Celebrate your dreams and musings, and yes, beliefs.

Pre post preface~Let me just say...I have no idea why this is in caps.  I did not type caps and I am so not yelling.  I just don't know what happened.  The preview is not in caps and when I go to edit, it is not in caps.  I don't know enough HTML to fix it, so please, please excuse the obnoxious caps!  Thanks. pf.

 Hey Ya'll,  

Just throwing in my 2 holiday cents.  While we are celebrating our beliefs, I think it is also a good idea to challenge them as well.  If they are solid, you will feel a renewed commitment toward them, if they are off, you can adjust them as needed. 

I've  always thought (and I don't claim to have originated this thought...) that many/most if not all Christian holidays have their basis in Earth religions... which everyone was before the emergence of more modern day religions.  Because it was more than just something to do on Sunday back then, it was a way of life.. honoring the earth, the seasons, directions and cycles of life and working with them instead of against them or despite them.   Our very existence depended on it. (And by us I mean humans)  The funny thing is, it still does, regardless of our denial or arrogance.

 So, here is my belief... Jesus was black or blackish in color.  I do not think he was even born in the winter.  I believe that the facts have been distorted over time to suit the Holy ruling class, the only ones who were allowed to be educated...  But more importantly his messages have been abysmally twisted and misshapen as well.  I also believe he was one of many  holy men who have been worshiped or whose teachings were thought to be of higher good throughout history.

What I am  celebrating here in the middle of winter is human evolution and perseverance in the face of adversity (winter), and practicing our gratitude and fortitude.  But whatever you celebrate or why, it is a great time to reflect on what you want for yourself, your family and the wider world community.  It's fun to snuggle up at night and read or watch a good movie, write in your journal or whatever.  It's good to contribute to the higher good of our wider community by volunteering or donating to charities...It's fun to wake up and drink something hot and soothing and feel good about all the blessings you enjoy in your life and wishing the same for those who are less fortunate.

I pilfered the following post from another site, because I thought it was interesting, not because I believe all of it... I find it fun to ponder new perspectives, so if you like to do that too, read on.... and Happy Celebrating, whatever holiday or reason that you do it!  Peace, pf

Christianity: what’s different?

Was Jesus’ appe darance
closer to this ...

or to this ...?

Which of the images on the right is closest to how Jesus might have looked?

The first is influenced by the art of the Middle Ages and shows Jesus with European, rather than Jewish, looks.

• In reality, Jesus must have had Semitic features with olive skin, darkened by exposure to the sun. His hair and beard would have been black, curly and bushy – untrimmed in obedience to the command in the Law [Leviticus 19:27]
  
  
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  Leviticus 19:27

  “Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard.”
  

  
  
  The Bible says He was not physically attractive [Isaiah 53:2]
  
  
  
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  Isaiah 53:2

  He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground.
  He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
  

  
  
  Beauty, in God’s eyes, comes from within [1 Peter 3:3-4]
  
  
  
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  1 Peter 3:3-4

  Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.
  

  
  
  
  
  
• On the other hand, the devil is handsome [Ezekiel 28:14-17]
  
  
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  Ezekiel 28:14-17

  “You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones.
  You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you.
  Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones.
  Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings.”
  

  
  
  
  
  
• The gospel rings true in my heart is because it is the opposite of the way man normally thinks.
• Who would have conceived a philosophy where salvation would come through believing that God would come to us as a helpless baby, born in a stinking stable, a peasant among a despised, subjugated people in an obscure land, and would later be nailed up to die like the worst of criminals.
• The natural mind is more attracted to youth and beauty, success and acclaim.
  
  
  
  But, God’s thoughts are the opposite of man’s thoughts [Isaiah 55:8-9]
  
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  Isaiah 55:8-9

  “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.”
  

  
  

  OK IT'S ME, PF ...I"M BACK, JUST TO SAY.... THE FOLLOWING PICTURES ARE ONES THAT I THOUGHT WERE PARTICULARLY BEAUTIFUL.  THEY ARE NOT RELATED TO THE CHRISTIAN POST.
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

     
  

  
  

Classic Holiday Fare from a 70s Child

We all have our traditions and quirks... One of mine is that I just have to hear this bit at least one time during the season. It always makes me smile and it never gets old.




This one brings back memories... good message, mediocre song, interesting cast of characters, and the hair alone is worth watching for!


I never even heard this one till tonight, but I love Freddy and Queen:


I'm afraid Harley's favorite Christmas song next to Jingle bells, is entitled Happy Holidays ya'll, by Robert Earl Keen Jr. He knows most of the words, and what he doesn't know, he makes up... I just pray that he doesn't sing it at school!


Ms Moon was right, we're going to hell! But in the meanwhile, let us keep sharing our joys and seasonal cheer in whatever form that takes.
xo pf

Rainy day Blues...

This morning, Harley and I are watching Pooh's Grand Adventure for the 67th time. It's raining and chilly out. Gray as far as the eye can see. It's been this way for what seems like forever this year. The weather has been crazy whack-a-do, which is not unusual for Florida, but still annoying. A few nights ago we were running our A/C, and the very next night, it was FREEZING again. WTF?

As many others in our little bloggy orbit, I have not done a single thing to prepare for Christmas. Yea, we have our tree up and it's fabulous,.. We even put up the dragonfly lights, but as far as shopping and sending cards... not so much. Why do we do this? WHY?? We don't even do a real big present thing, but we do make sure Harley has a few choice things to open. this year, we have just been dragging ass badly. Maybe it's time to break out a new focus wheel! ha!

We do have a birthday party to look forward to today for one of Harley's dear friends. Guess where it is? Yep, the park. It's chilly and wet, and we will all dutifully go to the park and wonder what the hell we are all doing there on a day like today. It will be a nice diversion from the Christmas procrastination blues though, so there is that.

The one thing that does make me feel calmer is counting my blessings, which I try to do as much as possible. This is a relatively new thing for me. I mean I kind of always know they are there in the back of my mind, but I've always been more focused on what's wrong, and taking the blessings/good things for granted. I've become much better at acknowledging them in my old age though, and it really does help to calm the buzzing. A few things have happened to others this week, which has really whipped my perspective back to what is important.

So, in my sweaty palm panic over not being prepared, I am also grateful that something so small, is my concern. I hope you all have many blessings this winter and stay safe and warm and loved.
Peace,
pf

Focus on LIFE

Do you spend an inordinate amount of time running about "doing"? Worrying about "doing"? Fulfilling obligations? Feeling scattered and panicky? .....By taking a minimum of 15 minutes a day for yourself to do something relaxing and fun is a great start to relieving some of that tension.

The Focus Wheel developed by Abraham Hicks is a good place to jump in... Just imagine spending some time getting to know yourself more deeply, re-framing limiting thoughts/patterns, and creating more focused energy and space in your life. Aaaah! Sounds heavenly, no?

As many of you know, I'm in training to become a Life Coach. It's been a fun and exciting journey so far. Along the way I'm coming across some incredible tools that I would like to share. Sometimes I feel like I'm swimming in so much great information, techniques and discoveries that I can't sort through them all, do them all, use them all fast enough! One of the best parts is I keep uncovering great ideas that I'd forgotten about, as well as areas of my self or by extension, my life, that I want to consciously improve.

I will be starting a coaching blog at some point, where I will list all sorts of these marvelous nuggets of self enhancement, but for now I will just post here. Mainly because I need to have a business name first! (BTW, any and all suggestions are welcome and encouraged!) I can't get crazy names like Personal Life Support out of my mind, and then realizing the term Life Support has that yucky plug pulling association... So, please please don your best creative fedora and help me here if you can!

In the meanwhile, here is a fabulous video on how the focus wheel works. I know people (friends) who are regular users of this method, and it works! It works in ways that you cannot imagine. It's an incredible tool, if you let yourself get into it. I am just beginning, so I'll let you know how that goes. For now, here is a marvelous video and a template for a focus wheel complete with instructions for your immediate experimentation. (Disclaimer: I'm not saying this will fix everything in your life.. or really anything. What I am saying is that it is a great starting place to begin focusing on yourself, and most people experience at least some benefits from spending time working it. I hope it works for you!)

Happy Focusing!
PS Don't forget to send me those business names! There's a free coaching session in it for you!

:-)


Focus Wheel template (PDF)

Kitty cat, Dragon, and Dragonfly

Hey ya'll,

I have been wanting to post about our goings on... and we do have lots of fun pix and videos to share. The problem is we've been slam busy and getting over being sick, and recovering from company, Thanksgiving and Harley's birthday parties, and and and...

So here is the Halloween post. On the left we have mommy kitty. Mommy is ALWAYS a kitty. That is because it is easy and no smothery mask or costume etc... Harley was very insistent on being a dragonfly this year. And he was a marvelous dragonfly, for his school parade. For the actual tricks and treats evening of door knocking, he wanted to be a DRAGON, which is what he was last year as well. The costume is actually a dinosaur, (maybe a Brontosaurus??), but he calls it a dragon, and so for us, it is.


I had never even heard of a Dragonfly costume... nor had never even heard of any child being a dragonfly for Halloween... but that's probably because I'm out of the loop. Anyway, the hub, as usual, wanted to take the creative, cumbersome, frustrating method of MAKING the costume. Now, let me remind you, that he had been putting off getting the costume or even looking for it till 2 days BEFORE said event.. ok, so finally I talk him into just going to the fun shop and seeing what could be used or tweeked. They sold their last pair of dragonfly wings (YES, they DO sell Dragonfly wings, and apparently, a lot of them!) the day before. SO... we had to go back to plan A, making them. Let me also say, this always starts the same with hub... (who has not time to blow his nose really) "This won't take that long, maybe a couple of hours". Ok, every time I hear those words I cringe. You have to multiply 2 (hours) times 4, which is about how off he is normally. UGH! Let's not mention the perfectionism, time pressure and subsequent cussing and carrying on that this produces. Finally though, the costume was made and although it is very simple, was the talk of the town! Although it wasn't our intention (certainly NOT mine!) to make our costume, or to make anyone else feel remorse for not making their kid's costume... I heard a lot of "Next year, we are making our costume, that's beautiful"! So, if parents are getting more involved as a result, kudos for that. If they are becoming competitive, then kudo retraction is in order. It's hard to tell these days, parents are strange. Hub had to set a few straight that they were not looking where they were going and practically mowing over Snow White, Spider man AND Tinkerbell trying to get video of THEIR kids... Honestly, there is a limit to this capturing the moment shit, and I think that knocking over Snow White, Spider man and Tinkerbell is IT. Kudos to hub. Sigh.

We watched the parade and there was some really cool costumes. I will attempt to show you these. I am bad at this techno thing. Even the easiest of things... so no promises.

Ok, this brings us to Halloween night. On this night, he did not want to be dragonfly, but plain ole dragon. So we pulled out his old home made costume which was handed down by his dear cousin Jor Jor who lives in Melbourne. Jor Jor's mother is a long time BFF of PF's and she knows someone who makes costumes. They are marvelous! Anyway, we get lots of fun toys, clothes, costumes, etc... from cousin Jor Jor and they are always fabulous. So, we went to a local mall for tricks and treats because we don't exactly live in a suburb... I figured the lighting was good, and his costume would be very visible and we would be safe and could see where we are going. Did I mention there is a Barnes and Noble where mommy could procure a delicious espresso? Well, there was... thank the the Coffee Goddess! Ok, so here we are.... mommy thinking she is oh so clever and MOST of these damn businesses RAN OUT OF TREATS!!! Now, let me say this event was publicized way in advance... EVERYONE knew about it... it was from 6-8pm... We were there at 7!!!!!!!!!!! WTF??

So, off we went, to our old neighborhood, which was THE place to be. The streets were blocked off with those construction horses and kids, strollers, parents and ghouls and fairies of all sorts filled the streets. EUREKA! I even found a place to park immediately. Partly due to luck and partly because I used to live there, and partly because I'm damn good! Anyway, we had a blast and got lots of fun treats and saw lots of cool houses. I want to tell you these people are into this holiday.... probably much more than adults should be... but it worked for us.

I will see if I can post more of those pix. Thanks for stopping... Birthday post to follow.

Here is the striding princess!





















The superhero trilogy, the world is safe again!!!

Whiskey and Whine

This piece was written in memory of my brother, Raymond Valentino Recchi. He died from Pancreatic cancer in 1999 at a horribly early age. Like most things I do these days, I was late getting this post to my niece, Ray's daughter, who started a memorial site for the family a while back. I felt under the gun and am not particularly thrilled with the outcome, but it is from the heart and it's all true. I am missing him, so I thought I'd make him part of this world too. PS Isn't he darling? I love that face!

Most of the significant moments I shared with my brother were just that, moments. I don't have any sad or funny stories to tell, just a series of moments. But I'm happy to share them.

Ray was my big brother, but he was also my friend, my go-to guy, my shrink, and at times, a father. When I was little, we spent lots of time together, but it was mostly him babysitting me. I felt very safe in his arms. It was like being held by a huge friendly bear...He taught me lots of valuable life lessons... For instance, he is the person who got me to stop whining when I was a kid, by teaching me what it was.

RAY: "Min, you REALLY have to stop that whining".

ME: " IIIIIIIII dooooooooon't knoooooooow what yoooou're taaaaaalking aboooouuut!!!"

RAY: "The waaaaaaay yooooou're taaaaaaaaaaalking... It's caaaaaalled whiiiiiiiiiiiiiiining!"

He was great at getting me to stop being hysterical when I was little too, by instructing me on the finer points of taking a deep breath. (I used to be somewhat of a dramatic and convulsive crier.) He also MADE me eat the cecis in my ceci and pasta... I hated him for that! I used to roll them to one side of my bowl in a nice, neat pile, and eat the pasta. Because let's face it, to a kid, ceci beans (garbanzos) are just plain gross! Well, they were to me anyway. I remember holding quite the grudge about that one!

Then there was his old Mercury... "The Merc". We would race down the road with the windows down singing to the radio. It was grand! He usually had the dial (back when there actually were dials) set to an oldies station, Sunny 106. Sweet City Woman was a particularly fun one. Other favorites: anything by Abba, Buddy Holly or Elvis, The Lion Sleeps Tonight, OOga Chuga Ooga Ooga!... those kinds of songs. The songs that make you feel the whole world is still shiny and new.

As we got older we became more and more like friends. I was the baby of the family, so Ray was quite a bit older than I. And although I spent many years of my youth lost and confused, he never talked down to me or made me feel badly about it. He taught me how to drink a real drink... proper and lady-like. (Which is about the time I really began to drop my grudge about the Ceci beans). He taught me to order VO whiskey and soda. I could not understand this, because Kahlua and Cream tasted SOOOOOoooooooo much better! I said something like: "Ack! I can only drink this in little sips it's so bad!" And he said something like: "Yea! That's the whole point." You've just gotta love that. I didn't always take his advice, but when I was out with a guy I really liked, instead of "the gang," that was how, and what I drank...

We also watched a whole lot of football. I used to be a huge fan, as did most everyone in our family. The day the Fins won the Superbowl and had their historic undefeated season, our whole family was there. My mom and my aunt Esther were the scariest of the whole bunch... Seriously! That was a great time. We were all together and everyone was ecstatically happy! Years and years after that when I would visit Ray's family at his own house, there always seemed to be a football game on. If I wasn't in the mood to watch, I'd do something else in another room, but I could still hear it going on in the background. I always found that comforting.... and I still do.