Dating Myself

I remember being out one night (by myself) shortly after my separation from my husband.  I was at a wine tasting bar and met a guy there.  He was alone as well.    He said that since his separation he was commited to not dating until 2 years passed. To me, that sounded like an eternity to not be with someone!  I spent the first couple of years playing around with guys that weren’t interested in having “relationships”–I wasn’t either for that matter.  Then, that got old too.

Now, after over a year of not dating anyone but myself, two years seems like a reasonable amount of time.  I totally “get” where he was coming from.    As  much as I’d like to be back in loveland,   I really am enjoying being with me. And yet, to most people who hear me say that, they wonder how I can be serious. I met a man at a social gathering who was in the midst of his third divorce and he was jumping back in to the on-line dating scene. When I told him of all the time I’ve spent alone, he said, “don’t you miss the companionship”? Absolutely I do, but I have discovered my own companionship and that feels good too!

Most everyone I know is in on an intense “search” in regards to finding a partner.  I certainly never thought I would be without a guy for this long–it has been my choice, though.  I can truly say this has been one of the best times in my life and,  quite frankly, the only time since I was 21 that I’ve been without a man in my life. I am clearly “on my own” and there is something so worthwhile about being responsible for my own happiness regardless of how much male attention I’m getting or not getting. After all of my relationships, I always had another to jump right into so I really never grieved the loss. I have been grieving lately and even though it is sad, it is a process that is rich and life giving.

Some of my friends, even if they are in a commited relationship, need to get lots of attention from lots of men regardless of whether they are going to be with them or not.  They need all kinds of texts messages and other forms of male attention–they crave attention from many sources.   Nowadays, my phone is pretty quiet, not a lot of action!  It’s so nice to not NEED something from someone other than myself!  When we rely on the attention from others to determine how we’re feeling, we’re not really feeling at all.  Whenever you allow someone else’s actions to define whether your day is a success or a failure, you are imprisoned until the end of time.

I’m sad to say that most people I notice are spending so much time devoted into jumping into the next whirlwind of love that they don’t take any time for themselves–just to get clear again.  ”What do I want, what am I willing to hold out for, what am I willing to let go of?”  Many people live in the fear based feelings of, “what if this is my last chance at love, I should take this before I run out of chances”.

I met a man at a social outing who was just finishing up his third marriage. Even as they were in the final stages of divorce, he had been back to his online dating. From where I sit, taking some time and clearing that other person’s energy seems like a good plan, otherwise he’s going to get another partner similar to the others.

One thing I really appreciate is the fact that I did not jump from one relationship into the next (like I did for all my previous relationships).  I am grateful for the grieving I still do after 4 years of being apart.  I suppose it is making up for all the years I jumped and never grieved!  There is something to be said for grieving without wanting to be with that person–it really is a clearing of energy that, once cleared, will make way for the relationship that matches who you have become.

Who we are is who we will get.  I want to get an extraordinary partner and the only way to do that is to BE THAT!  So…here’s to at least another year of dating Me!
Oh and by the way, the man at the wine tasting event who took 2 years off from dating is now happily married to an amazing woman! He got what he held out for!

Fortune In Friends

Friends are fortune to me!  Growing up,  I was a loyal friend to one–Annette.  Sure, I had other friends in the neighborhood but it was almost as if they were there for me when Annette wasn’t available.  I’ve operated in that same fashion my whole life.  Almost always, when I got a boyfriend, my friends were definitely second.  My sole focus was on my primary relationship.  That’s just the way I was.

Now, after being out of a 20 year relationship almost 4 years, I’m noticing that I’ve become more free and available to more friends all at once.  When that long relationship ended, I bombarded the one nearby friend that was available.  She was really the center of all my friends.  That ended after a while because she felt the pressure and responsiblity of being my only friend!

Thank goodness she cut me off. It forced me to grow.  I have become more available to many friends now–all at once.  It took some time and I could feel the subtle signs of clinging to just one friend.  Now, though, I have many friends and they all play a role in my life.  It feels good.  We are all here for one another.  Sure, some of them find a significant other and I am set on the shelf for a time, but I understand.

This process of letting go of my loyalty to one person has been challenging and painful at times.  I guess I’ve always been attached to the presence of another person.  Now, though, I am becoming more and more “okay” on my own and really attached to my own “presence”.  As far as I can see, this is the best way to be.

Many of my friends are in the search mode of on-line dating or going out to clubs to find someone.  I haven’t been all that interested in replacing that space with some person.  Instead, I’m enjoying all the different circles of friends I’ve found and nurtured, and most importantly, I’m enjoying the friend I have in ME!

California–Letting The Dream Go

I remember my second visit to California, I was 18 years old and loving this place!  Near the end of my trip, I read some graffiti on a freeway overpass, “Tourists GO HOME”!  I remember feeling really bad when I read it, almost like I had been personally attacked.

I couldn’t understand how someone would want me to go home.  I thought to myself, “gosh if I lived here, I would want to meet all the people that came from all over the world to visit”.  That’s just how I am, I love finding out about people.

I’m still the same way all these years later, if I meet somebody new I want to know all about them.  I’ve lived in this state for 20 years now and I feel as if I was born here.  I wasn’t born here, but I did live here when I was a baby and I feel as if California is in my bones.  I love this place, it is so magnificent!

Where else can you go to the beach then take a 2 to 5 hour drive and be in the mountains with snow?  Everywhere I go here, I feel at home.

California!  I’ve been up and down the coast and everywhere I go is total bliss.  It really is no wonder that people want to visit here, let alone move here.  If you knew what we had to endure in Michigan, you would have a heart and be okay with us being here.  While it is true, there are lots of people and cars, how can you blame them all?  This a a gorgeous place!

I remember one of the women at the gym complaining about all the cars flooding from the valley to go to the beach.  She said, “vals, go home, we don’t want you here”.  It’s funny, I thought to myself, she moved here from Ontario Canada–who is she to talk?  Vals are the people who live in the San Fernando Valley.  It is a good 15-25 degrees hotter than on the beach.  Gosh, they deserve to enjoy the beach.  I can see it from both sides, though.  When I spend most of my time up and down the coast because I work in Malibu and live in Brentwood, there can be a huge amount of traffic in the summer months because of everyone flooding to the beach.  It’s all good though, we’re just enjoying where we get to live and play!

I enjoy where I live and play every day.  Today, as I drove the stretch of PCH that takes me to my long time place of work, The Malibu Gym, I marveled at the beauty of Point Dume’ in the distance.  Honestly, I don’t think there has been one day in the 20 years I’ve been driving that coast that I haven’t been in awe of the sight of it when I see it.  I do wonder, how is it possible to love a place so much?

The month of June, 2011 marked 20 years of living in California.  From the age of 10, I spent 20 years dreaming of living in California.  Some might say it became everything I focused upon.  The DJ in the college cafeteria only had to see me and know that it was time to play my song, “California Dreamin”.  Class after class of teaching, I always ended in the relaxed visualizing mode and saw myself here, happy and vibrant!  Then, after years of postponing my move either because of school or a job or a boyfriend,  I made it happen.  I had dreamed and visualized and listened and dreamed some more and then I moved to California.  I had no car, no job, no place to live–I just had to be here once and for all.

So many dreams came true for me.  I live the lifestyle I lived when I lived in Michigan.  I lived it in my own little world there because my environment didn’t really support it.  Today, I am surrounded by health food stores, healthy restaurants,  nature abounding everywhere I turn, near perfect weather, people I adore and so much more!

I love the life I’ve created.  I ride my bike, I hike the trails, practice yoga at my choice of a plethora of studios.  I live in a neighborhood that simply must be one of the prettiest in the country.  Abundance surrounds me in every direction I turn.  I am worthy of it all because I brought it to life with my visions and my strong desire.

Now, after 20 years of fully embracing and loving this place, I had the thought of letting it go.  Let it go and move onto something different.  I am open to that.  Montana seems to be pulsing in my radar these days.  Colorado is another place calling to me although the thought of the Winter months don’t really appeal to me.   Hawaii could work for me.  Or, I could stay here and just keep living it in the blissful fashion I’ve carved out for myself.

The feeling I had, though, when I let go of the need to be here and the need to stay here was so freeing.   By letting go, we simply surrender to either something better or keeping that which we have.  It was obvious I had been clinging to being here.  I could feel such a total sense of freedom when I just let go.

Who knows what tomorrow will bring? ”I am open to everything and attached to nothing”.  That sounds like a good plan.  I heard Dr. Wayne Dyer say it many years ago and until you experience it in one area of life, you won’t really know how good it feels.  I am feeling this way in several areas of life and it feels like a dream–as  good as the California dream I had all those years ago!

Degrees of Forgiveness?

Recently, I’ve had the “forgiveness” conversation with people.  I’ve heard a common theme that troubles me. People seem to have varying degrees of forgiveness.  It seems that some things are acceptable to forgive yet others are not so acceptable.  Gosh, that doesn’t sound like forgiveness to me.

I was telling someone that I was going to a friend’s  house to watch the movie  “Powder”.  I had watched it the first time in 1995, the year that it was released,  and remembered what an impact it had on me.   She exclaimed, “I won’t watch THAT movie because a child molester was the Director of it”.

Gosh, I know that being a child molester is not acceptable AT ALL, but must we always carry that with us and NEVER forgive a person?   Are there degrees of forgiveness?  Are there some things we just shouldn’t forgive?  I’m troubled by the rigidity of that!

Somehow, if you can forgive some things but not other things, I think maybe you just don’t know what forgiveness is.  The way that I understand forgiveness is to be able to see someone through the eyes of Source.  Call it God, Source, All That IS, Unconditional Love.  When you see someone through those eyes, you only see them as the fullness of who they are in all their potential and  beauty.  There is no judgement, no rigidity.

Why are some things considered okay to forgive and other things, well they’re just not acceptable to forgive?  Troubling indeed.

The director of this movie spent 10 years in a state prison.   Should we just throw him out with the trash?  He is an artist and a person.   Should we never allow him to contribute to society again because of his past behavior?  “Powder” was a moving and powerful movie and I highly recommend it.

The woman who would never watch “Powder” told me to go look up some “Ask Abby” response and then I would understand why I should never forgive a child molester.  I opted not to.  I would rather stand in a place of love and compassion than in a place of hate and unforgiveness.  For all those who would never forgive, I do hope you’ll never have to be the one in a position to be forgiven.

Synchronicity Swirling Around Me

The day started like any other day at The Malibu Gym.  

Greg, one of the trainers,  was wearing a “Drill” shirt.  Arnold made a comment that his shirt should say “sargeant” after the Drill logo.  Greg said, “well, I’ll see what Craig can do about that”.  Craig is the owner of Drill.  I haven’t seen Craig since the beginning days of working at the gym…probably 18 years ago.  I have had many Drill shirts but I thought Drill went out of business and I haven’t seen Craig in a very long time.

I went on with my day and was at the local Starbucks when a good looking man caught my eye.  He had his dog sit at the edge of the parking space while he walked away, then he called the dog to come.  As he got close, I commented, “that is one well-trained dog”.  He agreed and I couldn’t help but notice his amazing blue eyes AND the fact that he was wearing a Drill shirt.

I had owned a shirt just like the one he was wearing.  Then, I went to my car and sat with my door open while I talked to a girlfriend on the phone.  I watched the blue-eyed guy go inside the store next to the Starbucks.  I knew that it was a skate board/surf type shop but then noticed it was “Drill”.  Then, as I sat there longer, the owner,  Craig (who Greg had mentioned earlier)  came out of the store.

There was something about that beautiful blue eyed guy.  Not only was he wearing a Drill shirt, but on the very same day, I saw the owner who was mentioned earlier when Arnold and I commented on Greg’s Drill shirt.  Synchronicity swirling around me is all I can say…

I found it interesting that all those events took place in one day.  The next couple of Wednesday’s I went into that Starbucks hoping to see the blue-eyed guy, but not to be seen.

Two Weeks Later…30 miles South.

I was in Santa Monica at the local farmers market.  As I sat waiting for my friend I noticed a man that looked like the man I noticed 2 weeks earlier.  Sure enough, I could see his blue eyes from 15 feet away,  I looked to see where he went and there was his dog that verified it was him.

I couldn’t resist so I approached him and asked if he lived in Malibu…that I remembered him and his well-trained dog.  It turns out, he works in Malibu and lives out my way as well.  He trains horses.  I shared with him the first place I lived in Malibu was on a private horse ranch.  My landlord had taken me to a few great clinics to learn riding techniques.  He wondered which ones?   I could only remember one of the techniques that really stood out for me and shared that.  He said, “when and where was this clinic”.  I knew it was sometime in 1992 since that’s when I lived there.  He said, “wow, you took a clinic with Buck Brannaman”.  “Yes, that was the name”, I said, “I remember it felt like I was in the presence of a real master”.

He went onto tell me that Buck Brannaman was the consultant to the movie The Horse Whisperer.  He said that he’s never known anyone who had such a freakish way with horses…amazing man.  Turns out, he was going to a clinic the very next day to see Buck Brannaman in Montana.  I shared with him the synchronistic events that ocurred 2 weeks prior and now it felt like even more synchronistic events were happening.

I find it so very interesting that he could be someone who caught my eye in Malibu and I was hoping to see him on the days I go into Malibu when in fact, he lives close by me and I got to see him and talk to him again.  Then, if that’s not enough, as I was hiking with a friend and telling her about all these events, she said, “wait a minute, I know who you’re talking about”.  She assists a teacher in a yoga class and he has been to her class and she has had enough conversations with him to know that he is a horse trainer.  Of course, the blue eyes and the dog confirmed that we are talking about the same guy!!!

This is a small world and we vibrate strongly enough to pull in the people we want to pull into our vortex!  If you pay attention and find some awareness in your own lives, I promise,   you will see the same crazy synchronistic events.  Enjoy them, that’s what they’re for!!!

Just a post note:  I wrote this a few months ago.  Recently, I sat down at a different Starbucks in Malibu to edit it.  I had my head buried in my computer when a man walked up and asked if I was reading the newspaper on my table…I looked up and it was this same man that I am writing about!!!

Another note:  there have been a few other times I’ve seen him, he is clearly not the least bit interested in me.  However, there is something that keeps pulling his presence into my space.  I’m just going to wait and see what happens next.  Whatever the case may be, it’s fun to notice!

Diary of A Massage Therapist

I feel fortunate to have learned the skill of giving massage.  I am a nurturing,  compassionate person so being a massage therapist is in sync with those natural qualities.

I am so very impressed with people who trust enough.  When you think about it, a perfect stranger is entrusting their body to me, another perfect stranger–that’s a big deal!  I don’t take it lightly when someone trusts me to put my hands on them in a loving, non-judgmental way.

There is something so blissful about getting a massage.  When it feels good and you relax, time is non-existent and you drift into a place of peace and deep euphoria.  In the same way, there is so much beauty for me to observe someone getting a massage.  At times, lately, I feel as if I get to see God while giving massages.  God is the place in each and every one of us where we are happy, content, compassionate,  and love ourselves.  To me, God is a place where there is no stress, no rush, no worry, no inhibition.  It is a place where we just trust and allow.  We know that all is well in this moment.

Today,  I had a client return for a second massage.  The first massage was somewhat forced, his wife bought him a gift certificate and he didn’t really want to come.  At the end of the massage he said, “I knew I was stressed out, but I had no idea there was so much stress in my body”.

So today after arriving, he said that people in his life commented on his appearance the day after his massage–that he looked 10 years younger.  He felt it too.  He woke up in the middle of that night and was sweating profusely, obviously his body was letting go of all the stress that had built up.  “I honestly think you saved my life”, he said.

Comments like that make my day worth living–give me a little more impetus to keep on healing.   “You have healing hands”, “You have great energy”, “I am so relaxed”, “How do you know the right places to focus in on”?  The comments are great and keep me motivated and they all come from the place of perfection-God.

One sentiment I always incorporate into every massage is my Namaste’ greeting.  I say it quietly to myself but I see their face and their essence receiving the truth, love, and peace I wish for them.

Namaste’:  I honor the place in you where the entire Universe dwells–the place where there is truth, love, peace, health, and abundance.  When you are in that place in you and I am in that place in me, we are ONE.

I feel fortune in my awareness.  I am a massage therapist and I see God with every massage I give!

Please Forgive Me

I am at Peace.  My father is at Peace.  My father died a couple weeks ago.  I grew up without a father.  I only met him in person 4 times.  I was 10 when my mother drove us across Country from Michigan to California to visit him.  As a young girl who always wondered about her father, I was thrilled.

The next time I met him I was 16, it was his parents’ 50th Wedding Anniversary.  He invited me out to California to visit him anytime.  I thought he was so cool.  In all my years growing up though, he never wrote me, sent cards, answered the  letters I wrote to him.  The older I got, the more I made that mean something about him and something about me.  I began to form all kinds of negative feelings toward him.

The third time I met him was a few years ago.  I attended an intensive weekend event called the Landmark Forum.  The Landmark Forum helped me see that things happen to us and we have our own interpretation about what happened.

After years of no communication, I simply thought he didn’t care about any of his children.  I thought he had no conscience, I thought he was a bad person.  However, after finishing The Landmark Forum, I contacted my father and we created a new relationship.  We let go of the constraints of the past and started from nothing–it was so freeing.

I realized, with his help, that there are two sides to every story and the truth usually lies somewhere in between.  I learned a lot about my father in those few years.  I found lots of compassion for him.  Growing up he had gone to a total of 26 elementary schools.  TWENTY SIX!  His father had a job that kept relocating them.  Imagine how hard it would be to create lasting bonds with people.

He was young when he and my mother were together, he was still learning life and she and we were part of his learning.  He went on to have 3 more wives, and 2 more children in addition to the 5 he had with my mother.

In his last 22 years, he was married to Vicki.  She is an amazing woman and he raised her two kids from a very young age.  He confided in her everything about his life and she loved him deeply.  He was a great father for Linda and Michael and they loved and respected him all their lives.  Even so, he had so much regret and remorse over his past and he always shared with Vicki, the pain he carried with him.  Vicki understood him completely.

Just before he died, he was in a lot of pain the night before and kept waking Vicki and Linda.   Finally, come morning, he was calmer and he just kept telling them, “take my boots off”, “take my boots off”.  They couldn’t figure out what he meant???

After my father died in Vicki’s arms, she realized what he had been referring to.  His very first child with my mom was Jay Ann.  She died of Leukemia at the age of 3.  When he and my mom would bring her home from the hospital after getting a treatment, she would have extra energy and be full of fun and laughter.  She would go and slip her little feet into his big boots and run around.  He chased her and would say, “take my boots off”.  It was a joyful time for him…just to see her happy and full of life and energy.

My father was getting closer to that state of Pure, Positive, Energy that comes with passing.  He was happy and thrilled that he would be in that place with his first child Jay Ann.  The place is what we can all find glimpses of here, in this realm,  if we just try.  A place where there is no pain or guilt or judgment.  A place where there is only joy and vibrant energy.  A place, where if you learn to “let go” and forgive, you can be free.

My sister Valorie was able to meet him when she came out for a visit to California (she still lives in Michigan).  She is one of the most OPEN people I know and she was able to let go of the pain of years of no communication.    My brother Kevin had no bad feelings toward him, he had lived with him for a time when he was 18 and had made peace with any ill feeling he may have had.  My oldest sister was never able to speak to him again.

I feel so fortunate to be able to say that I am at Peace with his passing.  I cleared my body of all the negativity that comes along with not being able to forgive.  Forgiveness is not something we give to the other person, it’s something we give to ourselves.  Most importantly, I asked him to forgive me for all the judgments I made about him.  I came to know what compassion really is–the ability to see someone the way their Source sees them. Source=God=Infinite Intelligence.

My father was a good man.  He had so much going for him and I was able to see through all the veils I had in front of me regarding him and who he was.  We are all here doing the best we can and I feel fortunate to have been able to call him “Dad” later in life.  I AM AT PEACE!

Dog Days

Live LIKE A DOG!

If you don’t have a dog or a dog that you can walk for someone else, get one or find one.  There’s something magical about being with dogs.  More than something…many things.

Just stepping outside and starting to walk with dogs is invigorating.  Dogs are so thrilled to be getting out in the world.  They greet you with such love and longing.  If you’re ever feeling sad and lonely, go visit a dog and you are guaranteed LOVE.

Dog’s show us how we should be greeting every day.  It is amazing out there in the world.  There is so much for us to see and feel and smell and touch and taste and they can’t wait to do it all!  This is a life to be lived fully and who cares how many puddles or piles of poop you have to walk through to find the amazement.

I have had to catch myself on several occasions not to direct the dogs around the puddles–so what if they get their feet wet!!!  Dogs certainly don’t care how dirty they get.  They don’t care that their feet get dirty–they live life fully without reserving anything for any other time.  They are living life in the NOW.  In one regard I am so grateful to be a thinking, meaning making machine, but I also find myself wishing I could be a little more carefree like the dogs I am blessed to learn from.

Just when I was about to write that nothing gets in a dogs way of joy, I was reminded that there are things that dogs get upset about.  Sebastian gets so annoyed when he sees a certain dog in our neighborhood.  He just can’t stand to see him.  This dog usually taunts Sebastian when Sebastian is behind the gate in the yard.  The dog is allowed to be off leash and he walks near the gate and pees on Sebastian’s territory.  Oh boy!

It has been great to watch the evolution of dogs and their social abilities.  The first time I walked Josephine and Sebastian, I took them to a nearby doggie park.  The dogs’ owner had never taken them to play with other dogs so their abilities were quite lacking.  Josephine was so afraid–as soon as she saw another dog, she turned and ran toward the gate to run home.

That was about a year ago and it didn’t take her long to step into the fear (with a little love and encouragement from me) and begin to trust other dogs. To see a dog go from fearful, shown by either aggressive barking or running away, to initiating play with other dogs is such a lesson in how we live our lives.

If we can just turn in the direction of joy and pleasure and trust that we will be fine on the other side of it, we will know how to live life!  So, I feel so fortunate to have dogs that remind me that life is brand new in each moment and we can choose to make a big deal out of the puddles and piles of poop or not!  Life is Good–Live it Absolutely!!!

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!

Love Your Body

After several years of not giving massages, I am now back in the business of massage therapy.  The overwhelming feeling I get when I meet someone who truly knows how to RECEIVE can only be described as blissful.

I know how it feels to receive massage.   I know how wonderful it is to be touched and to feel the muscle soreness being coaxed away.  There is, ultimately, the feeling of self love.  I see it when my clients roll onto their backs.  Their faces are aglow with love and, truly, it is love for themselves.  I guess I am just so impressed that they are there on the table treating their bodies for the sake of enjoyment.

I’ve been in the health & fitness industry over 25 years and I’ve seen a lot.  Sometimes it may look like someone is taking care of themselves by exercising and eating right, but in reality they are beating themselves up.  They aren’t out taking the walk or the bike ride because they enjoy it and it revives them, they are doing it because they ate too many cookies and feel guilt.

What I want to say in this forum is…Love Your Body–enjoy your body and use it every way you can.  Treat yourself to a massage and treat yourself to a walk because you enjoy it not because you feel you “have to”.  Anything you “have” to do is sucking the life out of you.

One of the women I massaged was moaning with pleasure with almost every stroke of my hand.  She wasn’t afraid to express how great it felt and I certainly didn’t judge her for being so vocal—I am impressed because she knows how to RECEIVE and enjoy it!  What a joy it was to witness such pleasure.

The people who care for their bodies and their spirits will be rewarded with a life that flows with ease.  People who feel they  “don’t deserve”,  “have to”, or “can’t afford” will be riding the wave that the masses ride.  Don’t let anyone affect your feeling of worthiness…if they tell you the economy is sinking, that doesn’t mean your economy needs to sink.  Don’t even let the voice inside your head tell you your body doesn’t deserve.  Spend more time talking to yourself instead of listening to that voice.

Think about it…your body has gotten you through everything in your life thus far.  It serves you like nothing else in your life serves you.  It gets you through it all!  Take care of you in whatever way you can.  Choose to feel good because you deserve it.  There isn’t one person reading this that doesn’t deserve–not one!  Take the time to love yourself and you too will reap the rewards of bliss.