I have been having this icky feeling in my chest. I don’t have a cough – really, but sometimes a tickle. I don’t FEEL sick, but this icky, burning type feeling. It is kinda making me grumpy. Short-tempered is more accurate. I think I have mentioned how when I don’t feel good, before I even realize I don’t feel well, I get grumpy. I think it makes sense for people to be grumpy when they don’t feel well. I am trying not to ACT grumpy, of course, but I feel a bit grumpy/short-tempered. I know that I have also mentioned that I have not been sick since last year, so I am fighting this with vitamins, sleep, and tea. I have been drinking a lot of tea. My hubby and I will drink tea at night to warm us up when we are cold. But I don’t usually drink tea during the day unless I am cold. I do drink Chai Tea Lattes, in place of my coffee sometimes in the morning. I have some days where I have a Nia class in the morning and a yoga class right after so I get home later in the day than I want to be drinking coffee so I drink the Chai Tea Latte (recipe here). But the thing that makes my chest feel better is HOT liquid so I have been drinking tea. I like those Yogi teas. I have posted about them before. I am drinking two that are supposedly to help support your immune system. But, ya know what else they actually do? They make me happy. I love the little sayings on the tea bag tags.
Most of them make me smile. “Be proud of who you are.” That is a great saying. Something many of us could use to be reminded of. Something that not everyone has someone tell them. So why not be reminded via a lovely tea bag. Enjoy a nice cup of yummy tea and a nice reminder.
Many, many, many people believe that “Gratitude is the open door to abundance.” First of all if you are grateful for what you have you have many wonderful things in abundance. And if you think in the positive you attract the positive. Having gratitude will attract more things to be grateful for. Ahhhhh . . . and a lovely cup of tea to go with that awesome perspective.
“Life is a flow of love; your participation is requested.” WOW! Life is a flow of love. That alone is a great saying. Just thinking of life as one big flow of love. My cup of tea tasted better with just THAT part alone. Then the request for participation. That really made this saying go over the top (in a good way) for me. I love that. Participate in the love that is life. Let love flow. Grab your raft and jump on the flowing river that is love and that is life.
I really love my Echinacea Immune Support Yogi Tea. It smells great. It smells of fragrant flowers. I can just breathe in the aroma from the bags and be calmed. It tastes just as good. Then the little sayings on the bags — just make me smile. I don’t love all of them . . . but they make me smile. And then some of them I love. Like these ones mentioned here.
Do you drink Yogi tea? Do you have any favorite sayings that they have on their tea bags?
A few months ago I was finding myself with a sense of anxiety. I was feeling STRESSED. I was just really out of sorts. I was worrying about things some of which I could do nothing about. I was just feeling frantic. Finally one day I said, “What is up with this anxiety? Why am I on edge?!” I was just tired of that on-the-edge feeling. I stopped and examined what I was allowing to cause me anxiety. I decided to take a few steps to relieve that anxiety, but I also realized that I was not trusting. I felt that I had the faith, but I was not allowing myself to TRUST in order to let my faith that things would be ok, actually carry me through. Now, I know they might sound the same, or you might think it was faith I was lacking and we could argue the semantics and the difference, but in my opinion it was trust that I needed to have. So I started looking for “Trust” symbols. I was hoping to find a piece of jewelery I could wear or a temporary tattoo. I found this beautiful bracelet that I found myself wanting, but while I was lacking in trust I was not lacking in intelligence. Spending $150.00, when having enough money was one of the things I was worried about, would not be smart. I kept the webpage as a tab on my iPad, and would look at it. I felt that was a good enough reminder. Then a friend of mine posted a link to Jennifer Pastiloff’s website on Facebook that led me to Conscious, Ink.
Conscious, Ink is temporary tattoos of sayings or things you might want to remind yourself of or manifest. And they have “Trust”. A beautiful slightly green Trust. Trust on top of each other and inverted so you can read it from either side/angle. And one long T R U S T. They also have packages where you can buy 30 days worth of one tattoo. So you can just keep the tattoo ongoing for 30 days. I bought all the different versions of “Trust”. I bought 1 of the long one, 2 of the double one, and a month’s worth of the “fancy” greenish one.
So far I am wearing them on my forearm so that I can actually SEE them and be reminded. I mean that was really the whole point for me. But you, of course can do whatever you want.
They have packs of series of tattoos, for example a “Healing Series” which contains different color tattoos stating:
EVERY CELL IN MY BODY IS IN PERFECT ORDER
I ENJOY OPTIMAL HEALTH & VIBRANT ENERGY
MY BODY HEALS IN EASE AND GRACE
SOURCE Nourishes & Loves ME I AM Light
I TRUST Myself I AM Peace & Joy
I LIVE In Joy & Unity I AM Alive
The “Be Present Series” contains “Just Breathe”, “Be Present”, “Let Go” and three more tattoos all in fancy script.
They have a large assortment of different types of tattoos all made to help “solidify intentions and affirmations” and help you manifest your own destiny. For me personally it is perfect. I need a reminder. Things around here are cause for questions and since there are no clear answers the only thing I can do is TRUST. I think with tattoos reminding us of things; Appreciation, Believe, Forgive, Gratitude, Listen, Be Bold, Acknowledge, Expect Miracles, Let GO Let God, I am the source of my abundance, Do it now, Follow Your Bliss, quotes from Rumi, and many more — we can actually make things happen and manifest them. Conscious, Ink even has a few pregnancy tattoos.
I also have to say that I am a sucker for free gifts. I love when businesses include free things with an order. Silly as it may sound it always makes me feel special . . . even though I know I am not the only one that they do that for! And my free gift was a “Gratitude” tattoo. A free gift and THAT particular tattoo made me very happy. There was even a little hand written note from the owner. AWESOME! I think all of that is a great job of manifesting a returning customer!
I have so much to be thankful for I work on giving thanks all year long. I tell the people who I am thankful for that I appreciate them. I do feel so much gratitude that I don’t feel bad taking one of my posts for sharing some things and people who I am thankful for. Why not, right? It is my blog and Thursday happens to be one of the days I post. And since Thanksgiving is set up to occur on Thursdays it just happens that I will be posting on that day.
I did have a conversation recently with my Nia students and we agreed that it would be nice if the United States celebrated Thanksgiving in October as our Canadian neighbors do. We were talking about how it would be beneficial to have the Holidays spread out a bit. Having more time in between Thanksgiving and Christmas could ease some stress. It wouldn’t be one big rush. Plus the fact that not all of the days off from work would be so close together. Sounds like a good idea.
As I type this (a bit before Thanksgiving) what is really in the front of my mind to be thankful for is my Nia Students. I am very grateful to them for holding space for me while I took the Nia Blue Belt Training, the next level of Nia. As a dance exercise teacher there is a fear that students won’t come back if a class is cancelled. It takes commitment to come to a class day after day and week after week and sometimes once that habit is broken it is easy to let it go. So knowing that my students are committed to Nia and to supporting me really helped me let go of the fact that I had to cancel my classes and it allowed me to really BE where I needed to be.
I am also very thankful for the people involved with my Nia Blue Belt. I am thankful for the organizer. She kindly kept in communication with me when I didn’t know if I should sign up for the intensive because my mom had been having health issues and at one point she was going to be scheduled for a major (MAJOR, MAJOR) surgery the very week of the intensive. She let me know that I could register as close as 30 days prior. I have huge gratitude towards the Nia Trainers who each have their own story, one flying from Hurricane Sandy to come teach us, and the other having had a bee sting, a car accident, and surgery. And the class, my fellow Blue Belts. Some of the trainees are actually other belts retaking the blue, but they will be fellow blues to me. I appreciate the warm and welcoming space that was created and held. There were many people going through personal situations and they were able to step into the space strong and ready to learn. They put the issues aside and focused and made it through. Thank you so much, Blues!
My husband was so great during the entire week of training. I am a firm believer that the body and brain needs nutrients throughout the day so I make sure that I make him lunch every night. He is one of those worker-people that will just power through his day not giving a thought to food. So it is really important that he have lunch right there to eat. During the intense week he made sure to make his own lunch (AND DINNER) because he knew that if he didn’t I would. He helped it feel as if I were on vacation from my home duties. This helped tremendously.
I am very thankful for my mom’s health. She has been going through some issues this past year and true to my mom she has stumped her doctors. At first they didn’t know what exactly was going on, then every time they had a treatment plan it would change because my mom does not follow text books or protocols. She had a stricture in her throat which led to the discovery of lung cancer. And over the past year has had surgery three times none of which were the one that was planned to fix her throat. That surgery was to be a major surgery. And by some miracle (the doctors are amazed) that surgery is no longer needed and her cancer was removed along with a lobe of her lung. She is almost back to normal. She just needs to work on getting used to have less lung. I am very thankful for her health. It was a very long, stressful year.
My friends are always on the top of the list of blessings I am thankful for. I am always amazed at the wonderful people who I have that love and support me. And I am eternally grateful. I am grateful for my family. I am grateful for Nia. It is an amazing practice and through it I have met even more amazing people.
I hope that those of you that celebrate Thanksgiving have a very Happy One. And I invite everyone to take a moment to think of something they are thankful for. Anything you care to share that you are thankful for?
So, you know what kind of day I had? I awoke to a kiss from my hubby. Then before I could get out of bed I had a sweet little cat rolling around on the floor meowing for attention. She was very affectionate and spent a lot of time visiting with me. My hubby said she spent a lot of time with him too, about twenty minutes. That is a long time, usually she wants to get her morning hugs in then rush off to a bed for her morning nap. Then my day proceeded with me teaching a Nia class. We had a great time. Afterwards my students and I chatted a bit. The conversation ended on a high – a compliment to me and Nia.
The weather was nice in the morning.
I stopped by the grocery store. I came home and made a really yummy sandwich using the panini press. I received a few e-mails from friends and family. I talked to a good friend. We had a nice phone visit. I even took a little nap.
So it was a very wonderful day. I am very blessed. See? I had one of THOSE kinds of days, the ones that I am grateful for, the ones that sometimes get lost in the mix. When I judge my day or talk about it, I don’t condemn the entire day just because there might be a few bad moments. If you ask me about my day, I will tell you it was good. I appreciated it. If you want to hear I will share about the other moments, but I won’t proclaim my whole day BAD or one of “THOSE DAYS”.
I won’t let the fact that when I got downstairs after visiting my cat I noticed that she threw up in four different places, dictate the whole day’s label. For those of you that have cats, I know you understand (Why do they do it in several places??). For those of you that don’t have cats, cats throw up. Sometimes a lot and sometimes not. Sometimes is it just a hairball and sometimes it is just them not feeling well. It seems that no matter WHY they are throwing up they have to do it in three (at least) different places.
I won’t claim it “one of those days” even after I went into the bathroom to get my vacuum cleaner hose out of the tub (yeah that is where I keep it) and noticed that the other stuff I had in there was damp. It wasn’t gonna get that label even after I came back from the garage with a basket to put the stuff in and the entire tub was full of water, then the toilet started to over flow as I was standing there. Yeah, it still wasn’t a bad DAY. I still can’t negate all the good of my day by calling the entire day bad when I realized we don’t have a mop. I use those disposable type of floor cleaners and our mop died a long time ago. So I had nothing to soak up the water with. I had to go to the store.
Even when my hubby didn’t get a call back from the plumber before 5:00 pm and we ended up getting one late at night. I still couldn’t and can’t condemn the entire day. And I hadn’t had a chance to take a shower all day and it was hot and I got really hot and sweaty bailing out the tub. We did eventually get water. It was 10:30 pm. So the laundry had piled up because there was the initial cat blankets and bedding, then the towels to ensure the leak did go past the bathroom, and all the stuff in the tub (I had clothes in the bottom of the tub, ya know the ones I am going to get around to donating? Geez.).
So even though all of that happened it could have been worse. I could have not discovered what the cat did behind the TV in her window seat until there was a stench and a trail of ants leading to it. It was really hot yesterday so it would have baked in the sun. (Gross I know, but think of how thankful I am!) I could have not been standing there when the water started coming in and it could have kept coming. We could have not had water all night. I would not have been able to make it through the night.
It could have been worse AND I had a lot of great points to the day so I don’t like to say I am having a bad day, or a day from hell, or any of those things. I had a day for which I am grateful, it had some moments that were kind of icky, but still those were just moments. The bad moments are not what make up our lives. We all have bad moments. We all have things to deal with and “crosses to bear”. But me, I don’t condemn a whole day for those moments. I fell asleep thinking about the beautiful moments of my day.
How about you? Do you have bad DAYS? Do you let the trying moments dictate the day?
Don’t you love three day weekends? I remember when I worked a corporate job, three day weekends were looked upon as revered things. I had been in the mortgage business all my working life and for some reason there was a practice of companies closing a bit early the Friday before a three day weekend. Rarely was it announced too far in advance, but just sprung upon us a little before lunch. The management would let us know we would be getting out at 2:00 pm or 3:00 pm. We would get to start our holiday early! Eventually it became such a common practice that we kind of began to expect it. And some companies would even be so kind as to announce the early departure time the day before so that people could actually make plans. Ahhh, yes, the three day weekend is something corporate America loves. Sometimes the actually Holiday is forgotten in the joy of having an extra day off. Forgotten in the excitement of the prospect of gathering with friends. Forgotten in the moment. Usually there is a mention of it somewhere and we say, “Oh yeah, THAT’s why we have an extra day off.” In the case of Memorial Day it really is more than an extra day off, isn’t it? Because of the people who have served and died in the United States Military, we, in America, have so much more than a day off.
Memorial Day is actually May 30th. In 1968 an Act was signed into law that changed the federal observance of some holidays to be on Mondays so that federal employees could have a three day weekend. The Uniform Monday Holiday Act took effect on January 1, 1971. According to the all-knowing Wiki:
“The Act moved Washington’s Birthday, Memorial Day, Columbus Day, and Veterans Day from fixed dates to designated Mondays.
The Monday holiday dates this act established are:
Washington’s Birthday: third Monday in February (formerly February 22)
Memorial Day: last Monday in May (formerly May 30)
Columbus Day: second Monday in October (formerly observed on October 12)
Veterans Day: fourth Monday in October (formerly November 11 and subsequently moved back to November 11 effective 1978)
Though the holiday was not in existence at the time, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (established 1983) is celebrated on the third Monday in January, instead of King’s actual birth date, January 15, for the same reasons.”
So it is no wonder we might sometimes forget what the holiday actually was created for, because at one point it DID become about having a three day weekend.
I do hope that you take advantage of the time off and I hope you do enjoy yourself. I really believe that having time off from work is necessary to help recharge the body, mind, and spirit. While you are sharing good time with family and friends maybe you can take a minute to remember those that died serving in the military. In fact, in 2000 there was a White House Memorandum issued that would be a wonderful thing to participate in. It encourages “Americans everywhere, to pause for one minute at 3:00 p.m. (local time) on Memorial Day, to remember and reflect on the sacrifices made by so many to provide freedom for all.” Will you join me?
Since Nia is a workout/dance/practice that recharges the body, mind, and spirit I am not taking Memorial Day off. I will hold both my morning Nia class and my evening Nia class which will allow those that are normally working to participate. The focus will be sacrifice and freedom, the intent will be to express gratitude for the sacrifices made for our freedom.
I hope you enjoy your weekend. If you have a three day weekend, I hope you take advantaqge of that extra day off. I also hope you will join me for a minute at 3:00 pm this Memorial Day and every Memorial Day and take a moment to remember.
Since my posting schedule is Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, I am always going to end up posting on Thanksgiving. My hubby and I don’t have kids and we are both the youngest of the children. I have always figured that I don’t get to do the Holiday dinners because I don’t have kids and I am the baby. That is fine with me. As I have shared with you before, I am not a fan of all the traditional Thanksgiving Day food. I usually just eat the turkey sans gravy, the bread, the potatoes, and the salad. If there is another vegetable I will eat that. But I don’t like the sweet potato casserole, the stuffing/dressing, the cranberries, or the gravy. So to me the meal is not one of those meals that I look forward to all year long. But I do like to give thanks. I am very blessed so I give thanks all year round, but on Thanksgiving people are more apt to accept the compliment and the gratitude.
This year there are some sad things surrounding our holidays. This is the first year we will be without the matriarch of husband’s family. This is a source of great sadness, of course. I am sure there will be many tears shed as we gather without the light that brightened every family gathering. I am sure it will be a bit surreal. Also my hubby’s best friend will be experiencing his first holiday without his mom. And another loss that I am feeling – although less drastic – one of my best friend’s is moving away. She is moving far enough away that there will be no day trip visits. This will be the first Christmas in 25 years that we will not have “Christmas with the Girls.” Yes, I know this is a post about Thanksgiving, but she will be gone right after, so I mention it. So much loss, so much sadness.
But even though moments of sorrow might have me bowing my head for tears to fall, life is still a blessing. There is so much to be thankful for. I cannot deny the blessings that I have. I can’t walk around in a constant state of gloom. I have to go on being joyful. I have to go on with the dance. As we say in Nia, Dance Through Life. Yeah, right in the middle I might stop stricken by the realization, stopped by a thought or a memory, but it’s not right to dwell on the sadness and the injustice of it all. Not only will dwelling on the negative effect me, it is an affront to all that is good.
So while this Holiday season will have a large shadow hanging about, I will shine bright enough in my thankfulness that I will not allow the darkness to prevail. Of the things I will be expressing gratitude for is the blessing of these people having been in my life. So I like thanksgiving, because it is a time to gather and give thanks. It is a time for gratitude.
I hope this finds you and yours well. I hope there are things in your life you can be thankful for. Even if this is not the time of yerr for your Thanksgiving (Canada does it in October) or if you don’t celebrate it at all, maybe you can give thanks just because your are grateful.
Often times during my day I think of things I am thankful for, I am always thankful when I remember to turn OFF the alarm in the morning before opening the door, having the heart-stopping-blare of the house alarm is really no way to start the day. I am always thankful when I find my keys when I didn’t put them in the correct place. I am always glad when I drop my toast and it lands butterside up. 🙂
I want to share a few things in my life I am gratful for, my hope is that you would join me and make your own list and share it here with me. I am only listing six, but please feel free to list as many things as you are grateful for and share as much about each thing you would like.
1–I am grateful for my hubby, he is the best. 2–I am grateful for my family, they are awesome. 3–I am grateful for my hubby’s family. While yes, I consider them my family I know that I am lucky to have such a great
“in-law” family so I needed to list them separate. 4–I am grateful to be able to teach Nia, sharing something I love with others. 5–I am grateful for my friends. I am very blessed to have some of the greatest friends ever. 6–I am grateful for my health, and will work to keep it.
I am thinking that many of you will be able to list some of these very things, but I also know that some of you have some very exciting things in your lives and maybe you would like to list them as something you are grateful for.
Oh, and I could forget, I am grateful for you taking your time to read my blog.
So today (July 31, 2010) was the Nia Jam and it was the third one that I have taught in. Cool. It was awesome. I just have to say, “Ahhhhhhhhhhh!” I know many of you feel this way because I see you post it in blogs, on Facebook, and in tweets. Just “Ahhhhhhhhhhh!” When you are with people doing what you love and they are doing it too! The Nia Jam was so beautiful and awesome. There were teachers from all over and we just danced—-and our students let us and they followed along. It was magical.
One of the creators of Nia is retiring at the end of this year. I must admit that I don’t really believe it (yes, probably denial). I mean, I believe he is leaving and I understand that, but I don’t believe that he will not be pulled back—by his own heart—into being involved somehow. I can understand that he is ready to move away from the day-to-day and all that it must involve, but I have hope that he will be doing it somehow. I picture him teaching in the city to which he is moving. I guess I will see.
The focus of the Nia Jam today was a celebration of Carlos AyaRosas. We did a jam using katas from his routines. Our intent was a thank you and a gathering of “Carlos” energy. I felt that we did a great job. I felt that our hearts were alive with gratitude for the dances he has created for us and for Nia. I felt there was a lot of “Carlos” energy! I have a feeling that he would have been honored and he would have been proud of us for sharing our love of Nia using his katas.
A Nia Jam is a great way to experience Nia. Teachers gather to co-teach. Once the music starts we just go. There is a trick sometimes to doing the microphone handoff, but it all works out in the end. Today is was joy, it was magic, it was fun, it was Nia. It was exactly what a jam should be. I like to think it is what Carlos had in mind when he created the katas we danced today.
Thank you, my Fabulous Nia Teachers. And thank you, Carlos for all that you have given to Nia.
Here is one song, this is not an example of Carlos’ choeography, because it is a Free Dance. I didn’t want to miss one minute of his dances. I could only bring myself to record a Free Dance. 🙂
Everyone is talking about Twitter. I will say I just recently joined the masses, but I have been on long enough to have participated a few times in the once a month #Gratitude party. Once a month on the second Sunday of the month LaSara Firefox host an online Twitter “party” where for an hour you tweet things you are grateful for. I am sure there are some that think this is odd and maybe some even think it is stupid, but I really love it. It gives me the opportunity to release some of the joy that is always built up in my heart. I have so many things to be grateful for and it is so wonderful to have a place to just say them out loud where no one is judging. Since everyone there is just sharing, it is not ever taken as if someone is bragging. It is just really great.
Some people have heart wrenching stories that they share and they end with a grateful note. Some people have huge accomplishments that they share. Some people have little triumphs. But all are received with open arms. We lend our hands, we give our shoulders, then we cheer. It is really amazing that all of this happens on line in tweets. Then with all of the sharing and everything going on, we can meet new people. I know that I walk away feeling great, and I think others do too. I feel great because I was allowed to let people know that I know what I have is amazing and that I am grateful. I feel great because I hear how others might have had a bad experience but they triumphed through it. I feel great because I was able to cheer someone who accomplished something. And I feel great because I was able to connect with all of these people. It is awesome.
I have met people from San Jose, Istanbul, New York, Los Gatos, Canada, Trieste, all over all . And I blog about it, in something longer than a tweet, to express my gratitude to LaSara Firefox (yoga_mama) for doing this every month, and so that you can learn about it and participate, if you would like.
This month it is May 10, 2009 at 4:30 pm PST.
Just type #gratitude in your tweet to join. I can’t wait to see you there.*
*06.06.20
I don’t know if gratitude parties are still a thing, but the #gratitude link above was not long working so I tried the # in Twitter and was so happy to see there is still some gratitude going on . . . so now it is a June 02, 2020 link.
Most of them make me smile. “Be proud of who you are.” That is a great saying. Something many of us could use to be reminded of. Something that not everyone has someone tell them. So why not be reminded via a lovely tea bag. Enjoy a nice cup of yummy tea and a nice reminder.
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