The last few weeks I’ve been caught up in the festivities of turning 60 and then off to Phoenix to help out a friend who is the main caregiver for her husband who has stage 4 spinal cancer.

To say the least my mind has been from here to there and back again:  happy, sad, grateful and humbled.  And all the while something had been missing; my conversations with God.

I was preoccupied, caught up in celebrating, immersed in my friend’s medical paperwork.  I was feeding chickens, cleaning up after dogs, doing laundry and trying to be the cheery one, but there was an emptiness, something I hadn’t felt in a while, something was missing; my conversations with God.

If you know me I am by no means a religious person, meaning organized religion.  I was Baptized Catholic, married by a Methodist minister and joined the Church of God and Presbyterian Church.  Attending a service at Church once a week is completely fulfilling for many people.  But my conversations with God happen multiple times a day, most every day, sometimes hourly.

But I digress…

During the last 4 weeks with all my busy-ness and celebrations, my EGO, as Wayne Dyer refers to as “Edging God Out,” did the talking.  I wasn’t quiet and I didn’t let my heart have the conversation and my soul do the listening.

So while it is summertime and “the living is easy,” which we know it won’t be unless we make it that way, here are a few suggestions: Put DOWN your phone, turn off the TV, hide out in a quiet room and just be.

Put your ego on pause and have that conversation with God.  He’s waiting to hear about your day, your worries, and your celebrations.  Don’t interrupt either, be still, he speaks quietly like a butterfly’s wings and be aware he doesn’t always answer on your time-table (I hate that one).

Then voila, the something that’s been missing will be back!  Your happy place will be waiting for you and it’s as simple as having that conversation.  A conversation with a force that’s bigger than you and that know-it-all EGO — which quite often needs a leash adjustment.

Grateful for you,

Sheree

P.S.  If you know of a caregiver to someone who is ill or aging, please remember to give THEM some care.

P.S. Enjoy summer and this link to the amazing song – Summertime by Ella Fitzgerald!!!

I am so EXCITED!  Today I am a sexagenarian.  Ok, in reality I thought that meant that 60 year olds were still sexy… sometimes you just shouldn’t look up the definition of a word.   It means I’m entering my “seventh decade” or that I’ve been hanging out for around 22,000 days.  Ok then…

Looking back on the 525,600 hours I’ve been observing, I came up with a couple of key things to celebrate on this momentous birthday:

• I wake up each morning with the ability to breathe, see, hear, taste, speak, touch and move. And most mornings I can even remember what day it is!
• I witnessed the computerization of information, cordless phones and the internet.
• I’ve seen food go from being grown organically, to being processed with hormones, chemicals and genetically modified, then back to being grown organically.
• Pollution has been turned around, like in the LA basin which used to be hidden by thick red clouds and now buildings and sunsets can be seen from 40 miles away.
• I was old enough to watch the Beatles on TV (black and white) when they first visited the USA.
• When the USA started their space program, I watched, but didn’t appreciate it as I should have.
• I have learned to love gifts of experiences, that I keep in my heart, rather than gifts I keep on the shelf.
• I’m blessed to have two beautiful children, a husband and a family who is truly amazing.
• I was able to have heart to heart talks with both my parents before their journeys ended.
• I have been deeply in love more than once in my life.
• I‘ve seen a Northern White Rhino before it becomes extinct. As of Sunday there were only five left in the world.
• I have had a Life Changing experience (thanks Boom).
• I have had the best dogs in the world, and a cat or two.
• I have taught a cat to walk on a leash – ok that’s not headline worthy but it’s not easy.
• I have learned that when there’s a drought in your life, whether it is water, money, employment or friends, it all works out, everything is cyclical.
• I have been blessed to have more than “one” good friend.
• Disneyland and I are the same age, which is awesome!
• I can still be completely surprised… like when I was walking the cat (don’t judge) and tried to remove a lizard from her mouth, which then led to the lizard running up my pants leg. Don’t fret, I pinched off the pants at my knee and was saved by a husband who nearly peed his pants as he hysterically helped.

I don’t really agree with the ‘OLD’ title many people assign to certain ages.  So instead of OLD I’m experienced, knowledgeable, qualified, skilled, compassionate and talented.  It’s taken 60 years to acquire all of that goodness but it’s also taken me that long to recognize it.  So it’s time to celebrate just a smidge of my incredible life, and what better birthday to do it than the SEXY-genarian birthday!!!

If you haven’t made a list of YOUR goodness’ for YOUR birthday this year, you need to get started!!!

Grateful for you and birthdays!

Sheree

Today we celebrate the Earth, although I’ve often thought that we should be celebrating it “every” day since we’d have nothing to stand on if it weren’t here…

Living in California and facing grave water shortages I’m reminded daily what an amazing planet we live on.  It supports us in breathing, eating and drinking and it provides us with incredible entertainment (Grand Canyon, Mount Everest, Northern Lights and the light shows from thunderstorms – which I’m hoping I’ll actually get to see this year).

So today, no matter where you live:

• Turn off the water when you brush your teeth
• Don’t flush so often
• Turn the water off in the shower as you soap up, wash your hair and shave.  (Your legs will have a very close shave as it will be a bit chilly in the shower and the hairs will stand straight up.)
• Take 5 minute showers instead of planning your entire day while the water is running
• Save the water you run while you’re warming up the shower and use it for your plants
• Keep a container of water in the refrigerator so you don’t need to run the faucet until it’s cold

Remember:

• Washing your hands takes one gallon of water
• Shaving your legs takes one gallon of water
• Old toilets take 3.5-7 gallons for every flush

It’s stated that a human uses approximately 80-100 gallons of water EACH day.  Just imagine storing that many gallons in your home.  What if one day you went to turn on the water and there was none?

So from me to the big ball of blue we stand on, thank you for gravity and Happy Earth Day!

Grateful for living here and you,

Sheree

They’re deceptively hard to hike in… really!

I know I’m getting older and my eyes should be getting worse, but they sure are noticing a lot of things, like where did my eyebrows go?  They were here a minute ago and now they are gone – except for those few lone grey hairs – awesome, just awesome.

And what about when I do downward dog in yoga, when did that skin over my knees start to look like the knees of my mother?

While my 50’s brought me the ability to speak more truthfully, I’d like to believe that my 60’s will be bringing me more than the effects of gravity.

We went hiking last week in the hills behind our home (I think of them as very large mountains) and I agreed to take the “long” hike.  As I stopped to catch my breath, for the 4000th time, I tried  to remember what underwear I was wearing in case I had to be airlifted out by paramedics and taken to the hospital.  I came to the realization, as I watched the vultures start assembling, I may not be as athletic as my ego perceives me to be.  How does one recover from the realization that we’re not 20 anymore?

They were just waiting for me to stop…

I figured I needed to re-learn that long forgotten math concept – proportions.  If I could walk 12 miles in my 20’s I should be able to walk 4 in my 60’s, right?

Not all is lost as I seem to be hearing better than I did in my 20’s.  I love hearing the birds outside and the children laughing at the school nearby.   I’ve also learned to HEAR silence, which actually IS “golden.”  Plus I think I’ve become a better listener, trying to put aside my needs/wants for those of the person speaking.

Being in my 20’s I believed there was only one way to do things (my way), one way to see things, hear things, sense things – when in reality that was wrong.  I can still believe all of MY things but don’t need to force those beliefs onto anyone else to make them valid.  (My children are probably applauding right here.)

And though my sight has brought me some visions of aging, it has also shown me how a person’s smile is not only in the muscles in their face; but how it’s also in the depth of their eyes.

Thinking about it, I only wish it wouldn’t have taken me an additional 40 years to realize that the free will we are given as humans – isn’t really about choosing what happens in our lives, it’s more about choosing how we react to the paths we are given.  Even if those paths are through very large mountains…

Whatever century you may be from, I invite you to take five minutes and run through all the things you’ve learned since your 20’s, even if you’re still experiencing your twenties, and smile deeply with those eyes at all the lessons you have learned!

I’m off to research the complexity of knee lifts, buy some eyebrow liner and some really cute underwear for those “just in case” times…

Grateful for you,

Sheree

p.s.  Thank you Jeff for not leaving me behind for the vultures….