Easy Peasy

DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE! 😂

"Easy Care Children's Garden" (seed mixture)

Don't you just LOVE it when people make things look easy? (Sarcasm.) Take parenting, for example. If somebody makes it look easy, THEY ARE LYING. lol

I took this video last year but never posted. It seemed trivial at the time, when confronted with the trials of 2020 and the horrors on the nightly news. It is important to remember though, that those little daily pulls and tugs on your Spirit can add up and become very heavy. It helps to keep in mind that you're not alone and that the perfect example of family, career, or relationship... is probably not as pristine as it may appear on the deceptively shiny surface.

Here's to life and all of its imperfections! Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a screaming preschooler to attend to and it's past bedtime.

Blessed week to you! xo

Doesn't it look like one flower is hugging the other? 

Love,

T

United

The perfect end to an extremely busy week came on Sunday.

I attended the wedding of a wonderful friend and his partner.  The spirit of Love that filled the air was simply incredible.  All who were present felt Blessed to witness the couple's declaration of a most genuine and precious Love.  It warmed our hearts, brought tears to our eyes and sent our Spirits leaping for joy.  The magic and beauty that we felt defies description by mere words.  It seemed we all witnessed a bit of Heaven - the way things are supposed to be.  We laughed, cried and drank it all in as if our parched souls had finally found an oasis.  By sharing their Love with us, that couple had actually fed our souls.

As they stood before us, baring their hearts to each other, someone in the intimate crowd gathered there in the couple's living room said, "I love love."  The woman standing next to me was compelled to introduce herself to me, and I to her.  We all came together under that umbrella of Love.  There were family members, friends, and complete strangers gathered in a feeling of unity.  Isn't that what love is all about?

As I was eventually saying my goodbyes, along with so many lovely people, we spoke of a sense we had, of a "cloud of Love" surrounding us.  We bid the couple hold on to that cloud and always refer back to it in times of challenge.  I vowed to myself to hang on to it and carry it with me as I ventured back out into the world beyond the comfort of their enchanted home that evening.

With so much going on in the world at this very moment, I will carry the remembrance of that Love this week.  I will seek out that which unifies people and accept it as truth.  I will dismiss that which seeks to divide us.

I believe we are one family.

Namaste,
T

"Don't let them deceive us

Orchestrating our defeat

Pushing us to ruin

We fight our brother in the street

Just because he wears a different face

What a disgrace

I believe that we're all family

And together we can find all that we need..."

-Tanya Diona 

"Family Reunion" lyrics

P.S.
As if Angels have just sent me confirmation of these sentiments, I just viewed these two posts (which I will post, in sequence, after posting this blog):

As I write this, peaceful protesters unite and line the streets across the country...

Keep Going Angel Face

Happy Monday everybody!

I started off last week in the studio in Buffalo.  It's always such a joy to work on new music with my dream team!

with Joey and Russ

Tuesday, I saw an Angel in the sky.  :)  There were guys working on the house when a friend texted to ask how I was doing.  I took this picture of the ladder and responded that I was "Movin' on up."  Do you see the Angel face in the clouds - just to the left of the ladder?

raw photo - no retouches

When Russ left for Milan, I thought I might have a minute to relax, but no.  I received a confirmation for a pending Saturday show and the rush was on to get hair done, update website, learn songs and get back to the NYC area.

At the gig in the Hamptons, I was pleasantly surprised to see old friends!

with Wes (drums)

And I always love working with this amazing group of singers!  :)

with John, Chevonne, Brian

By the time I got home, I was too tired to get out of the car.  (Hey singers - does this happen to any of you too?)

So on Sunday, I didn't want to do ANYTHING.  A day of rest... Aaahh... (If only this were one of the commandments or something.)  ;)  

Seriously though, it is SOOOOOO good for us to just sit and breathe.  We all really need to do this more often.  I had the Blessed opportunity to rest and reflect and let the thoughts flow freely on Sunday.

As I thought about what I might write here today and looked for a common thread that ran throughout the week, I recalled many conversations, comments and Facebook posts about love, relationships, personal boundaries and standing up for one's self.  All week long these topics kept coming up.  They were in the love song we worked on in the beginning of the week, in the songs I learned for the gig, in the casual conversations, in the funny stories I heard from friends and in the serious stories on the news.  

I remembered someone's story about how a friend of theirs had been afraid to stand up for themselves in a work situation, and someone else's story about how they HAD spoken up for themselves and how things had changed for the better after that.  I recalled a time when I had spoken up for myself.  I recalled a time that I didn't, but wished I had.  I remembered that oftentimes it seems easiest to ignore an issue and pretend that it's not that bad or offensive.  Sometimes it's hard to face the possibility of letting go and easier to let wishful thinking blind us to the truth.  I thought of someone last week who said, "It is what it ain't!" - rather than "It is what it is."

I saw these posts on Facebook:

"Sometimes on your way up

you have to stop and

let some people off"

- from Enchanted Minds

"You will never get what you truly deserve

if you remain attached

to what you're supposed to let go of"

- from Enchanted Minds

Then I saw this post:

click here for: "The Difference Between Healthy Love & Unhealthy Love" - by Joe Martino

I thought of all the positive affirmations and quotes that I see so often on social media.  While we are encouraged to be positive and love each other, sometimes we forget to love ourselves first.  Setting boundaries doesn't have to mean conflict.  We don't need to get someone else to act in any particular way - but we DO need to be honest with ourselves about the decisions WE make about how we will or will not allow ourselves to be treated, or who we choose to be around.  Loving someone does not mean allowing ourselves to compromise what we believe is right for ourselves.  We can set our own limits and respect the choices of others while we take responsibility for our own.  

Then Steve Harvey came on TV with Oprah, giving advice and talking about his book "Act Like a Success, Think Like a Success."  (I bought it as an eBook.)  He talked about how he doesn't have time for people's negativity and how "You cannot pull everyone along in your wagon of success.  You have to know when it's time to cut certain people loose."

click here for: Steve Harvey on "Oprah's Lifeclass"

I remembered the Angel's face in the clouds and thought of "movin' on up" and wrote these words:

"I take responsibility for presenting myself to you 

as someone you could take advantage of...  

That's all over with now.

- My Higher Self"

In case you didn't see the Angel before...

So here's what I got for this week (to remind myself):

1)  Take the time to rest and breathe and let your innermost thoughts and revelations bubble up to the surface.  Don't get too busy for yourself.  Don't drown yourself out with busywork.

2)  Keep climbing.  Keep making everything better.  Keep raising your own bar.  Blessings await.  Don't be afraid to let go of the old.  Trust that the new Blessings will come.  Keep going!

3)  Hey!  I should write a song about this stuff!  ;)

click here for: Tanya Diona's song "Stand"

Namaste,

T

A Hard Day's Night

Whew!  Did another week go by already???

There was travel...

and rehearsal...

Joe Gray, Joey, Jim

Me and Frank

more travel...

then three days of studio recording until I was falling asleep on my feet...

then more travel...

and the gig...

Photo by Joseph Gray

Photo by Joseph Gray

It was a very busy week and a lot of work.  THANK GOD that I love what I do and that the people I work with are all wonderful!  That makes it all worthwhile, and makes the whole world make sense.  It seems like the best sleep is that which follows "a hard day's night."

Here's wishing you all a fulfilling week's worth of hard day's nights...

Namaste!

T

click here for "A Hard Day's Night" wikipedia info

In Fear of A Dead Bird

Whew!  It has been a week filled with turmoil, questions and challenges.  So here’s how the week capped itself off…

After an extremely tiring drive back home, which took an incredible amount of time due to the bad weather and snow (yes, I said it…SNOW), I arrived to find the place in some disarray.  Curtains were knocked down and things that had been on windowsills and counter tops were on the floor and scattered about.  I considered for a moment if there might have been an earthquake.  As my mind scanned the possibilities, I saw the bird poop on the ledge of the window frame and instantly realized that, in my absence, a bird had gotten into the house and found itself trapped there.

(Alright.  That answers that.  On to the next issue… Where is the bird now?)

There was a sense of urgency.  It was almost 6am and I had been driving all night.  I had very little opportunity for sleep and I had to bring the dogs inside.  I had to find that bird before Bentley did.  I looked in all of the obvious places and found nothing.  I walked the dogs, brought them in and watched them carefully.  They did not lead me to the dead bird, but instead sniffed around a little, drank some water and laid down for a nap (some help THEY are).

I still had to find the bird.  I wanted to leave in the morning and the dogs would be in the house alone.  I couldn’t have Bentley finding a dead bird while I was gone.  (If you knew him, you’d understand that he has an unhealthy obsession with birds.)  I searched everywhere and was battling complete exhaustion.

Finally, I gave up.  It didn't seem to be anywhere that was accessible to the dogs.  I had to sleep.  As I got ready for bed and opened cabinets and reached for towels, I hesitated at every turn, fully aware of the possibility that the bird could be anywhere.  Finally, I slowly peeled back the bed covers hoping the bird wasn’t on my pillow and thankfully, upon finding that it was not, climbed in and slept. 

Miraculously, I woke up in time for church and got up and went.  There, I listened to a lecture/sermon about how we can make decisions from a place of love or from a place of fear.  The speaker talked about how with every choice we make and with every word we speak we can ask ourselves if we are building a wall or a bridge.  With compassion and love energy, we build bridges.  When we come from a place of fear, we tend to build walls.  We might, in a fear state, have an energy that closes us off and we might only see what we perceive as wrong or negative instead of what is positive and wonderful.  He spoke of how sometimes religion can do this as people try to impose their views on each other instead of realizing, through understanding, how much we are all alike.  How true this is when we reflect on all the war and death, pain and suffering brought about under the guise of  “religion” or trying to be understood instead of trying to understand.

In the end he encouraged us all to try to build bridges with every move we make, because if we build walls, we will eventually become walled in.

Link to the "We Are Family" foundation... (Amazingly inspirational and wonderful)

I went home and cleaned up the house.  I sanitized the windows and countertops and washed the curtains that had been knocked down.  I bought fresh fruit and veggies, placed them in a bowl on the counter and decided that I do not want to live in fear of a dead bird.  I still haven’t found it.  I know it might happen that I open a drawer or reach for something and, to my utter shock, find that dead bird, but you know what?  Who cares?  I mean, so what?  What’s the worst that can happen?  I might scream.  I might get hurt somewhat.  OK.

Yes, it is quite likely that I am living with a dead bird.  Fine.  I am no longer going to walk around being afraid of finding it where or when I least expect it.  I’m not going to move slowly and hesitate with every move I make.  I have decided that I will no longer live in fear of a dead bird.

This week, as I fling open cabinet doors with confidence, let me be the same way with life itself.  Let me move fear out of the way, stand in truth and speak with love.  BRING IT ON!  I ain’t afraid of no dead bird!  ;)

Have a beautiful week!

Namaste!

T

click here for words and music to Tanya Diona's song "Family Reunion"