Operation Clean Sweep

Over the last several weeks I have been confronted with some attitudes, beliefs, and ideas that have crept into my life over the years that I realize have not been serving me well and need to be swept from my life before I can be open and receptive to the wonderful things that the universe has waiting for me. As I've been meditating they're being revealed to me one by one, so that I may confront them and clean them from my life.

1. Unworthiness - I've been taught to believe through religion, society, and the system that unless I play by their rules and believe the "right" things, do the "right" things, and live my life according to their dictates, dogmas, and doctrines that I am unworthy of prosperity and success. That is a lie from the pits of hell, and I will no longer buy into it.

2. Fear - As Steph has so beautifully put it: The opposite of love is not hate, it is fear. Am I operating out of love or fear? Today, and every day I will choose to operate out of love.

3. Naivete - Deficient in worldly wisdom or informed judgment. I was raised in a rather mysogenistic environment under the idea that women were to be protected and sheltered from the world by their husbands. After I was divorced I wasn't prepared to meet the world around me and live in it on my own, therefore I have been rather naieve about life and the difficulties that it can and does present. I am a kind and loving spirit, and I have operated under the illusion that everyone else is the same. I've had to learn the hard way that this simply isn't so, that there are people around every corner who will pretend to be your friend and then turn around and stab you in the back. I must remain as innocent as a dove and sly as a fox.

4. Greed - This one was really a hard one for me, for I don't want to admit that I have slipped into its icy grip. But here I am. It's really easy to do in our society. You're told by the media and everyone around you that you're just not worthy or successful if you can't keep up with the latest trends in fashion, technology, homes, cars, etc. Living with financial struggle for the last ten years has taught me some valuable lessons about what is necessary and what is not. I have learned that the love of famiy and friends far exceeds anything else to which I could aspire, and that all the "toys" that are deemed necessary simply are not. I will learn to be frugal, yet generous, and I will display gratitude for everything that I have been given.

There are probably others, but these four seem to be the ones that have risen to the top and for now, are the ones that need my most immediate attention. So here I am with a broom and a dustpan ready to clean them out, so that my channels will be open and receptive for all the wonderful bounty that the universe has in store for me!

To the people of Iran

We hold you in our hearts as you cry out for freedom!

Plates: A family heritage

I first saw this over on Derrick's blog who got it from Willow, and I thought is would be fun. So here are my offerings! My plates are a reflection of Steph's and my combined family heritage. We both love to collect dishes and we have several sets, not all complete. We love to mix and match them, and on special occasions you will never see the same place setting twice. We hope to collect more in the future, as we are able to travel to different places around the world.

The dishes that my great grandmother used in her restaurant in Washington, Oklahoma.



Plates that belonged to Steph's mother. The bowl on the far left was Steph's mom's baby bowl.



The Lenox bone china that my father gave to my mother for their 25th wedding anniversary. It was passed to me when mother died in June of 2001.



The first dishes that Steph and I bought together. The blue pottery was purchased in an outlet store in Denver, Colorado, and the little floral plates were purchased in a boutique in Boulder, Colorado.


This pasta plate and tureen look like they came right out of Tuscany, but were actually purchased at a Hobby Lobby right here in Stillwater. (The champagne flutes to the right were our wedding flutes.)

A case for reincarnation

Nearly six decades ago, a 21-year-old Navy fighter pilot on a mission over the Pacific was shot down by Japanese artillery. His name might have been forgotten, were it not for 6-year-old James Leininger.

Quite a few people — including those who knew the fighter pilot — think James is the pilot, reincarnated. James' parents, Andrea and Bruce, a highly educated, modern couple, say they are "probably the people least likely to have a scenario like this pop up in their lives." But over time, they have become convinced their little son has had a former life.

From an early age, James would play with nothing else but planes, his parents say. But when he was 2, they said the planes their son loved began to give him regular nightmares. "I'd wake him up and he'd be screaming," Andrea told ABCNEWS' Chris Cuomo. She said when she asked her son what he was dreaming about, he would say, "Airplane crash on fire, little man can't get out."







Source: Reverse Spins, Proof of Reincarnation

Update on the novel

I haven't made any entries about my book on my blog lately, not because I haven't been working on it, but because it has undergone some transitions over the past several weeks and I wasn't ready to disclose what was going on with it.

Last month I asked Steph to join in as a co-author, seeing as a great deal of the story and research for it can be attributed to her work for her own novel, Night Music, which is the story of Mozart as told by the composer "himself" in memoir fashion. At present, Steph is going through what I have already written and is editing, adding, cutting, and re-working and as each chapter is finished, it is being posted on a private blog, (by invitation only), for selected readers to read and comment on. Thus far we've received some excellent comments. People are responding well to the story, which those familiar with the Mozart story will recognize, but from an entirely different angle and perspective,adding of course, Nancy's story into the mix, with which few will be familiar. This book isn't really about Mozart or Nancy, but their love story. The love story is the central character.

We're excited about it because it's a fresh take on what can often be viewed as a worn-out story with nothing new to offer. Never underestimate the power of a love story!

In memory of their sacrifice, the 65th anniversary of D-day

On D-Day, June 6, 1944, Allied troops departed England on planes and ships, made the trip across the English Channel and attacked the beaches of Normandy in an attempt to break through Hitler’s “Atlantic Wall” and break his grip on Europe. Some 215,000 Allied soldiers, and roughly as many Germans, were killed or wounded during D-Day and the ensuing nearly three months it took to secure the Allied capture of Normandy.

President Obama Declares June LGBT Pride Month

I don't usually get political on this blog, but since this issue so profoundly affects me, I couldn't help myself. I am so very pleased and proud that we finally have a president who is sensitive to the needs and rights of LGBT persons in this country!

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION

Forty years ago, patrons and supporters of the Stonewall Inn in New York City resisted police harassment that had become all too common for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. Out of this resistance, the LGBT rights movement in America was born. During LGBT Pride Month, we commemorate the events of June 1969 and commit to achieving equal justice under law for LGBT Americans.

LGBT Americans have made, and continue to make, great and lasting contributions that continue to strengthen the fabric of American society. There are many well-respected LGBT leaders in all professional fields, including the arts and business communities. LGBT Americans also mobilized the Nation to respond to the domestic HIV/AIDS epidemic and have played a vital role in broadening this country's response to the HIV pandemic.

Due in no small part to the determination and dedication of the LGBT rights movement, more LGBT Americans are living their lives openly today than ever before. I am proud to be the first President to appoint openly LGBT candidates to Senate-confirmed positions in the first 100 days of an Administration. These individuals embody the best qualities we seek in public servants, and across my Administration -- in both the White House and the Federal agencies -- openly LGBT employees are doing their jobs with distinction and professionalism.

The LGBT rights movement has achieved great progress, but there is more work to be done. LGBT youth should feel safe to learn without the fear of harassment, and LGBT families and seniors should be allowed to live their lives with dignity and respect.

My Administration has partnered with the LGBT community to advance a wide range of initiatives. At the international level, I have joined efforts at the United Nations to decriminalize homosexuality around the world. Here at home, I continue to support measures to bring the full spectrum of equal rights to LGBT Americans. These measures include enhancing hate crimes laws, supporting civil unions and Federal rights for LGBT couples, outlawing discrimination in the workplace, ensuring adoption rights, and ending the existing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in a way that strengthens our Armed Forces and our national security. We must also commit ourselves to fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic by both reducing the number of HIV infections and providing care and support services to people living with HIV/AIDS across the United States.

These issues affect not only the LGBT community, but also our entire Nation. As long as the promise of equality for all remains unfulfilled, all Americans are affected. If we can work together to advance the principles upon which our Nation was founded, every American will benefit. During LGBT Pride Month, I call upon the LGBT community, the Congress, and the American people to work together to promote equal rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2009 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. I call upon the people of the United States to turn back discrimination and prejudice everywhere it exists.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of June, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.

BARACK OBAMA