The Waters of LIFE

This blog is dedicated to my dear soul-sister, M, part of my life & heart for so many years, who inspired this. Je t’aime, ma chère, mon âme-sœur. xoxo.

Sometimes we need to remember who we are and WHY we came to this earth.

Sometimes we need to go back to the living waters. The waters of LIFE. To renew our spirits. To embrace whatever our Path brings us. To let the waters bring us strength for all that lies ahead…

Water is life, water is renewal. There is a reason why so many faiths use water to bring one of their new faithful into the fold. Water represents our birth into this life, this earth.

When we wash our hands, our tired feet at the end of a long hard day, when we wash away our body’s persistent aches and pains, we feel ALIVE. NEW. FRESH. We have become someone, something new, with possibilities.

I came to this earth to live a life that has not been an easy one at times.

At times I ask myself why? Why do I choose this? Why did I choose to live this particular life? Because choose it I did. I shaped it, shaped my life, shaped who I choose to be every day.

Just as you, reader reading this, have chosen as well. You chose YOUR life. You chose WHO you are today & who you will be tomorrow.

Who do you want to be?
Who do I want to be?

When I am troubled, when I lose my way, somehow I always head to the cleansing waters.

The waters help me to remember me. The ME I chose to be. I have so much more to give, more to say and more to share in this life.

Thank you waters of life, for washing away the past and showing me to fresh, new potential out there.

May the waters bless you as well, dear reader.

See You on the Other Side of the Light, Mr. Layton

 

I was stunned when I heard the news yesterday. Jack Layton, after a valiant fight with cancer for the second time, has passed away at the age of 61.

What??

I felt like I just lost a friend. Why did I feel that way? I never had had the privilege of meeting Mr. Layton. I was never a die-hard NDPer. Fact is I only voted for the NDP once – in the last election.

Ah but that’s a bit of the reason why. I had voted for the first time in decades. And who I voted for was Jack.

He was our bon Jack, born right here in Montreal. He came from chez nous. Grew up in Quebec, went to university in Quebec.

In the last election, he united Quebec and Quebecers. He brought us back to the Canadian fold, in Parliament.

Most of all, he brought us HOPE.

And we WILL work with Canadians to build the country of our hopes
Of our dreams
Of our optimism
Of our determination
Of our values…
Of our love.

Thank you.
Jack Layton”
- from Jack Layton’s July 25 statement,
which announced he had a new cancer

Hope we hadn’t felt in a long time about our politicians on the national level. He talked about the potential of Canada and wonderful things that could be done for Canada and Canadians.

He was scrappy and a fighter. He had a great sense of humour. He had a glorious moustache. And he always had an awesome smile, with that twinkle in his eye.

I voted for Jack because of that HOPE. A hope I had not felt about our political system, on any level, in a long, long time.

I voted for his integrity, his honesty and transparency. His basic goodness. He was the best of all things – a TRUE Canadian.

One thing this blog, Anima Blue’s Oasis, is about, is about love & light, and bringing that love & light, into the world.

Jack Layton shared love & light with us all, as you could see in his speeches. As you can see in the statements he shared with us, at the end of his life.

How many politicians do you see anywhere, bringing love & light in the world?

My favorite tweet, which comes from The Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean :

@MichaelleJeanF Canada has lost a man of courage and great integrity who embodied the values dearest to Canadians. #hw #cdnpoli #jacklayton #layton

When he gave that speech on Election Night, I had cried tears of joy for Jack and the NDP, and for Canada.

And since yesterday, I have been crying tears of sorrow.

I cried when I read his farewell letter to Canadians.

And I have cried while writing this blog. I kept having to stop and start this blog again because I felt so overcome thinking about Canada losing Jack Layton.

We needed you so much, Jack. You had just claimed the first step of victory, in becoming Leader Of  The Opposition. You had so much more work left to do. I hope with all my heart that somehow the NDP Orange Wave will carry on without you. That they will make your dreams & great vision come true.

My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.

All my very best,
Jack Layton”
- from Jack Layton’s Aug. 20 farewell letter to Canadians

By a sad coincidence, I seem to have been blogging a lot about grief & loss lately. See the poem I posted a short time ago: “don’t ask me to say good-bye”.

To echo my poem:

I won’t say good-bye to you, Mr. Layton.
I’ll say instead – so long.

Until we meet on the other side of the light, Mr. Layton.

All my love & sympathies go out to Jack Layton’s friends &  family.

Aurora (aka Anima Blue)
@AnimaBlue

Adios Akoha! The End of an Era of Kindness and Sharing

Akoha.com…the kindest, friendliest Montreal Start Up that could…until it couldn’t any more.

Akoha.com was founded by Austin Hill & Alex Eberts. They and other Akoha staff members, Mark MacLeod (VP Finance), Juan Pablo Di Lelle (Director of Engineering) and Alain Wong (Community Manager), practiced what they preached about Akoha, and could be found playing fun & friendly Missions on the site with other Akohans from around the world.

On Tues. Aug. 2, Akoha.com announced to its Community Users that after 3 years of operation Akoha.com would close its doors on August 15, 2011. Which is today. And I am sad. This is the end of an era of kindness….and sharing.

There are so many ways to describe Akoha.

In Akoha’s own words:
“Akoha is…a community of people who do fun things that make a positive difference. Engage in Akoha missions, give praise to others and earn rewards.”
- from Akoha.com

My journey with Akoha began in a funny way. I first heard about Akoha.com through a job posting I had come across and applied for. I was too late to apply for the job – the position was already filled. But I joined this site out of curiosity and soon became hooked!

Akoha went through different iterations through-out its 3 years. When I joined the site was still in its Beta stage and not yet open to the general public.

Akoha first began with playing Missions that were on a physical deck of cards. You could only join the site if you bought a deck – or if someone gave you a card. You had to enter the confirmation number from a card to enter & sign up to the site.

So the playing of Akoha was definitely based in real-time. The idea was to do an act of kindness (an Akoha Mission) and then Paying It Forward, by passing the card & Mission to someone else you hoped would keep playing.

Akoha went through many changes and versions until the cards were gone and the Missions were more universally played on a virtual or real-time level. At the time, I remember wondering where the revenue would come from, since Akoha no longer benefited from the playing card revenue. That’s where the money from Angel investors came in. But one day, that revenue just wasn’t enough and Akoha decided to call it a day.

While it lasted, Akoha was a very happy place to hang out with fellow Akohans. You could invite your real-time friends to join or share kind words with Akohans around the world.

The last iteration of Akoha.com was very Social Media savvy, with ties to Twitter, the blogosphere, and Facebook. The last look of Akoha was very Facebook-like, with status updates, the ability to send messages, and the ability to either tweet or share on Facebook Akoha Missions or Akoha status updates.

But foremost Akoha was about its Akohan Community. All the people who used the site.

We shared tasty dishes we had tried locally, shot photos of our world and planet, talked about great movies we had seen, spoke about special causes…and even shared a kind word when we knew one of our regular Akohan players, Bena, was sick.

And here are some of my fellow Akohan friends:

nish  CaroladieHausfrau Holia Ajanta mgkhanduja teddybelle ForwardMotion gaiachi emilee Humanitas Xooberon ankmom Alex_Ionescu Bena Mystical_Traveler jasonbackus littlecatalyst AshleyNewton91 Gyrxiur  yourstruly kikarose SFvroom jessa mikarlo rottifan4 trinie ButterflyGram EmKaBe  JanMichael 718Digital meredith TheJem JoMontreal kevpdx rwarren OneHundredJobs claudiap adamhirsch adelemcalear sharonmcrae JeromeParadis  cmazur EvelyneB Releanna ABartelby kereena Drakurius Artcore1 forcione KimVallee  101ofawolf brentfbarrett LiseArsenault mannaz  newton64 Angelight Aboheler 86400 acriley jia zinou  georgefavvas simon girltm jdilelle cnemri alex austinhill alainwong  erikwright  nish  debo harshad672 kitao teddybelle gaiachi emilee Xooberon

My apologies if I’ve left anyone out.

A special mention to:
jdilelle
- also known as Juan Pablo Di Lelle (Director of Engineering) for Akoha.com
- also known as the Ninja Hamster
- the friendliest Akohan player in all of akoha.com
- always ready to share a Mission with any Akohan around the world!

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My final Akoha stats:

profile:
I love to read, write, do a little photography and I’m fascinated by synchronicity. One thing I like to do for fun is organize monthly events in my community. It’s an awesome feeling to bring new people together. I like to see where the universe takes me on my travels. “What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies.” ~ Aristotle “This is love: to fly toward a secret sky, to cause a hundred veils to fall each moment. First to let go of life. Finally, to take a step without feet.” ~ Rumi Looking for someone to play an Akoha Mission with? Feel free to play with me.

Member since Oct. 8, 2009

Player Level: Fanatic
106 Missions, 11 Awards, 114 Gifts, 51 Tokens

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Here are the Categories for Akoha Missions:

• Silly Fun!
• Travel & Discovery
• Fun with Friends
• Culture Vulture
• Social Causes
• Health & Well-Being
• Family Time!
• Inspiration
• Green Living

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Akoha inspired me to write 2 Akoha-related blogs:

• 100 Blessings
• Acts of Kindness, The Akoha “Read A Blogger, Feed a Blogger” Mission and CheapEthnicEatz.com

Akoha.com’s Official blog:
http://blog.akoha.com/

Akoha.com’s closure was all over the news and Twitter.

Brian Jackson, Associate Editor at ITBusiness.ca, wrote two articles about the shut-down of Akoha, which he tweeted:

• Why @AlexEberts won’t win any points for taking a “Navy Shower” from now on: the end of #Akoha http://is.gd/gEPhan
  (2 Akohans, including myself – AnimaBlue, had their tweets about Akoha mentioned in this article.)
•  Blog post: Canada loses two social media gems
  http://is.gd/Y18D12 #sprouter #akoha #cdntech

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My most favorite Akoha Mission that I played & created:
100th Akoha Mission:

My most favorite Akoha Mission that I played & created:
100th Akoha Mission

Category:  Inspiration
Difficulty:  Medium
Requires:  A story and one or more photos

Created by: AuroraD

 Do something special for your 1ooth akoha mission!
To complete this mission:

Do something special to commerate your 1ooth Akoha Mission & be sure to use/create/shoot/videotape something with the Number 100 in it!

~ Bake a cake with 100 on it in icing or candles
~ Write a list of 100 things about you & blog it
~ Videotape yourself talking about how it feels to accomplish your 100th Mission…
and lots, lots more!

Be sure to take a photo or screenshot of your Mission.
Use your imagination.

And here is my Mission play for it:

100th Akoha Mission

Played by AuroraD with AuroraD, akoha and jdilelle April 24, 2011

Well, recently I hit a landmark of having completed “100 Akoha Missions”. And I had created a special Mission on Akoha called “100 Akoha Missions” , where Akohans do something special to commemorate hitting this special achievement.

What would be better to celebrate my 100th Akohan Mission than a blog about 100 blessings? Akoha is all about appreciating the small moments in life…and so here are my 100 blessings, that I am grateful for.

http://animablueoasis.wordpress.com/2011/04/25/100-blessings/ 

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And some special Akohan Missions at the end of the day:

Save Akoha Mission:

Category:  Social Causes
Difficulty:  Easy
Requires:  A story

Created by: Humanitas

Create ideas to save akoha

To complete this mission:

Okay, so I was cleaning the bathroom today and I realized that there are many ways to say Akoha who is struggling to stay online.

Your mission is to come up with creative ways to get the expenses paid. With all of our brain power, I’m sure we can come up with a way. So post away and let Akoha hear your voice!

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Keep In Touch Akohans:

Category:  Fun with Friends
Difficulty:  Easy
Requires:  A story

Created by: Humanitas

Leave ways on how to keep in touch

To complete this mission:

Okay, I saw the email…major bummer!

Yet we can still be friends, right?

So if you still want to be friends, leave your contact info on this mission. If you feel uncomfortable, leave an inbox message to those you want to keep in contact with.

Don’t break this chain!

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Shutdown Sadness:

Category:  Inspiration
Difficulty:  Easy
Requires:  A story

Created by: art2010
What you love to share with akohans!

To complete this mission:

Akoha shutdown 0n 15th August 2011. How shocking?
How You enjoyed being here.
Sad?

And the Shutdown Sadness Mission shall be my last Akoha Mission, featuring this very blog:
http://akoha.com/missions/mission/629/.

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Akohans, showing true Akoha spirit, have started special Akohan projects, where people can continue to play & interact in Akohan ways:

Bena’s Akohan Yahoo Group:
http://ca.groups.yahoo.com/group/akohacommunity/

Nish’s Akohans Wall site:
http://akohans.wall.fm/

Adios Akoha! Vaya con dios, amigos & amigas!
See you on the other side of the Akohan wall.

Anima Blue

A Tale of Two Lost Young Talents: Brittany Murphy and Amy Winehouse

They could have been contenders.

They were young women whose creative careers showed promise for a life-long body of work.

I have eclectic taste in the arts, most especially in film and music. I really couldn’t say just who or what would be to my taste. Brittany Murphy and Amy Winehouse were two young talents who touched me, who I wanted to enjoy seeing where they would go with their work. I thought they would both make “long bones”:  have long, successful careers that contributed interesting creative expression in their respective fields

And I was sad when each had their beautiful flames snuffed out too soon.

Brittany Murphy first caught my eye in 8 Mile. There was something about this girl. I wondered about her and made a mental note. And with time, I enjoyed seeing where she would go. And then she did a quirky little film called Love & Other Disasters. She reminded me of a young Audrey Hepburn, à la Breakfast at Tiffany’s, in it. I loved this original accent she used for the role. See the beginning of the movie to find out where the unusual accent came from. And I personally adopted one of her expressions from it: “hello babies!” I would say to my friends. It was such a cute and endearing thing to say. Loved it.

And then one day, a friend of mine posted on facebook that she had died. Shock and sadness. No really. I wanted to see where she would go! She had a kind of beauty that just got better as she aged, just like Audrey Hepburn. Long bones in talent, long bones in physical features. And suddenly the bones would no longer grow.

And I thought about Brittany when I heard the news about Amy Winehouse’s passing, not long ago.

Another beautiful young woman, with long bones. She was a fascinating combination of the retro and fresh. This wild girl with the bouffant hairdo, tattoos, and outrageously soulful voice. Where did she come from? ? She was so different from the usual pop princess. She had blues, she had soul. She could have become an Aretha or some other beautifully aging and timeless talent. But instead she became a young Billie Holiday. Gone too soon. Too too soon, baby. The soulful curves of your voice, your songwriting, I wanted to hear more, see what you would do with that creativity over a long, long life-time.

I read a comment somewhere when she died that said “Is anyone surprised?” That remark made me sad and mad on two levels.

One, it assumed that she had a drug-related death, due to her very public, messed up liefstyle. But we don’t know yet why she died. Fact is, reports said she had a clean bill of health from a doctor just a few days before her death. And she had started putting on a healthier weight, after her struggle with an eating disorder. The second reason I was sad & mad at the comment because it was so dismissive of her identity and her tremendous talent. This girl shouldn’t have died! When I had heard that her tour had been postponed recently because she had appeared drunk on stage, I felt so sad for this lost young woman. What tremendous pressure she must have been on, to come up with more fresh material. I heard she suffered from a debilitating writer’s block as well. Imagine that! When your very public bread and butter is writing, how do you cope. No, she did not have an easy life.

Well we can’t wish these girls back to life. All I can say is sleep now, girls. Rest, rest well and rest in peace.

Goodnight, babies.

Anima Blue

The Voice and The Silence

In order to find my voice, I had to lose my voice.
Life is funny that way, no?

I recently came down with a throat infection and literally had to stop talking. And those who know what a chatty cathy I can be, would know that losing my voice would definitely impact me.

But I discovered that I liked having no voice.

I was stuck at home, voiceless, delirious with fever, and it gave me time to think about things. Yes blogs I want to write. But also about my dreams and things I want to accomplish in my life.

Suddenly I had a craving for complete silence, going beyond just the silencing of my own voice, and I turned everything off, to not hear the sounds – the noise – distracting me from my thoughts.

The only thing I listened to was the whispering of the trees. I had missed hearing it, noticing it, that soft sigh. For the whispering of the trees is a sacred sound to me. It reminds me to look around at this miraculous thing called life and the miraculous organisms living around me. It reminds me to look deep inside myself, to listen to my own heartbeat.

With the whispering of the trees I connect to a profound Silence. A silence felt in my soul. Kind of like the mad scientist’s aha! moment, but sounding more like a simple YES. In that simple YES there is a remembering of who I am and my soul’s path in this life.

The timing of this also fit in well with my reading a whole bunch of books from one of my favourite authors, The Great Alchemist, Paolo Coelho. More about his writings to come in another blog.

I had forgotten the bliss I felt when reading Paolo Coelho’s books. In his writing there is a sublime simplicity, a Truth of All Things, which often makes me stop to absorb these wonders.

And with the five Paolo Coelho books I read within my convalescence, it also brought me back to that sacred and profound Silence of The Soul. When the soul realizes its magnificence and abundance and is simply happy to *be*.

I hope you are blessed with a Silence of The Soul as well.

 Anima Blue

So Long & Thanks For All The Fish!

I have had  Towel Day and Douglas Adams’ epitath on my mind and have been contemplating it: what would I want to leave behind with my life? How would I want to be remembered?

Sometimes I have asked friends to describe me and they came up with all sorts of words, some of which surprised me. Such as : funny.

I had to admit that threw me but then again why did it? I do love to laugh and especially love to make people laugh. Laughter heals a host of ills, as they say. It is simply one of the very bestest things you can share with a good friend – a laugh.

Funny that laughter is the first thing that comes to my mind. 

You would think I would pick compassion and empathy. Those twin thoughts have indeed followed me all my life. How many days of my life have complete strangers been drawn to me, looking for a friend, for a friendly companion or simply someone to listen to them? I am always amazed and saddened to find just how many people in the world literally have not a soul to listen to them.

And today, one of those people came up to me out of the blue and said he was looking for a friend.

Ah. I must have some kind of energy that radiates empathy and compassion or something.

But is that what I want to be remembered by, what I want to leave behind?

I have been thinking this not because I plan to pop off any day but because I am trying to figure out just what the meaning of my life should be.

Reaching out and touching people with my simple words, yes that is a hope I have. And if a person or two might have their day brightened by something I said or wrote, why what a wonderful joy that would be!

Positive energy. I think that is what I hope to share with people in my life, in this life-time. In one form or other.

The hope for better days. The blessing of lessons learned. The simple abundance of being alive.

These wonderful things I hope to share with others, during my many inner and outer travels.

Oh and the fish are great too.

Anima Blue

Time Travel

I’ve been doing a lot of time traveling lately. Dipping into strange pockets of time. The past, the present and various future time pockets.

It was a book I was reading during my recent Science Fiction book kick that got me thinking of time travel (see Ripping Time).

RIPPING TIME
” Settle Back for a hot one: it’s spring time. When terrorists gun down Jenna Caddrick’s fiancee, the only daughter of Senator John Caddrick is trapped in a desperate struggle to stay alive. With a pack of killers on her trail, Jenna plunges through Shangri-La Station’s time touring gates – and lands inLondon of 1888, just in time to meet Jack the Ripper. And Skeeter Jackson, newly reformed con artist, finds himself caught up in the biggest mystery of the century. All Skeeter has to do is find the Senator’s missing daughter, track down lanira Cassandra’s kidnappers, stop a cult of killers and survive Ripping Time…”

Well the plot of that book was fascinating but when I starting contemplating time travel I realized I had been doing quite a bit of time travel myself lately.

When you decide to look at the meaning of life and the meaning of your life, it’s just inevitable that you start to travel through time.

The odd moments of your past that bubble up in your head.

Like a hot summer day when I was 4 years old. I was skipping along on the sidewalk a few blocks from home. I remember I was wearing blue shorts (yes BLUE even back then). The air was shimmering the way it does when the day is a scorcher, and the sky was filled with the sound of cicadas, which accentuated the heat. I was blowing big pink bubbles with my bazooka bubble gum when a boy crossed my path. He had a short towheaded mop, had a stocky build, a year or two older than me and he grinned a big grin at me as he passed.

I wondered why he smiled at me in that moment. At my tangle-haired, dirty blonde-haired self (that caused my mother to curse when she tried to brush my long hair out). I then had that realization in my head of BOY, first time I was conscious of being aware of a boy, as a member of the opposite sex.

Flash back to other places in time and space. My dreams, filled with strange landscapes of time I have never lived, and lands I have never seen, with people I have never met.

And then flash forward to all the future timescapes I have been visiting lately. Many microcosmic iterations of my future possible and potential selves, dozens of Anima Blues who may yet be and become. My analytical self imagines these selves with the logical paths of the classic IF….THEN…AND…permutations. IF I take Path X, THEN I will do this AND become that, and so on. An infinite combination of Anima Blues that spread out to infinity.

That’s what I see in my tomorrows. And I’ve been giving much thought to these possible tomorrows as my life is hitting a major shift right now as I decide where I want to go.

My future is fluid right now. And so are all those potential Anima Blues.

Who will I be and become tomorrow?

Stay tuned for the next chapter in my time travels and find out!

Anima Blue

100 Blessings

I often like to think about my blessings. Recently, I was inspired to write about my blessings due to a little game called “Akoha” that I like to play. You can read about a fun Akoha mission I blogged about here: Acts of Kindness, The Akoha “Read A Blogger, Feed a Blogger” Mission and CheapEthnicEatz.com

What is Akoha? Well, it comes from a little Montreal start-up website called akoha.com. It’s evolved into different stages. It began as an idea of doing random acts of kindness called “Missions”, and playing it forward to other people, who continued to do good in the world. Today, Akoha describes itself this way: “Akoha offers real-world activities for you to discover life’s special moments, capture them, and share them with friends.”

Well, recently I hit a landmark of having completed “100 Akoha Missions”. And I had created a special Mission on Akoha called “100 Akoha Missions” , where Akohans do something special to commemorate hitting this special achievement.

Which is what inspired this blog.

What would be better to celebrate my 100th Akohan Mission than a blog about 100 blessings? Akoha is all about appreciating the small moments in life…and so here are my 100 blessings, that I am grateful for.

100 Blessings

1. my spirituality, my belief in the meaning of life, the universe, a Higher Being, God.
2. my life, every day that I live it.
3. my 5 senses, that take in information and process it every day.
4. the food and drink I have to nourish myself every day
5. the shelter I have in my home
6. my body, that functions and carries me through-out each day
7. my sense of humour, that reminds me not to “sweat the small stuff” and fills my life with laughter and fun
8. my sense of adventure and open spirit, that makes me so curious to learn about different lands and people and cultures and belief systems
9. my joie de vivre, which literally gives me joy out of my life
10. my dreams and hopes, that lead me to imagine great things
11. my optimism, which makes me see the positive in everything
12. my compassion and empathy, which leads me to understand and help people in suffering and living difficult situations
13.  my ever-evolving wisdom and knowledge, that brings me the gifts of lessons learned and further understanding about the world we live in and the people around us
14. my loved ones, the friends and family and lovers I have known, who have blessed my life with their presence in so many ways
15. the loved ones who have passed away, who blessed my life while they walked the earth and who still live in my heart every day of my life
16. the people who have crossed my path, the ones who shared something with me, the ones who made me think, the ones who brought a message I needed to learn
17. the difficult life lessons and moments in my life, that made me grow as a person and made me stronger
18. the earth that I walk on every day
19. the blue sky’s air that I breathe every day
20. nature, with its breath-taking, inspiring and calming beauty that awes me
21. the whispering trees that remind me to breathe in the moment
22. the animals of the earth, dogs and cats and all, who remind me of the beautiful simplicity of life
23. babies and kids, who make me look at the world with eyes filled with questions and make me smile and laugh
24. the citylife and its exciting adrenalin rush
25. the sun’s rays and sunshine that warms my skin and makes me want to stretch and walk
26. the soft rain that falls down to clean everything away, the cool freshness of raindrops falling on me
27. the mysterious moon with it’s moonlight filled with shadows that make me dream
28. the millions of stars that make me wish
29. my childhood, with its carefree ways and innocent adventures
30. my teenage years that taught me to make my own decisions and stick by them
31. my heart, so filled with love for so many people
32. the mysterious coincidences of life, the synchronicities, that bring wonderful connections onto my path
33. every crossroad that I’ve crossed, that reminded me that I have the power to change the direction of my life
34. my education, that allowed me to explore my curiosity and learn so many things
35. books, that make a thousand worlds and more, come alive in my brain
36. music, that inspires me in so many ways and takes me away to new landscapes and inspires me to write
37. my writing, the blogs, the stories, the poems and the books, that I’ve written and started to write that let my spirit soar through my playful use of words, and let me express a world of emotions and thoughts
38. all the people, the teachers and readers, who encouraged me to write and who saw that I had something valuable to share through my writing
39. all the teachers and mentors who showed me the way
40. all the funny stories that made me laugh
41. everything that made me cry, from happiness or sadness, for the cleansing feeling that tears bring
42. the pain I’ve felt, for learning how to live with pain and transcend it’s limitations
43. all the different jobs and careers I’ve had, and the richness of each experience
44. all the places I traveled to, that inspired and shaped my thoughts
45. all the restaurants of the world and their culinary treasures
46. all the art of the world, for breathing so much beauty in my life
47. all the mysteries and enigmas that I’ve discovered, unraveled and have been fascinated by
48. all the people who have helped me when I needed the help
49. all the people I’ve helped, for the gift of being able to help a fellow human being
50. for the money I make which allows me to buy the necessities in life and a few extras
51. for all the fun times I have shared with friends and other loved ones
52. all the spiritual people and leaders who have shared their varied and different beliefs with me, whether in their writings or in person (or both)
53. the acceptance I’ve felt from people I’ve met
54. the stories of life journeys that people have shared with me
55. meditation, whether in groups or on my own, the gift of peace and realization it has brought to me
56. silence, for the peace it brings my soul
57. the different seasons, for the changes and excitement it brings into my life
58. the clothes and shoes I wear, for keeping me warm and making me feel beautiful
59. all the people I’ve fallen in love with, who loved me, and the blessing of those relationships and sharing
60. silly things like the Cookie Monster (‘cause he’s funny, he’s a foodie, and he’s BLUE! )
61. all things blue!
62. all the poetry that has moved my heart and soul
63. all the dreamers of the world who dare to dream of a better place and a better way to be
64. the process of personal evolution, for all the “me”s I’ve become and will be
65. this moment, the utter perfection and ordinariness of it
66. all the transportation devices that bring me to exciting places
67. the physical exercise that makes me feel good and become healthier
68. the best and closest friends of my life, for being there, for sharing, for being who they are and accepting me for who I am
69. for all the people who have ever said a blessing over me
70. for all the people I’ve silently blessed
71. for the passing strangers who have made me smile
72. for all the people who’ve held a door open for me
73. for all the doors to opportunities that have shown up in my life
74. for the people who encouraged me when I was down
75. for the people who shared my joy when I felt bliss
76. for all the sacred spaces I have found and shared and the manna they have given my soul
77. for all the people I have mentored, coached, trained or taught something, for my being able to pass on my knowledge and wisdom
78. for all the realities beyond, the paranormal and supernatural, that fascinate me
79. for the feeling of groundedness, that firmly keeps me on my chosen path
80. for the random kindness of strangers
81. for all the bus drivers and merchants who greet me, smile and say hello
82. for the feeling of being pampered when I need it the most and need to recharge
83. for all the gatherings of people and events that I’ve hosted, that gave me such a thrill to bring fun and happiness to groups of people
84. for every single friend I have made in my life
85. for my parents who gave me the gift of life and so many blessings as parents
86. for my sister who has always been a hero for me, with all her incredible courage and strength
87. for my brother who tried to do the best he could
88. for my beautiful nieces and nephew for simply being
89. for all the surrogate mothers who gave freely of their love when I needed it the most
90. for the power of blogging, which give me this rich soapbox to stand on and share
91. for the incredible complexity and exciting possibilities of the internet, which all it’s knowledge and resources
92. for all the forums where I’ve posted and discussed so many things with so many wonderful strangers
93. for my websites, for the fun of designing and writing them
94. for meetup.com, which brings people together on so many macro and micro levels, in real-time gatherings and virtual networking
95. for my independence, which makes me so happy to stand on my own two feet
96. for the languages I speak and my ability to communicate in them
97. for the invisible sun, that gives us hope when the day is done, as The Police sang
98. for the love of opera that my father gave me that enriches my life
99. for the love of people and meeting people that my mother passed onto me
100. for akoha.com!

Hope you count your blessings today, too!

Anima Blue

Grace & Magic

We all need a little magic in our lives. Some special spark that makes us skip along, hum and whistle, or just plain smile.

What magic do you have in your life? Do you notice it?

There’s magic everywhere if you just take a moment. Take a deep breath and look around.

I had the idea of magic and grace turning around in my head and thinking about how lucky I am to have both in my life.

The grace of having this miraculous thing called life. The grace of seeing each day as the blessing that it is. The grace of having dreams and hopes that fill my thoughts and spirit.

The magic of everyday things. When you examine those everyday things, suddenly you see how remarkable they actually are. Blue skies, green grass, whispering trees, jumping dogs and laughing babies. Have you stopped to really look at such things? They’re magickal and wonderful and beautiful.

It’s funny I’ve been tripping over many Harry Potter references lately, which is another magic that makes me smile. “Mischief managed!”  What a great concept, what fun! Mischief IS magickal. It makes me laugh and giggle. Manage a little mischief into your day and watch the instant magic appear, I say!

I hope you’re experiencing the grace of a magickal day today!

Anima Blue

sacred space

I’ve had this on my mind sometime, the idea of sacred space.

The sacred space within our minds and souls. The creation of a sacred space in a physical time and location. When those two levels of sacred space come together, it can literally be mind blowing. I know. I’ve been there, experienced that, had my mind go to that elsewhere, where the spirit soars and becomes something else. When you become one with the universe and all of the universe’s creations.

Have you been there? Have you felt this? I would love to hear your stories about your sacred space.

I consider myself to be a spiritual being. I have so many different beliefs it would be difficult to explain how I define myself, in terms of my faith and beliefs. I touched briefly on it, in one blog, that you can revisit if you like.

I can tell you that I have touched sacred space in many moments of my life. I’ve felt bliss. Pure, undiluted, limitless and beautiful, blessed bliss. Yes I have been blessed by bliss.

I’ve been thinking a lot about sacred space and bliss since I attended a friend’s drum circle for the first time, last month. It was a new experience for me. It was a pagan-based drum circle but it could have a been a circle out of any spiritual energy, the gathering of so much positive energy created through the sounds of drums and song. I love been exposed to new experiences like that, with free spirits so open to sharing of light and love. My mind took me elsewhere that night. And the music from the drums and singing voices reverbated within me for some time, as I walked home that night, and the weeks to come.

It was a sacred space that took my mind to a new sacred space.

It made me think of other times in my life where I shared energy with others, with group meditation and sharing, and also about the times when I have experienced a sacred space and bliss on my own.

Like many years ago, in a very funky loft in The Plateau district, in a somewhat sketchy looking neighbourhood. I had seen a small ad in one of our local free newspapers advertising a group meditation involving the use of kirtan, a new word and style of music I discovered. Kirtan (Sanskrit: “to repeat”;[1] also Sankirtan[2]) is call-and-response chanting or “responsory” performed in India’s devotional traditions.[3] A person performing kirtan is known as a kirtankar. Kirtan practice involves chanting hymns or mantras to the accompaniment of instruments.

The group meditation was hosted by a totally loveable young group of “Peace Love” Quebecois hippies, who wandered through-out the province of Quebec and set up these group medititation sessions as they passed through each town or city.

They had a guitar and a drum and passed around some home made muffins as we chanted and sang together in this strange loft space that they had rented from this arty looking bald guy who wandered in and out while the meditation went on.

When the session finished they gifted me with a charming wooden prayer bracelet and promised to contact me when they next had a session in Montreal. They were so sweet and free and positive. That music we created together was so powerful and positive it lifted my soul up and up and soooo very up. Ah it was heaven.

They would call me from time to time to let me know when they were in town but I was never able to make another session. And one day they disappeared. But that was OK. I was happy with the gift of that moment and the sacred space we had created together.

Other times I have felt that sacred space in even the most everyday moments in my life. Sometimes I’ve felt it as I rode the metro and looked around me to see the beautful light of every person’s Higher Self shining out around me. Sometimes I’ve found that sacred space from simply breathing in the whispering green trees. Trees sometimes seem so beautiful to me I’ve been known to spontaneously hug them. Just because. 

There have been other times I have felt the sacred space in my mind and soul as my mind floated up from a simple meditation at home, where I felt myself go up and up into the stars and beyond. Marvelling at all the millions of millions of souls all sharing our world and the sheer beauty of that soul-sharing.

What a sacred space we inhabit on this earth, every day we live another day of life!

There is a sacred space every way you look, within and without, around you.
Blessed we are indeed.

Anima Blue