Bedtime unfiltered.

Street Art. #Atlanta

LIGHT SHOW

I wish I could create a light show

but I guess i'll just wait for the sun to shine

rain washes away the lies

that live in the dirt

thunder and lightning make you not afraid of hurt

tackled to the turf

then make love on feathers

we will push each other to heaven 

Moving On. By Deepak Chopra

As the Buddha taught, we are each given ten thousand joys and ten thousand sorrows. The challenge lies in not getting mired in either the joy or the pain, keeping our hearts open and soft instead of closed and constricted. If we hold on to the hurts and wounds of the past, we start to accumulate emotional baggage − the dead weight of old experiences.

Freeing yourself from this emotional baggage is crucial because dwelling on the past prevents you from participating in the present, which is the only place in which you can experience love, happiness, fulfillment, and miracles.

Many people are hesitant to approach their inner pain and afraid to open old wounds. Yet it isn’t necessary to charge into a minefield, and you don’t have to brace yourself for a second round of hurt. By following the seven steps to emotional freedom, the healing process can unfold naturally, and when it does, you will experience relief and a surge of wellbeing

Take your time with each step, and don’t move on until you feel satisfied that the current step is working for you. For most people, it helps to have someone else join you in the exercise. Their presence provides reassurance that you aren’t alone or unsupported. If you have a therapist, you may want to ask him or her to support you in the process.

Step 1: Recall an Emotion

With your eyes closed, recall an emotional experience that is causing discomfort. See the circumstances clearly and vividly in your mind. It could be an embarrassing experience or a personal rejection; the feeling could revolve around loss or failure. Don’t generalize; be specific. You are recalling an emotional trigger. If your recollection is too uncomfortable, open your eyes and take a few deep breaths. When you feel less overwhelmed, close your eyes again and proceed.

Step 2: Feel Your Body

Notice where in your body this emotional memory has lodged. For most people, when they bring up a disturbing emotion, a physical sensation of tightness, stiffness, discomfort, or even pain will be felt in the stomach or around the heart. For a smaller number of people the sensation will be felt in the throat or head. Locate where your sensation is occurring.

If at first you don’t feel anything, relax, take a breath, and easily tune into your body. On rare occasions someone may feel numb, which is the sign of a deep emotion that has been tied to fear. But everyone eventually feels something in the body doing this exercise. Remember that an emotion is a thought connected to a sensation.

Step 3: Label Your Emotion

Now give your emotion a name. Is it fear or anger, sadness or resentment? Most people are surprised to find that they haven’t really labeled their emotions in the past. “I feel bad” or “I’m not having a good day” is as far as they get. Being more specific allows you to focus on the emotional baggage you want to release, so take the time to tell yourself exactly what you’re feeling.

To help you, here are the most common painful emotions that people carry around:

Anger, hostility, rage
Sadness, grief, sorrow
Envy, jealousy
Anxiety, fear, worry, apprehension
Resentment
Humiliation
Rejection
Shame

Step 4: Express the Experience

Take some paper and a pen and write down what happened during your painful emotional experience. Put down in detail how you felt, what other people did, and how you reacted afterward.

When you feel satisfied that you’ve expressed what the whole thing was about, take a second sheet of paper and retell the same incident from the other person’s point of view. Pretend that you are that person. Write down what they were feeling, why they acted as they did, and how they responded afterward. This part is harder than writing down the incident from our point of view, but stick with it – you will be taking a big step in freeing yourself from the pain of the past.

When you are satisfied with what you’ve written, take a third sheet of paper and relate the same incident as a newspaper reporter would, in the third person. How would an objective observer describe the incident in question? Give the details as objectively and evenhandedly as you can.

This step takes more time than the previous ones, but people enjoy it immensely. They discover that they are no longer trapped in their own point of view. They suddenly can call upon other voices in their head, a new set of eyes, a greater sense of detachment. It’s all very freeing.

Step 5: Share Your Experience

Now share your experience by reading your three accounts to someone else. In a group setting, which is how I normally lead the exercise, people are very eager to share, and the whole tone of the room is lifted, filled with excitement and laughter. The prospect of gaining emotional freedom from their past is exhilarating. So if you are doing the exercise at home, having a partner or a small group really enhances this step.

It works well on your own, however, if you have a good friend or family member you can telephone. Read them your three versions, making sure that they understand why you’re doing this process. It’s important not to share your experience whose actions provoked the emotional hurt you’re recounting. They won’t understand and usually won’t cooperate. Ninety percent of the time they won’t agree with your version of the event in question; in fact, they might deny it even occurred. So stick with someone who is sympathetic and has your best interests at heart.

Step 6: Ritual of Release

Now it’s time to formally let go of your painful experience. Take your written stories and literally let them go. This is done through a ritual where you consign your past to the universe, God, or whatever higher power you recognize. You should feel free to devise your own ritual. Set your paper on fire and throw the ashes to the wind or the sea. Some people burn them on an altar and others flush them down the toilet. You can also tear the paper to pieces and bury them in the back yard.

The ritual is important because it draws a line between your past and who you are right now. If you have fully expressed your old emotion, letting go feels very satisfying. But don’t try to force the release and be gentle with yourself. Release what you can today. It’s normal and natural if you find yourself doing later releases around the same hurt.

Step 7: Celebrate Your Release

Once you have released your old story to the universe, celebrate your moment of liberation. You can do this alone or with others, just so long as you appreciate the step you’ve taken. I find that people often skip this step unless reminded. They don’t want to make their emotions a big deal, but in reality they are a big deal. Emotions can trap and bind you − and they can also set you free and change your future.

If you use this process consistently, you will eventually be able to release all of your old emotional pain, freeing yourself to return to your innate state of love, joy, and wholeness.

Free Postage

Dear __________,

I hope this letter reaches you in good health. With all do respect,  I think about you everyday. I think about us everyday. What went wrong. When it went wrong. Where I went wrong. You were/are nothing short of the most amazing woman I've ever met. You are beautiful in such a profound way that a majority of the world doesn't even understand your love. You see it took me all this time. It took me losing you. During your vulnerable moments I see now why you would feel alone sometimes. You loved the world and it seemed the world wasn't receiving or returning that same love. Sounds familiar. But see it was returning that same love, it was protecting you... protecting you from people like me. Protecting you from people who weren't ready for you love, who used your love (intentionally or unintentionally).  I see that you're happy now. You deserve that. You deserve that like no other. He's a lucky man. I know just how lucky. It sickens me. I never thought you would leave. I never wanted you to leave. I never thought I would let you leave. And even after all that... I knew you only left in hopes you were enough... you were worth me coming to find you. And I never did come, did I? I never came and rescued my queen. The queen I made leave. In my moments of thinking of you I envision your smile most often. I think about mornings waking up with you in my arms...I still feel you here some mornings (in the form of a bird tapping on my window or in the a way I ask her to touch me). Sometimes I drive an hour back to the house where we spent that wonderful summer. I walk to the back yard, down by the stream and you are right there with me... reminding me to listen to the silence and the birds and the water, picking flowers and offering them as gifts to me ....you are right there next to me asking me how I was feeling... what was I thinking ... and i'm right next to you not taking in the silence and the birds and the water, taking for granted the flowers you picked for me and offered as gifts... right there right next to you telling you what I feel is nothing and what i'm thinking about is work.

A work email alert sounds on my phone and then reality sets in and i'm not at that house, i'm not by the stream, and you are not here next to me, someone else is, and she sits besides me telling me how she feels and while I care for her I can't help but to wish I would have told you everything I felt that afternoon by the stream. I should have told you I felt true love, I felt safe, I felt happy, I felt grateful, I felt scared. I should have told you I was in love. I should have held your hand and listened to the silence and the birds and the water. That's all you ever wanted from me. Nothing more/nothing less. Just me. You needed me, you trusted me, you loved me and I let you down. I apologize for every tear.


Love Always,

__________________

www.youtube.com/speshalm

My Video Diaries
www.youtube.com/speshalm

Joined: April 15, 2007

Views: 41, 797

Camera: I-phone

Video Budget: $0.00

TOP FIVE VIDEOS:

5. Twin Flames- 121 Views April 13, 2012
A sequence of clips I edited from some of my favorite films over a Sade' track. It is a very passionate and very sexual video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s24s9b1PfNw


    Musing with Mahogany: Project VCharlie Brown- 121 Views AUGUST 19, 2013
This was just a finished product of a really spontaneous and creative night with some friends at my apartment. This is the largest project I've directed and edited to date. This copy is actually a bootleg copy. The editing program I used deleted the master copy after 8 weeks of editing. It was a nightmare but I am grateful to at least have this copy. I think this comedy short is hilarious. It was all improvd. Please take the time to watch it in its entirety.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snCcj5ZqWbU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlCbgjVcBzQ

4. Here Comes the Bride- 129 views MARCH 7, 2012
The footage used to make this video was just footage I had lying on my computer. I wanted to create a visual for a song I had written called "Here comes the Bride." A song about a love triangle and an affair ending. My best friend wasn't to happy to find out she was the star, lol. She played the role of the mistress of the groom. A very simple visual taking place at a wedding reception where the bride was a no-show. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Un2t2OGlBrY

3. Love Faces Photo Shoot (Behind the Scenes)- 253 Views October 27, 2010
My good friend Nyima shot some footage of me during a photo shoot with Mike Anderson in Virginia. I edited it. I thinks it is a very sexy & mysterious & fun visual to Trey Songz "Love Faces".

https://vimeo.com/16263097

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLriLFTzrN0

2. I Just Wanna Be a Woman- 1,955 Views September 13, 2010
My best friend Tiannah and I were supposed to have a photo shoot and the videographer showed up with a video camera.... so we made it work. I did not edit this film. Editing and directing is by Issa Bolden. Night Angels is a video honoring beauty and confidence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCaWQOlX3kQ

1. His Side of The Bed- 38, 766 Views March 4th, 2010
This was my very first time writing a video treatment and my very first time acting in front of the camera. I credit this project for uniting my soul with its passion. I did not edit this video. However, I did play a heavy role in over seeing the editing and the creative path for this project. I am very proud of this baby. It still gets over 300 hits a month. I got the opportunity to personally meet Trey Songz and give him a copy of the video ( I don't know if he watched, lol) 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zMMHrcO478 


My Favorite top 5 videos:

5. Carrie Moments
One of my favorite Sex and the City moments between Carrie and Bigg

4. Footprints
A  spiritual afternoon at the indoor pool over Beyonce's " I was Here"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkwX0u2IKBo

3. Love Faces Photo Shoot (Behind the Scenes)
My good friend Nyima shot some footage of me during a photo shoot with Mike Anderson in Virginia. I edited it. I thinks it is a very sexy & mysterious & fun visual to Trey Songz "Love Faces".

2. Met. 2012
An emotional Summer led to this one night over Beyonce's cover to "Kissing You" from Romeo and Juliet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_rezjJRE9s

1. Remember? BRAND NEW  https://vimeo.com/75340780
I shot this last night. A reminder to love to relax... I don't want to be back on my worst behavior ( and my worst behavior is giving up on love or pretending it not there) Don't push me there.


Six years ... 42,000 views. 

In the next 6 weeks I hope to purchase my very first professional camera and I look forward to sharing more evolved, more professional, more creative, higher quality work. Thanks for rocking with me thus far .... whoever has been pressing PLAY. xoxo

-Maryam_Zahra_



PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT TO CHECK OUT ALL MY VIDEOS FROM OVER THE YEARS.

www.youtube.com/speshalm

Musing with Mahogany: Project VCharlie Brown

It feels good doing what you love. Editing this project took all my patience. After the editing program crashed and all my footage was deleted (for the third time) I just knew no one would ever see this gem my friend Turq & I created one night. I remained positive and was able to search and rescue what I like to call " my bootleg " version of Musing with Mahogany: Project Vcharlie Brown.

Enjoy

Watch Musing with Mahogany: Project VCharlie Brown :

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

28.

www.youtube.com/speshalm 

August 16th, 2013

August 16th, 2013.

Leo (July 23- August 22)

Your August Horoscope by Susan Miller

It is your birthday month, but you will be celebrating in a new and very different way. As a Leo, you love to be with friends, for you are gregarious and warm hearted, and the pure joy you take in life makes others enjoy being with you. This month you will be filled with ideas for your future, and you see them in your mind's eye like a series of snapshots that, when strung together, form a series of storyboards that could be your future life.

This month, take time to envision your future. Don't let anyone tell you that daydreaming is a waste of time - the only people who would dare tell you that are people without any vision. With Jupiter, giver of gifts and luck, in your highly creative twelfth house, the time you take away from more mundane matters to think, muse, and imagine your future will pay off in a big way. You also have Mars and Mercury in this same area of your chart, energizing your subconscious mind, the very part of you the twelfth house holds sway over.

You won't feel like socializing a lot this month - this birthday month seems to be more private. You do need rest, so plan a soothing vacation where the most strenuous thing you need to do is pick up a book or newspaper, or pour yourself a glass of iced tea. You've come to learn that it is not always about the number of people around you, but the quality of the friendships and the love you exchange that matter more. You are reordering your priorities this month, a process that will begin now but go on for the coming eleven months. You are preparing for the best year of your life, to begin on July 16, 2014, when Jupiter enters Leo, and this outstanding phase will continue to August 11, 2015.

Those coming twelve months will mark one of the very finest years of your life, filled with happiness and fresh starts, but only if you have taken the time now to prepare for that year. In order for things to work out to your delight, you need to know precisely what you want to happen. Many people say they know what they want, but when pressed get that faraway look in their eyes, showing that, in fact, they are not sure. Don't be that girl or guy. Imagine your new life down to the tiniest details - the room you are in, the clothes you will wear, the light coming through the window, the flowers on your coffee table and how their fragrance fills the air - every bit of what you can conjure up will help you frame that moment so that you can get to it.

You will also be uncannily intuitive this month, to the degree you surprise and even frighten your friends. You won't have any idea where these on-the-money hunches are coming from all of a sudden, but you will know, like you know your name, that you can trust your inner voice. That is smart - do so - for those intuitive flashes of insight are being given to you from a loving universe to protect you and to help you set your compass in a whole new direction. By next July you will be ready to start a new chapter for the future. In the meantime, this month, your inner voice will tell you which projects to accept and the ones to decline - and later you will see how accurate you were.

This month, the new moon in Leo on August 6, at a critical 15 degrees - an unusually friendly one - will bring your dearest dreams into focus. You will feel centered and at long last will become closer in touch with your deepest hopes and desires. If you should have a yearning to discuss the deep mysteries of life in August, that would sound right, as the ninth house, where you are hosting the genius planet Uranus (beautifully oriented to this new moon), will coax you to ask philosophical questions and debate all kinds of possibilities with friends.

This same new moon in Leo on August 6 will work to open you to new stimulation, and possibly new experiences, with new colors, tastes, sounds, scents, art, and music of foreign cultures in the coming weeks. You may travel overseas shortly after the new moon of August 6 has appeared, and if so, this will be a magnificent month to go. Uranus may bring up surprise opportunities to travel, quite at the last minute. Having help from Uranus is rare, making this new moon outstanding.

If your birthday falls on this day or within five days of this new moon of August 6, you will have even more reason to be excited - this new moon is speaking directly to you!

The full moon of August 20 in Aquarius, 28 degrees, will again put emphasis on your partner, whether your partner happens to be someone you love romantically or is someone you collaborate with in a close business relationship (like a business partner, agent, publicist, lawyer, manager, and so forth). Last month, on July 22, we had a full moon in the same sign, Aquarius, and that also emphasized your partner and was 0 degrees. It is rare to get two full moons in a row in the same sign, but that is what we have now. Leos born at the end of July would have felt last month's full moon more, while Leos born within five days of August 20 will feel this one.

Full moons wrap up conversations, so you may be coming to a conclusion about the future of one close relationship. For some readers, this may mean an exciting and very romantic engagement. If the coming together of you and another is for business, you may be getting ready to sign official papers. For others, it may mean that you mutually agree that it's too soon and will table the commitment (which is a decision in its own right). Still others will agree to table the decision by saying "maybe later" and for still others, the full moon may bring a feeling of "this is not for me" and a breakup.

This full moon will fall very close to Neptune, so you may feel very inspired and in love!

If you are merging energies for a creative purpose, the other individual in the partnership you are forming may bring out the very best in you, showing the talent inside you that you never knew existed.

Of course, if this is a business arrangement, or if a romantic one, and you don't know one another too well, you might get carried away with Neptune falling so close to the full moon of August 20, so be careful not to rush into any new relationship. It's never wise to sign a contract by the light of neon! That means the Elvis Chapel in Las Vegas is out! (Just kidding.) If you do plan to sign papers, I suggest you do so on the very best days of the month - and possibly of the season - Wednesday, August 28 to August 30. Mercury and Pluto and Jupiter will all work together to make those red-letter days - special in every way.

Many Leos are super-creative, and are screenwriters, actors, costume designers, music composers, or artists - the entertainment field brims with Leo because their talents are so right for this field. If you are a creator, then you will find this full moon August 20 ideal for putting the final touches on a major project (allow a plus or minus five days of influence in either direction.) Neptune will give you a great spark - you will add those final touches and be so happy with your final product. You've baked the cupcakes, so to speak, and now it's time to add the pretty sprinkles and rosettes.

The quiet tempo of August - allowing you to withdraw from the social scene and simply think - will end on the day Mars enters your sign, Leo, on August 27. This is great news, as everyone wants Mars in their sign. This only happens for six weeks every two years, but the fact that Mars is coming to you now suggests that you are ready to enter into a brand new, energetic, vibrant cycle. The seeds that you plant, particularly from August 27 through all days of September, will have a great chance of bearing great fruit. (October is due to become a difficult month for everyone, due to a monster new moon, October 4. Make the most of August and September while blue skies and sunny days are due!)

---

Summary

You've had a busy set of months, and now its time to catch up on rest. If you can take a vacation, August would be your ideal month to pack and go. With your twelfth house of privacy and reflection lit up with three planets, avoid choosing a strenuous sightseeing journey, but rather choose one that is soothing and calm, perhaps by renting a cottage by the sea, or a cabin in the mountains. Unplug from your cell phone and social media for a few days if you can, as it would do you a world of good. You need to get completely away from everything that holds you in a grip during the rest of the year.

It's now birthday time, and you have a bright new moon in Leo on August 6 to help you materialize a goal dear to you. You must be committed and passionate about your choice, for if you are, the sky's the limit on what you can achieve. Uranus, planet of surprise, will be adding his own brand of luck to the mix, so you may now travel abroad or get special help from people in international settings. If you are involved in a legal action, you may be surprised, in a positive way, by developments that will come up suddenly.

If you need to concentrate on a project, say, to write your screenplay or comedy skit, or do a grant or research paper, by working completely alone, you will yield top productivity. You can collaborate effectively with others later, near the full moon of August 20, but first you will need to hear your voice within. Your intuition will be strong and lead you in the right direction.

Your very close relationship - a partner in love or in business - will be on your mind within four days of August 20. You may be very inspired by this person because you are in love, or because your partner brings out creativity in you never knew existed. Neptune will be very close to the full moon, accounting for this, but if you are not in love, or not collaborating for on an imaginative project, be careful - Neptune can have two sides. In that case, Neptune's presence may mean you don't know all you need to know about your partner. It would be a situation that could eventually put you in jeopardy. Do not rush into a new relationship or make any commitments just yet, not until you feel you know all there is to know about your partner.

If you are in a long-term relationship, you may accidentally discover news that may be troubling to you. In the smoke and mirrors environment that will exist in the days surrounding August 20, you will need to take your time to sort out truth from fiction. Saturn, the planet of maturity and reason, will be friendly, so the long-term outlook for your alliance will be positive, even if temporarily a little difficult. Keep striving to locate the truth, and look into your heart as you do so. Not every Leo will feel this vibration, only those who did not know all about their business or personal partner.

Mars' entry to Leo for the first time in two years on August 27 is an optimistic, joyful sign of happy days to come, all the way until October 15. In that time, Mars in Leo will give you courage, energy, and drive. During that phase, you will stop at nothing to achieve your greatest goals. Save your key initiations for after August 27, for with energetic Mars at your side, it is when you will truly shine brightest.
Dates to Note for LEO

Best days for Leo, romance and for other things too: August 2, 4, the new moon in Leo August 6 to 16 (August 14-16 are especially good days for love within that period), 23, 24, 28, and 29.

A very special day will be August 4, when the Sun, your ruler, will contact Uranus in a friendly way. International deals, immigration matters, travel overseas, legal considerations, and broadcasting/publishing matters go well.

Wait until the new moon in Leo arrives on August 6 to launch your biggest initiations. You will have ten days to act, but the best days occur at the start of this period, and get progressively weaker as you move from August 6.

Mars will be in Leo from August 27 to October 15, your time to shine, and lead. The universe will support you fully. Wait for this phase to launch important plans and ventures.


Happy 28th Birthday to me! xoxo

Home.

6/29/2013 2:13 p.m

"I have the opportunity now to be close to another in a more profound way."

Pythagoras asks that we not let a friend go lightly, for whatever reason. Instead, we should stay with a friend as long as we can, until we're compelled to abandon him completely against our will. It's a serious thing to toss away money, but to cast aside a person is even more serious. Nothing in human life is more rarely found, nothing more dearly possessed. No loss is more chilling or more dangerous than that of a friend. -Ficino 

Apparently there is something in every relationship that is eternal, that goes on forever, that wants to be exempted from the life decision to cut ties. Obviously our relationships are not as simple or as limited in scope as we sometimes like to think them. There are only so many people you come to know in a lifetime, and an even smaller number with whom we live intimately. These relationships are all important to the soul. From the soul point of view, ending is a different experience of the relationship. Ending is not literal at all, but is rather a radical shift in imagination. 

Hermes the Postman: A Return to Letters

 

 One of the most potentially soulful aspects of modern life is mail and all that attends it: letter, envelopes, mailboxes, postage stamps, and of course the man or woman who delivers the mail. Junk mail and bills are only the shadow of an otherwise blissful institution. A great deal of pleasurable fantasy surrounds the important soul tasks of writing letter. An envelope is one of the few things in the modern world we seal, thus creating a private space for expression. Stamps are usually not mere tokens of monetary exchange, but small paintings...
    The mailbox is a mysterious item, too. For the most part, we place our treasured letters in this box, and mysteriously our letters find their way around the world. I sometimes have the fanciful idea that the box is a black hole into which my thoughts and feelings fall, to be retrieved somewhat magically by another person participating in this ritual of self expression...
    I don't mean to mystify letter writing, but rather to highlight some of the fantasy and ritual that go into this important technology of intimacy. Something happens to our thoughts and emotions when we put them into a letter; they are then not the same spoken words. They are placed in a different level, serving the soul's organ of rumination rather than the mind's capacity for understanding...
    Letters take time to write, usually much more time than talk. They require a certain level of artfulness and thoughtfulness in expression. In a letter we "presence" our thoughts, giving them existence outside ourselves. Then they remain, to be reread, perhaps to be stored away for another day of reading, or even to be encountered at some distant time in the future...

Things Come Apart by Todd McLellan

My revolver shoots out flowers 🌸🌺🔫

8 WEEKS TO OPTIMUM HEALTH: WEEK 8

"The eight-week program consists of small steps that build on each other until, by the time you complete it, you have laid the foundation for healthy living. You can then decide how much of the program you want to maintain on a permanent basis. It's all about changing behavior." -Andrew Weil, author of 8 Weeks To Optimum Health

I found this book on my mothers bookshelf... or it found me. - M-Z

WEEK EIGHT (of Andrew Weil's Eight-Week program)

CONGRATULATIONs! YOU HAVE ALMOST MADE IT TO THE END OF THE EIGHT WEEK PROGRAM.

Projects:
-Review the changes you have made in your lifestyle in the the program so far and think about how many of them you wish to make permanent. Develop a realistic plan that you can stick to over the next eight weeks. The question this week is how can you carry this plan forward. Following all the instructions and then going back to your old ways of living is not the point.


Diet:
-Think about how you can continue the dietary changes of this program in coming weeks.

Supplements:
-Start taking your tonic. Make a commitment to give it a two-month trial to see what it does for your energy level, resistance, and outlook. All you have to do here is remember to take your antioxidant formula every day. That means having a daily routine for taking three vitamins and selenuium and making sure you do not run out of any of them. You can and should take them for the rest of your life.

Exercise:
-Reach your goal of a forty-five minute walk, five days of the week.

Mental/Spiritual:  The prescriptions I gave you under this heading are the most distinctive elements of the eight-week program, and they are absolutely essential to it.
-Continue the breathing exercises. Start using the relaxing breath whenever you feel anxious or upset, and be sure to do it at least twice a day.
-Maintain your news fast for the whole week. At the end of the week, think about how much news you want to let back into your life in coming weeks.
-Think of people who have hurt you or made you angry. Try to bring yourself to understand their actions and forgive them. Can you express forgiveness to at least one of them?
-Reward yourself with especially beautiful flowers for completing this program. Why not also buy flowers for someone else?

Optional (but highly recommended)
 -Try a one-day water fast this week. You can have herbal tea with lemon if you like, but nothing caloric.
_________________________________

Good luck, have fun, see ya next week !


Love,

Maryam

8 Weeks to Optimum Health: WEEK SEVEN

"The eight-week program consists of small steps that build on each other until, by the time you complete it, you have laid the foundation for healthy living. You can then decide how much of the program you want to maintain on a permanent basis. It's all about changing behavior." -Andrew Weil, author of 8 Weeks To Optimum Health

I found this book on my mothers bookshelf... or it found me. - M-Z

WEEK SEVEN (of Andrew Weil's Eight-Week program)

Projects:
-Do some kind of service work this week, such as volunteering for a few hours at a hospital or charitable organization or helping some-one you know who is disabled or shut in -any activity in which you give some of your time and energy to help others. Your new project this week sounds simple, but it touches on a profound subject that is very relevant to health: your sense of self in relation to others. Human beings are highly social, communal animals. We are meant to live in families, tribes, and communities, and when we lack those connections we suffer. Service work is a way of developing and demonstrating your sense of universal connectedness with other human beings. It is, truly, its own reward. It is considered one more piece of the whole picture of health. 




-Continue the steam baths or sauna twice this week. Use it for up to twenty minutes one day. It should be hot enough to make you sweat freely; be sure to drink plenty of pure water to replace lose fluid. The value of sweating: It allows the body to rid itself of unwanted materials and also highly salutory for our minds and spirits.




Diet: -Continue eating as before: at least two meals of fish, two of soy protein, generous servings of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, ginger, and garlic, and cook greens twice this week.
        



Supplements:
-Continue the supplement/vitamin regiment offered in week one, two, and three.

Exercise:
-Increase your aerobic walk to forty minutes, five days of the week.

Mental/Spiritual: *Recommendations that fall under this heading are most important.
-Reach out to resume connection with someone from whom you are estranged. Practice forgiveness. Human relationships are complex, often marked by upheavals. The joy of intimate connection is often balanced by the pain of separation and estrangement. Healing relationships, emotional pain, and the sense of isolation that is at the root of much human disease is a necessary step in helping the healing system perform most efficiently. To take the first step toward reconciliation is difficult, requiring emotional maturity and skill, it can also put you more in contact with your higher self.
-Make time for flowers, music, and art.
-Increase the relaxing breath to eight cycles, twice a day.

Optional (but highly recommended)
Eat nothing but fresh fruit one day of the week, and drink as much water and herbal tea as you want. Take vitamin C but skip the other supplements on this day. Limiting your diet to just fruits and vegetable juice is a way to give your digestive system a good rest.
_________________________________


Good luck, have fun, see ya next week !


Love,

Maryam

Saturday.

Lyrics to Love: If it makes you Happy

"If it makes you happy" -Sheryl Crow

I've been long, a long way from here
Put on a poncho, played for mosquitos,
And drank til I was thirsty again
We went searching through thrift store jungles
Found Geronimo's rifle, Marilyn's shampoo
And Benny Goodman's corset and pen

Well, o.k. I made this up
I promised you I'd never give up

[Chorus]
If it makes you happy
It can't be that bad
If it makes you happy
Then why the hell are you so sad

You get down, real low down
You listen to Coltrane, derail your own train
Well who hasn't been there before?
I come round, around the hard way
Bring you comics in bed, scrape the mold off the bread
And serve you french toast again

Well, o.k. I still get stoned
I'm not the kind of girl you'd take home

[Chorus]

We've been far, far away from here
Put on a poncho, played for mosquitos
And everywhere in between
Well, o.k. we get along
So what if right now everything's wrong?

[Chorus]

Lyrics to Love: Fast Car

"Fast Car" -Tracy Chapman

You got a fast car
I want a ticket to anywhere
Maybe we make a deal
Maybe together we can get somewhere
Any place is better
Starting from zero got nothing to lose
Maybe we'll make something
But me myself I got nothing to prove

You got a fast car
And I got a plan to get us out of here
I been working at the convenience store
Managed to save just a little bit of money
We won't have to drive too far
Just 'cross the border and into the city
You and I can both get jobs
And finally see what it means to be living

You see my old man's got a problem
He live with the bottle that's the way it is
He says his body's too old for working
I say his body's too young to look like his
My mama went off and left him
She wanted more from life than he could give
I said somebody's got to take care of him
So I quit school and that's what I did

You got a fast car
But is it fast enough so we can fly away
We gotta make a decision
We leave tonight or live and die this way

I remember we were driving driving in your car
The speed so fast I felt like I was drunk
City lights lay out before us
And your arm felt nice wrapped 'round my shoulder
And I had a feeling that I belonged
And I had a feeling I could be someone, be someone, be someone

You got a fast car
And we go cruising to entertain ourselves
You still ain't got a job
And I work in a market as a checkout girl
I know things will get better
You'll find work and I'll get promoted
We'll move out of the shelter
Buy a big house and live in the suburbs

You got a fast car
And I got a job that pays all our bills
You stay out drinking late at the bar
See more of your friends than you do of your kids
I'd always hoped for better
Thought maybe together you and me would find it
I got no plans I ain't going nowhere
So take your fast car and keep on driving

You got a fast car
But is it fast enough so you can fly away
You gotta make a decision
You leave tonight or live and die this way

Collectible Matter. The Scavenger Hunt

"Today I see beauty everywhere I go, in every face I see, in every single soul." -Kevyn Aucoin

Today, I challenge you to see your world through different eyes.

The March 13' Collectible matter Scavenger Hunt List:

-love/joy
-pain
-an artist
-a couple
-a business card from someone who can help you in your career or personally.
-a statue, memorial, or dedication
-your reflection
-a piece of advice (written down)
-a piece of art that speaks to your heart
-something old
-red
-fungus among us
-Now I'm confused
-too many
-just had to share this with you

Love,
Mz

8 Weeks to Optimum Health: WEEK 6

* "Things" happen. Family get sicks, loved ones hurt you, there isn't enough time in the week or enough energy in the world to get you out on those daily walks, or to fix dinner... or to sit at a computer and blog. It happens. Life gets hectic & fast. All these "things" and more have happened to me in the last month. I don't say this as an excuse. I say this to say "discipline is patience" and I am learning it. It's okay to fall down... just don't stay there. 27 years of habit is easy to revert to. So you went off the program for awhile?... so what? It's okay. Today is a new day. "Right now" is all we will ever have. Just get back on it. So here I am ... 3 weeks later. Week #6 here we go.  -MZ
 

"The eight-week program consists of small steps that build on each other until, by the time you complete it, you have laid the foundation for healthy living. You can then decide how much of the program you want to maintain on a permanent basis. It's all about changing behavior." -Andrew Weil, author of 8 Weeks To Optimum Health

I found this book on my mothers bookshelf... or it found me. - M-Z

WEEK SIX (of Andrew Weil's Eight-Week program)

Projects:
-Take a steam bath or sauna twice this week. Use it for up to twenty minutes one day. It should be hot enough to make you sweat freely; be sure to drink plenty of pure water to replace lose fluid. The value of sweating: It allows the body to rid itself of unwanted materials and also highly salutory for our minds and spirits.
-Inform yourself on tonics (non toxic, natural substance that has the ability to stretch and tone the body when used regularly over time.). Decide on one that is appropriate for you and find out where to get it.




Diet: -Continue to eat fish twice this week and soy foods twice this week.
         -Continue to eat broccoli at least twice.
         -Add some cooked greens to your diet: collards, kale. chard, or mustard greens. Greens are high in vitamins and minerals, including iron and calcium in forms that the body can absorb and use more readily than supplements.








Supplements:
-Continue the supplement/vitamin regiment offered in week one, two, and three.

Exercise:
-Aerobic walk: thirty minutes, five days of the week.

Mental/Spiritual: *Recommendations that fall under this heading are most important.
-Extend your news fast to four days this week
-Visit an art museum or try to view some work of art, sculpture, or architecture that you find beautiful and inspiring. Just as music and the natural beauty of flowers and parks can raise your spirits, so can beautiful paintings, sculpture, and architecture. Just admire the art, letting is please your senses and nourish your non physical being.
-Practice all the breathing exercises every day.

Optional (but highly recommended)
 Eat nothing but fresh fruit one day of the week, and drink as much water and herbal tea as you want. Take vitamin C but skip the other supplements on this day. Limiting your diet to just fruits and vegetable juice is a way to give your digestive system a good rest.
_________________________________


Good luck, have fun, see ya next week (I promise ;) !


Love,

Maryam

Just BREATHE !

" Suffice it is to say that breath is the link between the body and the mind and between the conscious and unconscious mind. It is the master key to control the emotions and to the operations of the involuntary nervous system. " -Andrew Weil

BREATHING EXERCISE:

When you are unoccupied for a few minutes, and especially last thing at night before falling
asleep and first thing in the morning before getting up, "flood" your body with consciousness. Conscious breathing, which is a powerful meditation in its own
right, will gradually put you in touch with the body. Close your eyes.
Lie flat on your back. Follow the breath with your attention as it moves in and out of your body. Breathe into the body, and feel your abdomen expanding
and contracting slightly with each inhalation and exhalation. If you find it easy to visualize,
dose your eyes and see yourself surrounded by light or immersed in a luminous substance - a
sea of consciousness. Then breathe in that light. Feel that luminous substance filling up your
body and making it luminous also. Then gradually focus more on the feeling. You are now in
your body. Don't get attached to any visual image.
Choose different parts of your body to focus your attention on briefly at first: hands, feet, arms, legs, abdomen, chest, head, and so on.
Feel the life energy inside those parts as intensely as you can. Stay with each part for fifteen seconds or so. Then let your attention run through the body like a wave a few times, from feet to head and
back again. This need only take a minute or so. After that, feel the inner body in its totality, as
a single field of energy. Hold that feeling for a few minutes. Be intensely present during that
time, present in every cell of your body. Don't be concerned if the mind occasionally
succeeds in drawing your attention out of the body and you lose yourself in some thought. As
soon as you notice that this has happened, just return your attention to the inner body.

LET THE BREATH TAKE YOU INTO THE BODY

8 Weeks to Optimum Health: WEEK FIVE

"The eight-week program consists of small steps that build on each other until, by the time you complete it, you have laid the foundation for healthy living. You can then decide how much of the program you want to maintain on a permanent basis. It's all about changing behavior. You are probably not addicted to drugs, but you may have other habits that are keeping you from experiencing optimum health." -Andrew Weil, author of 8 Weeks To Optimum Health

I found this book on my mothers bookshelf... or it found me. - M-Z

WEEK FIVE (of Andrew Weil's Eight-Week program)
Congratulations! You have reached a milestone in the Eight-Week Program: the halfway point.  By now you have made significant changes in your diet, your physical activity, and your breathing.

Projects:
-Locate a steam bath or sauna that you can use. Use it for up to twenty minutes one day. It should be hot enough to make you sweat freely; be sure to drink plenty of pure water to replace lose fluid.  The value of sweating: It allows the body to rid itself of unwanted materials and also highly salutory for our minds and spirits. 

Diet:Buy a piece of fresh ginger root and make yourself some ginger tea.
From ancient times, doctor's in both China and India regarded ginger as superior medicine.

Supplements:
-Continue the supplement/vitamin regiment offered in week one, two, and three.

Exercise:
-Aerobic walk: thirty minutes, five days of the week.

Mental/Spiritual: *Recommendations that fall under this heading are most important.
-Extend your news fast to three days this week
-Practice daily the breathing exercises you have learned.
-Listen to a piece of music that you find inspirational and uplifting.
Music has a special power to influence consciousness. One of the highest purposes of music is to raise spiritual energy and put us more in touch with the higher self.
-Bring more flowers into your home this week.

Optional (but highly recommended)
If you are inclined to experiment, I would like you to consider a "fruit fast" this week. Eating nothing but fruit for a day is really a restricted diet rather than a fast. Eat nothing but fresh fruit one day of the week, and drink as much water and herbal tea as you want. When you get into bed that evening, note how you feel. 
_________________________________


Good luck, have fun, see ya next week!


Love,

Maryam

Creativity, Artists & the No-Mind

“All true artists, whether they know it or not, create from a place of no-mind, from inner stillness.”         – Eckhart Tolle

ENLIGHTENMENT: RISING ABOVE THOUGHT by Eckhart Tolle

Isn't thinking essential in order to survive in this world?

Your mind is an instrument, a tool. It is there to be used for a specific task, and when the task
is completed, you lay it down. As it is, I would say about 8o to go percent of most people's
thinking is not only repetitive and useless, but because of its dysfunctional and often negative
nature, much of it is also harmful. Observe your mind and you will find this to be true. It
causes a serious leakage of vital energy.
This kind of compulsive thinking is actually an addiction. What characterizes an
addiction? Quite simply this: you no longer feel that you have the choice to stop. It seems
stronger than you. It also gives you a false sense of pleasure, pleasure that invariably turns
into pain.
The term ego means different things to different people, but when I use it here it means a false self, created by unconscious identification with the mind. To the ego, the present moment hardly exists. Only past and future are considered important. This total reversal of the truth accounts for the fact that in the ego mode the mind is so dysfunctional. It is always concerned with keeping the past alive, because without it -who are you? It constantly projects itself into the future to ensure its continued survival and to seek some kind of release or fulfillment there. It says: "One day, when this, that, or the
other happens, I am going to be okay, happy, at peace." Even when the ego seems to be
concerned with the present, it is not the present that it sees: It misperceives it completely
because it looks at it through the eyes of the past. Or it reduces the present to a means to an
end, an end that always lies in the mind-projected future. Observe your mind and you'll see
that this is how it works.
The present moment holds the key to liberation. But you cannot find the present moment
as long as you are your mind.
Thinking and consciousness are not synonymous. Thinking is only a small aspect of
consciousness. Thought cannot exist without consciousness, but consciousness does not need
thought. Enlightenment means rising above thought, not falling back to a level below thought, of an animal or a plant. In the enlightened state, you still use your thinking mind when
needed, but in a much more focused and effective way than before. You use it mostly for
practical purposes, but you are free of the involuntary internal dialogue, and there is inner
stillness. When you do use your mind, and particularly when a creative solution is needed,
you oscillate every few minutes or so between thought and stillness, between mind and nomind.

No-mind is consciousness without thought. Only in that way is it possible to think
creatively, because only in that way does thought have any real power. Thought alone, when
it is no longer connected with the much vaster realm of consciousness, quickly becomes barren,
insane, destructive.
The mind is essentially a survival machine. Attack and defense against other minds,
gathering, storing, and analyzing information - this is what it is good at, but it is not at all
creative. All true artists, whether they know it or not, create from a place of no-mind, from
inner stillness. The mind then gives form to the creative impulse or insight. Even the great
scientists have reported that their creative breakthroughs came at a time of mental quietude.
The surprising result of a nation-wide inquiry among America's most eminent
mathematicians, including Einstein, to find out their working methods, was that thinking
"plays only a subordinate part in the brief, decisive phase of the creative act itself." So I
would say that the simple reason why the majority of scientists are not creative is not because
they don't know how to think but because they don't know how to stop thinking!
It wasn’t through the mind, through thinking, that the miracle that is life on earth or your
body were created and are being sustained. There is clearly an intelligence at work that is far
greater than the mind. How can a single human cell measuring 1/1,000 of an inch across
contain instructions within its DNA that would fill 1,000 books of 100 pages each? The more
we learn about the workings of the body, the more we realize just how vast is the intelligence
at work within it and how little we know. When the mind reconnects with that, it becomes a
most wonderful tool. It then serves something greater than itself.

My note*
For me, Whenever I TRY to create artistically or force creativity it is never as beautiful as when it just happens... when I just let go.
In acting: I have to stop thinking and be in the now or the acting will be horrible. The thinking shows through the camera. The director will tell you "let go and just be in the now".
In Modeling: If you are "thinking" as you pose your pictures will look like you were "thinking" ... trying to hard. The photographer will tell you "stop thinking about your poses".
In Writing: I have to let go mentally and just be in the now and let it come to me... or I will be staring at a blank screen "thinking about what I want to write about"
In Singing (yes, I've been in the studio lol) : The engineer told me "Don't think about the lyrics and just sing from inside"
In Painting: etc...
In Crisis Situations: etc...

This can go on and on and on ... I think you get the point ;) Don't psyche yourself out ... go to the no-mind.

Creativity, Artist, & the No-mind

Daughters ...

I know a girl,
She puts the color inside of my world
But she's just like a maze
Where all of the walls all continually change

And I've done all I can
To stand on her steps with my heart in my hands
Now I'm starting to see
Maybe it's got nothing to do with me

Oh, you see that skin?
It's the same she's been standing in
Since the day she saw him walking away
Now she's left, cleaning up the mess he made

Boys, you can break
You'll find out how much they can take
Boys will be strong and boys soldier on
But boys would be gone without warmth from
A woman's good, good heart

On behalf of every man
Looking out for every girl
You are the god and the weight of her world

Fathers, be good to your daughters
Daughters will love like you do
Girls become lovers who turn into mothers
So mothers, be good to your daughters too
So mothers, be good to your daughters too
So mothers, be good to your daughters too

8 Weeks to Optimum Health: WEEK FOUR

"The eight-week program consists of small steps that build on each other until, by the time you complete it, you have laid the foundation for healthy living. You can then decide how much of the program you want to maintain on a permanent basis. It's all about changing behavior. You are probably not addicted to drugs, but you may have other habits that are keeping you from experiencing optimum health." -Andrew Weil,  author of 8 Weeks To Optimum Health

I found this book on my mothers bookshelf... or it found me.  - M-Z

WEEK FOUR (of Andrew Weil's Eight-Week program)

Congratulations! You are embarking on an exciting and healthy adventure of restyling your life in order to attain optimum health.

Projects: 
-Check on your bed, mattress, and sleeping location. Is an uncomfortable bed or noisy bedroom interfering with restful sleep? Can you identify some other impediment to getting a good night's rest? Try to make some changes. Adequate sleep is a key element of a healthy lifestyle, lack of it increases susceptibility to illness. Poor sleep is itself a sign of imperfect health and of a predisposition to further breakdown. Common reasons for not sleeping well: uncomfortable bed, depression and anxiety, stimulation from drugs or sensations from the day, bodily pain or discomfort, mental or emotional disturbance, or an inability to stop thinking about bothersome events. 

-Find out about getting an air filter for your home or bedroom. 
A protective strategy against pollution/toxin made up of particulate matter (pollen, dust, mold, etc) and human activity (cigarette smoke, automobiles, etc.) in the air.

Diet:                                                                                                                                                            -Eat some more garlic this week, in any form that appeals you. 
Dr. Weil writes with passion about garlic, whose health benefits have long been recognized in folk-medicine around the world. Garlic is a superior tonic for the cardiovascular system by lowering blood pressure and lowering cholesterol, it also boost activity of the immune system. Find some fresh garlic recipes and incorporate them into your everyday meals.  -Replace at least two meals of animal protein with soy protein.
One reason for phasing out animal foods in your diet is to avoid the hormones and drugs they contain. 

Supplements: 
-Continue the supplement/vitamin regiment offered in week one, two, and three.

Exercise:

-Increase your aerobic walk to twenty-five minutes, five days a week.

Mental/Spiritual: *Recommendations that fall under this heading are most important. 

-Do two news fasting this week
-Continue to practice your breathing exercises. Research and add a new one. 
-Contact someone you know to have experienced healing or recovery from illness or injury. Ask for details of the experience.

Optional (but highly recommended)

-Try to observe a moment of gratitude for your food before meals, in any way you find comfortable. 
The point of bringing a spiritual perspective into your life is to remind yourself that you are more than just your physical body, that there is more to life than the material universe.We are spiritual beings inhabiting material forms, but the immediacy and substantiality of matter make it very easy to fall into the delusion that nothing exists beyond what we perceive with the five senses.

_________________________________

Good luck,  have fun,  see ya next week!

Love,

Maryam

8 WEEKS TO OPTIMUM HEALTH: WEEK THREE CONCLUDED

"The eight-week program consists of small steps that build on each other until, by the time you complete it, you have laid the foundation for healthy living. You can then decide how much of the program you want to maintain on a permanent basis. It's all about changing behavior. You are probably not addicted to drugs, but you may have other habits that are keeping you from experiencing optimum health." -Andrew Weil,  author of 8 Weeks To Optimum Health

I found this book on my mothers bookshelf... or it found me.  - M-Z

WEEK THREE. (of Andrew Weil's Eight-Week program)

Congratulations! You are embarking on an exciting and healthy adventure of restyling your life in order to attain optimum health.

Projects: Both projects this week involve taking further steps to protect you from toxins: chemical toxins in food & energetic toxins in the home.

-Make a commitment to buy organic produce. 

You wouldn't think those pretty, shiny red & green apples in the produce section should be avoided. Fruits and vegetables  are often sprayed with pesticides, coated with fungicides, or full of toxins that were applied to the soil to betaken up by the roots of the plants. I was so intrigued by the "dirty dozen": The twelve fruits and vegetables that are found to be the most contaminated. -Strawberries, bell peppers, spinach, cherries, peaches, apples, celery, green beans, cucumbers, etc. I was shocked. Shop organic if you can... at least for your fruits, vegetables, and meats.

-If you use an electric blanket,  heating pad,  clock... STOP. And or course, don't stand next to microwaves.  

Both projects this week involved taking further steps to protect yourself from toxins: chemical toxins in your food and energetic toxins in your home. This specific project was more of me "just being conscious."  Being aware of the items in your home or everyday life have hazardous ionizing radiation. 

Diet: 

-Make a conscious effort to eat an extra serving of fruits and vegetables with at least one meal this week.

-Eat fish at least twice this week.

-Replace at least one serving of meat with a soy food of your choice.

I have been a pescatarian since July of 2012. I eat a lot of morning star. Morning star is the largest vegetarian food producer in the world. They use a lot of soybeans to make their products.  Here I was thinking I was doing something... eating "healthy". When I started reading this weeks diet I was surprised to find out that soybeans (according to Dr. Weil) should be added to that "dirty dozen" list we discussed previously. So I did some further research on morning star... only to find out they DO NOT use organic product. We learned to read the food labels in week #1, I guess I just "assumed" morning star was using the most organic products ( or didn't even realize there were "bad" fruits & vegetables) It all gets a bit overwhelming. Sometimes, during this 8 weeks, I've thought "Ignorance was bliss" Now that I have acquired all this information, I can't just ignore it. Now, I have to start an organic garden. :)

Supplements:

-With lunch or your largest meal take 400 to 800 IU of vitamin E and 200 micrograms of selenium. 

I have to admit I did not go out and purchase the selenium. I plan on doing this program over and over again with the ones I love. Each time I'll get a little closer to getting it perfect.

Exercise:

-Increase your daily walk to twenty minutes. 

-Do some simple stretching to improve your flexibility.

I've been guiding myself through yoga stretches for about a year or so now.  I look forward to joining my first class next month.

Mental/Spiritual: *Recommendations that fall under this heading are most important. 

-Add the next exercise to your breath work.

-Ask friends about  inspirational books they recommend on spirituality, self-help, poetry, biography, etc. Select one to start this week.

I am finishing up a book called "Thoughts are Things" for the fourth time. This is a book I read this summer that CHANGED my life. It resonated with me in a way no book has ever did. It put to words feelings I had been having and couldn't explain. It was actually the book that kick started me into a wanting and achieving a healthier lifestyle. The next book up is "The Power of Now" I am on a learning binge and I love it. I am fully aware of the power of learning. 

-Make a list of those friends and acquaintances in whose company you feel more alive, happier, and more optimistic. Resolve to spend some time with them one day this week. 

I did just this. 

Optional (but highly recommended)

-Buy more flowers.

I didn't buy more flowers... I went and picked dandelions and sunflowers in a field. I guess "weeds" still grow in the winter. 

-Find out how to grow some of your own food, even if it just in containers on a terrace or patio. 

My mother gardened. We had an apple tree in the front yard, a pear tree in the backyard. We grew tomatoes, cucumbers, and herbs. I love gardening. Its nostalgic, its relaxing, and you're growing your own organic food. I will have a garden this spring.

--------

Overall, this week went great. How did it go for you?

Love,

Maryam