More Coloring - Adult Coloring Books

An add-on to the post

10 Weeks of Word Oracles - Coloring

Guess I'm still the Queen of Synchronicity! I had two adult coloring books come into my life right after I wrote the last post on coloring. With the extra insight I got in my PS to the Coloring post, this makes a trio—always a sign that something good is up, something that deserves attention!

First, I loved noticing that I had been trained to color between the lines and how it helped me with the bubble fill-in on my mail-in ballot for the November 2 election

Second, I had bought my husband a calendar from the kitty boys for Christmas. It’s by B. Kliban, the late, great cat cartoonist. Upon further examination the other night, I realized that it’s a coloring calendar. So now the boys have to give it to us both or give it to me, because I’m not giving up an excuse to sit with my coloring tools and play. (One: How did I do that? Two: How did I do that without noticing it at the time?)

Third, last night my wonderful group of spiritual women met for our monthly meeting. One of them planned a surprise activity. We each got to draw a book out of a bag, and it was a book of mandalas for coloring.

So, grown-ups of the world, unite and indulge your inner child. Go buy some coloring books of whatever ilk and a batch of crayons, colored markers and/or pencils. Re-experience what being in charge of choosing colors does for you, not to mention the pure therapeutic aspect of repetitive activity devoid of daily worries.

I have to wonder what it all means, but I’ve got a hunch. In these interesting times of huge change and universal transition, it’s totally up to us how we color our world.

Make mine brilliant.

IONS: Ideas and Tools to Change the World (Part 1 of 2)

My guest for the next two posts in Janet Walden, a dear friend who does admirable work in the community helping people to come to collaborative, peaceful decisions in a number of important realms like schools and the workplace.

Besides being a member of my personal, spiritual support team: Janet ignited my interest in the Institute of Noetic Science or IONS. Through her connection and commitment to IONS, Janet has brought an ongoing blast of fresh air to my mind. The IONS organization brings the world’s greatest thinkers on the leading edge of merging science and spirituality within our reach. It’s poignant to me that IONS was founded by astronaut Edgar Mitchell. The first view of the Earth from the Moon was his—and our—real opportunity to “get” that we are each other, that we live in an ecosystem, and that every individual act influences the whole. Enjoy this inner and outer space odyssey!

What is IONS?

Joyce: Janet, thank you so much for visiting Hot Flashbacks, Cool Insights and sharing an ongoing source of spiritual inspiration and spirited living with us. Tell us the basics about IONS.

Janet: The Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) is a non-profit organization that grew out of the vision of the founder, astronaut Edgar Mitchell, the lunar module pilot of Apollo 14.

On his way back from the moon, Dr. Mitchell had a profound experience of the interconnectedness of all life.

Trained as a scientist and engineer, this “knowing” came to him completely beyond the traditional ways he was used to. He founded IONS to broaden our knowledge of the nature and potentials of mind and consciousness--to study how we “know” things. The word “Noetic” comes from the Greek word noetikos, which means inner/intuitive knowing.

Here’s a One Minute Shift video from IONS that recaps one of Dr. Mitchells epiphanies in space.

Today, IONS is a trail-blazing organization applying the scientific method to studying the phenomenon of consciousness. IONS encourages open-minded exploration of both science and spirit and is on the leading edge of helping to birth a new worldview that recognizes our basic interconnectedness and promotes the flourishing of all life. The IONS Mission is “to advance the science of consciousness and human experience to serve individual and collective transformation.”


How Can People Participate?

Joyce: I know there are many levels to participate in IONS, and since I have limited myself to a local connection, I hope you’ll expand on the realm of possibilities for our Hot Flashbacks readers to consider.

Janet: One of the most exciting ways to participate is to join IONS

Shift-in-Action membership program, which offers weekly teleseminars with leading thinkers, authors and other experts, and stores a host of interesting and inspiring interviews and other materials that are downloadable from the IONS website. It is a way to connect with a like-spirited community and learn the latest in cutting-edge science, consciousness and transformation.

Another wonderful way to participate is to attend IONS conferences and workshops. A third way is to join an IONS Community Group in your local area. IONS has over 200 of these groups on every continent in the world.

How Do You Participate Yourself?

Joyce: Janet, I know that you have really brought IONS home to our Sacramento area community in a special way. I think hearing about what we do locally will give readers an idea of the possibilities once they connect with this great organization.

Janet: I am a member of the IONS Sacramento Community Group (SacIONS) and am on their Leadership Team. We host regular monthly meetings that either bring in speakers on various topics of interest or engage participants in discussion of articles in IONS publications or other materials. For example, we have had speakers ranging from best-selling authors such as Hank Wesselman and Angeles Arrien, to local practitioners of various healing modalities. Discussion topics, when we don’t have a speaker, have included exploring peak experiences and the relationship between science and art.

I also attend IONS biannual international conferences, which bring together so many inspiring speakers! (Through the conference link, you can purchase recordings and bring the conferences right into your living room.) And I am a Shift-in-Action member and participate in the weekly telephone interviews and conversations with leading thinkers as often as I can.

I also host a monthly SacIONS Video Discussion Circle. We meet in my home and screen a variety of fascinating videos. Members of the group recommend videos they think would be of interest, and the group then decides on our monthly viewing schedule. Types of films we have watched in the past include material from the Earth Cinema Circle, PBS documentaries, the Spiritual Cinema Circle and videos published by popular authors. Another favorite source is keynote addresses from IONS conferences, which have included such speakers as Deepak Chopra, Marianne Williamson, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Lynne McTaggart, Joan Borysenko, Andrew Harvey and Van Jones. I’ll be writing about some of my favorite films we’ve discovered through the Video Circle on Hot Flashbacks, Cool Insights next week.


Ideas That Inspire

Joyce: Janet, what or whose ideas have been most influential to you from your IONS experience?

Janet: This is a tough question, because there are so many! I am inspired by Lynne Twist’s work. Lynne is a Life Director of IONS and has recently formed the Pachamama Alliance – a group that draws together various cultures around the world working to bring about an environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling, and socially just human presence on this planet. Bruce Lipton is another one. Bruce is a cellular biologist who has done groundbreaking work on the way the cells of our bodies really operate, which he explains in his book The Biology of Belief.

Fundamentally, I am attracted to the entire IONS community because it brings together and exposes us all to so many individuals who hold a vision of bringing about a better world, and who contribute so much to this effort.

IONS at Home and in Cyberspace

Joyce: Could you give us a final recap on where to find the IONS website and a starting point for readers to find a local chapter?

Janet: Everything can be found at http://www.ions.org/. On the home page, click on Community Network, and then on Visit the Shift in Action Community Groups Page, where all community groups are listed, including contact information.

Joyce: Janet, thanks so much for sharing your love of this organization with our spirited living community. You are the embodiment of the Age of Aquarius! (And, in case you didn’t guess, Janet is an Aquarius, in fact!)

~~~


Janet Walden is the President & CEO of the Center for Collaborative Solutions , a non-profit organization with a mission and a passion for unleashing the power of people working together. Janet can be reached at JEWalden@aol.com

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Up Next: Janet shares some of her favorite movies viewed at the SacIONS Video Circle. Prepare to discover a whole new genre of life-affirming, spirited living movies that you may have never heard of, but are easily accessible and affordable—perfect for shared viewing, as we do in Sacramento.

COOL SAGING CONVERSATIONS: Maintenance, Optimism, and Mind Games (MOM-G)

Blowing Up the old Old!

This post is in response to Pop Art Diva’s Saturday Soapbox, “What Does It Being Over 50 Mean to You Physically, Mentally, and Emotionally?”

When a friend of mine retired, he said he realized he had a new job--to take care of himself. For those of us who have been workaholics and boomers who do too much, what a concept! Soon I learned with great hilarity that truer words were never spoken. My variety of “elder” ailments are legion from creaking knees to sensory losses (mostly hearing), and a bunch of annoyances in-between. My memory, once sharp as a tack, feels more like someone tore a few holes in it with a tack.

Still, I am with it enough to realize I forget things more often now. I plan accordingly. I have more methods for remembering (paper, electronic, strings around my finger). I am willing to let go of some perfectionism. And I have conceded that I have to spend at least 30-40% of my time on maintenance, and that’s just how it is—routine doctor’s appointments; buying, organizing, and taking a boatload of supplements; exercise in various forms; and worrying that there may come a day I can no longer do the job of taking care of myself. Will I be as lucky as my second cousin Florence who lived at home till she died at 92?

All of these facts are very humbling and require even larger doses of humor than the funny bone that has gotten me this far in life. My biggest antidote is to stay upbeat and to monitor my influences. No fuddy duddies, no snarky old age jokes, and no one who has anything but an empowered vision of what I call “cool saging.” Losses are difficult. They increase as we go. I keep a close stash of younger friends and relatives. They help me “keep pace.”

Since I believe AARP and the various studies that mind games keep you sharp, I play my favorite word games daily. They let me know when I’m not up to par and sharpen the old mental saw to allow me to continue to be a cut-up.

Cool saging is a decision. Old age is for the birds. Dodo birds! When I see how some severely disabled people still have a great quality of life, I am even more inspired. My husband and I caught Michael J. Fox on Letterman this week talking about his new book, “Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist.” Tim has more health challenges than I do. I went right out and bought the book. If Mike Fox can be happy and funny with Parkinson’s, I’m adopting him as one of my new younger friends to keep up with.

~~~

Read these past Cool Saging Conversations:

Keep Boomer Bucks in Flux; Find the Soul in Your Money

Techno-Boom!

Necessity is the Mother of Invention

Don’t Be A Dinosaur

Venus Girls/Boomer Beauty

Two of my close friends and I are Venus Girls. This refers to the signs Taurus and Libra, ruled by the planet Venus—goddess of love, relationship, beauty, peace, and justice. Venus’s love of justice is why the Scales of Balance symbolize the astrological sign.

When an individual has an abundance of these planets in her chart or has Taurus or Libra Rising, she is influenced or “ruled” by Venus. This is the case for the Venus Girls Trio. When we go to lunch, you could recognize us by overhearing these kinds of conversations:

Wendy: So, would it be so awful if we had just a little work done sometime? A little nip ‘n’ tuck?

Lucy: I’d be for that. Nothing too unnatural; after all, we’re all into natural …

Me: Maybe we could get a package deal with a local plastic surgeon and do it together. Maybe he’d consider a quantity discount! Take a few crinkles from around the eyes. Nothing drastic or too artificial …

Wendy: A trio facelift! We could play soft music, have a massage therapist come, do aromatherapy, recover together …

Lucy: Yeah! Sip herb tea and hold each other’s hands.

If you know even the slightest bit about these signs, you’re laughing out loud at how typical we are, creating ambience by the yard, worried about our good looks and being beautiful—so into relationship, we can’t even have our faces fixed without each other.

Boomer Beauty
Whatever your astrological or bare minerals make-up, turning the corner on 50 or 60 leads you smack into the issue of how you will handle aging from a cosmetic perspective. To one degree or another, we all bow—or refuse to bow—to the Goddess Venus.

Genes and self-care both play a role in how “well” we age. I’m lucky to have great skin, but my bottled auburn hair has very gray roots, nearly every one of them. I have friends my age and older without a single gray strand in their entire heads, but some of them show visible signs of aging in other ways such as wrinkles or liver spots.

How each of us handles the transition to a more seasoned look is a personal choice. I’m not willing to have my face drawn and quartered, the kind of work that ultimately looks fake and more unattractive than au naturel … but if I could afford it, I might go for a mini-lift, just because looking youngish and vital is more uplifting than my Maidenform bra. And believe me, at this stage of the game, I need all the uplift I can get!

I am in no way ready to see myself in a head full of gray hair, although I often wonder, as I risk potential brain cancer every time I use those chemicals on my head, if I don’t have a hole in it. Then there is the practical consideration. If I ever wanted to grow it out, how would I do that without looking like I took an ugly pill? A gorgeous gray highlighted wig, I’ve decided, as a transitional stage, “when the time comes.” (Around 95?) Meanwhile, Lucy told me just tonight that she knows of a holistic plastic surgeon.

Beauty is important to me. When I look as good as I can, I feel like I’m doing my part to help keep America beautiful. I don’t deny that I’m vain, but Venus types honestly resonate to beauty and harmony so much, we are miserable without it. Almost nauseous.

More Fundamental Questions
The bigger issue, of course, is our inability to see the inherent beauty in every age and stage of life. If we worship Venus, the Goddess of Beauty, it’s only because we worship Youth like a god even more. Granted, so much of our obsession with this false idol stems from advertising, Hollywood, and our belief that men are only drawn to nubile creatures. (I bet Demi is glad no one told Ashton.)

As women, we buy into these stereotypes, too, and the sexism perpetuated in aging men who have “character” while aging women “need work.” We buy into it by our desire to maintain a maiden appearance when we’re long into the crone stage of life.

Yet baby boomers are expected to redefine aging itself.

How Will We Do It?
It is a big job. Appearance is just one issue. To redefine aging is more than skin deep, because our skin will again never look like the ads we see in Glamour, if it ever did.

I don’t have all the answers. I think a lot of them are individual. Just like some girls go through a tomboy stage, others, like me, never had one and preferred dresses to pants from little girlhood. Some never got out of their tomboy stage, never were much for make-up and frills or high heels. That’s who they are—as natural to them as primping, preening, and color coordinating are to me.

Part of me thinks that looking as youthful as possible is OK, at least until we evolve more in our group-think about beauty in all stages of life. Looking young and feeling young and vital seem to be linked somehow, and no one would fault us for a second for wanting as much vitality as we can hold all the way to the finish line.

Yet, another part of me feels like a traitor. I am part of the community of boomer women, and our mindset toward aging and beauty won’t change unless or until I, too, change my mind. That sort of change creates a divine domino effect.

Hints from a Pro on Stretching Appearance

I’m fond of the movie, The Birdcage, especially its anthem of self-expression, the song, “I Am What I Am.” In this 1996 comedy Robin Williams stars as Armand, a gay cabaret owner. He and his drag queen companion, Albert (Nathan Lane), agree to put up a false straight front when their son wants to introduce them to his fiancé's conservative parents. Her father is a U.S. Senator (Gene Hackman). As with all comedies, things go horribly awry. While I always thought Albert’s attempts to look womanly fell a little short, he manages to charm and convince the Senator, who is quite taken with him as “her.” But when the paparazzi threaten to storm the house conjoined to the cabaret and splash the Senator’s presence at it in the tabloids, it’s time for drastic measures. All bets are off; all secrets must be revealed. Albert rips off his wig and sings “I Am What I Am.” It’s a tune of the ultimate freedom—of self-acceptance. I hope I can sing it proudly, someday, when it comes to being what I am as a woman of a certain age.

This is a “think post.” No answers, just questions to ask yourself.

The question I keep asking is why the statue of Venus is depicted with no arms. Like Venus, many of us have no arms to wrap around true beauty just yet … and when we acquire them because of a change of heart, Beauty herself will be What She Really Is.

Photo Credit: Venus deMilo Statue, (c) Maninblack/Dreamstime.com

Blunders into Blessings

Before someone dragged me to a Toastmasters meeting in 1999 and signed me up for the cure, like most people, I would rather die than speak in public. Mind you, I had been doing it since 1969. People told me I was told I was good at it—a natural. But no one could see or hear my knocking knees behind the podium. They didn’t have a clue about the agony I went through every time I was sentenced to the spotlight.

What is it we’re scared to death of? Blunders. Making a fool of ourselves. Looking stupid in public.

Now as fate would have it, our own US President makes so many speech blunders, he inspired a segment on the Late Show with David Letterman called Great Moments in Presidential Speeches. Love him, hate him, or anywhere in-between: You’ve got to admit, President Gobbledygook has raised the public speech blunder to an art form. It is an eye roller to hear his latest tongue trips next to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “nothing to fear but fear itself” speech or JFK’s most quotable “ask not what your country can do for you.” Unfortunately, our current President’s boo-boos are heard ‘round the world.

None of us is leader of the free world, of course, but our cheeks still burn over our public mistakes and speech mishaps. I’ve come to realize that we have a choice in how we view flub-ups. We can see them as humiliating, learning experiences, and/or amusing, depending how we look at them.

I, for one, have gone home from more than one meeting mortally embarrassed for days over some mistake I made in front of the group. What does that say about me?

First, I take myself way too seriously and have lost my sense humor, at least temporarily. Everyone else was having a big belly laugh. Why not join the fun? Second, I expect too much of myself, namely perfection, which is unattainable. Third, and most importantly, I’ve allowed a gaffe to become divisive in my mind instead of cohesive.

Blunders can join people together in a fraternity of laughter and a sense of belonging to the same club of human foibles. You’ve probably seen good speakers do this hundreds of times. You’ll forgive the speaker anything, because you’ve been there. Best of all, the speaker just proved her humanity to you.

We’re fortunate in Toastmasters, and in the places most of us would have occasion to speak, because we’re likely to encounter friendly audiences. But a friendly audience is vastly in the eye of the beholder. Anticipate acceptance, and you’ve got it. Expect rejection? You’ll see it everywhere, whether or not it’s actually there.
If there’s a single commandment of public speaking, it isn’t Thou shalt not goof. Rather, it is Thou shalt not bore thy audience. I can imagine the Distinguished Toastmaster in the Sky delivering this one-liner on a stone tablet with a large clap of thunder.

Blunders are blessings because they can turn a speech, whether lukewarm or dazzling, into a conspiracy of fun and sharing. To grow is to take risks and accept that the price of admission is making mistakes.

Revel in your errors, learn from them and most of all, know them for the blessing they are. We are so melodramatic. Better to be laughable. (Laugh able.)

Public mistakes are not tombstones; they are touchstones of our shared humanity and stepping-stones to our growth as speakers.
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Photo: My mom never had any trouble laughing at herself, something I’m still trying to learn from her.

Gettin' Earthy!

Now that I’ve started talking about the four elements, I’ll confess: I’ve always been an earthy woman. In my youth, it was easy to see. I oozed sensuality like most twentysomethings in the days of free love with no strings attached. In Hot Flashbacks, I mention how boomers my vintage were lucky. The AIDS epidemic didn’t rear its ugly head until nearly a decade after we made love and not war till there was no fight left in us. I delighted in bawdy jokes back then and salty language, too. I had no idea that these tendencies were so heavily driven by hormones. I hope you’ll enjoy reading in the book about some of my more hilarious epiphanies when my hormones stopped and, finally, I could be motivated by something other than my “animal urges,” as an ex of mine once called them.

Earth is my element in more ways than one. The signs in my astrology chart are primarily Earth (Sun, Moon, and Ascendant). In Chinese medicine, which has been my ancient adjunct to the modern allopathic kind for over 20 years, Earth is my element—the one that needs constant tune-up.

It should have come as no surprise to me, then, that Earth and environmental protection became my job. For over half my long civil service career, I worked in waste reduction and recycling programs. The rest of my astrology chart is primarily Air, so, again, it was predictable that astrology would be my side job. I love making the bridge from Earth to Sky and back. You might say I’m in my element(s).

This week we celebrate our Valentine’s Day to the planet—Earth Day. My last post was a lead-up to this important day each year to take stock of where we are as individuals, and as a community, in keeping our globe vital and viable.

Earth Day started in spring of 1970 and has grown bigger and better over the years with vast varieties of local celebrations and opportunities to do your part to save your little corner of the world. I won’t argue about whether or not global warming is real and if the Earth needs saving. As a person who has worked on the inside of environmental stewardship, I am sorry to report from many trusted leaders that it might already be too late to save many species and resources that we take for granted. Late, but not impossible. We like drama; witness our choices in TV programs. Maybe that’s why we’re waiting for the 11th hour.

I belong to a church named after St. Francis of Assisi. Not only was “St. Frank” the Dr. Doolittle of his time who talked to the animals and is their patron; he is also the patron of ecology. I celebrated Earth Day at a day retreat with Sr. Linda Gibler, a contemporary and learned nun with credentials in cosmology.

One thing that came up in this breathtaking Earth Day retreat with Sr. Linda, her second in a row with us, is how the media has influenced our view of the world. In the ‘50s, television first became affordable to the public. With the acquisition of that little box came our first awareness of what was going on with people in other parts of the world. Prior to that, only a fortunate few had any direct contact with those in other countries, real or vicarious. TV planted the first seeds with everyman and everywoman that there were everypeople dotting our Earth with the same hopes and dreams with similar and sometimes unique concerns. Slowly we learned about starving children, genocide, and natural disasters, building global connection and compassion. The Internet brought the global community together in a way none of us who pre-date it could have ever imagined.

Back to David Suzuki and how we are the Earth and its four elements:

Use this Earth Day to dig dirt! Make digging it both figurative and literal. Play in the dirt, pot plants, dig in the garden, and dig up those ugly shrubs. Take a nature walk and notice what things pop out of it speak to you. Actually, listen for their psychic dialogue. We did this on our Earth Day retreat and decided it doesn’t matter where the voice comes from, even if it’s only a subconscious place in our own minds. A buttercup is often very wise—or the buttercup part of our brains—whichever.

Use less, recycle everything you can, and bring your own cloth shopping bags to the market. Minimize your use of bottled water (buy a reusable bottle ) to help keep all those plastics out of landfills and learn which ones are safe. Keep abreast of these and other green issues. Make your next car a hybrid. Discover some of the truly creative ways people are making recycling pay—literally! We are all four elements, but earth is the one that represents our home, the only place humans inhabit, as far as we know. One of the things Sr. Linda observed—as our scientific knowledge changes, so does our story. Maybe if we find life on other planets, they’ll have advice for taking better care of ours.

Most of all hone your relationships and make more of them without geographical boundaries. That’s the earthiest thing you can do. Peace and cooperation on Earth is what will save it. This we can only do one friend, colleague, councilperson, cyber buddy, or family member at a time. When we know we are the Earth and so is everyone on it, there is no other option but being an Earth Mama or Papa, protective of our family.

And speaking of the Mamas and the Papas, that groovy boomer band, maybe one of their greatest hits, with a few minor adjustments to the lyrics, can become our Planetary International Anthem: This Is Dedicated to the One I Love.

Each night before I go to bed, my baby.
I whisper a little prayer for you, my baby …

Bookmarks

Our book launch and signing on March 29 at Borders was a resounding success for Capital Crimes: 15 Tales by Sacramento Area Authors. We had a steady stream of guests, enthusiastic chatter, coffee, tea, cookies, laughs, and a lot of interest in our local Sisters in Crime chapter. Thanks to all who stopped by and took home a copy of our short story anthology. Twelve of the fifteen authors were able to attend this first in a series of events to debut our book to the public. Who are we and what do we write about? Everything from dark to comical in mystery genre. Check Lulu for a chance to preview.

Locals have four more opportunities to purchase Capital Crimes locally and meet the authors:

Underground Books in Sacramento, on Saturday, April 12, 2:00-4:00P
located Next to Starbucks, Corner of 35th and Broadway

Central Library’s booth on Wednesday, May 7, 11:00A– 1:00P at the Farmer’s Market in Cesar Chavez Park between 9th & 10th and I/J Streets, across the Library

Roseville's Martha Riley Library on Saturday, May 31, 1:00-3:00 pm
1501 Pleasant Grove Blvd., Roseville, next to City of Roseville Sports Complex

Elk Grove Library on Saturday, June 7, 11:00A – 1:30P
8962 Elk Grove Blvd., Elk Grove

I will attend all the signings except for Underground Books, which I cannot make due to another commitment. Catch me on a panel at the Roseville event with five other authors and editors talking about our writing process and how we created our crazy quilt of crime capers set in our own backyard.

If you live in or within driving distance Sacramento and are interested in having the Capital Crimes chapter of Sisters in Crime at a signing in your neighborhood, contact me: hotflashbacks@gmail.com. If you know someone at a book store or library, all the more likely that we can arrange it.

Meanwhile, Capital Crimes, the book, can be purchased online at these sources: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Lulu.

Finally, thanks, again, to all our readers for your support! Especially those who brought friends, flowers, and your smiles to an exciting day for a book debut.

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Photo by Jaci Muzamel: Capital Crimes authors Juanita Carr (L), Robin Burcell (C) , and Joyce Mason signing one of our books (R) at the Borders Book Launch in Sacramento.