It’s been said that laughter is the best medicine. And a new study shows that even looking forward to a good laugh can stimulate a healthy immune response. Dr. Lee Berk’s UC-Irvine research, has shown for years, how chronic stressorsdepress the immune system.

However, this is the first study showing that anticipating a funny movie or a joyous event can be good for your health!

Is your sensitivity factor to others in your environment off the Richter scale?

On this topic, here’s my favorite mistake: Over-responsibility for others.
Needless to say, I’ve studied and practiced years to hone this talent. Starting in my childhood, I’d scan the rooms looking for who and what needed my assistance the most. I prided myself in being the “good little helper”.
The truth be told, it was my way of trying to control the uncontrollable.

Here’s 3 tips of how to heal from over-responsibility during these rapidly changing times;

Tip #1. If your own boat feels like it’s capsizing these days it probably is. Look around the deck and notice; Have you taken too many people and things on board? Who and what are you still trying to control? Tend to your own boat.

Tip #2. Are you still carrying excess emotional and physical baggage from your past? Are you feeling resistant to looking at an issue that’s not going away? Ask for assistance.

Tip #3. Are you assuming that the mind chatter you hear is just your own? If you feel distressed ask yourself; “Is this really my own thought/emotion?”
In particular, if you’re a highly sensitive person (intuitive or empath), it’s essential to practice objectivity and know your boundaries. Understandably, you may be taking on what’s going on around you. Be aware as interact with others in in your home, workplace, volunteer circles, governments, or what’s being blasted in news reports or on your social media sites.

Forget the Lion or Lamb metaphor; the month of March has rolled in like a Tsunami! After several difficult days of being bounced around, I emerged from my morning meditation with my head above water. WHEW! Victorious, I breathed in the sweet sight of land ahead. However, this landscape I’ve spotted, no longer looks familiar.

No question about it, we are all immersed in a collective tsunami of accelerated change on our planet. Things are churned up all over. Life has become increasingly challenging during this critical time of high speed changes. Dictators and other controlling patriarchy are bravely being challenged. We know these shadow-filled systems of greed and dominance will not disappear overnight.

Likewise, our own blind spots do not surface or fade without awareness and diligent effort. To know ourselves is to recognize not only our inner divinity but also our collected and buried demons. As I witness in my work, there is one thing that has the capacity to produce true healing: the power of consciousness.

As I write this month’s newsletter, I’m feeling oh-so-serious about things. In my enjoyment of life, I don’t want to dismiss my humanity that suffers, sometimes very deeply. If you’re also a highly sensitive person, you’ll find support in this month’s article “My Favorite Mistake”.

From the depths of my heart, I want to acknowledge the power of transformation and those of you who continue to do this work along with me. I send you a thunderous round of applause filled with awe and gratitude!

Things are up in the air! As you ‘take off’ in 2011, are you cramped in coach sitting between two people?
Or is this the year to go for the upgrades in life?!

The field of aviation has always fascinated me. Back in my 30′s, I even to went to flight school and recently came across my pilot logbook (sigh). No doubt, flying a plane brought me an outward sense of freedom (and OK, fright too). In fact, I think my saintly flight instructors probably sustained ear damage from a few of my loud, freaked-out screams during my flight lessons.

So who and what’s piloting your plane these days? Starting a new year, I just had to poke fun of the old adage God is my co-pilot. Leave it to the ego to put ‘God’ in the co-pilot seat!
Honestly, if contentment is what I really want in these moments, then my self will does have its place–in the right seat.

In case you missed the 60 Minutes segment with Correspondent Andy Rooney (CBS), I thought it worth the repeat. “As I grow in age, I value women over 50 most of all. Here are just a few reasons;”

A woman over 50 will never wake you in the middle of the night & ask, ‘What are you thinking?’ She doesn’t care what you think.

If a woman over 50 doesn’t want to watch the game, she doesn’t sit around whining about it. She goes and does something she wants to do, & it’s usually more interesting.

Women over 50 are dignified. They seldom have a screaming match with you at the opera or in the middle of an expensive restaurant.
Of course, if you deserve it, they won’t hesitate to shoot you, if they think they can get away with it.

Older women are generous with praise, often undeserved.
They know what it’s like to be unappreciated.

Women get psychic as they age.
You never have to confess your sins to a woman over 50.

Once you get past a wrinkle or two, a woman over 50 is far sexier than her younger counterpart.

Older women are forthright and honest. They’ll tell you right off if you are a jerk or if you are acting like one.
You don’t ever have to wonder where you stand with her.

For every stunning, smart, well-coiffed, hot woman over 50, there is a bald, paunchy relic in yellow pants making a fool of himself with some 22-year old waitress.
Ladies, I apologize.

For all those men who say,
‘Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?’
Here’s an update for you.
Nowadays 80% of women are against marriage.

Why?
Because women realize it’s not worth buying an entire pig
just to get a little sausage!”

(Thanks to my friend Sheila Sherwyn for sending this to me).

#1. ATTITUDE CHECK: NAUGHTY OR NICE?
Notice what kind of thoughts that you keep entertaining these days.
Wellness Check: The more positive feeling thoughts you focus upon, the more you allow the cells of your body to thrive.

#2. PEOPLE PLEASING OR A LONG WINTER’S NAP?
I’m a big fan of “to thine ownself be true”. Be honest with yourself about holiday gatherings. Do really want to participate are you caught in the web of an obligatory holiday event?
Wellness Check: If you’re feeling holiday pressure to do more, try out the motto “when in doubt, leave it out”. Maybe your immune system will appreciate the extra rest.

#3. JOY OR ‘OY’ TO THE WORLD?
Well-being doesn’t happen by chance, it happens by choice.
Wellness Check: Indulge yourself in more moments with the Divine. Choose the loving company of others who help you to lighten up!

#4. WHAT’S COOKING?
Let’s face it, holiday time can bring emotions from a simmer to a boil, quicker than a microwave! We are all enrolled in Earth School together.
Wellness Check: If you’re carrying ongoing loneliness, resentment, grief, or fear, please know relief is possible. Give yourself the gift of a qualified therapist , healer or support group.
A happy life is a string of happy moments. Many people don’t allow the happy moments because we are so busy trying to get a happy life.

Once upon a time there was Knight of the Round Table who got lost in the woods and ended up drinking from a sacred water well owned by an old Crone (the archetypal figure of the wise woman in many cultures). After the Knight drank from her well, the old Crone demanded that the Knight marry her. He begs for another option, so she says, “You don’t have to marry me if you answer this question: “What do women want?”

The Knight being a very smart man, spends a year interviewing many women in the kingdom to get his answer. Then he meets again with the Crone. He reports “women want children, property, gold, and to be loved”. But the Crone says, “No, that’s not it. Now you have to marry me.”

Being an honorable guy, the Knight sees through his duty. He marries the Crone (much to the amusement and dismay of other people in the Kingdom). That night, she says, “Come, kiss me.” When he does, she turns into a beautiful Woman. The Knight is overjoyed! But then the Woman says, “I can only stay like this half the time. So you choose: Would you rather have me be a hag while we are out in public or being beautiful at night with you in bed? Or do you want me looking gorgeous during the day and then turn into a hag at night?”

The Knight begins to sweat and contemplates the question for some time. Then he replies, “It is your choice. You decide.” At that moment, the spell was lifted completely. The Woman says, “That’s what women want, women want to make their own choices And now we both can be free of this curse.” Naturally, the Knight and Woman were both thrilled and lived out the rest of their days and nights together.

What’s the moral of the story?
Both the Knight and the Crone were under an unconscious spell. First, the Crone-Woman had to rally for her own self respect and then solicit this from her Knight. Also, the Knight needed to learn how to lift his part of the enchantment. First, by marrying her in spite of her appearance and second, by honoring her own freedom of choice.

The Knight and the Crone exist within each of us. Their lessons in becoming more conscious are universally applicable. 1) We can learn to give respect to others beyond their appearances. 2) We teach others how to treat us by how we treat ourselves and 3)When we honor our freedom of personal choice, we can give others that same freedom.

**adapted from the work of Jack Kornfield.

I watch cows.
One memory from our recent Nova Scotia family vacation was in fact, watching cows. As some of you may know, I’m very familiar with the bovine species. As a recovering farm girl; I’ve logged hours milking them, baling hay for them, even helping with the birth of some of them. Let’s just say “we’ve met”.

Ok, so back to the story. There I was sitting quietly in this North Atlantic seaside-pastoral setting.
Nearby, I heard this tractor approaching. The farmer stopped. I watched him slowly get off his steed–a mighty wheeled, John Deere. He walked over and opened a large, wooden gate into an amazing green field filled with fresh clover.

These cows were watching his every move. Then he called out for them to come!
Kicking up their hoofs, these happy-feet cows, ran immediately towards him and into the newly opened green pasture. It was a delight to witness this very kind farmer, who was making sure his cows were well fed and content.

I thought, “Wow, what if I could trust life like the cows trust”?

Cows don’t seem to stand around questioning the farmers’ motives. Can you imagine a herd of cud-chewing, worried heifers, standing around repeating “where’s our next pasture, where’s are next pasture?!”
No, they appear to relax and enjoy the one they’re already in.
And when the farmer does arrive, you bet they’re glad to see him!
This gentle farmer takes good care of them and for that, they trust.

At the end of his life, the Indian mystic, Aurobindo, is said to have said, “If there is to be a future, it will wear the crown of feminine design.”

I don’t know about you, but I can’t seem to stare into the present, let alone the future, without the help of Divine Mother these days?!! For me and my work, accessing the gift of the inner feminine has been a necessity for awhile (and not just because a great, old, Indian mystic said so).

Keep in mind, feminine power is not just exclusive to women.
Mother Divine is rooted in each living heart where intuition, compassion and cooperation are prolific.

In Andrew Harvey’s book, The Return of the Mother, he suggests;
“Unless we come to know what the sacred feminine really is–its subtlety and flexibility, but also its extraordinarily ruthless, radical power of dissolving all structures and dogmas…all prisons in which we have sought so passionately to imprison ourselves…”

What structures or rigid ideas are being asked to be dissolved in your life?

Are you passionately clinging on to them?

Do they have claw marks all over them?

Let go, my friend.
What you truly need, will never leave you.
And what you really need, you already have it.

Let go. Sail on!

Acting classes? Who would have thought I’d be experiencing the leading edge of my humanity in North Hollywood. During class we work on being truthful in the present moment (with or without partners) on stage or in front of the camera. This is called experiencing the raw moments. In the words of the late Sandy Meisner (actor/teacher) acting is the ability to live truthfully under imaginary circumstances.

It seems we’ve all been cast in this epic production titled; This Precious Life and our Lives Together. Are we standing around scratching our body parts still trying to learn our lines? Or do we know enough and we’re ready to respond /roar from this authentic place?

For many years, my own character has been intrigued with the craft of cultivating meaningful relationships. In my work, I’ve found that women are natural masters of this nurturing and sometimes butt-kicking relational art form.

True self-healing does not occur in a vacuum. Rather, our feminine nature evolves when we witness and share our shifts, gifts and strengths with each other.

Planet Earth is our epic scene location. Mother Divine is begging us to work together in these raw moments of truth or consequences… let’s start with the 17,000 children who will die today from hunger and the BP oil tycoons who need to be held accountable.
Your attitudes and actions count!

If this speaks to you, please share this blog with a friend or family member.