I am so proud of you girls!  Continuing your education and helping others with the difficult situations in their lives is so very rewarding.  My life's ambition is to alleviate suffering, help people bring balance into their lives and to give and receive love in emotionally healthy ways.  I guess that would be my mission statement.  Some days, I do that really well and on others, I fall short of the mark.  But to keep learning and going forward is what this is all about.  As I have gone through my own training, I have come to see my own stumbling blocks and imperfections.  Sometimes, it's hard to remember that we're all growing and that this life is designed for making mistakes and having the opportunity to learn from them.  We're all in this together.  I learn as much from my clients as I teach them.  I have also learned that I can't lift someone to higher ground that I am standing on, and that when I am with a person in pain, I am standing on hallowed ground.  This keeps me humble, which means I am in a position to learn.  I pray that I never forget that. 
  My life, like so many other, go in cycles.  Maybe it's age and maybe it's that because learning builds on learning.  I learn something new, have a new insight or inspiring experience and Wham...I find myself questioning my effectiveness and worthwhileness all over again.  I think it's important that I mention this here, because I think lots of folks experience the same thing.  I used to think I was going backwards when this happened or that somehow I was lacking in stability or confidence and faith, when I had those moments,but I have realized that they are almost always accompanied by a step forward into a new and more solid place, or growth.  Questioning myself in a new and slightly different perspective than I had before.  In the past, (maybe even now sometimes) this has been kinda hard on my kids, because I would find myself apologizing for my imperfections, yet again, just in case I forgot something along the way.  (I am smiling at myself  right now, kinda like I might smile at a client, who is reminding of how really imperfect they are...and how much love I feel for them as they simply recognize their humaness).  Hmmm,  am I rambling?  It's been that kind of week.  I actually think I may go through this, at least twice a year, when I have been to my AMCAP convention and Conference.  These 2 events are the most uplifting and spiritual experiences that I have every 6 months.  It's also the way I get my CEU's.  The convention theme was Finding calm in troubled times and the over riding theme of conference was love.  Because I tend to be very introspective (sometimes a real burden) I usually spend the next week or so putting myself under the perverbial microscope to make sure I am where I want to be, doing what I want to be doing.  Of course, I always fall a little short of my expections of self (something I warn my clients about constantly, "physician heal thyself" hmmmmm.) 
  Laurie, so hard to hear about the bus accident.  I know you have been close to the music program at the school.
  Jodi, I would be very sorry for you to move, but as you said, I'd have another place to visit, but it would be a really long drive for Friday lunch.
  Ok,  I have rambled on enough, now it's onward and upward to a new week.  Business has been very slow, a sign of the lagging economy.  At least, I hope that's what it is.  Oops, there I go again.  Time to sign off... I love you both.

OK so I've spent the past four days in a Holistic Health consultant workshop! Soo awesome. I just love this stuff. I am so greatful that we are in charge of our own lives, healing paths and how we deal with our learning experiences. Some really suck and we still get to choose to gain wisdom and learning from them or choose to let them hold us back our whole life! Life is hard anyway so why let sucky experiences weigh us down especially if we weren't the one who caused them! The tools I'm on a path to learn can help so many! I'm excited to be able tohelp others see their paths more clearly and not be so hard on themselves!
And with that little tidbit- that doesn't say much of what we learned-I'll go into more detail with time. As for now-My world (and spirit) was a little rocked this evening as I learned that one of the four buses coming home from the Pocatello band competition with or American Fork band students and staff rolled over causing a fatality of one female staff member who was trying to help the driver she saw was in distress! She was thrown from the bus as she tryed to get control of the bus. I've talked to a few parents through facebook whose children wee on the bus. They are being taken to hospitals to be checked and for the most part seem to be OK. But their poor spirits will take awhile to mend. We have more than ten children in the choir from our church ward. Tomorrows meetings will I'm sure be a little sad. My prayers are with all of them right now as I've not talked to all of them to know they are ALL OK. Sure let's us know how precious life is and how we need to be able to LIVE our full potential. I hope what we're all learning along this journey can and will help all those we love and beyond! Soom, Laurie

And some days went by...

I have been trying to stay on track and what I realize is that I have a tendency to stray after I have had a few days of doing really well.  I get in my own way.  I see this alot in my office.  One of the things that I love about my job is how much I learn from the courageous people that I have worked with over the years.  They inspire me to keep going in the direction that I want to go, to keep learning and growing.  It's what keeps me feeling young.  I continue with my own daily struggles like everyone else.  You girls need to be writing, because you inspire me, as well.  I have been eating great and I can tell that my body is craving sugar and unhealthy things less, and using the fuel I am giving my body more effectively.  I'm feeling energetic and focused when I am on track,  disappointed when I get off track.  I need you guys!!

The Beginning! I've enjoyed owning a Daycare/preschool then Preschool only for 20+ years and had taken a year or so off. Again "What do I want to be when I grow up" came up!! I've enjoyed all the home based businesses I've owned over the past thiry years and have learned from them all, but there was always a feeling of burnout after a period of time and a feeling of these not being the destination I felt would bring life lasting satisfaction. This I have always known for sure-I'd work with children, do something that would benifit all my family, and would allow me to continue to grow also!

Talking to a casual friend in August, 2008, I found what I know now is one of the destinations I've been looking for! One month after visiting with her for two hours-having her explain the schooling she was almost finished with-I entered a year long journey to learn the art of helping others to come to emotional healing through what "The Institute of Healing Arts" calls the "Process". IHA teaches Emotional Release Therapy. I now can help or "facilitate" others in taking responsibility for their own emotional and physical health. This includes but is not limited to using bio-kinesiology (muscle response testing or MRT), guided imagery,NLP (neurolinguistic programing), speak out feelings, role play, inner child work, and visualization. I'm priviledged to help others come to a place of healing and a strong sense of closure with issues that they want to work on. I have a PASSION for this work and it fills those few things I've always known! I work with "children" (many of the beliefs we all have were formed in childhood so we work at these ages alot!), I've been able to help facilitate many family members and continue to be excited to do so and I KNOW this work will be a JOY to continue with for LIFE! Thus bringing me to the START of a journey in life nowing what I want to be. Am I finished? Quite the contrary-I've only just begun with my learning-broadening the things I am excited to learn only to compliment the "Emotional Release Work" I already do!!!!!

Jaye (my husband) is my biggest fan in life, my best friend-my love and the one that has nudged me in our thirty years of marriage to go where ever I want to go in life. Thank you honey! This is the beginning of my new lifes path and journey. The center Jodi (my sister and best friend) and Elena (my mom and another best friend) are working toward- WILL happen if it's the right place for us to all end up!!!!!

Ok...I'm running out of catchy titles.  Today, I did some visiting teaching (spiritual),  oven-grilled a pan full of vegetables and spent 30 min on the Wii (physical)  and visited with a friend and spent several counseling hours in the office (highly emotional... in a good way).  All in all, the day has been good.  I'm reading a good book, working on a baby quilt and thinking about when I am going to bake those yummy breakfast cookies.  I'm looking forward to a relaxing evening.

Reporting back at the end of the day...

I went back and did 28 min on the Wii Fit and took a 30 min walk this evening, ending with a visit to my friend, who is dying of cancer.  She is an inspiration to me.  Three years ago, she was given 3  months to live.  She decided to take matters into her own hands after the chemotherapy and experimental regimins that she underwent weren't going to work anymore.  She talked with a naturepath and dietitions, and changed the way she was eating.  She isn't an extreme person and there wasn't a feeling of desperation, but she wanted to stay as healthy as she could.  She began doing the very things that we are talking about doing with the exeption of removing meat completely from her diet.  She wasn't digesting that very well.  But she has added length and quality to her life.  Hopefully we can get the message through to your love, Jodi.  I worked hard today at staying balanced myself.  The work day went well, I visited a friend, did some physical activity and spent some time with my honey, and my dog, and my cat...and oh, yeah, I talked to each of my girls and sent messages to my boys.  Good day!!

Mmmmm...

Ok, I'm not sure what direction my blog contribution is here...as it pertains to the project.  Maybe it's that I am supposed to maintain the healthy lifestyle that we're trying to promote.  That sounds good.  I'm a person that goes "great guns" for awhile, really getting into it and then get out of the habit.  I did my Wii Fit for a whole year, just about everyday and was watchful of what I ate ( not really a diet, although there were diet spurts now and then), and lost the 10 pounds that I had been trying to lose since I was 30 and had my 6th child.  I'm not talking about the space of time when my life was falling apart and battled bulemia.  But after I reached my goal, the regular, daily exercise didn't always happen.  In fact, in anticipation of writing this, I got out my Wii Fit and was pleased to see that I'm still where I want to be BMI and weight wise, but I haven't done the exercises yet, but I fully intend to.  Hula Hoop here I come!  I also bought a stationary thing for my bike, so that I can do some bike riding while I am reading and ...I still do 1-2 miles of walking everyday.  I have a friend that I stop and see, as well as a mother than is on the way that I can visit.  So, those are built-in incentives to walk, even if I don't feel like it.  It's not that I don't like the physical activity of exercise, it's that I get bored easily with the same thing (which is why I like the variety of the Wii) and time.  If I only have 30 minutes and 10 things I can do...well you know how it is, right?  You girls are way more disciplined than me in that way. 
So what do you mean by fasting today?  You fasted until you had your smoothie this morning?  I think I can do that!