34 Secular Quotes for Homeschool Handwriting Practice

I remember back when I was in 4th grade, we would come in to class to find our handwriting work written on the board. The first thing we did was get out our paper and copy that poem. I remember the day I came in to find this poem (which I memorized because it was so fun):

I never saw a purple cow.

I never hope to see one.

But I can tell you anyhow

I'd rather see than be one.

I have no idea who wrote it, or even if I memorized it correctly. I only know that when I decided my kids needed handwriting practice, I wanted to make it fun. But I also want them to learn something good for the soul.

So.

Here is my collection of eclectic quotes - from Abe Lincoln to Yoda. Some of them I found on Pinterest boards, so they could have been painted on a wooden sign, or sewn onto a pillow. I have no idea who wrote most of them. Heck, some could be non-secular for all I know. But I like them all and I love the messages in them.  Here they are:


What saves a man is to take a step. Then another step. ~ C. S. Lewis

There are better things ahead than any we leave behind. ~ C. S. Lewis

Mistakes are proof that you are trying.

Believe you can and you're halfway there.  ~ Theodore Roosevelt

You are capable of amazing things.

Your mind is a garden

Your thoughts are seeds

You can grow flowers or 

You can grow weeds.

Life doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful.

We can't help everyone, but everyone can help someone. ~ Ronald Reagan

Don't wait for sleep to dream.

You're off to great places

Today is your day.

Your mountain is waiting 

So get on your way.

~ Dr. Seuss

What lies behind us
and what lies before us
are tiny matters compared to
what lies within us.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Do something today that your future self will thank you for.

Whenever I get sad I stop being sad and start being awesome.

The happiest people don't have the best of everything,

they just make the best of everything.

Whether you think you can, or think you can't, you're right. ~ Henry Ford

If it is important to you, you will find a way. If not, you'll find an excuse.

Please excuse the mess, we are making memories.

It always seems impossible until it's done. ~ Nelson Mandela

The best way to get things done is to simply begin.

Great things are done by a series of small things brought together. ~ Vincent Van Gogh

Whatever you are, be a good one. ~ Abraham Lincoln

We rise by lifting others.

If you can dream it, you can do it. ~ Walt Disney

Be the reason someone smiles today.

You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great. ~ Zig Ziglar

If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely. ~ Roald Dahl

No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.

Do or do not - there is no try. ~ Yoda

It's kind of fun to do the impossible. ~ Walt Disney

By being yourself, you put something wonderful in the world that was not there before. 

~ Edwin Elliot

You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step. ~ Martin Luther King

Whatever you decide to do, make sure it makes you happy.

Collect moments not things.

The best way to predict your future is to create it. ~ Abraham Lincoln

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The Anti-Zen: How NOT To Meditate

My husband has been working late. A lot. I have been with my children every waking moment for about 2 weeks now. Doesn't sound that bad, but every time I go in my room for "quiet time" I hear a knock on my door exactly 3.5 seconds after my bottom hits the top of my mattress. I need some Zen meditation time to clear out my brain or I will go mad. Mad I tell you!

Yesterday was a gorgeous day. Sunshine and 70's - real fall weather. I have been aching for this! I decided I would go outside and meditate, even if it was only for 10 minutes. I made a plan. That might have been my downfall. Because when I plan, I'm basically saying to myself that I expect to be interrupted and that I need to put some blocks up for the children to have to get through to get to me.

I made dinner. I set it on the table. I said "I'm going outside to meditate".

Step one: go outside

After wandering around a little I picked a comfy looking spot under a tree and sat down. My flip-flops were bothering me. I took them off. My back was bothering me. I leaned back on my arms and tilted my face up, enjoying the cool breeze.

Step two: connect in

I took a few deep breaths and tried to find that place where all the little daily bothers and tasks don't even matter. I'm getting good at getting there (thanks to my hypnosis training I think), so it only took a minute.

Step three: ignore distractions

Cars going by. No biggee... I think that may be an ant crawling on my hand. Whatever... Oldest son calling "Mom! Mom! Where are you?!"  I'm just gonna ignore that. He'll see me and realize I'm meditating... I tried to re-Zen. More yelling from the deck. He is not. even. looking for me.  Wait... zen... zen... "Mom! Mom! Where the heck is Mom? Guys I can't find Mom" and oh FOR THE LOVE OF PETE! "I'M RIGHT HERE! DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT IS FOR SOMEONE TO MEDITATE WHEN YOU'RE YELLING CONSTANTLY FOR THEM?!"

Step four: try another time

Anger = not meditation. Meditation over. My son apologized and said "I couldn't see you and I was worried." Ding! Aaaaand there's the guilt. Yep. I just yelled at my son, while I was supposed to be meditating, and he was only concerned about me.

I feel like the anti-spiritual. But I will persevere! Some day I will be the most astonishing meditator - able to bliss out and tune out in the face of mass chaos.

Some day.

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"The Event": What Is It?

I guess it was a couple of years ago - maybe three - that I first heard about The Event. No, I'm not talking about the TV show, I'm talking about something you'll find in fringe culture that is becoming not so fringe. As far as I can tell, The Event is a turning point in human history where things will get dramatically better for all humankind. Where we will all know for certain that we are all a part of each other and won't be able to tolerate injustices for anyone in the world. Technology beyond our wildest imaginings and beings we didn't know existed will all be known to us along with a lot of other stuff. And apparently it will happen for most of us at once - like a flash of light.

I think I stumbled upon The Event while researching hypnosis training courses. One of Dolores Cannon's QHHT (quantum healing hypnosis therapy) trained practitioners posted this video in which Ron Head describes The Event under hypnosis. There are now five parts on this topic. He starts by saying uncomfortable times are coming which will bring about change (I don't know about you, but I think we're seeing this right now). Don't worry though, the world won't be destroyed. Apparently, it isn't allowed. "Do not go into fear... Stay in anticipation" he says. The first of these sessions were recorded in 2013 and early 2014.

Also in 2013, an announcement came at a channeling event. Bashar, channeled by Daryl Anka doesn't normally give any predictions. He says things are always in flux and only probabilities are available, and only for that particular moment that you ask a question. However, at this particular event, associated entities came through and gave the following prediction:

In your year of 2016 ..., a transformational point in the fall of your year of 2016 prior to your country’s new coming election EVERYTHING will change!

...This transmission will be given 3 times over the course of this event. In your upcoming fall of 2016 EVERYTHING will change! You are crossing a threshold that you have been preparing for many thousands of years. We are privileged to be the ones to announce to you this upcoming threshold in your collective consciousness, for we relate to you as a collective consciousness and read in your collective consciousness this upcoming change of great transformation. In your upcoming fall of 2016 EVERYTHING will change! You have 2 ½ years to express yourself in the way that is most in alignment with your being, for after that threshold EVERYTHING will change.

So are these two related? There are a couple more hints that something is up. There's a guy named Ed Dames who was a Remote Viewer for the U.S. military. He says a team of remote viewers has seen an event that changes the world - in his view, not for the better. The part I remember the best is when he describes them seeing a flash of light in the sky, and then all of the soldiers on the battlefield just lay down their weapons and go home. Sounds good to me, but Dames thinks the flash is a solar event which will bring about death and destruction. They don't call him Dr. Doom for nothing. You can watch his full length video all about what he thinks will be the "Killshot" at this link.

There is a project going on with another group of Remote Viewers called the Time-Cross project. Remote Viewers are tasked with viewing the event(s) that are the biggest news stories for the following month. So far they have been eerily accurate. I am anxiously awaiting what they have viewed this month (September) about events in October. Will they see The Event?

Yet another reference to an event which would bring a change to our world was mentioned in Dolores Cannon's Convoluted Universe Book I. I wish I had the book here to quote directly from it, but I don't (I checked it out from the library). I do remember reading an account of someone under hypnosis who talked about the second coming of Christ not being a person, but a consciousness. This is similar to what Ron Head describes in the youtube videos above.

Can you imagine how much our world would change if we suddenly all realized that we are worthy, that we are all connected, and that there is more than enough to go around if we all just work together? If we had technology like free energy? If we didn't all have to work so darn hard? Is this what The Event is? Somehow I think this is just putting it too simply. Somehow I think there will be much more to it. At least I would hope so.

In order for the whole world to change, a whole lot more of us need to wake up. And the ones who think they are already awake have room to feel what they already know on a deeper level. If there is an event coming in the next month where we see a big flash and the love, understanding and knowing descends upon us, things are going to change really quickly. I don't know about you, but I am SO in. Even if it doesn't happen in a great big exciting event, but a gradual awakening, I'm still in. Bring it!

My Ghost Story

Halloween is coming. I'm already binge watching any paranormal shows I can find that I haven't already seen. My favorites right now are the ones that deal with investigating ghost stories. When I was little I was terrified I might see a ghost. When I was 14, I actually saw one.

My brother playing pinball
in my uncle's basement.

During the winter of 1980-something we were in Pennsylvania visiting my relatives. I know that I was 14 because I had my drivers permit and my cousin, Kara, who was a year older than me, didn't (different rules in PA than here I guess). Since she always got to do everything first, I was kinda excited about that. We went to stay with my uncle who lived in a wooded area. The house was pretty isolated. My cousin's bedroom was downstairs in the walk-out basement. The basement also contained a bathroom, a nice living area, a bar, and a storage room. Ooh! And a pinball game! I stayed in Kara's room with her and the rest of the family stayed upstairs.

Since Kara's room was toward the back of the house, she only had one small window (the size of a loaf of bread) toward the top of one wall. The window was at ground level outside. Since we were in the woods, there was no light coming in. She had one of those lamps where you could adjust the light so it was very low, like a night-light, and she slept with that on.

One night I woke up because I was really hot. The bed had this heavy velvet coverlet and I guess I wasn't used to the temperature. As I went to throw off the coverlet, I glanced up and saw my cousin standing near the doorway with her robe on. I rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. But something was bugging me. I didn't hear her moving around. The bathroom was right across the hall, so if she was headed that way I would have heard something. If she was coming back, I would have heard the toilet tank refilling, right? I thought maybe since she saw me moving around, she was being very still and trying not to wake me. So I kept my eyes closed and waited.

This is similar, but it
was Burgundy with
wider sleeves.
Photo credit:
www.gcv.org

Then a story my Dad told me once sprang to memory (I'll save that one for another time). I looked over, and Kara was sound asleep beside me! I'm sure you can guess how terrifying that was. I could not bring myself to look back toward the door. I grabbed the discarded coverlet and threw it over my head like the scared little kid I was. I'm pretty sure I passed out from fear (or from a lack of oxygen, or heat stroke) because I didn't wake up until morning.

When it's daylight stuff doesn't seem as scary. I looked up at the window considering whether any light could have come in and played tricks on me. I looked behind the door for anything that might look like a person - a poster, some shadows, anything. Nada. Finally I ran upstairs (my cousin was already up there) and asked my Aunt if she had hung anything on the door that she had taken off that morning. She said no and asked why. I told her, but my two younger cousins were in the room, so the conversation died. Pun intended.

Apparently
civil war era.

When I thought back to what the person looked like, I realized it wasn't a robe, but maybe a dressing gown over a floor-length white garment that poofed out a little bit at the bottom. She had dark hair that was pulled up and back. She wasn't staring at me, just still and staring straight ahead. It was almost like a still picture, only life-sized and 3-D. But then, all this is from a glance that lasted maybe a second. My rational brain mistook the ghost for my cousin, because my cousin had short, dark hair at the time. And since it was winter, I assumed she put her robe on. But who puts a robe on in a warm house to walk 10 steps across the hall?

It turns out there have been a number of weird things that have happened in and near their house over the years (I found out many, many years later). My aunt has actually seen a little old man leaning over her in the middle of the night. My aunt and uncle have woken up in the middle of the night to find all of the lights on in their room. My Dad even swore he heard my cousins playing at the back of the house when no one was home. But the weirdest thing I heard them talk about was a bag of warm McDonald's french fries that they found in the bottom of their coat closet one day. I should mention that the nearest McDonalds at the time was a 45 minute drive away. Warm? Freaky!

Apparently my Uncle's house sits on or near the site of an old saw mill. I don't know much about it, but I know they have a wall full of artifacts decorating their basement including a large saw blade, various tools and even some old spectacles. Do the folks who used to live or work there still hang out in my uncle's house? Maybe. You could probably come up with logical explanations for all the strange happenings - even my ghost sighting. I have stayed there since and nothing else weird happened. All I know is this: I would never have slept in that house at age 14 if I had suspected it was haunted. But it's kinda cool that I have my own ghost story to tell.

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The Ghosts of Halloweens Past

I know we still have another day to go until it's even Fall, but I cannot wait! Fall is my favorite time of year (maybe because my birthday falls in... Fall), and I really love Halloween. But Halloween today is waaaay different from Halloweens gone by and I dug up some pictures to illustrate the differences.

Back when I was trick-or-treating in the late 70's/early 80's, I don't remember getting to pick what costume I'd get to wear. In fact, if I don't have a picture of one of my costumes, I don't even remember it. I mostly remember huge piles of candy and being told to let my parents check the candy before I ate any. We were not allowed to eat any candy while we were out trick-or-treating (which we did by ourselves by-the-way). Also, Mom said to tear the candy bars into pieces before biting into them. I don't remember if I was tearing my candy bars or not, but I remember tearing through our neighborhood with my friends and setting the goal of hitting every single house before our time was up.

Our costumes were almost always home made. The exceptions were costumes mom acquired through extreme bargains, or those handed down from somewhere. I think this picture is the only example of real costumes I have. My little brother is on the right in chaps that I really think used to be my dads from when he was little. The rest of the costume is either borrowed or we already had. My dad used a burned cork to make his mask. Just like the old days (I guess). My brother's best friend (and also our next-door neighbor) is in our clown costume that I'm pretty sure every one of us wore at some point. That hat is from one of my dance recitals. Shhhh... don't tell him! Sorry Micah.

This is one very unhappy six-year-old witch. Don't get me wrong, I was super excited to be a witch that year. But it was cold out and my Mom made me wear pants underneath. Plus, the dress was blue instead of black and "mom, witches wear black". Mom said it was dark out and no one would be able to tell it was blue. I specifically remember my mother pulling that dress right off the hanger out of her closet. I'm not sure if she bought that witch hat, or if we borrowed it. I hope we bought the plastic vampire teeth. No, I don't know why a witch has vampire teeth. Maybe I decided that'd be cool. Also, those aren't my real eyebrows. Just so you know. And don't worry, my blue funk only lasted for the first three houses.

If you're thinkin' homemade costumes were not the norm, here's a shot of my older brother and me with some neighborhood friends. I'm the mummy. I remember being worried people wouldn't know I was a girl. Mom put lipstick on me (she was always so accommodating of my pickiness). My brother is the furry, frightening monster behind me. What the what? Yikes. The fella on the far left must be a serial killer. They look like everyone else, right? Then we have a ball player and a hobo. Could we even get away with a hobo today? Hmmm...


Contrast that with today's Halloween. I must remember being dissatisfied with my costume options because I let my kids pick their costumes at the beginning of summer (so I have time to make, borrow or buy them). When they were too small to care though, I made them myself. I was a bit of an overachiever at first, but it was fun.

Robot with mini lights taped
to the inside of the box
spray-painted silver.

Plex from Yo Gabba Gabba
and my little lumber Jack.

You don't even want to
know how long it took to
make Steve from Minecraft.

Nowdays they've graduated to some store-bought (or Amazon Prime bought) options. Last year Ben was a "black blimp". Boy did we get the looks on that one. Jack wanted to be a ninja - easy enough. We bought Emma a Cinderella costume (from the movie) with butterfly decked glass slippers and all. At the last minute she decided to wear her Little Mermaid dress. Whatever. There'll be no argument from the unhappy witch about costume adjustments. Even Rob and I play dress up on Halloween for trick-or-treating. There sure are a whole lot of options for easy costuming today. Thanks internet!

The other big difference between then and now is that we don't live in a neighborhood now. Now we park in someone else's neighborhood and walk the kids around. I still have the same rules though - no eating candy while we're still out trick-or-treating. It's for different reasons though. I just don't want chocolaty fingerprints all over everything.

So Halloween is in 41 days (I just asked Google). We already have Emma's Sleeping Beauty dress, shoes and even gloves and purse. Jack has decided he wants to be the black blimp this year. Ben wanted to create his own character: Ben the Bunny. There was green fur and paper mache involved, so I actually declined. I hope there won't be any mental scarring involved in that decision. He decided on a black bodysuit looking costume from Walmart. It'll make him look like a shadow, so that's kinda Halloweeny. Not many more years left of trick-or-treating in the Shertzer Chateau. Gotta make them count!

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That Time The Internet (And My Husband) Saved My Life

You know when you feel really terrible and you go to the doctor, and they run some tests and they say nothing is wrong with you? Or they say your lab tests are normal, but you could be ____ and prescribe something that doesn't help at all and sometimes makes it worse? I do. I've been on this merry-go-round for 25 years. This is the story about how I finally figured out what was really going on with the help of my husband and the internet.

Healthy-ish, but starting to
lose some hair.

I think I was about 21 when I first noticed a bout of extreme fatigue. I remembered my Mom saying she was diagnosed hypothyroid while she was in college with the same symptoms. She encouraged me to go to the doctor. The doctor (a really nice young woman) ran some tests. She said everything was normal. And so nothing changed.

A few years later I was having problems with brain fog, extreme fatigue and feeling nauseated. I visited the University health center and the doctor there (a very nice older man) ran a 6 hour blood sugar test during which every hour I drank orange sugary tasting goo, had my blood drawn and gave a urine sample. He diagnosed me with "relative hypoglycemia". He said about 3 hours after I eat, my blood sugar drops. Mmmkay. I tried to eat more protein and not go without food for more than 3 hours. And nothing really changed.

A few years after that I noticed my hair was a whole lot thinner than it used to be. I went to yet another doctor (a somewhat full-of-herself woman). She said there was nothing wrong with me and that I should pay more attention to my nutrition. Probably true, but, again - nothing changed.

Another doctor a few years later again said everything was normal, but gave me a depression screening form to fill out. I was thinking "If I'm depressed, it's because I'm so freaking tired and everyone keeps telling me I'm normal"! She said the screen didn't reveal any depression issues, but gave me an antidepressant and an anti-anxiety medication to try. The anxiety one gave me the shakes. The antidepressant just turned off my desire to want to resolve anything. Not helpful.

Because my hair was extremely thin now to the point that people were asking me if I had cancer, I went to a dermatologist who did a scalp biopsy. The verdict? "Yes, your hair is getting thinner."  Umm... what? I don't need a confirmation, I need an answer. Why?!

Three kids, sooo tired.

By the time I had my children I was so zombified I could barely function. I have no idea how I found the willpower to force myself just to move so many times throughout the day. Stuff needed to get done. I didn't really have any choice.

But I was still tired. Somewhere in there I saw yet another doctor who told me I was normal and treated me a bit like I was crazy. Somewhere in there I got prescribed another anti-depressant by yet another doctor. Not. Helpful.

This year I started to have another bout of super-duper-extreme fatigue. I gained like 20 pounds in a month and I hadn't changed my eating habits. This time I was positive it was my thyroid. It had to be. I had all the symptoms and almost no hair left. I couldn't think straight, I was (and still am) tired all of the time. I was irritable, I was gaining weight. Help! Help! Help! This time when my lab results came back normal, I put my foot down. "Look" I said, "I've been dealing with this off and on for 25 years. If it isn't my thyroid, I need to know what it is. I don't care how many tests I have to take, or how bizarre they are. I just want to figure this out". My doctor was pretty great about it. He ordered a stress test, an asthma test, a sleep apnea test. Normal, normal, normal.

Meanwhile, my husband was also convinced it was my thyroid. He sent me an article about it. The article lead me to another article in which I found a list of deficiencies that can cause the thyroid not to work properly (10 Nutrient Deficiencies Every Thyroid Patient Should Have Checked). I marched into my next appointment armed with the list and insisted I be tested for everything on the list. One of the things on the list was iron. My doctor looked at my last labs and said "you're iron is fine, but we can run it again". At this point, the "you're crazy, lady" vibe just rolled off of me. Mostly.

Thankfully, they ran a ferritin test. I didn't even know what ferritin was. It turns out ferritin is the amount of stored iron in your body. And you need it. Mine was 4.5. Anything under 50 and you can develop insomnia (check). Anything below 40 causes hair loss (check). Anything under 70 and your hair won't regrow. Ugh! Optimal for women is between 70-90. There is no telling how long my ferritin has been this low.

Lots of scalp showing.

I also had an iodine deficiency. Who knew that was even possible today? When the nurse called with my results she said that I should put salt on my food. I already salt my food. I did some research and took some advice and bought some kelp tablets. I was also prescribed iron tablets twice daily.

By the third week after taking my iron and iodine, I noticed a slight improvement. I no longer had to lie down an hour after lunch. My labs 7 weeks later showed that my iodine was now in normal range, and my ferritin was up to 12.3. I expected it to go up faster, but hey - as long as it's going up!

I have not been checked for the MTHFR gene mutation. I have not been checked for gluten sensitivity which can inhibit iron absorption - but I can tell you that cutting out gluten cuts out a lot of my brain fog. I'm still working on figuring out the precise cause of my iron loss, but at least I have a plan for improvement now.

For anyone happening upon this article, I just want to list the common symptoms of iron deficiency and iodine deficiency. If you have these symptoms and your thyroid is normal (or even if it isn't), I want you to go get tested for all the things listed in the article above.

Iron deficiency symptoms:

• general fatigue
• weakness
• pale skin
• shortness of breath (air hunger)
• dizziness
• strange cravings to eat items that aren’t food, such as dirt, ice, or clay
• a tingling or crawling feeling in the legs (restless leg)
• tongue swelling or soreness
• cold hands and feet
• fast or irregular heartbeat
• brittle nails
• headaches

Iodine deficiency symptoms: 

• Lethargy and tiredness, muscular weakness and constant fatigue
• Feeling cold (even on warm days)
• Difficulty concentrating, slowed mental processes and poor memory
• Unusual weight gain
• Depression
• Thick puffy skin or puffiness of the face
• Hair loss
• Dry Skin
• Constipation
• Weak, slow heart beat
• Enlarged thyroid or goitre

Me and my mom.

There are also things that inhibit the absorption of iron and iodine.  Common iron inhibitors include tea, chocolate and caffeine (but vitamin C aids absorption). Common iodine inhibitors include vegetables in the cruciferous family such as broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and kale.

Thankfully, my husband and research on the internet is leading me down the road to recovery. I know I sound dramatic in my title about how this has saved my life, but I suspect un-diagnosed anemia might be why my mother died at 54. Maybe her doctors never ran the right tests. Maybe years of a lack of iron or something else caused a slow decline until her body just couldn't take it anymore. If I had given up at my "normal" test results again, would I have had a heart attack and died in a few years too? I'm glad I won't have to find out.

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Who Is Your Soulmate?

When most people think of the word "soulmate" it conjures up ideas of a romantic partner. But more than that, a soulmate is usually thought of as someone who you are not complete without. When you meet that person, everything falls into place and you just know. It's magic. It's perfect. That kind of love transcends the ordinary. Right?

When I was in high school, my English teacher told the class how she used to believe that there was only one person for everyone. She said she used to worry that her soulmate would be on the other side of the world and she would never meet him. Then she shook her head with a nostalgic smile and said "but it's not like that". She said you just had to find someone whose faults you could live with.

Today, that makes perfect sense to me, but sitting in that classroom at 17 years old, my heart sank. Wait... what? No no no! There are soulmates! There have to be. I haven't met mine yet. I want my happily ever after! I decided she had just settled. She had given up. Not me though. Not me.

As a Past Life Regressionist, and having, well... lots of my own past life experiences (as well as present life ones), I have some new ideas about just what a soulmate is. I've seen a lot of the people from my current life in other rolls in other lives. My brother in this life was my father in another, and my son in yet another. An old boyfriend was my husband. My current husband was my husband in another life. On and on. You can read descriptions of some of my own personal regressions here: www.timetravelhypnosis.com/category/my-past-lives/

What you would expect, if your soulmate is really your soulmate throughout time, is to see them as your love partner in every life, right? But that doesn't seem to happen. So do soulmates exist?

I did a meditation on this very subject. Here's what I learned: There are soulmates, but soulmates are more of a vibrational alignment: a soul on the same level of learning and experience as you. In that sense, your closest soul match could be your child, your parent, your best friend. Heck, it could even be your dog! The romantic entanglement aspect is a creation of our human need to feel loved. A soulmate is unconditional love at a soul level, not at an Earth level. Not the character you're playing in this life.

And then there's this little gem I got from my higher self under hypnosis:

My question/statement:
I have read that people choose to incarnate together in romantic love relationships over and over again, every time.

The response:
That is the soul's choosing. You may choose that experience if you believe it helps you to learn. No one feels excluded by this choice. There is no exclusion. There is no negative emotion at source. There is love, there is support, there is gratitude. There is no jealousy, there is no "better than", there is no "more than". These concepts do not exist except on Earth... So you may choose the same partner for the Earth experience but it is a choice. It is not a necessity. You are aligned with all souls. There is no one soul you are meant to partner with in every life. There is no "other half". There is all others. You are soulmates with all other souls. You are the one. You are the ONE.


Wow. How 'bout that? All of us are soulmates?

That doesn't mean every relationship is our highest vibrational match. And we can work on being the version of ourselves we like the most in order to match the partner we'd like to have the most.

But maybe, just maybe, no matter who we choose to be romantically involved with, we are with our soulmate. Every time.

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Why I Decided to Homeschool

Last week was the first official week of homeschooling all three of my kids (ages 6, 8 and 10). I didn't plan to home-school. When I was little I knew that when I grew up I wanted to have kids. But the thought of homeschooling them never once entered my mind. I'm not sure I knew what home-school was until recently. So why on Earth did I decide to home-school? Three reasons: Ben, Jack and Emma.

Benjamin is my 10 year old son. He's a creative genius and he's so caring that he doesn't understand when someone else is not. He's a philosopher with ideas that blow even my expanded mind. But he hates to have to sit down and put his ideas into words on paper. Hates it. And his brain just does not understand math. All of this makes it hard to fit into a school environment. He did alright in lower elementary. He had fantastic teachers. But by second grade he just didn't want to "do" school anymore. He asked me to home-school him. I wasn't ready and I really didn't understand what he was going through because he isn't one to express emotions unless they are really bad. I asked him if he would try third grade and he agreed.

Third grade was hard for him. I worked with the Counselor and his Teachers (who are all awesome), but he just really needed individualized education that public school can't do. At least not yet. So I spent the summer coming up with a program tailored to how he liked to learn. I also spent the next year coming to terms with the fact that I did not have to follow the same curriculum and subjects taught at public school. That was a tough one for me. The shell shock wore off and he is happier now. No more teeth grinding (to the point of breaking and cracking teeth)! No more stomach aches and crying. He's back to his happy, creative self. He laughs again! Hooray!

 Jack is my eight year old. He is a really laid back kid. He loves to be helpful and needs to feel important. He is a math wizard and a mini Engineer. I figured he would thrive in public school. He loved kindergarten (again, great Teacher)! He did come home pretty tired every day though. I instigated a 20 minute "quiet time" as soon as he got home from school for everyone to just lie in their bed and rest a bit. That helped.

First grade came along and he was excited and confident. But when taking him to school on the second day he looked so tense that I asked him what was wrong. He said "Mom, we have to finish our morning work on time or we can't go to recess". I can't tell you how sad I was to see my happy-go-lucky kid stressed out for the first time in his little life. That didn't seem good for a seven year old. I talked to his teachers at parent-teacher conference. I didn't make him do the 15 pages of homework he had per week. I told him as long as he did his best and was working, he wouldn't lose recess (I had already been through this with Ben).

He got worse. They said he was below reading level and I said it was okay to put him in a different group to help him catch up. He started hating school. He started hating reading - and he had always loved reading! It made me so sad. He got upset if he didn't make 100% on his spelling test each week. He cried. I started to see Benjamin all over again, only earlier. I asked him if he could make it until Christmas to give me time to come up with a plan for him. I contacted the school Counselor to talk to him. It didn't help. To be fair to the Counselor, I should add that she only had time to talk with him once. I pulled him after Halloween. He still hasn't fully recovered from thinking he's not a good reader or speller. We're working on that.

Emma was so excited to go to school. I was so relieved. Putting her in a Mother's Day Out program, she was fine as long as her brother was there (in another room), but when he moved to kindergarten, she didn't want to stay. She had panic attacks and cried days before "school" because she knew I was going to leave her there. I pulled her from the Mother's Day Out program eventually. I bought an animated program to help her deal with her anxiety (www.gozen.com - love it). We did breathing exercises before bed. We talked about our favorite part of the day. She improved.

By the first day of kindergarten, she walked right into the classroom without me with no anxiety at all (same great teacher Jack had). But she came home tired most days and cried a lot - usually toward the ends of the weeks. I think just because she was tired. By the end of the year she had begun having extreme crying spells where she couldn't even talk to tell her teacher what was wrong. She hated music because the teacher wouldn't let them go to the bathroom. She developed what seemed like sensory processing disorder. I threw my hands up and decided I'd home-school all three. She did finish out the year though and she was happy.

But what the heck? Seriously. If I were a psychologist looking at this as a case study, I'd say this Mother obviously didn't want to let go of her children and was creating anxiety in them. But that couldn't be further from the truth. Having three young children at home all the time is really hard and stressful "work". I was counting the days until all of them were in school so I could go back to work. Could. Not. Wait. Yeah, that's not really working out for me. But neither is having children so stressed out that they crack their teeth and chew their nails down to nothing. I didn't want Emma to lose her love of learning too. I want happy, confident, well educated children - even if I have to do it myself.

Luckily I'm a serial entrepreneur and a problem solver, so I can home-school the kiddos in the mornings and then work in the afternoons/evenings and some on weekends. It really doesn't take as long as I thought it would. And I'm organized y'all. I have a school planner! I have the first nine weeks planned out including art projects! I am rocking the home-school thing... so far. So, yeah. Not exactly how I thought this whole parenting thing would go, but I'm okay with it.

That's how life rolls. And so it goes.

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