Flying High

It was an AWESOME week!

There was circus training...

Wall Running

Harness Bungee

Silks

OMG! AWESOME!!! If you're in the NYC area, you HAVE to go there and try it! #SoMuchFun

Click here for The Muse, Brooklyn, NY

The facility is fantastic, the instructors are amazing, everyone there is exceptionally friendly and the workout is outstanding. I knew these activities would not be easy, but WOW! People who have mastered these circus arts are incredible athletes. It was an absolute blast! One of the other students told me it was her "happy place." I can see why. :)

Then there was a super fun band rehearsal for upcoming shows later this month. I love these guys...

Front: Me and Junior (my friend Hune);
Back: Joey (my friend Hoey),
Alan (my new friend), and Frank (my friend Fronk)

Me and Frank (Fronk)

Then there was a fantastic gig with another group - a twenty piece orchestra and five vocalists! I love these guys too...

Eight piece string section 

Me and Neal (Trumpet)

Front: Me and Jay, Joe, and Prim (Vocals); Back: Robert (Guitar)

With Tony B. (Vocalist)

With Jay and Prim (Vocalists)

It was such a happy week! On Sunday, just as I was wondering how to hold on to that feeling of joy and keep it going this week too, the minister at church said we have to "somehow" plug into that space of love and stay connected. (I thought, "Yeah, but HOW?" because I had been thinking that gratitude would be the way.) She continued on to say that awareness was a good place to start and that we should start to recognize when we slip into a place of fear or worry. Then we can say a prayer, meditate, take a walk in nature or do something that might lift our spirits and get us back to the love space.

Something sounded familiar. My instructor at The Muse had me close my eyes and practice twisting my leg around the fabric to get the feel for it in Silks class. Eventually, the movement will become instinctual and I will be able to do it in the air, without looking. (THAT'S important because it's an essential part of how you support your body weight as you climb. If you lose your footing, you'll want to regain it quickly, without thinking.)

AHA! So the spiritual training mirrors the physical training! It's just like practicing a physical movement. You get to know the feeling of it in the body as you practice. You become aware of the motion. It's like rehearsing a song too! While practicing, you get to know how the notes feel in your instrument; in your voice as you sing or in your hands as you play. In a similar way, we can pay attention to how we feel spiritually in a more specific way - fine tune our awareness. By paying attention to ourselves, our emotions, our instincts, we can notice if we begin to shift from a place of love... and practice ways to recover. What an incredibly important skill to learn! As we soar higher and higher, this spiritual practice will become our safety net. We'll be able to return to the love space instinctually!

I love it when everything all ties together! Here's to flying high!

xoxo!

Namaste,

T

Change Change Change...

Has the world gone mad?

I attended a meeting in the city where a woman stood up and wanted to discuss the rights of pixels.  Yes, pixels - the little dots that comprise the picture on your television and digital images everywhere.  Apparently, people worry about the rights of those little dots.  I was almost convinced the evening would prove to be a complete waste of time, and was teetering on the fence between amusement and irritation.  It seemed I had trudged my butt all the way into the city for no apparent reason.  Thankfully, my attitude turned all the way around when a lovely and perfectly sane casting director got up to speak.  She was inspirational and motivational.  I was fortunate enough to meet her and she invited me to submit my résumé to her.   Suddenly, I was launched forward into résumé updating, photo shoot scheduling and online submission forms, etc.  I felt good leaving the city that night and had a nice sense of accomplishment.  It turned out to be a wonderful way to start the week after all.  I fully expected this blog to be about forcing yourself to just put one foot in front of the other until something makes sense, as it had done that night (Just keep going!  One step at a time...), but as the week evolved that idea changed.

It was a busy week of travel and photo shoots, but I also managed to spend some time in nature...

"Speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee."

- Job 12:8

I don't normally think of this as my favorite time of year.  It seems kind of depressing when it gets cold and dark.  The winter coats come out of the closet and the patio furniture gets put away.  I start thinking about shoveling and I get the snowblower tuned up.  Air conditioners, bikes and summer dresses are put away.  (Sigh)  I wanted to get out and take some pictures of the pretty trees before all the leaves disappear. 

Funny how nature reflects everything...

Change and growth...

The beauty of things...

The climb...

Out of the darkness and into the light...

The sometimes ominous look of things...

The fork in the road...

Crossing that bridge when we get to it...

Everything I saw inspired thought.  I thought about that fence between amusement and irritation and how easy it is to go over the brink.  I thought about falling back (just like the clocks) into old habits and how effortless it is to just write off other people when we don't understand them.  (I'd been battling irritation all week and posted this link on Thursday:  "Sometimes, the first step toward forgiveness is realizing the other person was born an idiot" -DJTOD.)  I was searching for a way to keep from sinking into the negative and to keep a bright, positive spirit - even in the face of challenge.

On Sunday, I met the most wonderful and amazing woman.  She wrote a book, "From Stage IV to Center Stage."  She was diagnosed with stage IV cancer in her throat/neck, and was given three months to live.  Twenty-two months later, she sang the National Anthem at Fenway Park.  Nine years later, there I was, sitting in church listening to her story and hearing her say, "Challenges are nothing more than doorways to transformation."

"Denise DeSimone is an ordained interfaith minister, an inspirational/motivational speaker, a singer, and is also certified in multiple alternative healing modalities.  She is a wellness coach to cancer patients.  Denise also created Pray Peace, a multimedia offering of personal and global peace."

- from the back cover of her book, "From Stage IV to Center Stage"

click here for Denise's website

I attended her workshop on sound healing and had a most wonderful experience.  Before beginning a guided meditation that utilized vibrational sound energy, we set deliberate "intentions" for the experience.  My intention was "love space" - the place of positive energy.  I don't want to be in a negative space, or think that other people are idiots, or waste ANY time being anything but joyous.  I know that we can transform any thought, any idea, any pattern.  I know we are capable of letting go of old ideas and habits, and capable of change.  I wanted to bring in the happy and the new, and weed out all sources of irritation at the core.  As Denise introduced us to sound healing, she spoke about how easy it can be to transform an irritating sound to the point that you don't even hear it.  :) :) :)

Perfect!!!!!

This week, I'll continue the meditation practices she taught us and learn more.  (I bought her book and her CD.)  I will not have to resort to thinking of anyone else in a less than favorable light just to make myself feel better.  I'll train myself to hear joyous sounds and see miracles everywhere.

"There are two ways to live: 

You can live as if nothing is a miracle; 

or you can live as if everything is a miracle."

- Albert Einstein

"We cannot love without evolving 

and we cannot evolve without love."

- Denise DeSimone

Namaste!

T