Day 13 of my 31 day photo challenge

Day 13 - A picture of your favorite band or artist/ How you relax

I love all sorts of art and to pick just one artist as my favorite took me a bit…I love Picasso, Michelangelo, Escher, Degas, Dali and O’ Keefe. To help me decided on my favorite, I thought…… what would I buy if I could pick only one painting.... the answer is a Monet…here is one of my favorite paintings by Monet:

"Woman With A Parasol"

Lesson 9 ACIM

Lesson 9

I do not see this computer as it is now

I do not see this building as it is now

I do not see this keyboard as it is now

Lesson 9

I see nothing as it is now.

This idea obviously follows from the two preceding ones. But while you may be able to accept it intellectually, it is unlikely that it will mean anything to you as yet. However, understanding is not necessary at this point. In fact, the recognition that you do not understand is a prerequisite for undoing your false ideas. These exercises are concerned with practice, not with understanding. You do not need to practice what you already understand. It would indeed be circular to aim at understanding, and assume that you have it already.

It is difficult for the untrained mind to believe that what it seems to picture is not there. This idea can be quite disturbing, and may meet with active resistance in any number of forms. Yet that does not preclude applying it. No more than that is required for these or any other exercises. Each small step will clear a little of the darkness away, and understanding will finally come to lighten every corner of the mind that has been cleared of the debris that darkens it.

These exercises, for which three or four practice periods are sufficient, involve looking about you and applying the idea for the day to whatever you see, remembering the need for its indiscriminate application, and the essential rule of excluding nothing. For example:

I do not see this typewriter as it is now.
I do not see this telephone as it is now.
I do not see this arm as it is now.

Begin with things that are nearest you, and then extend the range outward:

I do not see that coat rack as it is now.
I do not see that door as it is now.
I do not see that face as it is now.

It is emphasized again that while complete inclusion should not be attempted, specific exclusion must be avoided. Be sure you are honest with yourself in making this distinction. You may be tempted to obscure it.

Day 12 of my 31 day photo challenge.

Day 12 - A picture of something you love/ Something you do everyday

There is not a day that goes by where I don't think of you!!!

My Dad

Next.... Day 13 - A picture of your favorite band or artist/ How you relax

Going through old photos

This is so much fun...I had no idea I had so many accounts for pictures out in cyberspace...In some of the accounts I have duplicate pictures!!!

Anyway I'm enjoying looking at all these old pictures!!!

here's just a few:

My dad Rick and his brothers Steve and Larry

My grandparents with my mom

My Grandparents Wedding post in the Rockhill SC paper

My dads 1st Birthday Party

My grandma at Disney

My Grandma and grandpa

My Dad and Brother Steve

Me at my ??? Birthday party

Emily

Me and my battle buddy 1995???

Our Wedding Day

Christmas 2006 with the Danners

Ryan

Ryan ;)))

That was fun!!!!

September’s challenge.......

I have a lot on my plate for September.  However, many of things I want to complete this month are things I can do on my down time or just personal “lifestyle” goals I hope to make habit… so with that said here are my “challenges” for September:

·        Wake up 30 minutes early every workday

·        Start the push-up and sit-up challenge again and complete it this time.

·        Workout every day after work

·        Start and finish both of my new books: The Help by Kathryn Stockett and A Stolen Life: A Memoir by  Jaycee Dugard

·        Go through photos and consolidate them to one account, clean out old photos

·        Go through filing system

·        Get tattoo removed

·        Start an allowance for Ryan

·        Do at least 5 pictures for my 31 day photo challenge

·        Make some changes on my blog

August in review…….

I’m pretty happy with August…I’ve gotten many things checked off my list this month. Like always I have a few things I would have liked to work on but... ’m stoked with the many things I started and completed this month!!!!

While I still haven’t heard from Saturday Night live on whether I’ll be receiving tickets to a taping of a show, I did send the e-mail to request a chance for the lottery. So I guess I’ll have to wait and see if I hear something.

As most of you know I started “A Course in Miracles”. Today I’m on day 8 ;) and while I was hoping to be a bit further… I’m glad I started. The biggest challenge for me with this is just really taking the time to “take-in” each lesson and not just going through the motions.

I’m giving up on the chandelier for now…I’ve gotten as far as I can with that, and I’ve completed 2 items on my 101 things to do in 1001 days!!! Now off to start September’s plan of attack…Happy Tuesday!!

ACIM Lesson 8..

My Mind is preoccupied with past thoughts…why yes it is. I think for the most part I’m the type of person who looks forward to the future. I try to prepare for the new beginnings each day offers, but through-out each and every day, sometime I will reflect on something from my past. Most likely it’s a memory I wish I could forget. For this exercise I will do this at least 4 times today:

This morning’s thoughts………

I seem to be thinking about a book I’m currently reading and how it relates to my life.

I seem to be thinking about JR Childress, about the things he did and how it affected my life…who would I be if things were different??? But my mind is preoccupied with past thoughts. See I’m somehow always preoccupied with past thoughts!!!!

Lesson 8

My mind is preoccupied with past thoughts.

This idea is, of course, the reason why you see only the past. No one really sees anything. He sees only his thoughts projected outward. The mind's preoccupation with the past is the cause of the misconception about time from which you’re seeing suffers. Your mind cannot grasp the present, which is the only time there is. It therefore cannot understand time, and cannot, in fact, understand anything.

The one wholly true thought one can hold about the past is that it is not here. To think about it at all is therefore to think about illusions. Very few have realized what is actually entailed in picturing the past or in anticipating the future. The mind is actually blank when it does this, because it is not really thinking about anything.

The purpose of the exercises for today is to begin to train your mind to recognize when it is not really thinking at all. While thoughtless ideas preoccupy your mind, the truth is blocked. Recognizing that your mind has been merely blank, rather than believing that it is filled with real ideas, is the first step to opening the way to vision.

The exercises for today should be done with eyes closed. This is because you actually cannot see anything, and it is easier to recognize that no matter how vividly you may picture a thought, you are not seeing anything. With as little investment as possible, search your mind for the usual minute or so, merely noting the thoughts you find there. Name each one by the central figure or theme it contains, and pass on to the next. Introduce the practice period by saying:

I seem to be thinking about ___.

Then name each of your thoughts specifically, for example:

I seem to be thinking about [name of a person], about [name of an object], about [name of an emotion],

and so on, concluding at the end of the mind-searching period with:

But my mind is preoccupied with past thoughts.

This can be done four or five times during the day, unless you find it irritates you. If you find it trying, three or four times is sufficient. You might find it helpful, however, to include your irritation, or any emotion that the idea for today may induce, in the mind searching itself.

ACIM - Lesson 7

Okay so I’m enjoying the lessons so far and they are good for me…. But I’m having hard time assessing them once I’ve read them and practiced the ideas a few minutes. Maybe that’s what you’re supposed to do, just more of awareness. Either way I’m sticking to them but I think I may need to add a bit more time each day…Any thoughts???

Lesson 7

I see only the past.

This idea is particularly difficult to believe at first. Yet it is the rationale for all of the preceding ones.

It is the reason why nothing that you see means anything.
It is the reason why you have given everything you see all the meaning that it has for you.
It is the reason why you do not understand anything you see.
It is the reason why your thoughts do not mean anything, and why they are like the things you see.
It is the reason why you are never upset for the reason you think.
It is the reason why you are upset because you see something that is not there.

Old ideas about time are very difficult to change, because everything you believe is rooted in time, and depends on your not learning these new ideas about it. Yet that is precisely why you need new ideas about time. This first time idea is not really so strange as it may sound at first.
Look at a cup, for example. Do you see a cup, or are you merely reviewing your past experiences of picking up a cup, being thirsty, drinking from a cup, feeling the rim of a cup against your lips, having breakfast and so on? Are not your aesthetic reactions to the cup, too, based on past experiences? How else would you know whether or not this kind of cup will break if you drop it? What do you know about this cup except what you learned in the past? You would have no idea what this cup is, except for your past learning. Do you, then, really see it?
Look about you. This is equally true of whatever you look at. Acknowledge this by applying the idea for today indiscriminately to whatever catches your eye. For example:

I see only the past in this pencil.I see only the past in this shoe.
I see only the past in this hand.
I see only the past in that body.
I see only the past in that face.

Do not linger over any one thing in particular, but remember to omit nothing specifically. Glance briefly at each subject, and then move on to the next. Three or four practice periods, each to last a minute or so, will be enough.

Okay Irene I think we're ready for you????

Something I wanted share

 

There was an old man sitting on his porch watching the rain fall. Pretty soon the water was coming over the porch and into the house.

The old man was still sitting there when a rescue boat came and the people on board said, "You can't stay here you have to come with us."

The old man replied, "No, God will save me." So the boat left. A little while later the water was up to the second floor, and another rescue boat came, and again told the old man he had to come with them.

The old man again replied, "God will save me." So the boat left him again.

An hour later the water was up to the roof and a third rescue boat approached the old man, and tried to get him to come with them.

Again the old man refused to leave stating that, "God will save him." So the boat left him again.

Soon after, the man drowns and goes to heaven, and when he sees God he asks him, "Why didn't you save me?"

God replied, "You dummy! I tried. I sent three boats after you!!"

ACIM: Lesson 6

Today’s lesson should do me well, I’m going to make a goal to really focus on this lesson today and identify with this suggestion.

Lesson 6

I am upset because I see something that is not there.

The exercises with this idea are very similar to the preceding ones. Again, it is necessary to name both the form of upset (anger, fear, worry, depression and so on) and the perceived source very specifically for any application of the idea. For example:

I am angry at ____ because I see something that is not there.
I am worried about ____ because I see something that is not there.

Today's idea is useful for application to anything that seems to upset you, and can profitably be used throughout the day for that purpose. However, the three or four practice periods which are required should be preceded by a minute or so of mind searching, as before, and the application of the idea to each upsetting thought uncovered in the search.

Again, if you resist applying the idea to some upsetting thoughts more than to others, remind yourself of the two cautions stated in the previous lesson:

There are no small upsets. They are all equally disturbing to my peace of mind.

And:

I cannot keep this form of upset and let the others go. For the purposes of these exercises, then, I will regard them all as the same.

Lesson 5 Day 6???

So far so good… I’m having a hard time understanding some of the ideas, but I think it’s just me “over thinking” them… I guess I’m looking for that one thing that will be my “I get it” moment. So I’m going to try really hard to just read the lessons and apply them without looking for a larger meaning.  Happy Day ;))

                                       

    Lesson 5

I am never upset for the reason I think.

This idea, like the preceding one, can be used with any person, situation or event you think is causing you pain. Apply it specifically to whatever you believe is the cause of your upset, using the description of the feeling in whatever term seems accurate to you. The upset may seem to be fear, worry, depression, anxiety, anger, hatred, jealousy or any number of forms, all of which will be perceived as different. This is not true. However, until you learn that form does not matter, each form becomes a proper subject for the exercises for the day. Applying the same idea to each of them separately is the first step in ultimately recognizing they are all the same.
When using the idea for today for a specific perceived cause of an upset in any form, use both the name of the form in which you see the upset, and the cause which you ascribe to it. For example:

I am not angry at ___ for the reason I think.I am not afraid of ___ for the reason I think.

But again, this should not be substituted for practice periods in which you first search your mind for "sources" of upset in which you believe, and forms of upset which you think result.
In these exercises, more than in the preceding ones, you may find it hard to be indiscriminate, and to avoid giving greater weight to some subjects than to others. It might help to precede the exercises with the statement:

There are no small upsets.
They are all equally disturbing to my peace of mind.

Then examine your mind for whatever is distressing you, regardless of how much or how little you think it is doing so.
You may also find yourself less willing to apply today's idea to some perceived sources of upset than to others. If this occurs, think first of this:

I cannot keep this form of upset and let the others go.
For the purposes of these exercises, then, I will regard them all as the same.

Then search your mind for no more than a minute or so, and try to identify a number of different forms of upset that are disturbing you, regardless of the relative importance you may give them. Apply the idea for today to each of them, using the name of both the source of the upset as you perceive it, and of the feeling as you experience it. Further examples are:

I am not worried about ___ for the reason I think.
I am not depressed about ___ for the reason I think.

Three or four times during the day is enough.

I live beside Dennis the Menace

Okay accordingly the kid next door (yes the same kid who is grounded for the rest of the year from playing with mine because he cut his hair, the one who cut down a small tree in my back yard and the one; for some GOD forsaken reason my husband gave permission to shot the woodpecker with a BB Gun (really, I mean really, what the heck are you thinking half the time!!)if he sees them and now he’s killing off all the birds in neighborhood!!!!!!!!!!!!!) keeps leaving his basketball’s and football’s in my front yard. I don’t really understand… I mean does he just stop playing when the ball comes in my yard???? Is he just too lazy to come and get the ball???? Is it that he’s a boy…and we all know as a girl “I just don’t get it” or is there something wrong with him or me?? I’ve been told I can be a bit uptight (who me???). But really how hard is for this kid to come over and pick up his basketball/football and take it to his yard. I’ve said things over and over to him and now it’s really getting on my nerves…I’m at the point where I want to take the balls and throw them in the trash!!!!! Maybe he’ll get the idea?....  So my question is, do I throw the balls away or just get over the fact that I live beside Dennis the Menace????Maybe it’s time to invest into a small fence.

Halfway there… August in review.

I got some scrapping done!!  I’m so glad I finished many of Ryan’s 1^st and 2nd year pages (who knew, I took so many photos!!!) I re-scrapped a few pages and I have 2 more to do…I also need to finish Christmas from last year and 2009??? I know I have a few more to get me “caught up” (if there’s such a thing) …and I’m counting August as a successful month with scrapping.

I started “A Course in Miracles” and right now I’m going to revisit day 4 from yesterday…gosh I’m mean sometimes!!! I think overall I’m going to enjoy this process!

Got my photo’s uploaded and still need to upload the beach photo’s… maybe get to that today or tonight ;))

I started Body for Life and lasted just ONE A DAY!!!!!! I have however started jogging at a local park and I love the feeling...It’s a great escape for me to clear my mind...and to help me “get over” some of my negative feelings (I’ve been a bit cynical lately!!!)…Well the outside helps for a little while anyway. I anticipate between running and working on my Lesson’s in “A Course in Miracles”, I’ll be on the path I wish to be... well at least in the right direction.

I sent a request for the Saturday Night Live tickets, through e-mail (I’m not sure I did it right...but I followed the directions I found!) so I guess I’ll find out something soon either way.

As for my 1 or 2 things on my 101 things to do in 1001 days… I’m sending out my post secret today!!!  ;))). We took the kiddos to the beach this year, and I’m working on redecorating my half bath in the Kitchen...so I’m chalking that up as a success!!

And last but not least…is that dang on chandelier…well I’ve got it all ready to hang...but I was hoping my husband would install it…well yeah that’s not looking to good, so maybe just maybe I’ll try and do it myself before the end of the month….Only time will tell!

Overall I think I’m having a pretty good month, minus a few things here and there…I’ll keep working on THOSE ISSUES!!!

I’m looking forward to September- its Ryder’s 1^st birthday!!!!! I also have 2 things I’m going to focus on...1^st getting a tattoo removed and 2^nd a personal health issue of mine!

Happy Monday Yawl ;)))))

Lesson 4..feedback from lesson 3 (ACIM)

Lesson 3

I do not understand anything I see in this room
[on this street, from this window, in this place].

Apply this idea in the same way as the previous ones, without making distinctions of any kind. Whatever you see becomes a proper subject for applying the idea. Be sure that you do not question the suitability of anything for application of the idea. These are not exercises in judgment. Anything is suitable if you see it. Some of the things you see may have emotionally charged meaning for you. Try to lay such feelings aside, and merely use these things exactly as you would anything else.

The point of the exercises is to help you clear your mind of all past associations, to see things exactly as they appear to you now, and to realize how little you really understand about them. It is therefore essential that you keep a perfectly open mind, unhampered by judgment, in selecting the things to which the idea for the day is to be applied. For this purpose one thing is like another; equally suitable and therefore equally useful.

Okay so I get the point of the exercise…but I’m ready to move on ;), to lesson 4… I didn’t apply lesson 3 much in my day, in fact I think I did it once right after looking it up and then didn’t really think about it anymore after that. So I’m ready to see what lesson 4 has to offer?? Anyone else doing this...I would love to do this with someone else?.

Here is lesson 4

Lesson 4

These thoughts do not mean anything.
They are like the things I see in this room
[on this street, from this window, in this place].

Unlike the preceding ones, these exercises do not begin with the idea for the day. In these practice periods, begin with noting the thoughts that are crossing your mind for about a minute. Then apply the idea to them. If you are already aware of unhappy thoughts, use them as subjects for the idea. Do not, however, select only the thoughts you think are "bad." You will find, if you train yourself to look at your thoughts, that they represent such a mixture that, in a sense, none of them can be called "good" or "bad." This is why they do not mean anything.

In selecting the subjects for the application of today's idea, the usual specificity is required. Do not be afraid to use "good" thoughts as well as "bad." None of them represents your real thoughts, which are being covered up by them. The "good" ones are but shadows of what lies beyond, and shadows make sight difficult. The "bad" ones are blocks to sight, and make seeing impossible. You do not want either.

This is a major exercise, and will be repeated from time to time in somewhat different form. The aim here is to train you in the first steps toward the goal of separating the meaningless from the meaningful. It is a first attempt in the long-range purpose of learning to see the meaningless as outside you, and the meaningful within. It is also the beginning of training your mind to recognize what is the same and what is different.

In using your thoughts for application of the idea for today, identify each thought by the central figure or event it contains; for example:

This thought about ___ does not mean anything.
It is like the things I see in this room [on this street, and so on].

You can also use the idea for a particular thought that you recognize as harmful. This practice is useful, but is not a substitute for the more random procedures to be followed for the exercises. Do not, however, examine your mind for more than a minute or so. You are too inexperienced as yet to avoid a tendency to become pointlessly preoccupied.

Further, since these exercises are the first of their kind, you may find the suspension of judgment in connection with thoughts particularly difficult. Do not repeat these exercises more than three or four times during the day. We will return to them later.

Day 11 - A picture of something you hate.......

Day 11 - A picture of something you hate.......... Its drives me completely crazy when someone eats with their mouth open!!!!!! Didn’t your mom ever tell you to not eat with your mouth open??? My brothers would do this just to tick me off when we were kids...heck they still do it!!!

(Kids eating spaghetti with tomato sauce. Photograph: Jochem D Wijnands/Getty Images)

Day 2 ;)))

Yesterday was my 1^st day and overall the exercise was fairly simple. My mind doesn’t need a whole lot of clarification in the idea that this world is but a morsel of all that there is. One of my favorite quotes is “In the final analysis, it is between you and God.  It was never between you and them anyway." Mother Teresa; and I often remind myself of this. I think for me the hardest part of this journey is going to be my emotional conversion and being able to separate my mind and my feelings? So today I start Lesson 2 ;)

Lesson 2

I have given everything I see in this room
[on this street, from this window, in this place]
all the meaning that it has for me.

The exercises with this idea are the same as those for the first one. Begin with the things that are near you, and apply the idea to whatever your glance rests on. Then increase the range outward. Turn your head so that you include whatever is on either side. If possible, turn around and apply the idea to what was behind you. Remain as indiscriminate as possible in selecting subjects for its application, do not concentrate on anything in particular, and do not attempt to include everything you see in a given area, or you will introduce strain.

Merely glance easily and fairly quickly around you, trying to avoid selection by size, brightness, color, material, or relative importance to you. Take the subjects simply as you see them. Try to apply the exercise with equal ease to a body or a button, a fly or a floor, an arm or an apple. The sole criterion for applying the idea to anything is merely that your eyes have lighted on it. Make no attempt to include anything particular, but be sure that nothing is specifically excluded.

---

Each of the first three lessons should not be done more than twice a day each, preferably morning and evening. Nor should they be attempted for more than a minute or so, unless that entails a sense of hurry. A comfortable sense of leisure is essential.

Day 1 of A Course In Miracles :) Aug. 11, 2011

Started the book “A Course in Miracles” today…anyone else done this yet????? Looks like lots of fun for a “list”/ “challenge” person like me ;)))) here’s a link if you want to join me!

Lesson 1

Nothing I see in this room [on this street, from this window,
in this place] means anything.

Now look slowly around you, and practice applying this idea very specifically to whatever you see:

This table does not mean anything.
This chair does not mean anything.
This hand does not mean anything.
This foot does not mean anything.
This pen does not mean anything.

Then look farther away from your immediate area, and apply the idea to a wider range:

That door does not mean anything.
That body does not mean anything.
That lamp does not mean anything.
That sign does not mean anything.
That shadow does not mean anything.

Notice that these statements are not arranged in any order, and make no allowance for differences in the kinds of things to which they are applied. That is the purpose of the exercise. The statement should merely be applied to anything you see. As you practice the idea for the day, use it totally indiscriminately. Do not attempt to apply it to everything you see, for these exercises should not become ritualistic. Only be sure that nothing you see is specifically excluded. One thing is like another as far as the application of the idea is concerned.

August 1st, 2011

August 1^st, 2011…what will this month bring me???? I’m glad to have so many thing over with and of course I love the opportunity  to make a fresh start, so I’m excited to drive into my challenges for this month!!!

I have to work weekends this month and while it’s crummy to have to spend my weekend away from my family there is bright side to it… I get to pay less in daycare, make 10% more on the weekends and I’ll get a chance to get lots of scrapping done!!!! So for this month I’m adding “catching up on scrapping” to my list.

So here is my challenge for this month:

-          start “A Course in Miracles”

-          Work on scrap pages

-          Upload photo’s with my new flash drive…or at least find out if I need  USB cord

-          Start the Body for Life / Transformation challenge (Started today!! And hope I really

stick with it! It’s a great work-out plan and I think just maybe I’ll follow through this

time!)

-          Try to get tickets to Saturday Night Live!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please, please let me win the

lottery for these tickets!!!!! This is the only month to e-mail and request tickets!

-          Do one or two things on my 101 and things to do in 1001 days.

-          Hang that dang on chandelier already! @!@!!

What are you going to do this month??? Best of luck to you al! ;))