Resting in Love…..and a contest!

I made this lavender soap a few months ago (and decorated this one with rose petals and lavender flowers) If you would like to enter the contest to win it, just comment with a word or a thought about the perfection of  your life or Life, or anything that has the word Perfect in it! I will choose a random winner on Monday April 1st

Over the past month or so, I’ve been working with the concept of assuming the perfection of everything. Several weeks ago, I received a call from a good friend (someone I thoroughly enjoy) saying they would be coming through town and wanted to get together. My first thought was “Oh darn it!”. Just the day before, I had firmed up plans to meet another friend out-of-town on that very day. I felt a pull in my heart as I wished I had not made the previous plan. I put the phone down, and my thoughts went to, “If she had only called a day earlier, or was I hasty in making that first plan?..” but as I thought these things, my solar plexus felt tight and uncomfortable.

I started slowly repeating to myself, “This must be perfect” and as I did, I could feel my energy align and smooth out. I’m not sure why this is perfect, (I said that too, along with, “Show me the perfection in this.”) but claiming the perfection in the situation, helped me feel the perfection of it (even when I couldn’t understand it with my conscious mind) and get it out of my head, and the ping-pong match that can happen in there, when I over-think things.

I could also feel that it wasn’t right (for me) to change my plan, so I had to assume that everything, for everyone involved, was working out for the good of all.

Life is for us, conspiring to bless us, has our best interest in Mind,….like a billion gears silently moving, rotating, dovetailing, in mind-boggling perfection, and we are as intimate a part of this Energy, God, Source, Life Force, Love, as we can be.

Life is moving me. Life is breathing me. I can trust this Unknowable part of myself to guide, direct and support me for the highest and best. I am right where I need to be, and I can rest in this.

Over this weekend, why not claim the perfection of everything and see what happens?!

“Everyone is in the best seat.” John Cage

(if you would like to enter the contest to win the bar of soap, the “rules” are under the photograph).

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Give-away day! A tin of Mary’s Skin Survival Balm

My skin balm (you can read about it here) http://www.marysskinsurvivalbalm.com

I think it’s about time for another give-away.  A tin of the skin balm that I make is the gift. To enter, just comment with an “impossible wish”…something that would be beyond your wildest dreams (but that you would love to see happen anyway). Have fun with this. Your comment can be as silly as “I’d like to jump over a pine tree” or as practical as, “I would love a new pink Volkswagen Bug to be sitting in my driveway on Christmas morning”.

Most of us did this kind of fun imagining when we were kids. It is high-time we started using our imaginations again.

“I don’t want the money. I don’t want the drama. I just want to do my show. I want to have fun again.” Dave Chappelle

P.S. I’ll choose a random comment on November 29th. If you are the winner, I will mail the skin balm to you (or if you’d like it sent to someone as a gift, I’ll do that too).

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Friendship, and a Blue Moon Giveaway!

1961 summer trip to “Magic Land” (I think that was the name of the place) with my cousins. I’m 4th from the right. the only ones who look like they are having fun are the 2 little guys (my brother on the far left and my cousin Matt running in front!) To this day, these are the guys you want to have at any gathering!

Years ago, I was very good friends with a woman (who I really liked a lot) but she wasn’t the first person I’d call when something wonderful happened for me. She struggled with life and so other people’s victories or happiness felt unfair, or even like an unkind barb to her. As much as I liked her, it wasn’t any fun at all to share my joy with her, so often times, I would either down-play what happened, or not tell her. I learned a lot about what I wanted to be from that friendship and set one of the intentions for my life: ”I want to be the kind of person who people love to tell good news to, and I want to be fun to be around.” These sound like such small things, but they are  two of the qualities that I cherish in people as well.

Thinking about what we value in friendships (or relationships in general) is a great way to look and question ourselves to see if we are giving what we would like to receive. And if we find that we come up a little short in this area, it can become a new point of focus, to grow into the people we want to be.

A man’s growth is seen in the successive choirs of his friends. Ralph Waldo Emerson

BLUE MOON GIVE-AWAY!!

Today is a blue moon, and so I am going to give away 2 skin balms to one person! To enter this giveaway, just comment with one quality you love in your friends (or feel free to tell a story about friendship). I will pick a random winner on Monday Sept. 3rd (Labor day)

2 tins of the skin balm I make , website, http://www.marysskinsurvivalbalm.com

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… a little contest!

The prize!

It’s 9:30 in the morning and already 85 degrees. I slept until 7 a.m. (Fred finally woke me up) and I’m looking at all of our animals lying prostrate on the wooden parts of the floor. Slow down, relax, take a deep breath, don’t rush, be easy with yourself today, seems to be the message…. and I am listening. So what better thing to do than a give-away? It is an easy and fun thing to do.

If you would like to enter this give-away, then just comment with a word  (or 2) that best illustrates the way you would like to feel, or have more, of in your life (examples; happy, calm, excited, faith, inner-peace, self-love) and I’ll choose a random entry on Friday, June 1st . The winner will receive a tin of the skin balm that I make….my words are, self-confidence.

• “Watch your thoughts, they become your words
  Watch your words, they become your actions
  Watch your actions, they become your habits
  Watch your habits, they become your character
  Watch your character, it becomes your destiny.”
  - Anonymous

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Saturday afternoon smile and give-away!

The pack of incense leaning up against very early flowers that I picked yesterday

It is Saturday afternoon here in upstate NY. I met my mother for breakfast today. At the end of our visit, I was telling her about an order of incense that had just been delivered. It is my favorite, and so I order at least 10 packs at a time, because I burn it both in my office and at home. I asked her if she would like a box and she said, “What do you do with it?” When I told her that you burned it, she said no thanks. I had to smile at this generation gap.

So, I thought why not have a little Saturday afternoon give-away?! If you would like this incense just send in a comment that has anything (at all) to do with incense: a memory, thought or just say that you would like it. Make your comments as long or as short as you like. It is light-weight, so I will ship it anywhere in the world, and will choose a random winner on Monday the 26th. Hope you are having a good weekend and if not, try to change your thoughts!

Always keep that happy attitude. Pretend that you are holding a beautiful fragrant bouquet.” Earl Nightingale

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Enter to win FREE Holiday Earring give-a-way..

Nancy in her studio

Good evening everyone!

My good friend Nancy makes incredible glass jewelry (I always get compliments when I wear the earrings that I have of hers) and she is doing a give-away on her new website. Check it out…her work is beautiful and you could win a pair of earrings!

Enter to win FREE Holiday Earring give-a-way...

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Giving and Receiving, and cashmere kitty blanket give away!

the kitty blanket

A few weeks ago I posted that I had made my own patchwork cashmere blanket from old sweaters and scarves, and then made one for my cats who adore it. I’m not sure who suggested it, but the idea was planted in my mind to make another kitty blanket (a lot less work than the human version) to give away here on the blog. Yesterday, I made one ( it is about 19 inches square and the top is all pieces of cashmere sewed to a backing of  thick padding). I even cut out a piece to look like a cat and sewed a little smile on his/her face.

It is so imperfect. Sewing is not one of my talents, but giving and receiving gifts is something that I love to be a part of.

So, If you would like to enter this contest, just comment about anything that you love to give or receive. I will randomly choose someone on December 8th (Bodhi Day) and mail the blanket out to you. (P.S. You don’t have to have a cat to enter, you might want it for a little dog or some other critter, or yourself!)

“I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver”. Maya Angelou

ALSO, OPRAH’S BIG GIVE AWAY INFORMATION IS BELOW!

***Oprah has been doing a 12 days of favorite things give away. I have entered the website below. Wouldn’t it be fun if one of the White Feather Farm community won the Oprah giveaway?!

http://www.oprah.com/packages/12day-holiday-giveoway-sweepstakes.html

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Blessing our money…and a contest!

a cute little wallet

I had a love-hate relationship with money for much of my life. Money was a huge source of tension in my home growing up; the cause of endless arguments between my parents. And so without realizing it, I came to be suspicious of money; thinking that it was responsible for our unhappy home (so it must be bad), and yet wanting it (so I must be bad too).

When I started to change my attitude about money; when I began blessing it (instead of cursing it), more money flowed into my life. When I was afraid of money (afraid I wouldn’t have enough, afraid I wouldn’t look like a legitimate minister if I had wealth, afraid of what others would think of me….) it stayed away.

Money is neutral….until we put our judgements on it. It is a vital part our lives and our world, why not bless it? Why not enjoy it?

“Wealth is not his who has it, but his who enjoys it“. Benjamin Franklin

CONTEST TIME!

If you would like the little wallet above (it is new…I got it at the thrift store a couple of weeks ago, but it is too small for my needs…it’s a Liz Claiborne),  just post a comment with some positive thought about money. I will choose a random winner on Saturday the 29th!

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Thrift stores, a contest!

The prize!

There was a “bag sale” at the Manchester Thrift Store yesterday. Before the fall, they get rid of all of their summer clothing to make room for warmer, winter things. I feel a little giddy on bag sale days. You purchase a white garbage bag for $5 and then go around the store filling it up. All of my usual discretion goes out the window on these days…it is as if I become obsessed with seeing how much I can cram into that bag. I don’t bother to try anything on, if it looks close to my size, I just stuff it in.

I justify this by saying that if it doesn’t fit, or I don’t  like it, I will simply put it in another bag and re-donate it. Which I do. Thrift store shopping is just plain fun for me and bag sale days make me feel a tiny bit like I have won some lottery.

So, it seems the perfect time for another give-away doesn’t it?! To enter this contest, just comment telling us what fun little thing you like to do for yourself, or for someone else (or if you can’t think of anything, but there is something that you wish you could do, then write that …there are no wrong responses!). I will choose a random winner on Monday the 5th and the prize will be a Mary’s Skin Survival Balm (in a sweet little gold bag that I picked up yesterday at the bag sale!)

 

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A more colorful life; stepping out of old patterns

Coloring my world; some of my recent purchases!

Yesterday, my friend Maria and I were shopping (at my favorite store, Manchester Thrift Store), and I decided to just chose colorful, bright clothes. I tried on one top and laughed out loud (in the dressing room all by myself). I had to show Maria….it looked so silly. She didn’t laugh. She said, “I think it looks great. How much is it?” I told her it was $2. Then she said that if I didn’t buy it, she was going to buy it for me. She went on to tell me, in the nicest possible way, that my wardrobe was sorely lacking in feminine charm!

Over the years, my dress has become more conservative; less colorful, more coverage. It happened gradually, so I was not that aware of it. I have noticed that when shopping, I would pick up and admire bright, colorful, flowing, beaded, sequined things but I never bought them. On the rare occasion that I would try them on, I always felt I looked wrong or foolish. I’ve been buying clothes with an eye to how others would observe me, not how I felt in them.
It is time for a change. It started on my trip last week with my friend Maud, who, like Maria encouraged me to get out of my comfort zone. I am grateful for friends who do this; who encourage us to live larger, take more chances, push the edges of what we think we should or can do.

“As long as habit and routine dictate the pattern of living, new dimensions of the soul will not emerge”.
Henry Van Dyke

The song below is dedicated to all of my friends who help me to grow (including all of you reading this right now….thank you!)

Oh, and for all of you contest fans, this is the last day of Maria’s wonderful, colorful, potholder contest which you can enter at,

http://www.fullmoonfiberart.com

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