Maurice Sendak on life, death and children

bird in the air

As I was doing the endless after the holiday errands, I was listening to Fresh Air on WNYC.  Terry Gross was replaying  a previously recorded phone  interview with  Maurice Sendak , age 83 . He is house bound due to multiple physical illnesses. However, his ability to express his thoughts and feelings  was still  exquisitely beautiful. He was describing his most recent book, titled" Bumbelardi", published in  the fall of 2011 . It is the story of an orphaned pig who throws himself a birthday party and has to live with the consequences  for a very long time.
He said that the act of writing this book brought him  " the deepest pain and the wondrous  feeling of coming into my own".  He wrote the story while his partner was dying of cancer. He said that writing the book helped him to continue living with death all around him.  About aging he said," It is a blessing to get old. It is a blessing to find the time to listen to music and to read books"....."
To Terry Gross, he stated  that she is the only  interviewer  that  brings out these deep thoughts and emotions during interviews. I cried as the interview drew to a close and Mr. Sendak said "I am a happy old man and  remember to live your life".Maurice Sendak on life , death and children

small gifts are the blessings

Good morning. It is the second day of  Hanukah and  three days before Christmas. There is no sign of snow and this is making some folks grumble  . I am enjoying the ease of getting around during these hectic times and the warmer weather. It will certainly shift soon and I am so grateful for the abundance of warmer weather right now.
Today, I am also  grateful for a recent dream that I had.

two dog thanksgiving

two dog holiday

On Thursday, I was speaking with a dear friend and she informed me that she was having a three dog Thanksgiving.  She was defining the holiday by the number of dogs present and not the people. I thought that was awesome. So I redefined my Thanksgiving as a two dog holiday.  Before the holiday approached, I was asked frequently what my plans for Thursday were. Since it was simply my husband and myself sharing a special day. I felt a little bit awkward saying that we were celebrating on our own.

holiday specials

too many choices

I recently sent out an email offering "year end specials "for past life regression  sessions. I love to help folks remember their past life experiences. It is very helpful to clear, heal and shift stuck patterns in relationships at home and at work.  As humans, we become so narrowly focused on trying to make things better that we miss the obvious sources of healing.So I sent this email out about a week ago. Then, I became very aware that everyone  was offering year end specials. There was  a never ending stream of emails offering bargains at 40% or more  off. For the most part, I deleted them since I didn't know what a a special was anymore. How can everything be a special! Or perhaps we are getting much smarter and now know to take more time to consider what is truly valuable.

less is more

sedona sunset

Since many humans are gifted with the ability to talk as much as we want,   we seem to  overuse this capability.Today by the time I had  finished answering a question ,  I  had  completely forgotten the original question. It was unsettling and certainly made me question the senior moment theory .

Boundaries

goundhog eating a   poppy

boundary:  is something that indicates or fixes a limit or extent according to the Merriam Webster Dictionary.  I have been thinking about how often we talk about boundaries with friends, family, our animal companions, and the universe. Did you set boundaries with your son or daughter  and tell them  that you will not clean  up their messy rooms for the millionth time ? Is your dog or cat  getting his way with  treats even though you know that he has  eaten  too many already. We seem to have difficulty saying  both yes and no to others.
So I decided to sit and meditate about this issue.  And   the words that I heard were  profound and easy to remember. 
We need boundaries so that we can be free.
We need to balance our yeses and no's so that we can feel safe.
When we feel safe, we don't need any boundaries. 

Perhaps the boundaries are to help us to have enough "me"  time so  that we can hear the small still voice that tells us  if we are hungry or tired or  in love. Animals have all the time in the world to listen to their small still voices.They have a lot to teach us about boundaries. 

afghans and the family legacy

beautiful white afghan

The beautiful white afghan that my sister Rob made for me arrived in the mail this morning. It is so beautiful, well made, warm and cozy. I could not wait to take a nap this afternoon. It was fabulous. My sister  is very creative and is able to do all kinds of needle work. She  has  a great gift. Last winter, I envisioned a white afghan to keep me warm  in my meditation space and now I have it.
Our mother's family is from Hungary and they bring alot of artistry into our family. Our grandmother was the youngest of nine children and all of the aunts and uncles had art in their veins. The men were jewelers and photographers. The women did needle work including but not limited to making  afghans, crocheting, needlepoint, knitting , beadwork  and embroidering.
The proceeding  generations picked up drawing,  painting, playing piano, needlework , ceramics ,and  photography . It is an awesome family legacy. Mostly, I am so grateful that my sister has created  this beautiful afghan for me.
Thank you Rob.

Gratitude

yummy dessert from my daughter's wedding

I have not felt very well for the past two days. It is a stomach bug that kept me quiet enough to read some books, watch light TV  and think about a lot of things.  I have been thinking about the  recent nor easter that wreaked havoc last weekend. I  heard someone say that it was more difficult to deal with this storm  than Hurricane Irenc. My sister up in Maine said that she used to think that living  with New Jersey's weather was much easier than Maine's deep freeze. After this weekend, she then said not any more .

Zucotti Park and People's Park, times are changing

change

When I look at the coverage for Zucotti Park and Oakland, Ca , I remember living in Berkeley in the 70's. I lived in a commune with 10 other men, women and children. I was so struck by the  cohesive  community that these folks had created for themselves and their families. They had a beautiful vegetable garden and would take turns cooking  fabulous ethnic meals for everyone. I remember tasting  Biryani ( a complex  Indian rice dish) for the first time and loved the wonderful spices  and flavors. I vividly recall attending a home birth that I still remember forty years after it happened. There was so much excitement and the  belief that we really could change the world.  I attended rallies in  People's Park in Berkeley and we were definitely chased by the  police and tear gassed. It was a scary and incredibly exciting time.

Pixie had a spa day

beautiful wise pixie

We have had golden retrievers throughout our entire marriage. .For the first couple of  dogs, we did not take them for outside grooming. They tolerated   us grooming them and they even  looked pretty good.  However then Roxie came and we needed lots of help. Roxie had so much fur that we had to begin giving her puppy cuts so that she could tolerate the summer heat without hot spots. It was not easy finding a good groomer.

Courageous Pixie

Pixie has been our family companion  for the past eight years. She came to us as a rescue dog from the Delaware Valley golden  rescue organization in Pa. We waited a year to adopt her and we have been gifted by her presence. I feel that this is the second time that she has been with me in this lifetime. The first time was when I was a child and we only knew her for 1 year.  My husband and I  have heard what she has been  thinking many times. Sometimes, we speak with other animal communicators and sometimes, we allow ourselves to trust what we hear from her.

Flow and magic

rock face

One of the things that I learned while we were in Sedona was to pay attention to flow. At the beginning of the week, we would talk about our  daily schedule of places to visit. We would start to drive to the locations and usually weather events would detour us and we would end up going somewhere else.

Nature's gifts

Double rainbow

We were in Sedona at the tail end of the monsoon season(Monsoon season is mid -June to mid September).
I did not know that monsoons came to the mountains of Arizona and we witnessed one the third day that we were there. We had decided to try a GPS tour of the area that would take us to the important sites around the area.By the way, it is actually a great way to see the area as a   first time traveler in Sedona.

wood fairies

I know that in other posts I have talked about seeing fairy faces in the tree bark. It seemed that everywhere that I looked in Sedona, I was seeing faces. It may have something to do with the crystal core that is said to be under the whole area.

travels to sedona

I recently visited Sedona, with my wonderful friend, Hathi. We had been planning this vacation for over a year and had some trepidations about the trip. We had both been there before during earlier times in our lives and had mixed memories about the area. As a hippie, in the 70"s,  a  friend and I had traveled in the South west extensively and toured many of the state and national parks while camping. It was a very long time ago and a very different world.

hummingbirds

hummingbird dining

I have a fairy garden outside of my office window.It is probably 10 feet by 8 feet and filled with lots of herbs and flowering plants.   I speciificaly chose plants that would attract butterflies and dragonflies to the area. I was so surprised when I began noticing humming birds. They seem to like the echinacea and the bee balm that is growing well .
As I have said in previous blogs, I believe that when animals cross our paths they have specific messages to teach us. 

heron rookery

About two weeks ago, my husband and I were visiting family in Concord, Ma. I  love visiting up there since there are so many things  to see . Walden Pond is about 15minutes away and  once again, I really appreciated   the words of Thoreau as I walked around the water.
"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. 

— Henry David Thoreau^[3]

 

 

In these times where we all seem to hurry  to experience the very best next thing, it is so nice to remember Thoreau's words.

I also visited a heron rookery which was  in the town of Concord. I have had a love affair with all things heron for a very long time. We have a heron sculpture at the end of our driveway. I frequently see herons while I walk along the canal  tow path and I am in awe by their stillness and concentration. I photographed  two immature herons that were waiting for their breakfast from their parents.  If you would enjoy additional photos of a rookery there are some great images on this Audoubon website.
video of heron rookery in Richmond , Virginia

a pain in the neck can be healing

blue bird

I just finished attending   a weeklong Ericksonian hypnosis training at the NLP center of  NYwww.nlptraining.com. I did not really know how difficult it is to commute into the city everyday. I have never done it for an extended period of time and I am in awe of folks that manage to do it everyday. I was exhausted after a week of commuting by NJ transit and subway. I did feel good that I was able to do the commute and sometimes even walk the five miles instead of taking the subway. Since today was my first day back to work, I really appreciated my very, very short commute across the driveway to my office. I am so fortunate to have this option.

On a clear day, perhaps we can see forever

wise owl by Eric Labasz

Yesterday, July 28th felt like the curtains opened up and we were seeing what has always been. However, we have chosen not to see this reality for a very long time. I feels  as if we are ready to see what we have always thought of as the unbearable, the unspeakable, and  the unapproachable. Right now,  we are ready to see, feel, hear, know, sense who we truly are.

past life regression and dreams

night sky

I have always been aware of the importance of past life memories. About two years ago , I did an intensive past life hypnotherapy training with Dr. Brian Weiss. Since then I have helped many people access their past life memories, both in this life time and the ones previously . I have heard stories about lifetimes that included being a phoenix,living in  other crystal like dimensions, being dogs, parrots, lions, soldiers, knights from the crusades, businessmen , merchants , artists and  trees. Each life time fills us with learning and experience that is important. 

angel talk

vermont bird house

Since my last post,  some things have been coming into clearer focus in my life. I have said for a very  long long time that we all have many gifts. Often we focus upon the gifts of abundance and health. However there are many more gifts that we can offer. For some people, they are very good listeners. Folks tell me all of the time that  people are always sharing their problems with them. Others are fantastic at numbers, they can look at numbers and it makes beautiful sense to them. I have discovered that I have a gift for talking to  my spiritual guides. I feel that I have ignored what they were saying for many years because I doubted that I could ever do this. Now, I am beginning to  trust my  gift.

a thousand irritations

It's about time you realized this!

It is a beautiful summer day in New Jersey. The humidity is still low enough to be comfortable in the 80"s. I was sitting outside in partial  sun and meditating  in my back yard.  As it is when I meditate, there are a thousand irritations. Of course, I am more keenly aware because I am not supposed to be aware of them. I am just getting settled and a fly settles on me. Then I am aware of what a very wise fly communicated to us in the book titled Animal Voices: Telepathic Communication in the Web of Life .

lower your expectations and truth telling

horse sense

I was thinking some more about yesterday's blog and I could hear in my head, none of this is easy. If it were easier, I would have already done it. True, this is so true. However, one way that I have found  that really works is to lower your expectations of other people, events and ourselves.

The time is now and the power is you

groundhog seizing the poppy flower

I have been hearing these words in my head for the past few weeks. We have waited for many different things in our lives: the stock market to improve, the seasons to change, our children to grow up, the president to change,  or  to find the love of our lives. I believe that the time has come for us to do things right now. There is no longer time to wait for things or people to somehow find us. We cannot indulge in the fantasy that things will come to us easily if we just image them. I believe  that whatever dilemma is present in your lives, it is because there is some action for you to take .It is not a random event at all.

witches, vampires and demons

green frog

I just finished listening to this fabulous book called A Discovery of Witches by Deborah E.  Harkness .A Discovery of Witches: A Novel. I picked it up in the library because I was drawn to the title. The book is filled with amazing historical information about witchcraft, alchemy, and magic. The premise is that there are four species inhabiting the planet and they include: humans, witches, demons and vampires. An interesting note is that vampire lore has only been around since the beginning of the 18th century.  I often why we are so fascinated with witches, vampires and zombies right now. As our consciousness shifts and more information rises to the surface, perhaps we are also going to understand the truth about these creatures. I have always been fascinated by witches and magic. I like learning about healing techniques that use herbal preparations and energy healing.

summer vacation in Vermont

I had the absolute good fortune to be in Woodstock , Vermont for the past week. We have wonderful friends who co own a house in this beautiful town and Pixie and I were able to come here on vacation. I have never been  here before and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The town is  very friendly to dogs and walkers. There are poop bags located all around the town, with trash receptacles right near them.The town is filled with all kinds of bridges, covered bridges for cars, walking bridges , etc. Pixie and I loved exploring all of the interesting corners of the town . It was so lovely to feel safe enough to just go off in any direction and feel that it was fine. I  often walk on the towpath along side of the  Delaware and Raritan canal, and there are times that I don"t feel safe. I truly appreciated this element of safety. While walking one day, I met a Woodstock native and she said that it was a fabulous place to bring up kids. They were able to play outside with a great deal of freedom. It was so nice to hear this.

yawning and clearing energy

goldfish

 I have always yawned  a lot in my sessions with clients. Sometimes, it is embarrassing because I cannot stop it. It seems to have very little to do with tiredness but more about being an empath. In other words, I deeply feel what people are going through when they come in to my office. Sometimes, before the person even begins to speak, I have already started yawning. I have to explain that  I am not tired and  I did have enough sleep last night. I am simply assisting you in clearing energy that has been blocked.

weather events and spiritual practice

sea scape

It has been awhile since I have written. There is so much going on in my head and in my live. It does take a while to sort things out. Sometimes, I am just  not ready to talk about what I am thinking about   for fear that it will not be understand clearly  . When I write these posts, it is definitely a combination of courage, timing, a good idea, and having the opportunity to actually write it.  I have received such lovely feedback about my posts, that I am less intimidated about my posting my deeper thoughts. Thank you readers, friends that I know  and those that I may know some day.

death benefits

orange  butterfly

I  recently co- facilitated a workshop titled" Adults in Mourning, Grieving the Death of a Parent" at  Community Care Hospice  in Somerville, NJ  My colleague and friend Angela and I  have led this group for several years and we always have wonderful folks participating. They  are very eager to  learn ways to understand the grieving process.
This year, the group was wonderful . We share stress reducing  strategies, spiritual exercises  heartfelt stories about  the deaths of loved ones, and  resources. One of the woman in the group shared a book called" Death Benefits ,How losing a Parent Can Change an Adult's life". The title is provocative and it resulted in very interesting discussions about how this can be  true. Death Benefits: How Losing a Parent Can Change an Adult's Life--For the Better.
Jeanne Safer is a psychotherapist and upon the death of her 92 year old mother, she learned some interesting things about who she was. She learned that death is painful   at whatever  age your parent dies. And there are still pathways to explore about your own life's  journey that were possibly shut down by loving our parents so much. She talks about  becoming our most authentic  selves after our parents die.

dreamsellers and revenge

peach blossoms

I am reading an interesting book calledThe Dreamseller: The Calling: by Augusto Cury. It is a new book and describes  a group of people who have lost their dreams and ,in the process of finding them, find a whole new way of living.
I like to read and especially like  to read quirky and provocative books. This is one of them. The author , Augusto Cury, is a psychiatrist, psychotherapist, scientist and bestselling author in Brazil.  Interestingly, this book is the recipient of China's 2009 Weishanu award for Best foreign novel. I am impressed with the selection committee that chose this book.

herons and our inner world

This morning I walked with my buddy Pixie and I was thinking about all kinds of things. We had recently met and talked with a number of the gardeners in the park and wondered if they would be able to stop to  say hello. I wondered if there were any friendly dogs or people that we would be meeting for the first time. I wondered if the lilac bushes were still as fragrant as yesterday. Then, I thought about previous walks and sightings of different animals and birds. It is always a blessing to see various animals and birds except for wondering how pixie will react to them. One morning, we saw a very very large snapper turtle on the tow path and we definitely kept our distance until it ambled off into the  woods. During this time of spring , there are  the momma and poppa geese that are very protective of their new babies. They squawk loudly  at us when we walk by. Sometimes, we are fortunate enough to see a blue heron. This is a wonderful sighting for me.

I really like their regal nature and their fierce independence as they live their lives. Some viewings, they have stayed within eyesight for several minutes while we watched from the shore. Sometimes, the heron follows us down the tow path lighting just ahead of us  for a mile or so. That is really a magical moment. I have not seen a heron in months, today I saw one in the park by the pond. What a lovely sight. I love painting herons and have many images of them in various forms in my work space. According to Ted Andrews in Animal Speak,  the heron "reflects the innate wisdom of being able to maneuver through life and control its circumstances" Heron energy is quite self sufficient and symbolizes the ability to make one's own choices easily and clearly and not follow the crowd. It was another good morning with Pixie.Thank you Pixie.

Not enough time!!

I keep saying that I have no time to write in this blog. I do  think about it daily and then I  don't write

blissful pixie

anything  down . I guess that I feel that I ought  to write  about something so interesting and fascinating that it will be worthwhile reading.  Sometimes, however, maybe it is the ordinary that needs to be commented upon. Almost every nice  morning this spring, I have woken up early so that I can go for a walk with my dog, Pixie. She always knows when we will go for a walk. She seems to have an  extra alertness to her and often will not eat her food if she thinks that I will walk without her.  This is not just her fear because on snowy, cold mornings or hot humid humid mornings, I do sneak out without her.

body pain and myofascial release

 ahh relaxation

 I have recently discovered a wonderful Physical Therapist  who is located In Hamilton, NJ. He uses a form of myofascial massage and gentle exercise  which is simply lovely to experience. I just came back from my second session with Kevin Koob and I already feel energized and  I am starting  to visualize a future with less body pain. This is saying a great deal. Since I had my first in a series of five car accidents when I was in my twenties and they have  left me with increasing  neck and low pain . I have sought out a variety of healers, including Rolfing, chiropractic care, acupuncture, polarity massage, etc. over many years.

this little light of mine

small penquin light !

I woke up this morning remembering a song that we would sing around the campfire at Girl Scout camp. This Little Light Of Mine. I  just remember sitting around the camp fire at Quidnunc ,NY and singing this song with my friends in the smoky air at night. I loved campfires and being outside. I think my favorite child hood memories revolve around girl scout camps. There was an amazing feeling of well being as we all sang together.
Sometimes, our world is so difficult to deal with. IT is moving so quickly and with so many things to attend to that  we forget the importance of tending to our own light and well being.

are men or women to blame for this crazy world?

Holy Max (a beautiful angelic dog)

This morning I watched a beautiful  youtube video called Dear Woman  by a group called Consciousmen.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_uRIMUBnvwThis video brought tears to my eyes. This group of eloquent men described their part in creating the current state of our world. They stated quite simply that they have witnessed and been the cause of much destruction towards women and our earth. I know in my heart that men are not the sole cause of all of the problems on earth. However, it was touching to hear each man state ownership of his feelings and the vastness of amazing connections that are possible between men and women.

Quirky

quirky turtle

Quirky- is something not normal but cool is the definition from the Urban dictionary. I have often described myself as quirky and I have been hearing more and more people describing me that way as well.
I like being  somewhat  out on the edge with everything that I do. I moved from California at the end of the 70"s because everyone was out on the edge and we were about to slide into the Pacific together!!

Indigo energy

Crystal bowl used for healing and toning

Who am I ? Sometimes, I really don't know. I know that I have certain threads of excitement in my life. I have always loved anything to do with: fairies, being out of doors, eating in healthy ways, reading historical fiction  about other cultures, focusing upon India, England, and China, alternative healing strategies, watching movies about angels that talk to us, painting animals, recycling and doing things as naturally as possible.

In my practice, I have the amazing fortune to work with teenagers and we have been talking about Indigo energy as a possible explanation  for some of the paths that they have chosen.    So,  I went  on the internet looking for information about Indigo and crystal children.

Sticks and stones can break our bones but the words can really get to us.

I recently picked out a greeting card with the following words on the front " Hear your words before you say them".  We are very used to saying things so quickly  and usually before we have thought about their impact on others. The difficulty is that once the words are heard out loud, it is really hard to take them back.
Have you written something in an email or  text  message and then realized that it could be taken wrong?
Have you ever  said something to a friend and then you don't hear from the friend again?
Do you worry that  your angry words can have a lasting impact on your children or nieces or nephews?

Probably , all of these things have happened to us at some time.

Dreams and the full moon

dream horse painting

There is a full moon coming upon March 19th.It is about 14% bigger than normal due to the moon's closer than normal proximity to the earth. With the  full moon, it is true that people are bit weirder than usual. The intense  stories  that you have heard from  people working in emergency rooms or on   24 hour hot lines are  true.    I feel that there is a thin veil between the physical  and the spiritual  worlds at the time of the full moon. In the NY times book review, there was a review of a book called  Nocturne: A Journey in Search of Moonlight by James Atlee. The author  went on a worldwide journey in  search of the  affects of moon light on our lives and he  found that in Islamic societies "The night becomes a creative space and a source of inspiration rather something to be feared, as it so often has been in Western cultures".

Tow path friendship

butterfly companion on one of our walks

 Gail Caldwell wrote an exceptional book about female friendships called "Let's Take The Long Way Home".Let's Take the Long Way Home: A Memoir of Friendship
She  intimately describes  her relationship with her close friend Caroline and their dogs. These two women, both writers and dog  lovers, share long walks, phone conversations, vacations and so much more. It is touching to read about an enduring friendship. We live  in a  time where  we are  often rewarded for giving up the fight and not persevering. While reading the book, I was very moved by the story since I have an enduring friendship in my life. My dear friend Marcie and I have been walking on the Delaware and Raritan  tow path for approximately 25 years.The D &R  canal  tow path extends from New Brunswick about 33  miles south to Stockton, NJ.

welcome visitors in my sessions

dragonfly collage

I have been having very  interesting  visitors in my healing sessions. Sometimes, we are sitting quietly and talking and all of a sudden , I feel an intensely cold feeling on the right side of my body. I will then notice whether it is my entire body or just part of it. I  will  check in with myself to see if I need to adust the thermostat or if this is a different kind of cold. Lately, it has been a different kind of cold.

what our grandmothers did not teach us, about wine and other things.

peaceful seascape

Last week , I had the grace to present at a Senior Nutrition site in Manville, NJ. It was a very good day for me to talk since I was the opener for Bingo on Wednesdays . I like doing these informal talks about a variety of topics . This is my favorite , although it is really called what our grandmothers taught us about healing. I love using common household remedies for healing. ie. fresh ginger or  fennel seeds after a big meal,  scallions and ginger at the beginning of a cold, and  aloe vera juice or lavender for burns. I know  that preventative care is amazing helpful if we can do it at the first signs of discomfort. Often we muscle through things and then we do need bigger remedies because the illnesses are more serious.

Parenting, does the worry ever end?

the night sky

We absolutely never stop parenting, do we? I remember the first time that I felt this giant child envy. A close friend was installing a car seat in her car for her soon to be  baby and I went  into utter despair. I remember feeling  that this will never happen to me. I also remember having lots of talks with Therapist friends and colleagues  about the ethics of counseling parenting when you weren't a parent. Of course, there is no clear cut answer but I did know for sure that I did not really know about the truth about parenting. I had never had the heart ache or the heart love of my  own  child. I had never gone through the night waking up every hour because they were sick and you were nervous about sleeping too deeply. I had never had to deal with a real live tantrum in a supermarket where you simply want to disappear through the meat counter and never go shopping again.