The Empowered Lifestyle

Okay, so, yesterday we were talking all about the whole idea of being able to create your own life, or, in this particular case, we were talking about the How-Tos of manifesting what you want.

You know...the whole 'The Secret' schtick.

But, truth be told, there are ALOT (and I mean A L O T) of us in the metaphysical/motivational teaching field who think that book just didn't take the lessons far enough. Look, don't get me wrong here. We ALL appreciate ALL that the author and the contributors to that little book did to bring the big reality of Universal Law to the marketplace and mindset. But we think that somehow the message got muddled in the mix. Just for myself I can say that I see far tooooo many people cutting out pictures of the fire engine red Ferrari and pasting them on their Vision Boards or Treasure Maps without taking similarly proactive steps in creating the opportunities that will put that car in the driveway. In fact, my friend Sadie Nardini (the Yoga goddess)and I were talking about potentially partnering on a piece for The Huffington Post called something like.....

"Shit! I've been doing The Secret All Wrong!"

Look, it's too chatty to go into here, so, let's just stick with what we started yesterday. Let's manifest something/someone/someplace in our lives that we really really want. But let's follow the rules. You know...the same ones that have been around almost as long as the planet has. But that always seem to get short schrift when they're being explained. Not here my friends! Ohhhhh noooooo, not here:

STEP ONE

So, just to back pedal a bit....yesterday we talked about Step One...or the power of creating clarity around what you/we want. Be absolutely, POSITIVELY (just a little play on words....I know, I'm a clever genius...)clear about whatever it is that you want. Be specific as you can be. Consider all the reasons you want what you want and then how it'll make you feel to have it. Content? Happy? Comfortable? Consider that last word carefully. Believe me, it'll help the whole process.

Now, also be sure to add details to the wishes. As much as possible visualize every part and remember to add emotion by engaging in feeling how you will feel when this wish comes true.

This is where I'm just going to stop and share something that even I have a hard time believing sometimes...until it happens (read yesterday's post) and then I believe again like Ellen Gantry! When we begin this entire manifesting process...IF we follow all the steps and follow them in order and really really really do them, we actually start to materialize....ON AN INVISIBLE PLANE....the blueprint of what we want. Won't be long before that shape takes a solid form either.

It's like our goal is just sitting there waiting for us to color in all the lines with all the pertinent details and then the universe will add the weight and dimension. Third dimension in fact.

There you go...Step One all done!

Now, for today, let's chat it up about Step Two.

STEP TWO

Focus, Focus, Focus!

And, then, focus some more. See the whole idea behind those Vision Boards or Treasure Maps is not so much that Kreskin is going to come on over and wave a wand over the map and, voila, brand new stainless appliances in the kitchen (personally, I can do without wiping the smudges on them every forty five seconds but we went over my out of control OCD yesterday too, so...feel free to talk amongst yourselves while I banish that image from my mind's eye right now.) Anyway, the idea isn't that you build these boards and then they magically manifest, the idea is that the concrete visual helps you to hold the VISION! Focus on the VISION. This second step then says that once you're good and focused that you have to start acting 'as if.' You know, as if the wish/goal/intention had already come true. What would that feel like? So now it's important to creat some postiive dialogue around this certain situation.

Don't even get me started about how critically important your words are. Don't even!

So, to help us along, I'll over a couple of standard affirmations.....but not before telling you that wnenever you're referring to what you want you should always begin the statement or sentence with the words:

I AM

I HAVE

I THANK THE UNIVERSE FOR.......

I AM RADIANT WITH HEALTH!

I HAVE THE NEW MERCEDES E CLASS CONVERTIBLE (I just made that one up, but, if there is such a car...then I HAVE IT! NOWWWWWW!)

or

I THANK THE UNIVERSE FOR GEORGE CLOONEY. C'mon, we can all do that anyway right?

State your wish ALOUD using one of those declarations. State away all day. CREATE AND FOCUS ON POSITIVE DIALOGUE.

And, then, we're ever closer to getting there! What you want. What you really really want!

TOMORROW...STEP THREE.....The affirmative technique or what to say to sway the energies in your favor (yeah, yeah....we know THAT too. We are sooooo cool!)

For today, remember that Mercury is out of retrograde and that's it's totally okay to build your castles in the sky. I'm about to tell you how to bring them to your own backyard!

I THANK THE UNIVERSE FOR......YOU!

Okay, we're completely out of stall, so, go ahead and get ready to sign on the dotted line or buy that price slashed Wii or send that email/make that phone call/IM/text because it's smooth sailing and full steam ahead from here.

And, you know, this weekend I was doing a little back pedaling regards going over all those cosmic rules of manifestation. I was sort of thinking that I need to get on the stick regards a few projects that I have in the hopper; not from the side of putting in the effort but from the one that says that I can move mountains as long as I make up my mind to do so. And then take some proactive steps towards actually hauling that dirt from one side of the range to the other.

And, honestly, I was (as always!) pretty much doubting that some of this stuff I'm constantly learning and relearning actually works. For instance, I know the rules of being able to manifest out of thin air both inside and out. I've used them a million times. Heck, I'm the one who shares the rules and then also shares what action steps you can take to activate 'em. But I was just in that doubting Thomas sort of mood on Sunday and was half-assed writing notes, not really believing it would do any good.

But then something strange happened this morning that made me look at all this in a totally different...and optimistic way. Here's the weird thing...one of the rules of manifesting is that you need to declare your intention and do all the work inherent (will be writing about ALL that the next few days) but then you need to just detach and let go and not obsess over the outcome every twenty seconds.

So, here's the story:

I have a housekeeper who comes in a few times a month and helps me keep the home deep cleaned. Remember, I am as OCD as it gets. I need meds. No, really, I do. Anyway, the last few years, as both my housekeeper and my son got older, I could see that I needed to make a change. But I didn't. For lots and lots of not upsetting the apple cart reasons, I didn't do anything about a situation that was no longer working for me. Even worse, every time I stroked her check I was somewhat resentful because I was picking up so much of her slack and keeping up with her part of the bargain. But, still, I never did anything.

Then, early last week, she sent me an email saying that she wasn't coming back. I was soooo relieved and wished her well and somehow knew that there had been some universal intervention here.

Since I got the email, I've been creating the image in my mind of who I would really want to come into the house. And I made that literal laundry list in my head a million times over. As I've vacuumed and dusted and Windex'd and run the Swiffer over the blinds in the bathroom. And each time I've addressed the dust on the tops of picture frames or the dead bugs in window grids, I could literally visualize someone else doing this who was young and energetic and took pride in their work.

So, I put out a clarion call to the girls in the hood and asked if anyone knew anybody looking for a job? Stay with me here, this story has a point. Only Linda had someone available who she described as a 'surface cleaner' and 'won't clean the kid's rooms.' Um, yeah, not so much.

So, yesterday, I finally bit the bullet and called a local service.

Okay, so, just to recap here......I created an intention for someone new to come and clean my house and then my housekeeper quit. I then created a visual for who I thought the perfect person would be and what they could do. In fact, each and every time I walked around the house and noticed any dust or any dirt or any crushed and crunchy Cheez-Its smooshed into my teenager's carpeting, I visualized more and more and more what my ideal would be in this circumstance.

I CREATED A VERY VISUAL INTENTION. WITH TONS AND TONS OF CLARITY.

Then I picked up the phone and literally moved energies.

I TOOK AN ACTION STEP TOWARDS MOVING THE ENERGIES OF MY INTENTION.

So, this morning while I was standing sentinel at the front door (every day I wait and watch at the front door as my son and his buddies board their school bus...you know....just in case....)well here comes my neighbor Irish Kathleen (that's what we call her because of the brogue and all.)

Kathleen does a HUGE amount of charity work around here and is always asking me to host a baby shower for one of her homeless friends or to offer speaking services so we can raise money for medical supplies for displaces persons. And she's the one who got me my last housekeeper.

Well, here she comes on her bike and stops in front of the house and asks.."would ya be needin' a new cleaning lady there Ellen?"

Why yes, Kathleen, I would.

She proceeds to tell me that she's helping a young family here from the Dominican Republic and that the husband is working two jobs and the wife can't find anything and is fairly desperate. She's a housekeeper. In her twenties and really wanting to find work and willing to do whatever it takes to secure a position.

Now, normally, I might not realize that the universe just delivered, on a soon to be polished silver platter, exactly what I'd ordered. Because I might just be too too busy doubting that this stuff actually works. But...luckily...today........I recognized the laws at work and I AM grateful. And ready to rescind the skepticism. In fact, I'm about to take some time and create some clarity in regards to the new book efforts.

Before I take an empowering action step to lock it into place.

MERCURY MOVES FORWARD TODAY. So should you!

Create an intention.

With clarity.

Focus on one thing you really really really want.

No matter how outrageous.

Be courageous.

One thing.

Write it down. And, then, all day long, as much as possible, think about it. See it. Visualize it as if it's already happening. INTENTION. INTENTION. INTENTION.

SEE IT!

That's all.

But it's more than enough.

Tomorrow....next steps.

How neat is this?

Almost as neat as my house....oh, never mind, you get it.

Now, get on it!

This week is chock full of sacred and mysterious energies that stem from myraid customs and traditions. Today marks the holiest day of the year on the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement and Asking Forgiveness. Tomorrow sees Mercury head back forward again, coming out of a milder retrograde than most. The beginning of another month begins mid-week, but, according to Feng Shui, not just ANY month. This is the month that holds one of the most reliable, results-oriented dates on the yearly calendar, a day when placing a YELLOW MUM in the Fame area will bring honor, respect, bonuses, promotions, luck, fortune, fame, recognition and rewards. WOW. Stay tuned for that info. This certain day in October is one of the only times during the year that there is a specific date and specific instructions to do on that day so I take it pretty seriously. And, then, we have all those end of the month energies that have to do with life and rebirth and, again, we're told to put a specific cure or adjustment in place in order to gain good graces, and, funnily (eerily?) enough it has to do with using five red bats! So, lots and lots of energies to take advantage of as October rolls in.

But let's just start with the collective energies of this day, a time when Jews all over the world are fasting and praying and praying and fasting. A time to reflect upon repentence. These adherents believe that God inscribes each person's fate for the coming year into a special 'book' and He does that on the holiday called Rosh Hashanh but He waits until Yom Kippur to 'seal' the verdict. During this time, the faith-filled are called to amend abberant behavior while also being called to confess any wrong doing both to God and man.

The Catholics have a similar prayer that they call An Act of Confession.

In fact, there is no tradition that I have ever studied that doesn't embrace some way of releasing our wrongs in order to wipe the slate clean and begin anew and again.

No matter your allegiance and/or orthodoxy, let's all use today to refresh our spirit and cleanse our souls. And we can do that by petitioning or praying whatever prayers feel right to and for each one of us. I will using a beautiful prayer (coming again from angel seeker JoAnn Cornug) that invokes Archangel Fanuel to intercede on our behalf. According to ancient text, Fanuel is considered to be the Archangel of penance. It is said that he, especially, hears your pleas for forgiveness with great love and greater compassion. It is told that he is one of five angels who understands and knows the darker side of mankind and asks you to join with him in hte remission of your past mistakes. He hears these prayers and will send blessings and graces that will allow you to recommit to living your truth in his presence and in the presence of God and all your fellow man. The words to this prayer carry great weight and mystery and are considered sacred and sometimes magical in their immediacy, efficacy and effect. They go like this:

PRAYER FOR FORGIVENESS

Might I AM the Resurrection and the Life

of my past errors

transmuting into love, power and wisdom

in all my outer activity.

If I have offended any one of you this past year, I sincerely apologize and vow to do better in the future. I trust that Fanuel will guide my steps and make clear my path. You can too!

An easy fast to all our Jewish friends and grace and blessings to everyone who participates in pardoning.

And, of course, Happy Monday kids!

I'm getting ready to write my next article for THE HUFFINGTON POST and I'm pretty sure that I'm going to address the state of health care, particularly for women, in this country, and, then, am planning of adding some preventative measures from the all natural pharmacy in terms of building immunity while also tearing down stress. But, for our Magically Delicious efforts here today, I'm going to offer a sort of secret soup recipe that has been handed down for generations in a naturopathic's family who I know and who has generously agreed to allow me to post the prevention. I didn't squawk one bit, he just freely offered it after I called to tell him how I used it with my son this past week when he was sent home from school with 102 fever and a whole host of symptoms of the flu. I reached for the chicken hoping to head off the piggy and it turned out that he tested negative for swine. But then he got better really quickly as well so I thought I'd share the simple but totally powerfully effective medicine we use around here.

But...before I do that....just one more quick. I wrote about setting up the LUCKY DESK the other (packaged piece to air on FOX 43 on October 13 during their early morning show.) However, I TOTALLY forgot to add a couple of items...literally and figuratively. Along with the crystal on the upper right (ladies) or left (gentlemen), and the flowers/plant and the symbols of money and the bell and the..blah, blah, blah...you should ALWAYS have some raw almonds on or inside that same desk and, without question, some Wet Ones! I swear by both! The almonds are pure protein and, well, Edgar Cayce, the Sleeping Prophet who handed down volumes and volumes of ways to cheat death and increase energy and health also strongly believed that whoever ate just THREE raw almonds a day would never ever ever be prone to getting cancer. But you have to eat them everyday. Oz says (you know Oz, the doc that I migth be aligning with soon???? shhhhhh!!!!) that he keeps a bowl of raw almonds in warm water on his desk everyday and picks from that whenever he feels the need/urge to snack. Dr. Oz actually says that he follows an old family Russain recipe that says that the water 'wakes up' the healing power inherent in this nut. Personally, I tried soaking them and didn't like them that way. Shhhhh....again.

And, well, as for the Wet Ones!...I have canisters of these EVERYWHERE. I keep them in the car, under every sink in every one of those cabinets..I even keep a container of them in my giant purse. We use them on EVERYTHING. And I always have ever since Grayson was a baby. I consider them a first line of defense in controlling the spread of germs. Anywhere. But especially around here where there is a revolving door of teenage boys coming and going all the time. Listen, I'm such a huge proponent that I'm even going to give some away. Send me your most creative ways of using anti-bacterial wipes and not only will I post those tips, and give credit, here on this blog, I'll also send you some Wet Ones of your very own. Tell your friends and family. I swear, this flu season, that's my gift to you! BECAUSE THEY WORK!

And so does this:

Flyaway Flu Chicken Soup

INGREDIENTS:
1 quart of either homemade or canned chicken broth
12 garlic cloves, peeled
6 sprigs of fresh parsley, roughly chopped or torn into pieces
6 sprigs of cilantro, roughly chopped or torn into pieces
1 tablespoon fresh basil, roughly chopped or torn into pieces
1 teaspoon lemon pepper
1 teaspoon curry powder
2 bay leaves, whole
2 carrots, julienned

(Now follow these directions to the letter!)

Put all ingredients into a soup or stew pot WITHOUT A LID. Bring to a boil and then let simmer for a half hour. Remove the garlic cloves and the herbs and adding a bit more broth blend in the blender or puree in a food processor. Return the puree to the original broth mixture and serve. Simmer on very low for another 10 minutes and serve hot.

Remember that garlic is known as the 'Russian penicillin', I would guess partly because the allicin in it makes it an excellent decongestant as it thins mucus and also kills bacteria. And it's good for keeping vampires away too, and, well, these days.......

Okay, if ANYONE in your house is feeling funky and flu-like, start them on this soup right away and, voila, 24 hours later, good as new!

And don't forget to check in for the HuffPo link where I'll be giving away some preventative measures from the world of Mother's Nature's fragrant pharmacy...that's right..essential oils galore.

For now, and as always, be well! Healthy, happy and really, really well!

I was kinda looking forward to the last night's new fall television line up. I wanted to see that new American family show (I can't remember what it's called but it was hilarious.) And I was excited about 'Cougar Town' and, of course, 'The Witches of Eastwick.' But first I had to wade through MacKenzie Phillips leading off every tabloid television show (thank goodness for Jeopardy!) and filling the airwaves with nauseating tales of....well, I'm not even giving it any more play here. Yuck!

Grayson home sick by the way yesterday so I only had to make soup for supper. More time to try and remember my 17th Century British History for final Jep. And to watch Wendy Williams. I mean, I just don't care, I think she's so refreshing and a laugh riot in her own discombobulated way.

Okay, back to primetime. No surprises on 'Dancing' with Macy and Ashley both bidding adieu! And like I said, the American family show was fall down funny. At least I thought so. Really, just the one dad who has the three kids thinking he's all foschizzle and hip. I guess you had to be there. But, what followed was so disappointing. Is Courtney Cox one of the executive producers of Cougar Town? Is that why we are subject to seeing her almost naked body a billion times in that half hour. Look, I could care. If I had that body, I'd be walking around in a bikini all the time; grocery store, dentist, PTA meetings..you name it. I wouldn't own clothes. But, that said, in this show she has a son just a bit older than mine, and, well, the blow job part of the show creeped me out. Her son (and ex husband) walk in on her almost going down on some STRANGER she met in a bar. Then there's a scene where her son takes a banana out of her hand as she's about to eat it....just gross. Ugh! Really ABC, this is what you think characterizes or defines those of us out here who are single, dating and raising healthy, happy kids? Because you couldn't have it MORE wrong!

Never mind the rampant ageism. In explaining to her neighbor why she's so desperate for a date, she says something like..."someday I'm going to be 50 and alone and past my prime" or over the hill or something like that. Basically saying that if she doesn't find somebody to love her while she's in her early 40's then she's shit out of luck. I was folding laundry when I heard that line and had my back to the screen. I whirled around and literally gave my flatscreen the finger. How mature am I? I was just so sure that a man had written those lines. But not so sure why she would agree to say them? Limiting ageism that has no bearing on reality while closing the door to hope for the women they are hoping will watch that show. Good luck there guys. Maybe you'll get the boys going through puberty watching...you know, the same ones that you were lampooning last night, but something tells me that won't be enough to keep you on the air. And it could have been so funny. Concept so great. What a waste.

Speaking of waste..those witches were more boring than folding my second load of laundry. I literally started falling asleep until I remembered that Top Chef was on. See, usually I am standing homework guard during those nighttime hours making sure that every t gets crossed while every i gets it dot. Otherwise, it's YouTube all the way. But last night he fell out early (all full of Tylenol flu like he was...) and so I was on my own.

Top Chef was top banana of the night. For ALL the fruity reasons I mentioned before.

Now, on to today's energies.....Neptune and Mercury are trining....sort of like spooning.... but with the planet of the nebulous Neptune and the chatty Cathy Mercury making all nicey nice. GREAT DAY for your watching all your imaginative projects get a big GIANT boost! Use it accordingly.

And that usually means that you/me/we need help from somebody else. So, we're going to do some super Shui in Helpful People/Travel area.

Find an image (on the internet of course) of something called Kwan Kung holding sword or holding black sword and download it. Place this/his image somewhere inside your 'Helpful People' area and be sure to leave it there for 27 days, at least. If you want you can mount this image on red construction paper to activate these energies in a stronger, more powerful way.

He'll take care of all the people/places and things you need now and will ease any travels..as well as all travails! Thanks Kwan Kung! You're the best!