Magnetic Energy

Some people have an energetic force that draws life to them.   It doesn’t matter what they look like, their energy trumps everything.  If it’s a high vibrating energy, it feels good and you want to be around it!

I recently attended a Landmark Education class in Los Angeles.   On the second day of class, I entered the room, scanned the space, then walked to the  far right of the room to take my seat. The leader encouraged us to sit in a  different spot from the previous day.  I sat next to a man in the 4th row on the right.   I wasn’t attracted to him in any physical way and I could only see his back.  There were lots of open seats all around, but I sat right next to him.

He turned to me and said, “Hi Tara”.   Not only did I not know who I was sitting next to at the time, I didn’t even recognize him after I looked at him. The only reason I knew it was him was by reading his name tag and that he seemed to know me. He had changed a lot after all these years…he had gained some weight and had a bit of gray in his hair.  I had dated him briefly about 17 years ago.

As we caught up with each others lives over dinner, it was clear to me, he had the same fiery energy he had all those years ago.  And even though I didn’t really SEE a physical attraction, I was feeling an attraction to his energy.  I love energy!

He later admitted that when he was sitting there in the morning, he looked over to the door and saw me walk in. He had seen me the day before because I stood up and spoke in the front of the room.  When he saw me enter the room, he said in his mind, “please come sit next to me, please come sit next to me.”  And I did!!!

Everything is ENERGY! For me, it is so much more important than how a person looks. That’s why I am baffled when I hear  most of my friends list their dealbreakers for finding the man of their dreams–”he has to be taller than 5’9″, he can’t have any children, he needs to be able to support me.”   Really?  Those restrictions could be blocking you from finding the partner of your wildest dreams.  For me, anyway, I stay open to whatever it looks like and reach for those higher energetic qualities..

Energy is amazing. You can deny it or embrace it. I embrace it and look forward to sharing it.  Reach for the best feeling thought you can find and you will raise your energetic vibration higher.  Feel ya later!

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!

A Smile

I don’t get to Hollywood very often but I am here tonight.  I can definitely tell I’m in a big city.  I’m accustomed to a smaller  city.

I just walked by a man, we made eye contact and said hello to each other.  All he could say was, “thank you, I really appreciate that smile you just gave me”.   I agreed, it really is amazing how much a small smile can do for someone in need.  “Oh, you’d be surprised at how few smiles I get in this big city”.

So sad.  I guess people have hardened themselves to street people–people who live on the street.  While some of them are a bit whacked out, some are just in need of some real interaction with a fellow human!

While the smile I gave him seemed like such a big deal to him, the fact that it made such a big deal to him made it seem like such a worthy thing to do.  So, if you get a chance, look somebody, anybody, in the eye today, give ‘em a smile and you just might make their day!

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.

Feathers Find Me

It’s amazing the thoughts and beliefs we hold onto.  Even long after we are adults and can clear the clutter of the limiting beliefs we’ve been taught, there are still some beliefs that hang on.

Lately I have been walking by lots of feathers lying on the ground.  One of the things my mom told me when I was very young was, “don’t pick up feathers because they may have lice”.  That is something that, until recently, I listened to and obeyed.

Feathers, though, are one of the most powerful animal totems.  If you’ve read the book, “Animal Speak” by Ted Andrews, you know that feathers are considered gifts from the divine.

Feathers have long been associated with the wind, the mind, new flights, and a direct connection to divine forces. Ted Andrews says, “as you begin to study and honor the birds you encounter, you will find yourself being gifted with feathers.  You will find them everywhere you go…every feather is a special gift & promise.”

Because of my early childhood warning, though, I had been passing up the feathers on my path.  My biggest regret was passing up a white feather with spots on it (from a HAWK).  I was leading a hike and I saw it, the inner part of me really wanted to grab it, but that nagging belief stopped me.

After the hike was over, I thought about what I had passed up!  Hawks are one of the most powerful animal totems and to have one of its feathers would be quite the divine gift!  Well, that made me really mad at ME!  Why did I have to walk on by?  I told myself I would never walk by feathers again.  If I saw a feather I would reach down and bring it home.  As I continued reading in Animal Speak,  “feathers are a call to unfold the wings of enchantment within your life”.

I was now going to be open to picking up feathers, whatever the size or color they were.  Of course, I could wash them if I still had a little fear in my head, but I was going to be open to feathers.  Well imagine what happened in the following weeks.

Everyday, literally, I found a feather.  Some days I found more than one feather.  Today, I found 4 feathers.  I picked up feather after feather, day after day.  Whether I was hiking, riding my bike, or walking the dogs, there were feathers strewn across my path–well maybe not strewn but you get the idea.

I feel like the law of attraction was working on my behalf and paying me back for my regret for not having picked up that amazing Hawk feather.  Once I vowed to pick up feathers, they appeared everywhere.

I have no doubt about the powerful Law of Attraction!  It exists, without fail.  It is always working whether you believe it or not.  I have my proof, what is showing up in your life?

Good Bye 40 something!

Today is my last day of being 40 something.  I started it out by going to Jerome Mercier’s Yoga class at 7am.  My health is my greatest wealth and I am so grateful to have listened to my inner voice and continued on my path for all these years.

Anyone who has had the pleasure of practicing with Jerome knows how challenging that can be.  Yes, physical strength is needed, to be sure, but there is more of a mental strength that is underneath it all.

As Jerome ended class today he said, “behind all the poses is Savasana”.   Savasana is the final resting pose and it is blissful after an hour and a half of Jerome’s class… “If we can learn to surrender instead of react to life and yoga, we can get through anything with ease”.

My reactions are right on target for me and my values in life.  Not too long ago, I was working really hard to make a business work.  One of the Senior Vice Presidents in the company who spent years working hard to get there and is now making between $100k & $200k every month in residual income gave me some of the worst advice EVER.  He said,  “Tara, do whatever it takes to make this work.  Stop going to the gym, stop riding your bike, stop practicing yoga, spend every spare moment you have to work this business and MAKE IT WORK”.

Yes, that was his advice.  Now, coming from someone who was making that kind of money, you’d think I would listen and do what he suggested.  I did not even give it a first thought let alone a second thought.

In class this morning while sweating profusely and using every physical and mental muscle in my body, I was grateful I did not listen.  I am not making any residual income, YET,  and the income I make is not anywhere near the $100K mark, YET.  Do you think it matters?

Money is his payoff, I suppose, for working so hard and sacrificing his health to get to the place he is in now.  He got back to the gym after taking years off and gaining over 40 pounds and losing lots of hard-earned muscle and strength.  He can now relax a bit and work hard in a different way to get his health back.

I, however, chose to keep my health and sacrifice the money, at least in the short-term.    I am in a state of great health, however,  my state of financial affairs is not as impressive.  I can ride my bike up a mountain, practice yoga next to a class full of people half my age and manage most of the poses with grace, ease, and as Jerome would say, “elegance”.

I have no regrets.  I feel such an immense amount of fortune surrounding me in everything I do.  I am still open to create financial abundance but I am doing it while maintaining my healthy lifestyle.   I am strong.   I am invincible.  I am grateful.  Oh, and tomorrow, I am 50!!!

Be Open

One of my favorite affirmations these days is, “I AM OPEN TO EVERYTHING AND ATTACHED TO NOTHING”. When I live with this intention, some of the most amazing things happen.

Last weekend, a series of events occurred that reinforce my belief in staying tapped in, tuned in, and turned on to the positive flow of energy all around us. I had the opportunity to attend my high school reunion last weekend.

At first, I didn’t think I was going to go. All the names of the people who RSVP’d were people that I didn’t hang out with in high school. They were all the jocks and I knew them but I didn’t have a strong bond with them. Then,  I thought I should put my name on the RSVP list so that I might attract some of the people I did hang out with.

When I arrived at the reunion, I studied the list of people who were inside the room already and not one of them stood out as someone I wanted to reconnect with. This was not a good attitude and I decided to change it immediately. I decided to go in and find out about people instead of go in and feel like I had no connection.

That is exactly what I did. I love finding out about people in general and I went into my interview mode. I loved it. I had so much fun and started to feel a connection brewing. Then, I noticed NOBODY was dancing. I grabbed a couple of women (who I did not know) and began dancing. We managed to recruit a guy out there with us who recruited another guy.

By the end of the night, as the song “Last Dance” by Donna Summer played, almost everyone in the room was out there on the floor. I was glowing with joy. Even though I didn’t really know these people in high school, I knew them now and created a connection out on that floor.

Later in the evening as I talked to one of the guys who had organized the event, I found out that his mother still kept in touch with his brothers widow. My very best friend in high school married his brother (his brother has since passed on). I haven’t spoken to her in a VERY long time. At the age of 16, she got caught up in a downward spiral of drugs and sex and I don’t know what else. We ended our friendship. We had been friends from the age of 3 until 16.

The long and the short of all of this is…I believe the reason I went to that reunion was not to dance the night away with a bunch of people I didn’t really know, but it was to get the number of my childhood soul mate. We were so close, we were so connected, we knew everything about each other and vowed to always be friends.

I called my friend the next night (Johnnies mom gave me her phone number). She has been clean and sober for 12 years now. We exchanged our small talk and then really started to share ourselves with each other. She told me she had had a dream about me a few weeks earlier. She woke up from the dream feeling really good. Clear.

I asked her where she worked and when she told me the name of the restaurant, I told her that my mom and I had been in there about a month ago. It was a little out of the ordinary since it wasn’t a place near where we live. Then, she told me her first memory of me. The crazy thing about that memory is that I’ve been thinking about it a lot–wondering if it really existed.

We were 3 and 4 years old, throwing rocks to each other and she threw a rock at me and I have the scar to prove it on my forehead. I was never sure if that was how I got the scar….she confirmed that the memory was very vivid in her mind.

The 13 years we were friends growing up felt like a lifetime and the over 25 years we haven’t spoken didn’t even feel as long as the time we spent living life to the fullest in our childhood. We are friends again and we will always be friends now. My Thanksgiving couldn’t have been more perfect.

The moral of the story is…be OPEN TO EVERYTHING AND ATTACHED TO NOTHING. I wasn’t going to let the fact that I knew no one at my high school reunion stop me from attending. Had I been attached to the outcome of the reunion (a friend of mine thought I might meet the next love of my life), I would not have been open to the events that followed.

Imagine what I would have missed had I not gotten interested in others–I would have never found out about my long lost friend from Johnnie! I have the first friend I’ve ever known in my life back in my life. I AM AMAZED AT HOW THE UNIVERSE LINES THINGS UP FOR ME. I AM GRATEFUL! Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!