MAY / JUNE = GREEN

TO ANCHOR THE FREQUENCIES OF HARMONY, HEALING & VIBRANCY

I am healed! I have been pain-free for several weeks now, although the fear of making a move that causes pain is never far from my mind. Angelo, the internet search wizard, found a series of “8 Minute Workouts” that we have been doing fairly regularly. It seems like I am forever striving to do an entire week in a row, but it never happens. Instead, I have settled on the more realistic goal of doing the workouts 5 out of 7 days (or so!).

The green altar stayed up for a second month because my neighbour, Karin, recently had knee surgery and I said I would maintain the altar to help with her rehabilitation. Plus we were dog-sitting Kaylah, Karin's dog, for two weeks of the month and weren't home to enjoy the altar. The vase and plant are from Karin’s home, the turtle, made from FIMO clay (and signifying career) from Angelo’s fake fish tank; the famous glass-bead bracelet (as described in http://www.cluttersdirtysecret.com/), a piece of driftwood and Angelo’s green hackey sack. I also included a beautiful photo and poem by Rumi, which reads: “the beauty you craved in things was always my glimmer seen through a veil. Turn around and see where beauty comes from”.

In keeping with the theme of healing, today marks the second to last day of a 7-day liver cleanse that I decided to complete. It has been relatively easy: I have been eating raw and vegan foods along with milk thistle capsules. Angelo was brave and decided to do the 10-day master cleanse (lemon juice, cayenne pepper and maple syrup drinks) and he has a few more days to go. Cleansing always makes me realize how big a role food plays in our lives; not just physically, but emotionally and socially, too. We can’t wait to return to our favourite restaurants and enjoy a glass of wine (or two!).

Other than that, it has been a relatively calm period. Lots of reading, relaxing, walks along the beach and yes, planning events for the fall (more on those later). It’s hard to believe that the summer solstice is just a few days away. Just when the nice weather arrives, the days start getting shorter. Oh, I almost forgot: I received the Environmental Award from the Home Based Business Association! For the second year in a row I was recognized for my efforts to keep items out of the landfill. You can see my smiling face in the before and after photos on http://www.clearoutclutter.com

MONTH IN REVIEW

Again, I am late in changing my altar. Our road trip to northern BC was…a challenge. The sun burned brightly all the way up north; in fact, when we arrived in Prince Rupert we were stunned by the sunshine. Quite a contrast to our previous trip last fall, when it rained six days out of seven. We eagerly explored the city, striding out exuberantly after being cramped on the ferry for 22 hours. We walked up and down stairs, found new neighbourhoods and exalted in a day that seemed to go on forever.

Unfortunately, the morning of my first talk I woke up with a sore back. During breakfast I quickly realized how sore it was: I couldn’t get comfortable and ended up leaving Angelo to sign for the bill as I returned to the room. Faced with a 90 minute drive to my first talk, I quickly realized that I couldn’t possibly sit for that length of time. Just minutes outside of Prince Rupert, I asked Angelo to pull over and I struggled into the back of the van to lie down. Such was to be my fate for the next 48 hours.

I completed all of the five scheduled talks, in pain and with varying degrees of difficulty. Had I been on my own they would have been cancelled; but since Angelo was with me he did all of the driving, schlepped all of my material and books and brought the van around to minimize the amount of walking I had to do.

Once my obligations had been met, my back went from bad to worse. Even though I slept on the floor of our cabin on the ferry back to the island, I was unable to get up off of the floor. I experienced first-hand the humiliation of not being able to change my underwear, go to the washroom or walk on my own.

After the three-hour journey from the ferry terminal to our home, I was again unable to get out of the van. My neighbour supplied me with painkillers, phoned an acupuncturist and only after an hour was she and Angelo able to assist me into bed. I lay there relieved and grateful to be home with pillows propped under my knees. All was well until I had to go to the bathroom, and that short trip signified the beginning of the end. At about 2:30 in the morning I begged Angelo to call for an ambulance. At 7:00 that morning, I emerged from the hospital full of drugs but able to walk. Today, three weeks later, I continue to recover.

I was challenged to re-think my desire for purple: prosperity and empowerment. Once able, I eagerly looked up the explanation of low back pain in Louise Hay’s book, You Can Heal your Life. I had referred to this book before and found it interesting to note what emotional issues might be attached to various physical ailments. To my horror, I read that low back pain generally signifies fear of money and lack of financial support.

I set about re-framing my definition of prosperity, and realized that I had neighbours who would do anything to help, and friends of those neighbours who were also willing to lend a helping hand. Angelo took over everything: shopping, cooking, cajoling and challenging my beliefs about work, rest and healing. Not surprisingly, the hardest thing about being incapacitated was refraining from my desire to ‘pick things up’ around the apartment. I had to let that go, along with my ability to care for myself and be ‘the strong one’.

As I healed I made my way to our backyard, a symphony of happy birds and several shades of green. I stood and stared at the blue sky and marveled at another spring. From there I eagerly returned to Kaylah, my neighbour’s dog that I had returned to health earlier this year, after weeks of determined walking. We resumed our walks and day by day we went a bit further, a bit further. Now Kaylah had switched roles and she became my physio-dog, eager to return to our previous routes through the woods and across fields. Only now, three weeks later, am I able to gingerly complete the same routes that I had willed her to finish when her leg was weak and trembling.

My desire to fulfill my contractual obligations seems almost hollow now; yes, I completed the five talks to the best of my ability; two of them could have been better, three went very well. At one point Angelo had asked if canceling was an option. I had quickly replied, “NO”, but the thought was to cross my mind a few times before I finished. Would it have been the end of the world? Of course not. Was it worth it? Yes, for my own peace of mind and sense of duty. But I have paid the price with pain. And, I have spent about half of my speaker’s fees on chiropractic, massage and acupuncture appointments.

It will come as no surprise that green, the colour for healing, will be the focus of the coming month’s altar.

Saturday Night, April 12, 2008

I just completed my monthly expenses for March. Yes, it’s true; I was in danger of falling behind with my bookkeeping. Entering my expenses on a monthly basis is a habit I finally developed just a couple of years ago. It makes life much easier when tax time rolls around. Plus, you will remember that this month is prosperity. I can hardly expect to rake in the dough on my spring book tour if my finances aren’t under control back at the home office. And yes, that’s how I spent the first part of my Saturday night. Party on, dude.

APRIL = PURPLE

TO ANCHOR THE FREQUENCIES OF PROSPERITY & EMPOWERMENT

Sunday April 6, 2008

I’m a little late in changing my altar this month but as always, I have an excuse: Angelo and I were dog-sitting for the last two weeks of March and only returned to our apartment on April 4th. Today I have had a productive day culling my electronic files and reorganizing my filing system so that it better reflects my business and personal life. Yes, that’s what I do for fun on a Sunday afternoon: sort my folders.

Now that I am back at my computer (which I sorely missed while we were away) I am ready to start planning my talks for my return trip to Northern BC. Yes, these are the talks that inspired my initial altar in January. While they haven’t panned out exactly as I imagined (what does?) I am looking forward to what has been confirmed and what continues to unfold.

Without meaning to sound greedy, I have chosen prosperity because at the very least I am trying to break even on my expenses. This in itself is no small feat as the 22 hour ferry ride to Prince Rupert is extremely expensive. In order to avoid the vehicle charge and save some money we had looked into taking the bus to the ferry and then renting a car once in Rupert but it didn’t pay to take the bus up to Port Hardy so we are looking at expenses of minimum $1000.00 to make this journey

A few months ago I remember stating to a friend that I wanted to break even on my book by the conclusion of this spring trip so I am choosing the colour purple to assist with this goal. Empowerment is also fitting as my talks are always about inspiring others to tackle their clutter and uncover a more authentic life. Purple, here we come.

I roamed around the apartment and purple seemed to be in short supply. I have used a beautiful scarf that my Aunt Phyllis gave me years ago, and then a purple tank top to provide a solid colour. The purple jar was a gift from my mum and it has a purple daisy stuck on the front (it used to be a patch on an old pair of coveralls). I have included a beautiful photograph of a purple flower from our neighbour, Karin. In response to some physical issues that are beyond her control, Karin has begun producing the most beautiful photographs of flowers that she grows in her garden. Karin always includes original, heartfelt, meaningful messages in her cards, so this is a wonderful addition to the altar. I also included a keychain of the letter A from my other Aunt in England, Aunt Bob. It is fitting because like me and my mother, Aunt Bob’s birthday is also in April. Finally, there is a small goddess earring with a purple stone hanging from the card, along with a purple VIP ribbon from a speaking event. I don’t mean to imply that I am a VIP (we all are) but hey, it’s purple and it works. More later on this month.