Happy Birthday, James Redfield (author of the Celestine Prophecy!)

I've been getting packed over the weekend, and trying to take care of last minute postings before leaving for Tokyo tomorrow.  I have a lot of writing to do, but I'm making time to spend with Anders and Auggie since I won't see them for two and a half weeks.  And Robert and I spent the afternoon yesterday in San Francisco--there was an exhibition of photographs I wanted to see.  We drove all the way out to Vicente and 43rd Street to have a late lunch at the Old Mandarin Islamic restaurant that had gotten a good review.

We had fun being in SF, even though I'm so glad I don't live there anymore.  Windy and cold.  No parking.  I drove Robert by my old house I lived in at 21st and Quintara.  The house looks shabby and run-down. 

We read an article about how the cells in the body replace themselves every three months--unless you are not very active.  The cells respond to exercise that tells them that "you are still alive and foraging for food" so they keep on keeping you alive and young (cellularly).  If you become sedentary, the message is, this person is decaying.  Don't bother to replace cells.. Ugh, that will keep me walking.

I'll try to blog when I'm gone, but not sure if I'll have time.

Yesterday was super-focused.  I started as a volunteer for the writing coaching over at Albany Middle school.  8th graders--great papers, it was fun!  It was weird to be out of the house before 8 am.  

I seemed to be talking all day longyesterday!  I did three interviews, and dinner with Zenobia--we talked till 11:30 pm.  We share a lot of memories, and read some of my old journal entries of our lives together in Northern California.  We could see our dysfunctions, manias, and foibles so clearly for each other.

The first interview I did yesterday was on the topic of Sharing the Path as Mothers and Daughters, discussing these issues that Sigrid and I will be teaching on Mother's Day weekend at Esalen Institute (www.esalen.org). My host was Cheryl McLaughlin, a coach and sports trainer with a focus on women.  The interview is posted at

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/fromhercourt

Secondly, I interviewd Dr. Laura Honos-Webb on her book, Listening to Depression. Her interview will appear as my monthly column in April.

Third, Lara interviewed ME about life purpose and how depression might be a signal that we need to re-align. we had a lot of fun. Her interview will be posted on the Internet, but I don't have the link yet. Her work can be see on her website at www.visionarysoul.com

The whole day was stimulating, and it was all about women, our Athena Proficiencies, and how to listen to intuition when logic and "reality" might seem to be telling you something else.

I'm busy getting ready to clear away my projects before I leave for Japan on Monday. 

I have recently been introduced to the novels of a Japanese author, Banana Yoshimoto. I was able to get a book from amazon.com, Hardboiled & Hard Luck. I love her clear style of writing and thought-provoking insights.  She's won lots of awards and her books have been made into films.  

There's something tantalizing in her directness, and the tone makes you feel you are about to discover something important.

The book starts out, "I was traveling alone, no destination in mind. One afternoon, I found myself walking on a mountain road."

I mentioned her books to my daughter-in-law, Eliza, and she already knew of her. Eliza is a great and fast reader. I checked out Ms. Yoshimoto's web site--and I love her brief journal entries.

http://www.yoshimotobanana.com/en/index.html

Sigrid and Jim drove up from Studio City with Trevor and Chloe.  What a whirlwind four days.

I was hoping for warm weather, but it was patchy.  Actually, it was more restful in some ways to have the clouds and rain.

I made craft projects with all four kids for hours and hours.  My dining table was piled hight with construction paper, string, plastic cups that became blasters and ray guns and towers of unbelievable height.  We powered through three scotch tape holders and couldn't do anymore work!

Sigrid and I had some precious time together, shopping for a couple of hours and taking 2 yoga classes at the Albany Y.  And, we all got to watch the Academy Awards last night together at Gunther and Eliza's.  Gunther had the house to himself all day and cooked great finger food for the party.  Eliza's mom, Carmen, is also here from San Diego, so it was a 2 grandmother week-end.!

It's quiet and rainy now, and I'm happy to be back at work.  

At night I'm reading the most interesting book, Yet Being Someone Other, by Laurens Van der Post, one of the most amazing men I've ever come across.  What I'm loving is that he visited  Japan in 1926, and I am so interested in his impressions since I am very interested in Japanese people and the culture. His deep, spiritually attuned nature reports on the most amazing points of interest for me.  I wish I could have visited Japan in those days. Van der Post (who was born in the interior of Africa) just has the most synchronistic life of meeting the top intellectuals, artists from many countries, as well as knowing intimately the Bushman of the Kalahari.  His description in this book of being on a whaling boat for 3 seasons when he was nineteen was brilliant.  My goal is read everything he ever wrote.

When celebrities do something out of the ordinary, or die young, I am always curious to look at their numerology chart.  Of course, I am reading in events tha I already know about, but I feel I can always learn something about how the numbers express themselves through people.

In the case of Anna Nicole Smith, known as a TV personality and Internet celebrity, I took a look at her birth chart with her original name Vicky Lynn Hogan, born Nov. 28, 1967.

Her birthdate adds up to an 8--the number that usually seeks material success and goes for power.  To give even more strength to the material drive, her name Vicky Lynn Hogan gave her a 9 destiny--to seek wealth and reach a world-wide audience if possible.  Her 9 also was a chance to do humanitarian work.  Her original name also had another feature called "The Line of Fame" something that she did actualize in this lifetime.

 Her heart's desire # was a 3--to communicate, express her ideas, be social, fun and spontaneous--not too serious.  Her original habit challenge (a kind of daily lesson in staying balanced) was the 14/5--a karmic number that often deals with addictions, rebellion, and physical stress--and a need to be different. 

Her numerological influences since November 2005 have been the same # 5--a rather unstable time creating lots of unexpected change.  She also died in February which is a 5 Personal Month, so it is curious that so many 5's created such change in her life during the last two years, from the birth of her daughter, the death of her son, and her own passing.  

 When Vicky Lynn took the name Anna Nicole Smith, her Destiny changed from the 9 (although I believe that our original destiny is always at work) to the Karmic number 13/4  which is traditionally described at the Death, Rebirth, and Transformation number. 

More to ponder.

It's been very interesting going back through my diaries from 1969--1981.  I enjoyed using the piece I found about my working as a cook for Mrs. D. for this month's column. 

Other entries are like verbal snapshots when I lived in the farmhouse in Sonoma County.  Always trying to figure out my relationship with Roy--teaching Sigrid to drive in our big dusty driveway where the quarry trucks passed by.  Watching the black and white cows in the front field while I painted.  Interviewing housemates to fill my extra bedroom.  It was a whole life unto itself.  Each scenario of my life seems almost like a stage set--and I was handed a script, and played it out.

Now back to work on the Japanese book about all this.  Should I try to publish it in English?   

I had fun this weekend with Sigrid and Jim, and Trevor and Chloe.  I really enjoy sitting down with the kids and letting them create stuff out of plastic glasses, cardboard, scotch tape, and feathers.  Sigrid's baby  shower for Jolene was just perfect--brunch, balloons, champagne punch, and  pink-beribboned gifts for each woman.  Jolene is having the first girl in a big family of boys.  Many beautiful friends came to shower Jolene with gifts.  It was a gorgeous sunny Southern California day and it reminded me of one of those indie/docu- movies I saw long ago where all these women came to a party and the movie was just about their conversations--was it called Eating?  Anyway, it was lovely. Sigrid always comes through for friends and family.

I'm back from England.

The regression therapy seminar by Dutch therapist and author, Hans TendDam was very exciting, and I enjoyed my few days in a 13th century stone house, a former Benedictine monaster (Charney Manor.)

The trip was arduous with the severe wind storm in Europe--I almost got blown over in the street.  It took my friend and I 5 hours to drive to the retreat center, when it normally would have been no more than 2 hours.

Does a difficult journey increase the value of the goal?

Yesterday morning, I got the direction I needed to start writing this new book on purpose, love, synchronicity, and change (so far sold only to the Japanese publisher.)

It's fun to write, and stimulated me to go to the basement and dig out old diaries and old writing from when I was 15.  Wow, I was still the same person.  At 15 I wrote, "I subscribed to Writer's Digest today.  Perhaps I'll learn something."  I hope so!  A few months later I startedg getting rejection slips for the epigrams I submitted.

I also opened up what appears to be an autobiographical novel, thinly disguised and starting in 1967, two years before my[first] divorce.  I've only read about two pages, but I had to close it up as it was too real.  It's actually seems not badly written, but where was I going with this?  It's about 200 pages, and I honestly have no recollection of writing it.  Who is this woman? 

It's been a long week with Robert very ill.  In some ways it's brought us even closer.  I'm glad he's on the mend, because I'm leaving for England this afternoon. 

I'll be taking one of Hans TenDam's seminars on past life regression therapy, and I've been studying his astonishingly in-depth book, Deep Healing.  I met Dr. TenDam in Holland, quite synchronistically. 

I had been teaching a class in Amsterdam on synchronicity (!) and flow...and it so happened that two of the students--a couple named Karel and Marjanne deVries--sat at the same lunch table as Robert and I.  Marjanne was describing her work as a past life therapist and I suddenly began to remember that I had read a great book called Exploring Reincarnation by a Dutch author, and have used it as a source book reference in a couple of my own books.  Marjanne said, "Yes, it's Hans TenDam." and Karel said, "He's our best friend.  Would you like to meet him?"  Karel whipped out his cell phone, and within 30 seconds, I was talking to Dr. TenDam.  I was totally amazed at the ease of this connection.  I had a session three days later with him, which I think I blogged about in June.  (his website is:  www.tasso.nl)

So when I saw an email notice about this seminar in England, I couldn't resist learning more about the possible types of repercussions from unresolved past lifetimes that might be the source of certain phobias, illnesses, anxieties, or hard-to-explain patterns or concerns that we might have presently.  

It seems to me that, along with the field of energetic medicine, this kind of exploration and investigation into healing the carry-over of effects from lifetime to lifetime will continue to open up the frontier of human health.

I made dinner last night for Gunther, Eliza, Anders, and Auggie. Zenobia and Tyler came over--she gave me three darling Indian dolls for my collection for my birthday next week!  Fumiko made a wonderful baked mussel appetizer, and we had chicken wings, squash, green beans, rice, and bread--with a little sweet of ladyfingers and blueberries.  I keep trying to find low carb desserts to serve in consideration of A's diabetes.  It was a really fun and warm evening.

I won't be blogging until I return next week. 

This morning I went outside to pick up the newspaper.

The last wind had scoured off the leaves of the maple tree

And now I could see the silver water drops hanging from the branches

After the rain. 

Tonight I went to yoga with Eliza.

At the end I was able to do an arm balance pose, I didn't think I had the strength for.  I sat in full lotus and then, with my arms on two blocks at my sides, I raised my whole torso and folded legs up off the floor!

What a great feeling--just a few seconds.  

Impressions

    New Year's eve day, Robert and I drove out to Pt. Reyes National Park and walked on the vast long, pristine, gray beach of North Beach.  I made a tiny few seconds of video of the surf on my Lumix digital camera.  You can't capture the roar of the surf on a small camera!  

    We made a great NY's eve dinner at home with Fumiko and her friend Joe. Grillend flank steak, tomato and basil bruschetta, olive and mushroom crostini, sourdough bread, oyster stuffing (my grandmother, Dessie Pearl Bear's, recipe) and had Trader Joes' Lava cakes (chocolate) for dessert with some sparkling wine.  Then we watched a Bollywood movie about an Indian family with girls who wanted to get married, based on Sense and Sensibility.

    New Year's day was wonderful.  We visited Zenobia and Tyler, who had invited a bunch of their neighbors.  They had food on the balcony, as the weather turned warm for the day.  It was such fun.  I talked to a great guy who is a lawyer in Oakland, and his whole mission is to help get young black kids into education--to show them the world and to excite them about trying new things.  He's very inspiring.

    Yesterday, Robert and  I went into San Francisco and spent a couple of hours at the Asian Art museum.  I listened to several demo CD's of world music--I loved the Senegalese drum music the best!  Tempted to get some Sufi music, but I have CD's that I don't listen to, so should get out the ones I already have!

    I start working with clients again today.  It's a new year!  A new list of things to do!  Places to go.