Columbia mall flash mob 12/22/10

Imagine if all nations came together to create a multinational song and dance performance. Flashmobs are showing up all over the globe and leaving joy and unity in their wake. I think this may just be the key to peace on earth. It is the power of the arts to entertain, heal and enlighten.
I participated in this flashmob last night and what fun! You can't help but smile when you watch.
Merry Christmas!

Goddess Energy

Are you a Goddess? If you are a woman, I certainly hope so. The world needs all women to rise to there most complete Goddess potential NOW! We have reached a crossroads in our culture where women of all ages and races need to come together, embrace their divinity and lead the planet to it's next evolutionary plateau. The amazing and totally cool Sierra bender describes a Goddess for us here...

http://www.bootcampforgoddesses.com/goddesscorenet/what_is_goddess.pdf

If you want to be connected in a more profound way to your own Goddess energy, check out Sierra's work. Here's a photo of my interview with Sierra coming soon to a TV near you!

Vortex Energy

On a recent trip to Arizona I hiked Boynton Canyon, one of the most powerful of the Sedona vortexes. Sitting up on the red rocks surrounded by the womb-like shape of the canyon, I couldn't help but feel the energy, the peace and the power. While some doubt the existence of the so-called vortexes, I challenge anyone to not be moved by the beauty of the red rocks in Sedona. For me, it is always renewing and amazing to enter these areas. The native americans knew the sacredness of these sites and revered them for their healing properties. I am grateful that we are still able to enjoy their beauty and splendor.

Ben Cameron: The true power of the performing arts | Video on TED.com

Ben Cameron: The true power of the performing arts | Video on TED.com

Dreams Coming True

Caroline's dreams are coming true as she opens as Lady of the Lake in Spamalot's 2010 North American Tour. I tried not to embarrass her too much, but I can't resist sometimes. Take a look at my silly video.

Creative Energy

For many years now I have been working on a template for a tv show about spirituality and now that I am officially an empty nester and have much more free time, I am ready to get going with the production of the show. Here is my first draft, if you will, just a sample of what the show will be. Would love any comments or suggestions, ideas for what you would like to see on the show.

AN OPEN APOLOGY TO MY BREASTS...

This morning, as I lay in bed waiting for the alarm to ring, I could have sworn I heard my breasts talking to each other. I know it sounds crazy, but they were having this conversation They talked back and forth, like I wasn’t even there. It went something like this:

Right breast: So how’re you doin’ over there?

Left Breast: OK, I guess, just hanging out.

Right Breast: Oh come on, it’s me, remember? You can talk to me.

Left Breast: Alright, I just have not been myself. I feel like SHE doesn’t care about us any more. I mean, what was that last procedure? We’ve talked before about the squeezy thing – that mammogram SHE is making us go through every six months now. What is SHE thinking? Does she know we’re not as young as we used to be and flattening us like a pancake in all directions between two panes of glass is not exactly a beauty treatment, you know! But this last thing…the biopsy – you didn’t have to go through it – it was horrible!

Right Breast: I am soooooo sorry. Why don’t you try and get it off your chest.

Left Breast: (Choking back tears) You know. You were there. They put us on this table where I had to hang through a hole and they mashed me, then drilled me with a long needle that made a terrible noise. I couldn’t move. I was terrified.

SHE must have been awfully scared but SHE never said a thing. Until it was all over. Then SHE cried. SHE held an ice pack over me and just sobbed. It was so sad.

Right Breast: You know I am here for you. Even if SHE isn’t.

Left Breast: Thank you. I just hope you never have to go through what I did.

Right Breast: Remember at our last girls’ night out when Shelly’s breasts were telling us about HER last doctor’s visit. Apparently they’ve had four biopsies between them and are going for a fifth. And, they have titanium chips in them now to mark where the biopsies have been done. What’s up with that?

Left Breast: Yeah, something about calcifications. Don’t THEY know we all have them. It’s just a normal part of the aging process?

Right Breast: What is SHE thinking? Sometimes I think SHE really doesn't appreciate us. Remember when we were first growing and our nipples were budding? We were so proud, but SHE seemed kind of ashamed and covered us up with that training bra. What was that all about?

Left Breast: Yeah, and when the babies came, we produced girl, didn’t we?

Right Breast: You can say that again sister! I think we made more milk than most of HER friends. Those were some healthy, well-fed babies.

Left Breast: And I haven’t heard any complaints from HIM!

Right Breast: I know, right! He loooovvvves us. Probably pays more attention to us than SHE does.

Right Breast: SHE does seem a little detached. Do you think we can do something, you know,to get HER attention. Wake HER up….

Left Breast: I am closest to HER heart. Maybe there is something we can do to get her to sit up and listen… before it’s too late.

So, what’s a girl to when her breasts are talking about her behind her back?

Something’s gotta give. How can we continue much longer putting “the Girls” through such torture when they have been so good to us all these years? I am not a doctor. I am just a woman who has fallen prey to a medical system that seems to value avoiding law suits more than caring for the very things that have the power to make knees go weak, nourish and sustain life and lovingly protect the female heart. When I leave the radiologists’s office all I get is a foreboding warning to be back in six months for more of the same pathetic, demoralizing treatment that is supposed to spare me death from the dreaded “C” word. Not once do they tell me what to do to actually take care of my breasts in the meantime. All I am left with is the sickening fear that so many other women have felt before me as they wait for the next mammogram/ultrasound/biopsy round that will let them breathe a temporary sigh of relief until the next one rolls around. I know I am supposed to be grateful, but, forgive me, if I expect just a little better from the medical system in the greatest country in the world.

Technology is wonderful and, no doubt, saves lives, but our current paradigm of treating all women's breasts as though they are either pre-malignant or malignant is no way to run a health care system. The fear alone that it instills is enough to make even the most healthy immune system a little shaky on its feet.

We need a better way. We need to really take a hard look at our system, our testing procedures and diagnostic tools. We need to train our medical professionals to see the benefits of preventive care for their patients over lawsuit prevention for themselves. And we need to treat our “Girls” with the respect they so deserve, at every age.

I offer an open apology to my breasts and ask their forgiveness for my temporary insanity as I bought into the consciousness of fear that is so pervasive in our culture. I promise to do my best to find the medical and complimentary health care professionals that can best nurture and ensure the health of my “Girls”, just as they have done for me all of these years! After all, I really do want to keep YOU around. I’m kind of attached to YOU!

Here's a link to some info about the mammogram controversy and how we really need something better and SOON!!!!!

https://www.nwhn.org/mammography-news-you-heard-it-here-first-…-and-it’s-still-outrage

Waiting for Togo(t)

Mocking the play "Waiting for Godot" in college theatre class, my classmates and I performed a silly parody of waiting for to go during which we were waiting for various things and how we handled it. This week, while waiting for word about a breast biopsy, I thought often about how difficult it is to stay in the moment and just be where we are without projecting thoughts into the future. Babies and pets are good at this, but me, not so much. I profess to have faith in God and try to live as such but when the shit hits the fan and I am tested, apparently I still have more work to do. This week was a test for sure. I found myself wavering back and forth between the worst case scenerio and the absolute best, hesitant to embrace either. As though we can really prepare for the worst, I felt that I needed to be armed and ready for anything. I know better. We can never really prepare and be completely emotionally ready for bad news. When my daughter was alive, I used to go through this process, always hoping for the best but proparing for the worst, or so I thought. At her passing, I think I was still shellshocked, so what's the point?

This week has been a test of strength but also a test of staying power. During the stress of it all, I was able to find joy in the small things...picking my daughter up from the airport after her month away in Turkey, a fun girls' night out at the movies, wine on the porch with my husband, a long walk on a beautiful new trail with a good friend. I recall times during my first daughter's life when I had surrendered to the reality and seriousness of her illness and began to consciously appreciate small things like a plate of macaroni and cheese that she devoured, a day when her color remained pink and healthy, a sweet moment tucking her in at night... These small beautiful things are sustenance during times of stress and uncertainty. They may be fleeting, but woven together, they can get us through the obstacles of life with a bit more grace.

This morning when I got the call that all was fine, I breathed a sigh of relief, thanked God, and then called my husband. After that, I started reflecting on this past week. Waiting is hard, but aren't we always waiting for something? (I am recalling a Sesame Street song "Something to do While We're Waiting" and thinking maybe that was more for the parents than the kids.) Once again, I learned that it is not WHAT life throws at us that really makes the changes in us, but rather the HOW we handle it that counts. I guess I get about a B for this one.

My Amazing Niece

My beautiful, sweet, talented niece Bridget produced a benefit concert this weekend for the people of Haiti and she asked me to help her with a video. She is an amazing girl/woman with an amazing future. Take a look at what she did. I am so proud of her ( and my sister for raising such a great kid!)

My Acupuncture Experience

Wow! is all I can say. First and foremost, I was fortunate to have chosen the sweetest and most knowledgeable practitioner. Janet talked me through the procedure and answered all of my questions thoroughly and compassionately. The needles were small and I could feel a slight prick but, once they were in, I was in total bliss! She left me to my needles accompanied by soft music and I drifted into la la land until she came back into the room to remove the needles. Can't wait to go back for more! Check out my video .

Look at Me I'm Sandra Dee! Finding and Following your Bliss!

As I write this, my 22 year old daughter is performing the role of Rizzo in the musical "Grease" in Istanbul, Turkey. Why is this significant? Well, it is just another (almost) miraculous syncronicity that I have come to expect in my life. My daughter is an amazing young woman. From early in her life, she knew what she wanted and was determined to get it. A lead role in "The Secret Garden" propelled her to leads in high school, local theatre and then in college where she majored in Musical Theatre. She has never wavered from her intention and passion and it has paid off. I, on the other hand, have espoused the "put it out there and let's see what comes back" approach to following my bliss. At 17, after performing in the high school version of the play, I auditioned for the movie "Grease" and won a part in the blockbuster starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. As exciting as that was, after returning to the East Coast just in time for college, I turned down opportunities that sprang from my Hollywood experience to begin my freshman year. Somehow I think my daughter would have chosen differently as her plans for herself were much more set in stone.

So what do we learn about following your bliss from these two very different approaches? If you are sure, as was my daughter, of your true passion in life, then let nothing stand in yur way. Your tenacity will ensure that doors open for you where appropriate. For you, signs along the way will be fun to notice, but rather redundant. If you are more like me, which I believe most of us are, and are finding your bliss as you go along, then you will have to be open and looking for those doors, signs and opportunities as they appear. Do they make your heart sing? Then grab em! Can you see yourself there? Then go! Do they appear over and over in your life? Take the hint.
In the end, I am an actress and so is my daughter. Sure it took me longer, but it has most certainly been worth it!

Endings and Beginnings

It is May and the time of graduations and celebrations of the end of long years of schooling. This particular May we have two graduations to celebrate, one college and one high school. As I look back on the years leading up to this I can't help but marvel at the speed with which the years have flown. My baby girl is now a college graduate ready to embark on her own life and career and my sweet once blond tressed son is now man-sized, dark-haired, and about to leave our home for a new and totally different college experience.

How do I feel about all this change? Well, the Mommy in me is feeling nostalgic, a little sad, and fearful for them. At the same time though there is a sense that all is right with the world and these endings are but signposts on the road of life and beautiful and right ones at that. My perspective is ever tainted by having lost a child and therefore these milestones in my living children's lives are sweet reminders of the right way things should be. We should revel in our children's successes and appreciate their growth. We should praise them and love them until their spiritual cups are full to overflowing and send them off with the knowledge that their parents see nothing but the best in them and love them truly and unconditionally. Here are the videos I made for my Daughter and Son for their graduations...