Sky

What a wonderful gift you have given yourself and your family.... well done..

I agree... this is how it was for me... certain triggers took a bit longer to go away. So to be kind to myself, if I figured out a trigger, I would avoid it for a while, rather than suffer through the craving (didn't visit with friends at bars, etc..)... And, after making it that long, I was so proud of myself, I didn't "want" to go back. I KNEW one cig was all it would take. 12 years for me next month....

You're doing great!!!!!!!

lol.. pulling for you Murph and you better patent that teleportation device quick...

Twelve years smoke free from an 2 pack a day habit. it's one of the things I am MOST proud of.. I did the patch and when I read the insert and it said "Smoking on the patch may cause heart attacks" it scared me enough I didn't smoke... Week two, I forgot to put the patch on one day and never went back to them... Oh and sunflower seeds!!!! (Of course then I had to quit them which was almost as hard.. LOL) GOOD LUCK!!!! and yes.. kids are a GREAT motivator!!!

GAWD, I'm old... sigh

And it gets worse.... it appears the other driver, the one that crossed the double yellow causing the accident, had previous DUIs... However, Toxicology screens aren't in, so we don't know for sure yet. My heart aches...

Wonderful idea.. thank you!

Very humble thank you....

Thank you all for your kind words..

It's very weird because I don't feel I knew them well enough to "cry" however, they were such a happy family and it's hard not to.. The accident was horrific, the car burst into flames.. Dad and youngest died at the scene and the mom and eldest son are both in critical in two different hospitals in two different states...Not even in the state they live in.. (it was near the four corners area of Colorado, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico.) Mom and son have massive burns (over 60%) I also hurt for our mutual friends... the families were tight.. the mutual family has 3 kids that played together ALL the time. Just having a hard time processing this.. Oh, and sorry I forgot to say Thank you Rev Al.

The best friends of very good friends of mine were in a fatal car accident the day before yesterday. The father and younger son (10) were killed and the mother and older son (12) are both in critical condition with burns and internal injuries. I/we (my family) didn't know them real well, however We saw them at all the parties the mutual friend had, my daughter babysat for them once or twice.. and my sons played with their sons at the mentioned parties... etc.. We are all sorta stunned. How crazy it can be... I know no one here knows them... but if you could send some prayers anyway... I would be appreciative. To my mutual friend also as they were all best friends.. Thanks

Good idea, Rev Al.

The night is heavy footsteps around the house and stow surrounding soil solna forgave the shadows brood Then in our dark house rises with lit candles Santa Lucia, Santa Lucia From google translate...

When I was a little girl, being of Swedish decent, my dad had told me a little bit about Santa Lucia... so that morning I dressed in a sheet and had candles and took them breakfast... (from what my father said was part of the tradition).. .I got is sooooooooo much trouble for having sheets and candles near each other... lol

Happy Birthday Mr. President.

Thank you Ed!

Once you are calm and feel energized again, I might suggest that you do some soul searching as to why this came into your life at this time and place. Everything happens for a reason and there is a lesson here somewhere. If you can find the lesson, you can break the cycle and it will be MUCH less likely to happen to you again. All good things and drink plenty of water, Sky

I respectfully disagree with Brother Michael Sky. I believe everyone can explore as I believe in EWOP (everything works out perfectly) Our soul/spirit/high self is a perfect guide for us and will never present us with something we aren't ready to deal with. I do agree, that an intent helps make it more productive traveling. In fact, to do it a lot just for fun or to feel good, like anything, can lead to a useless addiction. But astral travel or OBE with an awareness and a purpose is a wonderful tool for healing and understanding our spirit self. Trusting our higher self is the key and traveling is a good way to learn this. Just my 2 cents... P.S. In my flesh space life, I teach classes on how to use Astral travel as an efficient, effective tool and for fun on occasion. I believe and encourage everyone to try it.

My opinion is they are just as good. It's really the energy you are drawing into them that really matters, so what if it was nature made or man made.. Lab created diamonds are still used on blades to cut or in radios. Sorta like a rock versus a hammer for driving the nail... Others may have different experience, but I have used a lab created sapphire, to name one example, and it "felt" very much the same.

I like the metaphor, when talking about which crystal to use or even just which tool to use in general is that I can drive a nail into a piece of wood with a shoe, or a book my hand or even a pair of pliers, but I can do it faster and easier with a hammer. In another words, any tool, if you need or want one, can be used, just sometimes it's easier to use one that is best suited for the purpose. The intent and the understanding of how to draw on the universal energy is really all that matters. I've used plain old brown dirt doing a healing when nothing else was available and it was more for the person I was working with (as a visual) than for me. Tools just help the situations.

Unfortunately, far too often it isn't taught that way, but instead taught to be "protection" whereas the focus is on the fear.

My kids and I discuss this one often. One of the easiest ways I explain it would be to imagine getting a paper cut on your finger. The more you focus on it, the worse it hurts. The worse it hurts, the more you focus. You may actually become so obsessed with the little paper cut that you start picking at it, and it gets bigger... might even get infected. Now imagine the opposite. You get a paper cut instead, after caring for it, ignore it and before you know it, it's gone. It goes both ways. Consider a wonderful synchronicity happening to you and you get really excited... more will happen. However if you ignore, either fewer will happen or you will fail to see them. As to your question of intention, I find that fascinating. Consider this. Many new-age or metaphysical beliefs teach about creating a bubble of white light around you; more often that not for "protection." Consider for a moment if you are building a bubble around you to protect you from some negative situation. In truth, you are actually sending that very negative energy INTO to bubble and in essence, attracting the very thing you are hoping to keep away. A story from the medicine cards is that of a rabbit afraid of the hawk eating him. At first the hawk doesn't even see the bunny, but the bunny's fears grow as he sees the hawk circling. The fear grows so big the bunny cries out "Oh please Mr. Hawk, don't eat me." Whereas the hawk hears the yet unseen bunny and swoops in to find it and eats it... People often call to them the very things they fear with the focus and therefore the energy, just like in building a bubble for protection, etc. Make sense? To me, the principles of Huna are common sense and easily adapt to our world today. While I respect purests who look to the ancient religions and philosophies for answers, I think it might be a tad unrealistic to apply them word for word to our world today. By studying as much as I could/can I adapt the jewels to work for me today.. Spiritual evolution, sorta speak. With the principles of Huna being so simple, it is easy to create rituals or examples for teaching from the day to day word we live in rather than the world of the past. I agree with Brother Michael Sky in that if you strip away all the dogma, the foundations of all major belief structures are basically the same. For me, Huna gets down to the foundation. What is also so cool about Huna is it allows for, at it's very root, the ability to dress it up to suit you. If you like ritual, there are ones available or creatable, if you don't, there is no need. Of course, this is just my opinion and what works for me.

I have been teaching Huna for years... although my spirituality is an electric blend, Huna is my foundation. The 7 principles offer a beautifully simple way to walk your talk. Somewhere in the archives I wrote extensively about Huna, but I don't know how far back they go. Oh, and a Huna Shaman is usually called a Kahuna, or Kupua, or even sometimes a Shaman or Priest.

In Huna it is understood much like a mango. The skin, meat and seed are all parts of the Mango, just different functions, etc. However, without all other parts, there is no mango. And very nice to formally meet you also... All good things.