lara simmons

"Meditate as though your hair were on fire. " --Pema Chodron Tomorrow night set your whole body on fire! Learn the Violet Flame Meditation at Mosaic Coffeehouse in Wallingford (4401 2nd Ave NE, 98105). 7:00pm - 8:00pm. The cost of the class is whatever you can pay, with 10% of all donations going to support Mosaic, a community coffeehouse in Seattle.  See the sidebar for more information on the Violet Flame Meditation . Hope to see you there!   

“ What you want in this lifetime, you must CLAIM.” – My guides Whenever I WRITE MY LIFE , what always comes up for me is this: WRITE. TEACH. COUNSEL. INSPIRE.  This is what I want to do with my life. Write books, essays, and poems that inspire. Teach people how to live their lives to the fullest. Help others find counsel in their inner guidance. Ignite the flame of inspiration in the hearts of everyone I meet.  But when it comes time to put my passion into action, I often feel stuck. It is so hard sometimes to work up the courage to take the next step. To get out there and DO IT.  This summer I made a commitment to myself to teach one class per month this year, but I have been wavering about teaching a class this month so I checked in with my guides and this is what I got:  "What you want in this lifetime, you must CLAIM."  What I took from this is that if I want to teach, I need to teach. No one is going to come to my door, grab me by the hand and say, "Let

 "Appreciate yourself." --My massage therapist I have been feeling unappreciated as of late. By my husband. By my kids. By the mailman (I am always super-friendly to him, but left to his own devices he pretty much does his job and doesn't bother with pleasantries). So when my massage therapist asked me what was going on for me emotionally right now, I told her how I was feeling and why. Expecting her to come back with empathy ("That must feel terrible.") or commiseration ("Those ungrateful people!") what I got instead was a radical reframe of the issue at hand. She paused for a few moments, as if really thinking it through, and then said, "What if you were to appreciate yourself for all you do?" At first I thought she was talking crazy. Appreciate MYSELF?!? Isn't the whole point of appreciation that it comes from someone else? Or is it? We all want to hear "Thank you," when we do something nice for someone else

“We believe ‘We’re all in this together,’ is a far better philosophy than ‘You’re on your own.'" -- Bill Clinton  I couldn't agree more Mr President :)

This will be the last post of the summer and I end it with one last piece of wisdom from our time on the road. This one comes from Hailey, ID (former home to Bruce & Demi). We stopped at the Hailey Coffee Company for breakfast one morning. They have great coffee, great pastries, AND great smoothies so everyone in the family was happy. A good stop indeed! They also allow customers to etch bits of wisdom into the wall. I found this one particularity inspiring that day as I had never really thought about it. I think most of us probably don't. We know we are getting older - we think about it, complain about it, take steps to mitigate it - but rarely do we enjoy the age we are today. Today IS the youngest you will ever be. Enjoy! And what better way to get started than with a day off from work? Have a very Happy Labor Day!