Everyday Bliss For Women In Leadership

Click here for the Facts On Feline Epilepsy

Anoushka’s bloodwork came back today and hurray! It’s completely normal. I posted the previous to let people know what feline (and other small animal) epilepsy can look like and what to do if your pet suddenly exhibits symptoms. The first thing is to observe the animal and straighten their neck if its position is inhibiting breathing. Unlike human epilepsy patients, cats will very rarely swallow their tongues, my vet says. Memorize what parts of the body have been affected and how they have been affected. Does your cat stagger and weave? Did she appear to faint or otherwise be in an altered state of consciousness? How long did this last? Is she making hacking or odd sounding noises? Make note of everything you can and rush your pet to the nearest vet for immediate observation and testing. A physical exam and bloodwork will rule out any serious disease processes and will help the vet in knowing what to do to help your pet.

Then you love ‘em, skritch ‘em and let ‘em know that they’re the best, most darlingest, smartest and amazing kitty in the world (out of the earshot of other kitties, of course) and watch them for further seizure activity. As of today, Anoushka has exhibited no further signs of distress and spent the day alternately napping and giving Emmeline what-for through the workshop window. Praise be to Bast, the Egyptian Cat Goddess and Freyja, the Scandinavian one, our little darling appears to be wonderfully well!

Here for everyone’s use are some good URL’s on feline and small animal seizure disorders. An educated pet owner makes for a safer pet!

http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/People/lowekamp/feline_epilepsy.html

http://www.marvistavet.com/html/seizure_disorder.html

http://neuro.vetmed.ufl.edu/neuro/seizures/seizures.htm

Our darling little kitty Anoushka had an odd spell today that I took as her choking to death on a crumb she picked up from the floor. It wasn’t. I was on the phone with my own coach at the time and watching Anoushka play out of the corner of my eye on the kitchen floor. She was very recently human (or so we figure from experience of her) and uses her forepaws like hands. She catches a fuzzyball up in her forepaws and throws it into the air, rising on her hind paws to stand upright and catch the ball again and again. She looks like a pitcher on the mound, throwing the ball up and catching it in his glove, over and over.

We know she’s had human hands at some point in time. It’s proven the theory of reincarnation to me, just living with Anoushka. Once, when I was making a costume for Halloween and sewing the band on top of a pair of thigh-high stockings, Anoushka bounded up onto the arm of my chair with eyes as wide as saucers, looking from the needle, to my face, to the needle and back again. She was definitely trying to tell me something. When I said “What is it, Noush?” her little eyes became even wider and she emitted the tiniest squeak. Very carefully, she put the mid-pad of her right paw over the end of the needle where I had left it stuck into the fabric, and pat-patted the needle through the nylon. I watched in amazement. When the needle was through, she very gingerly took it in her mouth, clamped down, and drew the needle all the way through the nylon with the thread trailing behind. Anoushka dropped the needle on the stocking and looked down at it. She lifted first one paw and then the other, looking at them, and then the needle. It was as plain as day to myself and my equally astonished husband that she was frustrated as heck in not being able to pick the needle back up again and finish the job - the look on her little furry face told the whole story. She finally looked up at me, her little brow furrowed. . .
Read the rest of this entry »

Black and white, mooing plaintively, milk cows and their calves line the road chewing, mooing, walking and chewing. The wind-whipped grasses are kept short by their constant cropping - the only tall things, stands of crazily spiralling gorse-like thicket rooted deeply downward into occasional stretches of bog. Shards of mist drift across the narrow road, passing Historic Ranches G, H and F. Wooly-headed spineflower, lupine and ice plant line the ditches. Verdant tines of Spartina foliosa stand tall in every cranny, and everywhere is the scent of the sea.

In one liminal spot on the long finger of the Point Reyes spur, we saw Drake’s Bay on one side of the road and the open Pacific, far off, on the other. Standing on the road between, we stretched our arms out and touched the sun glittering silver of the bay with one hand, and lappets of white foam in the crashing surf of the open sea on the other.

At the turn for Drake’s Beach and Castle Rock, the sun breaks through and burns off the mist. Every blade of grass yearns upward, breathing in the thin yellow light, glowing.

High tide….

Huge waves,

Whitecapped thunder

J-Bear’s joyous throw-a-stick-and-watch-the-sea-bring-it-back game. The peace on his face as he reads his book, drinks jasmine tea and lifts his head to see the birds trilling in the warm of sun on our veranda this morning. (They want his sardines)

Huginn and Muninn, heads cocked and questioning, accept the offering of Black Forest ham in the parking lot. Not from Wodesnwald, but a tasty morsel nonetheless. They refuse a bit of carrot with wounded dignity and emitting a ruffled squawking, fly away leaving two tiny, ebon pinfeathers on the ground.

Two books have been read and two perfect pots of pure Kona coffee have been savored.

Souls refreshed, minds emptied, no need for speech or thought or memory.

We have a gentle understanding with nature, and a pleasant relaxation in it. I hope your weekend was just as lovely, calming and kind…

We are to go on a vacation/retreat this weekend. Spontaneously, my husband’s new job gave him MLK Day off this coming Monday. Working for a bank you get odd little days like this. We’re going to a darling little cottage on Tomales Bay that we just adore. Quiet, lots of trees and privacy, birds singing and sweet sunshine so we hear. After this past week, a much needed respite for reflection, drumming and relaxing. And, the Rouge-et-Noir cheese factory just down the way. The Bear is a confirmed cheeseaholic so this should be fun. Myself, I’m looking forward to the hike down to the beach, the walking on the beach and the colorful native clambake/marshmallow roasts. Into the bargain we hear there is a wine festival nearby that we may attend.

This is all in the name of Being Good To Self and maintaining one’s Balance in Life. Too many somber and work-driven days of late. It will be good to relax out in nature and let things completely go to concentrate on what really matters. Friends have even been drafted to care for the Mitties - our three cats - so we’ve no cares whatsoever. What a joy to do this for oneself every now and then. Weekly, there is a manicure/pedicure, facial, special gourmet meal or tea with a favorite girlfriend to anticipate. Every few months, a get-away with my favorite J-Bear to look forward to.

What do you do to take Extremely Good Care of yourself? After the holidays I find most people suck in their guts and go on economy drives for several months. Now is no time to hold out on the part of you that deeply desires nourishment and nurture of the soul. Many pleasant activities can be used as daily and weekly rewards and infusions of good self-care that cost but little. Free concerts in the park (I always learn about a different form of music when I attend), a new place in nature to take a walk, reading a great book, a well-savored afternoon’s visit to the library or finding new and different coffee houses to try are a few of mine. What are yours? Tag me (<<<

I am participating in a grid-blogging of Coaches with the topic of “Ritual”. The title of this post is a takeoff on Eliade’s “The Rite Technique of the Siberian Shamans” and is written only partially tongue in cheek. I’m a personal coach and a shamanic practitioner. I was raised from my teenage years by a Sweet Medicine man (see previous post on d. deLarm, 1/13/04) who taught the importance of ritual in achieving liminal awareness of the otherworlds in which we live, work and play. As I have travelled in these worlds, I’ve realized the importance of not keeping them separate from this “mundane” life. The more we incorporate ALL the resources we have as coaches and who we are in the world, the better we can serve our clients, ourselves and each other.

What exists in those other worlds and how can we as Coaches incorporate these things in our practices? Here’s a few tips on how thie “Pagan Coach” uses ritual to structure, create and empower each working day:
Read the rest of this entry »

I was going to title this post “Piled Higher and Deeper” because two days ago when I began writing this, that’s what it felt like. But now, the awareness of Love that has always been there is renewed in my consciousness again…thanks be.

The opinion of this mere mortal is that Thanatos is a greedy so-’n-so. Another year and the first death in it, the transition of my oldest friend, shamanic mentor and spiritual father, Corliss Raymond “d.” deLarm Jr. With it comes great joy, but also a great sense of loss for us left behind. Though I know d. is still doing his work in spirit, I am human and flawed and selfish enough to wish he were still here for me to “jaw with” as he put it. To journey in person with. To see his kind and loving face. This picture is of d.in a shamanic trance-state, taken at his Columbia, Missouri home in late 2002. That dear, inimitable smile so captures the essence of his person it cheers me to see it…

I’ve known d. as he was called (his mother called his father “Cordy” - little Corliss was always known as “d”) since I was eighteen or nineteen. Too many years and several more decades than I care to count, plus all those previous lifetimes of friendship we both felt existed before this one. He was my father in more ways than I can say, and saved my life when we first met by teaching me how to overcome the negative voices in my head through shamanic journeying, healing and the skillful use of my brain. He remains my best and oldest friend, supporter, teacher and mentor and I miss him….though several days later, I am at peace with what is.

d passed away late Thursday night January 8th and was found late Friday night by a member of the tribe, Monique Silverstar. Characteristically considerate, he waited until another friend dropped him off Thursday evening after their regular supper together and before anyone came on the morrow. So like him to be considerate in not wanting to bother anyone with dying while they were there. It was peaceful and quick and not entirely unanticipated. He had been in and out of the otherworld most of the past two weeks and expressed to most of us that he was looking forward to his transition.

There is no memorial planned at d’s request and he was cremated last Saturday - his ashes will probably be spread over the land he lived on and loved in life. If you are reading this and knew d., Monique Silverstar can be contacted in Columbia, MO, for more information at: 573-817-2765. Carl Thames, d’s best friend says there will be a celebration of his life after the students return to town after January 21st. The beneficiary of d’s will asked me to counsel her on what to do with d’s posessions. As he always said “give it all away when I’m gone”, I think a formal Giveaway will probably be in the planning as well.

We of the tribe and community d. created drummed all Friday night, each in our separate locations, and for three days following his transition. And as is fitting and proper upon the passing of a man whom I consider to be a major Peace Chief. I was privileged to have some limited contact with him in spirit that leaves me joyous. d. is at peace as is the tribe. Everyone I have spoken to in those first few hours after learning of d’s transition feels the same: there is no grief, no wailing (just a little understandable sadness) because we all have a powerful Grandfather-in-spirit in our corner now - d’s still doing the work, just from a different location. He joins the many powerful lights who have passed in the last few years and is absolutely a-okay. When time permits I will be posting my own celebration of his amazing life at my website. For now, I will share what was his core and most important teaching: “You are LOVE, You are LOVED and You are LOVING” and his version of generating Bodhichitta (and dedicating the merit of it) with which he began each circle, each meditation: “We do these things for the benefit and enlightenment of all concerned”

With joy in my heart and a tear or two in my eyes,
Maryam

(continued…)
Read the rest of this entry »

One of my favorite quotes as a psych undergrad was from noted reformationist psychiatrist, R. D. Laing, who wrote in Self and Others: “Any sane person can obtain a certificate of insanity… The counterfeit can engulf one’s life as much as the real thing but still remains, a counterfeit. Not all who would can be psychotic.” My best friend, on hearing this read in class snickered and whispered across the aisle: “Fortunately, I’ve never had to try that hard!”

Is the year getting crazy for you already? Do you feel certifiable yet? Pursuant to the war in Iraq but also valid for everyday consumption is Dr. Doree Lynn’s article: “When Is Feeling Crazy Being Sane?“. She says: “Some of our new crazy seeming feelings may not be odd at all. In fact, since we are living in new times and experiencing new vulnerabilities, a new definition of normal is called for. Remember, under stress we all regress. However, if your new symptoms remain and start to interfere with your daily life, get help…Life is too hard to do alone” Click the link above to read the whole article - good stuff!

Whether it means hiring a coach, therapist or organizing family and friends to support you, don’t live with internal strife eating at you. Therapists and Coaches both know when a client is beyond their skills and hold to the maxim: “when in doubt, refer it out”. Know when to do so with your own internal resources as well.

To Your Health!

To help us all get started off on the right footing, I’m reprinting one of my most-requested articles, updated for 2004:

How many New Year’s begin for you with statements like: “Resolved: In the New Year I will: (accomplish some goal)? In the past month I’ve been asking my clients to think NOT about making resolutions (nobody but a Superwo/man ever sticks to all their resolutions!), but designing LifeSolutions they can easily and joyfully live by day in, day out. Instead of making resolutions, resolve to live each day, each moment afresh and unburdened by those self-defeating strictures of ’should’, ‘could’, ‘would’ and ‘ought’. Thank every aspect of your personal history that does not energize and uplift you for being a valuable lesson - then relegate it to the compost heap, energetically speaking. Banish these painful incidents and do not allow them to hold you back any longer. Allow their energy to transform, like scraps from the garden, into fresh, clean, growth-producing energy for the new tasks you wish to take on. Be gentle on yourself, go slow and decide what changes you want to create in the moment. Forget about what is expected of you, what you expected of yourself in previous years.
Read the rest of this entry »