Thursday, June 2, 2016

Let iT gO!

Here is an awesomely inspired video by 
SoulPancake
of OprahWinfreyNetwork
about ForGIVEness, letting go, and
Popping Your Problems

gReEtInGs fun & free people!
. . . a note about the whole name thing, specifically about the word free today. The word free has so many different meanings, doesn't it? . . .
  • free to choose
  • free to speak
  • free to be YOU
  • free to express yourself
  • free to create
  • free to choose your own path
  • free from living from the OUT:side IN
  • free from regret
  • free from the past
Free basically means, unattached from expectations--like, what others think of us (but, like, not to mean you can just do whatever you want, like be cruel or do anything against the law...)
Sometimes, freedom means freely forGIVING people who have hurt us (whether they meant to or not, cuz we can never really know the TRUTH about that; sometimes it's stuff we make up in our head, in our STORIES).

It also means forgiving YOUrs(elf) (like, as in, your mean inner (s)Elf) . . .

When we carry resentment, it actually hurts US (not the person we are mad at . . .). I heard once that holding resentment is like holding a piece of really hot burning coal . . . and expecting the person we are mad at to get burned! Kind of crazy, but true! 

Think about it like this
re-sent-ment is like getting 
                     crappy energy 
                               re-sent (back to) me(nt). 
So LET IT GO! 
You'll feel much lighter (money back, guaranteed!)
More later about some ways to do this . . .

Breathe in the light and love!

;) Dana

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Love Be-ing A TeacHer!



I'm so lucky to be a teacher!
hEy tHeRe!

Many teachers and kids do the countdown to summer toward the end of the school year--so excited for summer, right? Well;, I'm at work this morning as an 8th grade English teacher at Valley Middle School and guess what?

I LOVE IT!
I mean, what could be better than 
hanging out with kids all day?
(the groWn-Ups are okay, too, I guess . . . LOL!)
Honestly, I feel super lucky and blessed to have a job I love, and to tell the truth, teaching actually found mE. Here's the super no-coincidence story:

Once upon a time in my twenties after college, I was in my room late at night reading a college course catalog (yes, I was working at a department store in the mall with a 4-year degree, living at home with my parents . . . and that's okay . . . I just didn't have a direction, or a focus, and I wasn't sure what to do with my life, hence the college course catalog). I turned a page open and vwah-lah (is that how you spell it?), out popped a section in the catalog for a teaching license program for English (which was my degree in college).

I was like WHOA! COOL! I could be a teacher! and looked farther down the page. I needed two letters on reference from college professors, a copy of my college transcript, an essay explaining my interest in the program, and a filled-out application form. Not a problem, really . . . but then I looked at the deadline: 
iT was 
DuE the
vEry nExT dAy at 5:00 p.m.
I didn't know it at the time, but this was one of the very first times I felt the Universe leveraging itself for me. I knew I was going to be a teacher after I saw this program, and I knew I was going to meet the deadline.  

So, I stayed up all might long writing my essay and filling out the application, and in the morning right away, I called two of my favorite professors the and asked for references THE VERY SAME DAY. They agreed! (of course) . . . 

That very same day (fewer than 24 hours since I had read about the program), I headed down to the University of Minnesota with my application; I picked up the references from my two professors; I went to the transcript office and got an authorized copy of my college grades; AND, I hand-delivered my entire application at (you guessed it!) around 4:55 p.m.

I made the deadline!

Anyway, that is the story of the beginning of my love affair with teaching. I feel so blessed to be a teacher and to have a job that I absolutely adore. Deepak Chopra, in his Seven Laws of Spiritual Success describes The Law of Dharma in this way:

"Everyone has a purpose in life . . . a unique gift or special talent to give to others. And when we blend this unique talent with service to others, we experience the ecstasy and exultation of our own spirit, which is the ultimate goal of all goals."

Do you think your work is connected to your dharma?

Let's continue tomorrow!
Blessings!
Dana

Tuesday, May 31, 2016

rEsIsTanCe iS fUtiLe; aCcEptaNcE iS PreSenCe!


Star Trek: Resistance is Futile
When you become defensive, blame others, and do not accept and surrender to the moment, your life meets resistance. Any time you encounter resistance, recognize that if you force the situation, the resistance will only increase. You don't want to stand rigid like a tall oak that cracks and collapses in the storm. Instead, you want to be flexible, like a reed that bends with the storm and survives.



Completely desist from defending your point of view. When you have no point to defend, you do not allow the birth of an argument. Someone once told me, "The past is history, the future is a mystery, and this moment is a gift. That is why this moment is called 'the present'."                              

~Deepak Chopra


Dear FunFreePeeps:

Most of us have experienced another person persecuting us, verbally; in other words, people are talking s#!+ about us. It's interesting how we humans do that to each other. And guess what? It meets some serious needs for the person who is talking s#!+.

Let's take a closer look:
  • If I talk about you, I take the spotlight off of myself and what it is about ME that I need to change, shift, or look at.
  • When I focus on YOU, I ASSume I know what's in your head and what you need. SUPER-DUPER LIE
  • If I talk about being "worried" about YOU . . . I am ASSigning meaning to your life which is frankly, . . . NONE OF MY dA(m)nBUSY-NESS . . . 
Which brings me to the idea of BUSY-NESS.

Have you ever noticed that people who are focused on the business of others do not look at their own business, and they create more and more BUSY-NESS out of their own habit of keeping up with what's going on with everyone else? 

It's okay. Like I wrote earlier, this is a need-seeking behavior. We all have a need for significance and belonging, and sometimes we feel significant when we have "THE (made up) GOODS" on someone else, and we stir the pot to create chaos and deflect focus from ourselves and our own stuff. HOW Convenient. Thanks, Church Lady (Dana Garvey from SNL). CLICK BELOW!

For those of us who have done this (and I, for sure, am guilty . . .) I invite you to kindly and firmly KNOCK IT OFF, and

LOOK IN THE MIRROR:RORRIM EHT NI KOOL 

People, frankly,
do not want to get sucked into your
s#!+STORM;
(note poop-brown color)
it's not interesting,
it's draining,
and it lacks integrity.

For those of us who have been the recipient of such diatribes:
  • RELAX. Breathe. It's not about you!
  • As Chopra said, DO NOT DEFEND YOURSELF. "Completely desist from defending your point of view." Everything in the Universe is energy, and in these situations, we need to conserve our energy for ourselves. Defending takes your energy away. 
  • Know that this is need-seeking behavior (not about you) and try to have compassion for the person who persecutes you; remember time when you have done the same.
  • LOVE YOURSELF EVEN MORE--WHATEVER THAT LOOKS LIKE FOR YOU. Here are some ideas that work for me:
    • take a salt bath.
    • exercise.
    • change your environment.
    • meditate (don't medicate . . .)
    • write.
    • scream into a pillow.
    • rest.
    • watch your favorite stupid show.
What are your feelings and thoughts about these emotional VaMpIrES?  How do you handle them in your amazing Life?

Let us know in the comments!

MonSTer (but not vampire) LovE!

Dana

Sunday, March 27, 2016

trAnsFoRmAtiOn . . . and rE-bIrTh (Happy Easter!)


Metamorphosis is naturally destructive.
~Danielle LaPorte


One summer, a bUtTeRfLy landed on me, and then I kept seeing them over and over. I took this as a sign from the Universe of a newly arrived tOtEm: 
bUtTTerFly

Happy Easter!

(also a time of transFORmation, transMUtation, and change . . .)

The butterfly reminds us about biRtH and reBiRtH . . . and also gently whispers to us:


The only constant in

life is

cHaNGe! 

I don't know about you, but when I was a teenager, I sometime felt downright awkward, sluggish, and well, kind of wormISH, in a way (sometimes still feel like this, btw!). If you think about caterpillars, they are kind of the same 
. . . gross and not-so-good looking, perhaps?

Can you believe that yucky wormy caterpillars transform themselves into beautiful and amazing butterflies?

Do you think caterpillars realize their existence
in the dirt with the other worms and bugs is actually

preparing them for their 
most miraculous life 
above the ground in free flight?

Can you imagine the view--

the difference in perspective?!
(gOoSeBuMp alert!)

What if yoUr existence now--with all the good stuff and the yucky crap, too, is doing the same:

preparing you for yoUr
most miraculous life
above the ground in free flight?

Here's a reveal of a 
butterfly's
first emergence
(nice outfit!)


If you've ever watched a caterpillar spin a cocoon and emerge as a butterfly,
 you may have noticed a couple of things:

the process of
transformation
takes 
t . . . i . . . m . . . e
and
trUst
that
nAtUrE
knows what she's doing!

When you were born, just like any other creature, you had to trust that when you arrived, you would be caught and cared for, right?

Guess what?

You are still caught and cared for, . . . even if it may not be showing up the way you want.

Love it all,
Dana

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

CrEaTe Ur LiFe of POSSIBiLitiEs!

2012-07-20-emailgirlstepforward.jpg
Move ForWarD iNtO yOuR fUtUre



hEy funfreePeePLEs!

Today will be a bit short, but I just want to mention that in moving on and finding me, I've had to let go of some relationships and patterns from my past . . . and other people don't always appreciate that or like that about me. 
And that's actually okay . . . it's part of growing. After all, snakes shed their skins, trees lose their leaves, and we replace the cels in our bodies as we grow and live.
So, what do we do when we have to set boundaries and move on? Not anything so dramatic. . . 
Here's a video from MarieForleo TV that talks about people holding you back (which is actually made up in your mind...) check it out!

Let me know what you think about her message! What pretend stuff holds you back? And, how do you you overcome it?

Thanks & so much LovE!
d-dog

Saturday, January 30, 2016

cHooSe your POWERful tHouGHts . . .



“There is nothing either good or bad, 
but thinking makes it so.
~Shakespeare
Dear FunFreePeeples!
Last night I woke up at 12:30 and never really got back to sleep. My mind was taking over my body,  . . . hELp!
ALIEN INVASION!
This is what happens when I actually listen to my thoughts and believe them--especially when they are negative or self-critical, or they have to do with my past or worry about my future . . . 
      they get bigger
                     and BIGGER
                             and BIGGER
until they literally take over my brain and body!
I have to remind myself that I am in charge of my own thoughts and beliefs. My perception of the outside world is nothing more than a projection of my inside world, a projection of my inner world, my fears, doubts, struggles, my own darkness. Here's another amazing quote about our thoughts and feelings:


"You are not your mind, your emotions or the circumstances of your life. You are the peaceful observer of your mind and emotions that allows life circumstances to pass through and around you for your evolution to finally come to a place of total acceptance of all that is. Only the peaceful observer remains after all else fades away. Only the peaceful observer in total acceptance of what is can take action towards effectively changing anything. You are only this peaceful observer--everything else is as fleeting as the blink of an eye, choose happiness and don't buy into it." 

- Jackson Kiddard
We can choose to blame the world for our unhappiness, and our our lack of abundance and inner peace. Happiness is our choice and our responsibility because ultimately we choose our own thoughts, our own beliefs, and our interpretation of our own life events. If we are too busy focusing our time and energy on what is wrong, we may be putting our attention to the wrong stuff.
When we choose to see the many incredible things that take place every day in our world across the world, our amazing relationships  in our lives. And, when we choose to accept all for WHAT IS, we can be at peace.

Which brings me back to (of course! you guessed it!)

ACCEPTANCE & GRATITUDE.

So, to get myself of my brain and thoughts, I am going to meditate and begin a gratitude practice by silently saying thank you to all that is in my day.

Thanks for reading! Hearts!
Dana 

Friday, January 29, 2016

dOn'T jUdGe . . . dOn'T ASSume!


One day a couple of summers ago, my daughter had a doctor's appointment (she's diabetic) about 1/2 hour away from home. We left an hour before her appointment, and since her blood sugar had been running high for the morning, she was really thirsty. I forgot to put a water bottle in the car, so I knew I had to pull over and get Chloe some water...she really couldn't wait the 25 minutes or so before we got to our destination.

I pulled into the parking lot of a little bistro 'cuz there was no street parking, and the only space available was one that read "NO PARKING ALLOWED." Now, when you are a parent, you sometimes have to look at the risks in a situation and decide what is more important; in my case, I would have rather gotten a parking ticket than kept Chloe from getting the water she needed (do you get what I mean?)

Anyway, as we were rushing out of the car to the bistro to get water, two big-haired, blinged-out women wearing high-heels came out of a hair salon (I think I sound a bit judgmental here, don't you? oOps! I guess I do it, too!). 

The taller brunette looked at me in kind of a snotty way, pointed to the sign and shook her finger at me, "You're not supposed to park here. Don't you see the sign?" The momma bear came out in me, and although I don't think I sounded too rude, I for sure was very short and to the point. I looked at her straight in the eye and said, "I understand that, thank you very much. My daughter is diabetic and she needs water." I took my daughter's hand and started to quickly walk away. The brunette looked surprised, and softened a bit and said, "Oh. Do you need some help?" I replied, "No, thank you."

We got a super big drink of water in the little bistro, and then walked back across the street to the NO PARKING (scary!) ZONE.

Guess what? The two women were waiting in their black Ford Escalade until we got back (maybe to make sure we didn't get a ticket? Maybe to see if things were okay? I'll never know . . . ). As we got into the car, the brunette waved to us, smiled, and gave us the thumbs up, and we gave her the double thumbs up back.
*               *                *               *               *               *               *
Hmmnnnnn . . . guess we never know what people are up to when they do stuff WE don't think they should do . . . maybe it's not really our place to judge, huh? Has this ever happened to you? It's kind of humbling, eh? Let me know in the comments! Tell us everything!

LoVinG it aLL!
Dana

Thursday, January 28, 2016

rE-LeAse it . . . for REAL-eAsE . . .


BaLLooNs!

DeAr fUn & fReE foLk!

For the past weeks I have been blogging a bit about feelings. A vid from TheChopraWell described some steps to get rid of yucky, toxic feelings. The last 2 steps were releasing the emotions through a ritual, and then celebrating the release. SInce I'm an English teacher, I want to mention that 
  • "re" literally means back or again
  • "lease" to allow borrow or rent 


6. Release toxic emotions through a ritual: to let go and move on. I personally love doing rituals, and here are a couple of ideas about release rituals:

  • blow up a balloon and as you are blowing air into the balloon, picture the yucky emotions going into the balloon . . . then, either POP the balloon, or release the balloon up into hEaVen!
  • get a big jar of bUbBLeS and as you blow the buBBLeS, do the same thing: picture the pukey gross leftOvER goo going into the bubbles and dissolving up into the heAvEns
  • carry a rock around (like the 20 lb rock I ran 4 miles with) for awhile and then PUT IT DOWN!

7. Celebrate the release of the feelings: This can be a more positive, grateful practice--a way to honor your feelings, forgive yourself and others, and give yourself a big hug. What I would do? Here are some ideas:

  • grab your favorite yummy blankie and take a delicious 2-hour nap!
  • take an awesomely long hot shower with some fizzy shower tablets that smell like lavender or peppermint! 
  • dance to your favorite rockin' song! Here's my favorite song right now--


I don't know about you all, but I really appreciate the process of awakening--you know, being 

WIDE AWAKE

Thanks Katy! (even though it's painful, surprising & hard sometimes . . . ). The other thing, is that it's not always on MY timeline--but I trust that the Universe knows what it's doing. I'm grateful for it all!

LotS & lOts of LuV!
:o) dana

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

U r NoT fEaR!


Yo fUn & fReE fOlkS!
This has definitely been a month of fAcIng my FeArS! Like, as in doing what's right for me (despite what other people say about it, how they judge me, and the stories (lies) they make up about mY TrUtH!) I am not really sure why it's anyone else's business, but it keeps happening, so I must still need to work on thAt LeSSoN. Thanks, You-niverse! (not . . . jk . . . but I'm a bit sick and tired of it . . .)
I used to:
  • try to be perfecKt so nobody would find fault with me
  • when people did find fault or criticize me, just deny it, or make an excuse for it, or kiss their butt enough to change their mind about how bad or wrong or stUpiD I was . . . super InAuTheNtiC of me . . . but it was how I survived . . . ;( BTW: I wonder why I allowed these people to hang around me in the first place when it felt like such crap. Can you relate? 
  • NOTE TO SELF: gEt these iCky tOXic people oUT! Send them off with loVE and comPAssIOn, but SHOW THEM THE freakin' DOOR!
What I'm learning, is that just 'cuz someone think or says something about me, doesn't mean it's automatically true! That includes the mean crappy crap I tell mEself!
Also, I am learning to not even waste my EnergY defending mE(self) to these people 'cuz it is drainingnot true, and the stuff people say and do to me isn't really about me, anyway.
Do you know that the way people treat and what they say @ you isn't ever really about you? It's about tHeM and who tHeY are and what stories they make up about You! Isn't that weird? Which means by default (scary thing to tell you, here, but I'm just being real . . .) the way yOu treat others is neVer about ThEm and wHo you are and WhAt storiEs you make up about them!

My daughter was noodling (thinking) out loud in the car yesterday and she was telling me about some kids who talk "stuff" about her at camp--and she felt kinda bad. And I asked her if the stuff was true.
She said, "Nope." 
Then, I asked her this: "If someone told you your skin is purple, would you believe it?
She laughed and  said, "Of course not, 'cuz it's not true.
And I said, "Same thing. If you know it's not true, then it's not!" Then, she told me that some of the spiritual stuff I talk about is confusing for her--and, of course, I told her it's confusing to me, too! HAHAHAHAHAHA!

To be clear: setting boundaries around how others treat you is totally healthy (see above about showing them the door . . .). AS my biG bRo told me one morning (we both have recently "broken up" with some ickies in our lives and we were sharing our war stories . . . 'sup Christopher? I KNEW you'd be pleased!), you get to be youR LOveLy seLf, BUT YOU ARE NOT A DOORMAT FOR PEOPLE TO WALK ALL OVER!
So, MEet you fears and follow your dreams, ffps--one teeny tiny baby step at a time, and finD pEaCE in what's right fOr you!
LoVe U to the mOOn and bacK!
;) dana

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

FeAr . . . nOt!

“What is the difference between an obstacle and an opportunity?
Our attitude toward it. 
Every opportunity has a difficulty,
and every difficulty has an opportunity.” 
―J. Sidlow Baxter
  
Dear Fun & Free People-

One day a few years back I wrote about how my bestie helped me shed light on a shadowy & fearful spot in my life: my finances. As my bestie told me, "It ain't gonna get better until you go to the doctor." In other words, living in the place of fear doesn't make the challenge go away. If there's a pink elephant in the room, there's a pink elephant in the room--even if nobody acknowledges it, right?

Let's just say that I have been breathing a bit more easily in the past 24 hours.

I learned some of important things from this experience:
  • my fear itself was much scarier than the actual thing I was feeling fearful about: money. Money, after all, is simply an exchange of energy (kind of like food, huh?).
  • I have people in my life who can scaffold and support me through my fears, just like my friend who has expertise about finances can teach me a lot of great stuff.
  • I have people in my life whom I can scaffold and support through their fears with stuff I have expertise about . . . funny how that works!
  • Once I face a fear, I have courage to move forward and face another one.
Even though my mentor as been talking about this fact for years, I never really got it until it was demonstrated to me yesterday through my own experience. I guess that's how we human beings learn, through experience. And if we rob ourselves of moving through the experience of fear out the other side, we never learn that stuff just ain't that scary.

So here's the other surprising lesson: 

FEAR can point us to what we MUST do next.
FEAR is a gift.
FEAR is a pink elephant with angel's wings!
(repeat image in mind)

There are some more fears that I MUST face in the coming weeks, and I've been scared in advance, but I know the Universe is aligning to prepare me for the next set of fears I must face, especially after looking at my financial situation in the FACE.

I say BRING IT ON ( . . . almost . . . still need to breathe a bit, first!) 
How can you face your fears and come out the other side? Let me know in the comments!
Love, 
Dana