FYI ... Thinking of YOU !!!

P.S.  Sometimes, there is SO MUCH happening,

there isn't time to stop ...
But BUSY is a very good thing!



LIFE IS GOOD !!!

I'll catch up with all ya'll soon ... Promise!

I miss you y'all!

Free Hugggggggggggz

YOU ARE WHAT YOU REPEATEDLY DO The beginning of a habit is like an invisible thread. Every time you repeat the act you strengthen the strand. You add to it another filament with each repetition, until it becomes a great cable and binds you irrevocably to each thought and act. First you make your habits and then they make you. Your thoughts lead you to your purpose. Your purpose always manifests into action. Your actions form your habits. Your habits determine your character, and your character fixes your destiny. Your habits are either the best of servants or the worst of masters. Inspiring Story! Free Hugs Campaign (Music by Sick Puppies) Add to My Profile | More Videos Sometimes, a hug is all what we need. Free hugs is a real life controversial story of Juan Mann, A man who’s sole mission was to reach out and hug a stranger to brighten up their lives..... what we then witness can only be described as awe inspiring.

Tags: Free Hugs

Carolina Blue Skies Are A Sure Sign Of Fall

Life is good on the Creek ...

I haven't written in a few days.  There has been too much going on for me to sit at this desk for very long!

I have so much extra energy when the seasons change!

I have once again ... purged my closets and cupboards ... with the goal being to only keep the things I love and eliminate the rest.  It has become a game ... lol ... The more I give away and sell, the more comes back to me ... 

I want to have room in my closets and cupboards and drawers to BREATH! 

My plan was that if I haven't worn it in two years, no matter how much I love it or think I might need it one day, someone else might need it RIGHT NOW so I had three piles ...

1.     Keep.
2.     Take to resale shop.
3.     Donate.
4.     Toss it OUT.

I took a car load of stuff to resale, two carloads to donate and another carload to the recycle place and still my closets are full ... I might have to go through again!

I grew up in the North so I have LOTS of jackets and sweaters.  I have jackets in almost every color but with global warming, how many do I really NEED?  Meanwhile, there are people who don't have even one coat ... so close to the holidays, I'm going to give some of my coats to some of the older ladies I know who are always cold ... because one day, I'll be old too, and if I give now, I'll have to trust that there'll be someone for me then.

I have three drawers and two jewelry boxes FULL of a lifetime of jewelry.  I only wear about a dozen things ... so do I really need all those other things?  I've decided NO.  I also make jewelry!  Once I make sure the new designs are sturdy enough to last, I am going to sell some and donate some.  It's nice to bring a smile to someone and give them something that makes them feel pretty.
   
I went through my books and kept the ones I really LOVE, whether they were self-help or novels and put them back on the shelves.  I took the rest to a local library, where they will either enter them into stock or resell to raise money for the library.

I went through my kitchen, china cabinets, curio cabinet, storage closets and did the same thing ... again ... FOUR piles ...

1.     KEEP ONLY IF I LOVE IT.

2.     Sell it on EBay only if it is in Good-Excellent condition.  I have a lot of things that someone else might like ... or it appears they like it, from the number of watchers and bidders.
3.     Donate.  Habitat For Humanity has a household store here that can always use house ware things.  There are also group homes here where they can use towels, blankets, plastic dishes, non breakable decorative items and pictures, as long as the glass is removed.
4.     Toss It Out.

I went through my files and filled a box of papers and "stuff" that I just don't need anymore.  I took the old stuff to work and shredded it.

I had two shelves of old magazines.  I went through magazines, saving articles I really liked, but nothing that I couldn't get on the Internet.  I now have a notebook of decorating ideas, gardening ideas, recipes and self improvement ideas, all in one place.  Four neat notebooks instead of two shelves of magazines I never looked at.

I love cards and stationary, but I had so much tucked here and there that I never used it.  Now, I have all the cards in one file box, separated by birthdays, anniversaries, thank you, sympathy, get well, congratulations, etc.  I am not buying one new card until I use all of these! AND I am actually using them!  I used up all my Christmas cards last year.  This year, I will buy what I need and not "stock up on cards"!  Why buy now for next year, when next year, there might be something better?

As you see, the list of organizational possibilities are endless and I seem to be motivated to move this mountain, so here I go!

But while I am rummaging through my own stuff, I have taken time to notice that ...

... the sky was the prettiest shade of porcelain blue tonight ...

... that magnolia leaves look silver in the setting sun ...

... that deer can blend into the woods so well, I can walk within six feet of them before they bolt ... and their sudden movement tested my heart.  The deer and my heart are good!

... that as much as I really don't like the varmints, the new mama and baby raccoons like us and there is something magical about holding a piece of fruit above their heads and them reaching up to take it from us.  I am not brave or foolish enough to go outside by them, but I will hold it out the window and was close enough to hear them click and cluck at each other.

... with a little bit of water, this year's flowers have stood up to the heat better than all the rest.  I finally planted at the right time, picked the right plants and flowers to withstand the heat and drought, and got the tomato plants to produce more than any other year.  I'm no where near being a Master Gardener, but I am mastering my little corner of the world and that is enough for me. 



EXTRA SPECIAL NEWS!!!
All four of my grandchildren will be in this area!!!

My second daughter and her family are moving back to South Carolina so I might not be a regular here for a while, helping her to settle in ...

Writing has become a habit so I won't be too far away.  I was telling my story and I want to get back to talking about some of that.  I still have the best part to tell!

 

... but until then ...

Love and Light from Healing Creek,

Taylor

P.S.
This proves that I can photograph hummingbirds.
Now, I have to get good at it!

Tags: Carolina, Blue Skies, Getting Organized

Toto, I Don't Think We Are In Kansas Anymore!

Unusual Traffic Stop

By Mike Belt, The Lawrence-Journal World
September 1, 2007

LAWRENCE, Kan. — Laura West claims the Kansas Highway Patrol trooper who stopped her “vessel” on the night of June 11 west of Lawrence had no right to arrest her.

She’s never had a driver’s license and doesn't need one, West said as she represented herself Friday in Douglas County District Court.

“I was not operating a vehicle; I was exercising my right to travel,” West, 21, told Judge Robert Fairchild. “I was in a private vessel on a religious mission.”

West also said her vessel is her private dwelling.

West is charged with not having a driver’s license, improper vehicle registration, failure to dim headlights and obstructing the legal process, all misdemeanors. West was arrested and taken to the Douglas County Jail after it took 45 minutes to get her to step out of the van she was driving, Trooper Brady Flannigan said.

West was traveling with her partner, J.M. Sovereign: Godsent, and her 2- year-old daughter. West and Godsent, who testified as her only witness, said they were afraid of the trooper and his supervisor, who was called to the scene of the car stop at U.S. Highway 40 and the South Lawrence Trafficway. They made calls to 911 and claimed West was being kidnapped as she was arrested.

The couple, who were on their way to visit a friend in Lawrence when they were stopped, recorded the encounter with the troopers and submitted a CD of the recording to the judge.

According to Godsent and information he presented to reporters outside court, the couple belong to a group that claims the U.S. is not a country but a foreign corporation that has invaded America. They are concerned about implanted identification chips and say sovereign Americans are being forced to choose between God’s law and man’s law.

Godsent said the trooper was presented with a card after he stopped them. The card was labeled “Sovereign Civilian Police Observation Task Force.” By the trooper accepting the card he was accepting a contract to pay a $15,000 gold fee for each question he asked. Godsent said they will take the matter to court to get paid.

Meanwhile, West, who is free on $1,500 bond, will return to court Oct. 1, when Fairchild will announce his verdicts in the case. If found guilty, West could face fines and jail sentences. Fairchild wanted to make a decision on the case next week, but West wasn't available then.



    


Truth REALLY is stranger than fiction!

T. G. I. Friday !!!

Good Stuff!

Did you know the human body is a machine that is full of wonder?

 

This collection of human body facts will leave you wondering why in the heck we were designed the way we were ...

• Scientists say the higher your I.Q. The more you dream.
  
• The largest cell in the human body is the female egg and the smallest
  is the male sperm.
  
• You use 200 muscles to take one step.
  
• The average woman is 5 inches shorter than the average man.
  
• Your big toes have two bones each while the rest have three.
  
• A pair of human feet contain 250,000 sweat glands.
  
• A full bladder is roughly the size of a soft ball.
  
• The acid in your stomach is strong enough to dissolve razor blades.
  
• The human brain cell can hold 5 times as much information as the
  Encyclopedia Britannica.
  
• It takes the food seven seconds to get from your mouth to your
  stomach.
  
• The average human dream lasts 2-3 seconds.
  
• Men without hair on their chests are more likely to get cirrhosis of
  the liver than men with hair.
  
• At the moment of conception, you spent about half an hour as a single
  cell.
  
• There is about one trillion bacteria on each of your feet.
  
• Your body gives off enough heat in 30 minutes to bring half a gallon
  of water to a boil.
  
• The enamel in your teeth is the hardest substance in your body.
  
• Your teeth start growing 6 months before you are born.
  
• When you are looking at someone you love, your pupils dilate, they do
  the same when you are looking at someone you hate.
  
• Blondes have more hair than dark-haired people.
  
• Your thumb is the same length of your nose.
  (Now I KNOW you are placing your thumb on your NOSE, aren't you?)
  

Okay,  I'm going to go exercise 200 muscles by going for a walk and when I get back, I'm going to wash the one trillion bacteria off my feet because of the 250,000 sweat glands and then I am going to measure my thumb against my nose in the mirror!   LOLOL ... I am wondering WHERE do they get this stuff?!!!

 

JUST FOR FUN ...

 

Only Great Minds Can Read This ...
Or So They Say At
Cambridge University ...

          

Can you read this?

fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too. Cna yuo raed tihs?
Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.
i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg.
The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid,
aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy,
it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are,
the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae.
The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm.
Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef,
but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh?
yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!


Being curious, I am wondering ...

Could you read it?


          


Just getting warmed up for a LONG weekend!
Hope you all have a SAFE holiday!

When Spirits Grow Wings

Recovery is a roller coaster ride.

 

I can remember being hurt and afraid and totally out of control which was probably the scariest part.  I didn't feel like I was in control of that time and it was perfectly clear that I had never been in control of anything else either, even when I thought I had been.  I felt like the brakes weren't working, I was picking up speed and going downhill fast!  It was scary!

 

It wasn't a leap of faith in the beginning.  It was like being pushed off a high cliff.  BUT it wasn't a literal fall.  It was a spiritual fall ... and our spirits live under different rules ... Our spirits are more resilient than we know.  Our spirits can bounce.  Our spirits can even fly!

No matter what an abuser does to our body ... No matter what games he play with our minds - even if he makes us feel as crazy as he is ...  No matter how he breaks our hearts ... NOTHING he did can destroy our Spirit.  Nothing.

Our spirit is attached to the divine.  Our spirit is breathed into us when we are born and it stays with us through life.  It belongs to us.  It is the very thing that helped us survive.  It is the quiet voice that talked us through whatever he dished out. 

It is the idea that comes to us in the middle of a runaway life and a free fall heart ... the idea that there just has to be something better.

If you have been abused or are being abused, you know exactly what I am describing ... you have had moments when you were rushing down the same slope and it was all you could do to hold on, free falling in the dark ...

You know my fear because you have felt it too. 

 

Survive.  Listen to your spirit.  There is more to life then that roller coaster ride.  You don't have to feel that kind of fear over and over again.  There is a way out.  You spirit already knows the way! 

 

Emerging from the shadows

Like a butterfly

Leaving the dark cocoon

to discover a new world

Full of flight and brightly colored flowers

Answered prayers

And

Realized Dreams

 

Did the butterfly know

That all that time in the dark ...

They were growing wings?

Did you know

That all the time you were in the dark ...

Your spirit was growing wings too?

 

Life did not end for us

When we were hurt.

That's when our new lives began!

That's where we found

A deeper hope,

A stronger faith,

And a kinder way to lead a more

Compassionate life.

 

The pretty little butterfly

Has a message for us all ...
Don't be afraid of the dark

When the dark comes.

That's the place

Where

Spirits grow wings.

  

Tags: healing, recovery, spirit

Gathering Myself

I was moving some books when a note fell to the floor ... Over the past few years, I have "found" old letters and notes ... tucked in a book or a folder where I left them.  I thought I had burned all those cards and letters.  I take their appearance as an opportunity for me to look back at where I was and gain even more perspective.  Most of the time, they just confirm that I have been on this road longer than I thought ... 

This was a note I had written to Aydan early in the relationship and way before he threatened me with a gun:



Hello Aydan,

This is important to me, and if it matters to me, it should matter to you.

You called me a WHORE once and I told you that it hurt.  You apologized, and the next time you needed a "handy weapon" in an argument, you pulled out that word again.  When I told you again that it hurt me, your only comment was to say, "Good, if it woke you up!"  It was a mistake for you to ever call me that in the first place, but everyone can make mistakes.  It was intentional the second time.  You knew it would hurt.  You did it anyway, and when confronted, you showed NO REMORSE!

I'm mad at you!

Your refusal to acknowledge you hurt me only means you'll hurt me again, if you think I needed another "wake-up" call!

My wake-up call is ... no matter what I like about you, you're still a JERK!  You called it honesty!  The only problem with that kind of "honesty" is I didn't grow up communicating that way and it hurts me deeply.

I'm not a whore.  I'm better than that.  AND I can do better than you!

So yeah ... you woke me up!  You reminded me that no one has a good excuse to be bad ... that I came looking for someone who could care about me and express himself ... You expressed yourself, but I don't like the way you CHOSE to express yourself with me!

I'm not a whore.  I'm better than that.  AND I can do better than you!

I'm sticking up for myself, because if I don't, who will?

 

I'm not a whore.  I'm better than that. 
AND I can do better than you!




When I started writing here, I thought all I had to do was tell people what I did and how I did it and they would follow me out of the dark ... That wasn't very realistic.  It ignores my own truth ...

• I was reading and had access to good information when I was being abused or I would not have found this note in that book.
  
• I seemed to have had my head on straight about some things.
  
• In spite of good information and a pretty good head on my shoulders, I decided to stay in an abusive relationship for almost two more years.

I was angry with myself for not seeing the truth sooner, but apparently I did see the truth and I chose to stay anyway!  I did what I did.  I knew Aydan would, or at least could, hurt me again and I stayed anyway!  I never trusted him and I stayed anyway!  I didn't introduce him to many people because I was always afraid he'd be a JERK!  He had already proven it to me.  I stayed anyway!  

I forgave myself for staying.  I forgave Aydan for being a JERK. 
I ACCEPTED that everything that happened ... happened for a reason. 

The truth alone wasn't enough to keep me away.  There had been warning signs.  I ignored them.  Things NEVER got better ... They only got worse and worse until it was time to GET AWAY!

I did get away!  All that good information finally left my head and took root in my heart where it became the foundation of my recovery!

I have a friend who took antibiotics BEFORE a surgery so that her healing would be faster and more complete.  All the things I have read before and during the "amputation of Aydan from my life" worked like antibiotics in my healing!  Even in the midst of all that chaos, there were some things already in place ...   

That note fell out of a book by Dr. Phil, who said:


FACT: Everyone of us, you included, has within us everything we will ever need to be, do, and have anything and everything we will ever want and need.

FACT: Your authentic self is there, it has always been there, and it is fully accessible to you.  You are not the exception to this fact.  There are no exceptions.

FACT: The self that now runs your life didn't just happen. 

FACT: Your fictional self is the source of wrong identity and wrong information.

FACT: Your life is not a dress rehearsal.

               (the facts are from SELF MATTERS by Dr. Phillip C. McGraw)


I wrote that letter in response to something Aydan had done years ago.  But, I tucked it into a book I was reading at the time ... only to find it years later in the same book ... where it illustrated EXACTLY that everyone of us already has everything we need.  How many times have I said during recovery, "If I don't stick up for myself, who will?"  It almost makes me laugh to think that Aydan was actually the first person I said that to!  I may not have been in touch with my authentic self all the time, but I see shades of her in that letter!  Instead of being angry that I didn't do this or didn't do that, I am thankful that my authentic self has always been here ...


FACT: Your authentic self is there, it has always been there, and it is fully accessible to you.  You are not the exception to this fact.  There are no exceptions.