Livin' La Vida Loca

The unlikely yogi, Ricky Martin said, “It is useless to label things as either good or bad. The key is to see everything as a lesson.”

This morning I received news and I find it a difficult effort to not put a label on it. The reality is that I am no worse off than I was before the news and while the news was not exactly what I wanted to hear it is in fact a step in the right direction. I had been expecting this news, or rather some news, and I had tried not to have expectations regarding the news but I would be lying if I said that I didn't have high hopes for the news.

So, what was the lesson, you ask? Well, I haven't figured that part out yet. For now I’m gonna go dance around my living room to some live Ricky Martin tracks and see if he has any other words of wisdom to impart!

Mirror, Mirror!

Of all of the lessons that I am learning from tea cups, tarot cards, horoscopes and Buddha quotin' yoga teachers, the one lesson that seems to constantly allude me, is patience. And while I will admit that I am WORLDS better than I used to be, (before living on Tico Time) I still find impatience rearing her ugly head up into the middle of my tranquil yogic life. What is it with instant gratification that we find so, well... gratifying? And not only is it my own impatience that I find to be frustrating, but nothing, and I mean NOTHING, bothers me more than the impatience of others! What is that saying about seeing clearly the faults in others that we don't like about ourselves? Or as a dear friend and old boss of mine used to say “Spot it? Got it!”

Oddly enough idle empty time or what I like to call “the art of doing jack-shit” has no ill effect on me. I can laze around all day, in a hammock, curled in bed with a book, watching complete seasons of a mini-series... you get the point, but just as soon as you add to that equation the idea that I am waiting for something the art is lost and all that is left is the frantic wondering of the when if and how the thing that I am waiting for is going to occur!

My friend Impatience is not pretty or well behaved. And she makes the poor habit of hanging out with the likes of Dependency, Addiction, Vanity, Jealousy, Judgment and Desire; the Seven Dwarfs of my personality. No matter how I strive the be the Fairest Behaved of All these hoodlums just wont seem to leave me alone. They have bullied me into nurturing, caring and feeding them, and they never fail to leave me in their wake with their mess to pick up. Not even my Prince Charming can rescue me from my short-comings, him being one of those frustrating impatient types, no- this is a job for the Evil Queen, ironically enough. Don't look so surprised, she's not really evil, just miss-understood. I mean really, all that “mirror mirror on the wall” stuff was just a metaphor for self reflection.

And so I take my cue from the Queen and look into the magic mirror, also known as, still water: We cannot see our reflection in running water. It is only in still water that we can see... ~Taoist Proverb.

The Queen teaches me that this waiting time is a blessing, it provides for me the opportunity to learn and grow, to know myself and the Seven Dwarfs better. Perhaps one day I may master the art of waiting, in the meantime I can at least let that trouble-making-no-friend-of-mine know that I am not allowed to play with her until she can behave better!

Take Your Medicine

I have a friend, a fellow yoga teacher, who always says, “yoga is medicine”. But when you are sick the last thing you want is to choke down some cherry or grape flavored spoon full of elixir; and yet just as your mother knew best and forced it down your throat when you needed it most, I am here to tell you that when you don't feel like going to yoga class is when you need it most and even if you feel like you are forcing it down, it will make you feel better.

It is hard to imagine that breathing in, breathing out, bending, twisting, folding, breathing some more, holding chair pose, hows your breathing?, oh my god are we still holding chair?, keep breathing, don't bite your lip!, really! we are still holding chair!?, don't forget to breathe, and Thank GOD! he finally said forward fold... inhale... exhale... could be medicine, but like my favorite yoga teacher says (usually right before asking me to do some Cirque de Sole pose) “imagine the possibilities”. Imagine if you could let all that was bothering you before class roll off of you like sweat on to your mat. Imagine if you could feel the sensation of the burning in your thighs and without making a judgment about it just be. Imagine if you could let go of all that you think you can or can't do and come into crow without fear. And if you could do all of that for the 90 minutes that you spend on your mat, imagine what that could mean for your life when you step off of it.

So, go take your medicine!

Nutty Methods

I have taken to reading my horoscope at the end of the day as to not be influenced by what I may find there. Often times I find that for me, reflection is more valuable than anticipation...

Besides, “There are many methods for predicting the future. For example, you can read horoscopes, tea leaves, tarot cards, or crystal balls. Collectively, these methods are known as "nutty methods." Or you can put well-researched facts into sophisticated computer models, more commonly referred to as "a complete waste of time.” ~ Scott Adams.

And “The best way to predict the future is to invent it.” ~ Alan Kay.

but I do read it, being the sucker for good news and motivation that I am.  This is why I love fortune cookies and Yogi Tea. 

There is value in taking note of the planetary alignment.  It is not a good idea to start new projects when the moon is void and when Mercury is in retrograde, however it is also important to remember that the only thing that can trump the stars is human will.  At the end of the day responsibility falls on us.  One cannot simply say that the stars made them do it.  Rather, we should try to succeed even if the stars tell us that it is unlikely.

Once in a Blue Moon

Tonight marks the second full moon with in this calender month, a Blue Moon. The last time there were two full moons in one month was March 2010 and the next will not be until July 2015, hence the saying: “once in a Blue Moon”. I cannot but help to be reflective of the things that have occurred in my life since the last blue moon and to be hopeful for the next.

So let's look back, March 2010: I retired from a career in Management, I went abroad, learned a new skill (graduated from massage school), moved back to this country, got married, and learned another new skill (participated in a Yoga Teacher Training course). How did I fit all of that into a little over two years!?!

Remember when you were a child and you could not imagine the passing of months let alone years. How a week could seem like an eternity and a whole day could contain a lifetime. Now that we are adults with careers and families and responsibilities time flies as if we were immortal and the passing of a year were but a nanosecond in our endless lives. But our lives are not endless, they are finite. The Blue Moon teaches us to look at the passing of time, reminding us of how much life we could fit into an hour, a minute, or a second. If there is something that you can do today, do it. Do not think that there will be more time for that tomorrow because as we know: Beautiful Tomorrow Never Comes! When It Comes, Its Already TODAY! In The Search For Beautiful Tomorrow, DON’T Lose Your Wonderful TODAY!…….. if you cannot put the whole puzzle together today, take just a minute to piece together a corner of the big picture. Do it! Do not put it off! If you can do this small thing each day then before you realize it you will have a clear view of the accomplished goal!

The next Blue Moon will be in about three years. Will you be right where you are now, waiting for tomorrow? Or will you have a list of things you have accomplished? I have an overwhelming list of things I would like to cross off, a bucket list of sorts, we will call it the Blue Moon list, Things-to-do-Before-the-Next-Blue-Moon, and it would be easy to say that there is plenty of time, that I will start tomorrow, but I remind myself about tomorrow and look for something that I can do today that might bring the picture in to focus, one piece at a time.

*note:  prior to the calender as we now know it, the Blue Moon was marked by the occurrence of four full moons with in a single season, I believe the Farmer's Almanac still uses this method.  

*"tomorrow" quote is by an unknown author.

Advice

“To look in the cup three or four times a day, as some silly folk do, is simply to ask for contradictory manifestation and consequent bewilderment, and is symptomatic of the idle, empty, bemused minds that prompt to such ill-advised conduct.” ~ Tea-Cup Reading and Fortune-Telling by Tea Leaves by a Highland Seer

This is not unlike asking a friend for advice; advice being what I like to call “what you ask for when you already know the answer but wish you didn't”; and when your friend's advice did not meet with what you wanted to hear, but rather what you needed to hear, you carried on and asked your next friend and so on until you should come across that one that would validate your poor decision. Or rather like shaking the Magic 8 Ball again and again until finally the “right” answer presented itself.

The Seer reminds us that it is best to ask the question you wish to know the answer to only once, accepting the reading as it pertains to the relevant factors of the current situation. If and only when the current situation has changed is it then appropriate to re-address your question to the universe. Just as if when ordering a new book thru amazon.com you wouldn't keep ordering the book again and again until one came, you would acknowledge your confirmation receipt and go about your businesses, likely forgetting all about your book until one day, as prophesied, it arrives at your door (often a day or two early to your delight!).

I have placed my order. I long to sit in front of a crystal ball and ask again and again what will happen, but rather than counting on hocus pocus I must apply some practical magic to the situation. So instead of reading tea leaves I have been reading “how to start a business” articles and taking free internet classes on “how to write a business plan”. I have been researching grant and loan options and day dreaming over commercial space listings on craigslist. Now a days I ask my business counselor for guidance rather than “advice”.

And because a little abracadabra couldn't hurt, I shuffle the cards and ask, what steps toward my goal can I take today?

Tassology

Tassology is the science, or art, of fortune telling by reading the sediments of tea leaves found at the bottom of a tea cup. While I may not actually believe in the outcome of a reading in the same way I would say, believe that the world is round and at this moment I may actually be hanging upside down in the universe and the only thing keeping me on the planet is that it is spinning really fast and instead of flinging me off of it or tossing me this way or that like the Mad Tea Party Ride at Disneyland is that this spinning and rotating is what is keeping us, well, grounded, I do believe that there is such a thing as a really good cup of tea; and that while drinking said cup of tea it is possible that one might find enough peace in that moment to find inspiration or come to a realization of a solution to a problem that had been previously perplexing and troublesome to the drinker; and if as meditating over the swirling of tea sediments in the bottom of my cup a certain intuition should come over me I would believe in that vision, no matter if it should seem as absurd as swinging upside down from a spinning globe.

It was during one such reverie that I decided I should like to work in, no -- own and operate a Tea Shop. And so the idea for Tassology Tea was brewed. The cup did not offer any advice as to how I would develop funding for this endeavor or how I would go about becoming a first time business owner but I thought of all of the women that I know who have their own business and I find that often their humble beginnings were not so different than mine. I have worked as an Operations Manager for the better part of my career literally “operating” the businesses owned by others, surely I have derived enough knowledge in this life to embark on this path. One of my favorite quotes I read in a book by Brigid Lowry about how to become a writer is “in this moment I know everything there is to know about publishing a book, and whatever I don't know I can ask”... or something like that. I like to rearrange the words to be applicable to any situation and I do that here and now, I know everything there is to know about starting a business and for everything that I do not know I need only to ask.

In addition to quirky tales about life lessons learned from Tea Cups, Tarot Cards, Horoscopes and Buddha Quotin' Yoga Teachers... The following pages of this blog will be about how I generated the money, information and support I needed to make the successful Tassology Tea ~ a Cafe, Yoga Space, Massage Studio, Music Venue and Art Gallery. I would like to thank all of the people who helped make this dream a reality and supported me on this path and welcome any comments or advice you may have that may help me bring my prophesy to fruition.