Blogging Update!

Hey everyone. I know I haven't blogged in a few weeks and I am just letting you know, i do have plans to make a few blogs soon I have just been focusing more on a few other projects!
I made a new gaming channel called The Bat Prototype, a play on me being blind lol.  More projects on my personal channel Lippy Witch. And doing many deck reviews! I also have an instagram under Lippy Witch. I will be making a blog soon so keep an eye out! Hope everyone is well.

Accept it, because it won't change

We all have things about ourselves and our lives that we have difficulty accepting. Some of us struggle with family relationships that the other person isn't going to change and the relationship is probably irretrievable broken, but you keep attempting to fix it. Or coming out as gay after being taught all your life that it is wrong. Or accepting maybe the job you wanted and finally got, that it isn't the right fit you thought it would be. There are varying degrees of trivial to serious things that one can and should accept.
Often times the things we struggle to accept in life make it that much harder to be of a mind to know what you want or don't want. Ignoring reality or choosing to not accept something for what it is tends to have ripple affects on someone's actions and choices. It makes decisions less assured or concrete because you may feel well if the something that won't be accepted or the struggle, why wouldn't it be the same for every other decision?
Accepting difficult situations or choices or lifestyles can cause a lot of discord in one's mind. For example, someone who is gay and has chosen to ignore the fact based on various reasons like raised in a home where it is taught it is wrong, this can make someone self hate. We have seen it time and time again that politicians and church officials that rail the hardest against homosexuality, they end up coming out as gay down the road and it was their way of trying to push their truth away.
Accepting isn't an easy thing to do for some aspects of one's life, but the process and the conclusion of coming to a place of being able to accept a situation makes the mind and the body much more cohesive and sated, and for many, much happier.

You task this week is to address something you have struggled to accept, and start the process in earnest to do so.

Setting Intentions... Really?

Time and time again, particularly this time of year, I hear people stating how they are setting intentions. They may be pagan or they may be mundane. New years resolutions or starting off with a clean slate or a ritual, we all do it in some way, shape, or form. There is one problem with this though. Many set their intentions and then assume that is all they need to do and months or a year down the road, they are shocked that nothing happened! Why is this? It is because setting intentions are not the end, it is the beginning.
Setting intentions for the new year or anything else, it is the beginning. The first step in a long process to reach your goal. The intention is your goal being set, the starting line. When you succeed in achieving that goal, that is the finish line. There is still a long race to get to that end point though. Here is some suggestions to help you achieve that goal.
After setting the goal, you need to make a plan, and it can vary in how detailed and complicated it will be but the more simple, the easier it will tend to be to stick to. For me, as an example, I have made a goal to lose 30lbs this year and to get healthier overall. I have created a spreadsheet to track my food intake, exercise, sleep, and notes where I would put when and what is hurting, when I am tired, and when I am in pain to see if anything correlates with anything. I have used websites but I wanted to set up something specific to my needs which don't have restriction like many websites do. Mine is very detailed but someone else may just need to just track their weight and food intake by keeping a journal rather a spreadsheet on a computer. I use a computer spreadsheet just for my vision needs and my handwriting is horrendous. Remember, you can always change what doesn't work for you and adapt it into what will if  you find what you initially have set for you isn't working.
Another suggestion is find someone or something to keep you accountable. Setting a reminder on your digital devices like an alarm or have a person remind you or keep you accountable in your actions like a significant other or friend helps a lot for the times you forget or don't feel like doing it. Having a support system helps a lot. I have a friend, spouse, and notifications to keep me on point.
Use visual aides like pictures, encouraging words, or even playing music that gets you in the mood to achieve your goal. I am more into audio then visual stimuli so I use energetic music to get me pumped for when I want to exercise.  Some may use words like "healthy" and use the image of this word  to stick on a bathroom mirror or a kitchen fridge as a reminder and an affirmation to stay on point. Try to avoid things that will discourage you. For example, for me trying to lose weight, putting a wafe-like skinny chick as a picture to try and encourage me would just be discouraging. Putting someone like Ashley Graham, the plus sized model who is curvy, healthy, and looks great, is something I would love to strive for and reminds me that beauty isn't equating to skinny and a rail.
This leads me into another suggestion. Forget social norms or what they think is acceptable in THEIR opinion. As above, a wafe like feature is not realistic for many of us and is actually unhealthy for many as well, but someone like Ashley Graham is something many of us can achieve and still be confident about in looking like. She is now become the new normal in society which is great, but she is still struggling against an uphill battle for normative changes. Not everyone is trying to lose weight it is just a common resolution. Some have goals of cleaning/organizing a room in their home that has just been a strain for various reasons. Some people are perfectly comfortable with a unorganized room and if this is a goal you set because of others wanting you to, this is just not going to happen (unless it is a health hazard then I suggest doing it anyways). If something doesn't bother you and isn't hurting or risking anything or anyone, why change it?Which leads me into my final point.
You need to set intentions for you and your wants and needs and not for what others want you to do. Again, if someone is quilting you into doing something you personally have no issue with and it really isn't hurting anyone, then what is the point? It probably won't change your life and other then making the other person happy, is it doing anything for you? You need to set intentions that will make a difference in your life and that you WANT or NEED. Not what others want in order to "fix" you.
Your homework today is to set an intention (if you haven't already) and then make an action plan, step by step, on how you will achieve it and start imp lamenting it right away. No time like the present!
Happy new years everyone!

Winding Down

A lot of people know they have a trigger point that they start "winding up" with anger,  anxiety, or even excitement. Everyone has a different level thy need to reach before that tips the scales from control to out of control emotionally.
I was thinking about this earlier. I am well known to wind up easily over things and it is kind of a joke with some of my close friends to see how quickly I can flip that switch. When I feel misunderstood and the other person or people aren't getting it is a big trigger for being wound up. I also get hyper focused on anxiety issues that is extremely difficult to come down from and is probably one of my biggest struggles.
The best way to put that in check as quickly as possible is to know what triggers it and to be self aware enough to realize and catch yourself when you are starting that slippery slope down the rabbit hole. For me with my anxiety wind up, if I catch myself thinking over the same things multiple times, I give myself a mental slap and actively do or think of something else to make that issue slowly decompress out of my system.
Your homework this week is to identify a trigger for a wind up and also to identify what works in letting that air out of the balloon of emotions that you are struggling with not winding up over. Have a great week!

"Ain't Got Time for That."

We all are busy people. We often have work, family, extra curricular activities, relationships, and spiritual things to keep us busy. Before we know it, time has past and we have missed out on opportunities because we "don't have time."
A major area that we tend to make excuses for is keeping in contact with friends in some way.  When we start having those adult responsibilities, we find that friends go by the wayside because of what you feel there are higher priorities to take care of. I have done this myself. One thing I have learned in my years though is that if a relationship is very important to me, I need to make that extra effort to keep it going. Of course this is a two way street and both participants need to add to the relationship equally, but you can only be responsible for your own behaviors. It is easy to be like "Oh I am busy this weekend. Maybe next?" when a friend asks to spend time with you. Eventually this becomes a habit and someone finally stops bothering.
There is never a life too busy that you can give at least one hour or even a half hour out of your life once a month to stay in contact or see someone. I am not just talking about a FB message or a quick phone call, but go out to eat or a cup of coffee. You will feel better for doing so if that friendship is honestly important to you.
This also pertains to enjoying yourself and having down time. I see parents doing this a lot or people who work full time that they never seem to have time to chill and relax and do things they really want to. Hell, I don't work and I make excuses for not doing things I enjoy because I am "too busy'.  It is something we have to actively choose to do. Putting it on the calendar to have a spa day, see a concert, going shopping for the fun of of it, or anything we want to do that is selfish and mentally healthy to relax to. For example, I have wanted to make soap again which I haven't in years. But I keep making excuses to not to it even though I know I have plenty of extra time to do it but I find things that are less enjoyable to do that I feel are more important but really, there is no time constraint.
We are all guilty of doing this but we all need to find a time and place in our schedule to make time for those people and things we enjoy most in life. It just takes a little planning and effort at times.
Your homework this week is to make plans with someone for coffee or something similar to hang out with a friend you have been putting off for a while. Also, do something you have been putting off that you have wanted to do for some time as well that is just for you. This time of year is hectic but even now you can find time. Good luck!

Externalizing the Internal

Most of us have a public persona, conscious or not, and a private one. We act, look, and sound a bit or a lot different when we leave the home. We are one way at work, another way at home, another way out with friends, and another way when we are around people we don't like. We like to come off certain ways in front of certain people. Perfectly normal behavior.
For me, I like the have my outside match my insides and how I feel most regularly. Some people like to put on a mask so people perceive them a certain way. I feel this can be very constricting on one's self expression and holding them back from full potential because not only are you holding back what you may see as a negative, but most likely many strengths you have as well.
This weekend I decided to make my outside more attuned to how I have been feeling lately which has been more energetic and fun. So I dyed my hair with blue and pinkish-red in the front. Some say that because I am a grown woman and a mother and a wife that I should have grown out of that. I say hogwash. "Do you boo." That is a motto I have been living by this year. I feel more myself looking like this then I do when I have natural hair or professionally styled hair. I feel right.
Now this isn't to say everyone needs to go out and do something as dramatic with their looks but more of a sense that say, when you choose your clothes and you shake your head at an outfit you initially want to wear but then talk yourself out of, is something that most experience and can understand. Wear that outfit! Be authentically you!
Want to look funky one day? Do it! Want to look like a librarian the next? Do it! I understand some workplaces have limitations but there are always ways of getting your energy attuned even there. With jewelry especially. Even if it is hidden under a shirt, you know it is there, and that energy is still real.
So your task for this week is to wear or do something to your looks that you have been wanting to do but you keep talking yourself out of. It doesn't have to be permanent since we are ever changing beings. Enjoy!

Changing the Future

So this will not be really about spirituality but something that has been on my mind for a while. So I am a parent of a special needs child and I am pretty aware of how schools are run these days, which is very different from when I was in school. I also have many educators in my family like my mother and sister. But so many people know the way they are running schools now are focused on rushing them through school with few things to bring to the real world. Common core.... not even going to address that mess.
So I was thinking of sharing what my ideal school curriculum would be for majority of students because they really do need beneficial things and not just rushing them to graduation and leaving them high and dry.
The things that should be kept in schools that already are in are English/reading, math, P.E. music, and art. Everyone needs to experience art of all kinds because it is scientifically proven to help their intellect be it music or painting.  Everyone needs to know how to read and write and do basic math. A lot of algebra is useless unless you are in the science or architectural careers. I have almost never needed to use advanced math that was taught in high school and I think depending on what someone wants to do with careers shouldn't have to be enforced except what could be used in daily life. Physical education is a must, end of story.
Now for things that should be required in school in some form.
Updated home economics. Not like our grandparents or parents home-ec, but what applies now. Cooking is something everyone needs to learn how to do in some form. Doesn't need to be fancy but knowing how to make regular meals that aren't instant because we are of a time that if it isn't microwaved or boiled for 30 seconds, it isn't eaten anymore. Cooking isn't the only thing though. Cleaning like laundry, fixing basic thing around the house like changing a light bulb, and of course learning what each chemical in the house is used for. Even now I have no idea what some stuff is for.  All of these should be taught even if the kids are lucky to have a parent or both parents home to teach them because in this day and age, parents aren't available for things like that now.
Managing money is a whole class on it's own. I had a class similar to home-ec that did focus for 2 months on finances like how to write checks (which at this point is basically obsolete), taking us on field trips to figure how to manage a sh oping list with a certain amounts of funds, first hand and that was something that always stuck with me. Also including how to understand what taxes are about since so many don't do their own, but they should learn what it means and how it affects you. Money is a thing everyone needs to know how to use properly and so many don't.
Computer science. Some schools have this thankfully but most just have basic typing classes which isn't enough. Knowing what computers can do and not just use it for internet is something useful to know especially for when you have a job. I was taught in community college how to use other Microsoft Office programs other then Word, and even then I learned different things about it I would have never known. This is so incredibly important because computers are no longer the future, they are what we use now everyday in every way.
Real sex ed and parenting classes. Most schools in the US have sub par and abstinence only education and it has been proven to do nothing. Comprehensive sex positive education where things are very bluntly discussed with real medical terms, and not just how babies are made but STD's, what is normal physical maturity, learning about consent. So much more. And there is a high rate of pregnancy in teens particularly in the south. I remember having a day in class that we had to care for an egg in middle school and in high school a mechanical crying baby.  The egg was useless, but the crying baby, never gave me sleep and was way more accurate to real life and everyone should have that experience for a full week. It does give you a different perspective.
Comprehensive history and politics. This is covered in part at most schools but it does tend to use outdated books and focusing on the white males perspective. We should know our history across the world but of both genders and all ethnicity's. I had a college professor who was Bulgarian and gave the most amazing stories about his experiences and his topic of history. He made it interesting and applied it to real life. The political stuff knowing what every aspect of it is is incredibly important too which was never covered in school for me except hey, there are two groups, a house, senate, congress, etc. The end.  Experiencing what just happened here with politics, our kids get to feel the screwball future because of so many not really understanding politics.
One thing most schools can't do and an experience I was lucky to experience was having small classes so teachers can give individual attention to those who need it. I went to a Blind School in WA and at most we would have 9 kids in a class and many times 4-5 kids. I was able to finally get the individual help I needed with topics I struggled with. Things are personalized to the youth which it should be. Everyone does not learn the same.
Comprehensive science. So much we learn in science class is completely useless and never used again unless you chose a Field in it. Forcing kids to cut frogs open is out dated especially with technology being what it is now. It is unnecessary. Yes we should learn what makes up our bodies, what makes up the world with things like geology and oceanography,  botany, so on so forth. Science is important but the way it is taught now isn't comprehensive and taught in a way it doesn't stay in the brain.
A spin off history, learning about different cultures, by really experiencing them. A lot of hands on projects, visiting places that have those cultures if possible, and not just those that are in your region. Where I live, Native American heritage is abundant and strong but even here where it is in everything, it is barely touched on. Also, we have a history of Hispanics and Japanese heritages that are incredibly unique to the region that is never touched on. I learned last year that there was basically during world war II that there was a concentration camp (I am unsure if that is the right word where they held them against their will), in the town I grew up in. Which is crazy. Hands on experiences make things sink in much deeper and longer then just reading a book about it.
Field trips every month for some class should be required too if not more. As explained above, experience sinks into memory much better then reading words.
I can go on but I want to hear what you have to add or say on this topic! We can change things, so see what you can do in your area!
You activity for this week, whether you are a parent or not, make a list of 8 different classes you think should be in schools now.