The continuum moves on….. my hair story

I have tried for the last many months to embrace being natural with my hair.  I have read magazines, read blogs, watched You-tube videos of women claiming their natural hair, the hair they were born with.

I wanted so desperately to also be one of those women. 

It wasn’t working for my lifestyle.  I felt fuzzy, I felt like my hair just didn’t look good, even after a haircut.

I do hot yoga, I am busy all day, I don’t have time for the effort it takes to maintain a growing natural hairstyle.  My friends suggested weaves and braids and a short fro, but that is not who I am.

Those suggestions just didn’t work for me and meanwhile, my hair was getting burned every morning in hot yoga.  And I love the hot yoga for my body more than I love natural hair.

Looking through my Facebook and iPhoto library I saw photos and I realized I liked my hair just the way it was.

I WANTED IT BACK!!! RIGHT NOW!!!    

I went back to my hairdresser and relaxed my hair.  I walked out of the salon happy.  I felt like me.  I felt peaceful.  I texted my family and friends and I think they were relieved.  Relieved that I wouldn’t be fussing and complaining about my hair anymore.

We learn lessons; everything has something for us to learn in it.

I learned that what works for me doesn’t work for someone else.

I learned that as natural and organic and clean as I like to be, it doesn’t relate to my hair right now in my life.

I love the way it looks now.  Happiness does have a price, sometimes.

Summer time

Wow! It is hard to believe that it is already June!! Summer is upon us.

What are my goals, wishes and dreams for the summer?

To see a Shakespeare play, do lots of yoga, read my fantasy novels,

enjoy all of the children that will be teaching this summer

find some time to watch the sunset, eat tomato and cucumber salads

and fresh fruit everyday.

This school year has been challenging and beautiful.  My professional life has been full of exciting, hard experiences.  My personal life has been filled with tough situations that I had to rise to.  Overall,

I am grateful that I listened to the messages.

Summer I stretch my brain in a totally creative way working with elementary aged school children.  I love it!!  I love being a teacher.

I love watching children grow.

Summertime and we are all growing.

I have cut off all of my relaxed hair and am navigating the terrain of natural hair.  Not so sure about it.  Love my natural hair, just not the time it takes, it is not wash n’ go.  I am having to rethink all of that because of my lifestyle.  I move too fast to have to deal with it. 

Working it out.  Still in progress.

Yoga is my guru

watercolor on watercolor paper
2/2013

Yoga is my guru

I started doing hot yoga and it is the most fabulous experience I have had to date.  I love working out and going to the gym.  I love pushing my physical limits.

I needed something different.  With my hectic schedule it is hard to fit in class times and expensive.  Then I found a deal I had to try, fourty- five dollars for 30 days.  I could do that, and there was a studio down the street from my work, and near my home.

I have been in heaven, sweaty heaven.  I am learning to be different in my body. Different than the way I was with lifting weights.  I think I sit up a little taller, I think I stretch a little further, I think I have a little more ease inside my skin.

When I focus on the postures or moves my brain is totally engaged with what my body is doing.  The chatter in my head turns off.  I focus on an intention.

What I love about yoga is balance: what I do on the left side of my body, I do on the right side and that is helping me so much.

I am learning to trust my body in a whole new way.

I also started getting up and going to classes at 6:30 in the morning!!  Talk about a rush of energy! I thought I would be tired, but I am not. I am actually energized and peaceful.  I flow through my day, through the children and adults I deal with.  And I love it!!

Imagine a woman - higher thinking

I haven't posted in a month!! This month has been so crazy busy with work that I haven't had any free time to muse, ponder or hypothesize my thoughts about the world, my world, the world around me.  It has been happy, bitter sweet and filled with my desire to be the best I can, do the best I can, share the best I can.  I have been doing hot yoga.  WOW! I love it. I found this inspiration on a website about yoga and want to share it.

May the peace in me, see the peace in you.  

Imagine a Woman

Imagine a woman who believes it is right and good she is a woman. A woman who honors her experience and tells her stories. Who refuses to carry the sins of others within her body and life.

Imagine a woman who trusts and respects herself. A woman who listens to her needs. Who meets them with tenderness and grace.

Imagine a woman who has acknowledged the past's influence on the present. A woman who has walked through her past. Who has healed into the present.

Imagine a woman who authors her own life. A woman who exerts, initiates, and moves on her own behalf. Who refuses to surrender except to her truest self and wisest voice.

Imagine a woman who names her own gods. A woman who imagines the Divine in her image and likeness. Who designs a personal spirituality to inform her daily life.

Imagine a woman in love with her own body. A woman who believes her body is enough just as it is. Who celebrates her body's rhythms and cycles as an exquisite resource.

Imagine a woman who honors the body of the Goddess in her changing body. A woman who celebrates the accumulation of her years and her wisdom. Who refuses to use her precious life energy disguising the changes in her body and life.

Imagine a woman who values the woman in her life. A woman who sits in circles of women. Who is reminded of the truth about herself when she forgets.

Imagine yourself as this woman.

Patricia Reilly

What do you have faith in?

watercolor on watercolor paper
12/2012

Today I was asked that question at the Café Gratitude.  Their dishes are called I am grateful, thankful, present, open etc.  It is a vegan restaurant, beautiful ambiance.  The food was okay I have eaten better vegan food. 

But the question really intrigued me, because I love asking questions.

And that is a good one to ask ponder and figure out how to answer.

What do I have faith in?

 I have faith in god.  I have faith in believing that if I pay attention to what is going on around me, I can be centered and balanced and deal with what comes my way.  I have faith in time healing all wounds.

 I have faith in love: unconditional love, I have faith in optimism and keeping the heart chakra open. 

I have faith in the ability humans have to heal from pain: mental, physical, emotional and otherwise.

I have faith in believing in the healing powers of prayer, mantra and meditation.

I have faith in my intuition.  If I trust myself usually I am right.

I have faith in my breath, if I keep breathing I can  get through it.

What do you have faith in?