A week in Italy? Fresh, healthy, happy, fresh- or fat?

Hi dear friends!  as lovers of the good life and all things bella, I invite you to WATCH this space.  I'm about to embark on a week long indulgence trip in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy- the foodie capital of the world to Italians; and fluent deliciousness to the rest of us- Parma ham, parmesan cheese, balsalmic vinegar, tagliatelle au ragu, the orignal lasagne... 

An 1800 calorie a day diet and 45 minutes exercse may be hard to maintain, as I'm committed to enjoying the luxury of fresh quality foods of the region. So, I've decided:  Calories out the window.  Taste and freshness paramount!  You can follow my meals and dishes right here- we start today 15.06.11, at 118lb.

Here's what we'll be looking at!

Daily dishes

Approximate calorie count

Food & Mood

Exercise/Activity

Any changes at week's end:  next Thurs

If days are delayed, please checkout my facebook page, where I hope to share with you some great pics.

Is creating a beautiful life and body part of your daily daily focus?  Then I can help you.  Check in here- my Integrative Nutrition blog, every Wednesday, to read Weight-loss whispers!  Once a week I'll be making this themed blog post, bringing you new insight to the types of eating and behaviours that slim, fit and healthy people do on the quiet!

To book your free initial consultation and help uncover what your unique best health strategies are, just click to get in touch!

Face Your Fear of overeating or weight-loss!  Hints and tips on my IIN blog- Click here to view now :))

Keep going!

"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not;the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan "Press On" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race."

- Calvin Coolidge

Selling your home with Feng Shui

Having difficulty selling your home?  Here's a remedy from the black hat and compass schools of feng shui- and a little bit of activation with the Law of Attraction-  which I have helped clients implement with great success!


"To sell your home with feng shui, get a photo of it in an advertisement, and paste it to a red piece of paper or cardboard.  Write "sold" or place a sold sticker over it, and be sure to feel confident and happy as you do so.  You can even plan how you're going to celebrate the sale! 

Place the picture in the South of the home.  In this area should also be a mirror, ideally round, with a gold frame.  Green leafy plants and lighting candles (best number: nine) here also activates the powerful fire element to encourage change.  Next, in the North West, place pictures of your angels, deity, or spiritual beliefs, any crystals you have, a bamboo or metal windchime, and pretty flowering plants. 

Activating the South and the North west simultaneously helps the home pass into wonderful new hands in a very blessed way.


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The story behind "Angels By The Sea"

Hi beautifuls!

Celebrating the Christening of "Angels By The Sea"

As you may be aware, there are lots of lovely things happening with me.  Over the past year I've become newly qualified as a Body Massage therapist and have been so beautifully gifted to find my intuitive skills...which got quite scary and invasive when I was in the thick of Feng Shui consultations, a vegan existence, lots of meditation and little need for contact with anything or anyone not involved in the esoteric arts... returning to me in a very healthy and loving way. 

Throughout my transition from swinging back the other direction- undergoing surgical procedures and relying on modern medicine; working in the aviation industry and then as a flight attendant in that very black-and-white world- through it all, the Angels and crystals have been my touchstone (forgive the pun!) and true healers. With their very gentle yet firm guidance, and infinite patience, I found myself with:


1.   My beautiful new qualifications, as well as lots of others along the way, including NLP, Life Coaching, Hypnotherapy, Crystology and Personal training;
2.  The most wonderful healing and treatment room, a space of infinite positivity and peace;
3.  An awakened passion to assist others full-time towards health and wellness, healing and extraordinary happiness.

That's where we're at today!
I have called my new practise "Angels By The Sea" and I offer Holistic nutrition; Health Coaching; Life Coaching; Crystal therapy; Cooking for Health; Weight Loss strategies and Massage Therapy by appointment. Also intutive Angel and Tarot readings upon request.


 Professionally certified & fully insured (as always) I'm a member of the British Institute of Hypnotherapy, Federation of Holistic Therapists and International Coach Federation. Rest assured you can relax here!

Please get in contact and/or stay tuned as my beautifully faithful friends and fellow healers, for news and special offers.

PS have you checked out my new blog at the Institute of Integrative Nutrition?  Their amazing program is simply the most exciting journey I have ever undertaken!  Everyday is the most wonderful adventure and I am so proud to be a part of it.  For delicious holistic recipes, nutrition news and and therapy tips, please do enjoy reading it here, and check in often.

With love and Blessings,
Samantha.

Leaving you with two great quotes- an old favourite...

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”-  Mark Twain

And a new favourite:

"begin anywhere."- unknown (oh, that sage!)

~*~

Loneli-mess

"Ahh... clutter. How I love you.  You fill my days with tension What if someone calls for tea? and shame  How can I exist in such a tip?"

Yesterday I uncovered the meaning of clutter, for generally organised, hygienic, and otherwise nice-quality people like us (that's you. and me.  people like you, and me).

It's not mess.  It's loneli-mess.

Often our home is empty- maybe we live alone- maybe we're travelling lots- or we could have a full house but "absent family".  When we create mess around us, it's because we need to be reminded that there's lots of stuff going on.  The subconscious message is:  we're needed,we're important!  On some level..to clear the clutter...permanently... to get things sorted, once and for all... is just too lonely to even think of.  "what then, what then?"  the ego whispers.

What then?

Love by the Sea... on Santa Monica pier

I hope you enjoy this pretty ode to romance tonight...




This weekend, may a cherished wish come true for you!


"In short, when you change yourself, you change the people and events around you.  By embodying your wish as if it has already occurred, you reprogram not only yourself but also the Universe."


Laura Day, The Circle

A Yin Yang life: Being vs. Doing

Hello from beautiful Fintry, Scotland...

Bloom where you're planted
- and enjoy your journey today!

"There seem to be two realities operating (for people): a transcendent reality and a conventional reality. Some of us concentrate more on the conventional and get tunnel vision: What do I need to do to reach my career goals? To take care of my family? We get wrapped up in the material realm as though that's all there is.  Others of us who are transcendentally inclined, who focus on inner work and higher spiritual aspirations, subtle realms and all of that, fundamentally want to escape from the demands of the everyday world. As I point out in the third gateway (chapter), 'Energize Your Body,' some of us want to travel out of our bodies before we've even gotten into them.



"We were born into physical bodies, into the material realm, and given challenges, for a reason: not to escape physical life, this reality, but to experience it fully and to learn the lessons it offers. For those of us who ask, ‘Shall I leave everything to God, or shall I take personal responsibility for my life and choices?’ the answer is, 'both.' As a Sufi sage once said, ‘Trust in God but tie your camel.’ In other words, keep your head in the clouds but your feet on the ground."


Except from an article about Dan's book: “Everyday Enlightement”

our lovely pictures from this week

Love on the week-end

"Being in love is so good for you. Often when people are newly in love, things that have been bothering them for a long time get better. Something wonderful is calling the majority of their attention, so they're holding themselves in a better vibrational place, so the stuff they've been wanting all along can now zoom in." -Abraham-Hicks


This weekend, in love with.... (L to R) 
summers coming... the wild dog roses have arrived (smelling so divine!)
Bluebell glens and wild Manx garlic
Coconut-scented gorse and heady, sunshine-y days,
Magnificent sunsets on our doorstep
delicious home cooked vegetarian meals... baking, making, creating.  Yum.

I hope you fall in love this weekend, too!

Sweet change

darlings-
I have never felt so good.
I feel lighter, and fresher.
I can't wait to wake up in the morning and make preparations for a new day


I have lost a kilo, somewhere, from years of being the same (healthy) weight for me- and it feels good to be a little bit slimmer, a little bit more toned, with a hundred times more energy.


Last night I went for a walky-run, very late.  
(we have had blissful weather this past week on the Isle of Man- warm days with fresh breezes but not blow-your-socks-off-the-line as per your average IOM wind) 
At the end, I sat on the wall looking into Port Erin Bay.  
(A few pretty sailboats have docked up here of late for the sunshine, their little lights atop mast and cabin lights on below made me feel mellow.  They were looking at our beautiful promenade, string of lights switched on.  People last night had their windows open, sitting reading, or in the company of their lovely large tv, or in chat with their loved one and/or at laptop)
Sitting on this wall, listening to the waves lick the shore, rhythmically, it was a moment of true blessedness.  Complete luxury.


And an amazing thing I noticed- have checked and re-checked, yup, it's really true- is that... I have completely lost my sweet tooth.  Everything tastes sweet to me- in a true energy type of way, like the way I first began to read the energies that governed a room in feng shui.  quick example: I have onions and peppers in the oven now, roasting- I knew they are not done yet, for I recognised they've not released their inherent sweetness.  And my favourite 'sweet' of all, splenda- is just- a mouth violation.


Does this mean anything to you?  To me this is a major health shift- like, plates- platelets? :) shifting.


I will explain how this relates to feng shui and what's the cause later- unless, dear and clever friends- you do see the link and know where this is going, already.

let it shine!

from Pinterest ... with love

The Mountain

"You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.



The Mountain from Terje Sorgjerd on Vimeo.


"Tell me about your despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air
are heading home again.

"Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting-
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things."

--Mary Oliver, "The Wild Geese"



isn't The Mountain video truly beautiful?

On Houses

another peaceful sunset.  I am blessed beyond measure.

"Your house shall not be an anchor but a mast.

You shall not fold your wings that you may pass

through doors, nor bend your heads that they strike

not against a ceiling, nor fear to breathe.

Your house shall not hold your secret

nor shelter your longing.

For that which is boundless in you

abides in the mansion of the sky,

whose door is the morning mist, and

whose windows are the songs and silences of the night."

Kahlil Gibran: The Prophet

the longer version includes such interesting questons!

"And what is it you guard with fastened doors?



Have you peace,


the quiet urge that reveals your power?


Have you remembrances,


the glimmering arches that span the summits of the mind?


Have you beauty,


that leads the heart from things fashioned of wood and stone to the holy mountain?"

when you fasten your doors, what do you lock in?  what do you lock out? 

Tomorrow, a charming Saturday.  Charming, pleasant and easy to be around, Saturdays, aren't they?

A personal promise:

To ask for what I need

To give what I have :)

Enjoy your Saturday!

I hope you can throw open all your windows and doors.

A new day; happy Springtime; and I'll be stopping by more often...

Does anyone else feel as though the passing of this weekends Supermoon brings a diferent feel to everyday life?

Spring is in the air, and with it, the promise of a summer ahead- as an expat, don't our minds happily jumble together all the best warm memories we've ever known?  Spring/summer means holidays, the sound of waves crashing onto the beach,  the smell of barbeque and coconut in the air...summer concerts, fragrant fruits and night-time flowers... crickets humming noisily, bike rides in the warm air, flippy dresses and lovely, languished picnics...


Predicting Spring/Summer 2011 by the elements....

Earth
walks through green hillside meadows picking blueberries... eating gelato among ancient stone ruins... a burning hot day turns to cool clear night surrounded by sand dunes... pretty sparkling crystal goblets and flatware on a stone table... a champagne reception between marble columns...

Fire
bonfires on the beach... a sunset exploding in red and orange... the prickle of sunkissed skin under a warm shower...  legs entwined with your loved one, sleeping without sheets; a hot wind that whips your face after the air-conditioning... pretty ladies in floral prints and parakeet colours... an evening of shooting stars and catching fireflies

Wood
bare floors under your feet... a billiantly crisp nectarine... gentle whispering of palm trees overhead, a hammock rocking slowly... rattan, driftwood and woven wicker baskets... a shady picnic table

Water
running under the sprinkler... a grey sky opens into a downpour... swimming under a waterfall.. a babbling burrn... a rainbow hovers in the sky and leaves sparkle with diamond-drops after spring showers...

Metal
cool white rooms, whirring fans... the smell of fresh paint and polished wooden floors and furniture... rides in the car with the roof down... long dangly earrings, bare arms full of bracelets, ferry trips, flying kites, on board the bateau with radio up loud and husby stringing his guitar...


You deserve an apology.  I haven't been much of a blogger in 2011 so far.
I have to go to New York now.
But when I come back, I'm going to have alot more time for you.

xxxx

2011's Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Happy Chinese New Year!  To find out what the Year of the Rabbit holds in store for you, you can visit the dedicated Dragon Gate feng shui and  new year predictions.  And if you are a Rooster, especially!- please look after your feng shui, making sure your bed head is pointed towards an auspicious direction.

Feng Shui Flying Stars

For all of us, I would recommend at the very least, some tumbled Sodalite crystals in the North to take advantage of the very good luck that can be enhanced for Career, and this year only you can place a five-rod metal windchime in the South East which will enhance communication and bring prosperity.  Beware of doing renovations in the East; the three Buddhas placed here will offer protection and bring peace.

Let's meet

If you are in Doha, please come to my workshop at the Sharq Village Six Senses Spa on "Wellness" Monday 21st Februay.  Our focus is building beauty and balance around your personal Chinese elemental balance.  You can visit the Six Senses website here; here are their twitter updates

Gong Xi Fai Cai...  May the year of the peaceful, home-loving Rabbit smile upon you, bringing you good friends, and prosperous, elegant times!

love and blessings, Samantha

It's your Story

just an aha! moment, want to share with you... It's Your Story.  Don't Let The World Mess Up Your Story.  Believe in true love, castles, princesses, fast cars and getting away from it all!   Keep thinking, more believing, make it happen!  Nothing's real- including the mundane- until we make it so.

Happy tears can heal the heart

“The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tears, or the sea”. Isak Dinesen

you'll ned tissues for this beautiful link

if you are in love, have love, or a heart that's breaking, open or healed...

it will inspire kisses, i promise

and if you're single, it will have you dreaming and looking forward and understanding and speeding you to meeting your "true companion".  please watch! and share, if you will; your favourite moment- mine is at 4.20...

with love to you
and thankyou so much to the inspiring Karey M for your wonderful blog and bringing notice to this video.  I love the special way you shared it, too xxx

How to tread water: thoughts on a day

:I feel very lucky that you are reading this.  There are many healing places on the web, and yet you are spending your precious time on my blog, perhaps looking for a solution, perhaps gently treading around your question, knowing that in your own time, with just the right information, you will reach an "Ah ha!" moment.

We are all healers, but none of us do the healing- we simply let healing be. Haven't you been asked to step into the dark space of someone's life?  They don't ask for things to be fixed.  But with your fresh perspective, you bring the cool, blue light of truth to the situation.  And then your friend can see there's no monsters under the bed after all.

Lay your hands on me...

I think part of my calling here is to be asked to shine a cool, blue light of truth- often just at the cusp of when a friend is about to include those monsters as their own.  I believe it's a thick line, not a thin one, that turns ideas we harbour into ideas that manifest and create negativity in our life.  It's actually hard to make bad things happen.  But the more you practise the thinking about it...

So if you keep thinking habitually, there may be something wrong with your place...
Or something in your life is making your body rebel, or you don't feel quite comfortable...
You are so clever, you will eventually find a reason
or we can get it out in the open, and heal it together.

here if you need!
samantha@fengshuibythesea.com


Just a little aloha of two lovely tricks I use, that help:

One is the rose quartz shield, in public places or when I am attracting attention. 

Picture yourself swathed in a pale pink glow of light, softly pulsating and nourishing.  This is your positivity cocoon, for only love can enter here.  You are safe, and all interactions are gentle, and beautiful.

The other is the Cutting of Cords, when I feel someone has attached psychic energy or hooks into me;

Picture the strong and infinitely supportive Archangel Michael standing behind you with a large pair of silver scissors.  Say, "please Archangel Michael, remove this resistance from me," and watch him cut the cords from your back swiftly and smoothly.  Feel the lightness and freedom you have now to continue your journey.

Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep:  I wish tonight for health in the beautiful state of Queensland and for its people.  I wish tonight for health for Billy and Nancy and for balance and unexpected good turns for dear clients I am holding in my heart as I prepare your reports.  I turn my wishes and the intentions of my heart, he actions of my hands, to you, my Universe.

"the best way to pay for a lovely moment, is to enjoy it."

"We are where we are, in life
Because of what we believe to be true for ourselves."

these and many eye openers from Richard Bach

... and I begin to remember that Nicola Merton-Richards , my wonderful friend, mentor, and wise one, names Jonathon Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach as one of her most favourite books...

I miss my own Jonathon Seagull today, he's taken his wings to the middle east again for many weeks, and though we will stay close with skype and by heart, as I watch other seagulls cartwheel above the fading shore, i canna help but feel quite alone, a body craving cuddles.  Funny that Bach's seagull learns space and time are no distance at all...

~*~

If you are not on our mailing list you can read January newsletter here.  Shake the new year blues or get settled into your new home; you can also take advantage of our special offers and Win...

Winter feng shui, TV & workshop news

Before Christmas, Husby and I were excited to be asked by House Hunters International if we would share the story of our Expat relocation with them as part of their new tv series.  They were especially interested in how we find living on a windswept rock in the middle of the Irish Sea, which is home to more gulls than people (and the gulls can be bigger than an average person, here!) with life in bubbly Sydney- and all the other cities we've called home in between.  And how we chose our home, according to feng shui.

Husby is a much more private person than me, but we spent a few days filming our submission for the show in the lead up to christmas.  It was a magical time of year- so much snow had fallen, it was truly the white Christmas I'd heard and only sang songs about as a kid growing up in Australia!  Though any of us can go skiing somewhere or travel someplace snowy for Christmas, when it's knee-deep outside your new home on Christmas eve, you really understand what the cheer and goodwill is all about!

Watch this space as to whether we'll be gracing a telly in front of you soon!

Many thanks must go here to Husby- though he continues to rip my Chi  (see remember the bad feng shui, here?, and here, for old times sake) he does enjoy the way of it, holding steadfast to the knowledge that I know it's good for us, so that's good enough for him, too.

This year I'm excited to be doing some workshops with Six Senses Spa- Sharq Village.  Are you in Doha late February?  Then I hope to see you there!  More news soon

love and blessings, & thank you for sharing


PS  It may be twelfth night tomorrow, but don't be in too much of a hurry to put all your festive lights away.  Pop them into an empty glass vase and keep them lit all the rest of this month- very good in the South, to ensure your fame & reputation energy is positive, or in the north west, to keep those kind visitors dropping by.

Greatness is believing in Ourself

thank you to my lovely friend Susie for showing me this video.  Enjoy!  Reminds me to remind myself this year... "the longest journey begins with a single step"- Lao Tze

Blessings to you!

Strengthen Your Imagination for beautiful Change

"The Present Moment is a Powerful Goddess"- Goethe

"Despite all thoughts we may have about past mistakes or future problems, we can call upon the Law of The Present Moment, reminding ourselves that only Now exists.  All we have to do is to make the most of relaxing into and embracing this moment, and put one foot in front of the other, as we handle what appears right now, one moment, one step at a time."  -Dan Millman, The Life You Were Born to Live

Living in the Present Moment is a wonderful way to get back on track if we seem overwhelmed with life's circumstances- circumatances which are, simply, pictures and stories we are showing ourselves.  There is very rarely any Present Moment that is such a problem.  Most of our problems are remembered or imagined, after all!

This year, I ask the Universe for it's divine help to use my imagination, which so easily defaults back to sad pictures it remembers from "sometime in the past" to create worries about the "future", to putting it's brilliantly clear creativity to work making brilliant bright pictures of things yet to be, which would be wonderful and so exciting. 


I know it's a big jump- I've got out of the habit of working out my imagination in this way, and it's gotten a little flabby!  So much so, it's default attitude is just to remember the past.  This slackness has gotten too much- so, this Imagination needs strength training!

Tto build it up, first I'll meditate regularly- once, or twice a day, for 10 minutes at a time, relaxing and embracing into the moment (it's so much easier to think of nothing when you're not feeling especially positive, for that requires a major energetic jump)

From meditation, I'll be able to discipline my imagination to only call to mind memories that make me smile and fill my heart with success and love...

Then, having been made so much stronger, and assisted by daily looking for the beauty in life, what's new and exciting and stimulating, my imagination will truly be ready to create a brilliantly imagined future.

 “If you want to achieve your goals and master any area of your life—your finances, your health, your relationship—you must first develop a compelling vision to get you excited about what it is you’re striving to achieve.”  -Tony Robbins

 

Does your brilliant imagination need firming up enjoy your dream life this year, too?

Bright blessings for 2011!

I wish you a wonderful 2011

 filled with beauty, love and peace.

There was much laughter when we visited our local chinese restaurant last night to pick up some dinner and greeted them, "Gong Xi Fa Cai!"  Chinese New Year this year will be Feb 3, so we were a little early, but the sentiment was not lost!  In keeping with Chinese New Year Tradition, yesterday's Jan 1st saw us do no housework (yipppeee) and no using of knives or scissors (which could cut the good fortune of the new year...) Instead, we ate lots of those little gold coins from Christmas and finished a big bowl of satsumas.  From the Mandarin we brought home fish, and rice, both also considered auspicious to eat to welcome in a new year of abundant health and prosperity.

I feel very excited and hopeful of this year to come- with many personal dreams and aspirations as well as lots of desires for Feng Shui By The Sea.  Imminently I'll be offering workshops in Doha and our small new studio for private consulting will open here on the Isle of Man. 

I hope to see you this year, and be part of your continuing path of joy and peace.  Thank you for visiting.  Feel free to share your dreams and aspirations for 2011 below!

Season's Greetings!

Just checking in to wish you days full of love and laughter in this time 'twixt holidays.  Walking high on the hill this morning, streams were flowing in the warm sunshine, birds sang as ice and snow melted revealing green grass... it reminded me of the breaking of the White Witch's spell over Narnia in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (pre-hollywood, never see much movies here...)

Reminded me of a "Life Rule" by the crazy, funny Bob Parsons-  "There's a smile in everything- so find it!"

Whether you're in sticky heat or icy sleet, may you enjoy each and every moment of your holidays. 

 "There's Magic in Everything- let's find it!" 

P.S.
Are you on Facebook?  Would you come visit, then, via the link below, and post a question to the wall or give us a thumbs up!  I'm happy to answer your queries and it will be lovely to have this plaltform to share more harmony, prosperity and success...

Feng Shui By The Sea

Promote Your Page Too

gorgeous christmas table image from homeiswhereoneheartis blog

Who you are, in your heart of hearts

" I can't remember how I was getting through life, then... I have the impression of a state of existential patience.  I know I didn't dream actively, that was something I('d) let go of...

When I say I followed a dream coming here, I mean the sort of vision that burns dimly in your mind, the little votive light to the Person you know you are at heart, which sputters feebly in the huge dark cathedral of Who You Have To Be To Get By.  I cherished that flame but did not pursue it; (if not for the chance encounter with the man on the bus) I would have kept that flame for nothing; it would have died when I died and no one would have known it ever existed."

-Celia Brayfield's "Sunset"

Life and it's demands will fill your dark cathedral this time of year with sweet things to keep busy and offer fleeting joy and worries.  Spiritual beings can feel excited at the new possibilities to beautify their surroundings and connect hearts with others, then after the excitement, feel a bit empty and lost as the high energy of others fades away in the face of another ordinary year.  We must remember to keep the votive flame of vision burning, together with our hope of growing it, using this time to bring our true dreams into fruition. 

Remember to day by day light another small candle to join the first!  We can do this symbolically by
Picturing your vision as clear as you can
Cheering yourself up with it when you feel down moments, and
Reminding yourself of it when trivialities threaten to overwhelm you

In doing so, you'll find in the not too distant future, that the whole of your cathedral (ie. your seemingly going-through-the-motions-life) is lit by tiny, warm sparks.  And this is when the person you know you are at heart finally has the power to capture the castle and fill the dream.

Real magic on Hallow's evening- making your dreams real

as dark closes in quietly, in a pale grey kind of way, i realise just a little too late that we are in that very special evening of the year- the all soul's evening, the Hallowe'en

I don't know if you feel like I do, but I have always loved the myth and mystery shrouding the truth that Anything is Possible.  This night- Halloween- and every night's night and dawn used to hold more promise when we hadn't got anything we wanted yet, and it was all in the future.  But in times of heightened desire, which these all are to us; I don't know what you are wishing for, but it could be

Better health
A more loving and challenging career with creative expression
A perfect relationship
Home & Family...

it's tempting when things are on an even keel to keep them there in the harbour-don't rock the boat by wanting too much, isn't it?  Lifes waters in this way can stay smooth for a while, especially when they have been turbulent for you.  Perhaps the trick is here not to let the feeling of inertia drown you, when you are used to the oxygenated bumps.  When we desire something but not so much that we'll inconvenience ourselves, the way forward is always to Make the Dream Bigger.  See you don't need to have a real- shortage to make a change.  So let's not create one, a real turbulence.  Making the Dream Bigger comes through really the enjoyment of thinking it through.  How would it make your life better?  In what ways would you enjoy it?  How might it enter your life (stay open!)?  Are you ready for it?  What will be the best bits?  What problems would it solve (stay feeling good!)?

Wishing upon a star works, because we clarify what we really want.  Thinking and talking positive works, because we are putting ourselves in a happy reality- and naturally, our environment has to respond.  Moreover, should we act- by dressing up, or wearing a poppy, or anything that is an "act"- it's not real until we are.  Bonfires can't ward of poverty if we feel poor inside.  Witches and fairies can't bring us evil or madness unless that desire exists in us.  This Halloween I am lighting my jam jars in pink, red and yellow to show community spirit and an honour to the farmers, who I know, at last have the resources they need not to worry about how harsh the winter may be.  And of course, to remember my own magic.

If we go for what we think we want, how can we be guaranteed of a happy outcome?

Last night I was unpacking a box which was sealed a few years ago, and came upon a card with the beautiful Desiderata written on it.  Here it is below, may it echo in your mind when a decision calls you to make the right choice.

Regarding making the right choice... have been fascinated lately with this Law of Attraction puzzle; How do we know if what we want- a trip to Paris, a bit of chocolate, that new job- will really bring us happiness?  If we go for what we think we want, how can we be guaranteed of a happy outcome?

Do you know the answer?

I was stumped!  And the question was pressing on me.  How could i know- in advance- if enjoying a few days wandering Paris...  soaking up the autumn sunshine, discovering boutiques and beautiful ideas and munching fresh boulangerie artisan, would be a happy and valuable journey... or just fraught with mishaps and ultimately unfulfilling?

then I discovered, through a random Abraham-Hicks quote, the answer.  And it's going to help me from now on in, with any craving that may arise.

"If the craving comes from an idea that feels good, that inspires and is joyous, a happy outcome is assured.  If it comes from a feeling of emptiness, reaching to fill a hole or compulsion that we should or must do it, then it'll be a struggle", the Law of Attraction reminds us.

Of course!  When in doubt, listen to the feeling. 


DESIDERATA

...go placidly amid the noise and haste and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth, quietly and clearly, and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story.
Avoid loud and agressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter, for always there will seem greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery.  But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons stive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself.
Especially do not feign affection.  Neither be cynical about love, for in the face of all arricity and disenchantment, it is perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.  But do not distress yourself with imaginings. 
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.  Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe; no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.  And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God, whatever your labours and aspirations; in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace with your soul.  With all it's sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.


Be careful.  Strive to be happy.

there was once a little girl who was born into the world tres curious.  She would look around and listen and explore and come back with special treasures, gifts for the ones she loved.  She loved stories of faraway places, English school stories best of all, where they had blazers and hats for this, and lacrosse sticks and tennis shoes for that, and all manner of bits and pieces to make life complicated and easy and elegant.  She loved stories about the hedgerows and blackberries, the roses and the heavy bumblebees, the sweet honeysuckle that grew on the wooden garden gate and, after she'd got a whiff of it, that heady aroma of chaff.

As she looked and she listened and loved and grew taller, she took all the knowing that there were fuschia fairies, and helpful household brownies, and in the whisper of the trees some sort of language you could understand,  and midnight feasts!, and that the leaves of the oak were particularly good for wiping away tears, especially if one was holding tightly to it's big, fatherly arm-branch.

And so kept growing...  Somewhere she learned to share with people who understood, which was beautiful and wonderful!  then she took that somewhere else and it wasn't welcome, not at all, and this was hurtful:  not just to her feelings, but to her body's very survival!  So for a very long time she tried to forget that the trees had something to say to her, and she said, instead, "i don't have to listen to anyone.  all i have to do is get by."  and get by she did, and because she had always been so very good at looking and listening, she was able to make a pretty bon job of a life in the convenient modern world. (which you could guess here, meant more listening to people in the modern world, who had the know-how- oh yes!, and less to fairies, and trees)

Do you think for a moment, when she walks on by now... with a proper job and a household to run and (oh!  the car needs fuel; and oh! really must plan holiday), that where the fuschia fairies laughed and played while she watched with big open eyes and almost (but not quite) disbelief, and where she helped the (very ugly, but oh so funny and kind!) brownies shine school shoes before the rest of her family awoke... that they themselves, the fairies and the brownies, sigh in sorrow and toss in their beds when they should have been asleep hours ago?  That they miss her thinking of them, at all, at all?  

Maybe (just an idea, as if it mattered at all) when the wind blows through the oak leaves there is a sense of loss.  Or is it just in his big-strong arm branch- for what is strength for, if not for a girl to climb and hold on to?  And the leaves whisper to themselves, ever so quietly, that they miss the salty brine of tears that don't understand why they are unhappy.

will they all ever be friends again?

2 years later, a greener & more welcoming Doha

A greener and more welcoming.. and, somehow, a seeming more spiritually- safe Doha has welcomed me this week.

It is lovely to catch up with friendly lightworkers from past time here and lots of healers I didn't cross paths with two years ago, as well as more recent arrivees, all contributing to make this a wonderful expat city to enjoy meditation groups, yoga classes, enlightenment book clubs and for practising everyday awareness.  I feel so happy and grateful for the chance to discover all of this!!

Or could it be that:  "When we change the way we look at things...

(the things we look at change)... ?

the zig zag towers in West Bay, in this picture two years ago, are finally finished- see top photo.  can i just say how lovely and green the corniche is looking- and in our compound and around, the trees have grown taller to offer blessed shade.  The turquoise colour of the Gulf has to be seen to be believed. 

Coming to Doha

dear all,
I am so excited- only five more days til sturdy wings once again deposit me in Doha.

Here are a few things I am looking forward to:

revisiting the lovely friends made when I lived there two years ago...

a beautiful spa treatment at the Four Seasons...

The wonderful warm smiles & delicious food at Caravan Bukhara...

Please do get in touch if you would like feng shui in Doha from July 24 to August 1st.  Many expats are away for the summer, I know, so we continue to offer feng shui love via distance anytime, and I may be out again as soon as October;
but if you're in town-

E: samantha@fengshuibythesea.com

photos courtesy of Four Seasons Doha

Women, Food & God- and inner feng shui

Since hearing about it, I've been fascinated by the idea of Geneen's book, "Women, Food and God."  If you've ever wondered if you spend too much energy thinking about food or admonished yourself for eating, reviews highly recommed it.  You can get a sample chapter here...

I read the sample chapter.  And this bit, below, reminded me of what the difference is, in having feng shui in our lives, all around us, but more importantly- within us, and what is not- which I think is the case, for Geneen's client:

(Geneen in response to a client, a lawyer, saying she overeats when she feels "deficient")

Deficiency sounds awful, but is it?  What does it feel like? 
Is it a big hole in her stomach? Her chest? Does it feel like everything
has dropped away and she’s holding on to the edge of a huge abyss
about to fall in? If she stops trying to hold on and lets herself fall, what
would happen? (Remember that all of these are images in her mind.
She’s not really holding onto the edge of an abyss, she’s probably sitting
in a chair. She wouldn’t actually fall anywhere, in her mind, if she
let herself “fall.”) Is emptiness the experience of space or is it something
else? If it’s space and she feels it directly—in her body where it
resides—she might notice if there was anything that is actually scary
  or if it's a story she is telling herself."
 
When you fall- how is the space that supports you?  Are you lifted up on angels' wings, or bounced into a fluffy cloud? At the bottom of your Abyss, are there a team of superheros waiting to catch you and crown you as one of their own?  Once you feel secure that nothing in your environment can harm you and only good energy is coming your way, less demons in general do taunt.



pic:  me n hairy biker Dave Myers at the Isle of Man Food & Drink Festival 2009.

rs