Stick Your Finger Into More Cakes in 2020! (and don't be afraid to ask;)

A few weeks ago on the way back from teaching my 6:30am yoga class, I stopped in at one of my favorite local Health Food stores.

I love how quiet it is in those early morning hours and feeling the beginning bustle of the lovely employees getting nourishing food ready for customers.

I was hoping to get a rotisserie chicken, so I asked one of the employees in the deli if they had any ready. He was a large stoic fellow, probably of Pacific Islander descent. He said they would be ready in about 10 minutes, and I decided it would be worth the wait, so I stuck around.

There was a cake sitting on the counter where we were discussing the chickens and I noticed that it was sweating profusely (as cakes often do in the Southeast). I asked him if they were throwing it out. His reply was “no, it’s for display, do you want a piece?” I was feeling particularly frisky this morning (as I often do) so I replied “no, but I do want to stick my finger in it!”

He without pause or reaction…completely deadpan, responded “okay." He pushed the cake towards me.

Now. I feel I need to explain a bit further before we continue. I haven’t eaten cake or sugar for that matter for a few decades. And honestly I never really was a big fan of it and given what I know now about what it does to the body, I just stay away from it.

I DO, however, love sticking my finger into cakes, pies, brownies…whatever. Feeling the gooey goodness and the different layers and the texture in a tactile way is very satisfying and just feels yummy (and it’s pretty annoying to the people whose desserts I might happen to stick my finger in…you can ask my sister;). I guess it’s my own way of experiencing the culinary creation.

Back to our story. If you remember, my stoic friend had just very matter of factly given my strange request of sticking my finger into this pristine (though very sweaty) cake the go ahead. I kinda couldn’t believe that he’d said yes, so my response was an incredulous “Realllllly??” “Sure.” Again…completely deadpan response to this very out of the ordinary request. So. I took a nice deep breath, poised my finger over the cake, and deliciously pressed my finger into the icing, first layer, second layer…third. Oh. So. Satisfying. Took my finger out, wiped it off, he grabbed a spatula, cut out the piece with the hole in it and dumped it in the trash, immediately turned around and picked up my (now ready) rotisserie chicken and handed it to me. I smiled and said, “Thank you, you made my day!” “No problem,” (still no smile or anything). He turned around and went on to his next task and I smiled and walked to the checkout with my chicken.

As I was sitting in my car in the parking lot, I took a few moments to savor all the FUN and sheer ABSURDITY of the whole experience. First of all, well…BEST MORNING EVER…and secondly, I fully recognized the importance of ASKING. I had the impulse to make a request that was completely off the wall. I thought he would just laugh and think I was joking. But he listened and said YES. In essence, I had a desire, asked and was open enough that Universe provided the window to receive the manifestation of that desire through my wonderful deadpan deli friend.

We all have these off-the-wall, sometimes absurd desires that we may think are impossible or that no one will understand or honor. Or perhaps not so off the wall. Maybe they just feel out of reach or like we can’t possibly create them or allow them in. Give yourself some credit. Don’t be afraid to ask (and…you’re actually always asking even if you don’t verbalize it…more on that in another post;). If it’s a “no” right now…it just means you have some more getting happy and lining up to do. My goal in the whole finger-in-cake interaction was to have fun and to play with my fellow human being. Approaching it that way, you can only win, regardless what the answer is!

What is a fun, silly, off the wall desire you have? How can you play today? What is something you are afraid to ask for? Remember that to Universe, there is no request too silly, too big or too small.

The Power of Non-Habitual Movement

We went to a friend’s concert a few weeks ago (they’re awesome, btw, you should check them out…Chatham County Line). It was outside at a local Greenway, lots of families, lots of kids running around, we had a great time. One of the best things about it was watching the kids dance!! They were movin around, jumping up and down, running this way and that, takin off their clothes (love that about little kids!) and just having a BLAST moving to the sound of the music! And they didn’t care what it looked like (especially the younger ones). They were just moving for the joy of it.

Moving our bodies is so important. Not just to develop muscles and keep in shape (which is good too;), but because it gets us out of our head! And when we try new movements and just LET GO of trying to do it “right”, we actually create new neural pathways. It does even more than that…it loosens up the energy in the body and mind, it allows new possibilities in, it gets you used to letting go of set patterns. It really SHAKES IT ALL LOOSE!!!

This is a great example of non-habitual movement. The Omelette Dance! We love Modern Family…

When I was younger, my brother and I did a morning dance every morning (well, we weren’t THAT young…it was not too long ago!). We just got silly and danced around in weird ways. It felt so good! These days, my honey and I have a dance party every morning for 5 minutes. I put on different kinds of music each day and we just mooooove to it. We have so much fun!!! I purposely do things sometimes that look goofy or weird or uncoordinated.

I like doing it in the morning because it gets me energized and excited for the day. It has a way of cranking up a childlike enthusiasm that makes me ready to go and jump into life.

Try it out! Put on some music and just run around, jump up and down, crawl, make faces, act like a monkey, try out some sweet dance moves…whatever gets you moving. And if you’re tired or have a physical disability, do some facial ballet. Or finger dancing. Whatever works, just get that energy going!

Oh yeah, when I was looking for Luke’s Omelette Dance, I ran across these guys who made up their OWN Omelette Dance years before the Modern Family episode…awesomeness!!

What does YOUR omelette dance look like?

Yummy Love Your Body Meditation

*If you want to get right down to it, scroll to the bottom of the post for the recordings*

So much of our experience here in this realm is related to our BODIES.  At the same time, so many spiritual teachings neglect the body.  Dating to waaaaay back, there are many teachings that the body, the physical, should be ignored or even rejected.  

And I say...*back up!*  Reassess.  Not only are these bodies assets, they are to be enjoyed (more yumminess on that in other posts).  They are to be...well...emBODY-ed.  That means developing a loving, feeling, symbiotic relationship with your body.  And I can tell you from serious experience that until you really accept and get into your body, you're going limit your expansion.  On all levels.  You and your spirit...essence...soul...higher self...source...god..."Big 'S' Self" (a friend of mine and I made that one up and it makes us laugh every time)...whatever you want to call it...are not separate from your body.  Source is flowing through your body at all times.  Your body IS source.  Which is not only a really beautiful thing, but also a really good thing.  Because that means you don't have to remind your heart to beat.  Or remind yourself to inhale and exhale.  You don't have to prod your liver to work.  You don't have to remind your stomach to digest.  

Now...you may have had some...not-so-good-feeling experiences with your body.  Anyone, anyone?  I say this in jest, cuz, well, yeah...we all have!  I'm happy to share my own experience, many of you are familiar with it (you can take a look at it here).  And I find that lots of times when we experience negative feelings we can disassociate from our bodies.  Whether those feelings are physical or emotional...well, we want OUT.  Which is totally understandable!  We just...disconnect.

We set up this experience perfectly before we came here.  We wanted to have bodies.  We wanted to be deeply connected with them.  Because we wanted to have a way to *know* how we feel about things.  We wanted a way to know when we are on track with our truth, with our desires, with our knowing...and when we're off track.  Other reasons too and we'll get into those at another time;)  

When you can FEEL your body...when you can FEEL your feelings in your body...you are so much more able to shift those feelings (physical and emotional) and to let them move through.  In fact, they will move on their own when you allow yourself to be with them!  If you try to ignore them or change them right away, you're doing yourself a disservice.  Because those feelings are there for a reason.  

Before we get down to it, I'll give you some backstory about this particular Living From Inspiration Meditation.  It's a super duper sweet story and one of my favorites, because it involves my gorgeous nieces.  

A few years ago, I was staying with my brother and his family in Albuquerque, NM.  They have this beauuuutiful big house with a casita in the back.  Every morning, I wake up and do my meditation, workout and then go to the main house and have breakfast with the family and always sit next to, you guessed it, my lovely niece, "A".  She's about 3 or 4 at this point (I'm so bad with ages, but I'm pretty sure).  So sweet, so beautiful.  I sit down on a bar stool/breakfast stool and help her up to the bar stool/breakfast stool next to me.  And she puts her sweet hand on my arm and says...

"Auntie Lala...I love your eyes...and I love your face...and I love your arms...and I love your legs...and I love your shoulders...and I love your hair...and I love your shirt...and I love your nose...and I love your fingers.........."

And she keeps going on.  And on.  And on.  For about 3 minutes straight.  Which is a looooong time for a 3-4 year old.  Just loving, loving, loving everything about me.  And oh!  I try to interrupt!  And say "I love your face...and your arms...and your legs..." She will have none of it.  She just keeps going...and going.  My only choice is to sit...and let it all in.  Which I finally do.  

It was so sweet.  So much love.  And I have never forgotten it.  *That* is how we can feel at all times.  Because Source is always flowing all that love to every single part of us.  

This meditation will help you get connected to your body and establish a loving relationship with it.  The first recording goes through instructions.  The second recording is the actual meditation.

In the instructions, you'll learn that as you're going through the meditation, if when you get to a certain body part you notice any pain, tightness, or resistance of any kind, pause the recording and take some time to just BE with the sensation.  Without trying to figure it out, without judging...just be with it.  Embrace it.  And when you're ready, start the recording again and keep going.  

So get comfortable, close your eyes, and melt into this.