Never stop believing in the impossible

The last three mornings I have become aware of how grateful I am.  Some prayers have been answered and felt like I wanted to shout to the world NEVER give up on an idea, a need or a desire. Miracles happen all of the time.  The last three or four things that have happened sort of went like this:

1. I identified that something was wrong: (because I was tired, and sarcastic and feeling “stressed”)

2. Took the time the figure out exactly what it was that was bothering me. (most of the time what is bothering me is not really the issue: usually behind frustration and anger is fear, sadness, hurt, helplessness and hopelessness)

3. I realized that I had already tired to fix or address this problem both myself and with the help of others and we all felt helpless to fix it. (However knowing that others felt the same way validated that the problem / issue / challenge was real and legitimate; that feedback is usually needed because many problems are just products of our perceptions)

4. Took the problem up the ladder to the highest point of conversation. ((universe, spirit, God, higher power) and said HELP: I need wisdom direction and guidance in how to address, manage, fix or adapt to this.  (You notice I didn’t just say fix this, because often solutions require a change in our thinking to accept what can not be change)

5. Then this is the most important step: I let it go completely, as if I were simply going to have to accept things as they were: being willing for EITHER / OR.  I can be happy if it changes or if it does not)

6. Once a problem is given to the higher power, it IS taken care of. There is no need to beg or plead or be repetitive.  It’s ok to say periodically, “It certainly would be nice if…..” But it is more important to live life fully in the present moment without regard to the past or the future.  ALL THINGS ARE EXACTLY AS THEY ARE SUPPOSE TO BE!

7. Now this is the truly fun part of the process:  Being impressed with the creativity and timing of the solution.  The best solutions show up when you least expect them and in packages that totally surprise you.  And saying wow is always appropriate!

8. Saying thank you, and smiling and dancing and singing and sharing the miracle with others to encourage those who are at step one. (Thats what I am doing today)

9. Helping someone, being patient with someone, defending someone and reaching out a hand to someone who is tired and sarcastic and frustrated.  Because:

TOGETHER ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE!

These are our thoughts feelings and experiences. We accept responsibility for them. We understand your journey may be different. We honor and respect that. Wishing you effortless joy. Eloise and Jake

Marriage Music Freedom Family Freinds and Charlotte Harbor

Marriage Music Freedom Family Friends and Charlotte Harbor

So July 4, 1992 was a very special day. Rich and I were married on the shores of beautiful Charlotte Harbor.  Rich worked at the radio station WOKD as the Program Director, and I worked as an RN at Fawcett Memorial ED and Arcadia Hospital ICU.  We got married at the Holiday Inn Pool Side in Punta Gorda, during a break of a very cool awesome Tim Briggs Band.  It was a pool party and the harbor was full of boats hanging close by listening to the music and there were many people both on those boats and at poolside who (at the time) we did not know, but have since become very good friends with.

Since then we have remained married through thick and thin, and remained committed to getting up no matter what knocked us down.  We discovered that in all situations there was usually a silver lining and a gift, and the adventure of our marriage has been finding those gifts.  We have done some very cool things, form cruising to zip lining, to powered power gliding off a volcano in Hawaii, surviving white water rapid challenge in Charlotte, climbing energy vortexes, motorcycling, RV’ing it, camping and all sorts of incredible memories.  We have been to football games, baseball games, nascar races while kayaking, sailing, jet boating and making many trips to nipple deep with the charlotte harbor nipple deep yacht club.

We have been to derby parties, dega parties super bowl parties birthday parties and mostly any excuse for a party.  We have hiked waterfalls, and swam with the dolphins seen whales up close and incredible. We have experienced sweat lodges, drumming circles and shamanic cleansings.

We have lived in the perfect small house on the water and dream house in the mountains, country southern home in the south (NC) and now on Lake Wales. We have had cats and dogs and birds and pets that hung out in the world around us.

We have been to concerts and music festivals and communed with nature in ways that defy words

We have both gone back to school and experience a wide variety of professions. We have owned a business, worked for others and one of us is retired.(sort of)  But we have also remained steadfast in our love for music, and our love for our family and friends.  We share a love for the water, for the mountains and for our sense of freedom.

Marriage for us as been the freedom to be ourselves… a little off from center……well actually sometimes we are way outside the circle. But in that freedom we have always stayed connected to each other and to the things in this life that are important.  Rich I honor and appreciate all you have done for me which has allowed me to become who I am.  I love what I do as a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner but could never do it with out you to keep me on track.  I love how you have always looked for things to love to do and now to create. I admire that you pretty much can do anything you set out to do!  And I love that you are created and making these bass ukulele’s!

I love the music we share.  I love the freedom you give me and I love all the memories we have on Charlotte Harbor.  Happy Anniversary: I am thrilled that we will be on a 47 ft sail boat on the Harbor seeing the same fireworks we shared 21 years ago.  Hopefully we will see a moon in the sky and be connected to all those who have shared those memories with us: our kids, our grandchildren, our friends, our co workers, our neighbors and those who hang out from the other side who guide us and protect us.

I am thinking we can do this for another 21 years or so.

Finding my tribe

Finding the tribe

Today was a very fabulous day. And as I sit here to write, I have difficulty finding words to truly describe the experience.  I had the honor of attending a research conference today, at my place of employment. And by the end of the day I felt like I was part of this most magnificent tribe: better described as: “home”

Most of you know that I am a nurse, and for many years my job was caring for the patient from a physical perspective.  I later went back to school to learn more about caring for people from a mind body perspective as I entered the world of psychiatry.

But somehow there was so much more I need to learn and found myself awakened to a spiritual journey of healing.  I found much of that outside of the “nursing” arena, and was drawn to a world of healers and spiritual gurus who became my mentors and inspiration.

I worked with shamans, reiki masters, and people who taught me the laws of attraction, quantum physics and natural health approaches.  I even tried to leave the world of traditional healthcare and traditional nursing to practice as one of those healers but found that something was dramatically missing.

I love science, and I practice my nursing from an evidence based perspective, and yet so much of what I know to be true seems so intangible and “spiritual”.  Have been accused of being “out there” by my medical colleagues, and have been somewhat misunderstood by my natural healer comrades because I have found the most satisfaction from keeping my feet in both worlds.

But today, I heard a woman speak on the science of caring.  She had all of the components of my “healer” beliefs articulated into a language and studied and researched with empirical evidence that there is a valid science to caring.  There is science to support that there is a mind body spirit connection, and that it is possible and very quite necessary to integrate all of that into nursing practice.

This speaker, this woman: Jean Watson is the author and founder of a profound theory of nursing: http://www.watsoncaringscience.org/index.cfm/category/88/the-implications-of-caring-theory.cfm

What a privilege to sit with a hundred nurses who not only believe that caring (of self and others) is an integral part of their nursing practice, but implement it on a day to day basis. (And I know this because I see it because I work with these nurses) 

These men and woman know that what promotes healing is not just the medical care they receive, or the nursing  tasks they do, but it comes from the compassion and connection that they have with their patients.  These are nurse who know that to give the gift of healing to their patients they must first find healing themselves.

This is my world now, my tribe and my place to be.  Every experience in my life both personally and professionally had contributed to this journey which has brought me here. I am home, I am grateful and I salute all of the men and woman who call themselves both nurses and healers.  Namaste

These are our thoughts feelings and experiences. We accept responsibility for them. We understand your journey may be different. We honor and respect that. Wishing you effortless joy. Eloise and Jake

Thank you for the comments from those that were not my biological children but who I loved like they were….

Thank you to my two incredible awesome “step children” who have always treated me like gold and who will always be so very special to me.  I salute their biological mother for the good job she did with them!

Thank you to my three biological children, who have made me proud, and who I love beyond anything I could have ever imagined possible, and who turned out so perfectly, despite not really being raised but who grew up to be just incredible people.

Thank you to my daughter in law’s who have exceeded all my expectations as mothers themselves.  You are just beautiful people and I am so grateful that my sons married you, and that my grandchildren are being raised by you!

 I am thankful for my mother in law who although she is no longer on this earth, her love and wisdom lives on with me today, both in how she treated me and how she raised her son, who I am forever grateful for.

I am also thankful for my own mother, who I never truly appreciated or understood until she was gone…She was a college educated independent woman in the 1920’s who survived the depression with grace.  She would have loved to have had my life… but back in those days woman stayed home and took care of the family; she sacrificed her own life and career to be the wife and mother those days required her to be…. She was not really happy about that…. but none the less she made the sacrifice, and gave me the genes to finish what she started.  I honor her today.

I also honor those women who have mentored me and loved me in ways that I desperately needed, and probably never was able to say thank you to… like my nurse mentors, friends and sisters (and one brother) who protected me and loved me each in their own individual way.

I especially want to say thank you to Sandy (my sister) , who has done much to assist me in becoming the wild wacky woman I am.  I also want to thank her and my other sisters and (brother) for producing such amazing children that I love like my own, and who I just could not be prouder of as mothers (and fathers) and people.

Happy Mothers Day to all!  

Here is a great historical over view of mother’s day…

http://www.mothersdaycentral.com/about-mothersday/history/

These are our thoughts feelings and experiences. We accept responsibility for them. We understand your journey may be different. We honor and respect that. Wishing you effortless joy. Eloise and Jake

A challenge to write about the amish and social media in 10 minutes (or 12)

Sometimes I envy the Amish, because their lives remain very basic. However from what I know about the brain and the human spirit, it was never meant to be kept in a closed limited space.

Sometimes I also envy the “social media guru’s” who can reach out and touch millions of people with one typed in message, video or blog.

How fickle that sounds to want to be part of both worlds…So here is my image of combining the two…..

I would like to live in a community where we all have similar beliefs, and work together for a common goal. Would love to walk the land each day, and swim under a waterfall, and play silly games that do not require any electricity. Would love to go to the garden and gather up dinner and drink milk form a goat or a cow that I just fed by hand. I would love to go to bed at night when it gets dark and get up when the sun comes up feeling like I had worked hard and put in a good days work. I would love to be able to look out my kitchen window and waved to a neighbor, and take them soup when they are ill.

But I also would love to hear about happy moments in China, or what is being discovered in Australia, I would love to wake up and see a picture post from Greece or the Caribbean or Africa, and share that incredible moment of joy with a stranger.

I also would love to share with the world the wonderful moments of discovery that only quiet can bring. I would love to type in a word, a place or a plant and learn all about it, from someone who spends their day doing or being or knowing that thing.

I love simple, and I love basic, but I also love creativity and knowledge and new experiences. I love taking from one thing what helps me to grow and then sharing it with some ones so that they can grow. But I love the earth, the air: the fresh air, the sun the water and all living things… I want both, but don’t want all of both just a little of each.
Thanks to Rumble Bumble Cat for something fun to do on a friday night!

http://www.facebook.com/InfidelNation#!/profile.php?id=100000078637275


These are our thoughts feelings and experiences. We accept responsibility for them. We understand your journey may be different. We honor and respect that. Wishing you effortless joy. Eloise and Jake

Ramblings about love

Everyday I see what happens when one person reaches out to another. It really only takes one person to make a difference; and when that one person connects to another person, the difference becomes greater. Tribal connections are at the heart and soul of life. And energy that is shared is powerful and wonderful and strong.

When I intend to attract something into my life, I attract it into my life; but when I ask someone or someone volunteers to intend with me, that attraction changes color and speed and intensity. I am amazed every single time it happens.

I love those in my life: who believe in miracles, and who open up to the possibilities of life with me.

I love when I sit down to pray and quiet my mind and some one just pops into my mind, and I smile and love and send love back to them. That in itself is wonderful, but then when several days later I hear about what happen at the moment we were sending and sharing love, I want to deny the joy of participating in that experience. I try to convince myself that I had nothing to do with that,…. except I did. So I do it again, and it happens again, and I feel so much love.

And then one day, I am feeling down, and for no apparent reason at all something happens; the mood flips and I feel different. As time passes I stumble onto or hear that someone was thinking of me, or praying for me just at that moment and sending love to me: and it made a difference. I keep meaning to tell them, but I forget... And then I wake up and remember and sit and write tonight to say thank you for anyone who has sent me love, or sent mankind love, or has sent the earth love, because maybe at some moment I was standing in the right place at the right moment and I just felt it. I think it works just like that.... There is so much we just don't know, but how much do you really need to know except that one moment, one thought one feeling of love... can really make a difference.

I send you love tonight, some of you by name…. I couldn’t sleep, so I prayed…about two hundred names have passed through my heart and mind. Some of you by profession, by community or by tribe….but I have sent love to someone at this moment who needs it… I hope you felt it…If you did… pass it on….someone else needs it too.

And thank you and good night!

These are our thoughts feelings and experiences. We accept responsibility for them. We understand your journey may be different. We honor and respect that. Wishing you effortless joy. Eloise and Jake

I have been called a Pollyanna on many occasions, and criticized for “always being up”. The reality is that I am no different than anyone else. I have bad days and days where I struggle through issues. The difference is however that I am very selective with whom I share those negative moments with.

I believe that once we put that negativity out there: like on face book or twitter of even one to one conversations, then attention is given to it and it can grow.

I share my “bad days” with those who have the ability to transform it into something positive and don’t get caught up in its impact.

Days where I struggle with negative emotion and thoughts are not actually bad days at all, but opportunities to look at an issue that is surfacing, that I might not be aware of.
If I feel sad or angry or afraid, it is because I am in a situation that needs attention.

I do believe to my core that in all things there is a gift, and in every situation there is an opportunity to experience more love. My life has not been lived in an ivory tower, and those who know me understand that I have experienced trauma and loss and some real up hill battles. I have learned from those experiences however (and from my patients who have discovered healing from trauma) that it serves no purpose to remain in those negative places. Negativity is simply the absence of knowledge, love and light and can always be flipped to the other side. A shadow is only a shadow if you are facing one direction, and with a simply turn to look in a different direction, the shadow disappears from view.

So when I make a post on a media site that is upbeat and positive, it usually stems form an experience where I have felt the opposite and had to work through it. I choose to share the outcome, because what the brain focus’s on grows, so I choose to focus on and give attention to the most positive parts of my life. And then what happens: is my life just keeps getting more positive.


These are our thoughts feelings and experiences. We accept responsibility for them. We understand your journey may be different. We honor and respect that. Wishing you effortless joy. Eloise and Jake