Day one is in the books!

Well, day one is in the books and I wish that I had done better but at the end of the day I tried and that's all that really matters right?

So for the book challenge I managed to read two SHORT books.  The first one was Feng Shui for Beginners:  Learn How to Apply Feng Shui by: Susannah L. Williams

I picked this book up for free on 9/4 from Amazon.com.  I am using this challenge to read a ton of the free books I have picked up over the last couple of months there is a great facebook page that I follow that post links to these freebies.  Pagan E-Books for Free almost daily they post tons of free books from different sources all over the internet.

Anyways back to the book at hand this book was short Amazon.com estimates it to be about 50 pages long. So it was a quick read before I went to bed.  This book was great for introducing me to the world of Feng Shui.   It give many of the basic info that one would seek out, but what else it does is state that what you personally feel is better.  I liked that because I didn't agree with all the rooms the colors were oked to do in to and everything.

The only down fall this book was that it needed an editor, there where a few places that were hard to read because of the editing, like words missing or the wrong word there and such.  But over all it was a great intro to Feng Shui.  Do I think it's worth the .99 they are asking for it?  Yes if you can over look the editing.  

I also managed to get in another book yesterday and it was short as well.  This book I picked up for free in May and honestly when I started it I thought it was longer but in fact it's about 6 or 7 pages long that's it!  It was Pagan Sabbats of the Northern Hemisphere by:Shanddaramon 

This book is still free should you want to pick it up.  I honestly don't think it counts in my read a thon challenge but I thought I would give it a quick review.  This book gives the bare bone basics of the Sabbaths. It give the name date and a one line reason for the holiday and an idea or two of what you can do on those days.  I really found this book lacking in info.  And I really didn't like it.  I am happy I picked it up for free and didn't pay for it.  When I pick up books on the sabbaths I want more to them.  It's my fault though Amazon tells you the book is short and it was my fault for not paying attention to the info given to me.

Now on to the Get off your Broom Challenge

Lets see I think I did much better in this Challenge now that I look back.  Lets review it by the elements.

Water~~Well I drank more yesterday but not as much as I should but I did drink more which was my goal so Yahoo!

Earth~~Well I was outside but near as much as I should have.  So while I did met my goal it wasn't how I wanted to so I am going to work at this one more.

Fire~~This one well, I went to bed at 11pm but didn't sleep until about 2 am.  And I didn't work out yesterday so umm ya needs work. LOL

Air~~ I controlled my emotions much better than normal and I did meditate for about 10 minutes last night.   Funny story the music that was one while I meditated from Pandora was from an elemental series and it was EARTH last night.  I thought it was fitting.  I find it hard to quite my mind sometimes when I meditate.  Maybe I will read on of my books on that today.

And Spirit~~I think the books that I read helps enrich my soul and the meditation as well.  But I really didn't focus on my spiritual self to be honest.  I spent so much time cooking, cleaning and studying and some time with a friend which I really enjoyed and needed, that I didn't focus on myself.   I am hoping to improve this as the week goes on.

I know that I can't be prefect running out of the gate but I wish I was.  I wish that yesterday had gone much better.  But all I really can do is focus on today and improve today from yesterday right?  I can't wait to see what the other challengers did and what they will do.

I am worried about when we move and we are in the car for five days or so moving.  That normally means bad for you food and not enough exercise.   So I am going to try and come up with a plan now though any tips from you would be great!

New challenges!!!!

I am going to start school next month as long as paper goes through.  And I should be moving next month as well.  And yet I think this month I need some challenges in life things to push me to continue to improve myself.

So I joined two Challenges that start tomorrow!  One is the

You can click to photo to read about the Readathon.

Put basically you read as many books as you can that fit the theme and since I have gotten so many free on amazon that I want to read I can't wait to do this!!  I will blog about them with a mini review and keep count I am hoping to read at least 1 book a day,  this is next to my school work, homeschooling my one child and just being mommy and a wife.  I really hope that I can get 2 books a day in if not more.  But who am I kidding I have family that needs me.

My other challenge is 

Click photo to read the post about the challenge

I love that this is call Get off your broom challenge!  I also love that it's about all around health and wellness!  And I love that we are to tie in the 5 elements.  Air, Water, Earth, Fire, and Spirit.  I have spent all day coming up with goals for these elements and I am going to share them with you.  I am going to change them up every week or so.  So here are my goals:

* For the Element Water: This one is simple I am going to just aim to drink more water every day.  I suck in this part of health and wellness even though I need to drink more.  So my goal is to add  more to my diet.  Then next week it will be to replace one drink with water!

* For the Element Earth: This one is simple as well it's to spend more time outside and communing with the earth.  I hope to do some school work outside.  Play with my children outside.  Walk barefoot in the yard and feel the energy from the earth.  Walk my little Coco around the block every night stuff like that.  I will change this goal probably next week.

* For the Element Fire:  This one is where the work is. The overall goal is to raise my energy levels!  This one includes aiming to be in bed by 11pm every single night!  No more staying up late to read to 3 am in the morning.  I have a goal of 30 minutes of working out no less than three times a week.  I am also hoping to have at least one of these work outs be a hot work out or hot yoga!

* For the Element Air:  This one was hard believe it or not.  I mean working on breathing seems to be like the smart choice.  But I think I am going to work on breathing with meditation but that doesn't seem to be enough.  I think one thing I need to work on is controlling my emotions better.  The reason I placed this under air is that they seem to change like the wind.  And while you can control air or wind I would like to try and at least control my emotions better.

* For the Element Spirit:  This one is something I have been trying to do.  Get in touch with my spiritual self more.  Focus on enriching my soul.  So that's my goal to do one thing every day that enriches my soul and spiritual self!  I think this should be fun and I hope to learn more about myself at the same time. 

So that's it these are my goals and challenges for the next week for reading and the next few weeks with the fitness one.  I will work on improving my whole self and not just one part of me.  I hope to keep up with it while we move.  I know it will be hard when we are on the road for a week.  But I am up to the challenge.  I hope that you will join me.  And if not I would love to have you encourage me while I do this.  This is a start to a new me.  Which is great as my family is about to have a new start in life after the military!  It is time! (from Lion King)

Thank you for reading this!

Spirit

Pity Parties? Good or Bad?

So yeah I haven't posted in awhile and on my first post back it's about a pity party I held for myself a couple weeks ago.

Here is the back ground I have decided to continue to go to school but this time for something different.  I am finishing up my business course.  And moving on to an AOS in Holistic Health Care with a concentration in Mind-Body Transformational Psychology Majoring in Spiritual Studies and Minoring in Holistic Nutrition (I hope to extend this to be a certificate in it as well).  And I am doing it on line through The Shouthwest Institute of Healing Arts.  I saw they had finical aide and accepted it from the government, one of the few to do so.  I was so happy I started researching the school and looking for what they offered and wow here is a course that has everything I have every wanted to study (well not everything but a ton).  And I can use Government help to pay for it.  Yes!

So I apply I do everything I am told to do I even check the website the government tells you to check to see if you owe them money, but I only checked with my married name thinking my ssn will catch anything from my maiden name.  Nope I was wrong.  After I applied and signed everything I was on cloud 9.  I was going to be something else in my life I was going to finally study something that I truly truly wanted to and so my kids that no matter what you passion you can follow it even years later and many searches for the right school.  But then the school contacted me to tell me I had an overpayment.  And this is when I lost it.

This is when I through the world largest pity party for myself.  I said I was never going to be more than a wife and a mother (which isn't bad I just feel the need to be more you know).  I cried and cried and said I couldn't get away from my past mistakes and really the fact is yes.  This one was coming to bite me in the butt but it was my mistake.

So for 24 hours I allowed myself to through a pity party.  I allowed myself to be mad, pissed, and sad.  And then I said enough was enough and I stood up and made the calls and emails I need to fix the issue.  I called the school that I had the over payment too.  Found out what I needed to do and how much I owed.  Sat and though ok I owe X amount where can I get it and not harm my family.  You see my husband is also getting out and we are working on paying off debt big time as to not worry about it when he is out.

So while I had my pity party, my husband was finding away to pay for school.  Man I love that man.  And he went to the VA and asked if my overpayment would make it where I couldn't use his 9/11 bill and they said no.  So score now we have time to wait for taxes to pay the over payment back and I can still start school when planed!

But I learned something and this is the reason for my post.  Is that pity parties can have a place. Listen I don't think throwing them all the time is the best thing.  But I can see them having their place.  Some times you need to pity yourself and work through your feelings to see it's not really that bad.  That there is a fix or a way or something for you.  A light at the end of the tunnel if you will.  See while I pitied myself I learned this wasn't a past biting me in the butt.  It was a past coming back that I didn't take care of and now is the time to do so.  And it was better to find out now with the time that I had than later.

But the pity party also showed me just how much I really really wanted this.  I mean I have had other schooling plans fall through and I was like ehh.  oh well.  This one was something I couldn't let go.  It was something that I had to do.  And while my Dad offered to help with the over payment.  I knew that wasn't something that I could do.  I had to fix my mistake and I had to go to school this is what I needed to do.  I was called to do!  And then the pity party was over.  But I found that this is a must do in life and something I will do.  I already have plans for what I will study after wards.  And I can't wait I know that life put bumps in the roads, forks in the roads and we all have to got on over them or pick the right way to go.  But it's ok sometimes to throw yourself a pity party.  It's ok to be upset and mad.  But the thing is don't let it last long.  Get out of it and do what you need to do to fix the problem!  Make a plan and work it.  It may not happen as you first dreamed it would but it will happen as long as you work towards it.

Life is just like that though sometimes everything goes as planed and sometimes it doesn't. I learned a lot about myself and what I want for my life in the last few weeks.  And I am making plans.  Going to school, paying back my over payment and moving on.  In the next few months my life will be crazy with the hubby getting out of the army.  But I am no longer scared I was but I am not now.  Because we are planning and making a lot of them for just in case.  I am going to go to school so when it's time for me to work it's not at a fast food place but doing something that I love.

I went from pitying myself, to empowering myself and loving myself.  And that's why I think some pity parties can be good.  I think you can learn and grow from them.

Super Moon and changes!

Taken on May 5th by ME.

I know that I haven't posted here in awhile and I am sorry. This year the super moon has inspired me to make changes that I MUST make.  And one of them is living my faith more.   A special holiday came around and I was just there.  I didn't feel moved to do anything and it was another day.  This WOKE me up!  I realized in life that I had let work, children, wife duties and other stuff bog me down.

I forgot to live my faith. I forgot to put it first and find that time for me and for prayer.  It was scary to realize that.  I panicked because it bothered me.  I though OMG did I lose my faith.  So I meditated and came to a conclusion.

I didn't lose my faith meaning I still believed but I had hid it so much because I worried about others being offended or hurt.  I realized I shoved it to the side.  I shoved the Great Mother to the side like she wasn't important.  I decided then and their that this wasn't ok.  That I would make the time to talk to the Great Mother every day.  I would stop worrying if people would like or love me because of what I believed.  I stopped caring about how my faith could offend others.

And that leads me to this post to coming back here.  I named this Blog Spirit's Walk In the World.  Meaning my everyday life, and now that means my walk back to the goddess, back to my faith and back to a more balanced life.  So I want to take the time to welcome you to the NEW Spirit's Walk!  Join me as I find the goddess and god, the great mother and father again.  Join me as I find me.

Spirit