Life in Runes - The Blank Rune

The blank rune -

No questions asked can have an answer from the past.

Because the future's not yet told; choices have the weight of gold.

The blank rune -

What you cannot see is all the ways the world can be

and any step you make is right; you've the choice of fight or flight.

The blank rune -

Time to reach inside to find the truth from which you hide.

Up or down, right or left, you're the one who know the best.

The blank rune is asking you the question.

What is it you want to happen?

How will you get there? What's your choice?

The blank rune offers you your voice.

My Solstice Wish

Hello, dear ones!

What a year it has been. So much to celebrate - endings and beginnings. So much growth and transformation it's difficult to know whether to laugh or cry or hide under the covers. And if you're like me, there is a lot of gratitude that the year has ended - rather like being grateful for night fall, because you know the day is finally done, and another has yet to begin.

But here we are at the new year. The dark days of introspection and healing are winding down; the lightening days of planning and looking forward are coming on.

This year, once more, I wish us abundance. That all within our greatest and highest good comes down; that everything we need appears; that all the positive and amazing energies we put out into the world return to us threefold. That all of our happiness grows as we find our footing and our foundations.

And this year I would like to focus on something more -  the abundant self.

We each are amazing and creative beings. WE each have so much to give - and the more we are ourselves, pure and strong and true, the more we can give from our heart and the more we can receive and the more power we have over our reality. But it can be difficult to find ourselves, to believe in self, to really know, in the deepest part that we can hear, that to be myself is the best I can possibly do. That that is the reason for my creation. That this being me is my greatest gift. And you being you is your greatest gift.

So this year, the gift I am spreading out into the world is that of stones - big stones, little stones, beads, baubles, bangles. I scatter them for you to find. So that when you are searching for a little more inspiration, a little outside knowledge that you are enough, you will find a stone. One that sparkles, or flashes, or washes up - and you will pick it up in your hand, and you will know, without any doubt whatsoever, that you are not alone. That you have a connection to the Divine, and through the divine, to all who love you. To all who cheer for you. To all who believe in you. Including me.

And whenever you need that extra mmmph, as we all do, the stone, my wish, and the belief of the Universe, will be there for you.

strong as stone, steadfast and true

I know what I was born to do

I believe in the power of me

to be the best that I can be.

I hope we all have an awesome and amazing Year.

What can I say?

For a while, I would say, every day - I am a happy, healthy, wealthy, witch.

Positive affirmation statements to create a preferred, empowered, and (naturally) happy reality.

But then, I heard I was saying it all wrong. Because  saying "I Am" told the Universe that how I am at the time of  utterance is my definition of happy, healthy, and wealthy.

Hmm.

But one can't use the word "becoming", either, because that implies a growth process without the final result. I would always be becoming, and never actually realizing happy, healthy, and wealthy.

So, word smith that I am, I really struggled with how to create my reality, how to form the words to tell the story of the life and person I wish to be. How to bring the amazing awesomeness of myself out into this reality.

And today, thanks to my path partner and a video/class from Dr. Joe Dispenza, I realized something.

Well, more accurately, I remembered something and it became more solid.

The affirmation is about CREATING the reality, not about DECLARING it.

I create my reality. So when I say "I am a happy, healthy, wealthy witch" I am putting out the energy and creating the reality of being the greatest and highest and happiest and healthiest and wealthiest. I am rippling the energy of my desires, of my heart home, out into my personal universe.

Easy peasy. I am not accepting that reality (which is the feeling of depression and oppression and boxed in and poor and sick and old and helpless) as the pinnacle of my life. I am turning this - connected, loved, at one with my body, mind and spirit, abundant in all that I need -  INTO the pinnacle of my life.

Deep breath.

Sink into the heart.

Feel the energy flow through the fingers, up and down the body.

Feel time and space ripple in the personal bubble.

I am happy.
I am healthy.
I am wealthy.
I am living my most awesome life and doing what I love and receiving love.
My world is everything I want it to be.
And it is amazing.

Can you feel it?

So mote it be.

Thank you for your voice

Just a quick Thank you for expressing your opinion by taking part in the voting. I know it's easy to feel like our voices are lost - especially if our choice is not one of the two current major parties. But every step we take, every time we step up to express our desire about how the world is being created, that is one brick in the new reality.

 It can be difficult, these days, to feel valued. Between political correctness, and fear of offending someone, we can feel stifled. And we can feel bad about ourselves. Oh, so guilty. Because I am better off than her, or I am in a better position than him, or I didn't have such a visably crummy childhood as they. Or I just don't like that person - and that person has a different skin color, belief system, sexuality, way of dressing or speaking - so there must be something wrong with me.

But my feelings are legitimate also. Each and every one of them. The ones that make me feel like a good person and the ones I'm ashamed of. They are all me. I get to think and feel and opine what I think and feel and opine.

And I get to vote for who I want to vote for. Regardless of the size of the party, or the chance of them winning. Because I can't change the system by playing the game. And my voice matters.

Saying my piece matters.

My experience, my needs, and my reality matters.

I get to vote for whom I want to vote. Not because I don't want the other person to win; not because it's the best of two bad choices. But because this is what I am drawn to. This is what I believe in. This is what I really think will make the world a better place.

So thank you for voting. Thank you for putting your opinion out there, no matter what it is.

Thank you for working toward your better world.

Because I do believe we are creating a better world. I insist on it.

I hope we all have a great day.

But who will save my world?

A friend asked me recently, what was my perception of how the world was going to be? In the future. You know, with all the interesting things that are going on, and our triggers and our beliefs and our emotional stability being poked and prodded right out in the open. With the two or four or fourteen sides that seem to be springing up. With the feeling like slogging through mud at every turn, and feeling like nothing is going to get our light out from under the bushel. (No!)

And I thought about it - I really paused and looked out the window, and reached, and...
...I believe it's going to be amazing.

I believe we're going to be amazing.

And yes, some days it's either believe that or hide under the covers until the world explodes, but I it's going to become pretty rank under those covers while I'm waiting, and besides...

...I think the reason things are so head-achy at the moment is not because the world is bleak and grey, but because it is so bright.

We are all popping out of our shells and emerging from our closets and shedding the constrictions and the illusions and the isolation. We are posting our blogs and teaching our truths and speaking out and standing up and breathing and being. We are starting our businesses and supporting our causes and connecting with our peoples. We are all shining our light. and that blessed bushel has been burned to a crisp.

And in a world that is used to political correctness and the bland mediocrity of fitting in, this sudden light can be painful and hard to adjust to.

And yeah, my truths are from a different book than your truths. And their truths may not even be in the same library as our truths. But we all have them.

And we're all testing them.

And we're all trying, to the best of our ability.

We are the Big Bang. We are the Word. We are the Alpha and the Omega. It is through our actions that our world is constantly being created.

And I believe that we, being the amazing, stubborn, adaptable humans that we are (who we are?) - I believe that we will create - we ARE creating - something marvelous out of all this chaos. We are saving the world.

Saving the world is not just the job of a few tragic, martyred heroes with amazing and unique abilities, poignant back stories and witty one-liners. We all have amazing and unique abilities, back stories, and one-liners. (Wit is, after all, an opinion.)
Saving the world is not just the job of the religious leaders, or the business leaders, or the philosophers, or the special ops. We all lead and we all follow. We all get up every day and do what we can do. We all brave the world with our own brand of truth and work ethic and training.
And saving the world is not just up to the artists and the entertainers and the sports super stars. We each are the center of our universe, and we are right here - not on a screen or a stage - but right here, connecting with the earth right now.

Each one of us has the power to act in that decisive moment, to choose the right door, to beat the trap or stop the count down or clip the wire or slide into home just under the glove. Every one of us has the force within us. Every one of us has the special knowledge it takes to win the game. We are the drilling team, the underdogs, the beautiful minds, the companions, the person in the right place at the wrong time. We're the yellow shirts, the cavalry, the prince, the godmother, the beacon in the dark.

And these world saving moments, these choices, these heroic actions are things we do every day! The mechanic who checks everything religiously. The person cooking for his family. The mother spending a moment with her child. The doctor who presents the news with calm. The friend who makes a joke at a tense moment. How many catastrophes have been prevented because we each are being ourselves and doing our stuff, every single day?

And while we may want to impact the world, have our fifteen minutes of fame, do something that impresses the WORLD, the real question is, which world is it that matters? The unreality one that lives on the other side of the screen? Or the one I have to live in every day?

I write for myself. I live for myself. I work for myself. I enjoy myself. I connect with others to feed myself. I made my world a red button free zone. And I save it, every single day.

And so do you.

So here's to the real heroes. Who sweep the floors, and pick up the trash, and serve the customers, and walk through life, day to day, doing their best. Here's to the leaders and the followers, to the big and the little fish, to the janitor and the CEO. Here's to those who help themselves, and so doing help others. Here's to all of us who eventually manage to get out bed. Here's to the smiles and the helping hands, and the people who mind their own business, and thousands little acts and decisions we each make every single day.

Here's to the ones who are saving our world.

Here's to us.

Lila's Wales Adventure in One spot.

Wales is amazing! A huge thank you to all who contributed, energetically and financially. I did send a couple of videos, which are available on the website, and which I will link to below.

The most interesting part of Wales, of experiencing Wales, was that I had to stop, step back, breathe, and be in order to really get what I wanted. My first video  meanders about expectations and being in different countries - and while it doesn't really go in depth on my disillusionment - which I was feeling pretty strongly - you can see (I can see) there is something underneath. Wales was beautiful and soft and welcoming and yet...

And yet...

Somewhere after (or during) the video, I was able to release the stress of the travelling, of wondering what I was supposed to be doing with myself in order to "Really Experience" Wales, and I just let us all be.

I let me be me. I let Wales be Wales. And I experienced what was happening, what I was part of - instead of desperately searching for some sign that matched my expectations. And it was amazingly, magically, fantastically, comfortably normal. When I let go and let Wales.

   When asked to describe Wales, the part I remember the most is the softness. The air feels softer, and closer. The mountain looked softer - because it had growth as far up as I could see. The trees appeared softer, as there were so many varieties. In fact, my new definition of diversity is the variety of trees all bunched together on the hill outside my B&B in Betwys y Coed. (the Bryn Afon Guest House. Awesome place, beautiful proprietors. So grateful I chose it!)

Even the sounds of Wales were softer, muted. Comforting.

Except when I tried to actually converse with people. I was astonished at how loud I sounded, compared to the voices of those around me. And I found myself having difficulty understanding, not because of the accents (which I found delightful) but because I was trying to listen at a different decibel than they were speaking. I couldn't tell Welsh language from English language because it was all on a different vibration.

And like listening to the people in Wales, listening to Wales itself required opening up to the different frequency and just listening, being.

It was a whole new level of Happiness Practice for me, I have to say. I had decided not to give myself assignments, to not offer exchanges of pictures and songs and meditations for the contributions. I wanted to, well, connect with me. Which means I had a hard time figuring out what to do! My poor busy brain was trying so hard to make something of all the beauty, all the sights, all the GREEN! All the lovely moist air. I didn't realize how overworked my brain was until I tried really hard to do nothing but experience. And each time I thought I reached a new level of open and connection, there was a deeper level waiting, beckoning, calling.

The space of being without expectation, without comparison, without wondering how I could use something, or how I should write about it, was  - okay, it was weird. And a little scary at first. Who am I without all my witty thoughts and kind comparisons?

I am (it turns out) a magical, connected being.


Many people asked me why I came to Wales. The deepest honest answer - because it is the most magical place I could think of. And it has been magic for me. I connected with beings, I had bats as companions, the river sang me to sleep at night. I was cared for and celebrated. And all I had to do was to be me, and to be there.

And yes, I sang to the river and to the trees.
I sang to those listening in the grave yard.
I communed with churches and the strangest looking birds.


I'll admit, I mostly just laughed at the sheep. They were everywhere! With splashes of color on their hindquarters -- depicting which gang they belonged to, one presumes. Or maybe which ranking they've achieved. When I walked the trail up Snowdon, the constant sheep commentary had me wondering if they were actually some sort of counsel of Universal Elders, disguised, in order to see what's really going on in the world.

I did NOT take the trail all the way up Snowdon; I don't even think I made it to the halfway point. But I did take the cog train to the top and saw...
...Mist. A lot of mist. And a bunch of people who had walked through the mist. It was...
...gray. And cold. An interesting bland balance to the Bodnant Gardens - which was a huge estate of flowers and rivers and the oldest, most beautiful trees I have ever had the pleasure of hugging.

I will say every day was an adventure. And I don't think I realized how much work I was putting into breathing and being, until now, trying to encapsulate all the emotion and exploration and stubborn determination and beauty and magic and frustration. I want to go back.

I want to go be part of the softness, the calm, the magic, the adventure. I want to see what else Wales has to offer. I REALLY want to speak Welsh with Welsh persons. And I want sweatpants.
 In all my searching, I found head scarves and t-shirts and sweatshirts and stuffed animals. I found a treasure of glorious wool socks that are now my very own. I even found a new elemental order. (look closely)

But nowhere did I find any warm, fuzzy pants that said Cymru.
Or Wales. I am sad. But it confirms that I must return to that beloved country soon!

So thank you to everyone - for your contributions of cash and energy.
 And thank you to me, for having the courage to go; for believing that it could be amazing; for believing in myself. For every moment I spoke my truth. And for allowing the magic to continue (closure video).

Because the commitment I made to work on the Happiness book (see video here) is more than just getting the practice into a narrative and cohesive form. It is being open to hearing about others' experiences. It is being able to accept that other people are going to have their opinions and that those opinions don't devalue my experience, they enrich them. It is the vulnerability of being open to receiving as well as expressing. Treating everyone with the same joyful allowance with which I treated Wales.

It is the unconditional love required to make my world a better place.

So Mote it Be.

Happiness Book - manifesto

Earlier today, a friend and fellow writer (who's work I hope to soon show you all) helped me add another line of perspective on the Happiness Book. My mom always used to say Simple but Significant. and paring the Happiness Practice down to a book that isn't 20 volumes of meandering is quite the practice.

My friend, Laura Naughton, talked to me about creating a manifesto for the book. Basically, a mission statement. So I Googled, found a guide by Sally Wolfe, and went for it. This is the result. This is today's truth. 

*****************

Why am I writing this book? To finally stand up for myself, current and past. To accept all of me. To love myself. To get the idea of happiness out there, so I can create a better world. Because the happier people are, the happier the world will be (because there will be less focus on trying to feel strong off of other people’s weakness; less fear for self.) And the happier and more peaceful the world, the happier I will be. And it is all about me! I am rescuing myself. I am manifesting my world.

The unique perspective of this book, the truth at the core, is that we are all unique and equal. that's there is no universal truth that applies to everyone. There is no right or wrong. I believe the whole purpose of being alive is for us each to be the best we can be, not to fit into molds, not to best each other, but to hold space for ourselves. to try and explore and to do things each our own way. The only person who knows what's right for me, is me. the only person who knows what's right for you, is you.  We are unique, and we are equal. I am not trying to feed you my truth. I am trying to help you find your truth (so that I can have a better world.).  And your truth is as valid as mine.

I want a person who reads the book or listens to the tapes or watches the videos or the classes or whatever, I want zer to come away not only feeling inspired and empowered but connected with self. To have tools for manifesting, and the knowledge that if one tool doesn’t work, another one will appear. That I don’t have the all answers, but the answers are out there. That we each are unique and equal, and there is no right and wrong, just unique, individual truths. And we don’t have to hurt others to be amazing. We are already amazing, just by being alive. And we not only get to be ourselves, we must be ourselves. I want each and every person to stand up and say, “I am doing what is right for me” and, without violence but with strength and personal truth, go forth and create a better world.

Audience: anyone who is young enough, flexible enough, willing to discard all the things that aren’t working (when it is right to discard them) and search for a connection with self. But, if I have to focus down, since it is all about me, the audience would be anyone who was or is like me – teenagers who feel ostracized, disconnected, not even bullied just confused and struggling and like they’re running just to stay still, in a place they’re not even sure they want to be but they don’t know how to get to where they want to go.