Merry Christmas note 2010

I was planning on having a slipper slipping, eggnog sipping fun time blogging over the holidays.


Change of plans.



I am unplugging the phones, unhooking myself from the computer and taking some time off and will start again with planet earth in 2011.

Best wishes to all my friends, everywhere for a blessed time for a wonderful Christmas.

Hope your holidays are filled with beautiful music and a deeply felt connection with your inner happiness.

Remember it's not the destination, its the journey.

May you find the "special" in all your moments.

God bless you.

joy,


photo: friends 'Mare and Paul' PKM

Rena


www.talktotheturtle.com

Beyond The Secret with charm jewelry

Every once in a while I am inspired to expound upon the wisdom of “The Secret” and all of the good thoughts that author Rhonda Byrne shares. I think that it would be really wonderful to meld together fashion pieces that are exceptionally beautiful, current & hip (yes I am including charm jewelry into that mix) and actually works for a better life of enjoyment at the same time. Lofty thinking there I know.

My attention was again drawn to “The Secret” where I remember reading a posting by Dr. Lee Pulos about the idea of “Affirmations”. Most recently I was happily introduced to the latest works of Noah St. John Ph.D and his work with Afformations® and his very cool interpretation of working with the focus on your intentions.

In the following read thru by Dr. Lee Pulos I am excerpting from his site, He talks about the origins or rather the inspiration of material for the well known book The Secret.

I am writing this as a two part posting with the intention of laying the ground work of Affirmations and how they can be threaded into working with Afformations®.

So here goes, to start with Dr. Lee Pulos from his blog posting:


Beyond the Secret/Dr. Pulos~

One of the most successfully popularized and widely read books that offers the attainment of whatever you wish for – financial abundance, the ideal mate or whatever other hallmarks of successful life is contained in The Secret by author Rhonda Bryne.
The key concept in The Secret is the law of attraction, which states simply that “like attracts like”. Each of us vibrates at a specific frequency giving off waves of mental energy and intent that are like a psychic magnet, attracting back into the here and now whatever the content of our mental broadcast may have been.

The Secret is based upon the Hermetic philosophy which traces back almost five thousand years to ancient Egypt. Some of the Hermetic principles were later integrated into the belief systems of the major religions including Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, Paganism and Christianity.

In 1912, an anonymous group of initiates with ties to the Masonic Temple in Chicago published The Kybalian, which incorporated many of the principles of Hermetic philosophy.

Physicist Sir James Jean often stated, “The universe is simply a giant thought.” That is, in the quantum domain, there is a subtle, fundamental field of energy and information – or energized awareness that interconnects all things. In addition, everything in the universe and our world is in constant vibration and that with intention and mental alchemy, one can create and transmute the subtle energy to attract a desired outcome or goal. Implicit in The Secret as in the Hermetic teachings is the law of attraction.

However, simply thinking about abundance or attracting a loving relationship and believing you will attract it is not sufficient in most cases. One must look back and utilize the ancient teachings of the Hermeticists of meditation, prayer, invocation, alchemy along with the practices of other spiritual traditions to chart the navigation to your goals.

But, what are the secrets of embracing the power of creation? The core and secret of all manifestation is just three words: desire, expectation and imagination. All people in the world, whether you are a London bus driver, a San Francisco ballerina or Donald Trump all utilize the same three energies for achieving one’s goals or dreams.

The first key to opening the door of manifestation is that you must have a burning desire of an almost overpowering intensity of what you want. The emotion must be so strong that you feel it in your gut and in your whole body. Experience the power and energy of your desire but stop short or before the line of desperation and panic.

Many of us have experienced the constricting emotions of anger, fear, hopelessness, shame and frustration. There are no limits however, to the expanding emotions of wonder, ecstasy, excitement, joy and love. The strong positive emotions of desire can be evoked by using memory as a kind of hook. Look back into your past to some time when you felt the expansive emotions of an experience. Use memory to identify that situation, then in your mind leave the context behind but bring the emotion into the present and attach it to your goal. Amplify the emotion so that it becomes the driving motivating force, the fuel to ignite the “fire in the belly of the beast”. Even Plato recognized the importance of desire – which in his words, “must drive the soul with a reigned in craziness”.

The second key is expectation and it must be totally honest. Many people will say they expect one thing or a certain outcome but do not really mean it. Perhaps, based on past experience of “almost” attaining a goal, but not quite, there must be an old limiting belief in their subconscious that will create a cross-current, a stumbling block and “almost” is the outcome.

Expectation awakens the slumbering giant – the subconscious – which then leads to our behavior becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. Yet, oddly enough, some people are encouraged to lower their expectations so they will not be disappointed. However, your expectation, of course, almost ensures you won’t succeed. What athlete says, “I don’t really expect to win” – those who don’t win – a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The third key or tool for achieving goals or changing beliefs is imagination – which along with desire and expectation creates the imagery, the mental movies of success. Mentally rehearsing in as much detail as possible is breathing life into your goal – your new program for change – your optimal future. Metaphorically, it is laying down neurological tracks in your brain reinforced by desire, expectation and the visual richness of mental movies.

The art of manifestation is therefore, like a perpetual motion machine. The more you desire, imagine and expect – the more desire, imagination and expectancy you will have. Just as the best way to get love is to give love. The more love you give, the more love you receive.



~ Are you still with me?

After I read this post of Dr. Pulos of course I googled Kybalian to see if this was really some secret. The site is actually quite detailed and immediately shares with the visitor (that would be me) that the articles are of public domain.

I found the Kybalian site a little deep in reading, so I visited Wikipedia to get the “readers digest version” which I have to say I quite enjoyed as I could get through the material and overall concept a lot faster.

To refresh your memory this blog posting is a two parter leading to Noah St. John’s work with Afformations®, and I feel this background information will help the reader (that will be you) flow through to assimilate working with Affirmations and Afformations®.

Here are the two sites to visit:

www.kybalion.org/kybalion.asp

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kybalion


I am so grateful for the work of “The Secret” and to think what a huge undertaking it was to wade through all those writings to package the idea/concept down to something that could be used by so many to empower day-to-day lives with positive thinking.

So again this set up is kind of like learning the piano. You get the basics with Affirmations and then you can play different styles of music. That is how I feel about Noah St. John’s work with Afformations® and how basically the sky’s the limit for empowerment.




Stay tuned for the next posting on Afformations®


Have a beautiful day,


Photo: ‘the way home’ PKM


Joy,


Rena

www.talktotheturtle.com

Beyond The Secret Code of Success with Affirmation charms

I can be the type of person that gets so excited that I run straight ahead with an idea and then have to backtrack to pick up the dropped pieces because I am a detail person as well.
I have found that affirmation charms work by allowing me to take eight seconds (check in time) to breath deeply and come back into the present. I then touch my charm and when I have done this several times in a row, the "thought" is locked in and then all I have to do is take a inhale and exhale and then touch my charm and skip having to say the affirmation. This is a well- known NLP (neuro linguistic programming) anchoring technique.

(note*This post is the second of a two part posting on affirmations versus afformations®. The previous post is the lay work of affirmations and this entry is on afformations® and how the two can work together).

I have worked with this concept for a while now and I quite like it. After reading Noah St. John’s latest book offering however, The Secret Code of Success , however I have a brand new twist on how I am working with affirmations. Noah St. John’s Afformations® (actually a word that he created no less), is a very simple concept and is explained by Noah St. John in the following way:

What is an “affirmation”? An affirmation is a positive statement of something you’d like to be true in your life.

What is an “afformation®”? An afformation is a positive question that triggers the mind to search for an answer to your question.

“The word “affirmation” comes from the Latin “firmare”, which means “to make firm”.
“The word “form” comes from the Latin “formare”, which means “to form or give shape to”.

Let me continue with excerpts from Noah St. John’s book: The Secret Code of Success

“Your mind has what you might call an Automatic Search Function, which means that when you ask yourself a question, your mind automatically begins to search for an answer. (Psychologists have referred to this function of the human brain as the “embedded presupposition factor.”)

The greatest teachers throughout history have taught the truth of the statement, “As you sow, so shall you reap.” This is often called The Law of Sowing and Reaping (Emerson called it “First Law”) or The Law of Attraction, which means that what you focus on (the thought-seeds you continually plant) will grow and bear fruit.

Your thoughts are seeds that you plant every minute of every day, whether you know it or not.

This is such an important part for me that I had a huge “ah ha” moment and here is the gem:

“Your subconscious mind responds to questions”.

Positive conscious statements (affirmations) are not questions.

It is so much easier to overcome negative beliefs using empowering questions than positive statements.

Try this affirmation on : “I am rich”
Now, try this afformation® out: “Why am I rich”? better still “Why am I so happy being so rich”?

Empowering vs. Disempowering questions:

Another excerpt from “The Secret Code of Success”
Most people unknowingly ask negative, disempowering questions – and are wondering why they’re not getting the results they dream of. The ultimate result of asking disempowering questions – whether conscious or not – Is that you manifest what you focus on. In other words, when you ask negative questions, you get negative results.
These questions are like: “Why am I such a loser?”

Empowering questions = the right questions:

Empowering questions cause your mind to focus on what you have vs. what you lack. Asking empowering questions leads to feelings of self-esteem and a positive self-image-because your mind automatically begins to focus on what’s RIGHT about you, instead of what’s wrong with you. Empowering questions, therefore lead directly to answers that tell the truth about Who You Really Are.
Change your disempowering questions to empowering questions. Simply reverse the negative questions to positive. For example:
Disempowering question – “Why am I such a loser?”
Empowering question - “Why am I such a success?”

The purpose of Afformations is to change your disempowering questions to empowering questions.

By doing this, you will gain conscious control of the thought-seeds you’re planting…
which will, through the Law of Attraction, change your life.

Stories of success are threaded throughout the book: My favorite is of a 13 year old girl who was a compulsive and chronic worrier. Her mother taught the young girl how to use afformations and what questions would make the most difference in her life.

These were her questions:
“Why am I worry-free?”
“Why do I enjoy a full night’s sleep?”
“Why do I put my trust in God’s hands?”
“Why do all my friends love me?”
“Why do I love me?”

The Mother happily reported that her daughter became happier, more relaxed and seemed to be at peace in her own skin. This Mother went on to say the afformations improved her own business and she started sharing afformations with everyone she met. When her husband told her that he wasn’t passionate about his work, his wife began afforming,
“Why is the right calling come to Scott?”
You guessed it, within weeks he landed a dream job.

Your life is a reflection of the thought-seeds you plant and give energy to. Your life is a reflection of the unconscious assumptions you make about life and your relationship to it.
For example if you grew up in an environment where there wasn’t a lot of money, and were made aware that the lack of money was the cause of unhappiness, you may as a adult be asking yourself unconscious negative questions:
If you’ve been unknowingly asking, “Why don’t I have enough?”
~the answer will appear as your lack in life.
If you’ve been unconsciously asking, “Why am I so unhappy?”
~ you’ll get the answer as your unhappy life.

Reverse the negative questions: “Why am I so happy?” and “Why do I have enough?”.

“The quality of your life depends on just two things: the quality of your communication with the world inside yourself, and the quality of the your communication with the world outside yourself”.

Begin to ask yourself empowering questions, and stop asking yourself negative, disempowering questions.

Using this method: Ask yourself, “Why is (what you want) true in my life now?”
By using this example you would ask yourself, “Why am I so happy, healthy, and wealthy?”
You can fine Noah St. John, at www.successclinic.com and on facebook at www.noahnation.com

~Are you still with me?

This is a lot to take in, I realize, but it is really exciting. Try taking your affirmations as they exist right now and re-word them with a “Why” at the front of them.

For example:
Why do I have what it takes to succeed?
Why do I have the courage to do what I love?
Why do I enjoy so much success?
Why do I so easily see my own worth and value?
Why am I so respected in my work and life?
Why am I so willing to give love a chance?
Why am I safe to love and be loved?
Why am I so grateful that I’m so healthy?


By working with your affirmations and re working them into afformations (forming sense) it is a brand new set of perimeters, namely, the sky is the limit.



Personally, I am taking my own affirmation charms which are beautiful and hip and adding a brand new "why" spin onto them.....

Have a beautiful day,


Photo: ‘inside looking out’ PKM


Joy,

Rena

www.talktotheturtle.com

Fun sayings, positive affirmations and powerful quotes:

I think it’s the end of progress if you stand still and think of what you’ve done in the past.
I keep on.

-Leslie Caron
French actress




It is the friends you can call up at 4 A.M. that matter.

-Marlene Dietrich
German actress




You can’t be brave if you’ve only had wonderful things happen to you.

-Mary Tyler Moore
American actress




I always felt that the great high privilege, relief and comfort of
friendship was that one had to explain nothing.

-Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923)
New Zealand writer






This is one of my favorite positive affirmations statements:

Every day, or at the very least once or twice a week, take a few minutes and focus on seeing yourself in joy. Feel yourself in joy. Imagine only joy ahead in your life and see yourself basking in it. As you do this the Universe will move all people, circumstances, and events to bring you that joy. You can't be in joy if you have money worries, or health worries, or relationship problems with friends or family. So deposit some joy in the bank of the Universe as often as you can. There isn't an investment that is more worthwhile. May the joy be with you.

-Rhonda Byrne
Creator of “The Secret”




Here is an excerpt from Deepak Chopra M.D., book,
Creating Affluence ~ Wealth Consciousness in the Field of all Possibilities

~"A" stands for all possibilities, absolute, authority, affluence, and abundance. The true nature of our ground state and that of the universe is that it is a field of all possibilities. In our most primordial form, we are a field of all possibilities.

From this level it is possible to create anything. This field is our own essential nature. It is our inner self.
It is also called the absolute, and it is the ultimate authority. It is intrinsically affluent because it gives rise to the infinite diversity and abundance of the universe.



Have a beautiful day,


Photo: PKM


Joy,


Rena

www.talktotheturtle.com

The Tapping Solution: Inspirational Jewelry

We all want to be happy. I was in conversation with a friend about this last week and we talked about different avenues to the "feeling" of contentment. He mentioned that EFT was a very effective tool for him and has had good results with it. EFT which stands for Emotional Freedom Technique I was personally introduced to EFT by Dr. Lee Pulos back in 1996 but I didn’t realize that it had become so widely recognized. I still find that Inspirational Jewelry has a place in the "feel" good department and can compliment the work of EFT quite nicely.

An easier way to explain this for me personally is “Meridian Tapping”. Gary Craig is most widely known for this technique along with Roger Callahan who pioneered the early days of literally “tapping” the meridian points on the body to permanently release emotional pain.


I googled EFT and came upon a website called The Tapping Solution that has a free e-book that you can download with the explanation of how to do this very simple modality.

I find it interesting that this tapping technique on the meridian points is linked back to Chinese acupuncture points. I guess it's only about 4000-5000 years old then.

Here is an excerpt from the introduction of The Tapping Solution by Nicolas Ortner.

“The body, like everything in the universe, is composed of energy. Restore balance to the body’s energy, and you will mend the negative emotions and physical symptoms that stem from the energy disruption. Meridan Tapping restores the body’s energy balance, and negative emotions are conquered.

The basic technique requires you to focus on the negative emotion at hand: a fear or anxiety, a bad memory, an unresolved problem, or anything that’s bothering you. While maintaining your mental focus on this issue, use your fingertips to tap 5-7 times each on 9 of the body’s meridian points. Tapping on these meridian points – while concentrating on accepting and resolving the negative emotion – will access your body’s energy, restoring it to a balanced state.

You may be wondering about these meridians. Put simply, energy circulates through your body along a specific network or channels. You can tap into this energy at any point along the system.

This concept comes from the doctrines of traditional Chinese medicine, which referred to the body’s energy as “ch’i.” In ancient times, the Chinese discovered 100 meridian points. They also discovered that by stimulating these meridian points, they could heal. Call it energy, call it the Source, call it life force, or call it ch’i.. Whatever you want to call it, it works!

In some ways, Meridian Tapping is similar to acupuncture. Like Tapping, acupuncture achieves healing through stimulating the body’s meridians and energy flow. However, unlike Meridian Tapping, acupuncture involves needles! “No needles” is definitely one of the advantages of Tapping.

Meridian Tapping is simple and painless. It can be learned by anyone. You can apply it to yourself, whenever you want, wherever you are. It can be used with specific emotional intent towards your own unique life challenges and experiences. Most importantly, it gives you the power to heal yourself, putting control over your destiny back into your own hands". ~


As I was flipping through the e-book, it brought back to me in a flash how to use this system and it really is (with a little thinking- to be honest) a widely used system now.

Here is a video link of Jessica Ortner taking you step by step through the points. Don't be confused by the introduction of "tapping world summit" as that happened earlier this year of 2010.



http://www.thetappingsolution.com/tapping_points_video.php




I noticed on the The Tapping Solution site that Carol Look, Ph.D has combined Meridian Tapping and The Law of Attraction. When I linked to her site she has as an offer of her book Attracting Abundance with EFT.



I am feeling better just sharing this information with you, however it is the biggest shopping sale day of the year and that is just what I am going to do. Go shopping.


Have a beautiful day,


Photo: 'reflection' PKM


Joy,


Rena


www.talktotheturtle.com

Things I love Thursday: to charm you...

I am writing my Thanksgiving “Things I love Thursday” with gratitude for great friends and loving family. I thank Gala Darling for creating this Thursday venue of gratefulness.
I really enjoy encouraging happiness in thoughts. This train of thought oddly takes me straight back in my memory to being a nineteen year old and being very depressed. I had emptied my bank account and bought a plane ticket to Sun Valley Idaho from my home here in Vancouver, B.C. Canada. I was trying to run away from the sadness of my broken heart. I love the charm of Sun Valley Idaho and was so content to find a motel right at the bottom of the hill. I didn’t know anybody and planned to stay till my money ran out. I just wanted to ski. Skiing has always been a great source of freedom for me. The intensity and pleasure of focusing on the immediate mogul or terrain takes me out of my hamster wheel thoughts.

The snow in Sun Valley is so light and fluffy and the powder on this visit was just perfect knee deep and well it was dreamy. Except, I was lonely. I mean I didn’t have anyone to talk to.


There was a group of skiers that was returning the same time as me through the chair lift lot area. An elderly gentleman from the group must have sensed something in me because he approached me and asked how my runs were for the day. I was so relieved that someone wanted to talk to me. The group he was with was comprised of advanced level skiers including search and rescue or ski patrol from around the country with the unified vision of teaching the blind to ski. They were developing a course using the group's knowledge to teach others how to aid the blind in enjoying the great outdoors.


They were going skiing the next day and asked if I wanted to join them. I said excitedly yes. The next morning came so fast, and I met up with the group. The gentleman who had invited me talked with me over lunch at the mountain top. That beautiful view of the sun and blue sky is still etched in my mind. He asked what I was doing in Sun Valley all by myself. I told him I was trying to save myself from totally losing my mind in sadness.


He shared with me that everyone in that group had experienced great sadness and said this to me “when you have a pain in your life – find something to have a purpose bigger than you”. .


That was a life changing day. Those skiers and their vision forever changed my vision of how I viewed life.


Happy Thanksgiving America!



Have a beautiful day,


Photo: "mountain & lake" PKM


Joy,

Rena

www.talktotheturtle.com

Reserved for Winners with positive affirmations

What a interesting day I had. It started out with a list of to do’s and woven throughout the day were smiles and laughter. I began my day taking my car in to get the oil changed and I took along my book “Eat, Pray, Love” to read. Passed the keys and the car over, grabbed a complimentary coffee and settled into my reading. I am in India in the book now and the author is in the Ashram that she specifically went to in the hopes of getting some inner awakening. I was thinking about positive affirmations and well, I thought some great thoughts myself, on how destiny, fate and free will can be intertwined and that projecting positive thoughts are a really useful tool.

Then, my car was ready. I could have actually sat there longer, with reading and thinking. The good news was for the first time, with this car only the oil had to be changed. Usually the technician comes out with papers and a stern look and gives me the bad news in dollars and cents. I actually have become quite good at “guesstimating” or feeling what a new part will cost with labor. This is something I have acquired over time being the owner of "Ginger" that is my cars name. When something breaks (like a serpentine belt) and I am waiting for the tow truck I already feel its $700, dont ask me why but I do.

I am now in my car driving and my girlfriend phones me and I click my handsfree head set to say hi and she starts singing happy birthday to me. Which is great, but its not my birthday for another month. Half way through, she stops and says “its not your birthday is it”, and oh my gosh we laughed so hard. It made my whole day. We had a wonderful long overdue conversation and I told her I would call her back next month on my birthday.

I get home and there are phone messages and the second message is from another girlfriend and she is singing into my message machine “happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you” and I am like shaking my head laughing. I click on the next message and it is my same girlfriend saying “Its not December is it? And now she is laughing so hard in the message and Im laughing again listening to her laughter.

I pick up some mail to go out from my desk and grab my lotto ticket I bought last week on the fly. On my way to the mailbox I stop by the local store and check my ticket and the machine says that I won $1000. The retail clerk says that one thousand dollars is above their payout limit and that I have to drive to the lotto office for my winnings. So, being that it’s my birthday and all I did just that.

When I pulled into the Lottery Corp. parking entrance, there are six stalls with signs that read the following. “Reserved for Winners”. I took a big winning smile moment and said to myself “that’s me”, I am a Winner! You just cannot imagine what a rush that was to read those signs and give permission to call myself a winner. I think I want to have one made up for my at home parking stall. You see. It wasn’t the money. It was the feeling. It was the acknowledgement of “self” that made the moment. Yes the money was fantastic to receive, but I have to tell you it really reinforced for me the importance of focusing your thoughts on pleasant things.

What a wonderful crazy, zany day, so grateful I have such kind loving friends and to be blessed with waves of laughter all day long.

Have a beautiful day,


Photo: 'the long view' PKM



Joy,

Rena

www.talktotheturtle.com

Things I love thursday: to charm you...

I have joined the wonderful inspiration of Gala Darling and created “Things I love Thursday”. I enjoy Gala’s blog for her pretty writings. I applaud her idea to inspire us to jump in and share the warm waters of happiness in thoughts… which takes me straight to my next thought which is a pool in Acapulco and the charm of being able to swim up to the bars edge and sit on a lovely seat in the pools water. The view is of Acapulco’s bay, and the name of the private club is Via Vera and quite simply the best tasting marguerita I have ever had in my life. October 1975


I am actually giddy with delight of things I love Thursday, but really I could write about things I love everyday of the week.

• being calm in the midst of uncertainty, my neighbours new kitten with the flat face and white snowpuff fur, breathing in through my nose and click on a happy thought in my mind and then whoosh exhale with a big aahh sigh, love the "high" of that feeling-never gets old.

• barefeet on hardwood floors, barefeet in sandy sand, barefeet in a warm tub while getting a pedicure. barefeet in nice sheets, barefeet on a perfect cool lawn. barefeet in deerhide moccasins. barefeet on a cool marble floor in a hot climate.



• My barefeet in my fuzzy sheep slippers as I write this hearing the rain tap outside on the window. A painting bought from a street artist vendor that brings me great pleasure every glance I give it. Its an original acrylic of the white foam of water as it pulls off the rocks back into the ocean. The transaction happened in less then ten minutes and I have this beautiful reminder of the greatness and gentleness of the earths water. I love this painting….I pray the artist is having a warm night and be blessed with more beautiful views to paint.



Have a beautiful day,



Photo: PKM


Joy,


Rena


www.talktotheturtle.com

Fun sayings, positive affirmations and powerful quotes:

“Time ~ our youth ~ it never really goes, does it? It is all held in our minds”.

~Helen Hooven Santmyer
20th centurty American writer



“We all live with the objective of being happy; our lives are all different and yet the same”.

~Anne Frank (1929-1945)
German/Dutch diarist



“Let your Spirit descend and renew the face of the earth, and this land”.

~Pope John Paul 11
Warsaw, June 2, 1979





This is one of my favorite positive affirmations statements:

“What you say. “Me a goddess?” Yes, I say, and don’t act so surprised. You knew when you were little that you were born for something special and no matter what happened to you, that couldn’t be erased. Sorry to tell you, but you had it right years ago, and then you forgot. You were born with a mystical purpose. In reading this now, you might remember what it is.

~Marianne Williamson
“ A Woman’s Worth”





Here is an excerpt of Deepak Chopra, M.D.,
From his book: “ Creating Affluence, Wealth Consciousness
In the Field of All Possibilities”

Once upon a time in a faraway land, a young man went to the forest and said to his spiritual master, “I want to have unlimited wealth, and with that unlimited wealth, I want to help and heal the world. Will you please tell me the secret to creating affluence?”

And the spiritual master replied, “there are two Goddesses that reside in the heart of every human being. Everybody is deeply in love with these supreme beings. But there is a certain secret that you need to know, and I will tell you what it is.

“Although you love both Goddesses, you must pay more attention to one of them. She is the Goddess of Knowledge, and her name is Sarasvati. Pursue her, love her, and give her your attention. The other Goddess, whose name is Lakshmi, is the Goddess of Wealth. When you pay more attention to Sarasvati, Lakshmi will become extremely jealous and pay more attention to you. The more you seek the Goddess of Knowledge, the more the Goddess of Wealth will seek you. She will follow you wherever you go and never leave you, and the wealth you desire will be yours forever.”

“There is power in knowledge, desire, and spirit. And this power within you is the key to creating affluence.”


Have a beautiful day,


Photo: "high altitude" PKM


Joy,


Rena

www.talktotheturtle.com

To dream of my charm jewelry at N.Y. Fashion Week

Last week I had a some oral surgery. After leaving the dentist’s office I made my way over to the local Whole Foods and purchased some chicken noodle soup and the latest issues of The Economist, The New Yorker and In Style magazines then made my way home to spend the rest of the day relaxing.

There was an article in the New Yorker by writer Lizzie Widdicombe and it focuses on the fourteen year old blogger from Chicago, with the Fashion blog " The Style Rookie".
Tavi Gevinson has been blogging since she was eleven. The article is eight pages long and covers a lot of Tavi's different perspectives and opinions.

What interested me the most about this article was not the immediate obvious which is Fashion and blogging and her natural enthusiasm to create. There is a photo of Tavi where she has self styled herself in some very hip current fashion garments, right down to the charm jewelry in her hair.

I looked at that photo of Tavi and thought to myself “Run with the wind girl”….

When I was in Design School that was the main premise that we were taught about the “high” of designing clothing - or anything for that matter. It revolves around artistic expression which translates into a wearable art form and that is what clothing is. We get to tell the world about how we feel and who we are every day in our social system through our clothing. A quick picture for example - think blue button down shirt and a pair of chinos with a pair of deck shoes, “you know what that person is saying who they are”.

This month is New York City Fashion Week, which Tavi has been invited to. It brings up happy memories of when I had my own clothing label back in 1984 and sold my collection to a small boutique in Soho New York. I had gone to New York in the late spring and walked door-to- door trying to get someone to buy my collection. Finally I got a sale. I flew back in September with my shipment for a trunk show. The store shut down a year later due to a health situation with the owner, but it was just a few blocks from Parachute, which way back then was a very cool store. My girlfriend who I went to design school with had an apartment in an area that made it walkable to Soho.

So I arrive at the airport in New York City, having had some drinks on the plane bought for me by some nice Americans - okay, I am only nervous taking off and landing. Yvo greeted me at the terminal and we jumped into her Camaro and drove into Manhattan. There was a new restaurant I had read about in the WWD newspaper called the Odeon in Tribeca and that is where we headed. I was completely overdressed in retrospect, for the Odeon ( I don’t even know if that restaurant is still around) I wore my most expensive evening dress. The bar there was busy and jostling and we were celebrating with probably $20 dollars but that didn’t bother me because I was in the Big Apple.

At one point I made my way through the restaurant to the ladies room at the end of the building and used the facilities and then walked back to the bar. I thought that the restaurant clientele were admiring my beautiful dress I was wearing, and when I finally got back to the front of the restaurant where the bar was Yvo, my friend grabs my arm and says “Rena you have tucked your dress into the back of your pantyhose”. I honestly thought I was going to faint, and couldn’t untuck my back dress hem out of my pantyhose fast enough. I just have to say in my defense, that the bathroom stalls at that restaurant were really narrow. That is what the restaurant clientele were looking at, not my dress, but my bare naked pantyhose butt as I cruised through the restaurant. Needless to say more nice Americans bought us some champagne.

Yvo and I are standing and talking at the bar by the door and the next thing I know a gentleman with white hair and dark frame glasses who is walking by me to leave the restaurant, touch’s my arm and says this to me: “I don’t know who you are or where you are from lady, but I like your style”. Turns out it is Andy Warhol, and so now that all pride is out the window, I follow him outside and ask for his autograph. Mr. Warhol had an issue of “Interview” under his arm, it had that classic Warhol graphic style of "Twiggy"in brilliant green on the front cover. He graciously signed it “To Rena” with his autograph.

I was too embarrassed to say anything of the much, that I was a new Designer in town....

The next day was the trunk show at the boutique. It was a huge success and the boutique sold a lot of pieces. The store had two or three models wearing my designs and I can’t remember who but a very kind person took the girls outside and photographed a few of the pieces on the streets of Soho, N. Y.

(I tried to place the photos here but apparently, I cannot get them to, so they are at the top of the page)

I closed my studio in 1986.

Fast forward to my latest collection of charm jewelry. My artistic offering is something that just gushed out and here I am designing for myself again all these years later. There was no stopping it. I just had to do it. My fashion statement dangle, is wearable art. It makes me jump up and down with glee when I get an order and I can package up my product and send it to it’s new home.

I can only imagine the memories that Tavi is stacking up at Fashion Week in New York City.


Have a beautiful day,

Photo: PKM


Joy,


Rena

www.talktotheturtle.com

Our dog is the lucky charm

Our dog is a senior now I guess. Fourteen years converted makes him 98 in human years.
We were sitting on the front deck watching him lie there in the driveway, prone with his back two legs crisscrossed over each other. We were talking about what an amazing animal he is and how much happiness he has brought into our lives. “Fluffy” really is our lucky charm.


Our high maintenance doggie “aka” zoo creature has kept us on total high alert for a decade now. The last three years he has slowed down a little and just when we think he has slowed down for good, a squirrel crosses his path and the roaring creature comes forth and shows us he has still got it in him.


It was year five that we actually found out what his mutt pedigree really was. Of course it was a totally surreal moment. We had him with us to go to my Mothers funeral and it was a day's drive, and by the time we got there, he starting having these really weird dry heaves. So, we called a local vet in the yellow pages and the Vet that showed up was in a portable “Vet Mobile” is the only way I can describe it.

We were on the West Coast of Canada and our Vet was from Santa Barbara. He had moved up North with this high tech decked out animal hospital on wheels. So when he looked at our snarling, heaving animal, he asked, “What kind of dog is that”? Husky/Collie cross we replied.

Big pause….

“No he’s not.” “Your dog may have husky in him, but your dog is part wolf.”
The Veterinarian went on to say that he worked with Minnesota timber wolves as a study group and that he knew our dog had wolf in him. “He is neutered I piped up.” There will not be any more like him. He was a really cute puppy and he was free. “I always thought that the collie in him made him so high strung”? Are you sure? My boyfriend rolled his eyes staring at me, as we have argued for years over Dakota’s genealogical make up and I have always maintained that he was a Collie/shepherd/husky mix. My boyfriend~God bless him after all these years - looked at me, and said the inevitable: “told you so”, "told you he was not a normal dog".

The Santa Barbara Vet went on to say that our dog gets stress colitis very easily when he is not happy and that we need to remain calm around him, and to introduce yogurt and cottage cheese into his diet as a staple and that will help with the dry heaves.

He gave him a shot to get through the funeral, and so that all three of us could make it through the day really.

That was eight years ago now. Shortly after getting home we bought a pair of shears and a muzzle and starting giving him hair cuts to tone down his wild side. I tried to make him into a poodle kind of or “schmoodle” as we affectionately called him and that is also where his other nickname “Fluffy” came from. We bribe him with a hot dog that we feed him through the muzzle while I am giving him his haircut. Sometimes the end result looks like mange. Other times one side of the haircut is shorter than the other side because by the time we get to that point we are both so exhausted by the sheer energy of trying to outsmart that dog. There have been a lot of haircuts as his hair grows unreasonably fast.

As we continued our conversation on the deck staring at him lying there soaking up the sun, we discussed the fact that it is harder for him to walk and we have to lift him into the truck now. The reality that maybe we should consider leaving him home the next camping trip, is on the table.

“Schmoodle” sits up and blinks that slow lazy blink that he does with such attitude, gets up and slowly walks over and down into our “virtual” gravel pond and takes a big poop. I look over at my significant other and say “that’s new” he has never done that before. “That’s not cool Dakota, I bark, “I don’t want you doing your business in there”.

“Schmoodle” turns around and blinks at us again. Then he walks over to the walkway that straddles the pond and with cat like agility jumps up onto the bridge. On the bridge he shakes his fur so that he is as big and fluffy as he can possibly be, blinks at us again as he walks past us on the way back to the driveway, lies back down and closes his eyes.

Who says dogs can’t talk…..


Have a beautiful day,


Photo: PKM

Joy,

Rena

www.talktotheturtle.com

Feng Shui and desk placement

When I want a great smile of a read I visit Heather Armstrong at her blog, dooce.com Heather has the writing prowess of Joan Didion with a really really wonderful sense of humor. Her style of writing is not as wacked as Hunter Thompson but she dives in and out of that hemisphere and I so applaud her unplugged style.

I usually show up at Heather's blog when I am tired and need a head shaking guffaw laughing moment. “The squirrel in the tree”, and well the list is endless as to how she can make a normal day at home read like a episode of Saturday Night Live except you are reading it.

In her latest installment Heather made a new office renovation and it made me start to think about Feng Shui and office workspaces.

I thought it would be of interest to those of you who have wondered about what and how to place your desk for the best optimum Feng Shui experience. I will list both Eastern and Western styles.

Directional Feng Shui is what I am going to start with here. This is not some big secret that you are receiving. I mean really you can read it in just about any book out there on Feng Shui. I am however, sharing and tailoring this set up for office/home work place specifically. This is using Eastern style Feng Shui.

If you want to change your office, if things are not going the way you like try this out for grins.

It is kind of scientific in that you need to do math. Well just a simple add and subtract.
You use your birth year and come up with a single number. Then that number correlates to auspicious directions. There are four to choose from that will be beneficial to you, with one being your very best direction. Then you place your desk with your chair facing that direction. Or to say it another way, if your best direction is North place your chair down and sit facing or looking north. Now add your desk in front of you. I hope that is clear enough for you to understand how to do this.

You take your year of birth to start:

Men and Women are slightly different adding and subtracting: Here goes,

MALE:

Take the last two digits of the Year of Birth and add them until they make a single digit.

Minus the number from 10

Example: Male born 1956
5 + 6 = 11
1 + 1 = 2
10 – 2 = 8
So 8 is the number for that birth year.

** Note: If the total reaches #5, Males assume #2 and Females assume #8.
(I told you it was mathematical…..)

FEMALE:

Take the last two digits of the Year of Birth and add them until they make a single digit.

ADD 5 to the number.

Example: Female born 1956

5 + 6 = 11
1 + 1 = 2
2 + 5 = 7
so, 7 is the number for that birth year for women.

Please Note: February 4th marks the beginning of the Chinese Solar New Year. If your birth date is on January 1 st thru February 3rd then take the previous years directions.

So next I will list the numbers that correspond with direction. So let's say you figured out your number to be (7) like the above example you would go to the list and see the locations that are the best for that number. They will be sorted as A,B,C,D. All the directions listed are good with Letter (A) being the best. A Feng Shui consultant trained in Eastern style Feng Shui would use this information as a guide and work with the aesthetics of the room and see if one of these directions could be worked into the desk placement and overall room design.

Here is the list: again, the # is the single digit you derived, with ABCD best location to look at.

# A B C D
1 SE E S N
2 NE W NW SW
3 S N SE E
4 N S E SE
6 W NE SW NW
7 NW SW NE W
8 SW NW W NE
9 E SE N S

You will need a compass to find these true directions and I guess it is kind of exhausting to go through all this to find out, but it is there for the sharing if you are at all interested.

In Western Style Feng Shui the direction is called a power position and you work the aesthetics into the room by positioning the desk to face the door. That means when you are sitting down you are looking at the door with the desk in front of you. If you cannot face your desk and yourself to look at the door, then a good design/Feng Shui tip is to place a mirror on the wall that you are facing so that you can see who is walking into the room.

That is your desk placement using Western style Feng Shui, to arrive at a pleasant well balanced office space. There is no need to work up the mathematical like the Eastern style I have listed above, and you really use your “intuitive” to feel the space into a balanced and flowing environment. I hope you find enjoyment in all your comings and goings.

Happy Feng Shui trails,



Have a beautiful day,



Photo: "nice view" PKM


Joy,

Rena

www.talktotheturtle.com

Fun sayings, positive affirmations and powerful quotes:

If you have made mistakes . . . there is always another chance for you . . . you may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call “failure” is not the falling down, but the staying down.”

~Mary Pickford (1893-1979)
American actress



“Creative minds have always been known to survive any kind of bad training.”

~Anna Freud (1895-1982)
Austrian pschonalyst



“Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold.”

~Helen Keller (1880-1968)
American writer



This is one of my favorite positive affirmations statements:

To create your tomorrow, go over your day when you are in bed tonight just before you fall asleep, and feel gratitude for the good moments. If there was something you wanted to happen differently, replay it in your mind the way you wanted it to go. As you fall asleep, say, “I will sleep deeply and wake up full of energy. Tomorrow is going to be the most beautiful day of my life.” Good night!

-Rhonda Byrne
Creator of “The Secret”


Here is an excerpt of Marianne Williamson,
from her book: “ A Woman’s Worth”

Don’t you get it? Can’t you see? As we change our minds, we will change the world. And until we do, we will remain where we are. And all the laws and all the bashing and all the silly, childish, petty political arguments will continue for years, and for more years beyond, until women remember, followed by men, that a woman is a miracle and in her heart lies God. She is here to love God, passionately and truly, and to reveal to all others- men, children, and other women – that God is good and God is here. But we must be good, and we must be here, or our function is denied and the mission is aborted. It’s time to get started. It ‘s time to wake up. Don’t wait another minute. Claim your heart, and claim your glory. You have all you need. The new world will seem like nothing you have seen before. It will shine like you. It will smile like you. It will feel like home.


Have a beautiful day,

Photo: 'nice walk' PKM

Joy,



Rena

www.talktotheturtle.com

The unique gift of Eat, Pray, Love

I have a mirror over top my sink in my kitchen. From time to time I will admittedly use it as a post-it reminder board. One that is a steady visitor has the saying: “Be Realistic ~ Plan for a Miracle”. The other one that has been with me also for a long time is: “Today is the Greatest Day of My Life”. I find the unique gift in both of these post-it note reminders (tattered curled edges and all from the sink's humidity) is they always make me smile. O.K. actually I have quite a few more, like: “There are Angels assigned to listen to every one of our prayers”.

Often I will add “floater” post-it notes: These post-its stay for a few days or weeks. These can be anything from pay a bill to a book. The post-it that has been there for at least a year or longer now is Eat, Pray, Love book to read: that is what the note says, and I have to say that in the end the book was given to me as a gift from a friend who had read it.

I originally heard of the book through an email from a friend who mentioned it when telling me what books she was reading. This has got to be well over a year ago if not more. I saved the thought onto a reminder, because I have such a high level of regard for Hilary Rosenfeld on a professional basis (my friend in the email) who is an East Coast Costume Designer. I thought if Hilary was reading that book then I was going to read it too.

Time passes…..

More time passes….


I am in the local book store last Christmas and they have an assortment of books and collectibles with the signage “The perfect Unique Gift” or something to that effect.
I scanned the table to see what books they were promoting and there low and behold was the book title that had been living on the post-it note mirror over my sink. I picked it up and was reading the front jacket when two extremely well dressed, well groomed young women late twenties most likely, dressed up like they were in their late thirties (they will regret that like the rest of us ) and they were gift shopping like me. One of the two savvy shoppers picked up the book I was holding and this was their discussion: “Giggling” “Oh, that book forget it, just another mid life crisis story of a disgruntled woman”.

I put the book casually down, and picked up “Life with Morley”. It seemed forever in my mind how I was going to walk away from the table; I felt that the book I was waiting to read in my mind without knowing anything in advance about it, was to be likened to something such as Deepak Chopra in nature with spiritual lessons like he so amazingly does, only with Food, Prayer and Love. I honestly was stunned to hear the book I was waiting to read was referred to as a midlife crisis mixed in with a self indulgent, self-discovery of self.

Time passes….

The book I put down is now on the big screen as a Feature Film. Just a few weeks ago I was talking with a girlfriend and told her the story of how I have missed reading this book and she gifted me the book as she has read it. I am always amazed to see the translation from book to film, so I picked the book up to read it and got to page 6, and burst out laughing.

You see on page 6 the Author says that she is thirty-six years old. I flashed back to the two young women, me now giggling that they thought mid life was 36 years old. Then I stopped giggling and thought maybe they were right? So, I googled mid life crisis and after reading two pages on Wikipedia about mid life crisis with everyone from Freud to Betty Crocker giving his or her hypothesis, typically the age for a mid life crisis is 47 years old.

Also, mid life crisis does not exist in Japan or India.

So, that is as far as I have gotten in the book. It seems to be a wonderful read and I thoroughly look forward to get back to it. I thought about those two young women and how grateful I was to be who I was and where I am on my life journey. The power of youth and beauty can be intoxicating but you have to wait for the real inner yearning of self-acceptance to settle in. No matter how hard you try to be forty when you are thirty, it is really the only thing that cannot be hacked like identity fraud. You can look and walk like a person who is self realized but only you know yourself when you are there.

This sums up where I am on my path presently,

I am beautiful, You are beautiful, We are all beautiful.


Have a beautiful day,


Photo: 'passage way' PKM


Joy,

Rena

www.talktotheturtle

Toltec wisdom and inspirational jewelry

I picked up a book I have had years now that is called The Four Agreements and re-read it. It got me thinking-mostly that you cannot be 40 when you are 30 years old. Let me explain myself further. I remember reading this book years ago, and I just could not for the life of me understand it. I mean I read it but it just did not sink in. When I picked up the book to read it this time, I read thru it quickly without stopping and understood every single nuance. I also had a "ah-ha" moment when I understood the value in inspirational jewelry in our day to day comings and goings.

Here is an excerpt from Don Miguel Ruiz book, The Four Agreements:

PRELUDE TO A NEW DREAM

There are thousands of agreements you have made with yourself, with other people, with your dream of life, with God, with society, with your parents, with your spouse, with your children. But the most important agreements are the ones you made with yourself.

In these agreements you tell yourself who you are, what you feel, what you believe, and how to behave. The result is what you call your personality. In these agreements you say, “This is what I am. This is what I believe. I can do certain things, and some things I cannot do. This is reality, that is fantasy; this is possible, that is impossible.”

One single agreement is not such a problem, but we have many agreements that make us suffer, that make us fail in life. If you want to live a life of joy and fulfillment, you have to find the courage to break those agreements that are fear-based and claim your personal power. The agreements that come from fear require us to expend a lot of energy, but the agreements that come from love help us to conserve energy and even gain extra energy.

Each of us is born with a certain amount of personal power that we rebuild every day after we rest. Unfortunately, we spend all our personal power first to create all these agreements and then to keep these agreements. Our personal power is dissipated by all the agreements we have created, and the result is that we feel powerless. We have just enough power to survive each day, because most of it is used to keep the agreements that trap us in the dream of the planet. How can we change the entire dream of our life when we have no power to change even the smallest agreement?

If you can see it is our agreements that rule our lives, and if we don’t like the dream of our life, we need to change the agreements. When we are finally ready to change our agreements, there are four very powerful agreements that will help us break those agreements that come from fear and deplete our energy.

Each time you break an agreement, all the power you used to create it returns to you. If you adopt these four new agreements, they will create enough personal power for you to change the entire system of your old agreements.

You need a very strong will in order to adopt the Four Agreements but if you can begin to live your life with these agreements, the transformation in your life will be amazing.

~The First Agreement~

~Be Impeccable with Your Word~


The first Agreement is the most important one and also the most difficult one to honor. It is so important that with just this first agreement you will be able to transcend to the level of existence I call Heaven on Earth.

The first agreement is to be impeccable with your word. It sounds very simple, but it is very, very powerful. Why your word? Your word is the power that you have to create. Your word is the gift that comes directly from God. The Gospel of John in the Bible, speaking of the creation of the universe, says, “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word is God.” Through the word you express your creative power. It is through the word that you manifest everything. Regardless of what language you speak, your intent manifests through the word. What you dream, what you feel, and what you really are, will all be manifested through the word.

The word is not just a sound or a written symbol. The word is a force; it is the power you have to express and communicate, to think, and thereby to create the events in your life. You can speak. What other animal on the planet can speak? The word is the most powerful tool you have as a human; it is the tool of magic.

Pretty lofty reading I will agree, but very thought provoking as to how you can have choices in your life. Well worth the read and $13 it costs for the book.

The Four Agreements : a practical guide to personal freedom /Miguel Ruiz
ISBN 1-878424-31-9


Have a beautiful day,


Photo: 'walk in the trees' PKM


Joy,


Rena

www.talktotheturtle

Charm of The River Runs Through You

Finally some beautiful hot sunny days here in the great Northwest. Some days are sealed forever in my memory of a picture perfect day. The charm of this day revolves around a visit to a mountain fed river that at this time of year is at its deepest four feet. It winds its way thru farmland on the way to the Snoqualmie River which is a huge fat lumbering river waterway in the State of Washington.

Kids and Adults and dogs flock to this river all with the same thing in mind, and that is to cool off. How to do this is mixed. Some people-well actually entire families on their inner tubes-will float down the river and then hike back upstream to where they started.

Others will just float in the water without inner tubes. The shoreline is dotted with people just sitting on their beach chairs right in the water. The rocks on this river are all about a perfect median size of an ostrich egg. These rocks are smooth to the touch, and slippery to the foot in the water.

One of my favorite things to do is to put on my water shoes, and wade out into the swift water and plunk down with a rock in each hand to weight myself down. I find two rocks to brace my feet against and then I sort of float while going nowhere and this feeling of the river energy running through my body is the only way I can best describe it. It feels like the ocean except it is one continuous body current of water that is quite a wonderful experience.

It is on my top ten list of happy experiences in my lifetime. We bring along a cooler with some sandwiches and iced tea and build a pool of rocks to keep the tea cool on the river's edge.

The water at first touch feels quite cold, as it is the season's end of the run off of the Cascade Mountains snow melt. After the first dunking in however, it becomes this dreamy experience of baking on the hot stones by the river's edge and then cooling off in the water where you can see the occasional little fishy cruising by.

The group next to us had a golden retriever to which the family would throw rocks, and Penny the dog would chase out into the water and actually dunk her head down into the water to retrieve the rock.

The water is glistening, and the trees are gently rustling, and I wait all year long for this day of my river healing, as I refer to it. The window is actually a couple of months long but usually with work and my life schedule I get a narrow two-week period and it is usually in August.

Its effect (of sitting in a mountain river) is dreamy and extremely purifying. For days afterward the lasting feeling of actually having all that water moving through you, releases what feels like ions of stuff that I hold onto, is gently moved along, and I let go of it with the grace of this kind mountain river. I am smiling and giggling like a child (along with everybody else) and it is not something I set out to do; the only participation on my part is to enjoy the day, the sun and the water.

To add to this day there was a reported meteor shower at night, and I was really excited because the sky had been so clear that I was looking forward to seeing the awe of the evening heavenly stars. However, I was so happy wasted tired from the day I could barely stay awake till dark. I did though, and went outside onto the deck with my pj's , my hooded robe and my ugg boots to ward off any mosquitoes nipping at my ankles.

I lay down and gazed up at the sky.

There were so many stars out I couldn’t even find the Big Dipper. It was like some sort of rock concert of the heavens and all the stars came out to shine in their glory. I lay there thinking that here I am, human being spirit Rena looking out to a galaxy of stars from my beautiful home planet Earth.

Earlier in the day we were discussing the meteor shower, and I mentioned that shooting stars and meteor showers are one and the same are they not? My reasoning for this is I have always wished on a shooting star? So, I figured if there was going to be a shower of stars I should be able to make a wish on every one I see. Kind of the lotto of star wishing, so to speak.

I thought about this a lot during my time in the river and I thought I would start off with something big like “World Peace” and then with every star work kind of backwards, like a good trending stockmarket, and then throw in a wish for a new car for grins. Why not, I mean there was to be a shower of stars?

So, I am lying there gazing at the heavens and stars and "whoosh” a shooting star happens. It always takes my breath away to see a shooting star and I don’t know why but it has never lost its ability to do that to me. I immediately said, “I wish for World Peace”. I closed my eyes and lay back waiting for the rest of the amazing meteor show to continue.

The next thing I remember is BB touching my arm saying “twinkletoes you have been asleep out here for awhile now, best to come inside to bed”.

I fell asleep, can you believe it? I just couldn’t even keep my eyes open or the energy to stay outside anymore. I got up and went inside.

Over breakfast in the morning, we were talking about the Meteor Shower and BB asked me if I saw any meteors, and I said well yes I did and I only got out my wish for a World of Peace and didn’t get any farther down the wish list. No new car, just World Peace. Then I fell asleep.

This day I have had the honor to experience and write about is dedicated to the memory of Barbara Ann Scott. Mother to Sandie, Jimmy and Johnny, who are my cousins. Their Grandmother was my Grandmothers sister. Barbara was seventy four years young, and was an ordained Minister and I send a prayer of love to the heavens.

My Dad phoned me last week and told me that Barbara had passed away after a lengthy illness. "You know your Mother and Barbara are already off and away on the path to shopping. Those two had a passion for beautiful things, and so no doubt your Mom Elsie was there to greet her".

Have a beautiful day,

Photo: "room with a view" PKM

Joy,


Rena

www.talktotheturtle

Fun sayings, positive affirmations and powerful quotes:

The dream was always running ahead of one. To catch up, to live for a moment in unison with it, that was the miracle.
-Anais Nin
American/French writer


. . .The greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions and not on our circumstances.
-Martha Washington (1731-1802)
American First Lady


Life never becomes a habit to me. It’s always a marvel.
-Katharine Mansfield (1888-1923)
New Zealand writer

This is one of my favorite positive affirmations statements:

When you ask for happiness and a beautiful life, ask not just for you, but for everyone. When you ask for something better, ask not just for you, but for everyone. By all means ask for abundance and health for you, but also ask for it to be given to everyone.

Can you imagine what would happen if over six billion people asked for these things for you?

-Rhonda Byrne
Creator of “The Secret”



Here is an excerpt of Dr. Joseph Murphy,
from his book: “Mental Poisons and Their Antidotes”

Meditate and pray upon positive and spiritual values. Claim your ideal, solution, health, or peace of mind upon the basis that the Spirit within you is supreme and omnipotent, and by thinking of your solution or ideal with confidence and faith you are conditioning your mind to the answer. Your mind is full of confidence or fear according to what you put into it. Claim God and His Love go before you.


Have a beautiful day,

Photo: "mountain space" PKM

Joy,


Rena

www.talktotheturtle.com

Affirmation necklace for Jamie

I feel one of the great privileges in life is to be given the honor of raising a baby to adulthood. If you are not raising them, then someone else most certainly is. A good family support system would include Grandparents and Aunts and Uncles but this cannot always be the case. Some families do better than others.

I remember going to my friends name celebration of their baby daughter which is a Jewish custom. The Rabi spoke of the privilege that was bestowed on them (the parents) of raising this little girl being, this “Spirit”. I left the gathering forever changed with an enlightened level of respect and awe for all my parents had done for me.

If Mother Earth had a microphone to speak into to be sure she would say a huge thank you to all you parents raising babies into children and onto adulthood.

Fast forward twelve years later to fall 2009 when I was invited to another Jewish celebration of my friends daughter’s bat mitzvah. It is a milestone celebration for a young girl passing from the age 12 to 13. At this love filled celebration, my friends' daughter thanked her parents in her welcome speech to everyone, which totally made me tear up that a young girl could have so much composure. My hands were totally sweating up in nervousness, but Jamie sailed through it.

I looked over at my friends “the parents” Dad’s hand on Mom’s shoulder as their daughter spoke, their bodies pressed together throughout her speech.

I have to say as much as I tried to keep my composure, the room was spinning. I saw the totality of life in a snapshot. Very humbling….


Prior to the event in conversation, I asked my friend what do you buy for a bat mitzvah present? My friend replied “Would you please gift my daughter a “Affirmation necklace” so she will stop borrowing mine?

Big gulp on my end of the phone? Really? Oh, I think I can arrange that. Big laughter.


A month passed and in the mail showed up a thank you note, written from Jamie thanking me for attending her bat mitzvah and how much she enjoyed her “Affirmation necklace”.

Ah, to think that I knew her and talked to her when she was in my dear friends tummy, and the little “baby blob” she was at her name celebration, was now writing thank you notes.



Getting older is highly under valued in todays writings, it is absolutely amazing.


Have a beautiful day,


Photo: 'the way up' PKM


Joy,


Rena

www.talktotheturtle.com

Fun Sayings, positive affirmations and powerful quotes:

“If only we’d stop trying to be happy, we could have a pretty good time.
-Edith Wharton
American novelist


Each person has his own safe place – running, painting, swimming, fishing, weaving, gardening. The activity itself is less important than the act of drawing on your own resources.
-Barbara Gordon
20th-centurty American writer


The best mind – altering drug is truth.
-Lily Tomlin
American actress & comedienne


This is one of my favorite positive affirmation statements:

At every moment, a woman makes a choice: between the state of the queen and the state
of the slavegirl. In our natural state, we are glorious beings. In the world of illusion, we
are lost and imprisoned, slaves to our appetites and our will to false power. Our jailer is a three-headed monster: one head our past, one our insecurity, and one our popular culture.
-Marianne Williamson




Here is an excerpt of Dr. Joseph Murphy from his book:
“Mental Poisons and Their Antidotes”

“A woman sixty-seven years of age told me all the reasons she could not get married; then she began to silently practice correct inner speech as follows:
“I thank you Father for my perfect, ideal, divine companion.” She repeated this to herself many times a day; after a while her concept was impressed on the subconscious and she met a retired druggist whom she married. They are ideally happy. Her inner speech was one with her aim. She spoke inwardly as though it had already happened. It had happened in the only place it could ever happen, namely in her own mind”.


Consider trying this affirmation moment:
I don't know about yourself for a image but I hold the following image in my mind;

"I am floating/swimming in the beautiful Hawaiian Islands waters looking at the white sandy beach and the palm trees swaying...."

I focus on my desire "Joy";

I then inhale a full long breath through my nose and then I exhale the breath, full, and relaxed with a big "aahh sigh" sound while you are exhaling thru your mouth.



Have a beautiful day,


Photo: 'vista' PKM


joy,


Rena

www.talktotheturtle.com