lara simmons

"In 1588, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the ruler of  Japan, confiscated the swords, daggers, and spears belonging to every citizen. He announced they would be melted down and used to make a giant Buddha statue. I'd love to see you undertake a comparable  transformation in 2014, Capricorn. You shouldn't completely shed all your  anger and pugnacity, of course; a certain amount is valuable, especially  when you need to rouse yourself to change situations that need to be  changed. But it's also true that you could benefit from a reduction in your  levels of combativeness. What if you could "melt down" some of your  primal rage and use the energy that's made available to build your  personal equivalent of a Buddha icon?" --Rob Brezsny, Free Will Astrology ( www.freewillastrology.com) I have shared Rob Brezsny's wisdom on my blog before and felt this one was a gem. If you have never read him, check him out! Even if you are not "into" as

"The great thing about JOY is not that it lasts, but that it always comes around again." --The Universe As I have mentioned, I struggled this time at the ten-day silent meditation retreat I went on last month. One of the things I struggled with, ironically, was the lack of JOY I felt in the discipline and austerity of the program this time. Normally I am very comfortable with this kind of environment. Discipline. Austerity. To-the-minute timekeeping. These are things at which most mid-western-raised adults excel. Not this time. This time I was hungry for joy, for freedom, even a little bit of excess. I knew this flew in the face of the idea of anicca , or impermanence. The whole point of this meditation is to learn not to crave positive feelings and sensations, as well as not to have aversion to negative feelings and sensations, because both have the inherent quality of impermanence, but I couldn't help it. I wanted to feel some JOY. So on my daily post-lunch

"The Four Agreements: 1. Be impeccable with your word; 2. Don’t take anything personally; 3. Don’t make assumptions; 4. Always do your best. ” -- Don Miguel Ruiz   There are certain quotes that come back to me again and again. This one - not so much a quote as a recipe for living - is one of those and it seems particularly appropriate to review it as Christmas week looms. #2 especially has been on my mind today: Don't Take Anything Personally. My guides have reminded me of this agreement at exactly the moment I needed it most over the past couple of weeks. When someone I am around is in a bad mood, my first instinct is to think they are mad at me or that I did something to cause their bad mood. How insane is this? Because of this agreement, instead of reacting to what I presume to be their anger at me, I have asked myself this question: What if their bad mood has nothing to do with me?  Just asking this question wakes me up and makes me realize that while ther

"Help Yourself First." -- S.N. Goenka In one of his nightly lectures via videotape , S.N. Goenka advised against getting involved in any situation or taking any action until you are feeling equanimous .  If you know anything about Vipassana meditation , you know it is all about equanimity . Equanimity is the thing. Equanimity is defined as, " mental calmness, composure, and evenness of temper, esp. in a difficult situation ." I like to think of it as getting to neutral. This advice reminded me of the part in the airline safety speech about putting on your own oxygen mask first before assisting others and made me realize how often I leap into situations when my equanimity is something less than perfect. This is especially true when my kids are fighting. Nothing gets under my skin like the two of them going at it. Invariably I jump in, blood pressure rising, voice raised, and more often than not, make things worse. There are certainly times when we need

"A Spiritual Catalyst is someone who precipitates change for the betterment of all." -- Reverend Karen Lindvig at Seattle Unity Church on December 8, 2013 This quote struck me not in and of itself, but because of the two questions that Reverend Karen posed afterwards: Who has been a Spiritual Catalyst for you?  AND For whom have you been a Spiritual Catalyst?  The first one was easy. Whenever I think of someone who has pushed me to expand, who has opened up the world of Spirit to me, I always think about my sister-in-law. When I first met her I thought she was bat-shit crazy. She did my numerology at Thanksgiving, sent me on a shamanic journey the first time we went to visit her and gave me a psychic reading for my birthday. I was pissed. I DID NOT want to have the reading. When she brought her friend "the Psychic" over to our house my attitude was, "Let's just get this over with."   Within minutes of starting my reading, I was cryin

"You are the master of your own life; you are the master of your own future." -- Gautama the Buddha One of many quotes from the retreat whose basic message is: you create your reality. What the Buddha is saying here is that we decide each day, each moment what kind of life we want to live by HOW we live it. By how we act. By how we think. By how we treat others. By how we treat ourselves. Decide what kind of life you want to live and then plant the seeds of that life. At the retreat S.N. Goenka told a story during one of the nightly video-taped discourses , about a man who planted seeds from the Neem tree (known for its bitter fruit) on his land. When the tree grew and began to produce fruit he was very upset that the fruit it produced was bitter and not sweet like sugar cane. Of course we are meant to laugh at this man for his foolishness, but are we any different? We lie, we cheat, we steal (in large or in small ways), we give into anger and then we want life

While sitting for hours - HOURS - in meditation during my most-recent Vipassana retreat, I remembered something I read recently in Malcolm Gladwell's book, " blink " - that our bodies don't know the difference between a fake smile and a real smile. That when we smile, certain chemicals are released, certain reactions take place, in our body that make us feel good and our body does the same things when we fake a smile. While observing my breath for what seemed like the 40th hour in a row, I decided to give it a try and - low and behold -  it works!  When I started to smile, my mind calmed down, my body relaxed and I could turn my attention to my meditation once again, instead of focusing on the pain, discomfort and sometimes overwhelming boredom I felt. Smiling, even when I was faking it, really did help.

"Just let things be, just as they are." --Evie Chauncey, Assistant Teacher at the NW Vipassana Center Whew! It's good to be home. My intention was to start blogging immediately upon my return, sharing all the insights and inspiration from my latest ten-day retreat , but The Universe had other plans.... If I recall correctly, last year it took me a few days to "plug back in" also and I had a hard time writing about the experience. Oh how I wish I had now. Last year is, in my mind, a lovely memory of a week of great peace and discovery and ultimately, a greater awakening. The things I remembered were the food (delicious!), the walks (peaceful), the naps (also delicious). The harder things are fuzzier in my mind: the early rising (4:00am), the hours of sitting with your legs crossed (painful), and the mind-numbing boredom that sometimes creeps in after 90 minutes (or sometimes 9) minutes of meditation. This year was harder. Much harder. Not being new

"Change begins within." --David Lynch

"We are the custodians of our inner world." --David Pond

"It's not about escape, it's about experience." --The Universe

"The precondition to sensitivity is stillness. In the same way that a pond on a still day will visibly register the smallest insect alighting on its surface, but on a windy day it won't, our ability to feel the whole is directly proportional to our ability to become still within ourselves." --Phillip Shepherd

"Breath is the power behind all things. Your breath doesn't know how old you are; it doesn't know what you can't do. If I'm feeling puzzled or my mind is telling me that I'm not capable of something, I breathe in and know that good things will happen." --Tao Porchon-Lynch (a 94-year-old yoga instructor)

"One's heart is the only safe place to be. There's light there, there's company, and quiet." --Anne Lamott

"I think no thoughts, and thus am free...." --The Universe

"Sit down, shut up and pay attention." -- James Ishmael Ford

"If you get the inside right, the outside will fall into place."   --Eckhart Tolle

"ENJOY, do not attach. SUFFER, do not attach. Be happy." --The Universe, at last year's retreat

“...[T]o make a place for light the mystic shuts his eyes." --Louise Gluck, from her poem "Bats"

"If there is no peace in the mind...how can there be peace in the world?" -- S.N. Goenka Last year at about this time I went on my first 10-day silent meditation retreat at the NW Vipassana Center. When I came back, I knew I wanted to go again. And that time has come. I leave today for another ten days. Last year I was a bit nervous and unsure. This time, I am excited. I know what to expect and what will be expected of me. And I am ready. I can't wait to sit in meditation for most of my waking hours. To walk in silence for all of them. And to be free from the constant barrage of mind-thoughts that I am subject to each day. I look forward to oatmeal and stewed fruit for breakfast every day. To the delicious vegetarian lunch. And nothing but a cup of tea for dinner. I know that there will be new things too. New ideas. New discomforts. New fears. I look forward to these as well. While I am gone I will be posting one meditation quote every day to inspire your

"There shouldn't be a leash on life." --Tess On Halloween my son invited one of his new middle school friends over to Trick or Treat with us. She is a delightful girl - warm. open, chatty and wicked smart. I was cutting up apples for their snack and she asked if she could have some peanut butter to go with them. "It doesn't have to be much," she said, "My mom limits me to one tablespoon because she says I'll eat all the peanut butter." She paused and then spoke words of wisdom I wish I had known when I was her age:  "But why not eat all the peanut butter? There shouldn't be a leash on life."  Ah-h-h-h. It was a deep-breath moment for me. I just stood still and breathed in the truth of these words and the truth that they had been missing from my world-view for far longer than was good for me. I know it is time for me to start living without a leash. Cassie (see above) couldn't agree more. Thanks Tess!

I happened upon this fellow at the Farmer's Market near our hotel. Apparently the city of angels sponsored a public art project where different artists created different angels, which were then auctioned off for charity. This one found a home at the Farmer's Market.  I love the idea of angels all around the city and wish I could have seen the whole exhibit.  Last time I was in LA, my sister and I noticed that the city does indeed seem to be populated by unexpected angels , many of them riding the city bus.  For more info on this project, see the photo below:    May angels always travel with you....  

  One of the coolest things we did in LA was visit the Watts Towers , a unique display of public and personal art by Simon Rodia . (If you want to learn more I highly recommend following one of these links.)  While there I picked up a postcard, which was a photo almost exactly like this one I shot by Marisol Manzano, with the following caption: "I want my life to be full of light, color and flavor."  Me too, Simon, me too!

This lovely lighted heart was part of the decor at the Farmer's Daughter - warmed my heart every time I passed by. May it also warm yours. 

This week, some photos from the "boutique motel" we stayed in while in LA. It is called The Farmer's Daughter and was really a lovely place.  Kitschy rooms with faux barn flooring and denim bedspreads, huge rubber duckies in the pool and free cookies at the front desk, who could ask for more? But wait, they also have a Little Free Library and bikes to loan. And they are right across the street from the famous LA Farmer's Market. Highly recommended! 

Walking along the streets of West LA we encountered a family of giraffes and they somehow softened the day for me. Words that come to mind when I see these giraffes are: gentle, kindness, vision, seeing, loyalty.  For more on the meaning of the giraffe see these two sites: http://www.whats-your-sign.com/symbolic-meaning-of-giraffe.html http://www.shamanicjourney.com/article/6035/giraffe-power-animal-symbol-of-grounded-vision-farsightedness

Woah, it's been awhile since I posted anything to the blog. According to one of my favorite energy alert sources - http://www.thepowerpath.com/index.php/power-path-home/the-power-path/monthly-forecast/572-october-forecast-2013 - October is a month to reset and reboot so I guess it's all in divine order. I spent the past few days in LA, visiting my sister and attending the wedding of a lovely couple, so this week and next I'm going to share some inspirational photos from my trip. I hope they will make your world a little lighter, a little brighter as you reset & reboot. This first photo is the street sign for an organic, vegan cafe called Cafe Gratitude. The original was in San Fran and although I have heard it is now closed, it was the origin of the movie "Let Me Be Frank," which is a great film for anyone interested in transformation.  We had a lovely meal there and it was the perfect way to kick off a trip that would contain many opportunit

"If you don't have children, you can't imagine how difficult it is to raise them, how little control you have over who they are, who they will become. You can never know what effect you're having. You can do something that seems right at the time, then later wrong, then later it seems right again." -- David Mura A rough morning at the breakfast table. It's 9:00 am and I feel spent. Really appreciating this quote from David Mura today from his great book, Where the Body Meets Memory .

"Sometimes when the universe fucks you up, it's part of a larger plan."   -- Tom Spanbauer Testify!

"You don't need to buy it to own it...If you own yourself, you own the world." --Tom Spanbauer Have I mentioned that I LOVE this book ?

"Nobody loves you the way your dog loves you." -- Tom Spanbauer This is how my god...whoops....Freudian slip....dog loves me - right up in my face.

"Miracles are out there somewhere. You just got to find them." --Tom Spanbauer, from his book Now Is The Hour Sometimes a book is just a book, and sometimes it's a miracle. This book - Now Is The Hour - feels like a miracle to me. It has been such a long time since I read a book that made me feel like this. Like the author has understood something about life that has not been understood before. (At least not for me. ) What this book understands - and explores - is the ways in which we are not only not allowed to BE who we are, but the ways in which we are not even allowed to KNOW who we are.   It happens to all of us, not just closeted gay men growing up in rural Idaho. We are all shaped by where we are born and when we are born and to whom we are born. Sometimes this is a perfect fit, but more often than not, it is not and we all have to discover, for ourselves, who we really are. In a way I think that is the miracle we are all searching for, the chance to KN

"Everything you want is on the other side of fear." -- Shelley Lundquist

“...[N]o man is free if he fears death...[T]he minute you conquer the fear of death, at that moment you are free." --Martin Luther King, Jr. I love this quote, and it terrifies me. The truth of it terrifies me and the truth I know in my heart that I am still very much afraid of death. And illness and getting in trouble and not being liked and conflict and confrontation. Let's just say I have a ways to go until I am truly free. I am thinking about this today because it's the first day of middle school for my older son and there is a lot of fear among parents around middle school, mainly based on their own experiences of it I suppose, but also a lot of the "talk" these days is about drugs and sex and social posturing - all of which supposedly starts in middle school. It's not that I think "they" are wrong necessarily, I am just beginning to wonder if we should fear it all. When I think back upon my middle school (and high school) days I know I

"It's a funny thing...but people mostly have it backward. They think they live by what they want. But really what guides them is what they're afraid of. What they DON'T want.”  -- Khalid Hosseini , from his book And The Mountains 

"It’s not impermanence per se, or even knowing we’re going to die, that is the cause of our suffering, the Buddha taught. Rather, it’s our resistance to the fundamental uncertainty of our situation. Our discomfort arises from all of our efforts to put ground under our feet, to realize our dream of constant okayness. When we resist change, it’s called suffering. But when we can completely let go and not struggle against it, when we can embrace the groundlessness of our situation and relax into its dynamic quality, that’s called enlightenment, or awakening to our true nature, to our fundamental goodness. Another word for that is freedom—freedom from struggling against the fundamental ambiguity of being human." --Pema Chodron When I started to write this post it was never a question of WHO I was going to quote, it had to be Pema. If Wacky Sunday were an official holiday, Pema Chodron would be its Patron Saint. So what is Wacky Sunday, you ask? It's a day in which ev

In honor of the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington, here are some of my favorite Martin Luther King, Jr. quotes: "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." I think this is my favorite one, but the rest are pretty great.... "The means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek. " If only every CEO in America lived by this rule.... "Whatever affects me directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the inter-related structure of reality." That's the Oneness, baby..... And a new favorite from the radio coverage of the event today: "Not everybody can be famous but everybody can be great because greatness is determined by service... You only need a heart full of grace and a soul generated by love

"Have you ever felt as if you just didn't want to live anymore? Everything seemed to go wrong and you felt sort of mistreated and abused. Good luck just wasn't meant for you. Well that's the time to take a walk. It is amazing what walking can do to a depressed spirit. You just walk it away so slowly, ever so slowly. You don't realize it is disappearing until finally you discover it is gone. Yes, gone, and oh, life is so wonderful." --Vera Aleith Galbreath In the mail on Friday we received a program from the memorial service for Vera Aleith Galbreath. I knew as soon as I saw the envelope what it was, and I was grateful. Grateful that someone had taken the time to let us know of Vera's passing. (Or, more likely, that Vera had arranged for this.) Vera wasn't a relative. Not really a friend. Or a neighbor exactly. But she was a presence in our lives ever since we bought our first house. It was a small house, just off of a busy street, about a mile o

"All causes are essentially mental, and whosoever comes into daily contact with a high order of thinking must take on some of it." -- Charles Fillmore A little follow-up to Tuesday's post and another reason to meditate!

"The Ego needs 100% participation, if you use conscious awareness you can break the Ego's grip." -- David Pond , speaking at East West Bookshop We have heard a lot of talk about "the one percent," the wealthiest of the wealthy who often pay no taxes and enjoy privileges many of us don't even know to dream of. Friday night I heard about another one percent, a one percent that interests me a lot more, and that may even help some of us deal with the wealthy one percent, or at least our reactions to them. This one percent is one percent consciousness, which, according to astrologer and metaphysical counselor David Pond, is all it takes to break the Ego's grip. Think about it, in those moments where we are overcome by emotions of the Ego - greed, pride, lust, anger, despair, etc. - if we can just hang onto one percent of our consciousness, one percent of our positive thoughts, one percent of our connection to our Source, one percent of our presence - we

I have no idea who Ashleigh Brilliant is, but I like her style. The urgency of fall is upon me. I am starting to feel the pressure of all that needs to be done. Lazy summer days by the pool are numbered and the truth of this is seeping in... So I post this today to remind myself - and perhaps you as well - to slow down, take rest, and breathe.  Sometimes it's the most urgent thing to do. UPDATE: So, Ashleigh Brilliant is a man. You can find out more about HIS work and life here . And, one of my favorite card readers, Lee-Anne Peters couldn't agree more. This week is all about the urgency of a complete rest.

"When we are present to our loved ones, LOVE shows up." -- Karen Lindvig Trying to be present in every moment with my sons this summer. It isn't always easy. There are many distractions, but I do so want LOVE to show up. So I keep on trying.

"The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them." -- Thomas 

"Wherever you are, be all there." --Jim Elliott on http://www.thehappymovie.com/ One of the things that came up for me when I started this 40-day meditation challenge was TV, one of the primary ways I go unconscious. After a long day or a busy day or a large group social event I just need to relax my mind and unwind with something totally mindless. Sometimes a book will do the trick, but most often this is when I start to jones for some bad TV. I know it's a problem (and also one of the reasons why I struggle so much with my kids' need for screen time - gotta love those mirrors!) because it is the primary way I escape from what is really going on. From my fears and my hurts, my frustrations and insecurities. I use TV, and to some extent books, to go unconscious, to black out and to escape my reality. So I half-heartedly committed to "no TV" during these same 40 days. I lasted about 36 hours. On Tuesday afternoon, my son asked me to watch something

I love to look for signs - that I am on the right track, that the Universe is watching out for me, that I am loved. Last week on our camping trip I found this sign at a restaurant we ate at. It's a straw wrapper, lying on the floor near our table, in the shape of a heart. I took it as a sign that we were exactly where we needed to be and that the Universe was taking care of us.  What signs do you see today?   I

"...[L]ife itself is a meditation."  --Raul Julia I have always loved Raul Julia, since I first saw him as the sensitive married man having sexual tension with Susan Sarandon while solving a murder in "Compromising Positions" (the cast of which also included the always entertaining Judith Ivey - I love her voice and demeanor so much I think I could watch her in anything). He went on to play defense attorney Sandy Stern in "Presumed Innocent" and of course the beloved patriarch Gomez Addams in "The Addams Family."  His was one the first celebrity deaths - in 1994 - to really effect me. He always seemed to have an undefinably quiet strength and grace. I get it now - he saw his life as a meditation - and that makes all the difference.  I hope someday to be remembered for my quiet grace and thanks to Raul I have one more clue about how to do that. Thanks Raul. For everything.

"Meditation is a gift that you give to yourself." --Rev Karen Lindvig and Sada Simran This month, starting yesterday, our whole congregation at Seattle Unity is entering into 40 days of meditation.  Won't you join us? Commit to just 10 or 20 minutes a day of whatever meditation best suits you. Do it, then see what happens! Give this gift to yourself!

"Expectations are premeditated resentments." --Unknown (as quoted in "Stories for Boys" by Gregory Martin)

"My happiness grows in direct proportion (to) my acceptance and in inverse proportion to my expectations.” -- Michael J. Fox

  A little "leftover" from our trip to Hawaii in April. Thought it was perfect for a Monday morning. Pass it on...

“...[H]armony requires us to change along with the whole. If you open yourself to the hum of the world—if you live in the present rather than in your idea of it—it will change you." -- Philip Shepherd , author of New Self, New World , interviewed in The Sun

"The trouble is in the mind." -- Phineas Quimby , the father of the New Thought Movement

"Every time a group of people is gathered together, everybody who is needed is present." --Dale Stubbart in New Spirit Journal Everybody who is needed is present....This is a concept I have struggled with mightily throughout my life. At most significant events in my life there was always somebody missing, or somebody who I thought "shouldn't" be there. I always had in mind the "perfect" guest list and inevitably it included someone who couldn't make it or didn't include someone who could. As I have walked the spiritual path I have come to see the truth in this statement, but I still struggle against it sometimes. After we came back from Japan we hosted my husband's cousin and his family at our house for a week. The timing couldn't have been better as our upstairs tenants had just moved out so we had two empty bedrooms, a bathroom and even a small kitchen to offer for their stay. My husband's family definitely fall into the

"Everything is energy..." -- Daryl Anka   At the beginning of our trip to Japan my son's teacher handed each of us a few sheets of paper stapled together. This was to be our "trip journal" and we were expected to fill it out each day, answering the questions that were posed.  On Day 1 the questions were: How are you feeling? What are you looking forward to most on this trip? What are your concerns?  My primary concern was losing my son.  During the final trip meeting, held about one month before the trip, the teacher had mentioned that because the trains are so crowded in Japan it is possible that someone might not make it onto the train in time and end up stranded on the platform. She gave the kids instructions on how to handle this if it happened and promised to give each child a badge with her name and cell phone number on it to wear at all times while we were in Tokyo.  After the meeting I became convinced that my son was going to

  The Great Buddha of Kamakura (Daibutsu) "Ichi-go ichi-e." --from the Japanese meaning “every encounter is but once in a lifetime” Every so often you get a "once in a lifetime" opportunity. Our recent trip to Japan was just such an opportunity. To travel alone with my fifth grader, to a country where he speaks the language and I do not, with his former classmates, many of whom will be off in new directions in the fall, to send him off to be hosted by a family who accepted him (and me) sight unseen, truly was a "once in a lifetime" trip. This week I would like to attempt to share some of the trip with you through words and pictures. This will not be an exhaustive account of all that we saw and experienced, but rather an attempt at capturing the spirit of the trip through a few shared stories. "Ichi-go ichi-e" was a phrase I learned on the plane. I think it might have been in the in-flight magazine. I immediately connected with

"Hello, again, hello...I couldn't sleep at all tonight..." so I got up and made myself a cup of tea and a piece of peanut butter toast and I have been sitting here reading through quotes and downloading updates to my computer and searching campsites for later this summer and, mostly, trying to figure out what to write. Trying to figure out how to say, "Hello, again," to this blog after a rather long and unintended break. "What happened?" You may be wondering. "Where did you go?"  I went to a place called Summer Vacation. I went to a place called The Kids are Out of School. I went to a place called The Relatives are Visiting. And I went to a place called Japan.  I went on a 35,000 km motorcycle ride with Nathan Millward (author of The Long Ride 'Home' ). And I went on a journey to the depths of the human experience with Dear Sugar (in her book Tiny Beautiful Things ). I went to a place called Happy. And a place called

"When it comes to parenting, the practice of framing both mothers and fathers as good or bad is both rampant and corrosive—it turns parenting into a shame minefield. The real questions for parents should be: 'Are you engaged? Are you paying attention?'” -- Brené Brown , from her book Daring Greatly

"...[W]e're all broken, every single one of us, and yet we pretend that we're not. We all live lives of imperfection and yet we cling to this fantasy that there's this perfect life..." -- Jimmy Smits , speaking as Presidential Candidate Matthew Santos in The West Wing , Season 6, Episode 22, " 2162 Votes " Another reason to love the West Wing....

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be."  --Douglas Adams For years I have had this idea in my head about MY LIFE - what it would look like, what I would be doing and mostly, that I would finally be IN CHARGE and things would be going according to MY PLAN. You'll be glad to know I am starting to get over that. The deeper I go into this spiritual life, the more I realize that true joy , true peace , true happiness come not from making a plan and sticking to it, but from going with what shows up. Having no plan, or only a very vague idea of a plan, then letting The Universe do the rest is where the magic lies. For instance, you might say, "I'd like to go to the beach this weekend," and The Universe will take that request and start to move. Maybe your friend with a beach house will call you and say, "I'm going to the beach this weekend, would you like to come?" Or maybe not. Maybe i