My mother's best friend asked me one time if I had seen a particularly horrific story in the newspaper. I was shocked that she had read it because I quickly turned the page just seeing the headline. I told her I never read stories like that and she said "You have to!" I asked her why and she responded by saying "You need to know. Don't you want to know?"

My answer? "No, I don't need to know and no, I don't want to know."

That remains my response to this day. If I were to read and watch and listen to what is reported in our world on a regular basis, I think I would lose all hope of the evolution of human beings into higher consciousness. You and I are not being written or talked about, are we?  Nope.

BUT IT DOESN'T MEAN WE AREN'T HERE! It doesn't mean there aren't millions of us evolving, expanding consciousness, becoming love and compassion in human form.

BECAUSE WE ARE HERE! We are expanding consciousness and remembering True Self and learning to manifest our Divinity while in...

For me, conscious creating is about being mindful in the moment rather than controlling how my life will unfold. Because I do not live in isolation, I can see and understand that my interactions with others brings an overlap in our life experiences, even in our karma. My karma is just that: mine. Yet there is family or bloodline karma that I am walking out as well. There is karma resulting from my participation in relationships of all kinds. So, yes there are experiences that come into my life - both blissful and highly uncomfortable - that I have not consciously created. I have agreed to them on some level, however, by entering into partnerships, either personal or professional.

Life has taught me to be very aware of who and what I am bringing into the inner circle of my experience. At times this learning journey has been profoundly painful as well as profoundly beneficial.

This mantra filled my thoughts, my being for an entire day recently:  Om Brahma Namah

Deepak Chopra...

I periodically travel across the United States to share time with my children and our extended family. It is a joy to share time and love and experiences with those I seldom see. So many unique faces and personalities; so many different levels of awareness. My own awareness level is changing almost daily and I am beginning to recognize how that affects my interactions with others.

I am reminded of biblical passages studied in my years as a bible teacher. In Matthew 13:3-9, Jesus tells the parable of the sower. He speaks of seed falling on different types of soil and what the outcome is of each. The seed is the same; the ground is what is different. The seed represents the truth. The ground represents those hearing the truth. In a later verse (Matthew 11:12) Jesus is quoted as saying "For whoever has, to him shall more be given..." I believe this speaks fundamentally to individual levels of awareness and openness. The more aware and open I am, the more aware and open I will...

Allowing yourself to love and be loved makes life sweet.

Keeping an open heart is a challenge as recent events involving the United States and Iran are unfolding. I remind myself of my own journey when our country came under attack on 9/11. I did not allow myself to watch t.v. until that night because I taught yoga all day. My responsibility to be grounded, present and loving for my students outweighed curiosity and any personal response on my part. In my classes I focused the practice on comforting our own hearts and minds and sending healing light and love to our brokenhearted country and to our world.

That night, when I returned home from my last class, I turned on the television for the first time. I sat down and watched the attacks. Once was enough. My mind wanted to shut down and refuse those images. My heart convulsed within my chest. My body began to wretch and I ran into the bathroom where I experienced a round of projectile vomiting. My entire being was trying to...

This is an invitation rather than a challenge.

As a child, my father was stationed at Walker AFB, New Mexico (Roswell). And before you wonder, it was well after the UFO's landed so that was not the way I arrived on the planet (though others often doubt that)!  

I remember that my mother and her friends wore dresses or skirts most of the time. My mother had beautiful thick, dark red hair. I was five as I stood near her in our front yard as she chatted with a neighbor. The attention of the woman turned to me. I was an extremely shy and quiet child. My mother never shamed me for that; she simply accepted me. That day, I moved closer to her and stood almost behind her. She silently took the side of her full skirt and wrapped it around me, letting me hide in the folds of her dress. I felt safe.

Over time I learned to come out of my shell, to be social in spite of my innate shyness. I loved meeting people and going new places but it took effort to relax into those...

The only constant in life is change and the dawn of a new year is a good time to look at your awareness level and beliefs about change.

Change can be everything from exhilirating to frightening. It can be dreams come true and it can be nightmares to hopefully avoid. Some people thrive on change, moving through life without ever settling anywhere in particular. Others resist change in any form, wanting everything to remain the same. Most of us live somewhere between those two extremes.

Even when change is desired and planned for, the actual transition can feel like being scooped up by a tornado, tossed around by the wind and then suddenly dropped to the earth. Physically, mentally and emotionally, the energy rages and swirls as we cope with all of the logistics of transition. It is exhausting AND...

It is inevitable. Human beings, by and large, resist this one constant in life. Why? We all want to feel safe and secure and, somewhere along the way, we came to believe that keeping...

I picked up the paper in the driveway before sunrise one morning. As I turned back toward the house, I looked to the sky as I always do. The full moon was veiled in soft clouds and I thought of my journal entry from November, 2012.

I had titled it "Moon Bride."

I am a Sky-Watcher and I always have been.

Tonight I turn a corner coming home and look up as I always do. My heart opens. My face smiles and I whisper "Well, hello Moon..."

Still so close to full, shrouded in a pale white cloud, you are even more beautiful so sweetly veiled. The glow of light shining as it cascades across your face, falling like the veil of a blushing bride, to flow into the folds of her gown.

Moon Bride, you touch my very soul with your beauty and your grace.

May you allow Divine Love to touch your very soul with beauty and grace. May you be aware of your own beauty and grace. 

Will you allow Divine Love to grace your Soul? May I walk with you and support your...

I am the daughter of a warrior. My father was a bomber pilot in WWII and the Viet Nam War. My mother watched the bombing of Pearl Harbor from her bathroom window on Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii. I am also the sister, aunt, cousin, former spouse and friend of countless military personnel. My love and respect for those who serve - and for those of us who wait and hope for their safe return - is boundless and deep.

At his core, my father was a man of peace. He grew up on a sheep ranch in northern Nevada. He carried sick or injured lambs until they were strong enough to walk with their mothers. He learned to nurture and raise healthy animals in a stark and challenging environment. He could kill for food or to relieve an animal's suffering but never for pleasure. His warrior heart was as tender as it was strong. He believed those wars would bring peace; so did I.

I think the Viet Nam era was the most challenging. At one point my father and my brother (by congressional waiver) flew...

My last entry was intense, especially if you look at ahimsa, non-violence, as behavior or a state of being that you have to "make" happen. Even the idea of that journey is exhausting when viewed as a standard so high, so perfect, that it becomes the impossible goal. "I'll do the best I can but I'll never make it."

Let's make it simple, remembering that simple isn't always easy. Mindfulness, compassion toward myself, honesty about what I think and feel are all necessary to live a non-violent life. However, changing thought patterns and behaviors is not the best place to begin. It can be frustrating and fruitless if these changes are not emanating from a fundamental shift in what I believe about mySelf, my True Nature.

If I continue to believe that I am born a sinner who must gain the approval and love of a judgmental God, then judging myself and attempting to control my thoughts and behaviors will be my path. This path brings me right back into himsa, violence toward myself....

Ahimsa (अहिंसा, Ahiṃsā), loosely translated, means abstinence from violence either by thought, word, or deed. Non-injury requires a harmless mind, mouth, and hand. In a positive sense, it implies compassion and cosmic love. It is the development of a mental attitude in which hatred is replaced by love. The scriptures define ahimsa as the true sacrifice, forgiveness, power, and strength. At its core, ahimsa is based on the intentions of a person whose focus is to not harm anyone. (Krishna Maheshwari as quoted in www.hindupedia.com ).

Ahimsa is most often defined as "to do no harm."  When I attended certification training through Integrative Yoga Therapy with Joseph LePage, he sat with us quietly one evening under a tree and strummed his guitar. He sang to us in English, Spanish and Portuguese, soothing our minds, bodies and souls. We were exhausted from long days and nights of practice and study. As everyone settled and began to relax, he quietly told us that we would...