The Pen is Mightier than the Sword, but the Mind is Mightier than the Pen.

Sometimes, Moms have to sit down and write a blog just as a way of pinching themselves to see if they are really awake. I mean, sometimes I find myself thinking that I really can't believe my life and the things that happen “to” me. We all absorb a lot of drama dealing with even the everyday mundane things, but how many of us can take the drama and say it happens “for” them instead of “to” them?

For example, I recently took the girls to Target. We were shopping for school supplies and using one of those two-seater carts that the girls were getting way too big for. I kept mentioning this fact as we went through the store along with the usual litany of items such as keep your hands in the cart, don't stand up, sit down, stop talking so mean, please keep your hands to yourself, you don't really need to tie yourself in, etc etc. Oh, is this boring you? Seem pretty routine? Well then how about the drama of me not being able to locate my pen? Yes, I was very determined to find my pen, searching and searching for it while the kids were busying themselves looking at things on the shelves. I could picture it so vividly in my mind, the clear Bic pen with black lettering. Only it wasn't in my purse. After giving up on the pen, the real drama presented itself.

Sophie was reaching out of the cart while standing up and to place something back on a rack that she had previously lifted. As she leaned out, she missed her placement for her hand and swung around to collide with the side of the cart against her rib cage. I could tell that it hit her in such a way that it would most likely bruise, and her face grew bright red as she looked like she was about to wail. Instead, something else happened. She seized up tight and apparently couldn't get any air. She was also not responding to me asking her if she was okay. I continued to escalate my voice as I grew more and more alarmed and her face began to turn a little blue. I decided that perhaps she had choked on something so I tried to turn her around. She was completely limp in my arms and I as I began to run through my mental checklist of what to do, she began to stand on her own and breathe a little.

Well I guess that is when our Target trip really turned into an adventure. As I sat there trying not to faint out into the isle I noticed a small crowd had gathered and people were talking to me trying to see if we were all okay. Target employees came around and asked if we wanted water. I had water and offered it to Sophie who was now looking like she had downed a bunch of cold medicine. Her eyes were glazed, she had no blood in her face and she acted like she was ready to go to sleep. As she sat there swooning in her seat I decided to hit the road.

I called my doctor on the way to the van and they confirmed that a trip to the E.R. was in order. We all took turns in the car saying prayers for Sophie to feel better, for me to get us to the Hospital okay, and for everything to work out fine. Hours later we determined that she had simply knocked the breath out of her lungs which can be quite a shock to someone. They x-rayed her chest and said she would be bruised but just fine.

The woman giving the x-ray remarked on the girls being twins. “I'm a twin!” she exclaimed and suddenly I had a recollection of meeting this woman before. She had been in the hallway outside of an elevator I was on while in the same hospital some 5 ½ years prior, while visiting my twins in the N.I.C.U. I recounted that visit with her and while she didn't remember it, she did not deny that it could have happened. “We both work here and quite frequently are on that floor,” she told me. I suddenly had a strong urge to hug her and felt that everything was going to be just fine.

Mike had come down to the E.R. to help us get back to the car and back home. Sophie began coming around and was really acting a little strange so we talked about what happened so that she knew nothing was her fault and that everything was ultimately okay.

Maggie was the true teacher in the situation. She kept saying that she couldn't believe how many people came to see if Sophie was okay. She kept saying, “just think about how many people at Target love you Sophie!”

It is so very true. We are connected to each other in such deep and meaningful ways that we are not aware of it until we are faced with circumstances beyond our control. There were a lot of people standing around us, wanting to help, each hearing my concerned cries to my daughter and wanting to DO something. That desire, the one to DO something, exists inside each and every one of us even though we teach ourselves to shut it off sometimes. This desire should really be explored within each and every one of us. How much satisfaction would we all receive in our life if we were always DOING something that mattered? What if we were to tap into that innate concern we have for each other and use it when we need it most? At a time when we are tempted to judge or claim that we are owed more than someone else? In my humble opinion, I think that our natural state is the state that those people found themselves in today while feeling that concern for me and our situation. Our natural state is that of caring for our fellow human beings, not for conquering them. Our natural state is that of loving our fellow humans, not of hating them.

Oh, and one last thing, just to tie it all together in one neat little package? As I was checking Sophie into the Emergency room, I was handed a folder that contained brochures on the hospital, privacy policy and … you guessed it... a message from the Universe that my prayers are always answered, in the form of a clear Bic pen with black lettering. Who says God doesn't have a sense of humor?

Your Soul and Your Backpack

As a Mom, I constantly find myself in the car driving my twin daughters around to various outings. We try to converse in the car, rather than listen to music or watch the DVD player. Of course the kids would love to watch the DVD player even if its just for a trip to the school and back if I let them, but I prefer conversation and so the TV stays off as we drive around.

This weekend, we were driving up to see my Mom for a day-long visit and the kids decided that they wanted a snack. I offered them up a granola bar and Sophie says, “I want chocolate chip” and Maggie says, “I want peanut butter!”. So I reached into the bag beside me while keeping my eyes on the road and said out loud, “Okay, a chocolate chip for Sophie,” and promptly pulled a chocolate chip granola bar out of the bag. I wasn't too surprised, even though there were other flavors of granola bars in the same bag as well as lots of other items that I had packed. I handed the granola bar to Sophie and reached in again, keeping my eyes on the road, while saying out loud, “and a peanut butter for Maggie!” As I pulled my hand out I could see it was indeed a peanut butter granola bar.

Then I said to the girls, “Wow! How did I do that?” knowing that it wasn't all that surprising. This kind of thing happens to us all of the time. Maggie said, “Magic!” and I said, “Well it could certainly seem like magic!” I explained to them that this kind of thing always happens so it doesn't seem like magic as much to me anymore, but to someone else, it may very well seem as though I had performed a really cool trick.

The truth is, anyone can use “magic” if they wanted to. Whether you are looking for a granola bar, or a parking space, we all have the power to “manifest” our wishes. Of course, many of my readers already know this, but many people do not. They don't understand how it works nor could they if they have never tried. To those people, they may be fearful of some of the things a true “magician” could do. They don't understand that we all have this inherent ability to really affect our own reality, we just have to use our backpacks, just like a certain Hispanic girl does each time she needs a hand on her explorations.

And this is exactly how I explained the whole thing to my girls, who were really quite fascinated, as it turned out:

Before we were born, and before we got ourselves into our human bodies, we were just a spirit, a soul, without a body. We were able to go anywhere we wanted to go, just by thinking about it. So driving in the car was not necessary as we could just think about Grandma's house and be there. We could fly, walk through walls, and we didn't ever need to eat granola bars, because we didn't have a tummy that would get rumbly. We could even be at our school and at home at the same exact time, although we never needed to go to school because we already knew everything there was to know about everything.

When we decided to come down into our bodies, there wasn't very much room in there to hold everything that we knew how to do. Our brains are so small that they couldn't hold all of the knowledge and wisdom that we have when we are not in our bodies. So we had to pack them into our backpacks and leave them in the coat closet, just like we do at school. And just like we have to get our lunch and supplies out of our backpacks from time to time in school, the same goes for our soul's backpack.

In school, you simply get up from your seat and go in the closet and reach in to get your stuff. But with your soul, you have to sit down, be very quiet and meditate to get into your backpack. Its really hard to do because there are lots of thoughts that run through our head and get in the way. In order to get through them all you have to try to watch them come and go and just take notes about them. You really have to sit so very still that there are no thoughts going through your mind at all, and then you'll see your backpack. And the more times you look into your backpack, the better you get at using the things inside your backpack.

Of course this was a great way to explain to my children about why we meditate, but there are lots of other benefits to meditating that some might not know about. Those are also great reasons to begin a steady meditation practice, such as the ability to remain calm in situations that might otherwise make you lose your temper, the ability to make wise decisions regarding your life and purpose, health and body improvements, and a wide variety of psychic abilities, although everyone is different. I never would have considered myself psychic even just 5 years ago, but I have been meditating for about 3 years now and I have to admit that sometimes I do just “know” things. I really enjoy using my backpack and I hope you'll try it to!

Who Cares About Oil and Gas Leaking into the Gulf of Mexico?

Who cares about oil and gas leaking into the Gulf of Mexico, ruining the ecosystem and killing millions of animals? Lots of people. And I can also tell you about someone who doesn't.

Yesterday, while driving home from the grocery store, I turned a corner and found myself behind a car that had slowed to almost a complete stop, right next to a Catholic church and school. While I waited for the car to begin moving, I witnessed the driver, an elderly lady in her 60's, hold a plastic grocery bag out her window and begin to shake it until it became dislodged and floated to the ground. It was immediately caught by the wind and blown towards me.

As a spiritually minded person, I was rather surprised that my body decided to react before I could really observe the emotional state that I found myself to be in. I began tooting my horn at her. Not a long drawn out angry horn honk, but a series of short ones. I saw her look into the rear view mirror and see me so I pointed out at the plastic bag which was slowly making its way to the side of the street where the school was at.

I became even more surprised at myself as I proceeded to follow her slowly when she decided to make a break for it. She sped up, but not too much since we were in a school zone, and made an immediate right turn. I turned right also and was fully intending to stop but was even more surprised when I began following her. I knew full well that this was probably crossing a line. I mean what in the world would I do if she stopped? People in this City got shot with guns for harrassing other drivers.

The problem was that I didn't have my kids in the car, and I really wanted to tell this woman that what she was doing, in my humble opinion, was ludicrous. I mean, here we were staring at a man-made disaster of world-wide devastating proportions, and here SHE was just dumping her plastic bag out the window of her car. The very idea of it really started to steam my britches and I really felt that I could lose touch with that loving side of me if I didn't stop the car. I decided to circle back around the block and to go pick up the bag.

The lady in her car was obviously trying to get away, and this told me intuitively that she wouldn't be throwing plastic out of her car any time soon, judging by the way she hurriedly turned the corners to get away. I turned right to go back to the scene of her crime and she went left, probably going completely out of her way. I wish I could say that I resented my actions, but strangely enough, I didn't. I know deep down that I wouldn't have yelled at her, but I also knew that I certainly had it in me to tell her about the giant vortex of trash in the Pacific ocean, which is the size of Texas, and contains plastic just like the kind she threw out her window.

I took a page from Debbie Ford's book, The Shadow Effect (co-written with Deepak Chopra and Marianne Williamson), and I embraced this little shadow of mine that popped up and took control of the car for a brief time.  I know that this is the part of me that cares so deeply for the planet, our Earth, and that this part of me has always been passionate, for as long as I can remember. I love that part of myself and I intend to use it. Maybe not to chase elderly litter-bugs around the block, but certainly to help raise more awareness. It's not just the oil companies who destroy our Mother Earth, its us too.

Why is that song stuck in my head?

We've all had that song get stuck in our head from time to time. Usually there is a reason for it, like all those songs you listen to in the car with your kids that are still sounding off in your brain as you drift away to la-la land. So its easy to understand where the song comes from and why it gets stuck in your head.

Recently, however, I have had some interesting things happen for me with regard to "songs in the head". For me, I wake up and there's a song in my head and usually its a song that I have not heard in awhile. I wake up in the morning, and the song is ringing my mind so loudly that I have no choice but to sing along. It always starts with a lyric or two in the middle of the song, but not always. And I usually have to work out some things in my mind to get the song to go away.

Some recent examples are "Glory of Love" by Peter Cetera, "Rocket Man" by Elton John, and "I Got a Feeling" by the Black Eyed Peas.

These songs can last for days, sometimes weeks, before I can get them to stop hijacking my brain waves. Lately, the song in my head is this one from my early college days at Northwest Missouri State (back when I was known as Angie Richardson) although this particular performance is not the one I was a part of. I just found it on YouTube so that you can hear what I have been hearing:



In the past, when these types of songs get stuck, I am usually reminded of something from my past that is tied to that song. I have learned that this is the way my intuition speaks to me sometimes and that there is a reason that I am causing myself to remember these past events. Once it helped me to find a very old school friend of mine and we have both experienced some healing in our feelings over old arguments. I have learned to trust the song that is stuck because I have learned that it is stuck for a reason.

This Godspell song was a song that I enjoyed singing even though there was no way that I would be allowed to sing that part in a real production as a college freshman. But I would practice singing it over and over with a boy I met there and whom I fell in love with and had a drawn out and ultimately destructive relationship with. So I am not really ready to walk where it is leading me and I am hoping that I can work through this without having to reach out to him. Rather I feel that the focus should remain in the feelings that I had while singing this song. Its such a beautiful sounding song. The tones and harmonies that are used really bring a lot of love to my heart.

I hope you feel that too!

Checking In and Grounding

Its my first day back from attending the Celebrate Your Life Conference in Chicago and I still feel rather floaty. I can really feel the creative energy flowing through my veins and my senses are on overkill. Its like a continual adrenaline rush that is invigorating and exhilerating and all of those other good "ing" words.

The most amazing part was not just meeting some of the world's most prolific and masterful authors and speakers, believe it or not. It was also being in the presence of some of the great and honorable people behind those authors and speakers. The people who take care of their schedules, help them with various tasks, book their appearances, have them on radio shows, and yes, even the fans themselves who are the driving force behind the authors' success.

The Celebrate Your Life Conference was a work of genius that flowed with a magnificent force of love and the great numbers of people that attended were all there for the same reason. To create that love in their life and in turn to change their life for the better. I am so very honored to have been a part of this process, having a great time seeing all of the magnificent changes taking place. And also to have been able to provide our loving social media support to fans who couldn't attend.  And we could have done it without even being thrust into the limelight, but the Universe had something else in store.

While we were anxiously awaiting the beginning of the closing Key Note by Deepak Chopra, the audience was greeted by Liz Dawn Donahue who made several thank you's to her staff and the authors and then much to our surprise mentioned the facebook and twitter pages and asked Susan and me to stand up! I did stand up, and then turned around and saw the perhaps 2000 people there all clapping and I look over at Susan and she is filming the entire crowd with her flip camera. I think that is when I actually started to float above my body.

Deepak then took the stage and I spent the next two hours happily floating above my body and absorbing each word the man said. He had a great presentation and I was quite impressed by it. I recommend you visit his new website, www.wellworld.org.

We floated to the airport shortly after that presentation, and floated onto the plane and floated all of the way home and yes, even floated to bed. It occurred to me a little while ago that I am still floating and more work has found its way to our doorstep and the connections that we made while in Chicago are already starting to fire up possibilities.

As much as I love floating, its time to check in with my feelings and ground myself.

I feel... "SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS"

As for grounding, I think a meditation will work just fine.

You can visit Celebrate Your Life's Facebook Page or Follow them on Twitter.

Success Does Not Equal Guilt

I'm sitting on a very nice bed, typing here before I am to head out to see more conference speakers. I'm at Celebrate Your Life in Chicago and I'm with my very good friend, Susan, who is also a writer for LileStyle. We are here providing social media support for the event and it just so happens that many of our current clients are presenting here as well. We haven't really had a chance to meet these special people in person, just over the phone, so we are super excited to be here.

Prior to this trip to Chicago, I was in New York, meeting a bunch of people that I have been working with through Humanity's Team since 2007. I guess this year is turning out to be the "Year of Meeting People You Already Know".  Thinking back on that time in New York, I am thinking about how those people felt like family. And now, with Susan, it also feels like family. It makes it so much easier to be away from my darling little ones or from my husband. A thing that I didn't think I could do at the beginning of this year. Its interesting how you can learn so much about yourself by just stepping away from your life for a bit. It gives you this sense of perspective about what your life is all about.

While traveling to Chicago in the limo-bus from the airport, we met a fantastic lady and began chatting about what we "did". When I told her that Susan and I work from home and that we provide social media support to a lot of authors and presenters and even for the CYL conference, I began to feel a little guilty. I mean, this is a dream job! How many people do I talk to each day that say, "I so wish I could do that!" Sometimes I even forget that I also do video production for my local clients, because this dream job is so glamorous!

Its easy to forget the glamor each day, since each day I am also a Mom and Wife, Daughter and Sister, PTA Mom and Homes Association Secretary. I wear so many hats each day that its really hard to remember that I also have a very easy, fun and glamorous job too. It was only after coming to this conference and meeting the people I work for and enjoying the benefits of seeing such famous people each day, that it really became solidified for me.

After spending time listening to some of the world's most inspirational speakers talk about claiming your own magnificence I can safely look at myself in the mirror and say that I am not really feeling guilty because I have what others want... its more like I have what I never thought I could have. And as soon as I said, "whatever" to the world about that... then that's when the miracles happened. The lesson here is to not let your light hide under a bushel just because you might come across as being better at something than someone else. The TRUTH is that you are amazing, wonderful and very deserving of all that good fortune. You just have to allow it to be so.

Time and Space

Okay, so I can't believe how fast time really seems to be moving. I sit down at my computer each morning and I work tirelessly until.. well what time is it now? 11:39pm. Sheesh. And somehow I managed to take the kids to dance class and dinner, home and to bed somewhere in that whirlwind.  I'm finally too tired and now my eyes are wonky. How did that happen? How can so much flow through me into this computer day after day after day?

The great news is that I love it. I really do! I can't believe how satisfying this work is. At this moment, my clients are all Planet changers. Their work helps so many people and each day I go to bed knowing that the words I helped place out into the ethernet are reaching thousands and thousands of people!

So what is the hardest part of being a "ghost writer"? Remembering who's name to put at the end of a message!

Now I'm off to dreamland where I will sleep alone for a bit since my business partner and husband is enjoying a weekend away with his friend, backpacking in Southern Missouri. I'm feeling safe and sound, the cherubs are happy and snoring and soon I will be to.

During this Fabulous Moment of "Now"

Well, this should be lots of fun.. I'm starting a blog. I have decided that my life is pretty interesting and at some point I would like to look back and see how this all got started. Already since January my life has grown so full and beautiful that its practically bursting! Someone once told me that I would be experiencing a proverbial "avalanche" of good fortune and I agree!

So during this Fabulous Moment of "Now", I am watching Colbert Report and thinking of one of my newest clients. I am amazed that I can be so connected to someone who was actually going to be on National Television and it is really amazing! Its hardly believable that this small-town midwestern chica could make such high fallutin' connections.

So, what do I do? Well, mostly I own a video production company, I'm a Mom, and I have manifested a new career with Social Media Management. So what does that entail? It means that I manage social media sites for people.. and since these people are quite famous, I am unable to really share with you who they are, because they have many fans and followers who are really wanting to connect with them on these sites. Of course these people who I help with my services do actually log onto their sites and check messages and post here and there, but I am responsible for the day to day upkeep.

Sounds easy, right? Well it can be quite challenging AND intimidating and sometimes exhilarating all in one day and I don't even have to leave my house! Each day I speak to someone famous and then I go to the school and pick up my kids and chat with other PTA moms and no one has any clue about what I really do.

Explaining it can be quite exhausting in itself! So I started a blog and I hope to jump on here and blog about my day to day life. If anything to just let it out of my brain for a romp!