All things beautiful

my favorite movies from 2011

2012-01-16T17:52:00.002-05:00

horse dreams

Growing up in Brooklyn, my friends and I had a favorite saturday afternoon schedule. We would walk to the movie theatre on Avenue J. We would pay 50 cents and be treated to a double feature. I loved the action movies about Sinbad the Sailor. The titles were The 7th Voyage , Golden Voyage , and Eye of the Tiger. I loved being swept up by the adventures and technology of these moviesProbably, the forerunners of Star wars and Space oddyssey, 2001. Of course, my favorite treat was a frozen milky way bar on a stick. No wonder, I had so many cavities as a kid. Then we would go to the local pizza shop and pay 15 cents for a piece of pizza. We would walk home feeling very full and still replaying the afternoons adventures.

I still love movies.The following is my list of favorite movies from this past year. They are not in a special order so please find your own favorite movie and pass it on.
Hugo
The Descendants
WIn WIn
Tree of life
Midnight in Paris
We bought a Zoo
The Dolphin Tale

The movies that I still really want to see are:
The Artist
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Everything must go
TIn Tin
The War Horse

back pain and taking it easy

2012-01-11T20:17:00.001-05:00

turtle smelling flowers

My back has been very painful for the last couple of days. I tried taking a yoga class, healing meditations, additional supplements and finally a massage today. I kept waking up expectantly that the back pain would have disappeared. It has not happened. What I finally decided to do upon the advice of the massage therapist was to take it easy. Why is it so hard to take it easy?
I try to do so many things to ease the pain but the simplest of all.
I know what the problem is. Taking it easy does not come naturally.

The body does not have a default switch that automatically shifts us into relaxation, instead we have to consciously call it in. The truth is our default switches are either the fight or flight response.
Then I look over at Pixie and Roxie lounging on the floor, they seem to have the relaxation switch. So once again, they are my role models. Have a peaceful two dog night to you as well.

Maurice Sendak on life, death and children

2011-12-29T21:07:00.001-05:00

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

2011-12-21T10:12:00.004-05:00

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.
I was looking at apartments for rent with a friend of mine. The one that we found was a two room place and one of the rooms housed a box turtle. I liked the place and the turtle except that the turtle nipped at your head when you lay down to sleep. Then the turtle and I went for a walk on the beach and he acted like a dog. He was cavorting and running all over the sand and rocks. I remember thinking that turtles are quite speedy and not the slow poke that everyone thinks.
The dream reminded me of this painting that I did several years ago.In the book Medicine cards by David Carsons and Jamie Sans, they describe Turtle energy as nudging us to access our passion by moving gracefully between the physical and the spiritual worlds. This is done by being very conscious of all of our thoughts and actions in the present moment. As the sign above the exit door in my office says, BREATHE and it is easier to accomplish this.
Have a wonderful and blessed holiday season.

two dog thanksgiving

2011-11-27T12:59:00.001-05:00

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.

Actually, we have a lovely day where we get up leisurely, read or create for awhile, take a walk and then go to a new movie. This year we chose to see Hugo. It was a film about dreams, a special train station and the early days of the french cinema. It is created in 3D which can have magical effects when done properly. ie. Avatar. This movie was quite good and we felt that we were transported to a magical place for awhile.
Then we went home and enjoyed a quiet dinner with Pixie and Roxie. We had the roasted chicken and they had the raw chicken livers. It was a lovely two dog holiday. I hope that you enjoyed yours as well.

holiday specials

2011-11-25T16:05:00.001-05:00

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.

Then I had to consider that I did the same thing in my email . I feel that our habit of buying because we are expected to buy is just not working. If we truly want to walk our talk then we need to be mindful with our purchasing as well. So I will rethink my year end special email and offer it in the true context of healing in the new year. Blessings to all.

less is more

2011-11-22T19:53:00.001-05:00

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 .

However, I think that it is more than that. Last week, I was talking to my husband Nat about words vs pictures. Since he is a photographer and I am the psychotherapist, you can imagine which sides we chose. Although, he has stated very clearly for many years that we are ruled by images and we don't take the time to understand meaning of these pictures. It has taken me a very long time to really understand what he was saying. In fact, almost 30 years and it proves that we never really know everything about each other!!
However, that day, I did get it. He said that the words come from our heads and the images come from our hearts. So much of our talking is often without the emotions of the heart. If we use fewer words and more images, then the communication is apt to be filled with love and compassion. It was a very good conversation.

Boundaries

2011-11-20T21:06:00.001-05:00

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

2011-11-01T16:31:00.000-04:00

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

2011-10-31T19:56:00.000-04:00

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 .
We have had floods, tornadoes, deep freezes, massive snows, and hurricanes, especially in the past year. Then I think about all of the economic and health struggles that we face every day. My husband pays our exorbitant health insurance premiums and it is a monthly challenge. Just ask him. My private practice sessions vary from week to week as well due to the consequences of the economy, the weather and many other variables.
So what is stable from moment to moment. What is able to get us through the moments, days and weeks of uncertainty? And that would be gratitude. Gratitude shifts us from going down the rabbit hole with despair to remembering that many things are actually quite good in our lives. This dessert from 9 months ago still has my mouth watering when I think about it. The previous picture of Pixie looking so proud and strong makes me feel great. Gratitude is always available to us. If you experiment with a daily gratitude journal, try keeping it up fro one month to see if it works for you.

Zucotti Park and People's Park, times are changing

2011-10-27T16:30:00.000-04:00

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.

Right now, my heart is with everyone that is challenging the systems all over the world that are broken right now. Have I benefited from some of these broken systems over the years? Yes and it does not mean that they should not be changed . I support everyone that is challenging the system in peaceful and intentional ways. It is our job to see what is no longer working and take steps to correct it. Please take a look at the link to the statements of solidarity and the you tube video. The solidarity statement is well written, accurate and powerful. We were aware of some of these major issues in the 70' s and now forty years there are even more of them. Another major difference is that these words of change are being chanted by many , many more people with incredible age, economic and cultural diversity. Yes it is a time of big changes. How have you changed?
statement of solidarity, Zucotti park
you tube of life in Zucotti park

Pixie had a spa day

2011-10-19T22:39:00.000-04:00

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.

For example, we found a groomer that was well recommended but the dogs did not like the place. Then we found another one and we heard stories of poor treatment of the dogs. Then we found "Its a Miracle Dog Spa" in Lebanon , NJ.(It's a miracle dog spa) The staff is so kind and enthusiastic about the dog guests that our dogs love going there. They always come home happy and gorgeous!
We took Pixie there today so that she could regain some of her good looks after her surgery. She was happy to see the staff again and she came home with a beautiful Halloween scarf around her neck and very hungry for her dinner.

Courageous Pixie

2011-10-11T08:50:00.000-04:00

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.

We learned that her first two years of life were difficult for her and this has affected her health. By the time that she came to us, she was very shy, digestion was compromised and she was wary of strangers and loud noises. About four years ago, she was diagnosed with Mast Cell tumors which are common to golden retrievers. Our vet suggested that we do surgery and take off the tumor. We chose not to since sometimes this surgery exacerbates the tumors and they spread more quickly . At that time, we changed her diet to raw meat and veggies . This is a big undertaking since we had two golden retrievers, about 55 pounds each. They like to eat their two meals every single day. ALso, we tried a variety of healing herbal remedies as well which she tolerated amicably.
After I returned from Sedona on September 19th, it was clear that the tumor had grown larger. I took her into the vet and was told she needed surgery soon. We scheduled the surgery for that Friday and I cried. Then I called Whitney Taylor, the animal communicator that we work with and scheduled an appointment to talk. We weren't surprised that she already knew about the surgery and was very optimistic that things would go well. Pixie has had her surgery, she has been healing for about 12 days and is looking forward to running really fast again.

Flow and magic

2011-10-07T20:54:00.000-04:00

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.
There are so many beautiful places to walk and hike in the area. So we got used to starting a walk and then going somewhere else until it stopped raining . Often, we found that the next place was even more magical than the place where we started . We found beautiful waterfalls, flute players , rock faces, dream catchers, beautiful vistas and tasty watercress at these unexpected places. One of these places was called Grasshopper Point. We found a great hike complete with red rock water, coyote foot prints in the mud and fairies images in the trees. As the sun was setting, I received one more gift. I looked up at the mountain ridge above us and saw this dramatic face in the rocks.

Nature's gifts

2011-10-05T20:51:00.000-04:00

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.

That afternoon, we had visited a number of the designated sites on Route 89A and then it started to rain. It felt like it went from zero to sixty with the intensity of the rain, the black clouds and hailstones the size of a quarter.We were driving a rental car back to the town and the rocks were already sliding down the mountain. We drove back as quickly as we could and sat in the New Frontiers Health food store ( similar to Whole foods )while the storm passed. Soon after the rain abated, we were able to see a double rainbow. Apparently, this is one of the gifts that nature gives us after a monsoon.

wood fairies

2011-10-04T20:07:00.000-04:00

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.
It certainly seemed as though there were very visible faces in many of the trees, rocks, and mountains. It took awhile to begin seeing them and then once I did they were everywhere. In this photo, we were hiking next to a beautiful stream in Junipine and I noticed this tree. The burl of the tree was extensive and it had amazing details" . Please allow your eyes to soften and take a moment to see the fairies in this photo. It is like the kids book" Where in the world is the fairy"?

travels to sedona

2011-10-02T19:45:00.000-04:00

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.

It is funny, when I see the wall street protests, it reminds me of the many protests that took place back then and the incredible passion that was visible. The big difference now is that instead of it primarily being young protesters, it is now all ages and a diverse variety of social and cultural groups. There is still great passion and I still believe that we can create a better world together.
I found an interesting link that was written by a journalist in the U.K that you might find interesting . Views of the Wall Street protest from the other side of the pond.

Sedona was wonderful and I have lots of wonderful photographs and stories that I will share over the next few weeks. The energy was wonderful , people were gracious , food was delicious and the night times were challenging.

hummingbirds

2011-09-04T21:03:00.001-04:00

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.

There are a number of different reference books that I use including "Medicine Cards" by Sams and Carson. They suggest that the hummingbird helps us to open our hearts and to live in the present.
In "Animal Speak" by Ted Andrews , he says that hummingbirds can help us to heal by using flower essences and savoring the sweetness of life.
http://www.hummingbirdworld.com/h/totem.htmn

So the next time that you see a hummingbird ,which will hopefully be very soon, remember the sweetness that the hummingbird seeks and seek your own sweetness at that moment.

heron rookery

2011-09-01T20:19:00.000-04:00

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

2011-08-08T18:27:00.001-04:00

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.

I learned a great deal in the training and loved the eclectic mix of people in the group. There were folks from all over the world and it demonstrates the universality of the lure of hypnotic trance. I am very clear that hypnosis is just one of the ways that we can achieve the trance state. However, it is a very helpful way to break up some of the deeply rooted beliefs that we “cannot” do things differently. Ericksonian hypnotic theory believes that every behavior is currently or has been in the past an indicator of a positive intention. In other words, If you have a chronic pain in the neck, then the pain serves as a positive reminder of some intention that has been forgotten. Perhaps it can be to speak your truth, or to listen to others. It is an opportunity to look at your body pain with new eyes.

There will be more to come about hypnosis and healing in future blogs.

On a clear day, perhaps we can see forever

2011-07-29T09:08:00.001-04:00

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.

I have been really struggling to figure out how to attend a six day Ericksonian hypnosis training in Greenwich Village next week. It posed so many issues for me including: where do I stay, what do I eat, how do I manage to stay in one place for an 8 and 1/2 hour day of training , and how hot will it be etc. I was going crazy trying to figure this out during one of the busiest and hottest times in NYC. I kept coming up with obstacles . I really wanted to do the
training and I was sleepless for days trying to figure out how to do it with ease.

Then , I realized that I was swimming up river and perhaps could not do the training at all. I do lapse into thinking that everything is black or white. . Either way of thinking was not a great comfort to me. I finally called the training facilitator and there were actually options. I can actually do two days of training next week and do the following four days during the late fall. I completely missed this option on the website and drove myself crazy for weeks and weeks. All of the insurmountable options became doable and I was once again looking forward to the training. For me, the veil that I did not want to look at is how very very hard I make things for myself. I am inviting in ease and comfort into my future decision making. I really feel that things are hard enough right now without our adding to our own discomfort.

past life regression and dreams

2011-07-25T21:07:00.001-04:00

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.

Sometimes, the memory will immediately trigger a changed behavior or feeling in the present. Sometimes, it will initiate a spontaneous healing when the past event is healed and cleared. I am aware that I had a past life as a knight in the crusades. During one battle while I was in full armour, I was seriously wounded in my neck. This information was relayed to me by my chiropractor, who had just developed the spontaneous ability to see past lives in his patients.

This information was amazing on a number of levels. I have had chronic neck pain for thirty years and chiropractic manipulations have been partially successful. Also, in this life time, I have frequently lead with anger. Sometimes, it has been my first reaction to events and people . So this memory helped me to make sense of behaviors and health problems that had eluded me for years.
As I was reading Brian Weiss's book Through Time Into Healing , he talked about dream and past life regression recall content. He states that "In dreams perhaps 70% of dream content consists of symbol and metaphor , 15% actual memories and the last 15% of distortion or disguise. I have found that in past life recall, though the proportions are usually rather different. Perhaps 80% of thee past life experience will consist of actual memory , another 10 % of symbol and metaphor and the last 10% distortion and disguise".

These are amazing statments. When I work with clients they usually come out of their past life memory sessions doubting what they remembered. Perhaps it would be helpful for all of us to begin trusting our deepest memories from now on.

angel talk

2011-07-17T10:52:00.001-04:00

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.

Almost everyday, I wake up and sit with my spiral bound notebook and wait for their voices. I have no idea if it is one guide or many but I do know that I feel so much more peaceful after the communication. I was inspired to write about this after I read a personal message from Owen Waters. He writes beautifully about spiritual topics and our current state of the world .www.infinitebeing.com.
Today, he shared that he has been on a personal spiritual journey for many years and has realized that we all have the capacity to tune into our own guides and teachers. I completely believe this and I extend this out to all of us. We all have the inherent abilities to tune into master guides and teachers to help us and those that we love to become easier and more loving.
I will begin including the angel talks in my blog as is appropriate and timely. I ask that the words be received with the same kindness and grace as they are given to me. Sit and listen, you may be surprised at what you hear.

a thousand irritations

2011-07-03T13:15:00.000-04:00

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 .
An animal communicator named Morgine Jurdan heard "When you see me, you often feel repulsed and your first reaction is to kill me. I have not hurt you. I do not even sting and yet you desire to eliminate me from your presence. ....There is so much more here than meets the eye. You often do not look below the surface to find the buried treasure that might lie hidden." I think about flies differently after this message. In fact I think about the world very differently. If flies are so wise and intelligent, that means that there is so much untapped wisdom all around. What must the butterflies, the trees, the grass, and the ants be saying to us. No wonder, I get really distracted when I sit outside and try to meditate. I will try again tomorrow.

lower your expectations and truth telling

2011-06-29T09:56:00.000-04:00

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.
We are expected to have balanced lives where happiness and hard work are nicely mixed up and that rarely seems to happen. We are expected to be great parents even though we are constantly struggling with paying the bills on time, getting to work on time , keeping up with technology( which by the way is a full time job) and making sure that our children are taught about the balance of work and play as well. Then for those of us who have aging parents and family who live far away , we need to be mindful of their welfare and safety constantly .. I believe that lowering our expectations is the key.
For example, if you have a friend that is constantly disappointing you when you ask him to do something together .A couple of things may be helpful. Step back and say what is true about him right now, ie he is very involved with his own work and life, or he can say no to me but not to everyone else .Then say what is true for you, I am setting myself up by asking him over and over to do things and being rejected every time. Then you might come to, I will focus on myself and make new friends .And If he does want to do things, then he will have to step up to the plate. It is actually easier to do this than to write it up. Remember, if you have constructive questions or thoughts about any of my blogs, please feel free to contact me through my website at www.audreyoxenhorn.com.

The time is now and the power is you

2011-06-28T21:45:00.001-04:00

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.

We have been mesmerized by stories about the Secret and the power of positive thinking. It is not enough to just imagine things differently , we really need to create small noticeable changes . Is is really hard to change the big things all at once but you can begin changing things incrementally. If you are really unhappy in your job, then it is time to look clearly at what is true about your career path and ask for the changes that would make you happier . If you are repeating the same kinds of relationship errors then it is time to clean up your messes and ask for what you need. Every thing is an opportunity for shifting. The worst and the best of circumstances are perfectly orchestrated so that we can do the necessary work right now. Please believe in yourself, say what is true right now and take the first step towards change.
.

witches, vampires and demons

2011-06-26T22:56:00.000-04:00

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.

The main female character is a witch, named Diana and she struggles with owning and responsibly using her full witch power. I wonder if Diana also serves as a lesson to all of us about how important it is to come into our own unique gifts and to use them responsibly. I was talking to a friend's 20 something son today and he talked about his fears of showing who he is. He is afraid that people will not understand him but probably more afraid that he doesn't really understand himself. What great wisdom at that age. He was reading "Be Here Now" by Ram Dass Remember, Be Here Now and loving it. I remember reading it in my twenties and not really understanding it. It was such a different world back them. I am hopeful that the world has changed significantly and we can begin to show who we are without as much fear of shame or retribution.

summer vacation in Vermont

2011-06-25T14:33:00.001-04:00

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.

It is also possible to take your dog into stores since many of the stores are run by both humans and their dogs. It was awesome. There was a great bookstore called Yankee books and there were three Bernese mountain dogs resting inside.
My vacation was lovely and I am a bit apprehensive about reentry. As the french put it so well, C'est comme ca and it is what it is .Of course, I painted everyday and this is one of my watercolors. Enjoy.

yawning and clearing energy

2011-06-14T14:01:00.001-04:00

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.

Afterwards, clients always report feeling more relaxed and less anxious. Sometimes, I pick up the pain in some one's body , ie headaches or stomach aches . I have to be careful to release whatever energy I am picking up from others. In fact we all do this, we walk around like energy sponges picking up information from other people and then we find ourselves overloaded with feelings that are not our own. Have you ever walked into a crowded room and immediately sensed whether or not it is a comfortable place to be? You are picking up the energy of the room at that point. For all of you that already know that you do this, it is important to ask yourself if the feelings that you are experiencing are your own or simply absorbed from other folks. If they are absorbed, it is simple enough to imagine them returning to their original source.
Happy Yawning to you!

weather events and spiritual practice

2011-06-10T16:14:00.000-04:00

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.

As some of you may know, I practice a unique form of healing where I combine psychotherapy and energy healing . It is always my intent to help people to integrate their spiritual lives with their everyday activities. During a couple's session last night, there was a severe thunder storm happening. The sky became very very dark, the rain railed against the barn and the trees were blowing strongly. At one point, we all heard a crack . Then there was silence. At that point, I specifically asked spirit to help to guide the tree down so that it fell away from the barn where my husband and I practice. About three minutes later, there was the sound of a falling tree. A huge tree branch fell down just to the right of the barn. It would have done significant damage had it fallen on the barn. I believe that with the help of spiritual helpers, I was able to assist in the tree falling safely. As long as we believe that we can make a difference, I believe that we can really make a significant difference. There are certainly enough significant weather events to practice this idea!!

death benefits

2011-05-27T11:21:00.000-04:00

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.

This is another way of saying make lemonade if you get lemons. But I wonder if there is not deeper truth to it. In my own family, my grandmother was unable to grieve in a healthy manner after the death of her 21 year old son. And she would not allow the rest of the family to talk about his death either . Long after my grandmother's death, my mother and the rest of the family were able to grieve for our brother, uncle and cousin . The life pattern was so strong that it took many years for us to change it.
What if the deaths of our parents, can help us to notice and then expand the ways that we see our world and in the process expand our own quality of life.

dreamsellers and revenge

2011-05-12T10:03:00.000-04:00

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.

The author challenges us to look inside ourselves and discover if we have lost our passion for life along the road of acquiring material things. If we have traded our souls for being called "normal" in this world. Mr Cury talks about the importance of looking within for acknowledgement . He challenges us to think for ourselves no matter how uncomfortable it is. In one part of the book, there is a very angry , revenge seeking ex- employee of a big company. The angry man asks the Dreamseller , what do I do to get revenge? The Dreamseller states, "The greatest revenge you can take against any enemy is to forgive him. Kill him inside yourself. Take your revenge by reclaiming your peace of mind and by shining even more in your next job, Otherwise , he will haunt you for the rest of your life."
Great book and have a "revenge filled " day.

herons and our inner world

2011-05-07T07:40:00.000-04:00

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!!

2011-05-05T21:06:00.000-04:00

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.

However this morning, I told her that she could eat after we returned from our walk. We live across the street from a beautiful park and gardens . I park near the rose gardens ,tie the requisite poop bags on her leash and then we are off. During an animal communication session, Pixie told me that one of the most important parts of a walk are the smells. In fact, she told me that I walk too fast and she cannot get those really good smells. This morning, we walked past many of her smells on the trees, special shrubs,and tall grasses and then I spotted my favorite smell. I saw a beautiful purple flowered lilac bush. This brought me back to the memories of my childhood. My grandmother's tiny back yard off Avenue M in Brooklyn was filled with very old lavender bushes. The smells were so delicious.
THis morning Pixie and I both stood there and smelled the lavender. Oh what bliss for the two of us.

body pain and myofascial release

2011-04-18T13:55:00.000-04:00

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.
After doing some research, I found out that mysofascial massage is a gentle form of what we used to call Rolfing . Generally, it is the systematic release of fascia which is the soft tissue component of the connective tissue that provides support and protection for most structures in the body( wikipedia). So while Rolfing was incredibly painful, this work is very gentle. In fact Kevin seems to avoid any form of discomfort. Personally, I am so grateful for that. I have had more than my share of pain and I am looking forward to more ease and comfort in my body.
The other lovely thing is that the session consists of a massage(about 30 min.) and the learning of new exercises(about 5- 10 minutes) . I practice these exercises for 5 minutes about 3-4 times a day and that is it. Why didn't I know about Mr Koob earlier in my life. I will follow up with this post as I physically get stronger and more relaxed in my body.

this little light of mine

2011-04-18T07:57:00.000-04:00

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.
I would like to offer you an image that might help to brighten your own inner light today. Please start by being conscious of your breathing and then take a square breath. A square breath is simply imagining a square of breathing. You breathe in for the count of five, hold it for five, breathe out for five and no breath for five.Please breathe this way for 3 cycles. Then keeping your eyes closed, imagine that you are sitting near a campfire in your favorite spot in nature. You are feeling the warm glow of the fire and the comraderie of friends on your left and right. All of a sudden there is a spontaneous urge to sing "let this little light of mine shine" and any other sings that you love . You sing it with all of you heart and then you feel like you have ignited a sparkler inside of you. You feel all tingly and warm. You look up and meet everyone's gaze and you remember how good it feels to be alive.
Enjoy your day.

are men or women to blame for this crazy world?

2011-04-06T08:31:00.014-04:00

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.

What I reall dear woman you tube linky liked about the video was the variety of men, the variety of issues that were touched upon and the acknowledgement that as we heal our outer world, we heal ourselves. The opposite is also true. I look forward to witnessing men crying and laughing freely in the home and the joy of watching women showing up with kindness and clarity in the work place
It is time for our own feminine side , whether we are a man or a woman, to come out and be seen. The masculine side of all of us has been very visible for a long time. Please watch the video and possibly observe your own heart opening as you connect with what these men are saying.

Quirky

2011-03-29T12:05:00.000-04:00

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!!

I moved to NJ because I wanted to be more edgy than most of the folks that I would meet. Trust me that is exactly what happened. So I decided that I would go underground for awhile and assume the camouflage of the suburban wife and mother of two.I wore flowered dresses and bought clothes from LL bean and Lands End. IT worked in the beginning but then I started showing signs of quirkiness again. I really liked going for psychic readings and healings. I started talking with my dogs, Roxie and Pixie via animal communicators. My cover was shot when one of my clients identified that he was a lion in a past life . This was even before I learned about past life regression hypnotherapy with Dr. Brian Weiss. After that, clients were coming in with all kinds of admissions about past lives, seeing spirits, receiving message from loved ones that have passed over and talking to angels.

Then I decided that I might as well come out and really share who I am. It has been incredibly liberating and a bit scary. Recently, I have decided to do a "Mystery school" with a group of very talented Indigo women. The purpose of this year long project is to heal ourselves so that we can fully express our spiritual gifts, ie. clairvoyance, clairaudience, clairsentience.etc.I hope that this is the first of many such experiences. I would really like to do one with teenage Indigos we well. They would be awesome at this kind of learning.
We are each fully capable of healing ourselves and healing each other. This is another one of those quirky thoughts.

Indigo energy

2011-03-27T13:35:00.001-04:00

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.
I learned that the Indigo energy has began incarnating in human form for the past 100 years. As time goes by, more and more of us are being born. I was part of the hippie or flower child wave of Indigos. We did our best to Make Love and Not War happen but we also hurt ourselves and others along the way. There are so many ways that we started new paradigms of being in the world but it was so hard to hold them. Many of us succombed to the powers of alcohol, drugs, money, power and generally overindulgence. We become indulgent as parents, became followers and not leaders and settled for a less combative life style. However, here we are and the world is not peaceful or healthy and our children are very unhappy with all of it.
The next big wave of Indigos came in the late 70"s and it continued until the year 2000. There are a number of You tubes which I will link to that describe the energy very well and how it may manifest in your life. Many of you reading this blog may have had similar interests to the ones that I described in the beginning. I have known for quite awhile that I have Indigo energy and it has been helpful to understand it as a description of who I am and I do not use it as a label.
Please check out the following links. I found them to be quite helpful
.Indigo Children, Part 1
What are Indigo children part 2

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

2011-03-27T13:03:00.001-04:00

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.

For example,I have recently started a very strict gluten free diet due to various health conditions that I have been experiencing for years. People are frequently making comments that they could never do what I am doing. They question whether or not I really need to have such a strict diet. Or say don't worry it is not really that hard, there are so many gluten free products on the market. Sometimes, people invite me to eat special treats like dark chocolate, or special breads knowing that I just said that I could not.

In the beginning, I would take everything personally and think that everyone wanted to dismiss my needs. I realize that many of the responses to having a dietary restriction are in fact their own fears about what it would be like to never eat wheat bread or have their favorite cookie again. So when you find yourself making comments about other peoples food preferences, please be aware of your own food issues. It is hard enough to navigate the food world consciously, please think before you speak about what you really mean.
It is the loving and kind thing to do .For those that are gluten intolerant, please check out the following cookbook. The author is quite sympathetic to the issue and offers us delicious recipes as well.
Simply Sugar and Gluten-Free: 180 Easy and Delicious Recipes You Can Make in 20 Minutes or Less

Dreams and the full moon

2011-03-20T19:23:00.001-04:00

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".

During this time, we can access all kinds of interesting information from our dreams if we choose. Before you go to bed, focus upon the information that you would like to understand . It is important to be clear about the topic, the ease that you would like to receive it and that the information be in your highest good. For example, if I am working upon a presentation and I am at a loss for a topic. I ask that the information come is easily, clearly and tonight if it is in my highest good.
It is always helpful to have a dream journal by your bed, and a pen with a small flashlight in it. This way you can write down the dream without fully waking up. Do not wait till you have gotten out of bed and gone to the bathroom since usually the dream memory will be gone especially if you are just beginning this practice. In time, you can get so adept that you will be having conversations in your dreams about what you are seeking.

Tow path friendship

2011-03-14T13:28:00.000-04:00

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.
We originally began walking as young mothers. We had two toddlers that did not get along at all. Even at that young age, they would antagonize each other by hitting and yelling . Out of pure survival , we opted to walk by ourselves on the weekends instead of getting together as a family. This was an awesome decision.

We have walked thousands of miles during these years and seen the seasons change multiple times.We have walked in all kinds of weather although ice does slow as down as we get older. We also meet a variety of wildlife including herons, huge snapper and painted turtles, beavers, turkeys, muskrat and deer. Frequently, we choose who talks first as we begin our walk and the preference is given to one who has more urgent things to discuss. We have talked about everything from jobs and child raising to relationships and fairies. Over the years, I have had dogs that join us on our walking sojourns. Presently Pixie, my 9 year old golden retriever is our faithful companion. Some days , she will caution us to avoid walking along the tow path and we will switch to a walk somewhere else.
Because of our walks, we have had an enduring friendship that has helped us transcend personal disagreements, difficult family times, and health issues. We are blessed to have found a true friendship with each other.

welcome visitors in my sessions

2011-03-13T13:44:00.000-04:00

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.
At this point, I ask the person that I am sitting with whether they feel the chill. Often they have not been aware of the cold until I mention it and cofirm that they feel the chill as well. (Often, Spirits are felt when there is the presence of cold air. ) At that point, I strive to get past my critical mind and ask if we have a spirit visitor. If the answer is yes, I will struggle to suspend my disbelief again and open up to the possibilities. Often the visitor is a parent that has died and wishes to share messages of love and forgiveness. These sessions are quite poignant and deeply healing . The healing is really for all of us. We are gently reassured that we are not alone and that that death is not an ending. This is an area of healing that is very dear to my heart and I will talk about spiritual healing more in future posts.

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

2011-03-08T17:48:00.000-05:00

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.

A very fit looking woman came up to me, after the presentation today. She asked me if I could guess what her secret for good health was. She quickly told me that she was 92 years of age and had been drinking 1/2 glass of red wine for many of those years. One of the other participants asked if she drank Manischevitz and she said oh no, a good Merlot works very well for me!

Parenting, does the worry ever end?

2011-03-08T17:35:00.000-05:00

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.

Now we have two grown children and we are still worried about their safety and health. Our youngest daughter had a serious throat infection and high fever over the weekend. We had to go to the medical emergency center late last night and I was really worried about her. . Now, I can trust a little more that things will be all right . I know that my mother at 86 still gets a catch in her voice when I tell her that I have been ill. Parenting has both a light and shadow side to it. As parents, we prefer the light and the joy but the shadow brings us together more powerfully.

Badger energy continues

2011-03-02T11:49:00.000-05:00

I have noticed that the badger totem has been a useful symbol for me to use this week. Both in my practice and in my personal life, we are being called upon to face the messes that we have created. We go day to day and take care of things that are needed but forget the deeper issues. It is easier to just wake up , go to work, eat , go on the computer, watch TV , sleep and then begin the schedule all over again.

turtle using charcoal created Sept, 2010

Sometimes, we wait for good things to come in by phone, or email , or text but it seems that we have to take action for things to happen these days. If we want to stop drinking so much then we need to stop buying alcohol, if we want to eat better than we need to buy more fruits and vegetables. We have passed the time for procrastination and wishing things would get better. I received an email from my sister in law, Judy the other day. She is creating an allies list of family and friends to inspire more focused community activism. I applaud her for taking a stand. ALso, I know someone that does not have a living will and will be calling a lawyer in the next few days to set one up. What is it that you need to do today?

I dreamed of Badger

2011-02-27T14:17:00.000-05:00

Often times, when I am percolating new ideas, I do not sleep very well. The nights are long and I can't wait to start moving around in the morning. This was the case about two nights ago when I dreamt about a badger. I had started thinking about a new way for my healing work to proceed. I have been fantasizing about holding a Mystery school in the barn. A mystery school is ,succinctly put, a school for "soul work". It is funny since I went to school for social work . Maybe it is the precursor for some of us to get more involved in our own personal journey. The night that I decided to do this different form of work. When I dreamt of a badger. I was sitting in my chair and I looking out the window at a badger. He was quite friendly and he was smiling in at me. It was lovely exchange. I thought about being afraid but then let it go. The next day, I went on the internet and found out very interesting information about the badger.

"Those who choose to work with Badger when he/she appears will find that they have less time for those things and activities that may have been nice on the scenic route yet now they find they really want to get the energy moving on goals and projects that have great long term value ". This is excerpted from the Morningstar medicine website link listed .http://morningstar.netfirms.com/badger.html
We can call upon badger energy to recharge our own businesses and to get serious about leaving the legacy that we wish to leave to the next generations. Badger energy is relentless in digging to unearth the truth about all kinds of things.

Yes I feel like the badger is an excellent teacher for going ahead with my plans. I will talk more about the Mystery school idea in a future post.

Mind, Body and Spirit

2011-02-21T12:17:00.000-05:00

Animal Voices: Telepathic Communication in the Web of Life

I have talked about mind, body and spirit integration for so many years now that it has become a cliche and no one really thinks about it very much anymore. However It still remains a wonderful metaphor for healing ourselves. If we do not actively acknowledge all three parts of us, then we only partially heal. We all have comfort zones which are places that are easy to talk about. I love to explore my mind and I am not as interested in exploring the physical sensations of a ride on a zip line in Costa Rica. Other people love to be in the spiritual zone and they forget to take care of daily challenges, like paying bills and mowing the lawn.

Animals seems to be able to be in all three aspects more easily. They live life in the moment and are very aware if there is enough food, warm shelter and love in their lives. For additional insight about the way the different species of animals think, please read the book "Animal Voices". And if you would like additional insight about how to heal yourselves, please call for an appointment to visit me in the Pear Tree Barn. I have a sliding scale and flexible times for sessions.
www.www.audreyoxenhorn.com

troubled teenagers

2011-02-21T11:53:00.000-05:00

Pixie relaxing in her Subaru cave

I have had the good fortune to work with many teenagers who have struggled to join our world. They do not fit into the school system either in their classes, with peers or family. Everyday, they wake up and struggle to find meaning in their lives. When they cannot find authentic connections , they quickly turn to alcohol ,drugs, sex and anger. From this vantage, they have sufficiently isolated themselves from any feeling and often pose a threat to self and others. As adults we become afraid of them and then it really turns into a mess.They know we are afraid and then everyone becomes terrified.

When we do not show fear but genuine interest, they are willing to begin the journey to meet us part way. I have found that many of these teens are quite spiritual and interested in everything that relates to nature and spirit. They often see spirits, healing colors and talk to their animals. I allow and encourage these conversations so that they can express their true natures. What they hate is when we deny our own true natures and pretend to be what we are not . So I urge everyone that has teenagers in their lives to begin talking from the heart about the passions in their lives. Things may change dramatically and quickly.

The following link is from a friend of mine, Kat Katsanis, an intuitive healer. She wrote an excellent article on being Indigo in this world titled, "Ferocious Grace".
"Since the 1990s, a new "famous" has emerged. This famous isn't associated with
magazines or record labels; it is derived, rather, from a widely recognized trait. The
famed, winning quality is spiritual intelligence. The "Indigo Children," who have been
dubbed so by pioneering metaphysical authors including Neale Donald Walsch and
Dr. Doreen Virtue, are an exceptional generation. One might term them a "vibrational
generation." Yet, what exactly, is a "vibrational generation?" And what are the
implications of having a leading-edge "vibrational generation" come into adulthood?"

For the rest of the article please click on the following link:

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=449742441227&id=840162

Scrabble Ladies and Friday nights

2011-02-14T11:42:00.000-05:00

Fairies and butterflies at home

This past Friday, I played Scrabble™ with a group of eight women. We all sat around a large wooden dining room table in an 18th century farm house and played three games. Some of these women have been playing since 1998 on a biweekly basis. I have been part of this wonderful group of Scrabble™ players for the past several years. We all live in the same village and share a passion for Scrabble™. Of course, we have our own rules for the game, which include: using cheat sheets with two and three letter words, helping each other by giving clues for extending words already on the board and generally cheering each other on. The location of the Scrabble™ meetings changes each time as we rotate through our homes. We generally serve food and a variety of drinks, including wine if it has been a particularly long week.

When we played a few nights ago, we were so happy to be together! It had been several weeks since the last game because of a long series of snowstorms and icy driveway problems. After playing three games of Scrabble™, we just sat and talked about things like vacations, seeing spirit orbs in old farmhouses, new movies and some local news. I really admire our group because there is absolutely no gossip. We never talk about anyone who is not present at the meeting unless they are ill and in need of support. My house is next and I am looking forward to it already!
Here’s a link to a free word game very similar to Scrabble™ that I’ve been playing a lot with my mom and some friends online and it has REALLY improved my game on Friday nights! You can set up your own games here if you don’t have the good fortune to have your own Scrabble™ Ladies group in your hometown.
http://www.lexulous.com/
.

yoga classes, flexibility and icy driveways

2011-02-08T14:58:00.000-05:00

Due to the accumulation of ice and snow recently, our driveway has been a sheet of ice. Getting older, there are definitely more fears about slipping and sliding on it. Currently, taking down the garbage is one of those monumental tasks. I realize that I need to continue to be flexible and strong as I age. So I am always on the look out for ways to exercise in the winter. I have tried many different yoga classes and most leave me with serious neck pain . I have to admit I am competitive and I wish to do the postures better than the person next to me. Also, many classes are in themselves very competitive and strenuous.

Recently, I found a yoga dvd that I find to be very helpful, Yoga for Stress Relief (With The Dalai Lama). The format is well organized and it includes several different workouts ,ie. for beginning and ending your day, increasing back mobility, and decreasing insomnia. I have been using the exercises daily for the past 10 days and I have found them to be enjoyable and helpful. Plus, the DVD is shot in Antigua on a gorgeous white sands beach and I imagine what it would be like to be in all of that beauty right about now ....

Goat's cheese and English food

2011-02-07T12:36:00.000-05:00

Goat’s cheese and English food.

Did you know that they refer to goat cheese as Goat’s cheese? The English feel that it is disrespectful to the goat and the English language to call it goat cheese. However one calls this cheese, I do love it. At my daughter’s wedding, they used goat’s cream to make the cream sauce for the chicken entrée as well as a whipped cream for the dessert. The taste was fabulous.

I discovered that many of the restaurants that we went to in England were really very helpful when I disclosed that I had difficulty eating certain foods. I stay away from wheat, corn, oats, tomatoes, white potatoes and sugar. I have self diagnosed these food allergies and I feel much better when I don’t eat them. However, it can make eating out a food nightmare in many of the local restaurants here in NJ. In England, in the five or six restaurants that we did eat at, the server or chef was knowledgeable and available to talk about the ingredients and guided me towards safer menu choices . My favorite was the dessert after the wedding breakfast (that’s what they call the dinner after the ceremony, it’s the first meal the couple has together). It was strawberry puree with whole strawberry pieces, topped with whipped goat’s cream and caramelized maple syrup served in a martini glass. Yum, Yum.

meditation and things that we hate about ourselves

2011-02-02T14:33:00.000-05:00

Everyone is complaining about the relentless snow and ice this winter, including me. It feels like we are asked to hibernate like the bears but we still need to work and do our take care of daily life. How can we make the best use of this time . Probably not by blaming the snow and ice Gods, or weather .com or even global warming. Since hibernation is a slowing down of body function perhaps this is a time to slow down our thoughts and develop some compassion for ourselves and others. While watching a video of the Dalai Lama, last night, he talked about how easy it is to be compassionate for lovely people and events and how hard it is to be compassionate for what we hate about ourselves and others. In the following link, he talks about the use of meditation to train our minds so that we can feel grace even towards things that we hate.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFY4KgOAwzs&feature=related

The storm is starting to dissipate outside, my driveway looks like a gigantic slush runway and the sun is coming out. What we know is that the winter will last for about 6-8 more weeks with ample opportunities to practice compassion towards these difficult weather events.

mental photographs

2011-02-01T20:34:00.000-05:00

We just returned from England and our daughter's wedding. It was an amazing time. As you can imagine traveling in the middle of winter has serious challenges. Before I left, I remembered saying that I wanted to recall everything from the trip and create many special memories. I was able to do that by really focusing upon moments in time and taking a mental snapshot of it. Just like photographs , we can take a moment like the one below, we can mentally freeze the image in our minds. The first time I thought about this was with my friend and art teacher Liz Adams. This was a few years ago and she had graciously agreed to see some of my art work while we had a picnic lunch in Princeton. During the lunch, she said that this was a special time and she wanted to remember it always. By focusing on the moment it seems to slow time down, set the intention and bring it vividly into recall. So here it is several years later and I can clearly remember that lunch. I have practiced this mental photography many times since and used it again for the wedding festivities. Try it, it works very well.

my daughter's wedding

2011-01-25T00:46:00.000-05:00

We are five days away from the big day, my daughter and her fiancee will be getting married in England. I have been experiencing so many feelings about this event. There are memories that keep flooding in about Meredith. I am remembering the day that she was born. I had gone through four days of really hard labor, several trips to the hospital and finally a c section on the fourth day at 5:30PM. I was so exhausted and so happy at her birth. I feel like I have never stopped having these contradictory feelings. I would feel such intense pleasures and tears at her accomplishments and life lessons. And here she is ready to go off and have her own life adventures with her chosen love, Jonny. I have always used Kahlil Gibran's poem on Parenting to guide my way as a parent . It is never more true than now.

"Your children are not your children,
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you."

For the entire poem, please go to the following link.
http://agutie.homestead.com/files/children_1.html

Depression and spirituality

2011-01-18T00:29:00.000-05:00

I remember being a teenager and going through the serious illness and finally the death of my father. After he died, it seems as though all of the happiness in the world died as well. I remember feeling very disconnected from everything.

Then in my twenties, there were a number of deaths in my family and again I felt those same depressive feelings. This seemed to be a repetitive pattern over and over again throughout my life . At some point, I figured out that meditating, praying, practicing yoga,talking to good friends and/ or sitting quietly under a tree would help the feelings of peace and hopefulness to return.
So I am wondering if one of the best kept secrets in healing from depression is remembering that we are spiritual beings. Have a great day.

animal communication

2011-01-16T20:07:00.000-05:00

In previous posts, I talked about the value that my family places on communicating with our dogs, Pixie and Roxie. Sometimes, we do it spontaneously when we know that they are hungry or want to go for a walk or just need a grooming. When we need more specific information, than I usually call Whitney to ask my questions. I have found out that they do not like to talk to just any communicator. Like humans, they trust some people and not others. I have had one trusted and competent animal communicator quote our dogs as saying " We are busy playing and do not wish to talk right now". She tried four times and then gave up. While with others, they are very communicative except if it is dinner time.

Yesterday, I picked up a book called " Animal Voices" by Dawn Baumann. She writes beautifully about animal intelligence and consciousness and its enormous potential for healing ourselves and our planet. In the text, the author quotes Trapper, who is part Siberian Husky and part Wolf ,saying that
"Companion animals are a conduit, like a channel from God or All That Is to people through which unconditional love, enjoyment of the present moment, joy and enthusiasm flow".
I don't think that Pixie or Roxie could have said it better.

Sweetness of life

2011-01-16T19:03:00.000-05:00

For two nights in a row, I have dreamt about yellow jacket bees. One night the bees bit my fingers and would not let go. The next night, I used a bug spray to get rid of hundreds of bees in my Grandmothers kitchen. Needless to say, I don I like them very much. However, I believe very strongly that dreams have important meanings for us.

I love my dreams. I like writing them down,, figuring out the meanings and then talking about them.When I lived in Berkeley, Ca in the 70's . I had a wonderful friend, named Judith, who was also a dreamer. We would talk daily about our dreams and their possible meanings. I really do not like most bees and they make me a bit skittish. However, I looked up the meaning of bees in the Ted Andrew's book called Animal Talk. He says that bees help us to remember that there is sweetness in everyday life. All bees are actually honey bees and their legs sense whether there is honey in the flower. So my message is to look for sweetness all in all events. I just broke my second tooth in two weeks, this will be a challenge to find the sweetness in the dental work but therein lies the challenge.

Heightened sensitivities and 2011

2011-01-14T13:53:00.000-05:00

2011 has brought in lots of gifts and challenges . I know that I am stating the obvious but sometimes we need a bit of a poke to realize that.There are so many people talking about heightened sensitivities to smells, dreams, spirits, feelings, visions etc. These awarenesses can often feel more like an annoyance than a gift. I talked to someone today, who was very unhappy with her ability to smell everything so clearly, from flowers to garbage. She stated that she had smells that connected her to family members that had passed on many years ago. I looked up the meaning of unusual ability and it " is known as the gift of clairalience, or as ‘clairolfaction’ or ‘clairescence’. These interchangeable terms all mean the same thing, namely ‘clear smelling’." This perosn was not picking up a real odor but rather a communication from another dimension, place or time.
She and I talked about noticing the connections and spending time through meditation or quiet sitting focusing upon possible meanings. For this person, the smell was associated with her Grandmother and she realized that she had never said good bye to her. This awareness brought her peace and a focus for using her gifts. Like the turtle , we need to smell the flowers while looking upward for meaning.

2011-01-09T22:06:00.000-05:00

These are my two nine year old golden retrievers , Roxie and pixie (left to right) Roxie was from a breeder and she was a very active puppy. In fact she was so active and so lonely as an only dog, we had to bring in another dog. We went through a golden retriever rescue org. in Pa. They have been best friends for seven years except for the food fights that they have.
Pixie has a fairly large mast cell tumor and she is really slowing down. It is hard to see and often wonder what they are thinking about. I do have an animal communicator, named Whitney Taylor, that I will talk to every three months or so. I have gotten some great perspectives on my dogs. I definitely get that they are very sensitive beings and often are much more aware of what is going on around them than the non dogs around them. In the past, they have thanked us for paying the mortgage so that they could play in a big yard. They have also alerted us when one of us is sick and may need medical care. And they have told us about their own aches and pains but usually they are just happy to talk and make us laugh.

Snowy Saturday and fairies

2011-01-08T14:33:00.000-05:00

Fairy Tale by Signe Pike

Last May, I was visiting Omega for a week long class that I talked about in an earlier post. I love walking around the campus at night and enjoying the beautiful landscaping, the lake front and the night sky. It happened that one of the nights that I was there, there was a full moon. So instead of attending a program on classical Indian music, I decided to walk to the lake. True confession is that I have been asking to see fairies for a very long time and I am always on the look out for them . It is known that there are special places that fairies tend to hang out more frequently, ie. by shore lines, in deep woods and in and by trees. I took several photos of the moon light in the lake and noticed a rather large reflection of the moon in my camera. After I got back to my cabin, I realized that it was a fairy orb. You can make out the outline of a fairy inside the large orb. I was thrilled. So when I found the book, The Fairy Tale by Signe Pike, I was immediately attracted to her journey. She takes three months and follows the recommendations of the book "The Travellers Guide to Fairy Sites" written in 2004. It is a lovely dream that she made come true and then wrote about it. Maybe someday soon.......

finally, I found my blog again!

2011-01-07T18:00:00.000-05:00

I hate to admit this but I have a hard time finding my blog at times. Sometimes, I feel like there is a black hole on the internet and I simply lose things. Since, I have an hard enough time with technology, I just don't deal with it. As you can see I have ignored the blog writing since May and the groundhog eating the poppy event.
That was spring, and here it is winter. It is snowy and cold and the groundhog has been sleeping underground for quite awhile.
I have made myself a promise that I will blog daily so that I can overcome my fear of blogging. What do I fear? Well I fear talking about myself out loud. I fear that I do not have enough to say although that is truthfully ridiculous. I have a lot to say when I am interested. I have a fear that I will talk about crazy things that no one else is interested in. But that also has not been proven true yet.
So I will push through my fears and beginning writing. Tomorrow, I will talk about a new book that I was given by my Friend Jane, called Faery Tale by Signe Pike. It is delightful and chronicles one woman's search for magic and fairies. I dream about making a similar journey to fairy land.

My mother

2010-05-31T08:29:00.000-04:00

I recently attended a week long workshop entitled," This Beautiful Wound" presented by Mirabai Starr at Omega, in Rhinebeck ,NY. The workshop description stated that grief and loss can be a spiritual blessings and a loving way to know God. Mirabai has herself known exquisite loss and created a sanctuary for eight women to heal and sit with very deep grief. I learned so many things about death , loss , courage , tears and transformation during that week.
Although, I have grieved my entire life, I don't think that I really understood it until now.
I began grieving the year before I was born since my Mother lost her only brother in a training mission during that time. Bobby was 21 and always wanted to be a pilot. During WWII, he was training as a bombadier navigator on a flight that left North Carolina and headed to the Bahamas. He never made it and the plane went down in the Bermuda triangle. My mother was devastated by this loss and lived with parents who would not then nor ever speak about his tragic death.
She has four children, three marriages, plays fabulous piano music, plays tennis three times a week, swims in the lake 2 miles at a time. She has lots of friends and is socially active, believing in justice and equality at all levels. She has always been open minded about all kinds of life styles and has never shown prejudice to my knowledge.
With all of this, she has lived with heart breaking depression through out her life. Pema Chodren says that the most courageous person is the person with the most fears. My mother has so many fears and she keeps living everyday . It is often very hard to see our mothers clearly. We usually think that they are so much better or worse than they really are. With this workshop, maturity and my own compassion, I can see my Mom as a tremendously courageous woman who always wanted to do the right thing but often could not. My mother is 84 and I honor her life and the sacrifices that she has made to love and keep my siblings and myself safe.
I love you Mom.

meditations on spring

2010-03-10T16:58:00.000-05:00

I am sitting ,like many others, in great anticipation of spring. I am so looking forward to our world warming up and seeing the changes that transform our corner of the world. IT is beautiful in New Jersey in the spring. We go through so many layers of change, We begin with the crocuses and snow drops that break through the chilled earth. Then we see the daffodils in so hues of yellows and whites. As I walk along the D & R canal, I start seeing the turtles coming out on warm days. They quit their hibernation and seek the sun on rocks and branches in the water. I love seeing them come out of the murky depths and begin to dry out .
So this year, a lovely meditation would be to notice the changes that you have made since last year as you are noticing the changes in nature around you. The changes could be seen , both internalyl and externally, ie changing jobs , relationships, eating habits, kinder conversations with health insurance representatives and politicians , and kinder conversations with yourself about your own progress. Truthfully, I am proud that I am kinder to health insurance representatives even thought it is really really hard to do.

Enjoy the first breaths of spring and new life. We will never see this spring again!

Beginnings of my call to healing

2010-03-03T11:41:00.000-05:00

As the oldest child in the family, ,my mother would ask me to tell her what I thought about different things. I felt very grown up and wise that she asked me for my opinions . I would consider them carefully and then offer her what I felt to be true. As is often the case, she did not listen to me but it started the process of offering counsel.
Friends continued to do that with me as well and often I would get into trouble because they did not want to hear what I offered. We almost never do when we ask for help.
When I was in school in the 60's, there were very few career opportunities open to women so I picked elementary education and psychology. Truthfully, I was not very good at teaching and gave that up after a couple of tries. Then, I had a significant life event happen. I was living in Berkeley, California and started taking classes in all kinds of healing modalities. In the seventies, the really interesting class notices were stapled on telephone poles. I loved these classes in yoga, transcendental meditation, jin shin jytsu and polarity therapy.One day, I took an evening class in polarity therapy,which was a form of healing using proper diet and breathing, and specific sequences of acupressure points. I came out of the workshop and said," I did not know that you could turn physical pain into pleasure". I was 28 and it was the first time in my life that I understood that we could heal ourselves. It was an awesome revelation and I began my journey as a healer!!
PS This is a photograph of a tree on a lake at Omega Institute, Rhinebeck, NY. If you look really closely you will see fairies in the tree. I truly feel like the angels and fairies help me to do my healing work and I have the utmost gratitude for them.

disabilities and abilities

2010-02-23T12:59:00.000-05:00

This is an awesome video about a young man, named Patrick Huges, who is blind and unable to walk. When Patrick was asked if he has disabilities, he stated that he only has abilities. He plays piano as if conducted by the angels. What a profound statement. It makes me want to rethink all of my weaknesses as strengths. Perhaps, if I can give my weaknesses a different spin thanI will also be closer to the angels.
As a healer, many times by the end of the day, I am aware of a great deal of physical pain in my body. I feel that I absorb other people's pain. Often it show up in my shoulders, back and legs . I have always had some level of pain in my body. Perhaps, I can see it as an ability to really connect with people and let myself hear the angels talk to me through the process. I would like to do as Mr. Hughes does and see my abilities a little bit differently.
I cannot upload the video but I can tell you to go to you tube and search for Patrick Henry Hughes , a father's love for his son. Sorry about that. Perhaps next time I will have the ability!!

Temple Grandin, an exceptional movie

2010-02-14T15:14:00.000-05:00

Temple Grandin was born in 1947 and by the age of 4 had been diagnosed with the label of Autism. This movie is an absolute testimony to the brave soul that has frontiered what it is like to live with autism. In the movie the them is constantly repeated that to be different is not less and that all kinds of door are opening for all of us. The message was awesome and Clare Danes protrayed Temple Grandin in an increditbly authentic and heart felt way.
Gorgeous movie and gorgeous message. This new movie was recently viewed on HBO and I imagine is also available from other sources, ie. Netflix and Blockbuster.
The movie allows us to experience the world in an autistic way. Trust me, afterwards when I was in Barnes and Noble in the Marketfair Mall, I was almost undone by the amount of sounds, smells, traffic, and general chaos that we all take for granted. Be prepared to cry with tears of joy,

Snow day

2010-02-10T17:45:00.000-05:00

Snow days remind us to slow down. We have had two no doubt about the fact that they are snow days in the past week . When it snows like this it feels like we are in an altered state. Just when we start to gear back up to our normal high level of activity we are again reminded to slow down.This is a good day to remember how much we take for granted . The ease of travel on the roads, the ease of finding really edible and delicious food, the ease of finding a good price on clothing that we like to wear, the ease of being close to friends and family. I like being reminded that we need to take time for being grateful for these things and so much more.
I played in the snow with my dogs, Roxie and pixie. It was so much fun to see them moving through the snow like bunnies so that they could clear the snow drifts. We have not had a white deep snow like this in a very long time. Enjoy the silence and the stillness. We all could use it.

New website is going up!

2010-01-01T17:22:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year to you
My blog will now be connected to my website at www.audreyoxenhorn.com. It is the same address just a very new look. This has been quite a process and definitely one of showing more of who I am. My practice has changed greatly in the past year and it is time to show it more publicly.
I believe that 2010 will be a time of great change. When we look at this past year, pretty much everyone and everything has undergone massive changes. Do you like what you have become? Do you need to tweak things so that you are happier? Now is the time to be more of who you want to be.

The heron goes resolutely about his task of knowing himself and making the needed changes to shift into joy. This watercolor was done on Yupo paper. It is a plastic water color paper that is really wonderful to use.

Past life as a fairy

2009-07-07T21:31:00.000-04:00

This is not an easy post to write.When someone asks me what were you in a a past life, I respond I remembered being a fairy.I get many different reactions to this response and I loved the experience. While doing a Past life regression, people receive the information in many different ways, ie seeing images, hearing words, feeling the emotions. For me, I see and hear words in my mind and it is not as easy to see the images. So when I dream, I dream in words. This is a bit unusual I know and it is very comforting for me. So I remembered the feelings and thoughts from the fairy life time more than seeing myself in tiny shoes and wings.

I remembered feeling very happy living to be with other elementals and feeling at peace. There was a great sense of contentment among all of us. In terms of the relationships with humans, that was a more complicated story. I was aware of difficulty with honesty and respect. The humans were very disrespectful and dishonest in dealing with us. I remember feeling so very sad and bereft at this discord.

After this past life memory, many things made more sense to me. I have always loved fairies. I used to tell wonderful made up fairy stories to my daughters when they were little. I love painting fairies and have many books about them. So for me, it was a wonderful experience that linked parts of me together in a magical way.

Comforts of remembering past lives

2009-07-07T20:25:00.000-04:00

I took the Past life regression hypnotherapy week long workshop with Dr. Brian Weiss over ten months ago now. In retrospect, I am so glad that I did the class. the knowledge and skills have been invaluable. I love offering the possibility of doing a regression with clients and friends. Personally, it has brought me great joy to know that I have lived before and will live again. It is very reassuring to know that there is a very big picture that we can draw from and not be limited to the vagaries of this life time. Sometimes, I think about very powerful friendships that have sustained me over the course of many years and know that they began in other times. I have a dear friend Andrea and from the beginning of our friendship, about 22 years ago, she has referred to me as her angel. We have had a bumpy friendship at times but it has always been guided by the deep connections that we have. Somehow, when we know that there are soul whisperings going on, we are kinder and more thoughtful in our relationships.

Sometimes, I hear parents talk about their children's memories of past lives. Mom, remember when I had another brother or remember when we lived in the read house. This is also comforting, for many reasons. This is clear evidence that you and your children have past live connections. The children are aware of their own soul work and can often work on some deep issues very early in their lives. A great book to guide parents is Carol Bowman's," Children and Past Lives". It is all information and sometimes Past life knowing can unlock doors that would have remained shut for a very very long time. Next time I will talk about my own remembering.

Spring and new thoughts of gratitude

2009-03-21T11:28:00.000-04:00

Spring and my birthday come at the same time. There is usually some kind of rebirth ritual that I witness in my self. Some years, I have a physical event, such as a fall or an illness. This year it feels like an emotional/spiritual awakening.

I had a dream on the eve of the spring equinox that seemed to epitomize the event. I was pausing before a very old house which seemed to have very wide doors and windows, in some disrepair. As I was stepping into the doorway, a woman appeared. I asked if I might enter and she said yes. She also said that I would need to meet the horses that live here. I was a bit nervous but I said yes that I would do that.

Upon entering, I saw several horses coming to greet me. My eyes settled upon a short gray horse, not young at all. He looked at me and asked if he might give me an head massage. I immediately answered yes if he would be gentle. With his eyes, he assured me that he would. I stepped towards him and turned my back so that my head was near his mouth. He gently bit the four corners of the back of my head. As he touched the last corner, I remembered a physical pain that I had felt during on of my psychotherapy sessions. Then he gently lifted my head up and I was done.
I remember feeling gifted ,peaceful and grateful.
I have had a long standing fear of the power of horses which began when I was a little girl. As an adult, I know why it all happened and it was time to let it go. The horse bite imbued me with the courage to enter the sacred kingdom of free spiritedness. I have been looking for this place for many years and the gray horse allowed me to enter. Thank you!

past life regression

2008-09-02T13:32:00.000-04:00

Past life regression
Do you think about past lives and how they are affecting you in the present. I believe that they can and do affect us profoundly. I have read Many Lives, Many Masters by Dr. Brian Weiss. He has helped so many people. He has helped them to recall past life memories by using hypno- therapy.
What a great way to help folks to feel better.