems like all cooperative components come to my rescue.  I like the way it feels to trust that everything will always work out.  Life is good and I just feel like getting out there and living it more fully!!!