Butterflies. Lots and lots of butterflies.

I took this video in Sipora, and for me, the butterflies are reminders to invite change.

A lot of changes have happened, but I still need to grow and invite more change to come into myself and into my life.

I need to change and grow and be a better me.

Walking down the street in Padang

Below is a video from walking down Jalan Joni Anwar in Padang.

If families can afford motorbikes, they buy one and pile the entire family on them.  I've seen a father driving, with his wife behind him, 2 kids between them, a child on the back of the bike, and another child standing in the area between the father and the handles.

Just finished filming

Hey all,

Just finished filming a part in a local film.

So happy!
Sara

Moving from Head to Heart

For the past couple of weeks I haven't been checking out my mom's Wisdom Workouts, but I have kept them in my inbox so that once I felt that I had some time to check them, I definitely would. 

I just went to this wisdom workout and it resonates with how I've been feeling.  The funny thing is that although mom posted it back in September, it was just the other day I finally put words to how I am feeling, when I wrote her an email update and in it I wrote "I'm ok... but I'm just feeling lost in space.  Not even space, lost in my brain.  I just feel like a big pulsating brain that is thinking thinking thinking about all the possibilities and all the unknowns and what is gonna happen next, and then some more thoughts on top of some more thoughts."

So, the first part of what she wrote is TOTALLY DESCRIBING ME! When I'm invited to "take a leap of faith" (I actually quite like those), I immediately hear that children's song "slide down my rainbow, into my cellar door. And we'll be jolly friends, forever more!"  Perhaps that could even be my serenade to my heart.

And now I ask my jolly friend this question:  "What is right action for me at this specific time ~ today ~ in my life?"

What I hear is that I'm doing it... I just need to remember to take more of those cleansing breaths and keep my heart open.

I can do that.  It is a bit scary though.  I think I will take some more of those breaths.

Right on!

On the surface of the world right now there is
war and violence and things seem dark.
But calmly and quietly, at the same time,
something else is happening underground
An inner revolution is taking place
... and certain individuals are being called to a higher light.
It is a silent revolution.
From the inside out. From the ground up.
This is a Global operation.
A Spiritual Conspiracy.
There are sleeper cells in every nation on the planet.
You won’t see us on the T.V.
You won’t read about us in the newspaper
You won’t hear about us on the radio
We don’t seek any glory
We don’t wear any uniform
We come in all shapes and sizes, colors and styles
Most of us work anonymously
We are quietly working behind the scenes
in every country and culture of the world
Cities big and small, mountains and valleys,
in farms and villages, tribes and remote islands
You could pass by one of us on the street
and not even notice
We go undercover
We remain behind the scenes
It is of no concern to us who takes the final credit
But simply that the work gets done
Occasionally we spot each other in the street
We give a quiet nod and continue on our way
During the day many of us pretend we have normal jobs
But behind the false storefront at night
is where the real work takes a place
Some call us the Conscious Army
We are slowly creating a new world
with the power of our minds and hearts
We follow, with passion and joy
Our orders come from the Central Spiritual Intelligence
We are dropping soft, secret love bombs when no one is looking
Poems ~ Hugs ~ Music ~ Photography ~ Movies ~ Kind words ~
Smiles ~ Meditation and prayer ~ Dance ~ Social activism ~ Websites
Blogs ~ Random acts of kindness…
We each express ourselves in our own unique ways
with our own unique gifts and talents
Be the change you want to see in the world
That is the motto that fills our hearts
We know it is the only way real transformation takes place
We know that quietly and humbly we have the
power of all the oceans combined
Our work is slow and meticulous
Like the formation of mountains
It is not even visible at first glance
And yet with it entire tectonic plates
shall be moved in the centuries to come
Love is the new religion of the 21st century
You don’t have to be a highly educated person
Or have any exceptional knowledge to understand it
It comes from the intelligence of the heart
Embedded in the timeless evolutionary pulse of all human beings
Be the change you want to see in the world
Nobody else can do it for you
We are now recruiting
Perhaps you will join us
Or already have.
All are welcome
The door is open
~ Author unknown

(thanks to my soulmate bestfriend for sharing this)

I ❤ the mooncup

When out with girlfriends, or in a girl group, I often inappropriately start talking about my mooncup.  I LOVE IT! It has totally revolutionalised my life, and made what some women call the "monthly curse" not even a big deal! I'd even go so far to say that I welcome it!

I wish that every woman would know about the mooncup, which is part of why I inappropriately tell women about it... all the time!  

I bought mine at Commonsense Organics in Wellington a few years ago - and I have never looked back! It is especially A-mazing if you are out and about, and if you are travelling... BEST FRIEND you could have.

As most of you know, I have been living in Indonesia for the past year, and I have no idea how I would have made it so long without my monthly companion.  Seriously! No mess. No trash to throw away. No taking up space in my already overflowing luggage!

In addition, there are no nasty side effects (like TSS), and there isn't evidence to throw away (I was SO GLAD for no embarrassing evidence when living in a country where your rubbish gets strewn across the front of your house by the roaming dogs and other animals).  There isn't bleach or other chemicals that are put into most tampons and pads... so it is a healthier option.

So, if you don't know what I'm talking about, check it out here http://www.mooncup.co.uk/ or there is a US website here http://www.mooncup.com/index.html (I am happy to answer any questions you might have).

3 Cheers for the mooncup! HiphipHOORAY! HiphipHOORAY! HiphipHOORAY!

Futureme

So, every once in awhile since... since I think I was at CU, I go onto this site, and I write a letter to myself about what is going on at the moment, and where I hope to be, and then I send it to myself; my future self.

To be honest, I probably write the emails to myself when I'm feeling low or uncertain about life... not neccessarily bad, but so that in the future I can look back and remember that "this too will pass".

It's sort of like a journal entry to yourself.  But instead of having to go through your journal and see what you wrote, you get it sent right to you.

Just thought I'd share. Maybe you want to send an email to your future self?

Wellington

I know every branch, every thorn, every leaf
The contours of your roads, pavements, lanes
The skyline.

I am not from you,
But you are a part of me.

And I can breathe now that I am home.

A new idea...

I´ve had a lot of personal responses from friends and a couple of randoms (thanks everyone!) about wanting to try Beyond Intellect the same way that I use it... by asking a random question and opening up the book.

Not everyone has the book (yet!) so my mom and I were talking and perhaps there is a solution... you can privately email me that you would like a reading done for you, and then I can post what I find, using the same techniques I already use on this blog.

The magic about this is that you don´t even have to tell me what the question is.  You can just email and say "Hey chica.  Can you check your mum´s book?".  I will open the book to wherever I open it, and read what is there.  I´ll use my own intuition to identify the part that needs to be shared.  I will then post the answer from the book using either your initials or a name you want me to put or something anonymous, and then you can read what it says.

If it speaks to you then it would be wonderful if you could share why it was relevant to you or what you learned.

At this point, I´m thinking of starting a new blog for this experiment... but for right now, I´ll use this site.

And, I have one to share for "UE".

Acceptance page 48...

"You can begin to increase your ability to be more flexible in your personal and professional relationships when you can recognize your own and others´ developed and under-developed traits. You can use your knowledge of the four categories of reliability, congruence, openness, and acceptance to bring about cooperation, respect for diversity, and enhanced interpersonal effectiveness.

It is particularly useful to be aware of your under-developed traits.  That knowledge can be used to effectively analyze situations that are not turning out the way you hoped.

Practice performing the new behaviours you have pinpointed and you will find that interpersonal conflicts can be resolved easily and more effectively."

Lots of love,
Sara

Your Happiness Quotient

As I´m still working on courting my "masculine" energy (and finding a balance with my feminine energy) I decided to just open up Beyond Intellect and see what it says.

It is REALLY good.

I think everyone would find a different meaning to the biography that Susan has cleverly shared about Happiness. 

Page 158 is where it is at my friends.  How does it speak to you?

xxoo

Yup. My masculine energy is revved up (because my feminine energy feels totally misunderstood)

So, I decided that I was going to embrace my "masculine" energy this week, and see what happened.

So, these are some of the things that I did:

• On Friday, I dyed my hair a darker colour because I was feeling like my hair was too light at the bottom and too dark at the top and I wanted a same consistency so that I would stand out. I´m sort of against hair dye because I think it´s bad for you, but I told myself "NO MORE WALLFLOWER Sara!"
• On Friday, I told everyone at a party what my opinion is (and internally told myself that I make no apologies).
• On Saturday, I felt like the biggest loud mouth in the world and wished to god that I would have kept all my thoughts to myself.
• Lots of emails to friends and for work over the past week, and then about an hour later thinking that perhaps my friends and colleagues were offended by what I said because maybe what I said sounded heartless or wasn´t written in a pleasant enough way.

So, all in all, I think it has been a successful week of courting my "masculine" energy and feeling TOTALLY UNCOMFORTABLE... so I know my "feminine" energy is still in the driver´s seat.

I suppose this will be a work in progress as I haven´t quite found the balance I am after.

"Mutual Respect" page 152

Bonjour!

This evening I decided to open the book and see what it says.  No thinking about what I´m thinking about and then asking for an answer, just letting the answer come... and then I´ll find out what the question was!

Well. I just read it, and for me, I took it as a reminder that I need to up my masculine energy.  Lately I have been feeling like I´m the smallest mouse in the room with the tiniest voice.  People interrupt me mid-sentence all the time, or something happens just as I get to something important to say, and so the conversation is cut short.

I´m feeling a bit of a wall flower lately and I want to shine dagnabbit!

So... this week will be about courting my masculine energy.  Let´s see what happens...

Cheers to chosen pain!

Well, 9 months later and what do I have to show?  I think visibly I have a few more lines on my face, and a few more grey hairs.  But, all in all, I am happy and healthy.

I emailed my best friend from high school today, and it was funny to realise how much of a Gemini I really am.  Sometimes I like to think that I am less Gemini.  But, nope, I´m all mercurial.  That is me!

It has been difficult to write lately, because so much change has been going on.  All self induced, but nonetheless heart-wrenching and painful.  In some ways I think that if pain just happens to you, you can at least find comfort in it being totally random and out of your control.  When you feel pain because of choices that you have to make... then the responsibility lies entirely with you.

You go through the pain of the experience of the choice you have made, and all that you can think is ‘you chose this' (so stop feeling sad).

But just because you make the choice, doesn´t make it less painful or less sad.  And, maybe your choice was less painful than the choice of continuing on in a way that was not working.

Amen.

Let´s see what Beyond Intellect has for me today... I opened the book to page 18, and my eyes went to "A Path With Heart".

After reading a few pages, what I am gleaning from the information within, is that, I need to remind myself that I have my permission to live my life based on what works for me.  And that I am not bad, or wrong for choosing what no longer worked for me.