Frances, Author at Life, Thoughts & Coffee

February 27, 2013October 18, 2014

“proof of heaven: a neurosurgeon’s journey into the afterlife with dr. eben alexander, III”

When Bob Olson interviewed Dr. Eben Alexander, lll on www.afterlifetv.com my eyes and ears were glued to my little iPad listening to him eloquently tell of a most unusual NDE – the way it all happened – and what occurred after. I don’t want to spoil it for you by telling too much of the story. Besides the story is far better told by the person who had the life-changing event. And it just so happens that Dr. alexander makes listening easy on the ears, and this is important because there’s a great deal to assimilate. During the interview with Bob Olson, Dr. Alexander talks about, among other things: the brain, higher soul, prayer, infinite love, the voice in our head, earth life, the Creator, butterflies (a beautiful story), evil and free will, belief, Om, divine plan, true reason for being here.

He was a different person before his NDE. This seems to be the case with just about everyone who experiences a NDE. If you visit afterlifetv and give your attention to Dr. Alexander’s words, you might feel like a different person, too.

Of course, there will always be the naysayers; they make life interesting. They say, still there is no real proof. Well, there are those things in this world that are based solely on belief. It’s a personal journey we all have to take, and, as with most things, it’s our choice to believe or not. We have only to listen deep within ourselves to know. And when we train ourselves to listen to the other parts of ourselves, we’ll know.

“For a deeper understanding” you might want to visit the following websites: www.eternea.org and www.lifebeyonddeath.net
And take a peek, or read, The New York Times bestseller: Proof of Heaven

Are you having an extraordinary day? 🌷

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“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
– Shakespeare

February 25, 2013April 11, 2013

an evening at whole foods with stephanie

Stephanie at Whole Foods Short Pump — Stephanie

It was the first week in January and I was visiting family – Michael, Alicia, Sebastian, and Clover – in Richmond, Virginia. Alicia had, very happily, just begun the CLEAN program by Dr. Alejandro Junger (for the third time), and was busy juicing and planning her meals. If you haven’t done CLEAN you might want to consider it. It’s a gift you give yourself – when you’re ready. www.cleanprogram.com

We, Michael and I, were not ready yet (although the first time doing the CLEAN program brought wonderful results), and so out of the blue Michael decided to check out the Whole Foods website, and saw that an evening discussion about the benefits of detoxing was scheduled in a few days, with a person named Stephanie. Sounds good, we thought. The first time that I went to the Whole Foods store in Richmond I was surprised at how BIG it is. There is no bumping of carts, or stepping aside to let another pass as in Philadelphia. And that’s okay; the two stores in Philly have all that’s needed.

The day came, and we’re at Whole Foods with a nice group ready to begin the evening’s session. Stephanie began, and, as she spoke, it was obvious that the session was going to be a good one. She gave us print outs; there was a lot of information on those pages. In the course of the evening, a book, The Seven Day Liver Detox, was highly recommended, and a superfood product called AmaZING Grass was passed around for all to taste. We were around ten people, and every question asked was thoroughly answered. Yes, indeed, Stephanie was familiar with the topic, and because she had an appreciation of the power of detoxing, she spoke enthusiastically about the subject with experience backing her up. On top of that, she had a wonderful smile.

We all left the session with a Whole Foods bag of goodies, and lots of food for thought. Before leaving the store, we wanted to buy some of that nutritious, delicious AmaZING Grass. www.amazinggrass.com But . . . it was sold out. AmaZING Grass is a company started by two men who are passionate about growing organic ingredients, and selling a superior product.

Also, I want to say that the movie The Beautiful Truth was heartily recommended.

I recommend it too.

All in all, it was a good evening. I hope yours was, too.

February 21, 2013February 27, 2013

a quote

“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things.” – Steve Jobs,
Apple Worldwide Developers’ Conference, 1997

The above quote is taken from:

February 19, 2013March 19, 2013

michael

Hello, my name is Frances, and I’m usually the one posting on this blog. It’s been interesting, fun, and totally enjoyable. Now it’s time to add some new creative writers and bloggers to the mix. Michael is the newest edition to favorito.com (he’s been here, but in the background), and soon he’ll begin posting. He’s creative, has a dry sense of humor, and perceives life in, well, you’ll see. I’m betting he’ll write in a loosey-goosey (relaxed, calm, unperturbed) fashion because that’s usually his style. But people change, and one never knows what will appear when fingers are placed on a keyboard – to have no rules and to simply write is pure delight. These are amazing times; all kinds of information just about falls at our feet. And so, we’ll continue exploring and entertaining through writings, photos, and videos.

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“Success is not the key to happiness; happiness is the key to success.”
– Albert Schweitzer, 20th century Nobel Peace Prize Winning Medical Missionary and Philosopher
(taken from The Power by Rhonda Byrne)

January 7, 2013May 28, 2013

pickles anyone?

This is Shamus Jones. My daughter Sumi took this picture when we were meandering around Park Slope one lovely summer day in 2012, and happened upon a blackboard in front of a factory. After reading it, Sumi and I glanced at each other, and eagerly entered Brooklyn Brine Co., and saw fragrant, spicy, and beautifully scented pickles. Now there are many, many excellent small specialty shops in Park Slope, and somehow there’s always great interest when another one appears. I say appears because that’s the way it seems. You walk down a street and suddenly there’s a new shop – pies, dumplings, the best cheeses, cafes, bistros, coffee you’ll go out of your way to sip, pizzas having the best ingredients and made with love, small ethnic restaurants, etc. that weren’t there a short time ago, and the mind thinks of great eating possibilities – as with Shamus’ pickle factory. Watch the videos at www.brooklynbrineco.com and you’ll see what I mean; listen to Shamus talk about, well, pickles, and that it all began out of necessity when he was laid off from a job. Watch how the “pickle nerds” work, learn how to make homemade dill pickles. Ordinarily one doesn’t get so excited when talking about pickles, though when you check it out, you’ll see that Brooklyn Brine is no ordinary pickle factory. And to boot, the “pickle nerds” seem to enjoy what they do.

Shamus shows us what can happen when necessity is the driving force.

December 11, 2012June 13, 2013

a gift of words

Through the years I’ve gotten some lovely-to-look-at-notebooks as gifts, and I feel that what’s written on their pages needs to match the notebook’s appearance. I copy words from books, videos, movies, and people doing workshops. I copy the words for different reasons, mostly though because they give an Aha! feeling, and they do that just about every time they’re read. My thinking is that just as we need sustenance for our bodies, we also need it for our minds and spiritual selves. Sometimes in the morning when I’m enjoying a breakfast smoothie made with Dr. Schulze’s SuperFood Plus, I read something at random from one of the notebooks – food for thought in the form of harmony and inspiration. And at night there are those times when they give a feeling of serenity, sometimes security, but not the kind of security we tend to try for in the world.

I’ll gladly share some of the words with you; I think they want to be shared. And I’ll gladly share Dr. Schulze’s website with you too: www.herbdoc.com

“Watching television, seeing everything going on in the world, often leads the small mind to judgment and fear. When you engage this response, you connect yourself to the very energy and dynamics you judge. Far better in such moments is to bless all the Souls and events you witness. Realizing that all people are being called to their curriculum by their Soul will help anyone remember that everything happens for growth – individual and collective.”

“The ego can only survive when we’re in pain. . . . The ego’s friends are guilt, fear, denial and attack. . . . Forgiveness tears down the ego’s walls of separation. . . . The ego cannot survive in the light of loving thoughts.”
– Gabrielle Bernstein in Spirit Junkie: a radical road to discovering self-love and miracles.
www.gabbyb.tv

“The hopeless desolate individual who has been told that nothing more can be done for him should be reminded that the human mind has vast unexplored territory in which lie tremendous resources for healing. His mind is actually an extension of the Infinite Mind. This is not just a pretty figure of speech; it is actual fact. But man usually has to come to the limit of human resources before he will dare to launch himself upon the illimitable ocean of the Infinite. When he does so, he finds that ‘With God all things are possible.’ ” I’ve had this book since 1991; it’s a keeper.
– Frederick Bailes 1889 – 1070, The Healing Power of Balanced Emotions

“When all of our intentions and actions in daily life originate from the intuitive wisdom of our hearts; when we feel and act with sincere appreciation, caring and kindness for others; and when we can observe the world around us without the preset judgments of the mind but rather with the compassion in our heart – then we will truly be living from the heart.”
– Sara Childre, Institute of HeartMath, Heart-Based Living Empowers Co-Creation
www.heartmath.org

“Risk taking, trust and serendipity are key ingredients of joy. Without risk, nothing new ever happens. Without trust, fear creeps in, without serendipity, there are no surprises.”
– Rita Golden Gelman, wrote seventy children’s books and Tales of a Female Nomad, Living at Large in the World.
And a delightful book it is! Her website suggests that she’s a nomad in every sense of the word.

www.ritagoldengelman.com

“You rise to a higher level of consciousness by taking your attention away from your present limitations and placing it upon that which you desire to be.” – Neville

“If we can be still we can fall into a different reality.”
– Anita Moorjani in an interview with Lilou Mace – Life Lessons from Anita Moorjani’s Near Death Experience (NDE) on www.juicylivingtour.com
Give yourself a gift; sit, watch, listen to the entire video. It’s almost certain that the viewer just might come away with a different way of feeling about life, death, and all that’s in between.

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“Two men looked out from prison bars, one saw mud the other saw stars.”

December 4, 2012October 23, 2014

the peace prayer

What would happen if many of us recited the Peace Prayer tonight? -I’m thinking maybe a big shift in mass consciousness. Maybe?

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,
Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
To be understood, as to understand;
To be loved, as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
And it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
Amen.

What do you think, would it work?

December 2, 2012May 30, 2013

the celestine prophecy

The holidays are here. I love the music playing as I enter shops. There’s always this marvelous merry feeling I wish we could all bottle and have the year long. Though when I see people carrying three or four shopping bags full of gifts, I tend to hope that the givers have enough in their piggy banks to allow for stress-free buying. Because buying shouldn’t lead to this: “Stress, a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or very demanding circumstances. ”

Speaking of stress free, an amazing way to keep the holiday glow is to watch a movie that gives us a sense of the spiritual part of the beautiful December holiday, since it’s so very easy to forget that the holiday wasn’t created for shopping. We’re blessed because there’s another side to us, and when we take our attention away from all the enticing ads and commercials, from all the things that take our attention away from what’s really real, and place our attention on slowing down, using our intuition, using the guidance within, focusing on and remembering what’s really important, magic begins to happen.

This is what the movie The Celestine Prophesy is all about, and what it does, it does magnificently. The special way the actors play their part based on their own spiritual life and experiences, the story, the words, the scenery, the energy of many of the people involved in the making of the movie, takes the one watching away from every day thinking to a new way of seeing life. And, if we allow, can get us into the real spirit of the holiday season, and also what we humans are really all about.
www.thecelestineprophecymovie.com/about.php

And when we watch the “Special Features” part, the writer James Redfield talks of “synchronicity.” And it becomes clear that step-by-step the making of the The Celestine Prophecy is completely aligned with the story and its meaning. When we listen to the writers, producers, directors talk about the movie, it becomes clear to us that everything was in sync because of the spiritual life of everyone involved in the making of the movie. After he wrote the screenplay, James Redfield’s intention was to place his attention on synchronicity, intuition, and guidance from within to attract those directors, producers, and actors needed. He did, they showed up, and this too is a marvelous story.

There’s a big chance that by focusing on what The Celestine Prophecy and/or the book by James Redfield is saying, we can change the way we think about certain holidays if they cause stress, because with a new awareness, and a knowing from experience that there’s guidance within, we won’t feel out of control anymore. And then, most likely our usual way of handling stress will be a thing of the past. Oh, yes.

HAPPY, HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND LOTS OF LOVE TO ALL OF US!

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“We wanted actors that related to all this – that were on a spiritual journey of their own.”
– James Redfield

“Synchronicity is a meaningful coincidence – something that happens that gives me an idea of what I’m supposed to do next with my life. And I have to say that sometimes I will follow those guidances, those thoughts, and, in a short run it may look like I’ve made a mistake – why did I feel that way, or think that way, or say that? And then I may find out later that there’s a higher meaning to it. I had to grow through a certain experience, or I had to become a different person, in order to live out what that was guiding me toward.”
– Salle Merrill Redfield, executive producer

“One of the most amazing things about life is that when we stop controlling we open up to a whole new possibility . . . I believe that when we do that we’re led down a whole new path. We meet people we would never have met before. We experience new things that we could never have experienced before. But we have to let go in order to do that, and it’s not easy, but I believe once we do it, we embrace this idea that we’re not fully in control of our lives. Then we see a whole new turn of events happen.”
– Salle Merrill Redfield

September 10, 2012October 18, 2014

where would you go?

Because I read Kathleen Peddicord’s newsletters, and International Living, too, read travel books, watch travel documentaries, and tend to meet people who travel the world . . . I was thinking about where would I choose to live . . . so many beautiful places . . . where would I go . . . if I decided it was time to go? – it’s a wonderful question. I’ve actually narrowed it down to: France, somewhere in Ecuador, Uruguay perhaps, maybe Thailand, or Italy. And, yes, there’s also sacred and ancient India and its magnificent rich history. Though as far as India is concerned, I hear a little voice in the back of my head saying: however will you make that happen? And then there are the pictures I’ve seen of people profusely sweating and mopping their faces and necks with handkerchiefs, and documentaries of foreigners doing the same and looking as hot as hot can be. I’m not sure I could take that amount of humidity and remain sane. The other side of the coin is, when people talk of India they don’t complain of the humidity. And I’m beginning to think that it has to do with learning acceptance and simply loving and appreciating what India has to offer. The movie The Story of India by Michael Wood is a powerful, exciting, and marvelous documentary that can easily have a viewer thinking, I want to be there, too.

Now I have a question for you: Are there places in this beautiful and fascinating world you would happily move to in a heartbeat? And if you say yes, where and why?

Finding a place where there are like-minded people of all ages, a place that inspires and offers plenty of beauty, a place where nature has remained intact for the most part, a place having quality of life, and organic farms would be just about ideal.

Some people see the whole world as their home, and are comfortable anywhere with anybody, and I’m inching toward that mindset. The longer I live the more I understand that we humans are capable of changing . . . we’re always changing – we just don’t realize it. When we want the BIG changes to come and focus to the extent that most everything else becomes secondary . . . no doubts, anxiety, negative thoughts, no fear thoughts, allowed . . . a “single mindedness” until we’re where we want to be . . . that includes in any area of life . . . when that happens . . . we can expect change – the kind we want.

The way I prepare is to hobnob with the Mystic Power Emmet Fox so beautifully understood and wrote about. Mystic Power has many names, and we need to find the name that resonates with us. It’s a total belief that Mystic Power is our perfect senior partner.

Now I have a question for you: Are there places in this beautiful and fascinating world you would happily move to in a heartbeat? If yes, where would you go? And why?

The evening is lovely. Autumn is signaling that it’s right around the corner. For me saying goodbye to a very, very hot and humid summer will be easy. Although I know of people who feel sad about summer’s ending. If you’re one of those people, cheer up, it’ll be back.

I hope you had a wonderful day.

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It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare;
It is because we do not dare that they are difficult. – Seneca

August 29, 2012October 17, 2014

emmet fox

Are you acquainted with Emmet Fox yet? His was a full life, and a spiritual one, and he was dedicated to helping others. www.emmetfox.net And although he died in 1951 he continues to help millions by way of his marvelous books. Why? Well, because he answers many of the same questions many of us ponder at certain intervals in our lives, and he does so in an amazingly straightforward way – a way that’s pretty easy to understand and nice to read. And whether we’re starting on the path in wanting to live a more spiritual life, or have read hundreds of books and attended lots of workshops and retreats, his books have a way of offering what we’re looking for. Of course, as with anything, attention to the subject is important, then again, why would we bother with this kind of a book unless we’re searching for something? Some of our genuine spiritual teachers of today say that Emmet Fox clarified much for them, and that they keep his books close at hand. I believe that somehow through his words he passes on a certain energy, and the only way to feel them is to find a quiet space somewhere and attentively read his words. Right now I feel blessed to be reading Power Through Constructive Thinking. Inside the jacket of the book is this sentence from The New York Times: “Dr. Fox shows that . . . down the ages certain people have attained mastery over their misfortunes and through their own efforts have been able to lead lives of unbroken happiness.”

It was a gorgeous day today. And tonight the streets are crowded still, people are sitting outside tables enjoying a scrumptious looking restaurant meal, some are walking with ice cream, others are listening to the Spinning Leaves concert at Rittenhouse Square Park in Philadelphia. Very nice!

I hope you’re enjoying too.