Unusual gift ideas for you; List 100 things to do before you go. pt 2

The inspiration of writing a life list of 100 things to do while you are here on planet earth is really a liberating and freedom based process. Not limited to ten things you want to do but 100 really opens the door for your imagination.  There are many websites available as idea platforms, but my original inspiration was from Maggie Mason of Mighty girl.  The unusual gift idea for yourself in creating a life list is to make the most of every moment of our existence.  It is giving yourself permission to be happy.  Clarity and focus of forgotten thoughts is what you stand to benefit from.

One website that I found inspirational was that of John Goddard.  His website shows a checklist spreadsheet ledger format.  He has accomplished so many adventure based goals that it makes me gasp and say to myself, oh my goodness. What I took away from  his website  by reading the many things that were on his list was to focus on the journey and not the destination.  

Although goal setting is important it is by  living our daily truth of self love that sets the seeds in the ground firmly to grow.  By being honest with ourselves and filling our day with integrity and small rituals of peaceful thoughts this can keep us on our path of happiness.  We all need to find our own way to find inner harmony, and working with a life list is a very uplifting energetic experience.  What is really fun is to know is that your life list is exclusive to you.  It does not need to meet anyone else's criteria. It is your dream.

I find couture fashion to be beautiful art expression.  When you study fashion history you  discover that we interpret our economic and social commentary through the way we dress as individuals and even as communities.  I spent some time this last week  looking at the runway shows of the larger houses in Paris, France.  Givenchy, Dior, Prada, Chanel, for example and I so appreciate the beautiful construction of these garments on the runway and the sheer mastery of the tailors and seamstresses who take these visions and turn them into art.  

You can visit the shows themselves now online and also the Couture houses now include short videos outlining their overall theme.   It is with this admiration of the art form of couture I kick off my life list part 2 with house of  Lanvin Fall 2011 video.  (click here to read the first 33)

34. Sit at a Couture fashion show of a legendary label

35. Buy that cowboy hat in Ennis Mt. I missed the last time

36. Take photography lessons 

37. Be a prolific photographer

38. Meet Joel Osteen-a handshake at a book signing

39. Own some land

40. Learn how to fly fish (catch & release)

41. Go swimming at Lake Havasu, Az.

42. Go swimming in  Antigua 

43. Bake my own bread (like Grandma's)

44. Go to a flea market in 3 different countries

45. Walk on the Great Wall of China

46. Visit Fernie, B.C.

47. Meet Hillary Clinton

48. Never use a swear word (no matter what)

49. Go for lunch in Santa Barbara

50. Swim at Lake Ennis Mt. (again)

51. Visit Switzerland

52. Swim at the Mandalay wave pool in Vegas

53. Own a Porta-bote (a folding boat)

54. Attend the Rose bowl parade in Pasadena

55. Tickets to the NFL Super Bowl

56.  Fourth of July parade in Cody Wyoming

57. Take a creative writing class

58. Write a book that is filled with wit and laughter

59. Have a beautiful garden

60. Create a cookie for a baking contest

61. Experience a Tony Robbins workshop

63. Visit the gem show in Arizona 

64. Meet Louise Hay (again)

66. Go to San Francisco for business

67. Visit 3 art galleries in New York City

I am back to dreaming my last entries to finish my life list.  My imagination is already dancing out the door  across the lawn on the way down to the ocean....

Have a beautiful day,

Photo:  'Happy trails Mare' PKM

Joy,

Rena

www.talktotheturtle.com

Fun sayings, positive affirmations and powerful quotes:

Hot fudge fills deep needs.
~Susan Isaacs, b. 1943
  20th-century American writer




If I look fabulous or if I look haggard and awful, it's the lighting . . . my first advice to women concerned about their appearance is to check the lights in their living room.
~Barbara Walters, b. 1931
  American journalist




I used to believe that anything was better than nothing.  Now I know that sometimes nothing is better.
~Glenda Jackson, b. 1936
  English actress




This is one of my favourite positive affirmations statements:


People go through their whole lives chasing everything in the material world, and they fail to discover the greatest treasure of all, which is within them.  Shut your eyes to the outside world.  Direct your thoughts and words to the inside of you.  The Master within you is the key to all the treasures in the world.


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.


"Q" is to question: To Question Dogma, question ideology, question outside authority. It is only by questioning what people take for granted, what people hold to be true, that we can break through the hypnosis of social conditioning.








Ponder these quotations from the Byron Katie book, Question your Thinking. Change the World.


On Money and Work:


The truth is that you really love the job you think you hate. Except for your beliefs, it's the job for you. How do I know?  It's the one you have! You could own the company you're working for if you just realized that  you're not there because you have to be at that job.  If you drop all your beliefs around it, we want you, we'll pay you anything, you're irresistible, you're love in action.


Many of us are motivated by a desire for success.  But what is success? What do we want to achieve?  We do only three things in life:  we stand, we sit, we lie horizontal. Once we've found success, we'll still be sitting somewhere until we stand, and we'll stand until we lie down or sit again.  Success is a concept, an illusion.  Do you want the $3,900 chair instead of the $39 one? Well, sitting is sitting. And for the word chair you could substitute car or house or business.  You can only sit in one place at one time.  If I think that I should have a different chair, just to use that metaphor, I am insane!  I'm wanting two things at once, and confusion is the only suffering.  "I want another chair" is a lie. What I want is this chair, obviously, because it's the one I have.  So I'm not longer confused.  How do I know I want this chair?  I'm sitting in it.


 Your job is not about making money or working with people or impressing your friends or getting respect.  The job is about your freedom. Everything-every man, woman, and child, every tree, every stone-is about your freedom.  It's all God giving you what you need so you can get honest one time.


My son lost a really big record contract, and he called me and said, "Mom, I'm so excited.  I lost a wonderful contract, and I'm so excited to see what's going to come that's better than that!"


Whenever you think that your needs are not being met, you're telling the story of a future. 


Abundance has nothing to do with money.  Money is not your business; truth is your business.  You're supposed to have more money than you have?  I don't think so.  You're supposed to have less money?  I don't think so.  You're supposed to have exactly what you have.








Have beautiful day,






Photo: 'right here-right now' PKM






Joy,




Rena




www.talktotheturtle.com

Creative dreaming & your Feng Shui home

One of the joys in maturing is being able to give yourself permission to enjoy yourself regardless of the highs and lows  that greet you every day. I was in that train of thought just prior to watching  a ten minute interview with Ellie Drake and Summer McStravick on  Braveheart Women TV earlier this year.  

Summer McStravick is the author of Creative Flowdreaming.  Summer's  book Creative Flowdreaming  explains the technique that is discussed in the interview on this segment.  Flowdreaming is a manifesting tool  that is basically a guided daydream.   By bundling a vision in your mind and then inserting your emotions of joy, gratitude, enthusiasm alongside and into  that vision creates a very positive connection that your body responds to.  This is what many people experience when  working with vision boards.   The unique aspect of Summer's work I feel is that she has created audio tapes that guide you through a ten minute daydream  for exercising your mind's  manifesting muscle.   

I ordered the book and one of her audio tapes after watching the video. I found it interesting in Summer's writing  that she feels that our surroundings profoundly affect us.  You can see that with my background in Feng Shui and decorating and design that I would have a connection to her work.  She writes; "When you're living within your Flow, you can use your surroundings as yet another medium of energy to program".  

I enjoy listening to her tape and the guided daydream  is a rather  pleasant  experience.  In some ways her work reminds me of Shakti Gawain's earlier work from the 1980s but a wholly different or rather  lovely variation on an old theme. Creative visualization clearly has never gone away; we were all reading about it in the eighties and now here I am writing about it twenty five years later.        

I am going to work with Summer's manifesting and Feng Shui in homes.  An example would be to put a pair of candles in your love corner and then Creative Flowdreaming as a enhancement.  Layering these particles of thought with the tangible items in your vision, then anchor with positive emotion and enjoy the results.



Ellie Drake of Braveheart Women with Summer McStravick:





Have a beautiful day,



Photo: 'elevate' PKM


Joy,



Rena


www.talktotheturtle.com

Project Light and Inspirational Charms

I was reading through my life list inspired by Maggie Mason that I started and still need to complete from my February 2012 posting.  The original note to myself was to just savour the experience of dreaming happily of  100 life list things I would like to do.  While looking out the window and daydreaming, I  glanced over to one of my inspirational charms  dangling off the side ring of my satchel in the sunlight.  

The word dancing so lovely in the day's light on that charm was "Peace". Many people will agree with the idea that inner peace is the very foundation of happiness. 

Project LIght founder Dr. Lori Leyden has initiated a program of self happiness and peace for trauma healing with genocide survivors in Rwanda. Rwanda's young children who witnessed the horror of the genocide   are now in their teens, aged sixteen to twenty-five.  Dr. Lori Leyden of Create Global Healing  is using all the energy psychology modalities from her thirty years of experience in conjunction with  the trauma healing method  EFT-emotional freedom technique.

The EFT-emotional freedom technique I wrote about  in my post November 26,2010  is also known as Tapping.  I was introduced to EFT by Dr. Lee Pulos of Vancouver B.C.,  in 1996.  This is a  widely known technique of literally "tapping" the meridian points on the body to permanently release emotional pain.


Meridian tapping can be learned by anyone. It gives you the power to heal yourself, putting control over your destiny back into your own hands. In some ways meridian tapping is similar to acupuncture in that both tapping and acupuncture achieve healing by stimulating the body's meridians and energy flow. 

One of the most impressive things I find about Dr. Lori Leyden's overall humanitarian journey is that there is an  overall exit strategy. This is a classic Napoleon Hill approach to succeeding, "have  the end vision in your mind".  The main part of this vision plan is the train the trainer model system.  Her team of volunteers teach the EFT tapping system to these young teens in Rwanda and they in turn train the other orphans with this trauma healing technique.  


Here are the two websites  that outlines this self healing journey.
www.CreateGlobalHealing.org
www.ProjectRwanda.com


Project LIght video:




Here is a website that has information on tapping/EFT:
www.thetappingsolution.com


Jessica Ortner video demonstrates how to Tap.






Have a beautiful day,


Photo: light of day RC


Joy,



Rena


www.talktotheturtle.com

Fun sayings, positive affirmations and powerful quotes:

A private railroad car is not an acquired taste. One takes to it immediately.
-Eleanor R. (Mrs. August) Belmont (1879-1979)
 English actress and philanthropist



Never travel faster than your guardian angel can fly.
-Mother Teresa (1910-1997)
 Nobel peace prize winner 1979




There are no limitations to the mind except those we acknowledge.
-Napoleon Hill (1883-1970)
 American motivation/success Author




This is one of my favorite positive affirmations statements:

Faith is trusting in the good.

Fear is putting your trust in the bad.

People can go through their whole lives chasing everything in the material world, and they fail to discover the greatest treasure of all, which is within them.  Shut your eyes to the outside world.  Direct your thoughts and words to the inside of you.  The Master within you is the key to all the treasures in the world.

~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

"P" stands for purpose in life and for pure potentiality. We are here to fulfill a purpose.  It is up to us to find out what that purpose is.  Once we know our purpose then the knowledge of one's purpose leads to the insight that we are true potentiality.
We must be able to state our purpose in very simple terms.  For example, my purpose in life is to heal, to make everyone I come into contact with happy, and to create peace.
Knowing our purpose opens up the doorway to the field of pure potentiality because inherent in our desire are the seeds and mechanics for its fulfillment.  The Vedic seer states, "I am the immeasurable potential of all that was, is, and will be, and my desires are like seeds left in the ground:  they wait for the right season and then spontaneously manifest into beautiful flowers and mighty trees, into enchanted gardens and majestic forests."




A lovely quote by Author, Louise L. Hay

I speak and think positively:

If you could understand the power of your words, you would be careful about what you say.  You would talk constantly in positive affirmations.  The Universe always says "yes" to whatever you say, no matter what you choose to believe.  If you choose to believe that you are not very much, and life will never be any good, and you will never get anything you want, the Universe will respond, and that is exactly what you will have.  The moment you start to change, the moment you are willing to bring good into your life, the Universe will respond in kind.

Start listening to what you say. If you hear yourself using negative or limiting words, change them.




Have a beautiful day,


Photo: "dream" PKM



Joy,


Rena


www.talktotheturtle.com

Seven Wonders of the World and silver charms

Last night as I worked on a gift that was designed around two silver charms my mind started to wander.  I had uploaded  my blog entry post  earlier in the day  with the 100 things I want to do before I go.  On that list I included visiting  the Seven Wonders of the World. 


For whatever reason I woke early this morning thinking to myself, what are the Seven Wonders of the World? I realized I could only remember one and that it was the Pyramids in Egypt.  I quickly turned on my computer to wikipedia and started to read about the most notable places on earth.

When I was younger you would have had to run and get your hard copy encyclopedia that your parents would have most likely purchased from a door to door salesman.  I just sat back in my chair with coffee in hand and thought how amazing it must be for students in today's public schools. The fact that they can surf the net for information must be so time saving.  

I had to search through several sites as the information about the Seven Wonders of the World had some varied  information.  For example the Egyptian Pyramids were listed under the Ancient Wonders of the world or The Original Seven.


I read on to discover that The Seven Wonders of the World has historically been a listing of seven sites known to the Ancient Greeks as the most remarkable locations in their known world.  I also found it interesting to read that the limitation of the list to the seven sites was attributed to the special magical meaning of the number 7.  


You can click on this link: Wikipedia.org-Seven Wonders of the Ancient World to read about each of these original ancient sites.  The only one that still exists is the Great Pyramid of Giza.  

Original Ancient Seven Wonders of the World:

The Great Pyramid of Giza
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
The Statue of Zeus at Olympia
The Mausoleum at Helicarnassus
The Colossus of Rhodes
The Lighthouse of Alexandria



In 1997, CNN introduced a listing of Seven Natural Wonders of the World and you can click on this link to read about these sites: 7 Wonders of the World

The Natural Wonders of the World:

The Grand Canyon - U.S.A.
The Great Barrier Reef - Australia
The Harbor at Rio de Janeiro - Brazil
Mount Everest - Himalayas
The Northern Lights - Aurora Borealis
Paricutin Volcano - Mexico
Victoria Falls - Southern Africa



In July 7, 2007 (7-7-07) the new set of Seven Wonders of the World was introduced based on online voting from around the world. You can click on this link to read about the new sites: new7Wonders of the World.

The "New" Seven Wonders of the World:

The Chichen Itza, Mayan City - Mexico
The Christ Redeemer, Statue - Brazil
The Great Wall - China
Machu Picchu - Peru
Petra, Ancient City - Jordan
The Roman Colosseum - Italy
The Taj Mahal - India

There were 13 finalists on the list  in addition that made finalist mention classification  that you can read about on the above link.   

I also read that the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) also lists some amazing designated Heritage Sites as well. 

Wow, I had no idea that my desire of something I listed as a dream would involve so much worldly thought.  Today's students researching for information have volumes of information to wade through now, which they can reflect on  and have their own opinions about.

In keeping with that thought I would like to share with you the most notable Idea that I have find to be very inspiring.  I have included a video by the First Lady of The United States, Michelle Obama on her introduction to DonorsChoose.org.

This unique charitable organization has an online donation page where you can choose from a list  of ongoing public school projects that the teachers have listed for their independent classrooms.  This is the future of the true wonders of the world in my humble opinion.  


In my desire to learn and reach out more than what I knew I was led to this video. 


I introduce you to DonorsChoose.org  - It speaks for itself.









Have a beautiful day,



Photo: "Gods work" PKM



Joy,


Rena


www.talktotheturtle.com

Unusual gift ideas for you; List 100 things to do before you go.

I most recently was inspired with the idea of listing 100 things to do before I go.

I feel this sweet concept falls under the heading of unusual gift ideas for yourself. Dreaming of the attainable and then just plain old dreaming.  I really like the Mighty girl list written by Maggie Mason and was really inspired to start thinking if I really could even come up with 100 things I want to do.  Maggie Mason's lifestyle site is pretty impressive and you can view her list and let it inspire you as it did me. 

I have always loved the beauty and splendor of watching a horse galloping over an open field.  I believe it goes back to the memory of me  as a young girl and riding our neighbour's horses. Spunky and Dottie were their names; two welsh ponies that were as different as night and day.  Spunky was white and had blue eyes and a temper to go with his name.  Dottie was a lovely brown and white pinto mare and was as gentle as a summer's day.  The main thrill of these two horses was that there was only a bridle to ride the horses with for me.  There were  saddles but my neighbours (o.k. they were way more than neighbours-they were basically family) used the horses to compete with and so the saddles were a highly coveted item. I was invited to ride when I wanted but only using a bridle.  

How hard could this be I would ask myself?  I would watch the ponies and I would talk to them.  I had this inside feeling that I should be able to talk to the ponies and then bridle them up and be able to have your classic glorious ride. Girl and pony riding in unison, people in awe of us as to how connected the horse and I were. 

It actually never really went that way however.  Basically I was thrown, bucked, stomped on and bitten.  I remember thinking as I flew over Dottie's ears with the reins in my hand;   all in slow motion,  how could this be happening to me because I loved that horse and had spent hours talking to her.

Spunky was actually not a very nice horse to me on a consistent basis, and he would throw me sideways by taking a quick turn to the left and of course I would go flying to the right.  It was something I always wanted to be good at, riding a horse, plain and simple. 

Forever the optimistic I never gave up on my love of horses. In my teens over two summers I went riding at a stable on the beach.  My leased horse was a strawberry appaloosa and his name was Jack. While all the other horses would run back to the stable on the turn around path Jack would take my lead. He would walk and canter with such ease.  He had a gentle mouth, and a pink nose to touch and I loved him.
The second summer I had no money and I would go and wait for him to come back from the ride just to see him. Then one day I went to the stable and he was gone.
I had talked to my parents about owning Jack for a solid year, but it was a luxury and not a necessity to my parents. That is not how I felt about it at all.  All these years later I still get welled up inside with happiness when I think about that time spent with that rented horse Jack. 

Not to give up on my love of horses, I applied at the local horse track and showed up at 4:30am to help  a trainer that I had begged to give me a chance to show how good I could be with horses.  I lasted one day.  After the race I was given a horse named Hank to walk, and things went pretty well during the first walk around the barn  but on the second turn he slid just so slightly on the cobblestone got spooked and yanked his head so hard he basically lifted me up off the ground.  I was so embarrassed and was relieved to be told it was o.k. that I didn't have to come back the next day. 

In my early thirties I was flush with cash and I thought I would take English riding lessons. It looked a lot easier than just riding bareback and I had still the dream of

horses and riding. That didn't go so well either.  I would talk to my rented horse in the stall prior to my lesson, and feel confident that things would go well. I really loved my riding pants and black velvet helmet and boots.  Each lesson started out all right  but inevitably the horse I leased "Lady", would slam me into the sideboards of the ring. 

The last lesson I took I had actually graduated to small jumps. I am not really sure how it all happened but the horse while in mid-air and then on the way landing dumped me.  I never let go of the reins and unfortunately my right foot was caught in the stirrup.  Lady the horse stopped. We were both breathing pretty heavy.  However, my trainer started yelling and with that off took the horse with me entwined in the stirrup.  I grabbed those reins so hard I could feel the hurt from my hands to my arms and back.  When Lady the horse stopped I got up and limped out of the ring bent over like the letter L.  

So when I saw Stacy Westfall 2006 ride with her quarterhorse Roxy I was yelling at the video. "I knew it - I knew it could be done"! When I scrolled through Stacy's blog comments, everyone's  comments include their emotions expressed with tears.  You will be too I am sure when you see the video, it is so amazing and inspiring.  For me though, it is a solid confirmation that there could be such an honest communication between horse and rider.  Roxy the horse died February 8, 2012.

It is with this video that I kick off my 100 things to do before I go.

01. Meet Stacy Westfall

02. Take riding lessons with Stacy Westfall

03. Meet Maggie Mason

04. Have a blog that is Mighty Girl league

05. Have another dog that lives a long life

06. Stretch everyday

07. Visit the 7 wonders of the world

08. Write a story that inspires people to laugh

09. Paint beautiful portraits of landscape and animals

10. Develop an app

11. Knit a scarf

12. Learn qi gong

13. Own a white pantsuit

14. Learn to speak Mandarin

15. Learn to speak Spanish

16. Have a party with my childhood cousins

17. Rescue a llama

18. Learn how to play a Brahms piano piece

19. Be blessed with a  cat that can match Lapinsky

20. Spend a winter in Sedona Az.

21. Ski Aspen 

22. Learn to sign language for the deaf

23. Make a rack of lamb

24. Visit the Smithsonian

25. Design a product for a worthy charity like Red/Gap

26. Win a millionaire lottery 

27. Donate a water/well for a village in Africa

28. Teach kids how to play the piano

29. Shoot, Cut and Edit my own video 

30. Take Dad to a art show in Jackson Hole, Wy.

31. Make a pie

32. Make perogies from scratch

33. See a bottlenose dolphin (aka Flipper) in the wild

That is as far as I can get, at this one sitting. 

I will pick this up again, and enjoy the process of the final entries. Dream, Dream, Dream... What does your list look like?

Have a beautiful day,

Photo: "Reflection" PKM

Joy,

Rena

www.talktotheturtle.com