The Empowered Lifestyle with Ellen Whitehurst

Open wide and say ‘ahhh’ on ‘National Doctor’s Day.’ But instead of invoking those who wear white lab coats, I thought I might riff off the notion that eating raw almonds can help to add your longevity and quality of life. Whether because of their cancer quelling laetriles or their powerful protein punch, almonds are truly a ‘keep the doctor away’ type of snack. Legend also prescribes that eating five almonds before drinking alcohol will not only keep the doctor away but will also keep a hangover at bay. In olden Persia, almonds were eaten to cure insomnia and to increase or stimulate lactation in nursing moms. And it isn’t nuts to know that almonds are also believed to relieve headaches while also guarding against outside negativity and the ubiquitous evil eye! Let’s leave the doctoring to Mother Nature today, because no matter the diplomas or higher education, Mother always knows best!  XOXOE

This one’s so easy it’s almost criminal!  Steal away for a few minutes and download any image of a golden infinity symbol.  This symbol is also recognized as being a number ‘8’ on its side.  That number, according to Feng Shui practices not only represents wealth, money and abundance but is believed to also attract all same into your life.

Since today is the 88th day of 2012 and since we have a mega (!!!!) millions jackpot calling our names, makes perfect sense to place this image in the WEALTH area of your home and/or bedroom and/or office.  If you don’t know how to locate that/those areas then go to my website, www.ellenwhitehurst.com and look for the BAGUA pull-down.  That page will take you right to the proper locale.

You can also carry this image on you - in your wallet or even in your pocket as you purchase your ticket.

I know, I know, good stuff. 

GOOD LUCK!  XOE

Begins with a single step.  I am quite sure that when Lao-Tzu was offering this ‘teaching’ he was referring to how right action naturally arises from stillness as I’ve always learned that another interpretation of this advice is “even the longest journey must begin where you stand.”

But, today, I am taking the literal quote and adding a little something else that statistical research has backed up lately and that is taking 10,000 steps a day can reduce your risk of getting cancer by anywhere from 20 to 50 percent!  TWENTY TO FIFTY PERCENT REDUCED RISK OF GETTING CANCER by walking ten thousand steps a day.

If a journey of a thousand miles really does begin beneath one’s feet, the trip to health and wellness then begins by moving them.

Happy feet!

Healthy you!

XOXE

This year’s secret symbol for your Treasure Mapping pleasure is offered above.  Copy and cut/paste to your Vision Board because this talisman will open all sorts of doors simply by centering somewhere by your own picture on the middle of the map.  And just what will that effort earn you?  Well see below for what this symbol does, and I quote:

“SERVES TO OPEN DOORS OF ANY KIND, FOR NOTHING IT ENCOUNTERS CAN RESIST OR DEFEAT IT.”

I know, I know, we so chill and we so swag, and, now, we so irresistible while having all those doors opened for us.

GO US GO!  XOE

That wish WILL come true if you start your Treasure Maps NOW!  Tomorrow’s New Moon is magical!  So will your dreams be too!  More on this New Moon from guest blogger and astro expert - and our good friend, Kathy Rose!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ua41QhOQatQ

Okay, so, you knew I couldn’t just post without commenting on all the activity on the telly last night.  Bethany (and her hub Jason - apparently the greatest guy in the world - just kidding!) doesn’t look so ever after, but, I never saw the end of that show because I was watching the 11 PM replay and fell out.  Probably so tired from constantly changing channels during The Voice and DWTS.  I do have to say that the dancers beat out the singers last night.  And, yes, I get all the hoopla surrounding Urkel and the hot latin Levy and even the opera singer who scored nines the first time out.  But, for me, and remember, I’m OLDDDDDD, it was Gladys Knight who stole that show.  Well, Gladys and Sherry Shepherd but I still can’t get past Sherry saying that the earth could still be flat when she started on The View a million years ago, so, yeah, there’s that.  But I was so hoping that Gladys was going to dance to one of her hits, and, then, it didn’t matter because she was all swag and smiles and well, you GO GLADYS GO!  And someone please put Half Pint and Frisco out of their misery.  I know, I know, but, still…….Now then, over there on The Voice I think it’s becoming pretty clear that the voices being chosen to continue in battle are sometimes, for whatever reason, NOT the best singers in the ring.  I mean, the ONLY reason that the black back-up singer made it was because the entire audience would have put Blake up against the ropes if he did his usual picking the prettier girl thing.  Hey, you can disagree but just you watch and see.  I won’t be though.  I’ll be too busy waiting for Gladys to get her groove on.  Because, well, you know it probably won’t last forever, so, I want to enjoy it while we can!

Okay, now, on to the more practical matters.  Today is the first day of a brand new season and so I thought it appropriate to call on Archangel Ariel, the Ruler of the wind, elements as well as wearing the crown of being prince over all the waters.  At least that’s what both Gnostic lore and JoAnn Cornug say.  In her book, Original Tribe (that Don Pedlar still has copies of btw) says that Ariel is a being o divine influence over Nature, and, well, considering how Nature’s been kicking some of our asses lately I thought it might be a god idea to get some higher power on our side.  Especially in springtime.  Known as the ‘Lion of God’ Ariel might come in like one but pretty sure he’ll treat us all as his little lambs.  Especially if we say this:

PRAYER FOR THE ELEMENTS

“Almighty power of Nature and Beings of the Elements

I align with fire, Air, Earth and Water

in harmony and service

to all life everywhere.”

Can I get an ‘Amen’ and maybe a Tivo or DVR?  XOXOE

I

Our own Sheri Lynch, one half of the incredibly insightful and hugely entertaining BOB AND SHERI radio team is one of the 2012 recipients of the awesome and awe-inspiring Gracie Awards - or - the Gracies as they’re trademarked.  Sheri was rewarded for a stirring commencement address she gave, but, truly, Sheri should win every radio award that there is - she is THAT good!  Sheri sits alongside other female luminaries in media like Chelsea Lately and Delilah, Giada, Heidi Klum and even Oprah’s Master Class!

Congratulations Sheri, we are bursting with pride and kudos for you.  And if you want to hear Sheri be her shining self, go here:

Now, speaking of BOB AND SHERI there’s even more NEW NEWS!  I will be hosting their Facebook page each month now, starting this month with my guest appearance scheduled for March 29.  First I’ll chat it up about April and then I’ll do some free mini-readings on that same BOB AND SHERI fan facebook page.  Come on over and bring your birth date and your question so I can possibly give you a little astro overview of what you can expect from your inquiry! 

So cool!

Think big, dream bigger and take a risk.  You NEVER know what will turn your whole world upside down and then, if you follow your gut AND your dreams, everything else will go upside up!

XOXE

It’s this easy but, yet, sometimes it seems so damn hard….operating from a continual or constant state of gratitude that is.  I see it all the time and have to consciously commit to practicing it even in my own life.  It’s hard.  Really.  It is.  It’s hard when you are worried or when the bills are piling up or the grades are going down or the person you count on to support and help you, the one you’ve supported and helped along the way disappoints and/or disrespects you.  But ALL of that is external to and for you.  ‘Stuff’ you can’t control.  I’ve said it before and pretty sure I’ll say it again, ALL you can control is the CHOICE given you in any given situation in how you will react.  And quite sure I’ve said this before too — that choice - - that reaction should first and foremost come from a place of gratitude. Worried about something troubling you, thank the problem for coming into your life and educating you on something you might not have otherwise known.  You NEVER know when that education might be instrumental in helping of even possibly saving someone else.  Bills piling up, grades going down, people disappointing you - - be grateful that you can look at everything squarely and clearly and take action steps to find a place of peace and joy that won’t include any of the anxiety in the future.  And, here’s exactly HOW you are going to get rid of the angst:

Take the negative situation that you are focusing and putting your attention on (which, by the way, only calls more of same to your life) and reframe it under a gratitude umbrella because complaining, whining, staying stuck at the pity party and just plain thinking that there’s now way out creates - yup - no way out.  So, now, you MUST find the things to be grateful for inside the circumstances and situations that are so troubling to and for you.  YOU MUST do this if you want to push past and put yourself in positive mode.

No matter what your perceptions and perspectives if you can find NINE THINGS to be grateful for inside the perplexing situations, you can then begin to extricate from the experiences.  Try it.  You’ll see.  Every day, for nine days straight, write nine things you are grateful about concerning the negativity niggling.

Nine things you are grateful for:

I AM grateful that I have had the time to review and build a better budget so I’ll never be in a place of money fear again.

I AM grateful that I have a roof over my head and food on the table.

I AM so very grateful for the moon and the stars and all the beauty in the world that is free to be embraced at any moment of every day.

Okay, you get it, find NINE things to be grateful for inside the negative situation that you most place your energy on and then write those same nine things down every day.  EMOTIONALLY connect with what you are writing and FEEL the gratitude.  Then, when you have finished this list, write, nine times:

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for this perfect solution. 

One problem, nine thing that you are grateful for about it and big ole whoop ass THANK YOU at the end.  It will be your beginning.  Of THE way out. I promise.  XOOXE

Welcome to certainly some of the best days of this entire month if not of this whole year!  The party starts today and goes on for the next few.  In fact I will speak to the astrology involved tomorrow, for today, let’s just embrace the enthusiasm in the air.  DON’T WORRY - BE HAPPY!  DO NOT WORRY.  Even if your son’s first championship basketball game is tonight and they have to play a team that whooped ass the first time around.  BE HAPPY!  DO NOT WORRY that Mike Delfino got popped on ‘Desperate Housewives’ last night because the show’s going off air soon anyway or that Adam Corolla got the boot from Mister Trump, because he got a ton more exposure from being on that show than all the interviews he did for his last movie, ‘The Hammer.’  Remember that movie?  No?  See what I mean?  BE HAPPY!  DO NOT WORRY about anything these next few days because it’s time to BE HAPPY!  And, bonus, if you really and truly vow and commit to just be happy the next few days guess what?  You’ll attract and magnetize tons and tons and tons more happiness right back to YOU!

And, now, some HAPPY DAYS SHUI:

Put some pics of a happy you (even if you were two years old) around your living space in order to gain more confidence and give yourself an immediate mood boost every time you see them!  You can also clean out any lingering negativity by ringing a bell long and loud and clear.  Lastly, hang a clear quartz crystal in ANY window so that prisms of rainbow light can ignite your creativity, cleanse and clear your space and bless you with moving energies that will keep you in the HAPPY flow!  So very easy.  So crazy effective.  Such happy results!

HAPPY DAYS are here again!  XOXOE

This prayer comes from JoAnn Cornog’s extraordinary and magical book, ORIGINAL TRIBE: HANDBOOK OF ANGELS.  This book is out of print and not to be found anywhere, but, our friend and member of this community Donnie Pedlar owns the last 75 copies on earth.  If you are interested please message him on Facebook!

Another member of our community and my good friend Tracy Marino posted this morning that dear friends of hers were on their way to a family vacation today when a truck entered the highway going wrong way and hit them head on.  Both parents and all three children are RIGHT NOW in surgery.

Please pray with me to Archangel Raphael who Cornog share is the physician and healer angel.  He rules of legions of other healing angels as well, angels that deliver the highest healing to ALL WHO ASK.  From the Xohar I:  “Raphael is charged to heal the Earth, through him the Earth furnished an abode for man, whom he ALSO HEALS OF HIS MALADIES.”

Invoke Raphael three times and then pray:

Almighty and Indwelling God

Be Healed

Instantly and Perfectly Healed.

I command you to heal.

For it is the right of Spirit to heal.”

AMEN.

XOXOE

A few hours ago, after an afternoon of lacrosse practice and, then, rushing to the last basketball practice of the season my son was preoccupied with something entirely different.

I was just tired.

As we came in from the bball court and I was going to do all the last minute cleaning of the kitchen, he came to me - intently - asking me to please post something on my Facebook page because it meant so much to him. 

I was just tired.

He walked over to my laptop and started to call up a YouTube video and I shoo’ed him away.  I’ll watch it tomorrow I promised him but not right now.  He was INSISTENT.  Cool and calm but entirely nonplussed and not going anywhere either.

He reminded me that I have a Facebook presence that’s large.  And that I then have an obligation to use ‘voice’ to make this planet a better place to be.  Sound familiar.  Yeah,  yeah, apple didn’t fall all that far from the tree.

But the tree is really, really, REALLY tired.

He uploaded the vid and left the kitchen clearly disappointed in my lack of engagement and enthusiasm too.  See, once I spied what he was uploading, I saw it was the Koney in 2012 wave that I’d been already aware of.  Aware because Oprah has devoted some time and money to this cause and aware simply because of the circles I travel in.

So he left confused why his mother, generally an advocate for the under appreciated, the downtrodden and, most especially, of children, wouldn’t use her ‘voice’ or her facebook page to support this cause.

I tried to talk myself into apathy.

Go to bed.

You can do something in the morning, I said to me.

Worse.

I started making excuses.

I shouldn’t get political, my facebook page isn’t that sort of page.

This should stay personal and it’s not my ‘job’ to bring Koney to public awareness.

And, then, I stopped.

WHO was this woman not willing to take a stand?

Especially when her own son, compassionate and kind and ALL IN was asking her to?

I watched the video again.

And then thought this:

Aren’t I always the one saying that “we’re ALL in this together”?

Aren’t I the one who has a platform that could conceivably add one more name to this list?

Might I be the one who introduces just one person to KONEY IN 2012 and could that ONE person represent the tipping point and the release/return home of these beautiful children?

I am including the link to this potentially life altering vid here, because, as a citizen of this planet, that’s my job.

I’m including the link to this potentially life altering vid here because I believe we can change the world.  As the end of this video says:  “The better world we want is coming - it’s just waiting for us to stop at nothing.”

I’m including the link to this potentially earth altering vid here because my son is smarter and more plugged in than I am and knows that social media can change the planet for the better.

But, mostly, I am including this link here because I will stop at nothing.

Will you?  XOXE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc

Today, the burgeoning and newly branded THE LUCK PROJECT actually took on a life of its own.  It started growing!  Through creaks and cracks and crevices (most of the first two my old bones) this project has now sprouted wings and started soaring to the skies.  I’m way too excited to talk more lest I jinx (yes, yes, c’mon - you didn’t think that I’d be all woo woo and magical and not be superstitious did you?)

But, suffice to say that within the next few days I’ll spin some beans - while collecting the ones that will allow us all to climb that vine that leads us to the goose that lays those golden eggs.  Now speaking of luck and eggs:

If you want to turn your own luck around one of the quickest, easiest and most effective ways to do that is to take an ORGANIC egg and write your name on it with a pencil or a pen.  Place this egg on your bedside table at the same level as your head.  Keep it there for SEVEN days.  If the egg cracks inside that time frame then it has absorbed maximum negativity or even bad luck and need to be disposed of outside the house and replaced with a new one.  When the seven days are up then throw the egg away WITHOUT BREAKING IT.  Humpty and I will both thank you for that.  But soon thereafter you’ll be thanking your own LUCKY stars!   XOXE

Okay, so, we’ve spent the last couple of days kinda casually looking for the missing wallet.  You know - the wallet that has the boy’s bank VISA card that has money on it that anyone could use, yeah, the same wallet that also has his new driver’s permit and ALL those gift cards that all my friends gave him for birthday/Christmas.  Oh, and, yeah, don’t forget the fifty spot that Aunt Susan sent recently either.  OR the triple A card I paid for once he started driving or the Progressive car insurance card or the….or the …..or the…….

So, yeah, the wallet went missing.

But for days and days and days now I kept being told how the wallet was HERE, in the house, somewhere.  STOP worrying Mom, I’ll find it.  Even though the CASUAL (read: lazy!) hunting was proving futile.

Until today when I got all Mama Crazy Bear (my new idea for a children’s book!) and started asking much more proactively -  WHERE is the wallet????  HAVE YOU LOOKED EVERYWHERE????? (And I put that in all caps so you can imagine my yelling and screaming after trying to be all yogi cool and calm for the last four days about where the freakin’ wallet might be!)

He tells me that my “overreacting” won’t do any good except - wait for it - to cause ME a heart attack!  That’s right - my trying - over a PERIOD OF CALM DAYS - to get him to get proactive to find the freakin’ wallet - well, now, I’m not only overreacting by getting more, um, VOCAL, but, this new tact will cause ME a heart attack?

Imagine????  I’M GOING TO HAVE A HEART ATTACK because he can’t find HIS wallet???

Because I can’t.  Imagine that happening that is.

Because it’s definitively NOT how I grew up!  Where the parents left you to sink or swim on your own.  And didn’t have heart attacks because you were lazy or not focused or even someone who relied on someone else to bail you out.  My parents NEVER did.  Bail us out that is.  Speaking of, if they were here and watching me totally enable now - -

SWIRLING in their graves.  So sorry for the dizzy mom and dad.

So, now, that the pockets in the back seat as well as the spaces and places underneath the seats of the car, as well as all the nooks and crannies of the the washer and the dryer, underneath the bed and every conceivable place in between didn’t turn up the precious prize.

And, even though we seem to have to go through the five stage of Kubler - Ross grief:

Denial -  “I never lost it.  I didn’t do anything that could have misplaced the wallet Mom!”

Anger - “YOU must have done something, moved it somewhere!”

Bargaining - “If you can call the bank and get my password and if you can…….blah..then it will all be okay.”

Depression - “Okay, it’s gone (sad, sad, sad) what do I do now?  Never mind, I don’t care.”

Acceptance - “I’ll make a list of what’s in the wallet mom and we’ll figure out how to get everything back.”

Me, myself, I had to take a drive around the block in order to get my shit together.  Pretty sure I was stuck in that second emotion -  ANGER.

But when I got back I called the boy down and asked him to pray with me.  A special prayer that me own mum and some of me other ancestors had taught me to find lost things.

He sat in a big chair across from me in our family room (and smirking!) repeated after me the prayer that I KNEW worked for finding lost things!

“SAINT ANTHONY, SAINT ANTHONY, SAINT ANTHONY, I invoke your intercession.  SAINT ANTHONY COME AROUND SOMETHING’S LOST THAT CAN’T BE FOUND.  IF I CAN FIND IT (name the lost item here!) THEN I WILL GIVE (amount here) TO THE POOR BOX AT THE LOCAL CHURCH.”

He parroted me saying this prayer with the least little bit of snark……

UNTIL ——-

FIVE MINUTES LATER he came running down the stairs with a fifty spot in his hand and the hugest smile on his face!

Yup.

You got it.

HE FOUND THE WALLET.  He found it in all the places we had both looked before.  BOTH OF US.

It appeared MIRACULOUSLY.

Behind his television in his bedroom.

A place that he says he was ‘inspired to look’ one more time.

THANK YOU SAINT ANTHONY!

AGAIN!

We’re never LOST when we have you!  We love you!

OXOXE

I’ve always, since I was teeny and tiny, been aware of other presences around me.  I have distinct memories of certain saints talking to me when I was a wee little girl and to this day can vividly recall angelic presences appearing at the oddest times.  There is one special story that I’ve already recounted more than a few times - about the day I had my amniocentesis and the hole didn’t close where they extracted the fluid from.  I was losing my amniotic fluid and there was nothing I could do about it except lay almost perfectly still with my legs propped higher than my heart and drink gallons and gallons and gallons of water.  OH -  yeah - and I couldn’t get up to pee either.  You do that math.

Anyway, I was pregnant with my son.  He was initially one of a set of twins but I lost his brother in the 14th week.  We weren’t surprised.  From the outset the second baby had been very slow to grow with a thready and barely there heartbeat and just general concerns all around.  We were prepared.

But I wasn’t prepared for what was happening that night some sixteen plus years ago.  After six miscarriages I didn’t even want the amnio, I was fine with whatever miracle came our way.  But because of my, ahem, age, (yeah, yeah, I wasn’t a spring chicken - so???  Gonna make something of it?????) my OB insisted on the test to keep tabs on the health of the baby and the mom.

That night, while lying in bed and drinking my forty-fifth gallon of water while trying to figure out how not to pee I decided to just appeal to the little one in my womb.  I told him that if he’d decided not to join us here on earth that I totally understood and that I loved him truly, madly, deeply and was sure that we would meet again another place, another time.

I also told him that if he DID want to come and see what life could be like with us as his family then, well, he’d have to fight.  HEY, c’mon, I AM Irish.  You didn’t think I was going to just let him go without one did you?  A fight I mean.

Anyway, lying in that bed and staring out the window of my bedroom, all of a sudden I saw this - well - to this day I still don’t know what to call it - I can only describe it as an orb of light that started out far, far, far away but had garnered my attention anyway.  Maybe I was wishing on a star.  Who knows?  All I know is that this ‘star’ started swirling and swirling and getting bigger and bigger and brighter and brighter and seemed to be heading right for the french patio doors of my bedroom.  ZOOOOOOMMMMMMM it came right through the window and the WHOLE room lit up.  I’m soooo not making this up.  Equal parts scared shitless and in awe, I just lay there, waterlogged and now REALLY having to pee.

This all happened inside of a half minute.  But, while the room was so brightly lit, I smelled my father’s aftershave.  Old Spice.  (HILARIOUS that the swaggy boys are ALL using that not too!)  But, in that split second in time, I KNEW that my father was in that light and in that room.  And all I FELT was peace.  And comfort.  And a KNOWING that my son and I would be just fine.

And, then, poof, just like that the light was gone and so was the lightly lingering scent of something cloying and sweet that a swarthy and handsome sailor wore when he went off to sea or that a stationary salesman from New Jersey with four kids he was obviously watching over apparently still dabbed on as well.

I recognized the scent.  I recognized the feeling.  And I recognized that I had not one thing more to worry about.  Except now peeing all over the Pratesi.

As we know my son is healthy, happy and (one of) the light(s) of my life!

And I now know, that if I focus hard enough, quiet my psyche and my soul and ask with deep EMOTION and BELIEF that I can talk to anyone, at anytime, dear and departed or not.  See, I’ve since learned, from master teacher and psychic alike, that it’s the dream time - that time RIGHT before you drop off to sleep - that’s the time when the veil between the worlds becomes really thin.  And the bridge becomes real.

If there is someone you’d like to get a message to or even someone you’d like to take one from - at night - right before you drop off to sleep - focus and concentrate your EMOTIONS, your FEELINGS on communicating with them.  ASK them to speak with you in your dreams.  And believe.

You might wake up with something heaven scent greeting you as well!  Sweet dreams!  XOE