Wednesday, December 30, 2020

4 Ways to Celebrate 2021 with Your Soul Spa Day


 

Q: HOW CAN YOU CELEBRATE 2021 IN NEW WAYS? 

A: CREATE YOUR SOUL-SPA DAY! 

Are you counting down the hours to the New Year of 2021?  If "yes," then it's time to create sacred space for youYou do this by engaging with these four simple, powerful steps and rituals:

STEP ONE

On December 30 and 31, start shifting your energy by:

* Gathering or buying supplies for tomorrow's writing e.g. a new pen and journal.

* Cooking different meals today and tomorrow.

Dining adventurously by ordering takeout from the restaurant section of your paper's "best pics" and choose one to pick up or have delivered.

Dreaming in new (or freshly washed) sheets to remember that miracles are coming!

Wearing new jammies. 

Setting the alarm for 4:30 am on January 1 to connect with the archangel's energies at 4:44 am.

Prepping and cleaning your writing (or angel) altar with a new candle, incense, and flowers.


STEP TWO

On New Year’s Eve Day/ Night, make room for the wonders, miracles, and opportunities of 2021 by:

Releasing everything from 2020 with a Burning Bowl Ceremony. I'm grateful to a dear friend who introduced me to this ritual in 1983 at the spiritual center of First Unity, St. Petersburg, FL. I have plans to do this New Year's Eve with my mom.


STEP THREE

Start 2021 with Your Soul Spa Day by:

Lighting a new soy candle and incense to lift up your thoughts and prayers.

Meditating in silence or enjoying a moving meditation (walking) to greet the sunrise.

Praying through words, song, or dance; go within, "Spinning Your Gold," despite what’s happening on the outside.

Reading inspirational books; new ones might include the 25th Anniversary Edition of Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnach (my all-time favorite book) and last year’s 365 Soulful Messages: The Right Guidance at the Right Time, a #1 Amazon International Bestseller and my ninth collaborative book.

Writing in a new journal with a new pen. (Why write in something old or with an old pen?)

Creating a 2020 Gratitude List.  For fun, use the alphabet as a template and go through it a couple of times. Grab a dictionary or your favorite book, open to a page, and with eyes closed, point to a word. Write a gratitude statement with the word.



STEP FOUR

Begin attracting what you seek by:

Crafting a 2021 AAA List: Always Appreciating in Advance List. For example, start writing with the general statement of I am always appreciating in advance, I am for:

·        * Expanding health, wealth, and happiness.

·        * All my freedoms and free will.

·        * Being COVID-19, disease, and dis-ease free for myself and all sentient beings!

·        * The healing of our world and nation through wise, compassionate leadership, and active citizenry.

·        * H.U.G.S. - Happy Unexpected God Surprises.




For me, I am always appreciating in advance the ease and grace to finish writing my book for a 2021 publication in sacred service to worldwide readers.

"I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of (her) dreams and endeavors to live the life which (she) has imagined, (she) will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” 

~Henry David Thoreau

HAPPY NEW YEAR!


Tuesday, December 29, 2020

Create Your Soul Spa Day to Ring in 2021!

Your Soul Cafe: Conversations that Open Hearts and Inspire Actions

HOW CAN YOU CELEBRATE THE NEW YOU YEAR 
IN TRANSFORMATIVE WAYS? 
TRY CREATING YOUR SOUL-SPA DAY! 

STEP ONE on DECEMBER 31
Are you counting down the hours to the New Year and New Decade? 
If "yes," then indeed, it's time to create a sacred space just for you
You do this by engaging with these simple, yet powerful four steps and rituals.

STEP TWO CONTINUES ON DECEMBER 31...
Start shifting your energies by:
Eating a different food for dinner with someone you'd never thought of asking for dinner
Dining differently; open the restaurant section of your paper's "best pics" and choose one
Releasing the past with a Burning Bowl Ceremony
* Gathering or buying supplies for tomorrow's writing e.g. a new pen and journal
Dreaming in new sheets to remember that miracles are coming!
Wearing new jammies 
Setting the alarm for 4:30 am to connect with the archangel's energies at 4:44 am
* Prepping and cleaning your writing (or angel) altar with a new candle, incense, and flowers

Christmas gifts added to my altar included thank you notes and an ornament from a recent baby shower for my new niece.
STEP THREE on JANUARY 1, YOUR SOUL-SPA DAY
Start your New YOU Year and Decade by:
Lighting a new soy candle and incense to lift up your thoughts and prayers
Meditating in silence or enjoying a moving meditation of walking to greet the sunrise
Praying through words, song, or dance; go within, "Spinning Your Gold," despite what’s happening on the outside
Reading inspirational books; new ones might include the 25th Anniversary Edition of Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnach--my all-time favorite book and; the recently released 365 Soulful Messages: The Right Guidance at the Right Time, a #1 Amazon International Bestseller and my ninth collaborative book.
Writing in a new journal with a new pen. (Why write in something old or with an old pen?)
Creating a 2019 Gratitude List and a 2020 AAA List: Always Appreciating in Advance List



* Setting the intention to join me and other like-minded writing sisters on Saturday, January 18 for the 20!20 Visioning Retreat: Vision is Your New Super Power--a Tampa Bay Meetup event of the Women's Divine Dialogue Writing Circle--now celebrating its 14 Season.
* Joining the women's free Facebookook group of the Writer's VisionQuest
Visiting the page of Women as Visionaries with Lore Raymond for daily inspiration about sHeroes around the globe!

STEP FOUR: 
EVERY DAY, CELEBRATE the NEW YOU and the NEW YEAR, NEW DECADE!

xo Lore



P.S. If you live in Tampa Bay, I really hope to meet and greet you on Saturday, January 18, at my monthly Women's Divine Dialogue Writing Circle in St. Petersburg. If not then, please check out our monthly Meetup schedule.



What every author needs as a Christmas gift--refills for their favorite pen and lots of them!


Wednesday, November 25, 2020

Let me remember to be grateful because ...

Spinning Your Gold: Words that Open Hearts and Inspire Action


Let Me Remember …

To be GRATEFUL because life is an invaluable gift. I am grateful for:

·    Divine protection from the Non-Physical Protection Team of Ascended ones, angels, saints, and ancestors; Mom and I waking up COVID-19-free for 269 consecutive days!

·   The privilege of writing this blog to celebrate Thanksgiving Day since 260,000 Americans will never again sit around a Thanksgiving table with loved ones.

·    Men and women whose deaths remind me of life’s preciousness: John Lewis, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks, and Daniel Prude. May you rest in peace and power. (There are more.)

·    67 successful turns-around-the-sun benchmarked in October as an American woman who didn’t always appreciate my white privilege with free will and freedoms until now.

To be GRATEFUL because I am a living instrument of the divine. I am grateful for:

·   Being our home’s coronavirus safety and news director as the vigilant protector of a most precious one, my mom.

·   Leading the celebration for her 88th turn-around-the-sun with "Clare Fest", a 13-day socially distanced party in May.

·   Being a messenger of what I felt was the truth about the attack on our nation’s democracy by writing blogs and inspiring posts (most of the time).

·   Becoming the project manager to restore our home to Divine Order after the flooding from tropical storm Eta on 11-11-20.

·   Reaching out to friends with a “Praying Together Matters” Facebook challenge along with letters for “Merry Christmas in July” and “Happy Full Moon & Halloween.”

To be GRATEFUL for every experience that has brought me to this day. I am grateful for:

·    A global pandemic that taught me to love the unloveable and to thank the unthankable. (Still a work in progress.)

·  The contrast of extreme dark and light behaviors in national and local communities that mirrored my shadows revealing the changes I needed to make.

·  The “Friends” who unfriended, blocked, or snoozed me on social media for my political views (or whatever reasons) and the courage to unfriend people whose values no longer align with mine.

To be GRATEFUL for everything I have ever received. I am grateful for:

·    Being inspired and comforted by information through 100 of 111 daily briefings with my adopted governor, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo (D-New York), Professor Heather Cox Richardson’s “Daily Letters to America”, Dan Rather’s reflections, and Laura Lentz’s heart-tugging stories.

·  Relearning American geography and the names of governors and other legislators.

·   H.U.G.S. - Happy Unexpected God Surprises: Blue Sisters & Brothers who are new friends and my “family by choice” as we worked to elect Biden-Harris, and hopefully two new, Democratic Senators in Georgia.

·   The joyful news on November 7, 2020, that Joseph R. Biden would be our 46th POTUS joined by Senator Kamala Devi Harris (D-CA) as the first female vice president! The world celebrating as if it were the end of WWII or the fall of the Berlin Wall that the past four years were over.

·    Daily Divine Downloads of ideas to share in my first solo book, The Divine Dialogue Writing System: How to Exercise Intuition Using Ancient Rituals for Your Greater Confidence, Clarity, and Connection.

I am GRATEFUL to Iyanla Vanzant for this template (see italics) from her One Day My Soul Just Opened Up, I am.

Amen

Tuesday, November 3, 2020

Thank you to the Women with the Power to ...



"WOMEN HAVE THE POWER TO END THIS PRESIDENCY. 

The #45 presidency began with women marching in record numbers. Now it’s going to end with women voting in record numbers."

Before the fray of reporting begins to report the epic conclusion of a Blue Tsunami, I pause to thank several women, to give praise, and to offer a HELL, YEAH! to:

·        All Suffragettes who, 100 years ago, gained the right to vote for women. The United States Congress passed the 19th Amendment to the Constitution granting women full and equal voting rights on August 26, 1920, when we commemorate this right with National Women’s Equality Day. 

·        Suffragette visionary activists like Susan Brownell Anthony, Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Martha Wright, Mary Ann McClintock, and Jane Hunt. (https://bit.ly/2HZuJ0d)

·        All modern-day activists as Facebook group organizers with passionate members whom I’ve been honored to be a part of like Nasty Women for Biden-Harris and Florida Women for Biden-Harris.

·        Everyone who courageously and fearlessly VOTED BLUE; college students driving or  flying hours home to vote; pregnant women standing inline for hours while holding a toddler’s hand; the centenarians+, nonagenarians, octogenarians, and of course, YOU, too!

·        Republicans like Cindy McCain, wife of former Senator John McCain, reclaiming democracy by voting Democratic.

·        Organizations like Act Blue and the Lincoln Project.

·        Donors, oh, God Bless all the donors, including the billionaires like Mike Bloomberg.

·        Lauren McLaughlin and our group of eight women who for one month have been affirming and holding in mediation this phrase: The Highest and best good for our beautiful nation is now assured. Amen

·        The women (and men) medical heroes who’ve been fighting the COVID-19 battle for almost nine months and remain on the frontline, working to help thousands recover.

·        The women (and men) of the USPS for hanging in there, rain or shine to deliver our mail and our votes! You are my forever heroes! (https://bit.ly/38ajigO)

 Then there are specific women whose shoulders we stood on, and now stand on:


RGB. Yes, “Tell them Ruth sent you” to the polls.  We did and we are today, Ruth. RIP—Rest in Peace. We’ve got this! (https://bit.ly/3elsfVG)



·      Kamala Harris, the next Madame Vice President. I can’t imagine the juggernaut schedule of campaigning, threatened bodily harm, hate mail, and exhaustion she’s moved through to be with us so that others can stand on her shoulders. So that every little girl has a place at the table, a voice, vote, and will never have to say, “I’M SPEAKING,” to any man, or anyone. (https://bit.ly/3oPuqWh)

·        Her committed, talented staff and family for supporting her 24/7.

 What women (and men) are you thanking today who’ve joined you on this Blue Wave Adventure?


Thursday, October 15, 2020

7 Gifts from the Threaded Gem Adventure



Spinning Your Gold Blog: Words that Open Hearts and Inspire Actions

“If you have one true friend, you have more than your share.” ~Thomas Fuller

Rewind four years: Malana Ashlie, my Honduras writing sister and dear friend, wrote The Threaded Gem Adventure: How to Connect the Jewels in Your Life, to celebrate the ONEness of life and friendships.
Malana Ashlie, 2013

From the book's Introduction: “This is an idea and project that brought me joy. I want to spread the joy by sharing it with you. The idea came to me while I was trying to find a way to connect with all the people I care about for my 65th birthday. I was as many miles from them as they were from one another. How to connect with all of them brought the idea that I share with you here. 

Meaningful relationships are the treasures of living, and the people in those relationships are the jewels of our lives.

Although this story is my story, within the personal experience are directions for a craft that can connect or reconnect, rekindle and even lay the way for forgiveness. The basic directions are set apart like stepping stones, blocked in to make them easy to recognize and follow.”

I sent Malana a glowing email. 
I wanted her to know how much her inspiring idea touched me.
I wanted her to know how brilliant she was.
I wanted to experience my own threaded gem adventure!

Always the generous soul, Malana sent me her book as an early birthday present. 
Months later as my 60 birthday approached, I embraced her directions to “connect the jewels in my life.” 

Porch time and the last time I saw Malana, 2017. (L-r Ginny Monroe, Malana & me)
Today's blog post is dedicated to my dear friend, Malana. 

This spring she left her earth suit to meet her heavenly friends and family. My words gratefully go to all my friends and family who joined me on this adventure. I am grateful to celebrate 64 turns-around-the-sun, I AM!

Should you choose to undertake this threaded gem adventure, 
you might encounter these 7 gifts:

Gift #1. Completion:“I’m a big believer in putting things off. In fact, I even put off procrastinating.” ~Lisa Kleypas

Real life showed up despite all of my enthusiastic intentions four years ago to immediately construct my treasure necklace! The many happy detours included my daughter’s wedding; her pregnancy and; grandson Blake’s arrival. Creativity also happily consumed me while designing and delivering 10 online writing courses for the first time.

The beads and their tender birthday messages waited patiently for me until last week. And I imagine friends and family did too—or I hope so! When things are supposed to happen, they happen. Right?

4 am * Yeah! No more waiting! No makeup either.
Gift #2. Gratitude: “Gratitude without expressing is similar to wrapping a gift and not giving it away.” ~Unknown

Finally, I can publicly say THANK YOU AGAIN to the friends and family who joined me in this threaded gem adventure while crafting a new story of our relationship. You are most precious and dear to me! (To the new friends encountered over the past four years, know that there’s a new treasure necklace in the process with a forthcoming invitation.)

Gift #3. Detachment:“Don’t take anything personally.” Four Agreements, Don Miguel Ruiz
Each days' snail mail delivery brought this lesson to my doorstep to practice as my October 14 birthday approached. I won't lie. 
It was tough learning that it was mental flagellation to continue asking, “Why hasn’t ___ replied and sent me a bead or told me they’re not participating?” 
In time, I did release the squirrel chatter and found peace. 

Who and what showed up was perfect, and so was everyone who didn’t show up.

Listening for the Whisper to tell me which envelope to open...
Gift #4. Delayed gratification: “What is delayed is not lost…” ~Juliette Drouet
Intentionally, I waited three weeks for my birthday morning to open and read the contents of the padded envelopes. Lovingly sequestered for 4 years, these treasures filled a large shopping bag. I felt more expectancy than waiting for any Christmas morning! Finally, my 60 birthday arrived. While meditating and breathing, I energetically let my hand touch an envelope. Each one was a precious gift to be opened slowly and reverently.

Gift #5. The Ripple. Many influences cause separation. However, just as many things can bring people together. The people of the world are beginning to awaken to the understanding there is no separation. 
This bead idea carries the message of connection. 
We are one. 
May the ripple continue to spread.” ~Malana Ashlie

Each bead and message brought joy and tears over the next two hours of unveilment—this was a process to cherish and slowly savor. Hopefully, Malana’s message and this blog post will inspire you to venture out on a threaded gem adventure.

My mom Clare, treasure necklace co-designer
Gift #6. Co-creation: “When we think with love, we are literally co-creating with God.” ~Marianne Williamson

All parts of the threaded gem adventure contained thoughts of love starting with Malana’s original idea to my invitation to family and friends to share a bead and memory to my mom, Clare, who constructed the three treasure necklaces.

Mom, her bestie Liz, and I collaborated to design each necklace first by colors. I'm certain that God and the angels joined our creative chats.The chakras inspired the length and assemblage of each one: the longest one represented the lower chakras with red, orange, and yellow beads; the second necklace combined the middle chakras with green and blue beads and; the shortest necklace combined the higher chakra colors with white, silver, and gold beads.

Gift #7. ONEness: “The I that is we.” ~Dr. Wayne Dyer
Malana dedicated The Threaded Gem Adventure to ONEness saying, 
“I hope that the story it contains and the connection of the beads help the people of the world return to the understanding that there is no separation between fellow human beings regardless of color, race or religion.”

Gratefully celebrating the "jewels" in my life!
I feel this ONEness when I see my treasure necklace connecting dozens of different colors, textures, and sizes of beads--symbolic of the diversity of people who bless my life. I feel it through the weight of the three colorful separate strands that appear as one. I remember each bead message and the gentle person who shared it with me. I appreciate this beautiful symbol to remind me of ONEness.

Now: May you also wear the idea and feel ONEness. That's all Malana would want.
It's all I seek today for my extra unwrapped birthday present.

I already have the greatest treasure--my friends and family.

I am blessed with more than one jewel of a true friend.

I am grateful, I am.

Amen

P.S. Interested in crafting your relationships into something memorable and beautiful? Check out Malana's book, the Threaded Gem Adventure: How to Connect The Jewels in Your Life.

Tuesday, September 22, 2020

RBG: A Brief Homage to a sHero's Supreme Life

 Spinning Your Gold Blog: Words that Open Hearts and Inspire Actions


No words. Just three letters. RBG.
And let's try forming some brief words about this ordinary supersHero.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG) wrote many briefs during her 27 years of serving our nation as a Supreme Court Justice (1993 to 2020).

For non-lawyer types like me, “A brief (Old French from Latin “brevis,” short) is a written legal document used in various legal adversarial systems that are presented to a court arguing why one party to a particular case should prevail.”

These briefs helped change and cement the votes of SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the United States) for longer, life-changing issues, especially for women.

There’s no way that the accomplishments of RBG can be contained in one blog. 

So, let me be brief.

Here are highlights that call us to pay homage to an extraordinary woman who left us for a Higher Court on Rosh Hashanah (one of the holiest days in Judaism), the evening of September 18, 2020:

If you are a woman who has, on your own, signed a lease or bought property, thank RBG. (Before, a male co-signer was needed.)

If you are a woman who has been able to keep your job while pregnant or if you are a working mom, thank RBG.

If you are a woman with a credit card in your name only, thank RBG.

If you are a female who has been admitted to a school or college which was once an “all-male” institution, thank RBG.

If you have benefited from Title IX (Protects people from discrimination based on sex in education programs), thank RBG.

If you have benefited from the equal pay laws, thank RBG.

If you are a man who has been covered by your wife’s medical benefits, thank RBG.

If you are a man who has been able to receive survivor’s benefits from Social Security, thank RBG.

If you have appointed a woman to be the executor of your estate, thank RBG.

Two wishes.

To all Americans, it’s payback time. Not just those who claim to be “Red” or “Blue.”

It’s time to thank Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

It’s time to now honor her dying wish. Just days before her death, as her strength waned, Ginsburg dictated this statement to her granddaughter Clara Spera:

“My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed.”

This was included in Bader’s obituary written by National Public Radio’s Nina Totenberg, likely the best-known Supreme Court reporter in the United States, who had been friends with Ginsburg for five decades. 

Wish #1. May her memory be a revolution. 

Since we are Ruth-less, let us be ruthless in our determination to show resistance to naming a new Supreme Court Justice until January with the new president. 

Take this simple, 10-second step. (No confidential information is needed.)

SNOPES verifies this to be true:

If you text RBG to 50409, Resistbot will send a letter to your Senators, from you, opposing the appointment of a Supreme Court Justice until after the election. 

Women and men owe her a massive debt by expressing gratitude and voting to defend what she lived her life protecting: Freedom, democracy, and the Constitution.

 Wish #2. “May her memory be for blessing.”

Those who die on the Jewish New Year holiday are considered “tzadik,” a title given to the righteous and saintly.

Heartachingly, millions around the nation and the world will sorely miss “The Notorious RBG.”

Amen


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