A giant leap out of my comfort zone

I like to sing. I remember singing rather loudly along with the radio and LPs as a pre-teen. As a teenager I eventually learned how to pick out some of the harmony and discovered I really had a decent alto voice. I sang in the church choir and every now and again I'd get roped into a smaller group. That always made me a little nervous, but I got by.

My daughter, Amy, who is serving an 18 month mission in New Jersey, has a gorgeous voice. Thankfully, I did the right thing as she was growing up and got her to voice lessons starting at the age of 11 or so. Violin and piano eventually went by the wayside, but singing was her love, and she absolutely blossomed. For the year before she left for New Jersey, she taught voice lessons on a part time basis, and even though she was doing it right here in my home, I never managed to carve out the time to squeeze a few in for myself.

When she left last August, I had the urge to do something that would cause me to stretch a little while she was gone. I knew she'd be stretching quite a lot, and I was wracking my brain as to what I could do. I considered giving up chocolate for the entire time she was away, but the end result wasn't enough to motivate me. I wanted something more measurable.

Our sweet and talented friend, Mary, who lives just two doors down, mentioned to me that she'd found a local voice teacher that she was quite pleased with. A bell went off in my head, and I knew that was the thing I needed to do. I got his name and number. However, I was fully tuned into the Itty Bitty Icky Committee. They weren't just talking to me, they were now yelling! "YOU'LL MAKE A COMPLETE FOOL OF YOURSELF! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? YOU'LL SOUND LIKE A COMPLETE IDIOT. IT'LL BE VERY EMBARRASSING. YOU'LL JUST MAKE A LAUGHING STOCK OUT OF YOURSELF." Just little things like that.

Well, because I don't want The Committee to run my life, and I want to surprise Amy when she gets home, I told Mary last Sunday that I would call the voice teacher by the last day of this month. And since I'm all about accountability, I told her to make sure to ask me about it. I knew that would get some action out of me, and it worked. Today it dawned on me that there was only one more day of January and I was right up against the wire. To call or not to call wasn't the question. The question was WHEN to call.

So tonight I told The Committee to take a nice long hike and I dialed the number. My desires to sing beautifully and confidently outweigh the voices that tell me I'll feel foolish. My desire to be accountable when I say I'll do something outweighs the urge to take off running when faced with something a little (okay, a LOT) uncomfortable. I told the nice young voice teacher that I wanted to step out of my comfort zone and make some good progress. Uh, did I really mean to say that???

That's what it's all about, isn't it? Life really is an ongoing process of moving from the comfortable place to an area of learning and growing. I know from past experience that on the other side of that comfort zone is a place of joy and happiness. A place that, because I'm willing to take the hand of my higher self and trust we'll head the right direction, I KNOW I'll be glad to be.

Don't try reaching me next Wednesday at 2 p.m. I will be smack in the middle leaping. It may hurt initially, but before long I know it'll feel GREAT!

InJoy,
Cristi

What are you BEing in 2007?

It's a great day today. Not because of any-"thing" in particular. The house isn't terribly tidy, the bank account isn't looking any better than yesterday, the mirror isn't telling me that I've lost extra pounds, and the fact is that my 12 yr. old is sick. So what exactly would make it qualify for a great day?

I'm experiencing a great day because of what I'm BEing today. I first was exposed to this principle about 18 months ago, but it didn't have a really terrific lodging place. It wasn't until I started teaching Skills for Joyful Living classes last summer that I finally was able to really grasp the concept and begin to put it to work for me. These classes are the companion to Rapid Eye Technology. Rapid Eye assists in releasing trapped trauma and stress, and Skills for Life principles are what assist people in seeing how they can make life changes and begin creating a more positive experience than the one they've been having.

So how does it work to BE? It all begins with our thoughts. Get control of your thoughts and your experience will begin to change, no doubt about it. This morning I was in complete command of my thoughts. I was busy saying to myself, "I am happy. I am healthy. I am filled with abundance. I am a great teacher. I am supported. I am joyful." Saying those things brings a higher vibration and that's what makes you feel good.

Once you're feeling good, then you're more open to the DO part of the equation. Because I was BEing a good teacher, I studied and completed my lesson for class at church tomorrow. So nice to have it completely ready to go. And since I was BEing healthy, I knew just what to DO. A healthy person would get exercise, so I got on my stationary recumbent bike (good thing to do when it's 19 degrees outside!) Following my little virtual ride through the neighborhood, I stepped into the sauna for a little detoxing. While in there I watched a motivational DVD on creating abundance. And because I was BEing abundant, I completed a project I've been working on for some time that I know will create some wealth for me.

It's so nice to BE something and to really feel that it is. In fact, this is the first year that I chose not to make any New Year's resolutions and instead chose to BE what I wanted. I knew that if I chose to BE healthy, then the Dos would follow along. Here is some of what I'm BEing in 2007:

I am healthy
I am a wonderful wife and mother
I am an excellent Rapid Eye Technician
I am enjoying my family's vacation in Hawaii
I am a wonderful teacher
I am loving teaching seminars with my husband
I am organized
I am prepared
I am completing my reading of the New Testament
I am attracting abundance from many sources

What are you BEing in 2007? I'd love to know!

InJoy!
Cristi

The Menacing Mathematics of Multiple Meds

Today I'm choosing to share this article by Gary Craig, the founder of Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT). It's particularly meaningful to me because a friend of ours passed away due to a bad combination of prescription medications, leaving behind a wife and four young children. It's worth giving some thought to, and passing along to others who may have use for this information. The good news is that there are numerous ways to deal with both emotional and physical challenges that don't involve medications at all. EFT and RET are the two I'm most familiar with and I find them both very effective. I'm grateful they're easily available to me and my family.

InJoy,
Cristi


The Menacing Mathematics of Multiple Meds
by Gary Craig

There's something scary about drugs that concerns a growing number of physicians and should wobble the knees of every patient on the planet. It's obvious to any mathematician but somehow has escaped the general scrutiny of the health industry.

It has to do with combining meds.

Ever since I can remember I have been fed the perception that drugs are governmentally evaluated and thus are safe if taken under the guidance of competent physicians. However, even if we accept the presumed safety for the ingestion of one drug, we must ask ourselves how might that safety change if we take multiple drugs?

For safety assurances, proper testing should be done for every drug combination we are advised to take. If we take Prozac and Tylenol, for example, we should be presented with all the possible benefits and consequences before allowing these two foreign substances to mix with the chemicals our bodies already create. Same thing goes for combining Paxil with Viagra or Interferon with Lipitor.

The list of possible problems here is monstrously long because there are a b'zillion drugs and mega b'zillions of combinations. Nonetheless, I've never seen or heard of any studies that test any of these combinations ... have you?

Thus, if you take two drugs, the odds of their combination having been adequately tested for safety are skimpy at best. But if you take 3 or more drugs the danger possibilitiesmultiply even faster.

Here's how the mathematics work: If you take 3 drugs then adequate safety testing of the various combinations require 7 separate tests. If you take 4 drugs the combinations require 25 separate tests. If you take 5 drugs it amounts to 121 tests. If you take 10 drugs the number of required safety tests total 362,881.

The conclusion here should be obvious. Namely, there is questionable safety testing if you take 2 drugs and nominal, if any, safety testing if you take 3. Beyond that you are clearly into the land of,"I have no idea what these combinations of drugs will do."

To me, this tosses our dedicated docs into a tenuous position. They have patients with problems who aren't willing to exercise, eat right, do EFT for emotional issues (http://www.emofree.com/a/?1267) or much of anything else to help their own health. Instead, the patients hope the physicians will produce a magic pill (or pills) to make their problems go away.

I have met many patients who are on several drugs and take some drugs to counteract the effects of other drugs. As a non-physician I look at this with a shudder. These folks are being fed chemical cocktails with little or no safety testing behind the combinations. Maybe I need some help with my perceptions here but, to me,they are playing drug roulette.

I don't know if lawyers have picked up on the simple, but compelling, math here. But I do know that I wouldn't want to be a doctor in court facing these clear facts.

In the 15+ years I have been involved in the health field, I have had the good fortune to count many physicians as my personal friends. With few exceptions, they agree that it is our lifestyles, diets and emotional stresses that cause most of our health problems ... and ... the vast majority of these problems would vanish if people would live common sense lives. Yet patients repeatedly abuse their bodies and ask for more and more "miracledrugs" as the convenient solution. I don't envy the docs at all as I often hear them complain that this is a highway to NobodyWinsVille.

Maybe what we really need are good salespeople to persuade folks to take care of themselves. I suspect that, if truly persuasive, they would do more good than the ocean of drugs at our disposal.

Love, Gary

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Unfinished business

Rewind 26 years, back when I was expecting my first child. I wanted to make a baby quilt and I purchased fabric, batting, and yarn for tying. In those days mothers rarely knew the gender of their baby, so I chose a yellow gingham pattern that would work either way. I cut everything to the proper size and Mike and I tied this little quilt with every intention of using it. However, I was unsure of how to finish off the edges and the quilt was set aside.

I was given several quilts as gifts upon the birth of each of my three daughters. Every now and again I would come across this yellow quilt and feel horribly guilty and rather sad about never having finished it. It was stuffed in a box of sewing things, and a number of months ago I finally made the decision to toss it out. Who would want an unfinished quilt that was now 25 years old and quite dated?

Christmas morning arrived and I had all but forgotten about the mysterious package. When it was handed to me to open, I was still at a complete loss about what it could be. I'm not one to be dainty about the unwrapping process, so I ripped into that paper and made a surprising discovery. There was the yellow gingham quilt, all finished with wonderful little triangle edges. Mike had conspired and Sandy had complied.

We decided to do what had never been done all those years ago. Melissa, the one who was the intended recipient of the quilt so many years ago, sat on my lap and allowed me to wrap it around her and squeeze her tight. Unfinished business was now complete. It was the highlight of Christmas morning.



Sometimes we aren't even conscious of what our wishes are. Often we believe we don't deserve to have our desires met. But every now and then, the universe conspires to bring us what we hope for even if on a sub-conscious level. This was the case with the yellow quilt. I felt gratitude towards my husband for rescuing what I had, because of guilt, cast aside. I appreciated Sandy for taking valuable time during the Christmas season to do what I had believed I could not. And because of their kindness, I got to experience a moment of pure joy!

InJoy,
Cristi

The mysterious package

Ding dong! Several days before Christmas, I heard the doorbell ring. My husband opened the door but I was upstairs and couldn't see who was there. A few minutes later I watched our neighbor Kris jogging off. I inquired of my husband what had transpired and saw that he was holding a wrapped gift in his hand. I gave him a quizzical look and he let me know this was his business and I'd have to wait until Christmas morning to find out what it was all about.

I thought about the gift off and on for the next few days. Kris' wife, Sandy, is my friend and client with many talents, and I knew she must be involved, but the gift was labeled to me from my husband. Hmmm. What had he asked her to make? We give three gifts - something to read, wear, and do. It was something soft and I couldn't imagine that he would have asked her to make something for me to wear, and if he had, what on earth would it be?

I like to figure things out. I allow all of the little facts to gather in my brain and then I sort through them and arrive at a conclusion. More often than not, I am dead on right. This had me baffled and I finally gave up trying.

Stay tuned. Tomorrow I will reveal the contents. Until then . . .

InJoy,
Cristi

Reclaiming their light

It's hard to believe it's been a whole year, but it has. In early January of 2006, my daughter Amy and I embarked on a journey together of training to be Rapid Eye technicians. We both felt drawn to this and were determined to get the process down and start working to help others to experience their pathway being opened to find the healing they were after. It took us out of our comfort zones and challenged us in ways we couldn't have imagined.

Now that I've had nearly a year of working with numerous clients, I can say that I know for certain that I made a good decision. At this point in time, I am working with 6 clients that come to my home office on a weekly basis. One is at the very start of her healing journey, and several others are near the end of this particular part of their path. It is a great privilege for me to be invited to assist them for several months as they choose to let go of things they've held onto that they realize no longer serve their highest good and then become more conscious creators in their lives.

It takes courage to choose something different than the old familiar patterns and beliefs. We humans are masters at stuffing our emotions, thinking that if we shove them deep enough we won't be affected by them. To go through the process of allowing those emotions to come to the surface so that they can be cleaned up is an amazing thing. There are as many reactions to the process as there are people.

Last week I assisted a client through the process of clearing negative energy taken on at birth. This can be a profound experience and a great eye opener when we realize how masterful we've become at living under this birth energy cloud. Once that top layer is released, then we're able to dig a little deeper and see what has blocked us from feeling our value as children of a loving God who created us in His image.

One of my clients found that she really did have great value even though her perceptions of her life experiences had her convinced otherwise. She included this line on the Rapid Eye website, "For the first time in my life I feel that God loves me, I deserve to be happy, and I am as good as anyone else no matter what I do or don't do -- my worth is intrinsic." When we reach that point in our understanding and belief because we are able to see ourselves as God sees us, then we're in wonderful shape to co-create with God the life that we wish to have.

My hat goes off to those who have taken the steps beginning a path to joy. I appreciate the opportunity to witness the transformation as they come to a remembering of their great worth and the power within them to be who they were created to be. I am blessed to be a witness of this reclaiming of their light.


InJoy,
Cristi

Opening a pathway to joy

It's been more than two weeks now since I finished clearing the log jam from my daughter's room. Here's a list of some of my discoveries:

A dozen or more 3 ring binders, varying sizes
6 pairs of winter gloves
8 pairs of scissors (5 lg., 3 sm.)
3 rulers
1 hole punch, missing for a year or so
100+ pens and pencils
5 tubes of all natural sunscreen
Several hundred bobby pins
20 or so notebooks (spirals, writing journals, etc.)
8 bandanas
Jon Schmidt CD with the song on it she was playing at the recital (we finally downloaded it from iTunes in early December)
Dozens of hair elastics
200+ markers & colored pencils
10 letters & cards, stamped and partially addressed, waiting to be mailed

This is just a sampling, but I think it's enlightening. There are many of these items that we had needed at one time or another. We spent extra time hunting, sometimes to no avail, and occasionally extra money to replace something that was quite necessary.

When she returned home and made the discovery that all was in order, she seemed pleased. Not the kind of giddy excitement she'd feel if I surprised her with a trip to Hawaii, but a calm, relieved sort of happiness. What is amazing, though, is the difference I've seen in her over these past few weeks. She is calmer, she seems more secure, she is more confident and likes to spend time in her room reading, doing homework or just listening to music. When it comes time to leave for dance, she knows exactly where all of her things are and can easily grab them. When she gets dressed in her school uniform each morning, she knows precisely where to find her skort, white polo and knee highs. It is a relief to her and a relief to me.

When I was in the thick of working on this project, I was a bundle of mixed emotions. I was happy to be getting the job done, I was confused at how it had gotten this bad, I was angry at myself for not doing a better job of teaching her how to stay organized as well as grumpy at her for living this way, etc., etc. I remained conscious, though, that my emotions were my own. This was really not about judgment, nor was it about me. It was a rescue operation and it was really about love and understanding.

So far, all has stayed in order. I moved much of her stuff into another room and purchased organizers to keep it in. I am closely monitoring what can go into her room and where it will stay. I will continue this until I see new habits formed and an independent desire to keep order. As time goes on I will be more allowing of agency. Until then, I am a military general, albeit a kind one. The pathway to joy has been opened and it feels really good for the both of us.

InJoy,
Cristi