10/14/09 Another Hoffman visit! Great to see Lisa again!! We send our love to all and looking forward to the reunion!! She's converted Bear to a Predators fan, all with a hat! We had a ball, laughed, hugged, shopped for marshmallow spider ingredients and had to say goodbye - great to reconnect!!

Lunch outside Boulder!!

10/6/09 This is for all you New Yorkers!! We were up in a balloon this morning for the first time and Bear is not comfortable with heights, but he was a trooper! It was so peaceful when the burners weren't operating - sailing with a hundred other baloons - it was like a fairy tale. This one made me think of the upcoming reunion and all the New Yorkers in our group!! Stay in the light and much love to all!!!
10/6/09 What a wonderful lunch we had with Cassie outside of Boulder CO!! It was so good to see her and felt like it was yesterday when we were last together! Inspiration kicked in too - seeing all that she is involved in - to work toward my 90 day plan, at least to get ready to hit the ground running when we get back! It was so heartwarming and reaffirming that what we experienced was a true and spiritual process!! Love to all!!

9/22/09 On our cross country travels, we stopped in Kansas City, KS to have dinner with Patricia! We wanted to share the pic with those in the light!! We had a wonderful time, it was heartwarming to catch up, have Bear and Patricia meet and to know how much Hoffman has changed our lives. Patricia was radiant and a good time was had by all!!

Mini-reunion on Roosevelt Island

Brian was hobbling (ask him about his "toe hook"; he wouldn't let me take a picture, the meanie!). Nan had to get back to work. They both had to leave before the Integration Ceremony (that is, picture-taking) at the Meditation Steps.

Bobi traveled for, like, eight hours to attend. Ryan was about to start an exciting new gig. Jami was avoiding her work.

Funny how our voices sound more familiar than the voices of friends we've known for years.

It was a beautiful day.

Here's a photo from the wedding as promised. I'm the one wearing white. I love this picture. It's hard to believe it was taken by the Justice of the Peace and it was one of two shots taken. I'll certainly be proud to display this for years to come. The beautiful bouquet was provided by none other than Anne Koplinka-Loehr.

Getting to this moment was a little hairy. We drove all afternoon in traffic to meet Anne (Annie) for dinner in Brattleboro, Vermont. Our plan was to sleep at the inn Anne book for us. We'd get a good night's sleep, be fresh for the wedding and hopefully be the first in line at the county clerks office. Staying over-night in Brattleboro we also avoided driving from Brooklyn to Montreal in one day. It's about nine hours of driving.

We went to a lovely restaurant that Anne had selected. Annie was a super pal through all of this. We sat in an emclosed patio area outside. I had just finished a juice cleanse so, I had cucumber and avocado that the waiter didn't want to serve. During the meal (as I watched Annie and Chris eating) it occurred to me that I had left my passport and birth certificate in Brooklyn. We had to cut the dinner short, cancel our hotel in Brattleboro and drive back to Brooklyn that night. It was looking like the wedding might have to be postponed. ARGH!

We drove back to Brooklyn (I did most of the driving...too fast!) and arrived at midnight. It was then I discovered that I'd lost my camera; a pretty serious pro-sumer job that Chris had given me when he was still a VP at Citibank, before we were church mice. That was a big disappointment as was knowing we'd need to be up in five hours to do the three-plus-hour drive for the third time in less than a day.

It wasn't five hours later. It was more like six and a half. We over-slept and didn't leave Brooklyn until nearly 7:00 am, which meant rush hour traffic for most of the drive. Traffic out of Brooklyn after losing our way to I-95; traffic into Connecticut (including New Haven and Hartford); traffic through Springfield, Mass. I had plenty of darkside messages on the road. "Maybe this is a sign!" Chris did his best to keep me calm and focused on the road. We had wanted to avoid a long day of driving. It would be nearly eleven hours of driving before we even said "I do!"

We thankfully arrived back in Brattleboro at a little later than 10:30 am. Once we were in Brattleboro things went smoothly; like a dream. in fact. We were greeted with smiles at the Municipal Building, where we were the first to use the new marriage certificate forms. I called my dad as I was filling out my portion to double check his place of birth. That was special; being able to call my dad to ask a casual question and not feel awkward talking to him. It was a kind of symbolic giving away...er...applicant number 1. We had the license in five minutes and were married before the stroke of noon. The darkside was at bay for the ceremony and for most of the honeymoon.

Peace and light all!

Reg

A River of Life

Middle Fork of the Salmon River, Idaho.

Light in August

Today

I feel tired today. Went back to work yesterday, left at 7:30 and didn't arrive home until 10:00 pm. That's how my first days back to work are usually like. I'm grateful that Gladys was there, seeing her smile reminded me to keep hanging in there. She came to me a few minutes past six and asked me about the phone call. Unfortunately, we were at a dinner hosted by the head of school. And as much as I wanted to hear all of you I had already decided to be present in what I was doing.

Remember that..being present.

As soon as the dinner was over, I quickly checked my emails to feel all of your presence. Thanks for your emails, all of them.

Today, I feel like just laying in our hammocks.

Committing to Change

Our desire to change our self and our life arises from our dissatisfaction with what is, regardless of how successful and fulfilled our life appears to be. Hope that change is possible, along with recognition of the specifics of what's wrong with our life, moves us to commit to change. Commitment energizes the change process and enables it to flow.

from Journey into Love

Dealing with negative people in your life...

Spoke to Jane today for my conference call. Mainly started spewing everything out about my sister. I mainly wanted to know the difference between actual OK feelings and feelings associated with patterns. I've realized that my relationship with my sister is very difficult. As my daughter pointed out, she is very very negative. She has a lot of anger. Its difficult to have a conversation with her without her feeling defensive. I asked Jane the best way to handle this, she suggested a transference conversation. She suggested that I don't actually have it but to follow the conversation to myself and identify patterns. Do a bit of pre-cycling before I see her. Bashing the patterns will help me keep my own circle of happiness around her and not let her negativity over-rule me. I share this with you in the event that perhaps you may have someone negative in your life. However, I do feel that at some point I will have to point out this anger that she holds on to. She actually told me that she does not like the "new me" and that I resemble Dr. Spok in Star Trek. hmm..it made me laugh. However, after a while her continued negativity and defensiveness was a constant battle and I was exhausted everytime I left her side.

I did ask Jane what she did around negative people. she told me that she does not hang around negative people, or she tries not to. She did mention that if she does have to be around a negative person she asks "what is that you would like for me to do for you?" That's pretty to the point, don't you think? If the person tells you what they want you to do, then you do it and you are on your way. I think I'll try it with my sister.

The Peace of Racebrook

Hi all. Barbara, this is so wonderful. Thanks for setting it up.

Just looking at the photo of the lodge brought back so many memories. I can picture and feel the serenity, the exploration, and yes even the tears.

What important work.

Love to you all.

From the book "Journey into Love"

The quality of our relationship change

When we see our mother and father, we see the emotional child inside of them, and we know that thier child didnt receive the love it yearned for. We can give love to them without asking for anything in return. We accept them just the way they are and see thier spirt within.

We can recognize that our siblings were victims of negative love just like we were, and give them compassion and love.

We feel deeper respect and love for our spouse or lover, more curiosity about who they really are and we experience more understanding and acceptance, even if we are uncertain of our relationship with them. We know what intimacy is and we can integrate sexuality and love.

We care for our children in a different way, seeing them as seperate from us. We can be more authentic with them and present to them. We recognize thier talents and give them validation and direction. We see the patterns that they learned from us have compassion for them. We don't blame them or our self. We know we all did the best we could.

We are a better friend, able to give and receive in the relationship and share with each other. We work with greater satisfaction and balance and use our money well. We know that this body is the only one we have for this lifetime and learn to treasure it. We transform our relationship to sickness and even find healing.