Italian Skies + Expectations

Today’s sky in Italy

No video again today. Have I fallen off the wagon?? I suppose so. Will I get back on? Who knows! I’m working hard not to worry about it or feel guilty. Maybe the day of going through my entire wardrobe was more draining than I realized!

I think the main problem has been time. This week I’ve begun work/playin fixed hours at the Academy, 8:30am-1:30pm every day – the first time I’ve had fixed-hour work in almost two years – AND I now have THREE websites I’m building!!! Woohoooo! I am super excited about that. I’ll share the sites here when I’m done.

So between the Academy commitment and the other projects, I wasn’t able to motivate myself to film/edit/upload video today. It’s quite labor intensive.

Oh we also had an event at the Academy tonight – an expert on Vastu came and spoke. Vastu is kinda like feng shui, but the original Indian version. It deals with architecture and energy and human alignment.

A concept I really liked was sun time vs. moon time vs. earth time. Sun time is when the sun is up; moon time is when the moon is up (which changes over the course of the waxing and waning of the moon), and earth time is when neither sun nor moon is up. The different times have different energies.

I don’t know about you but for me these past few days have been super powerful energetically. Today I had all kinds of realizations, and I am feeling super ALIVE and clear. It’s exhilarating but also challenging to contain. Contain, that’s an interesting word, a remnant from the adults yelling at the children – CONTAIN YOURSELF! Sit still! I was definitely not taught as a child how to channel the immense energy I have – I was taught to suppress it, because the adults around me didn’t know how to manage their energy either. And both of my parents had a LOT of energy.

One of my realizations today:

All my life, people have labeled me a ‘free spirit.’

At first they love it about me.

And then they get disappointed when they place their expectations on me.

Half of it is me, of course, accepting their expectations. 

I no longer want other’s expectations.

I want to free others from the burden of my expectations, the burden of my choosing to feel bad and blaming it on them if my expectations aren’t met. 

Instead I choose to love others exactly as they are, in the present moment, in whatever reality we happen to be interacting in.

I choose freedom for others – the freedom from being responsible for my feelings.

I choose freedom for myself – the freedom from feeling shameful, bad, or guilty.

I choose to trust that everything works out for my highest good, and for the highest good of others.

“The greatest gift you have to give is that of your own self-transformation.” ~Lao Tzu

Photo by Me Italy 2013

That Italian light!

Goodbye sun.

I’m Taking My Freedom

 

 

I’m taking my freedom
pulling it off the shelf
puttin’ it on my chain
wearing it ’round my neck
I’m taking my freedom
puttin’ it in my car
wherever I choose to go
It will take me far

I’m living my life like it’s golden
living my life like it’s golden

I’m taking my own freedom
puttin’ it in my song
singing loud and strong
proving all day long
I’m takin’ my freedom
puttin’ it in my stroll
I’ll be hop-steppin’ y’all
lettin’ the joy unfold

I’m holdin’ on to my freedom
‘Can take it from me
I was born in-to it, it comes naturally
I’m strumming my own freedom
playing the god in me
representing his glory
hope he’s proud of me…*

Living my life like it’s
golden, golden, golden…..

- Jill Scott

Happy Leap Day.

Take the Leap.

 

*I don’t subscribe to the traditional definition of god; I believe we are each a physical manifestation of the universal creative consciousness which underlies all things. Ie we are all god. So, no hoping “he’s proud of me.” Love the rest of the song though.

Princess Fights for Freedom; Do You?

 

I can’t wait to see ‘Brave’ by Disney/Pixar!

And not just because I love Scottish accents…

Woo hoo for empowering the feminine!

 

The Queen asks a good question – Are you willing to pay the price that freedom costs? I feel like not very many people are.

Some components of the price/cost of freedom: personal responsibility, awareness, courage, choice, introspection, authenticity, fairness, integrity, action…

The current state of the United States of America is an example of what happens when people are not willing to pay the price to protect their freedom, and instead relinquish control to corporations, the government, religions, banks, credit card companies, and anyone else who comes along and offers to cover the price for them.

When someone pays the price for your freedom, it’s no longer yours, and you’re no longer free. Take control of your own life; pay your own way. Make your own decisions, and take action.

Or, you know, we can just continue to sit around distracting ourselves with movies/TV/the media/consumerism, continue working unfulfilling jobs, continue letting those who we allow to pay our price and have control destroy our planet in the name of profits, poisoning our air and water and food and bodies…

<end rant>

Alright, I admit I may have been procrastinating and allowed myself to read some articles about the global economic collapse and possible war with Iran.

Time for me to turn away from dark side and head back towards the light!

Check out lightball/spiritual teacher Mooji, talking about Freedom. Not only is he wise, he’s got an awesome Jamaican/Irish accent, and his name is so fun to say! Moooooooojiiiiiiiiii!!!

“Nobody wants you to be free… What good are you if you’re free? When you’re free no one can control you.”

Save Internet Freedom

Freedom is the combination of Knowledge, Voice and Choice.

“We need the Internet to remain free because it represents the emerging voice of humanity.” – Raam Dev

Check out the two excellent videos on http://raamdev.com/ about the Internet Censorship Legislation.

And then sign the petitions - any petition, like the Google-backed one – to Save Internet Freedom.

 

Craigslist on SOPA and PIPA:

Corporate supporters of Senate 968 (PIPA) and HR 3261 (SOPA) demand the ability to take down any web site (including craigslist, Wikipedia, or Google) that hurts their profits — without prior judicial oversight or due process  – in the name of combating “online piracy.”

PIPA and SOPA authors and supporters insist they’d only go after foreign piracy sites, but Internet Engineers understand this is an attempt to impose “Big Brother” controls on our Internet, complete with DNS hijacking and censoring search results. Incredibly, many Congress Members favor this idea.

<RANT>Try to imagine jack-booted thugs throttling free speech, poisoning the Internet (greatest of American inventions, the very pillar of modern democracy), and devastating one of the our most successful industries. Totalitarian, anti-American, massively-job-killing nonsense.</RANT>

Tell Congress you OPPOSE Senate 968 “Protect IP Act” (PIPA) and H.R. 3261 “Stop Online Piracy Act” (SOPA):

• Phone your Member of Congress via nifty Progressive Change app
• Contact Senators who are refusing to meet with constituents about PIPA.
• Reverse Robocall pro-PIPA & pro-SOPA MOC + Lobbyists (More at Ars Technica)
• EFF Congressional Emailer – Oppose Internet Blacklisting (PIPA & SOPA)
• ECA Congressional Emailer - Don’t Censor Our Internet!
• OpenCongress Congressional Emailer – Oppose SOPA
• Generic Congressional Emailer (You’ll need your Zip+4)
• Petition Congress – Protect Innovation, Dump SOPA (Progressive Change )
• Outside the US? Sign Petition Opposing US Censorship of Global Sites (EFF)

Supporters of PIPA and SOPA: RIAA, MPAA, News Corp, TimeWarner, Walmart, Nike, Tiffany, Chanel, Rolex, Sony, Juicy Couture, Ralph Lauren, VISA, Mastercard, Comcast, ABC, Dow Chemical, Monster Cable, Teamsters, Rupert Murdoch, Lamar Smith (R-TX), John Conyers (D-MI)

Opponents of PIPA and SOPA: Google, Yahoo, Wikipedia, craigslist, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, eBay, AOL, Mozilla, Reddit, Tumblr, Etsy, Zynga, EFF, ACLU, Human Rights Watch, Darrell Issa (R-CA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Ron Paul (R-TX)