Bumpy But Beautiful

By Diana Neff | Published: February 21, 2012

Life is a bumpy, dirt road bordered by the beauty of a Renaissance garden.

I have a problem with letting go.  If I let go, it feels as if I’m not caring — and I don’t like that feeling.  I am a caring person and if I let go of caring, about my family, especially, then I feel I’m not loving them as I want to; very difficult to find the right combination.

My family is growing and active.  We are on a ride, that’s for sure.  The roller coaster humps seem to be less high and low than they once were, perhaps more frequent, though; like a washboard, dirt road.  One can get used to that after awhile; if one goes fast enough, it can’t be felt — so much.  The car’s undercarriage gets ruined, however.  LOL

My key to life at the moment:  Stay busy and go really, really fast.  But, what about stopping to smell the flowers?  Haha!  I do that really fast too.  Every moment that I step outside or glance out a window, I praise God and feel the gratitude for the instant of pleasure it brings me.

Sometimes I must step outside.  Maybe this is the letting go part.  What makes me go back inside, that sense of caring and the responsibility it shoulders?

So here I am in a cycle – care, let go, care, let go; the same rhythm the dirt road has.  It will become so ingrained that I will find it feels as if I have completed the letting go, when, in reality, it’s just that I ‘m moving so fast, I don’t notice the caring part anymore.

That has to be it.  ‘Cause I know I will never, never stop caring and dreaming of a Renaissance garden lifestyle; one of quiet repose, meditative bliss, and loving comfort.

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If you were meant to draw…

By Diana Neff | Published: February 18, 2012

If you have it in your blood, you’ll always find a way.  There is no such thing as, “I’d draw if I had paper.”

Source: flickr.com via Diana on Pinterest

 

Just look around and you will find people making stuff from stuff.  Woodworkers, welders, seamstresses, crafters of all sorts.  If they don’t have paint, they make it.  If they don’t have dye they resort to nature.  Metal can be found everywhere.  Old clothing can be recycled.  Artists will always find a way.

A musician without an instrument will carve a piece of wood, string up a broom handle, or twang a saw blade.  It is purely amazing to listen to a concert done on nothing but wooden boxes, plastic buckets, and strips of PVC pipe.

If there is a will, there is a way.  There will always be a canvas, an instrument, some place to jot down a verse, when creativity is within you.

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If you stumble, make it part of the dance.

By Diana Neff | Published: February 17, 2012

“If you stumble, make it part of the dance …” —Author Unknown.  This seems to be a belly dancing quote.

In art school, we learned that there is no such thing as a mistake.  I think it would be appropriate for us to teach ourselves that in life too there is no such thing as mistakes.  There may be things we wish we hadn’t done, or people we wish we had stayed away from, or choices we wish we hadn’t made, yet, those are all what make us us.  And if we don’t like the picture, we can change it up.  If we think we have stumbled, who’d know?

Here’s another one:  “They who dance are thought mad by those who hear not the music.” —Anonymous

So, if we dance to our own music and use every stumble as an artistic element, what beauty will we have created by the end of our days?

 

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What is it about little round places?

By Diana Neff | Published: February 15, 2012

Little round places have always intrigued me. There’s something so inviting about the circle. Is it promises of something revealed? Is it safety on the other side? Is it the wrapped arms of a hug? I just can’t put my finger on it. How beautiful is a semicircular bridge reflecting on still water? How inviting is a path leading through the keyhole passage of a stone wall?

 

How often am I able to stop and contemplate such things?  Not very.  How about you?  Time for my mind to wander has been very slim since children.  The creative juices need opportunity.

My piano has long been out of tune.  My artist supplies lie in hibernation.  I am keeping the embers of my writing skills stirred into a promising glow, however.  I boot myself outside to pull weeds and take in the sunshine while promising myself an earnest effort at gardening someday.  I can feel the first tickles of excitement as I breathe in the temptations of each of these healing activities.  Soon.

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The best things in life

By Diana Neff | Published: February 15, 2012

I just surprised myself by sitting down here at this moment.  Do you ever do that?  Something needs doing and you take yourself by surprise and start it before you know you are?  While I love being here and doing this, it sometimes feels like a chore to find the time, inclination, and thoughts to share.  It’s not a lot like cleaning the bathroom, but I handle it the same way.  I must have a certain amount of time to do it – all the way through, that is – or I won’t start the project.

Yes, there’s a freedom in working from home, but one must be in charge of time and mind to truly function well under their own volition.  Sometimes, I feel as if I’m being controlled by my surroundings rather than the other way around.  Right here, right now, I’m going to stamp my foot, put my fists on my hips, and say out loud, “Hey, who’s in charge anyway?!”  Oh yeah, I am.  Ain’t it great?

Well yes, it is great.  Does it “feel” great?  Not always.  Constant reminders are needed.  Life is fulfilling if we are aware that…

The best things in life are nearest:  Breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of right just before you.  Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life’s plain, common work as it comes, certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things in life.

~Robert Louis Stevenson

Simplicity itself.  So I tell myself, “Quit making it so difficult on yourself, silly!” or something to that extent, as you can imagine.  “Let it go and go outside,” where nature has just recuperated from another wet front that passed through and the air sparkles, and the birds sing, and the insects buzz while I breathe in deeply from the blossoms that made it through the winds.  Leaves lay on the ground like small bowls containing rainwater.  The earth is damp and the plants are firm having taken in water and nutrients.  I am one of them, standing taller with each breath, turning my face to the sun as a flower would.  My arms reach out, my fingers spread wide, and I draw in energy; up through my feet, experiencing it as it climbs my legs, enters my body, filling it, and then courses out of my chest, arms, and fingers, returning to the world.  I am part of the world.  I fit into the plan.  I feel empowered to greatness.  I can return to my daily tasks, understanding it is not their importance that drives me, but the fact that I am capable in all ways and should express gratitude for this by using my gifts, my abilities.

Having things to do and being able to do them…the best things in life!

There, I did the whole thing, start to finish.  I’m pleased.

Wikimedia Commons photo credit:  By HID


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Oscillations big and small

By Diana Neff | Published: February 15, 2012

Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, oh my goodness!  Whew!  I think I’m seeing the light of day somewhere ahead.  Or is it that other light!?  Hadn’t thought of that.  Oh well.  What will be, will be.  I’m here and I’m breathing and I hope you guys are well too.

I’ve been doing as much energy work as the Universe is blessing me with these days.  It’s always amazing when I realize that I have fewer clients during the times when my personal life is overly full.  I am learning to trust this flow and take comfort in knowing this is the proper way of things.  It’s nice to have a break and I am remembering to be grateful.

This subject comes up so often during sessions.  It seems all of us need a reminder that life is a roller coaster ride and that’s just the way of it.  We can adjust the oscillation of this ride by using our energy exercises – breathing, meditating, grounding…emanating gratitude.  Wave length, amplitude – both variables we can manipulate if we simply take the time to focus.

Breathe in…and breathe out.  Relax the shoulders…now the jaw.  Visualize a fiery sunset with clouds in even patterns, marching toward the horizon – a butterfly lifting and dipping along the grass.  Listen to a seashell covering your ear and magnifying the sound of your blood swishing through your veins– the sound of mourning doves cooing in the morning.  There are so many examples of nature’s beauty and its variable oscillations – all here to observe.

This time of year, especially, we can use moments of filling / energy boosts and encouragement — having completed our annual journey — and rev up for the new year.  Let me know if I can help.

Happy times and potent dreams!

 

Image Credit by Geraldbrowne via Wikimedia Commons

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Co-Dependence vs Independence

By Diana Neff | Published: February 14, 2012

 

Co-dependence vs. independence.  I’ll say it again and allow the connotations to roll off my tongue with the words as they drip with hidden criticism and embattled thoughts.  Co-dependence vs. independence.

I’m co-dependent.  I’ll scream it to the rafters!  Is there nothing more precious than to observe an elderly couple attached at the hip, making their way through their final years as if they were a single entity?  Why do so many then fight this very thing and thump their chests in argument over their individuality and freedom to be a lone and single being?

Then I take pause.  Be independent.  Be strong.  Be yourself.  Be happy as yourself.  Do for you.

How on earth do we reach a happy medium?  Does it always have to be an infernal roller coaster ride?  So many subjects seem like that to me.  There is no straight and narrow anything.  That is part of being a Libra, but it is also part of being a human.  An anthropological conundrum.  (Someone else probably made that one up before me, right?)

Yes, I’m co-dependent.

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Beads – Glorious Beads!

By Diana Neff | Published: February 14, 2012

Source: flickr.com via Taarna on Pinterest

 

Oh the intricacies, the patience involved.  How many times do we say things like, “Oh, I’d never have the patience, I’m all thumbs,” or, “I’d love to, but I don’t have the time.”  Have you ever stopped to think of how much our lives are like bead work?

Image Credit: ndesjard

 

We spend our days – and nights – creating this area and that area of our lives.  Do we ever take the time to step back and admire the effect?  Does our creation make sense?  Is it pleasant to behold?

We begin as children.  Our beads are large, cumbersome, brightly colored, as we pop them together, getting a feel for what lies ahead.  As we pass along our timeline, we begin making subtle changes to our vision of ourselves, our beading.  We become more determined to express a particular thought or feeling in a certain way.  As we age, it becomes apparent that sometimes the beads rather determine their own design and we have lost any say in the outcome.  Then we realize that our lives, our bead work has an energy of its own.  We’re there, adding beads for all we’re worth, yet, the pattern and the plan seem to be just beyond our vision.

It’s time to stop and behold the beads…like smelling the roses.  Have we created a tightly exact design, or is it a free style concoction?  Have we kept to all the same sized beads, or used as many different types and sizes as we can fit on our canvas?  Neither is the right or the wrong way.  It’s just a way.  For me, there’s nothing more pleasing in a piece of art than finding a rhythm that is suddenly interrupted by an oddity which then steps out of the way and allows the rhythm once again.  This just tickles the bejeebuz out of me.  Yeah man.

Image Credit: beadware

There are those whose beads are loose and dangling, haphazardly and happily moving on to the next one.  And there are others who have spent time attaching each and every one with the greatest of love and care.  I imagine them contemplating their work/life compared to another.  “I so wish I could add a little more sparkle, pizzazz, color to my life.”  “I would really like to organize myself a lot more.”

You know, your roses don’t smell prettier than mine and your beads aren’t any more exquisite.  But they sure are different.  And that’s a good thing.

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Weight-loss….oops, did I say that?

By Diana Neff | Published: February 13, 2012

 

Can you imagine there are 7 whole new weight-loss rules?  I thought I knew them all.  Well, think again, Diana.  These rules are actually things we might be doing already.  That’s good news!  Understanding why they work is the real clincher for me, ah ha moments that encourage me to help myself and ward off ailments as I get older.

Read the full article here:  Shine

Here’s the abridged version.  Full disclosure on exactly what is happening in your body when you eat these foods following the 7 weight-loss rules, in layman’s terms of course, is given in the article.  It’s an easy read.  What can you lose but some unwanted fat?

1. Have a Fatty Snack 10 To 30 Minutes Before Your Meals
Reason: You remain fuller longer.

2. Start Your Meal with a Salad
Reason: It soaks up starch and sugar.

3. Have Some Vinegar with Your Salad or Meat
Reason: It slows the breakdown of starch into sugar.

4. Include Protein with Your Meal
Reason: You won’t secrete as much insulin.

5. Eat Lightly Cooked Vegetables
Reason: You digest them more slowly.

6. Have a Glass of Wine with Dinner
Reason: Your liver won’t produce as much glucose.

7. Eat Sweets for Desserts Only
Reason: All of the above.

So there, see?  Nothing hard about doing any of this!  Besides, what can you gain?  You’re one step closer to that stress-free, feel-good lifestyle  – shed that belly fat; fit into clothes that you used to wear; and prevent diseases like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and cancer just by eating.

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Shea Butter Lotion Bar

By Diana Neff | Published: February 13, 2012

Say that fast 10 times.  No, it’s not, “See a better ocean bar.”  It IS easy to make and delightful to use.  I was put onto this recipe for a moisturizing lotion bar by the best massage therapist in the world.  You can find her at Massage TLC.

 

The recipe source:  DeShawn Marie’s Handmade Soap

For those of you who have tried lotion bars before and made them with cocoa butter you know that it can have a strange smell. Well you are in luck as this lotion bar does not use cocoa butter so you can use any fragrance or essential oil that your heart desires and not have a chocolate over smell.

Moisturizing Lotion Bars
You’re gonna love me for this recipe. These are my absolute favorite for the winter months and they are super easy to make.

4 ounces mango or shea butter
4 ounces beeswax
5 ounces liquid oil (jojoba or grapeseed are both excellent choices)
2 teaspoons of essential oil or fragrance oil

INSTRUCTIONS:

Melt the beeswax in a separate container and the butter/oil in another container. Add together, mix well, stir in any fragrance oil or essential oil you like. Then pour into containers, tupperware or rubbermaid works fine. Mixture will harden in approximately 1-2 hours. The cooler the mixture is upon pouring it, the less ‘pocks’ you’ll get in the bars.

Enjoy!!

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