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Looking for Love?

There’s a saying that prostitutes (often having hearts of gold) look for love in all the wrong places. That might be true, but if it’s true of the women who work in the “oldest profession in the world,” it’s also true of many others. Social Media has brought this to light big time. 

What’s coming into center stage is the importance of truly loving ourselves in the right way. Because if you look at some of the postings and photos, there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of true self-love and a healthy dose of self-respect out there. Many people are unable to even look in a mirror and say these five words: “Hey you, I love you.” Why can’t they say this simple and lovely sentence to themselves? It’s obvious, isn’t it?  And it’s sad. It’s sad because it impacts most areas of life. Whereas, if it were the other way around, if when waking up every morning, looking in a mirror on the way to the bathroom, and saying and believing, “Hey you, I love you! Let’s get ready for an extraordinary day today.” Life would perk up and begin to be different from that day on. Of course, it would perhaps start slowly as most love affairs do, the momentum has to build, love has to take hold, and energy has to shift. Then one morning on the way to the bathroom, a feeling  creeps out of the blue, with a look in the mirror, there’s an overwhelming sense that something is indeed different, and the words “Hey you, I love you” are no longer painful when said; they no longer bring tears laced with sadness to the eyes. 

Happily and gratefully it doesn’t end there for we are ever unfolding just as the the Universe is. The collection of a unique set of tools for a journey that has many stops and goes has begun. The hum-drum of an ordinary existence has been replaced. We’re no longer looking for love in all the wrong places, just as the women with hearts of gold are. We have found our first and true love, and from there the Universe shows us how to love the world we live in.

  
Imagine that!

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otavalo

I’m in Otavalo, Ecuador, a city surrounded by three volcanoes; it’s a vibrant city, with a 70% indigenous population, and I want to add, it’s quite a sophisticated small city.  

On Saturday people come from many different countries for the market; it’s quite a happening. Many people come to import large quantities of scarves, hammocks, hats, pants, fabric in luscious colors, bags, jewelry, paintings – it goes on and on. Here is just a small sampling of what you can feast your eyes on should you come.



Being in Otavalo is a lot of fun. I’m learning to negotiate – the art of negotiating Is a must here, and is interesting to observe.

From a very young age children help their parents. When you’re from a different culture, it’s eye-opening to observe another way. Love it!

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about coffee grounds

Whenever I see the word coffee, I click and read. This time it was at: sprudge.com/10-ways-use-leftover-coffee-grounds.html
The write up:

“10 Cute Animals Show You How To Recycle Leftover Coffee Grounds
JULY 21, 2014 BY ANNA BRONES

A daily morning coffee routine means one thing: daily leftover coffee grounds. Most of the time, they just get tossed in the trash. That’s your first mistake; coffee grounds are happy to be composted, along with coffee filters. But you might not want to be so fast to throw your grounds out at all. Leftover coffee grounds are actually quite useful, from keeping your dishes clean to keeping you looking your best. Not convinced? Here are 10 ways to use your leftover coffee grounds.”

I had a lot of hope for suggestion #2, which is: Exfoliate Your Skin – with 1 part coffee grounds and 1 part oil, “like olive oil or coconut oil.” It worked beautifully; it did what was suggested it would do, and with enough oil left on after rinsing to feel nicely moisturized.

Now suggestion #9, Get the Best Looking Hair Ever – by massaging your hair with coffee grounds, then rinsing. True; those coffee grounds worked like a charm. However, in the shower they seemed to have taken on a life of their own during the rinsing – they went here, there, and everywhere. Cleaning took a while, to say the least. Though . . . I must be a glutton for work because I did this a second time. The results are remarkable.

It’s time to look at that useful write-up again as there are eight other suggestions on what to do with leftover coffee grounds. It’s such a shame that all this time I’ve been discarding them. Although, I remember that years ago my father put coffee grounds around all the shrubs. I wonder where his source of information came from.

sprudge.com is all about coffee. So very interesting!

I hope you enjoy, too.

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“we all bruise too easily”

After reading this I thought you might want to also, so I copied and pasted and here it is.

By Mark Gilbert
consciousbridge.com

“There’s an old line in the Simon and Garfunkel song that goes “I bruise you, you bruise me, we all bruise too easily”. How true! Of course we’re not talking about physical bruises per se, but more about mental bruises.
It seems that more and more people seem to care less about the destructive power of their words. Social discourse seems more concerned about making our point even if it ruffles others’ feathers. Sometimes it looks like we even like ruffling the feathers.
On the other hand, it seems like people are waiting to get bruised. It’s like we’re sitting around waiting for someone to say something that upsets us or we disagree with so we can fire back our verbal rockets.
The interactions of people on TV and on the Internet all too often follow an ever upward escalating course of bruising, being bruised, and bruising back. How can we stop this cycle?
One, it starts with each and every one of us becoming responsible for our words and actions. Each of us individually must set an intention to be, in the words of Don Miguel Ruiz, “impeccable with our words”. That is, we choose wisely our words so that they both communicate our meaning while maintaining our relationships. We can say what we need to say while being mindful of how it’s going to be received. We can choose to be kind in our language always. We can choose not to bruise others.
Two, we can toughen our skin and not be bruised so easily by the words of others. Again as Don Miguel Ruiz says, “don’t take things personally”. Someone else can state an opinion that’s different from you and they’re voicing that opinion takes nothing away from you. You can choose to disagree verbally or not. If you do choose to state your opinion, then again be impeccable with your words… communicate your meaning while maintaining your relationship.
Third, by you not bruising others and not allowing others to bruise you, you become a model for others and how they can break the cycle of negativity. By beginning with yourself, you expand your sphere of influence. By everyone taking responsibility to be impeccable with their words and to not take things personally, we can change the direction of social discourse to a positive direction.”
Mark

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walking, always walking 👞👢👠👟👡

Today I decided to walk back from Cale de Queso which is located on Baltazara de Calderon 3 – 76 y Gran Colombia where I bought a few of their delicious rolls and some cookies. It’s not easy to leave with just that skimpy bag, when (see below) scream to be bought . . . but, I did it . . . this time around.

It’s always nice walking along Simon Bolivar passing interesting places along the way. Hostal Posada del Angel on Estevez de Toral 8 – 91 y Bolivar, and its restaurant, Mangiare Benne, is one of those delightful places where a few of us (remember Emi and Minesh?) had a delicious Thanksgiving dinner last year (minus the turkey). www.hostalposadadelangel.com

Still walking, I reached Hermano Miguel where I turned right and came to Calle Larga. Then down the 88 steps to Tres de Noviembre where halfway over the bridge I noticed this lovely rainbow –

IMG_1913.JPG Grant you, I could have taken a fuller picture, but I could also have fallen into the Rio Tomebamba while holding an umbrella, two heavy bags of fruit, and a phone on a rainy evening.

When I looked up after taking the picture, I noticed a large group of bicyclists at one end of the bridge traveling along Tres de Noviembre, and at the other end across 12 de Abril at Parque de la Madre, adjacent to the Planetarium, there was lively entertainment. I love when Cuenca is busy having fun.

Whew! It’s been a long walk . . . forging ahead on 12 de Abril I finally reach my friendly neighborhood restaurant, Common Grounds at Paucarbamba 2 – 75. This is where crossing four lanes of highway gets tricky. Cars were in full force . . . but . . . tonight apparently gracious drivers were, too. Thank you!

Then along came a foot race on 12 de Abril – I had lots of company on the last leg of the walk.

 

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Wherever you are, be totally there. – Eckhart Tolle

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that gut feeling

I’ve been in Cuenca, Ecuador a while, and I can say that it’s a nice lifestyle. The city is alive with culture, there are festivals of all kinds, music, restaurants, new foods to taste, inexpensive, sometimes hair-raising, bus rides to north, south, east, west, people eager to meet people, there’s a lot of support, a good medical system in place, lots of possibilities to learn Spanish either with a tutor or at a school, it’s a marvelous walking city, the big mercados are filled to the brim with fresh fruits and vegetables at unbelievable prices, there always seem to be a number of spacious homes and apartments to buy or rent, and, listen to this . . . that’s not all.

Sometimes though one’s heart says it’s time to move on. And as strange as that sounds after just listing the delights of living in Cuenca, that just might be the case. The Quito/Otavalo/Cotacachi area is beckoning. Every time I read or hear about that land north of Cuenca, I imagine what it would be like to live there. It was my original destination before I second-guessed myself, and that says something for listening to one’s gut feeling. Though, Cuenca, thank you, you have been so good to me. Perhaps at heart I’m a vagabond – at least for now.

IMG_1596-3.JPG An invitation to join in the festivities.

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“Just stop! Go in the heart. You can change reality that way. Move from brain to your heart. You can do this very fast. Tune into heart.” – Hira Hosen
tantraoftheheart.com

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it’s that word trust again

I just deleted a post I wasn’t sure about. That word delete makes me think of other ways we delete events in our lives. It can happen when we have a thought that manages to take over, and soon we’re second-guessing what was once a solid plan.

For instance, I like reading travel essays, travel books, and, well, most anything having to do with travel. Lately there’s plenty written about moving to Cuenca, Ecuador where I live. However, I don’t often hear or read about what happens when people cancel a move, or make the move and find that it’s not what they expected. I suppose it could be a good thing that quite a few travel writers don’t write a whole lot about the downside of living abroad because doubts would take hold, and once that happens, the thought of, I’m not going because if it didn’t work for them, it probably won’t work for me would/could easily sabotage what were once solid plans.

Too bad because simply stated, change is probably calling – change in all its many wonderful possibilities, and moving for movings’s sake becomes a secondary reason. For instance, we move abroad and a feeling of regret begins to creep over us. But before we stress about it, we try to understand the situation we’re in, and why we thought it would work.

Then we stop second-guessing ourselves. perhaps it’s not only about the move, but that we had to go from here to there to meet an extraordinary person who will be instrumental in helping us in a meaningful way, or maybe the love of our life is waiting for us when we get to our destination, or we needed a good enough reason to quit that awful job that was pulling us down.

And so, when a decision is made, we simply trust whatever comes our way – trust we have what it takes to expand, explore, spread some joy, have fun with new experiences, meet people, and at times be open to serendipity and spontaneity. Otherwise, we’ll never know the incredible opportunities waiting for us if we don’t go, or if we let regret take hold. Because for sure, if we trust, they’ll be there.

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Simply be who you are, do what you do best, be where you are called by joy, and let life work its magic on your behalf. ~ Alan Cohen

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comings and goings in ecuador

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In the nine months I’ve lived in Cuenca, I’ve heard stories about expats trying to decide whether to stay or leave, and at Stateside stories of people trying to decide whether to move here, or elsewhere in the world.

It seems more than a few people base their decisions on other people’s experiences; they think that what works for that person will work for them. That’s not necessarily the case. Why would we want to plan our lives by what another person does? Their energy, experiences, memories, likes and dislikes are completely different from our own.

Questioning the lay of the land, etc. is important, then if it seems the right fit, we continue with the lay of the heart. This is another way of pondering what to do . . . because the within has its own wonderful methods of arriving at decisions. Sitting still for a while will welcome an all-important decision-maker – one that knows, one we can trust, one who is eager to assist – if we would just let it play its part, too.

When I look back at the times in my life when I followed someone else’s line of reasoning, and put my own aside, things didn’t flow. Of course it’s a different story when we’re in a helpless state, and unable to figure things out ourselves, on the whole though that’s not usually the case.

Learning self-love is a crucial part of the process, and from there we can go on to learning to trust ourselves. Then we learn to trust Life. It’s a nice way to live.

20140510-180248.jpg Look at the usually tranquil Rio Tomebamba with its waves of water rushing pass – thanks to rain, rain, rain. I like it; it’s so alive.

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paul selig

I watched an interview – Bob Olson of www.afterlifetv.com interviewed Paul Selig, teacher, playwriter, and writer of three books that were channeled.

Watching and listening was immensely interesting and informative, and I wouldn’t have wanted to miss this one.

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@JamesVanPraagh: There is no need for judgment. Judgment comes from the lower physical self, or the ego. Open yourself to the light of tolerance & love.

One of Cuenca’s finest

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