It seems like all my epiphanies happen in the gym these days.  I suspect it’s because my mind is occupied with self-preservation, rather than the ideas proposed by my informal thought committees whose break out sessions are dedicated mostly to:  self-doubt, self-sabotage or self-criticism.  They must take a break when I’m fighting for my next breath and or wiping salty sweat out of my eyes so I can see long enough not to trip or fall face down onto the floor.

This morning after a particularly tortuous Tuesday of punishment and too many grueling minutes of spin, the gorgeous teacher or should I call her dominatrix, said “sit up straight like nothing happened”.   I was swallowed up by her words, “like nothing happened”?   In her version of this suggestion we should not pay any attention to the fact that we had just given the last ounce of energy left in our bodies to twirl our legs so fast they might unscrew off our hips and were completely and utterly out of breath. We should instead bring ourselves back to center breath into the new space of resilience where our bodies know how to recover and to allow that to happen. Open up the channel of the lungs by holding our spines erect to allow that to happen and by the way get ready for the next torture set.

As epiphanies often reveal themselves, a little side bar unfurled next to me.  Three women who are usually thicker than thieves, fit enough to be extras in a work out video, were having a verbal knock down drag out fight.  One of them stormed out and the other two were desperately trying to get the gorgeous teacher to buy into their frenzy.

It was in that moment I wished I had the neuralyzer memory-erasing gadget from Men in Black.  In one fell swoop I could erase the memory of the past few minutes of physical torture as well as the emotional torture which was taking place next to me.   Was the neuralyzer necessary or could we all sit up straight like nothing happened?

I was struck by how this simple idea could save the planet.   Sit up straight like nothing had happened.  It could have easily fit the current situation of breathing through a tough workout, shifting a conflict in a Group X class or change the course of a global conflict.

The good news and bad news of being a conscious being is that we have the ability to think, combine thoughts, process data and make up stories and take action.  What doesn’t serve us are the stories that we create and then hold onto them like they are AESOPs fables to be told over and over and over again, creating our own moral of the story and then rehearsing it ad nauseam.

A friend recently got some news that the terms of her lease on her shop were about to change.  Her reaction was a very common one.  She was angry, resentful, scared reenacted the tale several more times and then began figuring out how to get back at the person or thing causing her the angst.

None of her reaction will make the situation any different or her pain less real if she does not wish it to be so, especially retelling the tale.   The reason she will hold onto the pain is she will hold onto the thoughts of the events and hit that replay button again and again or just leave it on auto pilot.  What would happen is she just neuralyzed the story?

The question is how do we take back the controls?  Forgiveness many will say is a great medicine for this.  Many times I have found myself either in a forgiveness workshop, read a book about it or just tried to engage it.  It is challenging for me and I suspect others when I am still telling the tale of what happened to cause the resentment in the first place.

Could it be that something as simple as sit up straight like nothing happened could be the solution?  It certainly gave me pause this morning as I found myself breathing easier after the words of instruction AND do not have any memory of the fatigue which preceded it this morning.

What a gift from the universe this was in the early morning work out moments.  The gift that we all have our own neuralyzer.  When something pushes your button today or this week, sit up straight like nothing happened.  Stay focused on what happens next.  You might find that nothing actually did happen (except in your mind) and your mind is more powerful than anything to create the next experience.

Oh yeah if you find your inner critic reminding you that it did really happen, you might need a Man in Black.

The words rolled off her tongue and landed in my heart “I could see you being cast as a Hot Female President”.   My heart skipped a beat and the universe seemed to stop revolving momentarily.  The vault tumblers of my heart clicked into place hearing the profound suggestion.  The impact I felt was palpable.  Suddenly access to a bigger dream idea opened and I could feel the cosmic shift.  That shift when you know that everything has realigned in a holy instant and your capacity to see your good is altered in a profound way.  Spontaneously the words blurted from my lips “I just had a Cosmic Shift”.

Waves of cosmic shifts have been crashing on the shore of my life as well as the global human experience for the past several years.  Seeming chaos from a thing called the “economic meltdown” has been interpreted in millions of ways calling each of us to see that our puny efforts to be king of the hill look pretty pathetic.  As the Milky Way terraforms, there is transformation happening on our personal level.

It is a common practice when I teach a self-improvement workshop, that I invite participants to create a Blue Sky list.  Mining deeply to the depths of their soul’s desire, with wild abandonment, edging out their gremlins who stand in line to say “No” each and every day.  They are invited to uncover their wildest fantasies, dreams, desires, bigger than the Milky Way wants.  Even when I have Blue Skied for myself, I always list acting in a Hollywood film.  Today during this Cosmic Shift moment, the dream buried deeply in my heart, became bigger, have been locked away where even I could not see it.  Playing a Hot Female President of the United States?  The expansion of the dream was nothing less than miraculous.  The miracle was simply allowing myself to even consider an idea that huge was unthinkable the moment before.   It was clear, it was specific it was deep and I know it reached deep space.

I know it reached deep space because we live in a world energy.   The simple law of electromagnetism seemed to take over.  I wonder how Nikola Tesla would have explained this wave of energy propelled out into the cosmos and then reverberated back back to my soul.  As I tell this, I’m sure there are many who would label this as “mad”.  He died labeled a “mad scientist” and penniless until we caught up with his theories almost a decade later in 2005 when he was included in the 100 Greatest Americans for his advancements in understanding the power of energy.   It is easy to see that as we shift, there is a domino effect – for the entire planet, yes universe to shift.

Heightened awareness that my small-minded thinking impedes the entire galaxies energetic shift, gave me pause.  Vigilantly, I must elevate, expand and question my thinking.  Keeping the high watch to recognize that media, ideas, politics and the like, recycle the same ideas and schools of thought.  What would our world be like if the Nikola Tesla’s did not challenge the conversation and conventional thinking?  Would we even have 24 hour news channels to recycle the belief system which should test our high resolve every moment?

Without a doubt we are in a spectacular time of change.  Ancient wisdom merges with modern scientific knowledge, exposing the building blocks of life.  It’s all energy.  There is no coincidence that my beloved Playa is the home for the ancient Mayans, such wizards of time that the whole world is referring to their calendar this year.  Should we take that when the calendar runs out we are complete or instead that the Cosmic Shift will be in full swing.  As our Solar System leader “the sun”, displays it’s intense and abnormal fiery and explosive behavior, we cannot but follow suit.

A whole lot of shifting is going on and I for one am thrilled.  I challenge you to be fierce, electric, confident, and create a Cosmic Shift each and every day because the entire Universe is depending on you.  Be courageous and look deep into your heart for that hidden dream, ask a friend to see it with you and let the shift begin.  When you shift we all shift.

You are the Energetic space bubbles that are the mustard seeds of faith in the bigger Cosmic Shift.

The phrase echoed loudly as I laughed, giggled, strutted my sexy self and had one of the funnest moments of my life doing a photo shoot in a parking garage.  Originally I had scheduled this shoot to take place in the shallow pool posing in front of a stunning water fall.  In the end the best photos came from the concrete parking garage.  Our lives are full of moments to become attached to our physical location rather than the state our mind is located.

I’m sure I’ve said the words location, location, location over a thousand times during my tenure in the mortgage/real estate career.  On this day the true meaning became clear.   You may have even said them yourself, or hear someone else say them.  Have you ever wondered why a real estate agent would say it three times in a row?   Does it mean three different locations?  Excellent, mediocre and lousy?  Actually it is for emphasis.  The emphasis being how important location is.  Actually the true meaning is Excuse, Excuse, Excuse.

The question is this?  How often do you feel like your location drives your attitude?  The location of your job, your home, your morning freeway commute, your sister’s wedding?

You have set the same goal for the past five years and still have not achieved it.  You say you are in pain because you have not achieved it.  You lament it at every turn.  Your current situation is no closer to achieving the goal than it was five years ago when you made the decision.  Everyone around you is unhappy from your defeat.

What was your goal:  Own your own company? Shed 10 pounds, 50 pounds, 100 pounds? Start a fitness regime?  Find the perfect soul mate?  Find a better job?  Eat healthier?  Conquer the world?

You’ve sought out self-help websites, classes, read the books, listened to the seminars and could even be considered a workshop junkie.  You know what to do; but I couldn’t possibly understand your location keeps you stuck.  The sentence usually starts like this:  If I didn’t or If I wasn’t . . .

Stuck in this lousy job then I’d. . .

Live in this tiny house then I’d.. . .

Drive this broken down car then I’d . ..

Stuck in this overweight, sick body then I’d . . .

Live in this lousy neighborhood then I’d . ..

Take a moment and fill in your own excuse sentence

If I wasn’t/didn’t __________________ in this _____________ then I’d __________________.

This day I could see that a simple excuse like a parking garage could have kept me from having the time of my life.

I could have said “If I wasn’t limited by this parking garage then I would have a beautiful shoot at a waterfall.”

The next time you find yourself starting your conversation with those words, here are some strategies you can choose instead.  If you marinate your mind with their inspiration you just might find the beauty in the location of your state of mind.  These stories are clearly a demonstration that the location is simply that, a location, your state of mind controls your ultimate location.

 The Story of Kyle Maynard

Kyle Maynard could have said “If I wasn’t living in this body, then I could climb Mt .Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa , I could wrestle one of the best teams in the Southeast, set records in weight lifting, fight martial arts and become a motivational speaker.”  But he didn’t, he did them regardless.

Kyle was born March 24, 1986 with a condition known as congenital amputation. His arms end at his elbows and his legs at his knees.  He types up to fifty words a minute on a normal keyboard, eats and write without adaptation, drives a vehicle that has little modification, lives on his own been on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Larry King Live, ESPN’s Sportscenter, HBO’s Real Sports, ABC’s 20/20 and Good Morning America.  His No Excuses book is a New York Times best seller.

The Story of Colonel George Hall

Col Hall could have said “If I wasn’t stuck in this POW camp, then I could play in a Pro-Am Gold Tournament”.  But he didn’t, he did it anyway.

Captain Hall was shot down and forced to eject during one of his 200 combat missions over North Vietnam.  Captured by the North Vietnamese he was thrown into solitary confinement.  If you’ve ever thought your living conditions were not up to snuff, just imagine the solitary confidence of a POW camp?  The Hanoi Hilton was notParis’ dad’s finest. During his seven years residence in these deplorable conditions, Col. Hall used the power of his mind and imagination to survive his extended time in “the hole”.

An avid golfer before he was captured, Col. Hall would imagine himself playing 18 holes of gold on his favorite course.  The image was so detailed, the feel of the club’s steel shaft in his hand, the smell of the grass, the sound of the ball off the club and the outline of the clouds in the sky.  He incorporated every detail into this image.  He re-lived every emotion.  He imagined this scene every day of his captivity.

After seven years of torture and brutality, Col. Hall was released and returned a hero.  He was weak, emaciated and needed two canes just to walk.   Invited by a friend to be a spectator at a Pro-Am Golf Tournament, Col. Hall arrived with his clubs and insisted on playing.  He walked the entire course with his two cans and shot a 3 over par that day.  His explanation for this success, “I’ve played that course over 3,000 times in my head and a 3 over par was my one of my worse scores.”

The Story of Oseola McCarty

Oseola could have said “If I wasn’t’ stuck here in Mississippi doing other people’s laundry, I could have gone to college and made something out of myself”.  But she didn’t, she received a degree from Harvard.

Oseola never owned a car; she walked everywhere she went, pushing a shopping cart near a mile to get groceries. She rode with friends to attend services at the Friendship Baptist Church.  She did not subscribe to any newspaper, she had to quit school after sixth grade to take care of her ill aunt, dreamed of being a nurse but ended up joining her family washing laundry forHattiesburg’s elite. She washed clothes for over 70 years for other people.  Living in her family home, she saved her washing money every week.  After 70 years Oseola had saved over a quarter a million dollars

All she wanted to do with her money was make sure that it was possible for others to finish school.  AT the end of her life, she donated $150,000 to the University of Southern Mississippi which was the largest donation every given by an African-American to the University.

She went on to meet famous people and receive numerous awards, including a Presidential Medal and honorary degrees from the University of Mississippi and Harvard.

She is the author of the book “Simple Wisdom for Rich Living.”  Even though she gave one of the most powerful speeches at the University of Southern Mississippi, most of her 91 years were spent doing rather than talking about her selflessness.

The next time think your “location, location, location” becomes your “excuse, excuse, excuse”, lean into the power of these “No excuse heroes” and reframe your sentence:

If I was experiencing ____________________ to achieve my dream then I would ________________.

Notice the shift in your mental location.   Become the “I would . . . .”

“Do you ever put your arms out and just spin and spin and spin? Well, that’s what love is like. Everything inside of you tells you to stop before you fall, but you just keep going.” — Practical Magic

I changed a life today.  It wasn’t much; it was just a spoken word allowing another fellow traveler to make a 1% shift in their perspective of themselves.  As I chose my words from love and not from an agenda to change them, I sought only to reveal the truth of who they are.  Coming from a place of unconditional love, in that moment I wanted to do a whirling dervish dance.

If you’ve never seen the dance, it is often referred to as the Sema, a mystical journey of man’s spiritual ascent through mind and love to the “Perfect”.  Turning towards the truth, the follower grows through love, deserts his ego, finds the truth and arrives at the “Perfect”.  He then returns from this spiritual journey as a man who has reached maturity and a greater perfection, able to love and be of service to the whole of creation.

Some would see it only as a dance, and yet as life unfolds it is these moments of “love” that everything inside you is part of the dance.  If we look at the world, we are surrounded with things that revolve.  Electrons, protons, neutrons, energy, the stages of our lives.  What better way to celebrate our very nature than spinning through a dance.

We can learn from kids who spin and spin and spin until they become dizzy and fall down, the sheer ecstasy of feeling closer to our spiritual center.   How many of us knew as a child, that a seven-centuries old ritual actually unites three fundamental components of our human nature:  the mind (being one with the moment through thought), the heart (through the expression of feelings and music) and the body (by activating life, by the turning).

As we all journey on this path called life, it is the remembering that nothing is bigger than love.  No thing, no distraction, no fear, no anxiety.  It is all spun into gold with love.  This truly is Practical Magic.

Wherever you are today, put your arms out and spin and spin and spin and don’t be afraid to fall and laugh and cry and be one with the revolution of the entire universe.

Once upon a time there lived a girl (or a guy) who was unhappy, felt oppressed, poor, not good enough, fat, ugly, born of the wrong parents, helpless or just melancholy.

The fairy tale version of this character is visited by their fairy god mother, dressed in a Red Carpet haute de couture designer outfit and swept away in a horse-drawn carriage to be saved by her Prince Charming.

The message is clear that if we feel unhappy like our archetypical character, someday we will be rescued and live happily ever after.   It is as if we are waiting for our Fairy God Mother to bring the carriage to us rather than create the carriage to take us to the ball ourselves.

Last night I met Arly Barton who was the original ‘Corn Girl” selling sweet corn outside her home in Southern California.  Not unlike our fairy tale heroine.  As many young girls, Arly loved horses.  She grew up and never lost her love of horses and even began collecting “carriages”.   One day she had an idea, what if she could combine her love of horses and carriages into a business?  But how would she do this and how would she get the money to follow her dream?

Her first choice as Fairy God Mother was the Bank of America.  After not one but two bank executives laughed at her idea and delivered the bad news that President Ford had frozen all “small business loans”, she returned to her family in disappointment.  Her second hope was that her husband would be her Prince Charming.  Instead he introduced her to her Evil Stepmother “cold calling”.  Her first encounter with this Evil Stepmother was cursing, swearing and being thrown out into the street.  As she slinked home, her body began to rebel and her heart was defibrillating, literally.  She was so scared her heart actually began to attack her.   Her young son was so worried; he carved a heart onto a piece of wood to signify his mom’s heart.  This was her point of no return.

I asked Arly what gave her the strength and courage to follow her dream.  She replied:  I prayed and asked God why would the desire be placed in my heart to follow this dream if I were not to do it?  The answer came back:  I am with you always.  This was all she needed to know.

Arly went on to make her cold calls, build a million dollar business, have her Cinderella carriages in 10 Rose Parades, carry famous grand Marshalls in parades around the country, seat thousands of brides on their Cinderella Day and even have one of her carriages star in Days of Our Lives.

Two of the descents of the Lone Ranger’s horse Silver were her trusted carriage pullers for over 30 years.

It seems only fitting that we say “Hi Yo” Arly who created her own Cinderella Story with a Cinderella Carriage playing the role of her Fairy Godmother.

 What is your fairy tale?

We’ve all grown up with the idiom A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing as a warning that someone is showing up as good contrary to their true nature which is bad or evil.  So trusting someone who appears to be your friend who is actually out to betray you is scary indeed.

What if you were paying attention to the wrong thing?  What if we were being steered by the sheep into “believing’ the wolf was not your friend?

Yesterday as my heart “danced with wolves” at Freedom Ranch, I was struck by their magical nature, their congruence with living in community and most of all their keen ability to discern the true nature of the visitors who descended upon their home right before their afternoon nap time.

After a little research, I learned that in Native American symbolism, the wolf is deeply emotional, wholly passionate, understands that all we need is love and is fully capable of providing it.  Juxtaposed with his/her fierce independence, he/she needs her freedom, yet still is quite gentle and compassionate.  In a nurturing environment the Wolf is intensely passionate, generous, deeply affectionate and gentle.

What was even more striking was that in our own native America, wolves once roamed across most of this country.  Over hundreds of thousands of years they developed side by side with their prey and filled an important role in the web of life.  They are selective hunters which simply mean they prey on the young, the sick, the weak and the old leaving the fittest to survive and reproduce.  They also provided a source of food for bears, foxes, eagle and ravens.  They even contributed to forest health by keeping deer and elk populations in check preventing soil erosion.

I was struck by how much I resonated with the wolf’s nature and how it so beautifully illustrated the concepts of a balanced life.  I am smack dab in the middle of hosting a wellness summit.   I couldn’t help contrasting the plight of the wolf (they are just off the endangered species list), with that of our own health and wellness.  It seems like the world’s health and wellness has been on the endangered species list for quite a while now.

As our world seems to be getting sicker and fatter and more stressed out, while simultaneously medical advances and research should be curing us and healing us, I wonder if our health focus is like that of the a “sheep in wolves clothing”.

Could it be the sheep are crying “wolf” to strike false fear in you.   Are you being given a message that the wolf essence inside of you that is passionate, fully capable of love, fiercely independent, nurturing and generous, affectionate and gentle is something you should separate yourself from and let the wolf nature in you become extinct?  You then become incapable or providing for the rest of your environment (your mind, body and spirit) because of your lack of self-sustaining life force and most of all the “soil erosion” in your own physical body is at epic proportions.  You instead look outside of yourself for a solution that was part of you all along.

The “sheep”, demure and harmless yet the most poisonous of all,  lulls you into this belief that you have no choice about who you are, how you live and most of all how you thrive, all the while this metaphorical “soil erosion” of the thing called you manifests as stress, obesity, anger, fear, environment, medicines and food.

You are the only person in charge of your health, wellness, well-being, joy, happiness and most of love of you and your world.

Today I invite you to embrace your wolf nature and howl to the heavens to remind yourself of your true nature, Love.

If you’ve ever given birth to a child, a dream, a vision, you know the feeling of being aware you are not in control. The labor process can be long or short and yet the miracle is no greater or no less because of the pain. A miracle is simply a miracle.

As the due date comes closer for this dream I have been incubating, I am struck by the difference in giving birth to a dream or building an idea.

Like many people, I have had great ideas in my life. I often say I’m the “idea person”. As a recovering “control freak”, when building an idea there is a great sense of control. You are aware of the experience, your free will is always afoot, and you’re using creative impulses and can be very powerful over the idea. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the building process. Its how great ideas come into form. I’ve created many business, things and success. And, the ego is very much involved.

And yet, birthing a dream is so incredibly different. Instead of control, the feeling is being a steward, a caretaker, an incubator. There is something about the dream that supersedes the dreamer. When you give life to a dream you do not take credit for it, you are humbled at having been allowed to participate at all. You cannot compare it to something else because dreams are special, unique and individual.

Because I never had the incredible experience of having a human child, this Wellness Summit being born is as close to that experience as I have had to date. I am experiencing the sense of nurturing for its launch; I am protective like a she lion and hold in a higher priority than my own needs.

Giving birth to something that could come into the world and make an impact in a way you cannot control is exhilarating. Just as your children are never yours. They are on loan from the universe. This event is not mine, it belongs to the universe. The allowing process has been fun, scary, painful and joyful.

So the lesson is pay attention to your dreams. Treat them like you would your children. Hold them close, nurture them, believe in them, trust them and most of all live your life with them!

With it being only 5 days away the best analogy I can find it that I have had Braxton Hicks for the past two days.

Two things I love Dancing with the Stars and watching my nieces grow up.  Even though I did not give birth to them, I feel like they were born from some part of me that is beyond this earthly realm.  Every one of their moments of stumble has been a beautiful dance to watch as one has grown to be the mother of the other two radiant beings.  I remember each of them learning to walk.  Not one of them ever fell and said “well that didn’t work”, let’s not do “it” again.

And as I watch Dancing with the Stars every week, I see this light in the eyes of the awkward, already successful celebrities, become brighter as they fearlessly embark on something that is clearly daunting and out of their “comfort zone”.

The “stumbling” is such an integral part of the walking and dancing. Today marks the celebrations of Easter, Passover, the Vernal Equinox, Spring, and if you live in a Southern State “let the planting begin day”.  It’s a milestone for renewal and birth.  In the historical renderings it is said that a pharaoh pronounced Israel to be “bare of seed.”  As I read this it touched me at such a deep level realizing we all feel this sense at moments in our lives.  That we are without “seed”.  Nothing to give, who am I to have a dream, what could I give to the world or I cannot make a different or any version of that.  How often does that sentiment enslave your heart when you “stumble”, make a mistake, realize you are not where you want to be in life or just plain give up on yourself, your hope and your life.

To commemorate today I encourage you to Dance in your own desert as the Jews did in Egypt.  Were they 100% behind their own rescue?  No, but did God give up on them?  No.  Your highest purpose will always be there to meet you when you are ready.

This small voice, is playing the song “You can walk, you can dance you can fly you can dream”.  The light is longer than the dark in the days ahead.  Spring is here to remind you that you can blossom into the incredible sensual, rich divine, amazing unique dancer you are.  Unzip that clunky armor and grace us with your flow and love today!

Arrange whatever pieces come your way today and trip the light fantastic.

“Punches and kicks are the tools to kill the ego.  The tools represent the force of intuitive or instinctive directness which, unlike the intellect or the complicated ego, does not divide itself, blocking its own freedom. The tools move onward without looking back or to the side.”  – Bruce Lee

This quote struck me this morning as I contemplated the idea of a routine.  My ego has always insisted I need routines.  Imaging Bruce Lee teaching me martial arts and the force of my intuitive, instinctive directness blocking the force of routines which are blocking my freedom.  It led me to my steadfast friend Google to look up the definition of routine.  Do you want to know what it is?  Lean in –

1. A set of programming instructions designed to perform a specific limited task.
2. A set of customary and often mechanically performed procedures or activates.
3. A prescribed, detailed course of action to be followed regularly, a standard procedure.

This feels mechanical, stuck, limiting and just plain and icky.  But you’re saying I need these routines to get through the day.  Right?

It can be overwhelming just to:

Get the chores out-of-the-way

Produce an acceptable amount of output

Grind out work because you need to make the next bill payment

Having a cup of coffee to jolt you into the next routine

Set the alarm to jump into the gym

Drop the kids off at school . . . . . . .

There is lots and lots to do.  It’s easy to see why we need routines to “accomplish” all of this.  Right?

I have a question for you.

What if you were to routinely practice your dream?  What if you were to ask yourself which activity has the highest impact I can make today on my life and the world?  What if you started doing more of what you want to do rather than what you “should do”.  Today is a perfect time to stop “shoulding” on yourself.

What if today you dropped your standard procedures and choose to place more value on the fulfillment you get from working with a meaningful project.

What if today you blurred the line between work and play and just relax into that blur.

What if today you replace your customary mechanical movement with more stillness and notice how space allows action.

What if just for today you allowed your natural rhythm to speak to you?  What if you honor that voice by flowing with the peak action period and drawing inward when the waves subside?

What if you choose to be fully expressed as YOU today instead of your routine?

That is my Dream for You.   Can you hear YOUR Dream calling.  Answer the call.

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I’m so optimistic I’d go after Moby Dick in a row-boat and take the tartar sauce with me.” – Zig Ziglar.

I’m ready, fork in hand, very small, olive oil based jar of tarter, poised on a rowing machine courtesy of 24 Hour Fitness and it’s Land Ho!  I’m off to find a whale.  Optimism allows me to row out into the deep end armed with nothing more than an idea and a Dream.   So what could go wrong?  Those gremlins come swimming fast and furiously alongside the row-boat, heads popping up every other second it seems, shouting:

Hey you there in the row-boat (machine),

You’ll never even find the whale, let alone use that fork and tarter sauce;

Your navigation computer on this leaky tub is going to break down any second;

Hey watch out, you’re heading towards a rock;

Hey dummy, duck here comes a pelican after your lunch;

Hey you’re probably tired by now, if you just lay your head down for a second . . .

I keep rowing and rowing.

As I focus on the idea of the whale in front of me, the gremlins rock the boat gently side to side.  Sometimes it lulls me into the idea it’s a baby’s cradle, soothing and hypnotic.  I could just fall asleep and dream about my dream again!  But then the rocking gets more raucous and a wave of nausea overtakes me, what the heck am I doing?  A whale, really?  I can’t even see the thing, I don’t know where I’m going.  I don’t know what I’ll do when I even see this thing, let alone get close to it.  Holding the fork and tarter even more tightly, I remember Zig and renew my sense of adventure, trusting myself instead of the gremlins.

Zig’s words play over and over in my head.  The gremlins get tired and just hang onto the boat sometimes.  I am aware they are there in the following moments of silence.  In this quiet I focus on the vision and renew my optimism.  The stars seem to align to navigate me easily in the direction of the big fish waiting for me to claim my prize.  I am assured that my joy is in this journey and I am craving a fish sandwich.  I know that all those small fishing trips I took as a kid have led me to this big whopper of a whale thing.

Thoughts lead me to the other story of a whale where Jonah was swallowed.  Was I about to become whale bait instead of me having a noon-day snack?  Whatever the story, you conquer the whale or find miracles within the belly of the whale, the outcome is the same.  You are bigger than the dream, you are the dream.  Get your forks out, get ready to use the tarter sauce.

The fork glistens in the sun to remind me that the light of my life is shining everywhere in this moment and I catch the first glimpse of the whale.