Tarot by Lavena: Into the Light

Kung Fu Panda 2: Inner Wisdom for Children

2011-06-02T13:56:00Z

These last few years have introduced children to Eastern religious thought and culture through games, television, and films, including Yu-Gi-Oh, Avatar: The Last Airbender, the remake of The Karate Kid, and even going way back, the Star Wars series. Another of my favorite films is Kung Fu Panda.

I was not really interested in the original film, but my children twisted my arm and convinced me to go with them to see it. I giggled through most of the film and realized the film presented true spiritual lessons.

The newest film, Kung Fu Panda 2 is about Po’s journey to discover “who he is.” On his journey he “searches for his father,” a common theme in many stories, and he searches for “inner peace.” Like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, he ends his journey in gratitude for home and the love that surrounded him all along, appreciative of true friendship.

I love many of the quotes from the film but my favorite is

“Your story may not have such a happy beginning but that doesn't make you who you are, it is the rest of your story, who you choose to be.”

~The Soothsayer

Let us all remember this simple truth. The past is the past. It doesn’t matter what was. It doesn’t matter what will be. There is only now. I Am. Use the power of the present moment to choose love, compassion, and walk into your dreams.

And to think, I was reminded of this from a children’s story.

“Remember dragon warrior, anything is possible when you have inner peace.”

~Master Shifu

Give it to Get it

2011-05-26T13:37:00Z

Many people consider me wise. I have certainly learned my share of spiritual lessons over the last 45 years of my life. However, I am amazed that I still can’t grasp fully the most basic laws of the universe. These last few weeks I have been bopped over the head with basic law of the universe #1: You need to give it to get it.

Some of you know this law from the Bible: “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.” [Matthew 7:12]. It’s the golden rule after all. Other expressions that come to mind are “Live by the sword, die by the sword” or “What goes around, comes around.”

The bottom line is that all the wise gurus of the ages understood that what you give out to the universe energetically you get back from the universe energetically.

A few nights a week, I teach English to disadvantaged young adults who are trying to get their high school diploma. These young adults are struggling with homelessness, neglect, abuse, unplanned pregnancies, mental illness and drug abuse. Many have been locked up and have been violent to others. Their language is vile. Their behavior often follows suit. The energy many send out to me is dark, scary even. I moved into protection mode and often felt the need to fight, defend, and protect myself.

I expressed my frustration with the teacher of my ministry class. She reminded me of the basics. If you are giving out that energy of anger and frustration, you will get it back from the students. If you walk into the room with a suit of armor ready for war, you will get that back from the students. “Beam that room with love,” she suggested. “No matter how hard in the moment, no matter how you feel, beam that room with love.”

Again, I stubbornly stewed. She didn’t understand who I was teaching every day. These students were criminals for goodness sake.

A few weeks later, my students graduated. Every one of them made it. As they walked past me in their caps and gowns, they smiled. I reached out my hand to one particular young man who gave me a very hard time all semester. He was gang involved in the past but was trying to better his life. He shook my hand and said, “I’m sorry.”

At that moment I saw him. I saw all of them. They were my teachers.

Oprah Winfrey reminded me again yesterday when she said during her last show, “Nobody but you is responsible for your life. You are responsible for your life. What is your life? What is all life? What is every flower, every rock, every tree? Energy. And you're responsible for the energy you create for yourself, and you're responsible for the energy that you bring to others."

Yes, I feel I’m finally learning the basics. We get back what we give.

The American Economy: Tough Times

2009-11-29T15:14:00Z

A year ago, when the bottom fell out of the American economy, I know I was in denial. I had just gotten a new job. Things seemed to be going well. Then, crash. By spring, my husband had lost his job, and my salary had been cut. We were told to be "thankful" it wasn't worse. My denial ran deep, however. After all, in my lifetime, things always bounced back

...until this time.

One year later and I’m still waiting for the return of the “good times.” This time IS different. We are all in a place of restructuring, energetically, individually and as a nation. Good times will return, but the way we do business, the way we spend, the way we interact with one another WILL change. This isn’t a bad thing. But, it is a difficult transition for many of us.

The theme from my clients during this holiday period is about work and money. Will I get fired? Will I get a new job? Will I have enough money? Remember, that even in tough economic times, you can make lemonade out of lemons. You can choose to see the possibilities. Every moment is an opportunity for success! This time, we all need to look outside the box to create that new world. The old way, business as usual, will not work anymore.

For me and my family, we chose to put our eggs in more than one basket. My husband did get a new job. He was determined and wouldn’t take “no” for an answer. He also teaches tennis part-time and is looking ahead for more education and retraining. I teach full-time in a high school, but also work part-time as an adjunct professor and read cards for people when I can. With all our jobs and talents, when one job dries up, we have other jobs to fill in the cracks.

Are you in a financial transformation?

Focus on all of your talents.
Don’t put all your worth in one job or company.
Connect with one another, network, job share, etc.
Continue your education; keep learning, both formally and informally.
Live simply.
Know that with every moment, we have the possibility to rise, to achieve, and to create what we really want.

God bless!

Lavena*

You Light Up My Life

2008-08-21T11:24:00Z

What is coming through for me this morning are memories of my 6^th grade school year. It was 1977, and I was 11-years-old, just starting middle school. It was not a good transition for me or a good year in general. What I remember most was being bullied incessantly.

My parents didn’t have a lot of money, so I wore clothes from a thrift store. My hair was long and stringy, and I hadn’t really made the leap to perfumes, deodorants, make-up, and other hygienic and glamorous accessories. I don’t remember my mother really directing me much as to what to do. The other girls in the 6^th grade, the “cool” kids, were wearing their Levi’s with the comb in the back pocket, which could be whipped out at any moment to smooth out their Dorothy Hamel haircuts. They were already thinking about boyfriends and “making out.” I was so not there yet and felt like a fish out of water.

I remember

…a boy named Matt who used to sit in the back of the bus. If I went too far back, he’d throw things at my head. He loved to call me “brain” because I was smart and “drama faggot” because I loved to perform on stage and wanted to join the drama club.

…a boy who made fun of my breasts at Bobby’s Rollerway, calling me “pointy.”

…a boy named Chris, Matt’s best friend, who dumped bath oil in my science project, a terrarium, and all my plants died.

…a very large 8^th grade girl, who smoked cigarettes and spent all her time in the principal’s office, randomly pointing to me in the hallway saying, “I’m going to beat the crap out of you. Watch yourself after school.”

…a girl named Susan, who had long, beautiful hair pulled back in pretty headbands. I smiled at her one day, and she rolled her eyes and said, “Loser.”

…having a crush on a boy named Tony who just moved to the area from South Carolina. He was very nice to me because he didn’t realize I was a social outcast. One day, in order to redeem his own status in the school, he called me a “dog” and said nobody would ever go out with me.

…sitting all day in a classroom, not doing much at all. My teacher, Mrs. French, who loved to wear sandals adorned with big, plastic, yellow flowers, never left her desk. For some reason, I was placed in a class of very unmotivated children because of “inclusion.” We learned times tables all year, something I had known since the 3^rd grade, so mostly, I just sat in terror, bored, not wanting to be there, hoping that nobody would speak to me.

…being called a “snob,” but I was anything but a snob. I was just withdrawing, afraid to speak, because of all the hostility and negative energy I felt from everybody around me.

Until one day in music class.

I loved music class. It was always entertaining and informative. At the end of every class, Mr. Lefebvre would have us sing a song. Usually, he played the piano and sang, or played a record and wanted us to sing along, but nobody did. That was the unwritten school rule. You just sat and humored him.

One day, the song he played was “You Light Up My Life,” the big hit by Debby Boone. I loved that song and knew all the words. I don’t know what possessed me that day, but I sang. I sang, most likely off key, but I sang. I just kept focusing on the teacher, who kept staring at me in disbelief that I was actually singing, and then I realized that I was the ONLY one singing. The entire class, bullies and all, just sat, silent, staring at me, mouths hung open, wondering, what in the world are you doing?

I felt such strength at that moment, energy rising, and in defiance, I continued singing, horridly, but I sang, and I sang, and I sang…

“You, light up my life, you give me hope, to carry on…”

I found my voice.

Releasing the Dragon

2008-07-09T13:44:00Z

Recently, I have been angry. No reason, really. Just all of a sudden. Anger. It rose up, bubbled even, until the pressure blew. I found myself standing up for myself, standing up against injustice, just speaking up, but it was also angry, like “Hey, I’m not going to take it anymore, so you can just kiss my &^#@#$.”

Whew.

After the initial eruption, there was a time of resting and reflection, and the image I kept seeing was the dragon, a huge beast rising from the abyss, my inner consciousness, awakened, and then the roar, as the dragon flew, blowing fire.

I have awoken the dragon within.

Dragons are interesting symbols. They represent “the defender,” as well as faith, courage, strength and power. Depending on the culture (European dragons, Chinese, etc.), dragons can also be symbols of blessings, good luck, and intelligence or wisdom. The dragon perseveres until success is achieved. For me, I feel the dragon is about self-empowerment.

It is time now to embrace who we are, to rise, empowered, to our rightful place in the universe.

I no longer want to slay my dragon. I want to let my dragon fly free.

Mistakes

2008-07-02T14:50:00Z

Ever make a mistake so large that it changed everything? Your entire life path for good or ill? Do you look back, wonder, if only I said this, if only I did that, if only I could take “it” back?

I have. I have made big mistakes, life changing mistakes, said the wrong thing, and instantly, as soon as the words passed my lips, I wanted to take back those words or take back those actions. I wonder all the time what my life would be like if some key moments in my life that I coin “mistakes” could be “undone.”

But, there is no back, only now. And we have to finally forgive ourselves, come to acceptance that we did the best we could at the time and move forward, changed hopefully for the better because of our “epiphanies.”

Mistakes are never really “mistakes.” Just stumbling blocks of growth, opportunities to do better, opportunities to make better choices…

And for the record, to all those who have been victims of my “stumbling blocks of growth,”

I’m sorry.

Prayers to Becky

2008-05-19T13:02:00Z

My son Ben just lost one of his best friends, Becky.

Becky was 16, full of life, your typical American teenager. Just last month, Becky was in my living room with her Dad, excited to be off to Europe on a school trip, and this Friday is the junior prom. Becky and her friend Brittany paired with my son and his best friend Ryan. There were no romances here, just four very good friends, looking forward to a splendid evening. Life was good.

My son for the last month would say, “Mom, I keep seeing 911. I look at the clock at 911 every day, just like that! It’s driving me crazy! What does it mean?”

Friday night, May 16^th, Becky left her father’s house with her friend Nate. He forgot his cell phone. He only lived a bit away. They jumped into the car, off to his house on a wet, drizzly evening. “We’ll be right back,” she told her father.

My husband drove Ben to his friend Sean’s on Friday, May 16^th, a wet and drizzly evening. Not knowing why, he said, “Ben, be careful. You never know. You never know what can happen.” He told me later, “I don’t know why I said that.”

Becky and Nate hydroplaned into a tree. Neither was wearing a seat belt. I don’t know all the details of the accident, but feel she may have been thrown from the car. She died instantly. Nate broke his back, has swelling of the brain, not sure if he’ll make it. The EMT’s found the cell phones. That’s how they notified Becky’s father, as he sat wondering, Where is she? I thought she said she’d be right back.

“Becky’s dead,” my son Ben told me the next morning. He told me later, “I understand 911 now.”

Becky died on the anniversary of her mother’s death.

Prayers to Becky.
Prayers to Nate.
Prayers to their families.
Prayers to all who loved them.

The children here weep.

Creativity

2008-04-06T20:50:00Z

“I’m not creative.”

I hear that all the time from students and even from some of my clients when I read.

Being creative means having the power to create, having original thought, original expression, and imagination. Dare I say it, being creative is like being God. Maybe that is why some people have such a hard time with the word or even the action of creating.

The truth is that God is within us, and therefore, we are all God-like, mini-Gods in a way. If we are God-like then we are all creators. If we are all creators, we are by definition, “creative.”

We create each and every day with our thoughts, our feelings, and our intentions. We create what we don’t want as much as what we do want. Even my students who are professing, “I’m not creative,” are actually creating and defining who they are in that moment.

Creative people are just those who create with intention and relish in the moments of creation, loving it, passionate about the journey, the creative process, and open to the possibilities in life.

We are all creative.

New Beginnings: The emergence of spring

2008-03-22T15:33:00Z

No doubt, there are many blog entries on Keen this week, welcoming spring and wishing one and all a Happy Easter. Although the topic seems cliché and mundane after awhile, I still can’t help but proclaim happy spring and happy Easter myself.

I live in Southern New England, a spot on Earth that suits me. I can travel 3 hours north and enjoy the mountains. I can travel 45 minutes South or East and enjoy the ocean. I can enjoy city life within an hour’s drive, either Providence or Boston. I can meander west and enjoy rolling farm lands, rivers, and woodlands. Quaint New England charms seem to be everywhere, weathered cape homes, white picturesque churches, picket fences, and aging colonials.

I also love the four seasons in all their glory in this part of the country.

March is an interesting and depressing month here. Winter still tries to hold on even though spring has arrived. We vacillate between snow flurries, rain, occasional ice, blustery wind, and that sunny day, temperature hovering in the 40’s, the sun straining to heat the earth. But I can’t help but feel happy and joyful at the sun’s attempt, knowing that changes are occurring, the land is blooming forth, and new beginnings are again possible.

Despite the occasional last few puffs of winter, I’m hearing birds singing in the morning and the sun greets me as I wake. The robins hop over the yard, nesting now, no doubt. I’m seeing the bulbs pop through the ground, tufts of green that sprinkle the brown and gray of the landscape. In two weeks, the recreational fields may open, if the rains hold, and my children will be playing soccer and baseball once again, and within my community, neighbors will begin hanging out on their porches after dinner, and I will be able to wear flip flops, wiggling my toes, while enjoying ice coffees among the tulips, daffodils, forsythia, blooming rhododendrons, and blossoming trees, including my favorite, the weeping cherry.

Ah yes, I love how spring emerges, sprouts, blooms, explodes in living color, and I am reminded of how beautiful the world can be, even after the darkness.

We are moving, once again, into the Light…the possibilities!

Lottery Dreams

2008-02-23T16:32:00Z

I must have had lottery drawings on the brain last night.

It all started with a client yesterday who won a small amount of money in the lottery and asked if she would win more. I don’t do lottery readings or predictions, nor does Keen policy allow me to do that anyway, but the client was very understanding. I always wondered why I can feel what will happen in so many circumstances but I can’t pick the lottery numbers. What’s up with that spirit?

After the call, all I could think about was buying a lottery ticket. The Megamillions Jackpot was like $270,000,000. So, I convinced my husband to buy a couple tickets. As my family gathered to make dinner plans, we daydreamed of how we would spend the money. For our family, the dream involves a nice home of our own, cars that actually run, and a family vacation every year, a really good one. It involves paying all our bills, student loans and other debt, making sure our children are provided for as far as education and starting their own lives, and giving to the many organizations in our local community who have helped us and our children over the last 20 years. We ate our dinner with this daydream glowing over our heads.

Last night, I had the strangest dream right before waking…

I was barefoot. But, walked with my parents to the local convenience store down the road. Before I walked in, a man pumping gas told me to play the numbers 1-30 consecutively (Ok, that’s random. Did he know you only play 6 numbers?)

We walked into the store and to the counter to buy a ticket. The floor was sticky and disgusting from old slushies and other sticky drinks, which must have spilled. I, being barefoot, had to walk over the mess and felt very uncomfortable. Before I could even ask for a lottery ticket, I noticed the machine with a huge sign: “Megamillions is down. Sorry.”

You mean, I can’t buy I ticket? I don’t understand.

The man at the counter seemed very apologetic and offered me a free gift to make up for my disappointment. He was very open and generous and handed the gift to me and my parents:

2 hotdogs, wrapped in plastic.

You know, the kind of hotdogs you see in convenience stores, premade, ready to microwave, the meat discolored so you question if it is really meat.

I kept thinking, this is not what I want. I want to play. I want to win Megamillions.

And yet, this is what was offered. (Sigh)

So, my parents and I left the store with our hotdogs and disappointment.

When I woke up, the message of the dream hit me…Darn. I didn’t win. I need to accept what is offered.

I hope next time; spirit gives me shoes in the dream.

Quotes: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares

2008-02-22T15:48:00Z

I haven’t written about my reading lately, so I thought I’d share some thoughts from my latest read, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares. This book was written in 2001 and is considered “young adult literature,” a great book, specifically, for those of you who have teenage daughters.

I actually bought this book, originally, for my daughter Rachel when she was 14. My husband, who also works part-time at Borders for extra family cash, raved about the book at the time for girls. He called the teenagers buying the book: “Little Ya Ya’s.” The reference is to The Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells, which shares common “women bonding themes” with Traveling Pants, but is more adult, and in my opinion, just a better book overall.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants sat on my bookshelf for years until I started teaching an adolescent literature course at my college. I have finally read it and saw the film, which I was grossly disappointed in. However, I’d suggest the book for any teenage girl or young woman, and if you like “chick flicks” and “chick books,” you may like this one too. Read this book, and then go read Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood!

My favorite part of Traveling Pants was the quotes that began each chapter, so I thought I’d share them here for thoughts and comments. I’m starring and highlighting my favorites:

*1. “Not all who wander are lost.”

-J.R.R. Tolkien

2. “Luck never gives: it only lends.”

-Ancient Chinese Proverb

3. “Today is the tomorrow we worried about yesterday.”

-Anonymous

4. “Can you make yourself love? Can you make yourself be loved?”

-Lena Kaligaris, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

*5. “There is no such thing as fun for the whole family.”

-Jerry Seinfeld

6. “Love is like war: Easy to begin. Hard to end.”

-Proverb

7. “Rule #1: The customer is always right. Rule #2: If the customer is wrong, please refer to rule #1.”

-Duncan Howe

8. “When life hands you a lemon, say, “Oh yeah. I like lemons. What else ya got?”

-Henry Rollins

9. “I have seen the future and it’s like the present, only longer.”

-Dan Quisenberry

*10. “Sometimes you’re the windshield: sometimes you’re the bug.”

-Mark Knopfler

11. “If you feel like you’re under control, you’re just not going fast enough.”

-Mario Andretti

12. “The problem is not the problem. The problem is your attitude about the problem. Got that?”

-Coach Brevin

13. “If you don’t find it in the index, look very carefully throughout the entire catalog.”

-Sears Roebuck Catalog

14. “Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them, and you have their shoes.”

-Frieda Norris

15. “Time tells the truth.”

-Fortune Cookie

16. “Of the thirty-six ways of avoiding disaster, running away is best.”

-Anonymous

17. “Life is so…whatever.”

Kelly Marquette, aka Skeletor, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

*18. “You will make all kinds of mistakes: but as long as you are generous and true and also fierce you cannot hurt the world or even seriously distress her.”

-Winston Churchill

19. “Wish for what you want. Work for what you need.”

-Carmen’s grandmother, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

*20. “My karma ran over my dogma.”

-Bumper Sticker

21. “You can take a road that gets you to the stars. I can take a road that will see me through.”

-Nick Drake

22. “What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.”

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

23. “All Moanday, Tearday, Wailsday, Thumpsday, Frightday, Shatterday.”

-James Joyce

*24. “Is there world enough for me?”

-Jane Frances

25. “In your eyes I am complete.”

-Peter Gabriel

26. “We will go – Nowhere we know-We don’t have to talk at all.”

-Beck

Enjoy! And happy reading.

Lavena*

The End of Days: Is it really about the end of the Oil Age?

2008-02-17T18:30:00Z

We have all heard the predictions for 2012, the year the Mayan calendar ends. In the spiritual community, most believe that this year is a rough date for a shift in consciousness or the time of ascension, when energetically and spiritually, we evolve to a new level. Others believe in more literal predictions of doom and gloom, when life comes to an end, like in the book of Revelations in the Bible. I have heard everything predicted from pole shifts to nuclear war. The only thing many can agree on is that many cultures and seers from the past have picked up on this date as important for some change for mankind.

Like many, I have contemplated the meaning of these predictions and have had a few visions myself of possible things to come. My mother, a closet psychic herself, has a gift of predicting earth changes, so often she will share dreams and visions of those types of changes. I often get visions of more warlike scenarios. I try not to focus on any of these doom and gloom visions, since I truly believe that our future is in our hands.

Recently, I have been lead to three documentaries, all within a short period of time, and it is like I have had an epiphany, concerning some of these changes to come. Each documentary is about Oil, Crude, Black gold, Texas Tea: They are about the end of the Oil Age. That “end” begins in the now.

I strongly recommend for viewing:

· Crude (The History Channel)

· The End of Suburbia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHr8OzaloLM

· A Crude Awakening

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HRZPpbpSjg

Suddenly, a lot made sense to me, concerning the changes coming up. I’m pretty convinced that any change of consciousness, earth changes or possible wars are related to the end of the Oil Age. Like it or not, we are running out of oil on the planet. Period. It is amazing to me, after viewing these documentaries, just how much our entire civilization runs on oil. Not just our cars and living arrangements, but our food sources, clothing, etc. The world HAS peaked its oil production, and slowly, we have to face the other side of the mountain. This means changing how we live, how we work, how we think, how we relate to one another, and hopefully, we will embrace new sources of energy.

We can choose, it seems, to fight to the death for the last remaining oil reserves in the world (Middle East) to maintain a lifestyle and way of life that can no longer continue…or, we can change the way we live. Either way, the changes begin, whether we are ready or not.

Something to think about.