Category Archives: special days

This ‘n that…

Since my book, “Getting Down to Brass Tacks,” was published, I haven’t written here as often as I’d like to. Boy, promoting your own book takes lots of time!

As those of you know who keep up with me here, I have put both the paperback and Kindle versions of my book on sale at Amazon. However, the prices will go back to normal soon, probably by the end of this month, so if you want a discount copy, better hurry up!

Here’s the link:

http://goo.gl/tidOY

Also, if you’ve read or are planning on reading the Kindle/e-book version, there is a link to the photos that go with the book in the Appendix at the end. Here’s the link if you want to see them now!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/amy-pix/

My grandson Bobby (alias Mr. Bumpus) is included in the photos. He’s grown a lot since then! Here’s a pic of him at his first birthday party: Bobby eating cake

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Is it really the “end” this time?

There’s a lot of buzz around about December 21. The end of the Mayan calendar. The end of the world, some say.

Of course there have been lots and lots of other predictions of the so-called “end of the world” and I’ve laughed them off, as most of us have. But this one seems to have a different tone, if I can put it that way. Instead of people talking about the earth burning up or being destroyed (although some are doing that), there’s more and more talk about that date being a time of transition—a transition into a higher consciousness, which will consequently create a better world. Could this be true?

I’ve been around long enough to have seen radical changes in the world. I grew up in the USA in the 1940s and 50s, and there’s no question that those years were very different from the 60s. Then the 70s, 80s and 90s brought further change, some of it drastic, some more subtle. But now that we’re in the 21st century, a lot of us have noticed that things seem to be moving much faster than they did in earlier decades. The speed in technological development alone is pretty mind-blowing.12

Also, when I was a kid I don’t remember anyone (although I’m sure there were some isolated cases) worrying about where the trash would go when we ran out of places to put it. There was never a thought about avoiding eating animals, for the most part. People just didn’t concern themselves with these things. Life was limited to their own little milieu—their family, their jobs. People would read the newspapers, but there was very limited awareness that we were all part of a global family. We had our own little lives, and that was it. There was hardly any “consciousness raising” going on.

Nowadays there seems to be a mad dash toward things spiritual—people aren’t satisfied any more with “I was born, I lived, I died.” In rapidly increasing numbers, they want to understand why they are here, what is this life all about…what’s the point? The internet is overrun with “spiritual coaches” seeking to help people gain some sense of who they are in the overall scheme of things. Many people are opting to be “spiritual” rather than “religious.”

What’s going on?

Well, first of all, loads of folks are finally discovering that materialism doesn’t satisfy. It did for a while, but now it doesn’t. They’re also finding out that believing that all there is to us is a physical body moving among other physical bodies—some who are seemingly very close to us, such as family—isn’t enough. People betray us, leave us, or they die. Sooner or later such things will happen to us, even though we may have lived for years having been spared, for the most part, from such events.

When our lives no longer satisfy, when we find ourselves in an upheaval that we can’t resolve—whether with our work, our relationships, our health or a combination of things—then it’s time to become aware that we are being coaxed out of what we thought was all there was to us, and to start looking at the broader picture. What we really want is to find something real, something we can depend on, something that will make and keep us happy and harmonious.

So what about December 21? Some, who have observed the speeding up of our consciousness here on earth over many years are saying that that date is a turning point when things will speed up more, even dramatically. Maybe this explains why people are so madly searching for the truth. What do you think?

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Superstition ain’t the way

Yesterday was Friday the 13th. I’m not sure where, when or how the idea got started that this was an unlucky day, and I’m too lazy to Google it, but a Facebook friend commented yesterday that although she’s not superstitious, yesterday seemed to be an unusually bad day.

Well, that didn’t surprise me too much, to tell you the truth. It’s been my experience that when whole bunches of people around us believe that something is true, that’s how it will play out for them. And if we’re not alert to what’s going on, that’s how it’ll play out for us, too.

I guess you could call it “mass mesmerism” or “crowd mentality.” We’ve all seen what happens when an influential figure manages to convince large numbers of people that something is true. Dare I mention Hitler? People end up turning into robots, as if they were hypnotized, and no one can change their minds.

Nevertheless, it’s my conviction that we can all think for ourselves and resist the influence of Friday the 13th or any other superstition or untruth. What do you think?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDZFf0pm0SE

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Happy Mothers’ Day!

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Burning question for Sunday

            Sorry, no blog today. I can’t think of anything to say. Bye!

          April fool! It’ll be a cold day in hell when I have nothing to say! :D

So, what’s your favorite April Fool’s Day joke/trick?

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Happy Valentine’s Day

Today is Valentine’s Day, at least in some parts of the world. We don’t have Valentine’s Day here in Brazil…well, not exactly. We have another day, very similar, called “Dia dos namorados” (Loosely translated: “Lovers’ Day) on June 12, and on that day Brazilians also buy flowers, candy and cards for their boyfriends or girlfriends or spouses.

I was always rather fond of St. Valentine, and even though I never had a boyfriend in school, I loved to make homemade cards with paper doilies and red paper and stick little cutouts of cupids on them. It was fun exchanging those tiny little Valentines that came in a packet with friends at school, too. But best of all was the candy…the chocolates and little sugar hearts with words on them.

I hope you’re having a lovely Valentine’s Day, and if you feel inclined, share some of your favorite Valentine’s Day memories here.

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The light of Christmas…all year long

OK, peeps, my Christmas lights are still up. I know, I know, I should take them down. But I don’t think I will. I think I’ll leave them up all year round. Why not? Who says Christmas lights are just for Christmas anyway?

For the past ten years or so I have been alone, or pretty much alone at Christmas. No, please put your Kleenex away, it hasn’t been like that at all. I really like the quiet of the Christmas holidays, and it’s a good time for me to contemplate what Christmas really means to me spiritually.

I have great memories of Christmases when I was a kid growing up in Connecticut. I get into it in my book a little…my mother loved to buy gifts and wrap them and make a big mystery out of everything. It was really cute. And then of course there’s the anticipation when you’re a kid, not being able to sleep and then you finally drop off from sheer exhaustion, and then you get up ridiculously early to see if Santa really did eat the cookies you left. You can’t open your presents until everyone is up, of course, so you make lots of noise to make sure they get up NOW.

Then there were the smells…the pine needles (actually cedar in our case), and the turkey dinner cooking in the kitchen. And sometimes it snowed on Christmas, and that was best of all.

Now even when I spend Christmas by myself, I still have that warm, cozy feeling of being all wrapped up in love, just as I did when I was a kid, without the trappings, wonderful as they were…except for my string of lights, of course.

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