lara * simmons

Quote of the Week - May 21, 2012 - What happens for one...

2012-05-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

“On this earth we are connected one to another....to another....to another....to another...to another....to another....to another...such that whatever happens to one of happens to all of us.” --Anna Grossnickle Hines from her book, "Peaceful Pieces"

This is a poem called "Dominoes" that my younger son's class read last week on Friday for "Poetry Aloud." They read it together as a class, one child starting and each child in turn saying "to another," "to another," "to another..."

As I listened, the poem came alive for me. The idea of the poem came alive for me. I saw once again that we are all connected, we are all One and that whatever happens for one of us happens to all of us.

Did you notice the Freudian slip there? I wrote, "whatever happens for one of us happens to all of us," when what I meant to write was, "whatever happens to one of us happens to all of us." But both are equally true aren't they?

When I say, "whatever happens to one of us happens to all of us," I immediately think of war, famine, poverty and abuse. When I say, "whatever happens for one of us happens to all of us," I think of love, kindness, beauty and chocolate.

One of the main tenants I guess you could say of New Age thinking is that we should celebrate success, abundance and blessings wherever they appear.

This is one of the hardest practices for me, having grown up in a two sibling family there was always this idea that my gain was my sister's loss and vice versa ,at least for me. I see this kind of thinking in my older son as well (maybe it's just us first borns....), but this thinking limits us, shrinks us, turns us into Grinches and misers.

This poem is a great reminder that whatever happens to one of us or for one of us, happens to all of us and ought to be welcomed, rejoiced, mourned or celebrated by ALL. That is the Oneness that leads to Peace. Inside and out. May you feel that peace today.

WRITE YOUR LIFE this summer!

2012-05-18T08:00:00.000-07:00

"Ask and you SHALL receive." --From Voice of Choices Jan 2006 (paraphrasing Matthew 7:7 from The Bible)

For months I have been saying to myself, "I should submit a proposal to teach WRITE YOUR LIFE at East West Books (a local New Age bookstore)." And for months I have done NOTHING about it.

Last week I was having my weekly check-in with my sister and I asked for her intuitive hit on this. Was it not happening because it just wasn't meant to be, or was I sabotaging myself because I was scared of it?

She said that she was getting the latter and that perhaps I should ask my ego to step aside and let me do this thing I said I wanted to do.

The next day I decided this was it, I was going to submit the proposal and go for it.

Luckily they make it super-duper easy to do online and within 30 minutes I had sent the proposal off and given it to The Universe to decide what happened next.

Twenty-four hours later I got an offer to teach an abbreviated version of my class (two days instead of five) this summer! Woah! I guess that was a big old YES from the Universe.

So, if you missed WRITE YOUR LIFE last time or want to brush up on your writing and manifesting skills, please join me on two Wednesdays in August (8/15 and 8/22) at East West Books. The class will run from 7:00 - 8:30 and will cover the following topics: Advice to Myself, Releasing Your Story, Being Present to Your Life, The Right to Write and Write Your Life! Cost is $12 per class. Hope to see you there!

Quote of the Week - May 14, 2012 - On Simplicity

2012-05-14T08:00:00.000-07:00

"Simplicity in its essence demands neither a vow of poverty nor a life of rural homesteading. As an ethic of self-conscious material moderation, it can be practiced in cities and suburbs, townhouses and condominiums. It requires neither a log cabin nor a hair shirt but a deliberate ordering of priorities so as to distinguish between the necessary and superfluous, useful and wasteful, beautiful and vulgar." --David E. Shi

Whew! Finding this quote was like sweet relief. I have been aching for simplicity recently and wondering how to find it.

In my head I have a fantasy about a piece of land, far away from everything, and a little house that is off the grid (solar-powered perhaps) where I live with my family, growing our own food, homeschooling the children and just generally "living off the land" as they say.

This fantasy only goes so far, however, when I remember that anytime in the past when I have tried to grow my own food, I soon grow weary of all the effort it takes and let my seeds wither in the dirt, or allow them to be choked by the weeds that seem to grow easily in whatever ground I have chosen.

Or when I remember that when I am feeling sad or tired or hopeless, nothing soothes me like a scalding hot bath and when I want one, I want one right now and not in thirty or forty minutes when the ten gallon pot on my wood-fired stove has finally boiled.

Or when I remember that I require much more "alone time" than a homeschooling mama would ever get.

In essence, when I remember that I was not born, nor raised, to "chop wood, carry water" and wouldn't know how to do much of anything that would be required from the kind of life I am fantasizing about.

So I am forced to let go of my simplicity fantasies and continue to feel slightly dissatisfied with my urban life.

But now David Shi has given me a new standard for simplicity, one I think I can meet, or at least aspire to.

It reminds me of my favorite quote about speaking: "Before you speak, ask yourself: is it kind, is it necessary, is it true, does it improve on the silence?" (Shirdi Sai Baba)

Whenever I say something that I wish I hadn't, I remind myself of that quote and repeat its questions to myself: Is it kind, is it necessary, is it true, does it improve on the silence? It is not a standard that I meet all that often, but it is a guide that leads the way to where I want to go.

And now I have a similar yardstick for simplicity, a set of questions I can ask before I buy yet another widget or gadget to add to my collection and to further complicate my life: Is it necessary, is it useful, is it beautiful, does it improve on the world around me?

Quote of the Week - May 7, 2012 - This Space Left Unintentionally Blank

2012-05-07T08:00:00.000-07:00

There was no quote for this week. The truth is, I just didn't get around to it. My husband was out of town, I had meetings and appointments and Teacher Appreciation Week to attend to and it just didn't happen. So....check back next week when I hope to make it happen. Thanks for reading!

Quote of the Week - April 30. 2012 - No Boundaries

2012-04-30T08:00:00.000-07:00

"Love is not a matter of getting connected. It is a matter of seeing that we already ARE connected within an intricate web of relationships that extends throughout all life. It is a realization of 'no boundary' -- that we are all made of the same stuff, riding through time on the same spaceship, faced with the same problems in the world, the same hopes and fears. It is a connection at the core, that makes irrelevant skin color, age, sex, looks or money." --Anodea Judith

This is one of my all-time favorite quotes about love and it has been resonating for me this week as I ponder life, the Universe and everything.

I am obsessed right now with trying to figure it out. "It" being this life, this Universe and everything that surrounds us. How did we get here? Are we alone? What are we to do? What does it all mean? It is unfathomable and frightening, and on some level I know that I will fail because I don't think any true answers are available to us on this plane of existence. If there were, we wouldn't need to be here. (As my friend Cindy says, "If you're here, you still have work to do.")

But the other day I had a vision in meditation that I keep coming back to - and this quote speaks to that vision.

My husband and I have been watching Homeland on Showime, a show about a POW from the war in Iraq (the current one) who is rescued after being held hostage for eight years. While being held he was beaten and tortured in a manner that is hard to imagine, but I was trying. I was trying to imagine it happening to me and I was trying to connect with those around the world to whom it is happening right now.

And what I realized is, I am already connected to them. What I saw in this meditation was all of us on the planet at this moment holding hands on the outside of the Earth like cut-out paper dolls (it looked something like this), each of us connected to one another by each other. So that when you feel suddenly sad or mad or afraid for no apparent reason, what you are feeling may be something happening to someone else halfway around the world. We are that connected to each other. Made of the same stuff. With the same hopes and fears.

Free eBook!

2012-04-24T16:37:00.002-07:00

"This book really is a beautiful thing. Definitely the best book I've read this year." ~Jackie Stewart

An eFriend of mine - Fiona Robyn, midwife of the Small Stones movement - just published her new novel, The Most Beautiful Thing, and is offering it FREE on Kindle (which also means you can read it for free on your computer or phone) today and tomorrow only.

Please help yourself here. And feel free to pass this offer on to your friends and family - it is open to everyone! (If you prefer real paper books, you can treat yourself here: Amazon US.)

Here are some more great reviews:

"This story kept me awake into the wee small hours, I simply couldn't put it down. I have recommended this book to all my friends and have already given two as gifts." ~Mary McC on Amazon.co.uk

"I loved this book. I will read it many more times." ~Bikerchick on Amazon.co.uk

"Lovely, vivid, capturing. I didn't want to stop reading this once I started. What a wonderful job of capturing the beauty and agony of family!" ~Brandi Trevisan via Goodreads

"Beautifully observed, tender, thoughtful and insightful, this book twists and turns in the way that life does...revealing beauty and dysfunction. This is a memorable book; a truly beautiful thing; a story that stays with you long after you read it. Definitely the best book I've read this year." ~Jackie Stewart

"The hero has a number of psychological traits often associated with Asperger's syndrome, such as social awkwardness, obsession with specific fields of knowledge, and picky eating habits, but these are not pathologized or even diagnosed in the course of the novel. Instead, they simply form part of who he is. They contribute to some -- but not all -- of his weaknesses, and also to his strengths, such as the good job he gets in the British weather service and even more so to the way he never judges others on whether they fit into social norms. I was impressed by the way a woman writer could portray a character so different from herself so well." ~KrisHL on Amazon.com

Quote of the Week - April 23, 2012

2012-04-23T11:06:00.000-07:00

"What have you been through in your life that you are uniquely positioned to help others with? The answer to this question is an indicator of your true purpose."

--Life and Abundance Coach Angela Strank

Angela was on my sister's radio show last Friday and during the show she led us in a meditation to aid in finding our true purpose. This was the question she had us ask our higher selves during the meditation. I received some interesting answers and find that the question is sticking with me, it's one of the things I am ruminating on this week. If you want to give the meditation a try, click here.

May you always live on purpose!

Quote of the Week - April 16, 2012

2012-04-16T16:50:00.002-07:00

"May you be filled with lovingkindness; may you be well. May you be peaceful and at ease; and may you be happy." --from a Karen Drucker song, based on the Buddhist practice of lovingkindness

We sang this a few weeks ago at Seattle Unity and I have been humming it to myself ever since. A nice way to practice lovingkindness, you sing this for first for yourself (May I...), then for another (May you...), then for yourself as well as others (May we...) and finally for all (May all...). Add power to the practice by singing for someone you are struggling with right now by name (May X...). It may be hard at first, but soon you will find the going easy and maybe the relationship as well. May you be well!

Quote of the Week - April 9, 2012

2012-04-09T15:36:00.001-07:00

"How beautiful it is to do nothing...and then rest afterwards." --Spanish proverb

I am home with a sick kid today and have taken that as a sign to do nothing and then rest afterwards. Despite having a full "To Do" list (with many items having languished on there for weeks) I am taking an unplanned, unexpected "day of rest." I encourage you to do the same sometime soon. How beautiful it is!

Quote of the Week - April 2, 2012

2012-04-02T12:19:00.000-07:00

"Only by accepting full responsibility for our own nature – as events and relationships serve to reveal it to us – can we awaken the true compassion we need towards others. Everyone hopes; everyone hurts; everyone needs love and forgiveness. In the end, it's only by being exactly what we are that we can start to see how much we are all the same." --Guy Finley in New Spirit Journal

Amite Amoureuse

2012-03-30T17:24:00.002-07:00

One year ago today I flew home from Paris. It had been ten years since I had been there and it was time. As I moved through the city, I found myself taking pictures that were not typical tourist shots. Patterns and themes started to emerge that were unexpected and I began to see a new project taking shape. Today I am launching a photoblog of pictures from my trip. If you are curious, you can find my new blog at http://amitieamoureuse.blogspot.com.

So....

2012-03-12T13:08:00.003-07:00

So My Guides Speak went no where. Dear Soul Sisters and The Refrigerator Oracle are done.

What's next you may ask?

And the answer is: I cannot yet reveal what I will be working on next. I am in a phase of marination, rumination and meditation. But things are starting to come to the surface and I will keep you posted here. So stay tuned....

Love, Lara

My Guides Speak

2012-01-13T12:36:00.000-08:00

Lately I have been getting messages from my guides - sometimes while in meditation, sometimes just while walking through the world - that feel like messages for not just myself, but all of us.

So I have started a new blog, which I will add to the sidebar of larasimmons.net, called "My Guides Speak."

This will be simply a recording of messages that I get throughout the day from my guides that I feel are for all of us. There may be one a day, or more. Some days perhaps none at all. I am not really sure what it will look like really, but here goes....

This blog can be found at: http://myguidesspeak.blogspot.com/

GET GLOWING FOR 20-12 & WRITE YOUR YEAR!

2011-12-19T11:52:00.000-08:00

I am pleased to announce that I will be teaching another class in January of this year. My sister will be in town for the holidays are we are going to be co-presenting:

Get GLOWING for 2012

and

WRITE YOUR YEAR!

An Experiential Empowerment & Intention-Setting Workshop

Follow YOUR Passions!
Find YOUR Purpose!
Love YOUR Life!
Write YOUR Year!

The Den @ Mosaic Coffeehouse

4401 2nd Ave NE

Seattle, WA 98105

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Love ♥ Offering

Email to: dearsoulsisters@gmail.com to register

I hope you will plan to join us! I wish you all the JOY of the season and nothing but the best for 2012!

LISTEN IN

2011-12-01T10:38:00.000-08:00

I am not great at promoting myself and putting the word out about what I am doing. This is something I am working on, but I have a ways to go. In that spirit, here are a few links to some publicity I have done in the past few months that I thought you might enjoy. Listen in if you are so moved and have a fabulous day!

GET GLOWING - My sister's radio show, which airs every Friday at 8:00 AM Pacfic/11:00 AM Eastern. In September of this year my sister and I had one of our great conversations about life, love and spirit and put it on the air for all to hear. Click here to listen in.

OPENING TO ECSTASY - Dear Soul Sisters was on Lynnet McKenzie's show in October of this year. Our topic was "Stop 'Shoulding' Yourself and Go Guilt-free!" We had great rapport with Lynnet and are so excited to have discovered her shining light! Click here and look in the archives for October 2011 to listen.

WRITE YOUR LIFE SESSION 5: WRITE YOUR LIFE!

2011-11-18T13:54:00.000-08:00

This week is the culmination of all of our work together over the past five weeks. This is the part where we WRITE OUR LIVES.

First, a couple of my favorite quotes on manifestation:

"Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it...You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings.” --Liz Gilbert

"We are living in a dynamic, intelligent Field capable of instantaneous response to each one of us. (It may help to read that statement again.) Instead of living in a gigantic machine in which we are only a tiny cog, we have the opportunity to recognize and identify ourselves as something much more significant – something that the awesome and intelligent creative force that has created the plant kingdom, weather, human beings, this planet, and galaxies beyond, responds to.” --John Nicholl

To start flexing your manifestation muscle, begin with the Radical Manifestation Worksheet from Colin Tipping (available for download here). Think of one thing (tangible) that you would like to manifest in your life right now. Allow yourself to really want it, to claim the desire for it. Then fill out the Radical Manifestation worksheet.

Once you have finished the worksheet, you are ready for the main event....WRITING YOUR LIFE. For this task, choose one of the following exercises:

1) Taking the phrase "I am so happy and grateful I am living a life that..." as your jumping off point, do a 30-minute free-write on all of the things you want to manifest in your life right now, the tangible and the intangible. Just like with the free-writes from last week, do not edit or limit yourself, let your imagination run free and wild to WRITE THE LIFE that would like to live.

2) Toast to you on your 100th Birthday – Imagine that you are at your 100th birthday party. Your spouse, significant other, best friend, or sibling is making the toast. What would they say about you? What would they say about your life? What did you do? What were your accomplishments? Who is there that they are acknowledging? What was your proudest moment? Think in terms of things that haven't happened yet that you want to manifest. This is the WRITE YOUR LIFE moment. Go for it!

Write "I am so happy and grateful that I am living a life that...” on a post-it note and then write a concise statement of your manifestation (either the tangible or the life one.) Post it somewhere where you will see if often over the next few weeks and repeat it to yourself whenever you see it.

HOMEWORK:

Read over your Radical Manifestation Worksheet at least once out loud this week.
Claim the power of acting “as if.” “IF I believed it were possible, what step would I take next?” Take that first next step this week!
Send energy to your intentions and the intentions of all of those who have participated in this class remembering that,"...[T]here is no greater gift to give another than to hold for them a vision of their highest potential." --Kimberlee Gorgo

THANK YOU for coming on this journey with me. I am so grateful to have spent time with you over the past five weeks. I wish you all the best in manifesting the life you dream of!

WRITE YOUR LIFE SESSION 4: THE RIGHT TO WRITE

2011-11-11T13:42:00.000-08:00

Who is a writer? Often we think of writing “professionally” as the only legitimate way to call yourself a writer, but looking back on my own writing life, it wasn't until I started writing “just” for myself that my writing really took off. The writing I have done because it really pleased me has been much more satisfying than the writing I have done for money. I would urge you to use this measure of your success - Does my writing please me? Am I enjoying the process? Am I satisfied with what I am writing? - rather than how much money you make from it. And if you write, dare to call yourself a WRITER!

Here are some of my favorite quotes about writing:

"Everybody is talented original and has something important to say." --Brenda Ueland from her book "If You Want to Write."

“...[A] writer is a writer not because she writes well and easily, because she has amazing talent, because everything she does is golden. In my view, a writer is a writer because even when there is no hope, even when nothing you do shows any sign of promise, you keep writing anyway.” --Junot Diaz

After sharing insights and discoveries from our small stones practice, we read the first two pages of Brenda Ueland's "If You Want to Write." Then we got down to the business of writing:

EXERCISE 1: A 15-minute free-write (similar to the "Morning Pages" from Julia Cameron's "The Artist's Way") - What would you write about if you knew no one would judge you, if you were totally free? This is stream-of-consciousness writing, no reading, no editing, no critiquing, just writing.

EXERCISE 2: Saying “Yes!” - What are you saying no to, or perhaps maybe to, right now that you want to say “Yes” to? This could be in writing or in life. Why are you saying No? What worn-out belief or old fear is holding you back? Are you ready to let it go? If not, what would you need to do in order to be ready? Can you do that now? If not, what would you need to be ready to do it now?

Post-writing check-in. How did that feel? Were you able to do it? How long did it take to free yourself from the critic? Did you write what you expected? Did you change what you wrote (for instance did you start out journaling and end up writing a poem?)?

HOMEWORK – Do a 15-minute free-write every day. It can be first thing in the morning or when you sit down to rest, anytime you have a few quiet minutes. Remember to just write. Don't edit or censor or critique.

Next Week: WRITE YOUR LIFE! The culmination of all our work together, we will use our writing skills to write our lives and manifest the life we have always wanted. Please join us!

WRITE YOUR LIFE SESSION 3: BEING PRESENT TO YOUR LIFE

2011-11-05T08:27:00.000-07:00

In today's session we worked on bringing more presence to our lives and to our writing.

Class began with a ten minute full body meditation. Taking a few deep breaths and then bringing awareness to each part of our body, starting with our toes. Feeling into each part of our bodies, feeling its structures, its movements, its energy.

After the meditation we began to explore the concept of small stones. This exercise was created by Fiona Robyn a writer in England whose website is called Writing Our Way Home. A small stone is "a very short piece of writing that precisely captures a fully-engaged moment." Writing small stones can help us be more present to our lives and to our writing.

We read some examples of small stones from Fiona's small stones blog, her blogzine a handful of stones, as well as from my own small stones blog pebbles are small stones. Then we went out and wrote small stones of our own for 30-35 minutes before coming back together to share our experiences.

HOMEWORK:

Be present to your life this week. Think of some ways you can do that. How does being present look for you? What helps you to be in that space? Is it meditation? Is it breathing? Is it writing?
Write at least one small stone every day. It can be short or long, perfect or half-assed. Just write one!

WRITE YOUR LIFE SESSION 2: RELEASING YOUR STORY....SO YOU CAN WRITE A NEW ONE

2011-10-30T09:42:00.000-07:00

Another great session of WRITE YOUR LIFE this week. We welcomed a new member to the class (Welcome Mary!) and missed those of you who couldn't make it. Hope to see you back next week!

In this session, we started off with the idea that we all have a "story" about who we are. This is not necessarily a bad thing - it is part of being human - but sometimes our "story" no longer fits and we need to let go of it in order to write a new one.

So ask yourself this question: WHAT IS MY "STORY?" and AM I READY TO LET IT GO? (Some examples might be, "I am the 'good girl,'" or "I am the 'black sheep of the family.'")

As a way to let go of the part of the story that no longer fits, we did an exercise from the book, Radical Forgiveness by Colin Tipping. It is called The Three Letters Process. In this exercise you write three letters to someone who you feel has wronged you or in some way treated you badly. Choose someone who has been significant in your life and whom you feel forgiving might help to release you from your old story.

We began class by reading The Five Stages of Radical Forgiveness to get an idea about the process. You can download the text by clicking on the link above. Then we talked about The Three Letters Process before going off on our own for an hour or so to do the exercise. You can do this at home by downloading the reading, reading about the three letters process and then doing the exercise.

Afterwards we all came back together to share.

HOMEWORK:

Do some kind of a "release" ritual by burning the letters you wrote or shredding them. (Alternatively, you may want to put them some place safe where you can come back to them in a few months or years to see how things have shifted and changed for you.)
Notice any changes in your relationship with the person you wrote the letters to. Does it feel like things have shifted? How? Do you feel differently about this person? Are the feelings stronger or less strong now? Journal about these feelings if you would like.
Try the exercise again with another person in your life you would like to forgive in order to help you write your new story.

Hope to see you in class next week!

WRITE YOUR LIFE SESSION 1: ADVICE TO MYSELF

2011-10-22T08:50:00.000-07:00

Our first class was AWESOME. We have a great group of women writers - ranging in age from their twenties to their sixties - all with similar goals and aspirations TO WRITE THEIR LIVES. Would love to have you join us next week!

Here's what you missed:

For a bit of inspiration we read Dear Sugar's column "Write Like a Motherfucker."
Then we each wrote our own "Dear Sugar" letter, to Sugar or our favorite advice columnist, about what we felt was the main thing holding us back right now or what we needed advice on to move forward in our lives.
After a five minute head-clearing meditation "break," we came back to our journals, put on our advice columnist caps and wrote back to ourselves with some objective, kind and compassionate advice.

HOMEWORK:

Write like a MOTHERFUCKER
Try and Take Your Own Advice

We will meet again on Friday, October 28th at 10:15 at Mosaic Coffee House. Please join us if you can!

WRITE YOUR LIFE!

2011-10-07T12:42:00.000-07:00

Starting on October 21, 2011 I will be teaching a 5-week writing class in Seattle. Here are the deets:

DATES: October 21, - November 18, 2011
WHEN: Friday mornings from 10:15 a.m. To Noon
WHERE: The Den at Mosaic Coffee House, 4401 2^nd Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98105
COST: The class is FREE! (Please consider a donation to Mosaic for the use of their space.)
TO REGISTER: Email lara(.)g(.)simmons (at) comcast (.) net

Are you feeling STUCK, unsure about what comes next? Do you love to WRITE, but never seem to find the time? Are you ready to RE-CREATE your life, but don't know how?

Join me for a 5-week writing class designed to get you writing and help you manifest the life you desire!

Welcome!

2011-07-01T09:20:00.000-07:00

Welcome to larasimmons.net. I am so glad you have found me on the web. This site is my all-in-one hub/blog/website for all of my writing and spiritual activities.

Here's what you will find here:

the refrigerator oracle - my original personal blog where I post quotes that are meaningful to me and recount my attempts to stay in the moment and walk my spiritual talk.

Dear Soul Sisters - a spiritual advice column I write with my sister. We offer intuitive, insightful and informed advice. (Think of us as Dear Abby for the new millennium!) Please write to us if there’s something you’re struggling with - we'd love to help you get free and move forward!

Pebbles are Small Stones - my "small stones" blog started in July 2011 for the river of stones project.

Please make yourself at home, click around and see what you can find to interest and inspire you. I am so glad you are here!

Love, Lara