Everyone should have a list of their favorite quotes.  Those sayings that lift you up when you are down, push you on when you are slowing down or just make you laugh. 

Well here are some of my favorites - I hope that some of them either are or become yours.

Life isn't about finding yourself, it's about creating yourself.  George Bernard Shaw

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you've imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler.     Henry David Thoreau

Don't look back, you're not going that way.               Unknown

If you think you can, you can, if you think you can't, you're right.           Henry Ford

Not all who wander are lost.     J.R.R. Tolkein

All that you are is a result of what you have thought.             Buddha

Most of the shadows of this life are caused by our standing in our own sunshine.   Ralph Waldo Emerson

You can, you should and if you're brace enough to start, you will.       Stephen King

When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.            Wayne Dyer

Life doens't happen to you, it happens for you.      Jim Carrey

Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.             Dr. Seuss

Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.    Oscar Wilde

A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetsone, if it is to keep its edge.       Tyrion Lannister

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.      Eleanor Roosevelt

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting the same results.     Unknown

Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn!      Rhett Butler in Gone With The Wind

Hope spings eternal.     Alexander Pope

There's no place like home.      Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz

More is not better, it's just more.             ME!

Not being a follower does not make you a leader.           ME!

Tomorrow is another day.            Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With The Wind

Don't take life too seriously, you won't get out alive.      Elbert Hubbard

And no wishing for more wishes.              Genie in Alladin

And I'm sure there are more that I use on an almost daily basis, but those are the only ones I could think of right now.  Those little blurbs that you see every day, the ones on fortune cookies, the ones from movies, the ones that just stick in your head from whatever source, they are the ones that have meaning to you for whatever reason.  Whatever they are you keep them and use them all the time.  Just remember to get rid of the negative ones and stick with the positive ones!

What is it that is really important to you?  Why?

So I spent 10 hours yesterday attending a class that I originally signed up for because I needed the Continuing Education hours to renew my Massage license and because my daughter works with Autistic children everyday.  What I came home with is a new understanding of the word Autism and the feeling that what I felt was important in life was nothing compared to what the instructor of the class KNEW was important in her life.  I am a little humbled and feeling exceptionally blessed to have the two children that I have knowing that the issues and concerns dealt with when raising them were nothing compared to this mother's  struggles raising her autistic child.

During the class we learned of her struggles to help her child and the politics of our healthcare and education systems in this country that seemed determined to keep her from getting the correct diagnosis and subsequent help in dealing with her child's condition.  But most importantly  learned that people in my profession, massage therapy, can have a profound effect on the Autism community through the use of touch therapies and most specifically Craniosacral Therapy (CST). 

CST works through the Neurological System, the brain, which is where the disorder originates.  It is a developmental disorder that most often appear between the ages or 2 and 3 according to the website autismspeaks.org.  Since this is Autism Awareness month it is therefore appropriate to speak about it.  According to the website Autism affect 1 in 68 American children with is a 10-fold increase over the past 40 years.  Someone you know most likely has a child with some form of the Autism spectrum. 

Do the research and you will find that there are as many sides to Autism as there are children and now adults with the disorder.  And as many variations of what is believed to cause it.  That is not for my discussion here.  My thoughts are more on the line of "How can I help", "How lucky am I to have the children that I have" and "How important really are my minor life problems"?  When I compare the now small problems I had raising my daughters to the issues that parents of Autistic children face everyday I am humbled in comparison.

Each and every Autistic child is unique, interesting in how there mind works differently from ours and mysterious for the same reasons.  I don't really think that we know how the "normal" mind works so unraveling the Autistic mind is even more mysterious.  But by spending the time and effort to work with these children and young adults can have a very profound effect.  On them and on us.  As a body worker I look forward to the honor of working with some of them.

Moving forward I want to look at my priorities in my massage practice and spend some time reviewing my CST training and give some time to those children my daughter currently works with to see if we can indeed make a change in their lives.  What really is important to you?

No, I don't do infant massage but the look on this baby's face  reminded me of the 3 happy clients I had this morning. 

What is it that we need to do to make all of our clients this pleased with their massages?  Let me tell you about the ones I had this morning.

My first client this morning is a regular client who started coming in to me about 4-5 months ago.  What makes her a happy massage client?  The fact that I listened to her from the first time she contacted me.  Frozen shoulder is not pretty and the treatment plan is not one that many massage clients would enjoy.  There is pain, there are trigger points and there are "stuck" muscles that don't want to do what they were meant to do any more.  I have done some NAT training and I have had frozen shoulder, medically called adhesive capsulitis, so I am familiar with the symptoms, the pain and the long, slow process of healing.  This client knows that I understand and that I care about her getting better and back to being able to use her arms.  We have been working at this a long time - every week!  What made this morning different was that I have one client today who had scheduled at hot stone massage.  Without knowing it that one client made each of my other clients massages different today.  In order to help my first client to loosen up a little faster this morning, I got out a couple hot stones and used them on her back.  Her comment was, "Wow, how are your hands so warm this morning!"  She hadn't realized that I had gone to get the stones.  When I told her what I had done she said how good that felt.  I know that the warmth helped her muscles relax just a bit faster this morning.

My second client this morning was also a regular who had just come in for what we call a Stress Buster Massage.  It is a 40 minute head, neck shoulders, back and arms massage mainly for those folks who sit in front of a computer all day.  But she had also been to the dentist before her massage and has trouble relaxing on my table normally.  When she was having trouble letting go for me to work on her neck, she made the comment that she must really be uptight since she didn't even realize that she wasn't relaxing and even mentioned that the dentist had to tell her to relax her tongue earlier.  My comment was "I think I can fix that!"  So again to the stone roaster and 2 more stones came out!  She loved it!  Used those two on her neck and then 2 more on her back before I ended her massage.  And guest what, before she left I verified the date and time of her next appointment and she said, "Could we make that a hot stone?"  Absolutely!  Another happy client!

So my third and last client of the morning had actually scheduled the hot stone massage because he wanted to be a little more relaxed before traveling later today.  So it was his first hot stone massage and didn't know what to expect.  He normally has a Deep Tissue Massage with lots of Sports Massage type stretches since he swims every day at the gym.  He was concerned that the stone massage would be able to address his normal issues and help him relax.  As I started working on the backs of his legs he commented that he hoped the stones and heat would relax his back as well as it was doing on his legs.  I assured him that it would!  He was quite pleased with his first time stone massage and left the office with that "stoned" look that many client get after their first Hot Stone Massage.  The third happy client.

So how do you make your massage clients love you?  Listen to them, be responsive to what is going on with them during the massage and give them what they have asked for that is therapeutic and meets there rehabilitative needs.  I believe with massage and my clients as I do with all things in the Golden Rule.  Do as you would have done to you. 

I have received my "Leonie" workbooks in the last week or so and I am getting ready to plan my 2016 year for my Business and my Life and the following post came up this morning about planning.  Thought I would share what someone on our group shared:

Great quote I just saw shared about planning:

'Use Plans to Focus Yourself, Not Test Yourself

Planning out your week can help you navigate life gracefully — but overplanning your day-to-day tasks can make you neurotic and stressed. The best way to reap the benefits of daily and weekly planning is to take a more relaxed approach, and to understand the role spontaneity should play in your plans. Here’s how:
Be intentional but flexible. Decide in advance where you want to end up, but accept that your route may change along the way.
Redefine a 100% score. For most people, a great day is when they accomplish 60–70% of their goals. Think about a “perfect” day as one where you made the best choices possible, not one where you finished everything.
Don’t think of your plans as a test. If your self-worth depends on how accurately you implement your plans, you’re on shaky ground. Life is meant to be lived, not just “done.”
Adapted from “How to Stop Overplanning (Even If You’re a Perfectionist),” by Elizabeth Grace Saunders

Over the years I have been a planner in my head rather than on paper, which has worked for me until now.  I am at a stage in my life where I am ready for a change.  And I'm not talking about the career changes I have made in the past but rather about a life change.  I'm ready to be "on the mountain" putzing around in my kitchen, helping others with their life challenges, doing a few massages each week, teaching a class or two each month and selling my "stuff" via Etsy or Paypal or my new website.  I think that I am finally ready to "settle down" so to speak.  Been mentally planning this for some time but now it is time to get it down on paper and make it happen.  Without stressing over the fact that there are many different directions I want to go in!

I want to be active without spending a lot of time away from my new house.  Obviously I will let you know how it goes on this blog!

Massage clients who don't show up - So you decided you didn't need to call to cancel or reschedule or just to let us know you weren't coming in for your appointment.  I could have scheduled the client who called earlier today that I had to tell I was already booked today and actually paid my rent this month!

Friends or relatives who want free massages - I would love to work on that pulled muscle for free - that's exactly why I spent 1000 hours and $15,000 on Massage School!

Clients who will only come in for a massage if you are running a special or giving discounts that month - I would love to sell you 2 massages for the price of 1 because I'm still making $30 an hour, right?  Oh, I forgot there is the rent this month, the cost of massage school (and that pesky student loan payment), the cost of Continuing Education that must have to keep my license, oh and that license the state says I have to have in order to actually work, my supplies (that massage cream that you love the smell of), a

Hoʻoponopono (ho-o-pono-pono) is an ancient Hawaiian practice of reconciliation and forgiveness.

"Hoʻoponopono" is defined in the Hawaiian Dictionary as "mental cleansing: family conferences in which relationships were set right through prayer, discussion, confession, repentance, and mutual restitution and forgiveness." In the context of the word Ho'o means to make and pono is correct or right so specifically the term ho'oponopono means to make right.

I have been studying this for months now and using it in my own personal life.  I am so mad at myself for not sharing with you all.

The approved Mantra for ho'oponopono goes like this:

I'm sorry.

Please forgive me.

I love you.

Thank you.

My interpretation: I'm sorry we had a disagreement, let's work on a way to make it better. Please forgive me for anything that I may have said in anger or misunderstanding. I love you for who you are regardless of what has happened to create this misunderstanding. Thank you for being who you are and what we have been together.

This mantra can be done individually with the selected person or persons brought into your consciousness or in the group. In a group it is usually facilitated by a healing priest or kahuna.

I look at this as a type of intervention, a way to get things back in order.  Please take some time to ponder on these things.   In my experience with my situation, I was deeply hurt by someone and felt a lot of anger and emotion towards this person.  Had I been able to, I would have smacked them across the face when it first happened.  However, I chose to seek the counsel of those people I reached out to in the ho'oponopono community online and in their books and teachings and began to do the mantra as part of a daily meditation.  I then spoke the mantra words with my explanations to the person and was able to turn the situation around. We are currently speaking again although still with some reservation due to the situation that happened between us.   I hope that the same can be accomplished with this for you in any of your situations.

My apologies to those people who have been following this blog and its postings.  I have been very lax in my postings this past week.  Was a very strange week last week.  I know we all have had them. 

Mine began quite calmly with the two classes that I was teaching, but for the last few weeks I have had this strange feeling in the pit of my stomach about a friend of mine.  Have you ever had those feelings, that ominous butterfly type feeling that something is not completely right with your world?  Moms, you know what
I mean.  It sometimes hits when things are not going right with your children.  It has come to include some of my closest friends, but I always stop what I am doing and text each of my children and my husband first to see if they are okay. 

Anyway, that is what had happened on a number of occasions over the last two weeks.  Never fear, my family is all okay, and I am okay but I was greatly surprised and saddened by the actions of what I thought was a very good friend of mine.  Isn't it funny how you think you know someone and then they go and do something that seems to be completely against their nature.  AND against all the things you have been told over the last 12 years!  Reminded of the old country song "God is great, beer is good and people are crazy!"

So, I have had to rethink my life choices over the last few days and I have come to the conclusion that family is indeed everything and that you really need to choose the people that are around you by their actions rather than their words.  Still a very strange feeling that will have to take some time to digest.  There are more important issues in the world to face than my little "crisis", so I hope that this week brings more of my thoughts and wanderings than the last 2 have.

Thanx to the folks who are with me and that may get something from my posts.

Got hit with the comment "you haven't posted anything in 3 days" this morning, so here is a random post about nothing.

I have been making smoothies everyday, just been too busy to take pictures to post.  My smoothies have been random and sometimes downright weird.  Been putting avocado in everything lately - don't know where that is coming from.  BUT, it makes the smoothie creamier and more like a milk shake so I like it.

I have also gotten out the spirulina powder and occasionally add that in too even though it turns everything green, no matter what else you have in there.  Yesterday I raided the freezer and came up with pineapple and strawberry which I added to the fresh banana and half an avocado.  Used orange juice and vanilla protein powder with that one.

AND, on another note, I got the urge to make homemade mayonnaise yesterday too!  Still playing around with the actual ingredients but yesterday took one whole egg and added some mustard powder, white vinegar and salt and 1/4 cup light sesame oil.  Using my stick blender I whisked  that together and then added another 3/4 cup olive oil and kept blending.  Little to olive oily for my taste but worked well for what I was attempting to make in the end, which was honey mustard dressing.  After I had the mayonnaise made I just added dijon mustard, honey and some lemon juice.  Been making that for a couple weeks now and we love it!  Plus this time I knew exactly what had gone into it.  Only keeps a couple weeks but that doesn't seem to be an issue!

So, I use the allrecipes.com website and app on my ipad for a lot of my recipe ideas, but yesterday my daughter invited me to pinterest.  I see major time wasting on the internet in my future!  OMG so much stuff and so little time.  I may have to take up blogging and web surfing as a full time occupation.  Do you think there is money in this kind of stuff?

Since this is a rambling entry, I must also tell you that we had a "mess" of dandelion for the 3rd time this spring last night for supper.  Tried to make some dandelion tea, but that did not work out so well.  The tea was made but no amount of additives could take away the dandelion bitterness.  Oh well, I tried!  But the way I make it wilted with ham or bacon over boiled potatoes would make my PA Dutch grandmas proud!  (BTW - be on the look out for my PA Dutch Grandma's Cookbook, which is in process!) 

Anyway, back to the dandelion.  It must be picked from a non-sprayed yard or garden and cleaned thoroughly before using.  Oh, and no flowers!  Once the flowers are produced, the greens are even more bitter.  Use only the green tops of the plant, however the roots can also be used for tea or a tonic for the liver.  Check other places for this as in our family we only used the greens.  Oh, okay some of my relatives were known to make dandelion wine.  But I digress again, back to my supper last night.

So after a thorough cleaning and soak in cold water, I chop up the dandelion and set aside.  While boiling the potatoes (I leave the skin on), I fry the ham or bacon and prepare the "dressing".  I start with an egg or two and add flour to make a paste whipping with a whisk, then I add sugar and vinegar to taste.  I make mine a little over tart at this stage since I will be adding water later on.  You may also add onion and mustard powder for added flavor.  I just shake some in so I would guess at maybe 1/2 tsp each.  I am now ready to proceed.

I remove the bacon or ham from the frying pan, leaving some grease from the meat.  Last night the bacon stuck to the pan a bit so I poured some of the potato boiling water into the pan to loosen this up and add even more flavor to the dressing.  Then I poured the entire dressing mixture into the pan and began to stir so as not to stick or thicken too quickly.  As it thickens I add more potato water to get to the consistency I want (now you know why I go heavy on the vinegar to start as I do not want my dressing "watered down" so that it looses it flavor).  As it is cooking I also add in the dandelion so that it "wilts".  When the dressing is to the desired consistency and the dandelion is wilted, it is ready.  Let cook for a bit longer to lock in the flavor of the dressing and serve over hot, boiled potatoes.  It can't get any more PA Dutch than that!

So enough of this ramble.  Hope you enjoyed and came back with one or two of my random recipes.