Happy Halloween!

As you can see (from the photos), I LOVE Halloween, at least 'dressing up' for it. This is one costume from a few years ago about two months after I had my head shaved (to donate my hair for a child with cancer). I wondered, "How could I use my short hair for a Halloween costume?" And voila, I came up with this. Actually, I think it was seeing a can of green spray that gave me the idea. I called myself a gothic punkster or punkster gothic, something to that effect.

There are some costumes I still think I should have won first prize for. This was one of them, without a question. After all, I barely rcognized myself in the mirror. Now, how cool is that, at least from a Halloween perspective?

I think my love for Halloween came from dressing up as a child. I remember walking down some steps at home to greet my mother in her shoes. I may have worn something else of hers - gloves perhaps? - but I do recall the shoes as they were way too big for me.

Similarly, Laurie Sluchinksi, owner of Boo La La (previously Carol's Costume Corner) in North Vancouver, dressed up as a child and loves dressing up for Halloween. Check her website (www.boolalacostumes.com) for more info and some great costumes!

I'd like to know, how do you express your creative essence at Halloween time? Feel free to share photos. I promise I won't do anything to them or with them. ... ah ha ha ha ha ha ...(think of Vincent Price's laugh on Michael Jackson's Thriller! ; ) ; ) (wink wink) I'm teasing. I wouldn't actually!

Three Amigos (Friends)

Photo taken with permission from Anne-Marie Evers, North Vancouver BC

As I mentioned in my previous blog, “... I am in gratitude for three male friends who helped me move.

These three friends are Jorge (aka George), Paul, and Wallace.

I originally met Jorge as a roommate when I moved from City Hall area to Kitsilano where I had wanted to live ever since living on the East side near Commercial Drive sometime after moving to Vancouver many years ago.

Jorge is a handyman primarily working in the construction industry. He also renovates and painting homes as well as does some electrical work having trained with his brother who is a skilled electrician.

I met Paul at a lecture series that I attend Wednesday evenings. Paul is currently unemployed, though volunteering a lot, contributing his time, energy, and talents to various causes including Operation Red Nose around Christmas to the Vancouver Folk Fest. He is great at knowing what’s happening in, primarily, the cities of Vancouver and the North Shore regarding social, artistic, and educational events and attends many of these functions.

Wallace, a recent transplant from Alberta, I met at a church having attended two weeks prior to him as a guest. He worked as a professional engineer and is now looking to change careers and pursue his passions – I admire that! – working in the restaurant industry.

These men are strong, hard-working, and generous. If you know of any work-related leads for them, let me know and I will pass it onto them. Thanks!

What are some of the qualities you most admire about your friends?

Gratitude is the New Attitude

One lesson I learned from my recent move is to be grateful for what I have – now – for like attracts like or more of the same. The more of what you focus on appears in your life.

Thus, if you focus on the ‘positive’ or ‘good’ things in life, more of that is likely to follow and vice versa if you were to focus on the ‘negative’ or ‘bad’ things. (I use quotes because this is based on human perception.)

There is a spiritual principle or ‘higher’ law known as the law of attraction. The book, The Secret is based on this. You can read more about this by perusing Michael Losiers’ websites as he is ‘law of attraction' extraordinaire or expert (www.lawofattractionbook.com or www.michaellosier.com).

One thing I am grateful for is the home I lived in for a number of reasons and the area in which I lived especially. And currently, I am grateful for my new home, a beautiful suite in a house. However, even though I've come to realize (or so it seems) that no home is perfect - each has its potentialities and flaws - that to focus on noteworthy aspects are important in attracting more of the same. Through this process, I came to a clarity of what I most desired and needed, because of the attributes that didn't exist or didn't serve me previously.

Furthermore, I am in gratitude for three male friends who helped me move. And I'm also in gratitude for three people who recently came into my life, each supporting me and willing to contribute and help in various aspects of my move: packing, moving, and organizing. More about that later (in my next blog posting perhaps?).

What are you (most) grateful for at this time in your life?

Part 2: Soul's Expansion



Panoramic Sunset (photo courtesy of Roberto Kaplan)

In my last blog posting, I referred to my soul’s expansion. You can read in more detail, but the excerpt was “What hit me intuitively was ‘expansiveness’ or ‘expansion.’ This described the panoramic landscape lens that I could see with, the ocean and sky in particular. This new perspective seemed to be(come) my new way of viewing (the world), at least while on holiday in Roberts Creek. It also referred to my heart. For somehow this vastness contributed to the expansion of my heart.” (Read in my previous post, September 12th, how this impacted me when I returned home from my trip.)

Is this what Paulo Coelho’s wife, Chris, experienced in the Mojave Desert?: “It seems as if ... I don’t know ... I can’t explain it ... as if my soul has grown.” (The Valkyries, p. 37)

This was her comment when she experienced her soul expanding when she kept her eyes fixated on the horizon whenever she could. (And yes, I concur with Chris that it is hard to explain. You need the experience in order to understand it, as with most or all spiritual experiences.)

I, too, had looked at the horizon a lot for the breadth of it, i.e., its expansiveness, partly because that’s what was in frontal view from the main floor stepping down towards the beach, and also as I was scanning for wildlife, mainly eagles. Additionally I was exercising my eyes. For all these purposes did I scan the horizon, both sea and sky, back and forth, and up and down.

I believe that my experience of my heart’s/soul’s expansion was attributed to the openness, the vast openness of the wide outdoors. I can’t help but think it can’t help but do that!

To be continued...