14 March 2022 You Are Significant

Check out 14 March 2022 Monday chat https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1425549698

A little joke between my cousin and I – she gave this to me yesterday lol

Hello to you. How are you today? I’m a little slow today. It’s amazing how much just one hour can screw you up lol! Most people I talk to agree it would be ok if we did away with the daylight savings.

Todays message from A Woman’s Spirit was about how important it is to value your own significance. By valuing your own significance you are more able to value the significance of others. When people are caretaker types or and have low self esteem or are damaged by life they don’t realize their own value. They always put others wants, needs and value before their own. I was like this and wasn’t checking my motives about it……I got resentful! Resentment is the seed oftentimes for addictive behaviors. In addition to trying to get sleep, I used to drink to deal with my feelings. I wanted to be numb. Distractions of this world are used to lose ourselves too. If I’m doing a distracting thing I don’t have to think about anything else – I can avoid myself!

Right now I am having time to get to know myself. I am still not feeling suited to be somebody’s significant other! The void in me that was created by the divorce is being filled with getting to know myself better and getting closer to God.

A Woman’s Spirit Message for today:

Before I can become a significant other, I must become significant to myself. – Kelley Vickstrom

Why is it so hard to feel as if we matter? Putting other people’s wishes and needs before our own may seem natural. We may feel shame when we say no. As girls, we may have watched our mothers and grandmothers tending to the whims of everyone else. Probably without ever being told, we simply followed suit. What’s worse , we may not have even expected appreciation for our actions.

Now that we are learning to think of ourselves we feel a bit selfish. However , we must begin to honor our significance, and we have to understand that to do so is not egotistical. In order to lovingly appreciate others in our lives, to treat them as significant, we have to value our own significance. Our Higher Power considers us significant; it’s time we followed suit.

Affirming my own significance will help me appreciate other people. Today I will value my interactions with others.

This scene from one of my favorite films and books speaks volumes. In this scene multigenerational trauma, how we pass the good and bad through multiple generations is spoken:

https://youtu.be/tJzxpUkJYXo – Joy Luck Club you don’t know how much your worth

“No, this cannot be, this not knowing what you’re worth, this not begin with you. My mother not know her worth until too late – too late for her, but not for me.”

13 March 2022 Balance

Check out 13 March 2022 Sunday chat https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1424597401

Hi there. Hope your having a nice weekend. It’s been good here. I’ve been participating more with church goings on and that’s been nice. Last night we had a prayer and praise gathering and I enjoyed that. This morning was church and despite the time change there was a good turn out. One of the messages from Pastor Jason Boyd that resonated was about not allowing ourselves – our lives – to be dominated by anything. An example he gave for himself and his wife was television. It can be your work, interests and or hobbies….anything that takes so much attention that there isn’t anything left for God and or what or who truly should matter in your life. Some people get so absorbed into things that they become strangers to themselves and the people that love them. I’ve lived such seasons! It’s exhausting to pour yourself into the seemingly endless grind of work.

The message from A Woman’s Spirit ties in nicely to what resonated from Pastors message today:

I wonder what my life would be like if I were to focus my energy and thoughts only on things that really matter. – Robbie Rocheford

We spend much of our precious time spinning our wheels. Our minds wander from thought to thought and person to person with no real sense of direction. Fortunately, we can develop the discipline of taking charge of our thoughts. We have merely to pause , quiet our minds, and focus. It’s a technique that we can hone, and practicing it empowers us. It also frees us to spend our precious moments on beneficial ideas or activities.

Our attitude about a task will determine our approach to it. It may seem impossible to be in charge of our thoughts, but that’s because we have never understood that we could responsibly and actively take control. Any negative thought can be stopped, even in midstream. And a replacement thought, such as “God is in charge,” can be substituted. The exhilaration we will feel at realizing the power of this technique is astounding. Our recovery will be enhanced many times over as we grow in our reliance on this tool.

I will pause throughout the day to clear my mind. Taking charge of my thoughts will be enlightening.

__________

This message also ties into something I’ve talked about before. When that train gets on the tracks, whatever it is, you can tell the conductor you want off the train or want to go to another destination. You just have to practice doing this and like the message today says – it will be empowering!

Lots of birthdays this month- happy birthday!!

12 March 2022 Programming

Check out 12 March 2022 Saturday chat https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1423415704

I’ve been dreaming more again

Hello to you. How are you today? I hope this finds you well. It’s a sunny Saturday here. My first night on the new mattress went pretty well. I had lots of dreams so know that I actually fell asleep!

Todays message in A Woman’s Spirit had to do with how we process what our external world says about us. Says we should be. Says what we are. It’s all programming! When we were younger we didn’t have boundaries or an internal filter… life experience to be able to discern whether or not what the world and the people in our lives said to and about us. I know I mostly absorbed external inputs as truths whether they were true or not! I think that’s why it’s so rough for young people on social media. They don’t have the maturity to discern what is true and what isn’t….for many it’s all truth and that’s were self harm, suicide and eating disorders come in. What we put into our bodies and souls goes into our brain and becomes thoughts which then become action….the manifestation of our living reality. It’s so important to really pay attention to what we put into our CPU aka brain. Garbage in….garbage out!

The message today is so good I decided to put it all in this post. You become what you think about the most….what you “worship.” Put good stuff into yourself!

A Woman’s Spirit:

The subconscious works to create the reality according to the programming it has been fed.- Susan Smith Jones

The mind is seldom quiet. Even when we don’t think we are thinking, we are. Our lives reflect our thoughts. It should be obvious that the way to get a better life is to think better thoughts. If it’s that easy, why don’t we have more productive, joy-filled lives?

As youngsters we learned to interpret the faces and the comments of those close to us. That helped us determine how to evaluate ourselves as adults.

Just as the messages we heard in the past told us who we were, the messages we hear now do likewise. But as adults, we can now decide which messages to accept: some we should cherish, many we should discard. We have the maturity now to replace them at will.

I don’t have to accept how anyone defines me today. I can give myself only positive input. My output will reflect it.

https://youtu.be/zHDrHRmaQjQ -Anilah Medicine Chant

11 March 2022 Water and Power Grids

Check out 11 March 2022 Friday chat https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1422335182

Check out 11 March 2022 Friday chat https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1422344815

(For some reason I got interrupted mid-stream so it’s in two parts)

Hello to you. How are you today? I’ll start with the message from A Woman’s Spirit. It was really good. It was about how when we remove addicting substances or other obstructions we are able to get to know ourselves better.

“We don’t necessarily like every aspect of who we are now. And most of us loathe who we used to be. But having the tools to peel away the layers of denial about the past and having the willingness to face our feelings are paramount to becoming who we’d rather be. What we’re getting to, what’s deep in our soul, is the person God has hoped would emerge all along. Having the chance to know our soul is a profoundly important gift. Let’s gently unwrap it.”

On my Twitch Stream today my focus was on the crisis I see with our global water supply. Why does it seem like clouds don’t form on their own anymore? I lived in a state that heavily relied on cloud seeding to keep up with increased demands for water and it’s seeming to be the same here in Idaho. I think the water that comes isn’t natural water and I wonder if it’s contributing to why we have so many forest fires . I wonder if the water that falls from these manufactured clouds isn’t making vegetation more flammable. I remember seeing silver droplets on the leaves of my trees back in Texas after cloud seeding flights. I believe it’s all connected. We rely on water for just about everything we use just day to day. To think our planet can’t seem to generate “natural” water like it once did is very concerning to me.

The other thing I touched on is the potential train wreck I’m seeing ahead with the conversion to electric vehicles. I think the cart has been put in front of the horse about this. Can the current power grid support the massive increase of demand that will come with billions of electric vehicles without bankrupting most consumers with high electric bills? The smart thing to do would be to make sure we have sustainable power generation modalities to keep up with the increased demand. The back up to most alternative power generating modalities is usually gas. Nuclear power with proper safety procedures in place and proper facility maintenance is probably the near term answer. If the US would recycle fuel cells that would be good too. I just am seeing things moving really fast to get people into electric cars but the infrastructure needed to support it doesn’t seem to exist right now. I think ultimately consumers are really going to be footing a big expense. Seems to be that way no matter what we do doesn’t it?!!

Anyhew….I hope some visionaries are thinking about these things. It seems like so many people that control what makes our world go are using crisis management. Doing things and asking for forgiveness later.

10 March 2022 The Challenge of a Quiet Mind

Check out 10 March 2022 Thursday chat https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1421288283

Bright and sunny today

Hello to you. How is your where and when as you visit me here? Hard to believe it’s Thursday already. The week has gone by fast.

This gift rock from my dear friend “T” brightens each day

Todays message from A Woman’s Spirit has to do with quieting the mind and meditation. Both of these things have been a challenge for me! I have always had a monkey mind and or chatter brain. However, when I was living in Texas I used to lay on my back for hours just connecting with the passing clouds or sit on the band stand we had and connect with the trees, flowers and insects. I guess it was like meditating! I do better outside when it comes to trying to still my body and mind. Inside there are so many distractions!

This morning I did something that I need to do more often and that is get quiet inside and focus my thoughts. It’s really hard for me to “hold a thought.” In particular my sinuses were kind of blocked up so I focused my thoughts to my sinus and told them to open up and or to clear…..it worked! I was able to breathe freely again. I then proceeded to focus on different parts of my body that have been hurting and was able to get relief there too. Then before my feet hit the ground to get up I just asked God to be with me today….”Hey God would you hang out with me today?”

Anyhew lol what I’m talking about here is a challenge in the kind of world we live in. I really struggle myself with this! If we are in a relationship of some kind, have kids, pets, a job, hobbies….things that keep us busy and distracted all day long, it can be really difficult to find time to just stop not only our bodies but our busy minds. Stop long enough to connect with our inner selves and our Higher Power. Be still…..some of us in this world are choosing and in many cases out of survival are having to stay busy every waking minute. We have to rest our bodies and our minds —- make space and time for our spiritual selves to exist. Like I said on my stream today if you are having trouble with having quiet time inside – why? What is keeping you from it and what can you do about it? If it’s a lot of things and you are overwhelmed what is one thing you can do to get peace inside? I have to do this myself – not focus on all the stuff I can’t change but focus on what I can. Kind of like what The Serenity Prayer talks about:

The Serenity Prayer is a prayer written by the American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr. It is commonly quoted as: God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.

Messages from A Woman’s Spirit today:

“Today I will stop brooding – and start meditation.” – Nancy T

“I can figure out my next best move today if I quiet my mind long enough to receive God’s message.”

9 March 2022 Finding the Positive in Others and Ourselves

Check out 9 March 2022 Wednesday chat https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1420371766

Hello to you. I hope this finds you well. There was a great message in A Woman’s Spirit today about how if we can find positive attributes in other people we can find the positive within ourselves. What I learned from reading works by Shakti Gawain is that people are mirrors of ourselves both good and bad. If we don’t like someone or something chances are it’s because we are seeing a part of ourselves we don’t like or we were like that but have moved beyond it. I am trying to do this practice when I look at what’s going on with Putin. What is his existence trying to teach us? I believe ultimately God has the final say with all of this that is going on. What is God trying to teach us right now? What are we supposed to be learning? I think about bullies beating up the little kids on the block. How long do the spectators allow the bullying to go on? God is in charge- that’s what I feel anyways. I can’t help but think of what happened in A Christmas Story…..is “Ralphie” going to snap?

A Woman’s Spirit messages:

“Believe the best in yourself. Then it is easier to believe the best in others.”-Mardy Kopischke

“The contribution I can make today is really so easy. All I need to do is focus on a positive quality not only in someone else but also in myself. “

Todays psalm really resonated with the times we are facing:

Psalm 49[a]

For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.

Hear(A) this, all you peoples;(B)
    listen, all who live in this world,(C)
both low and high,(D)
    rich and poor alike:
My mouth will speak words of wisdom;(E)
    the meditation of my heart will give you understanding.(F)
I will turn my ear to a proverb;(G)
    with the harp(H) I will expound my riddle:(I)

Why should I fear(J) when evil days come,
    when wicked deceivers surround me—
those who trust in their wealth(K)
    and boast(L) of their great riches?(M)
No one can redeem the life of another
    or give to God a ransom for them—
the ransom(N) for a life is costly,
    no payment is ever enough—(O)
so that they should live on(P) forever
    and not see decay.(Q)
10 For all can see that the wise die,(R)
    that the foolish and the senseless(S)also perish,
    leaving their wealth(T) to others.(U)
11 Their tombs(V) will remain their houses[b]forever,
    their dwellings for endless generations,(W)
    though they had[c] named(X) lands after themselves.

12 People, despite their wealth, do not endure;(Y)
    they are like the beasts that perish.(Z)

13 This is the fate of those who trust in themselves,(AA)
    and of their followers, who approve their sayings.[d]
14 They are like sheep and are destined(AB)to die;(AC)
    death will be their shepherd
    (but the upright will prevail(AD) over them in the morning).
Their forms will decay in the grave,
    far from their princely mansions.
15 But God will redeem me from the realm of the dead;(AE)
    he will surely take me to himself.(AF)
16 Do not be overawed when others grow rich,
    when the splendor of their houses increases;
17 for they will take nothing(AG) with them when they die,
    their splendor will not descend with them.(AH)
18 Though while they live they count themselves blessed—(AI)
    and people praise you when you prosper—
19 they will join those who have gone before them,(AJ)
    who will never again see the light(AK)of life.

20 People who have wealth but lack understanding(AL)
are like the beasts that perish.(AM)

8 March 2022 Learning Lessons

Check out 8 March 2022 Tuesday chat https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1419331338

Some need extra help

Hello to you! How are you doing today? It’s cloudy here this morning. I hope we get some rain we really need it. We are having a drought here in Idaho.

Todays message in A Woman’s Spirit talks about letting other people learn their own lessons. I have always been the kind of person that has trouble just staying on my own side of the street and not trying to go over and clean another persons. For example I used to have a problem with feeling like I had to pick up trash. It was a very strong compulsion until it really sunk in that by picking up after people I was just enabling their behavior. There is so much we do in this world that we think is helping to solve a problem but really is just enabling undesirable behaviors. I saw it with the Animal Shelter back in Alvarado. People would dump their dogs and cats. The shelter would pick them up and the shelter would get full. The shelter would then have to take extreme measures to try and get the animals adopted, get emptied out and the whole cycle would start all over. People just kept getting away with being irresponsible. I see so much of that in its various forms. If there is no consequences people just keep doing things that are not ok. The other day I saw this article about Boyan Slats Ocean Cleanup operation: https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/down-to-earth/22949475/ocean-plastic-pollution-cleanup and it was an interesting perspective about what operations like Boyans do. More needs to be done to make companies and people responsible for the mess they are making. There are so many flaws with the creation of plastics and other things that end up in landfills and our waterways. It’s like no one thinks about the life cycle of their products – environmental impact- before they make things. I started doing that and I don’t make things like I used to….and it’s ok.

A Woman’s Spirit message:

“Change comes about when we stop trying to shape up the other person and begin to observe patterns and find new options for our own behavior.” – Harriet Lerner

“Accepting that we can’t change someone else affects every detail of our lives. Many of us have spent years frustrated, even frantic at times, trying to control the actions and opinions of others.”

This psalm 46 really resonated – a power ballad of words for what’s going on these days:

Psalm 46New International Version

Psalm 46[a]

For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. According to alamoth.[b] A song.

God is our refuge(A) and strength,(B)
    an ever-present(C) help(D) in trouble.(E)
Therefore we will not fear,(F) though the earth give way(G)
    and the mountains fall(H) into the heart of the sea,(I)
though its waters roar(J) and foam(K)
    and the mountains quake(L) with their surging.[c]

There is a river(M) whose streams(N)make glad the city of God,(O)
    the holy place where the Most High(P)dwells.(Q)
God is within her,(R) she will not fall;(S)
    God will help(T) her at break of day.
Nations(U) are in uproar,(V) kingdoms(W)fall;
    he lifts his voice,(X) the earth melts.(Y)

The Lord Almighty(Z) is with us;(AA)
    the God of Jacob(AB) is our fortress.(AC)

Come and see what the Lord has done,(AD)
    the desolations(AE) he has brought on the earth.
He makes wars(AF) cease
    to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow(AG) and shatters the spear;
    he burns the shields[d] with fire.(AH)
10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;(AI)
    I will be exalted(AJ) among the nations,
    I will be exalted in the earth.”

11 The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob(AK) is our fortress.(AL)

7 March 2022 Grace House

Check out 7 March 2022 Monday chat Grace House https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1418494652

Grace House at 208 Main Street Middleton ID

Hello to you. How is your day going? I hope we’ll. I’m sitting out on my front porch enjoying how the warm sun feels – especially on my legs! This morning I walked over to the Grace House to offer a little help with cleaning and setting the place up. My back and legs didn’t let me work as long as I would have liked. There was a good turn out of other helpers so Maryann and John didn’t have to do it all themselves! What a beautiful home it is! When I’m ready to start participating in the Women’s Bible study I can just walk over! It felt good to spend some time with folks from church helping with something so important.

The message today out A Woman’s Spirit had to do with learning from the painful experiences we have in our journey. This was the case for me even this morning. I am experiencing a lot of physical pain and my body is trying to tell me how out of shape I let myself become! I hurt pretty much all over and aside from what’s going on with the bed mattress, I don’t have anyone to blame for my pain! It’s up to me to learn from the pain and make changes I need to to get rid of it.

A Woman’s Spirit messages for today:

“There’s a lesson to be learned in every painful experience.” – Mary Timberlake

“I will remember that God is with me throughout today’s experiences.”

6 March 2022 Sunday

Check out 6 March 2022 Sunday chat https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1417332045

Windy but sunny Sunday

Hello to you. How has your weekend been? It’s been kind of busy for me the past couple of days. Yesterday the church I go to needed help setting up so I went and helped. It’s something I can do even if my legs and back haven’t been being so friendly lately! Helping yesterday made me realize how much is going on behind the scenes to keep things going!

Later on my Aunt and I got together. We kind of just drove around Middleton. She drove me past the house the church is leasing for the next 5 years. They are calling it The Grace House. The plan is to use the place as an office and for things like Bible Study and Life Group meetings. It’s really a beautiful little Victorian style house that reminds me of the Painted Ladies in Colorado Springs CO. During our visit she was able to convince me that it’s time to get a new mattress! She used her Costco membership and we found one. My tax refund money going to a good cause. We think some of the pain I’m going through in my lower body is related to having s bad mattress. To celebrate we went to Jalapeños in Nampa and that way we got to see Uncle John. We are keeping many of our family members near and far in prayer and of course our entire world with all that is going on!

The service this morning was really good. Pastor Jason talked about renovation of our hearts and touched a bit on free will. That God gives us the free will to make choices but ultimately has the final say. Kind of like how I think of God being like the parent ultimately having the say over what happens in the lives of their children. Free will only goes so far. There are consequences for our choices both good and bad. I liked this: “Definition of the heart: where decisions or choices are made for the whole person. “ In thinking about this message about the heart I got more insight on the area I struggle with understanding – free will. It’s the sometimes sketchy area of like all things that once they leave their creator they develop a life….a story independent of their creator. Many things in this world are created and abandoned. We are being reassured that such is not the case with God. Pastor shared something that really affected me. He said there was a point in his life that considered suicide! What a loss it would have been. He wouldn’t be there to help me with aspects of loving and knowing God that I’m struggling with! I like to hear his stories.

Tomorrow morning we are meeting at the Grace House to do some cleaning before furniture is moved in. I hope we get a good turn out to help. https://www.idahograce.com/

The messages from A woman’s Spirit for yesterday and today were about the value of time in our lives and the healing gift of sharing our stories. For me personally, I have found that time and distance have been great healers for coping with difficult things in my life. The farther I get from a situation, the less it hurts. The same can be said for sharing stories about trials I have faced. The more I talk about it the less it hurts each time. Like I mentioned in my Twitch Stream this morning there are generations before mine that don’t like to talk about things they have faced or are facing. They keep it to themselves. I think by doing this they harm themselves and deny others the experience of hearing about hope. It’s like “I have faced this situation. I’m facing a trial but there is hope in it. I got through it…I’m getting through it.” It’s kind of looked down on by many those people who dump their troubles on someone else but I try to remember boundaries and also that even though there are 7 billion plus people on earth, so many people fall through the cracks….. literally have no one they feel they can confide in. I have felt that way before. Only having a therapist to really talk about and talk out what I was going through.

A Woman’s Spirit Messages:

“Time is my friend today. Each minute brings to me an experience I am ready for.”

“All sorrows can be borne if you put them into a story or tell a story about them.” – Isak Dinesen

“I will tell a part of my story to someone today. She may be helped by it, and I will be free from it!”

4 March 2022 Dreams

Check out 4 March 2022 Friday chat (dreams) https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1415186521

Hello to you. How are you today? It’s a sunny Friday here in Middleton. It’s a lovely 45 degrees! Spring is definitely in the air!

Last night I experienced a lot of dreams. The first dream was of laying in a bed and looking out into another room of pitch black. It was like I was in another persons body and was struggling to say The Lords Prayer. The person was so scared they could hardly speak the words. I woke up into another dream where I was crying for my Dad. I woke up into yet another dream where my stepmom appeared by the light by my bed asking if I was alright. It was like she was really there. I got out of bed and followed her down a hall. I told her I was worried about Dad and described the first dream I had! It was so comforting for me to see her. There were lots of other dreams but these really stood out because of how they were like having dreams within dreams…thinking your awake but your still sleeping.

Todays Twitch Stream was short. Sometimes it’s like that – short and sweet is all that’s needed. The message from A Woman’s Spirit talked about how some lessons in this life are painful. How occasionally our Higher Power has to get our attention. How we can pray for help to understand these experiences. I look at what is going on in my individual world and realize that I need to keep being more active to combat the pain I’m feeling in my legs. As I look at my life I am realizing that God is starting to ask more of me and gradually I am able to give it. I look at what is going on in the world and see with the crisis that is going on we as a world are pulling together- some of us praying more now than we ever have. We as a world have a common goal of wanting peace and good relations with our neighbors near and abroad. We are once again learning with war how fragile peace is…..how fragile we are. We are learning how much we have in common. Last night I not only prayed for the Ukraine but I prayed for the world- that God will take Putin in hand and set things right again – war isn’t ok! We’ve come too far as a world to resort to such things. What are we supposed to be learning with this conflict?!

“I will experience the calm times and the storms. From both I will discover my purpose.” (A Woman’s Spirit)

Psalm 32:10

Many are the woes of the wicked, but the Lord’s unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in him.