Bucket list

As I was skiing today breathing in the fragrant mountain air, I began thinking about my bucket list.  It was such a popular conversation a few years back when the movie came out.   Emails were flying around with everyone’s top 50.   What happened to the lists? Is everyone checking items off?   I am not,  as it became another “to do” list that I have to manage.   I already have 4 uncompleted baby books haunting me, no thanks to more guilt.   As if I have time to go sit with the Dali Lama on a mountain for 4 weeks, life is busy.    Adventures comes to me all the time, so maybe I  just need to say “yes” more.    I shyly asked my  two oldest daughters to join me at a yoga/ski retreat this weekend.     Yogis love to chant,  dance wildly and eat tofu.  I was reluctant to show them how I act when they are not with me.  I often wonder if they are going to have me committed for not acting like a normal mother.   When they agreed,  I  prepared myself for the teasing and laughter, which I got loads of.  We shared many giggles and made some crazy memories which are two of my favorite things and this adventure was never on my bucket list.   I love my life with my girls and my life with one less list. 

Self Doubt

Self Doubt seems to be a plague with woman.  I watched Kevin Costner’s tribute to Whitney Houston this weekend and he reflected on how she was consumed with doubt about her abilities during the filming of “the bodyguard”.  Whitney Houston had a voice of an angel and she died not owning that.   I know from personal experience, working on my KS project, I am waiting for someone to tell me that I don’t know what I am doing (which is very true,  but still cautiously moving ahead).   What’s with all the self doubt?  Think about when we receive a compliment.  Usually with a deflection to someone else’s efforts or we argue the fact.    We were raised not to toot our own horns.  Are we not realizing who we are or who we can be because we are trying to stay quiet  in an effort not to hurt someone else's feelings? There is a difference between bragging and owning our accomplishments.   Achievements builds the evidence to damper that mean girl in our heads who remind us that we are not good enough.    As I searched the internet looking for a great quote for this blog most of them were from men.  Clearly this is not a gender specific problem, but it is Karma SISTERS.   So in the words of a great woman Eleanor Roosevelt   “You must do the thing you think you cannot do”

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day. I noticed that there are two Valentine camps. One group that refuses to participate in a “made up” consumer driven day, and everyone else that loves those heart shaped jube jubes and muppet valentines cards. Nothing says love like a note from Ms. Piggy. Sure there are 363 other days in the year that you could give flowers or chocolates, but how many days does it happen? It is an easy to get right. Its the same day every year and even the gas stations were selling flowers today. It is the smallest things that count, and one big day over looked that can hurt the most. If you forgot someone you love today, then you have the next 363 days to make it up. Karma Sister rule: Appreciate the ones you love everyday and a little bit extra today

drink in the moment

Tonight I watched the Grammy Awards with the girls.  Well, they watched and I drifted in and out.   “Someone” was doing the laundry and making lunches.    I am not sure who little Wayne's stylist is but he looked like he woke up from a nap in his PJ’s and stepped on stage.   Adele is a favorite in this house and we were ecstatic as we watched her accept 6 Grammies for her album that was “born out of a rubbish relationship”.  She turned great heart ache into a music masterpiece.   The most powerful the moment of the night was after she had finished singing rolling in the deep and she just stood there and drank in the standing ovation from the crowd. Somewhere deep inside a voice was telling her to slow down and remember the moment.   Rhianna, Drake, Stevie Wonder and numerous other award winning artists were on their feet, cheering.   Thanks for the lesson tonight Adele,   drink in the moments that count.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hr5JkOc6rd0

Leo Moon and Phil

There is the most intoxicating moon in the sky.  As I hit the soccer mom trail tonight a Phil Collins song came on the radio “in the air tonight”.  In the first two lines  “I can feel it coming in the air tonight. Hold on...   I’ve been waiting for the moment for all my life.. hold on”   It sent shivers up my spine.  Music is a powerful tool, and I can always find some wisdom in a song.   Phil made me think about why are we all waiting for change.   There will never be a cosmic shake up unless we create it in our own lives.   Moments somehow will turn into years.   I never want to look back and wonder where my life went.   To quote the Dahai Lama “Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risks”.   And sometimes the pull of a very powerful Leo Moon.   Makes me want to howl.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkADj0TPrJA&feature=BFa&list=TLYJF5AsJWb2w&lf=artistob&shuffle=428301

The lesson in cancer.

Cancer is one of those diseases that every family has been touched by.  I have a young cousin in war.  When the diagnoses comes down,  we looked for reasons why.   She lives a healthy lifestyle, she is kind, and loving.   Why do bad things happen to good people?   My yogi brain goes to there is a lesson for her in the illness.  It just makes me feel better.  I imagine a great big door swinging open and there is this incredible life full of butterflies and waterfalls when her treatment is done.    My mother battled cancer and I know she looks at the world with different eyes.  Mom has this saying “it’s not cancer” when anything goes wrong.  And she is right.  Late for work, flat tire, or your roof fell in?  It is still not cancer.   With this recent sad news,  it is a reminder for me to slow down and stay close to those I love.    Maybe battling her way back to health is the lesson.    She is touching everyone around her with the reminder,  life is precious.   Jo,  your a powerful teacher.

Jumping out of the box

The greatest and scariest thing about doing something completely new is that there is a learning curve.  Sometimes I wonder how I can ever remember everything that I am suppose too and then there are small brief moments that it all just sinks in.   I have emerged myself into learning, and anything that can help me get Karma Sisters off the ground.  Last week I took a sales course “how to close in a elevator”.  There was that moment I had to explain what I was creating and it had to be in 30 seconds and in front of owners of actual business.    That is climbing out of my suburbia mom box.  I am not sure where all these small steps are taking me, but I keep reminding myself I don’t need to know, I just need to climb.