Sacred Forest in Kauai

Visited Kauai again this November. Got to go with Ann and Nicolette. Found a hidden forest believed to be sacred by Hindus. Met some people from India there who explained that the seeds from these trees helped the heart be strong. I brought a few back with me. The getaway renewed me and fortified my spirit for the darker season ahead. I wish you a little brightness and a strong heart during this season.

I've been inspired by Staci and Miriam to get my blog going. I am getting better at keeping my posts updated to keep my peeps updated on my life. Check it out if you want: http://www.awondering-zozo.blogspot.com/ I would love to see other's blogs if you have one!

The Southwest

Since I first came to this country, there has been one trip I always knew I wanted to take before I left. Finally, 13 years later, I did it! We went on a road trip from Seattle to Las Vegas. No, the point of the trip wasn't Vegas at all. I'm not into gambling, though I'd love to see many of the shows that play there regularly. Vegas was just where we hopped on a plane to fly back home.

The real trip was through the National Parks in Utah and Northern Arizona: Arches, Canyonlands, Bryce Canyon, Zion, and Grand Canyon. We also added Monument Valley and Antelope Canyon to the mix.



The trip was indescribable. It started off with my two boys dropping me off for a 3-day solitary retreat in Breitenbush, one of my favorite places in the world, and definitely the best Hot Spring Resort ever. Imagine, 3 days of silence and nothing to do except read and rest, while they camped 10 miles down the road. That was the best birthday gift I've ever received!


Then we got on the road and started our camping adventure. Two amazing weeks in which I saw some of the most amazing sunrises in my life, hiked through some of the most incredible landscapes I have ever seen, and felt more at peace than I have felt in a long long time. It was the best trip of my life!


If any of you would like to see more pictures, just go check out my National Parks Flickr page. I hope you enjoy it.

love

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/10/mental-health-2.html

Enjoy!

Birthday fun!

Al and I visited Oahu last month to celebrate Mom's 80th Birthday. My sisters and I put together a surprise BD dinner for her, relatives and friends were there. She was quite tickled!

This picture was taken a few days later on her real BD, that's mom, my sister Lii and my niece Taylor and yummy chocolate chiffon cake (no frosting, what's up with that?)

The vacation was so relaxing, I walked for an hour every morning before it got hot and listened to the birds, looked at all the flowers, and counted geckoes. Al and I even went to the beach a couple times which doesn't usually happen. Must be growing up a little; time there can be about us as well as Family!! How To: Break out of the Family Orbit w/o Major Emotional Trauma. :)

Mom will visit WA in a couple weeks, I'm trying to get her to come to Doe Bay for a couple days. She just smiles funny and says no.

WHERE IS EVERYONE?????

IS ANYONE OUT THERE? I MISS THE POSTS!

CHECK IT OUT!!

Aloha all,
Check out our website...how fun is this? www.scandinavianshaveice.com
We just had our 1-year anniversary on April 1st. We are in the beginning stages of franchising to the mainland... starting in about a month and a half. WOW...things are moving quickly. I am totally designing a new prototype store, which is a blast I might add. Sketching and playing with designs is not something I have ever really done. I can barely draw a stick figure but I seem to be managing! We will be advertising to sell in about 6 states starting the end of May....Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico....for now!!
Anyway, I wanted to share some excitement in my life. I hope all you are well and healthy.

Make it an exceptional day,

Melissa

Does the chair really make you ready?

Hello, fine women.

So, the post title -- I recently came across an old journal entry in which I'd quoted a LIOSian therapist who told me that being a therapist is like getting married: marriage prepares you for marriage and sitting in the (therapist's) chair prepares you for sitting in the chair.

Approaching 2-1/2 years of remission (April 5), with some sense of interior and exterior stability, I am, once again, feeling some excitement and curiosity about committing to this work. Something is inching me closer, beckoning me to take baby steps. I found an office, am working on a business plan, and am brainstorming about language for a possible web site. For the past few months I've been leading some lovely writing groups, which has been a great way to get my feet wet again, helping people access and play with their creativity in gentle, structured ways.

So...I'd love to hear from any of you about what it's like to see clients -- anything you want to tell me about getting your practice going, anything you'd do differently, what you love, what challenges you, how you have been able to discern and articulate your particular offering. How has sitting in the chair prepared you for sitting in the chair? Oh, and this applies to you CCO folks, too!

Stories, please! I love stories!

I'd be happy to read your stories on this blog or in e-mail (heidi_stahl@hotmail.com), or if you're closer than the snowy wilds of Alaska or the sultry wilds of Hawaii, we could chat over some kind of sustenance. Or you can call me if you want to tell me your story but writing feels like a drag, call me: 425-882-0569.

Thanks in advance for your tales of work and exploration.

With love,
Heidi

About blogs and life

Hi beautiful ladies:

As the title may suggest, I have been spending much time lately diving deep into the world of blogs. It's a whole universe out there! You can tell I have quite a bit of free time on my hands living out here in the Alaskan Bush in the middle of the winter.

Wandering through this universe has been and is a very interesting experience for me, on many levels. Back in the fall, I started a blog in Spanish. The intention behind this blog was to share my life in Alaska with my close friends and family members back in Spain. Believe me when I say that for them, Alaska is so far away that it could be on a different planet all together.

Little by little, my blog has trickled into other people's reading lists and I now receive many visits from people from all over the world (well, no, not really, no one from Asia or Australia has visited yet). This may sound odd to those of you that are lucky to have a busy social life, but in a way all these people that visit my blog and leave comments on it, have been keeping me company throughout the winter. The effort that I am making to see all the good things in my life and write about them, combined with their comments on my posts have helped me too recognize the best in me again. You know, sometimes we forget about how great we truly are :)

They have also been helping me too see parts of myself that I was not even aware of. For instance, I never thought of myself as a person that could write. Yes, I could put words together in a sentence and make sense, but I could never imagine that anyone could enjoy my writing. Lately, I have really been enjoying writing and what is more surprising, other people have been enjoying it too! So now I am shifting my definition of myself to include: "I can actually write and do a pretty good job at it!!" And that is pretty amazing for me, believe me. In case you didn't know, I always thought of myself as not being creative. Now, I no longer believe this of myself. Now, I believe that I am a very creative person. I really believe it. And this makes me happy.

Anyway, I recently decided to start translating my posts into English and creating a parallel universe for the English speaking side of my world. I figured that since I am in the process of redefining myself, I might as well bring together my two sides in a symbolic way and finally balance the Spanish and the American in me, the Ramos and the Morrison, the ying and the yang... you know...

If you feel like reading a little further and going for a ride on the "American side", you can visit my English-written blog. Mind you, the writing skills I am talking about are only in Spanish!!! :) I have a looooooooong way to go in English still! But hey, now that the door is open for re-defining myself, who knows what will come next :)

Sending warm hugs and kisses to all of you

images
miriam alive with
frozen dunes
sky lit tones pink and blue with cold
orbs slipping into wild horizons
and rocks
unknown seascapes
line shape texture soul
caught hanging
silhouettes their darkness
pulling the light closer
against ancient form older
than monuments of mankind
gratitude
your vision plunges me
into memory - remembering forward
into the faces
women raw in the moment
heart and body laughter dance and song
I thank you dear miriam
the journey you awakened
artfully
your solitude has shouted with beauty
only the quiet could see
and find time to record

lovingly, liz

Love 2008

Another LIOSian

Well, it's for real.
Another addition to the LIOS family. The little peanut is 14 weeks old in this photo. We are crossing our fingers that the timing works out. The baby is due on the 11th of August, so if all goes well, we will make it to the reunion on Orcas. You know this baby is going to need some LIOS love.

love from Bend,
staci

Color! Gotta love it!

There are no poppies blooming here but I did see some bulbs beginning to push up through the mud this week! To practice living in the present and not just longing for Spring, Al and I will have a mid winter break at Ocean Shores week after next. Where's my gore-tex?!

Hmm, I guess that's still looking ahead isn't it? Ok, today I'll be checking out my first caucus here at the North City Elementary school. I'm kinda excited and nervous. I am so intrigued about this election, how about you?

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Aloha beautiful friends,
Happy New Year of the Rat!

I wanted to share with you something that I am doing. I have become involved in an amazing womens group called the 'Sisters of light'. It is a group of about 18-20 women who are consciously doing their part to raise the feminine ray on this planet. We work on all kinds of intuitive enhancement exercises (automatic writing, pendulum work, clairvoyance, psychometry, etc...) and also do things to raise our self awareness. This month at the full moon on the 24th we are having a fire ceremony in which we will have prepared an intention letter for the 2008 year and burn it. The ritual involves making your list, accepting these things into your life now or something better for your highest good and the highest good of all concerned, and reading it out loud once for the two days previous to the full moon. Then we will come together and burn the letters or lists. Sounds great ya?
While I was in Seattle last month I co-facilitated an InterAct class with Diane Schachter. We had lunch daily and while we were talking she shared a therapy method with me that she has been using with some clients. I thought about it and think it would also be good for a full moon manifestation. You may already have done this yourselves, I just started mine. She said that she has some clients write a letter to themselves. The letter is from you, 10 years from now, telling yourself what you are doing and how you got there. Basically an "AS IF" letter. If you thought the autobiography paper was interesting, this is so fun! To tell yourself what has happened in the future that got you to your goals. WOW! It will be fun to see the things I want in my life come to fruition. There is another part to this process that I think would be a great workshop once a month...this would include redoing your letter at the full moon and letting go of the parts that you've manifested in the previous month. Hmmm....something to ponder.

Anyway, I had this need to post something and this is what you are getting! Love to you all. Make it an exquisite day...the sun is shining...the clouds are holding around the mountain top and it is 85 degrees at 10:15 this morning. Wish you were here!

Melissa

Soothe the Savage Beast


Clean, clear, and simple
The struggle and longing fall away
As the music fills me
It is enough for now
To just flow with this note
To taste the blend of sound and silence
A gasp of sweet air
Stolen in the moment
My head rises above
The sea
Endless waves ahead
But this particular flavor
This glimpse of peace
Is mine now

The Artist's Way & True Release

Kauai Sunset, Nov 2007 ZL

A group of people at work had a gift exchange over the holidays with a book theme. As such things go, I got a great book, somebody stole it; stole a book on digital photography from somebody else, it was stolen; picked a jewel of book called 1000 places to see before you die and yes, you guessed it that was stolen too. Not to be discouraged, I told the rotten dirty thief that really, he just provided me another opportunity of discovery and in the end of thievery because as I walked over to an unsuspecting person, pie in mouth, I sweetly said, may I please have your book, The Artist's Way? As I pried it from their white knuckle grip, I wry smile painted my face as began to see the hidden meaning in all of this. The life lesson of letting go, of riding the ups and downs of excitement and disappointment, of the pain of wanting to hold on and fear of losing and the unexpected joy of discovering that what I ended up with was perfect and couldn't have happened if any of the other things leading up to it hadn't happened.
I'm excited to explore this book, The Artist's Way: A spiritual path to higher creativity. I've written my first "daily pages" which is about connecting to my inner creative child. I do belive that I have been a shadow artist who desires to come into the light more fully. Feels like a risk, but today I don't care. This morning I wrote about wierd ass dreams, wishing I lived in a warmer climate, feeling the urgency of connecting with family memebers I cherrish, and finally wrote a short message to my biological father, Frank, who is currently in a really bad way (drinking-drugging and basically making really bad decisions.)
Dear Frank,
I'm sorry to hear of your struggles of late. I want to tell you that I love you. I've realized that I'm not here to judge you or fix you or save you. I'm here to unconditionally love you and myself. By love you I mean I will pray for you, hope for you and encourage you to make decisions that bring you happiness. That is my wish for you. By loving myself I mean I will never close my heart to you because you are a peice of me. I will at times keep you at a distance to safegaurd my sanity, but will do so from a place of love and compassion for both of us. With love I realease you into the grace and love of all there is. Love Zoey

where'd everybody go..????

no pictures this time ... just want to keep this going somehow, and find a way to get more real and deeper in an electronic format... i'm tired after a long work week and being out 4 nights in a row, and can't even imagine coming home to work with clients - that was my plan, to start a very part time, couple nights a week practice... i haven't done much of anything to make that happen, and it scares me just a bit... i don't want to lose what skills i was developing... but don't want to give up what i'm doing now either... i really like my life... the work i get paid for, the volunteer and fun stuff i do, time with friends and family, and most of all, time with my spouse/partner/lover/friend.... neither of us are in grad school for the first time since we met, and we are good together... the last year of kent's grad school (msw) was pretty tough... he's a dedicated student and we were both pretty stressed by the time he finished.. but he did, and is 6 months into his new job as a hospice social worker and they love him ... life is good, so why do i have to find something to make myself feel bad about myself for? i've also gained weight - which i hate - but have lost 12 pounds since december 1 and am determined to get my own strong lean body back and feel like an idiot for letting myself gain what i worked so hard to lose once already... that sounds backwards doesn't it?? ok... tired and rambling now but this feels like the way i journal...so before i chicken out i'm going to publish....