fEELinGs R rEaL-IngS!

Oh dEaR fun&freefEeLerS!

Whew! I needed to remind myself to breathe yesterday . . . 'cuz something super wObBLy . . . dark . . . gloomy . . . and scary came over me . . . and kind of tOoK oVeR and . . . I couldn't stop feeling like I needed to cry or maybe BArF (can you relate?)

 ;0( . . . but that's okay . .  .

And, today, I'm back . . . well, sort of . . . 

But it IS really okay . . . Today, I'm continued to share all my feelings, let them move through me--including happiness, btw! I totally spent an hour petting my new amazing ZEN-MASTER JAKE. Thank you, Jake, you centered me more than any yoga class could have!

So, here's my feelings about my feelings . . .

• I have had a hard time sharing my feelings for most of my life. I think it started when I was a kid, actually, when gRowNuPs used to argue with me about how I felt (which doesn't even make sense, does it? how can you argue with how someone feels?). 
• Others also used to tell me how I felt (did they crawl up into my head or into my heart?--what the hel(k) did they know NE-way?)
• So, I learned to iGnoRe my feelings altogether. I haven't even known how to name my feelings until the past couple of years. But NO MORE!

I would say that my emotional life HAS BEEN rather . . .

U

        N

                D

                       E

                               R

                                       G

                                              R

                                                     O

                                                            U

                                                                  N

                                                                         D.

 . . . which means I generally don't share my feelings 'cuz I don't feel comfortable or safe. (But I actually DID share with you all that I was wobbly, even though I wasn't sure what it was about . . . and that's g(o)od progress, huh? . . . 

Fortunately, I am practicing knowing what I feel. Yesterday, I was and scared, and a little (actually, ALOT) confused . . . 

I used to just

    push

                my

                             feelings

                                                away   

iGnOrE tHeM,

aRgUe wItH tHeM,

or pReTend they weren't there.

(sound familiar? . . . that's what I learned from those silly gRowNupS. . . I don't really think they meant it, though, 'cuz they didn't know any better . . .)

It's taken a lot of practice to get my feelings again, and

 I still have barfy tummy butterflies when I share my feelings--like I think I'm going to get in trouble for feeling.

I am getting braver, 'cuz the You-niverse is giving me lots of opportunities to share my feelings lately--both super awesome amazing happy feelings! and black hole-in-the-heart scary hidden cave-in feelings. 

ffFeelers!: I encourage you to share your feelings--even if it freaks you out, caves you in, your  heart pounds, or you think you are going to puke! It will get easier!

I have been letting myself be sad. I have not been running away (nOt gOoD), eating chocolate (thud), smoking (eEw!), drinking wiNe (yuk), or stayIng in beD all day (lame) . . . AnD . . . I am so okay! 

Next time I feel (anything), I will give myself even more permission to just bE mE. . . (wherever I AM) . . . and LoVe all of mE, NEway!

LovE yOu,

SuperMe (2 sUpER yOu)!

U R ur HeArt!

"If I create from the heart, nearly everything works;

if from the head, almost nothing." 

- Marc Chagall

gOOd moRning aLL!

You probably already know if you follow my blog that sometimes I get very stuck up in my head. My amazing partner has told me over and over: "Don't overthink it." In other words, I should stop thinking so much and follow my gut and my heart.

Which makes me wonder why I tend to overthink so much and why I get stuck up in my brain so often.

Didn't I ever really learn to trust my heart and my gut? I mean, I get that it's really never too late to learn, but jeeeesh! 

Some things, I suppose, take a lifetime of practice . . . and, at least I realize that I do this now. A few years ago, I was usually trapped in my head and I didn't even realize I was a prisoner of my own thoughts sometimes. I guess that's progress, huh?

Meditation really helps me calm my thoughts and focus on my breath--which can almost always bring me back to the PRESENT MOMENT,-- out of my worries about the future and yucky instant replays of my past.

Eckhart Tolle wrote an amazing book called The Power of Now that I listen to on my iPod. He basically tells us that we are not our thoughts and we are not our mind--we are so much greater. And he gives strategies for freeing ourselves of our negative beliefs and thought patterns. And what we need to do is stand beside out thoughts and observe them (without judgement), and not necessarily believe them . . . but just notice them, and then let them go. Kind of like sitting on the side of a river watching the current of the water flow by. Ahhhhhh . . . I feel calmer already! 

I totally know that my most important journey these days is finding the path from my head to my heart. Maybe I will introduce them to each other and we can all have a lovely chat!

I hEaRt U, yO!

Dana bo bayna

fEEL rIGhT?

Dear FunFreePeeps!

Do you take yourself too seriously? Have you noticed that your life is very dramatic? I personally LOVE TO LAUGH (and sometimes I do take myself too seriously and my life is overly dramatic).

Anyway, the point is, I can sometimes catch myself in this self-defeating behavior and return to gratitude and laughter.

CaSe in pOinT: Yesterday, while my son was at his bass lesson, my daughter and her friend went to a toy store and bought "noise putty"--aka fart putty. Basically, when you put your hand in the container and squish down, the "noise putty" make a very loud, wet prolonged sound. I mean, seriously . . . it was so obnoxious.

So, as we went to the drive through at McDonald's, the girls were in the back going crazy with their "noise putty," and the drive through workers were kind of looking sideways at each other wondering what the heck was going on. I was laughing so hard I began to cry, and I finally blurted out between gasping laughter:

I'm so sorry, but my kids have fart putty!

and then I burst out into even more hilarity (with snorts in between) . . .

[BTW: My sixth-grade son was horrified, shrinking in the front seat out of sheer embarassment]

Anyway, the workers at the drive through started busting a gut along with all of us, and as we drove away, they were still laughing. I think we may have made their day . . .

I had to pull over into the parking area for a minute because I was laughing so hard, and between snorty laughter, my daughter said, Mom, I love being your daughter . . . (really, what could be more precious?)

These moments of letting go of what other people think, and just diving in to the hilarity of what's in front of us--these moments are gold. I personally know that if I can surrender to these moments it is a sign that I AM WAKING UP!

What do you do that makes no sense, and no money, just because it feels right? Leave me a comment and share your awesomeness!

LOL!

Dana

thErE's nO pLaCe lIke ho(ME) . . .

There's no place like ho(ME) . . .

Dear FunFreeMePeople;

Today I took my kids to the film "Oz the Great and Powerful." I had no idea what to expect, but I knew it was supposed to be a prequel to "The Wizard of Oz,"--like, as in, how he got to Oz in the first place.

The entire movie reminded me of expectations. The Land of Oz was expecting a wizard to arrive and save them from the evil entities that had taken over, and when the wizard (who did not believe himself to be a wizard) landed there, everyone expected him to be THE ONE, and to save them. 

Repeatedly, he told them he was not THE ONE, and they would not accept it. 

And this is key: When the good witch was speaking to him, she told him,"You're not THE ONE we expected, but you are THE ONE who is here." (and, so he is the chosen one, cuz he is the one who arrived...do you get it? Nobody else arrived).

OMG.

And, THE WIZARD replied to her something like this: "I may not be what you expected, but I am what you need."

And because everyone believed in the wizard, he eventually came to believe in himself (and he faked it for a long time until he did believe himself to be the hero of heroes!).

In the end, I think the wizard may have been his own worst enemy because he needed to know, and love, and believe in his own integrity. 

I can relate. How do you challenge your own trust in yourself? How have you leaped to trusting the greatness of YOU?

You R OZ-some!

Love, 

Dana

bE aMazing yOu!

dEar aMazing & gOOd lOOkinG and sUpeR sPaRkLy fuN & frEE pEEps! 

I have a really weird and amazing idea for all of you today. I dare you to be your authentic self . . . for 1 hour. Sounds easy, right?

Hmmnnn . . . let's unpack it a bit.

That means,

• checking in with yourself every moment, or at least every time you make a decision, to ensure that you, beautiful and amazing you, are in your own unique integrity in this world
• making decisions based on you . . . rather than what
• other people will approve of
• other people will think is the "right" choice
• will make others like you
• feels the easiest (unless you need it to be easy)
• is automatically ANTI (for those of us who don't like to be told what to do so we choose the radical or OTHER position)
• your parents would have wanted you to do
• others might need
• being free to express yourself, for example . . 
• I was shopping with some friends today and one friend said something sosososo ridiculous that I burst out laughing! 
• Looking around at people staring at me, I apologized  . . .  and then kept on laughing my a@# off . . . even the fancy botoxed (NO JUDGEMENT...I love Botox!) high-heeled designer shopper eventually began to chuckle with me!
• being sad & sappy if I need to
• asking for help when I need it
• saying sorry and knowing I'm wrong
• taking care of me FIRST, SO I have stuff to GIVE (the opposite of what I learned growing up!)

WE R ALL AMAZING! How do we forget that? It's crazy!

 Can  You let go of the story of your own un-amazingness?

Let me know in the comments!

HeArts!

dana