Julie A. Wallace

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All About The Conqueror Virtual Challenges

In January I told you that one of my “missions” for the year was to move more and sit less. To help me stay motivated with that mission, I signed up for three virtual challenges on a whim. Today, I’m going to tell you all about the Conqueror Virtual Challenges.

((Disclosure: All of the links to Conqueror Virtual Challenges are referral links. If you click through and finalize a purchase you get 10% off your first purchase. For every two people who finalize a purchase, I earn one free standard priced challenge.)

No Exercise For Me

Let’s start with the fact that I hate the word exercise. It sounds like a slog through a bog during a thunderstorm: not something I ever want to experience.

Exercise reminds me of gym class, and gym class reminds me of being a teenager and being embarrassed and extremely self conscious and thinking that everybody was watching every move I made. Exercise reminds me of gyms and muscular guys lifting weights to get big muscles and that’s no place for a young lady.

Exercise reminds me of Aerobics and not being able to keep up with whatever the hell the leader in the front of the room was doing; plus that leader shouted the whole time and the music was loud and it was crowded.

Exercise reminds me of modern gyms like the one next to the thrift store. The music’s so loud I can feel the thumping bass while browsing old cookbooks and bric-a-brac. I just can’t, and absolutely will not make myself either. Just imagining the smell of the locker rooms makes me nervous.

Sigh

I’ve been in enough yoga classes to know that not all exercise is like that. But I’ve learned that for me, it’s important that I have FUN and enjoy myself while moving more and sitting less. That’s why I like walking: it’s a gentle way of moving that works for me.

Here’s the thing…

I also was young in the 70s when not everybody thought that exercise had to be a part of everyday life. People did not go to the gym or have a gym membership.

There were some people who ran, but they were weirdos. There were athletes; those were people who played sports.

Sports had only just started to include women. I remember classmates wanting to try out for the boy’s basketball team in junior high because there was no girls basketball team. I tried basketball for a little while; I quit because I couldn’t see the point in running up and down a basketball court.

(That’s not a criticism of those women who did and do play sports. They’re just not for me.)

So nope, exercise is not for me. Moving more and sitting less works really, really well.

That’s the very long way around to say that it’s pretty amazing that I’m writing a blog post all about the Conqueror Virtual Challenges.

Life Challenges

Thinking about my 2023 “missions,” I decided that one of the most important things for my long term health was to simply move more and sit less.

It’s simple, really: the older I get the more clearly I understand that old phrase “use it or lose it.” It’s incredibly easy to sit for work then sit and cruise the interwebs and sit and read a book and then go to bed.

At age sixty, I’ve started to notice subtle changes that suggest larger issues if I don’t start addressing things right now. For example, I’m more stiff in the morning and it takes a little longer to get up to “full power.”

I don’t bounce back immediately after an injury. And while my balance is good now, I can see how quickly it could go downhill.

Then there’s the fact that my doctor wants me to on lowering my cholesterol levels. Through eating oatmeal and blueberries for breakfast, minding my caffeine and sugar intake, switching to whole grain breads, using Hello Fresh, and generally eating less, I’ve done well over the last year. But I hadn’t added movement in – and this is what really solidified the “move more sit less” mission for 2023.

Also, move more and sit less is incredibly easy to do. Anything that helps me move more and sit less helps me smash my goal mission.

Conqueror Virtual Challenges

I went googling and found the Conqueror Virtual Challenges. It seemed silly at first: I don’t need a medal to congratulate myself for virtually walking somewhere. But it also intrigued me so I took advantage of the year-end sale and signed up for four challenges:

Angkor Wat at 20 miles.

Mount Fuji at 46 miles.

Cotswold Way at 97 miles.

Plus the year-long “Conquer 2023” challenge where you set your own goal; that’s where the 175 miles comes from in my Mission 2023 of move more sit less. (I didn’t keep a picture of the annual challenge number.)

Conqueror Virtual Challenges

Here’s the basic idea: you do your routine. And it can be any exercise, not just walking; there’s even an activity conversion chart that converts time spent exercising into miles and km. The conversion chart includes movement like dancing, gardening, grocery shopping, housework, mowing the lawn, raking leaves, shoveling snow, and washing a car.

You log your movement miles in the Conqueror Virtual Challenge app. As the miles increase, you virtually “travel” the distance of the map.

For example, my first challenge was the Cambodian temple complex of Angkor Wat. This is a 20 mile (32km) meander through the historic site. You see a map of where you are in that complex. You can also see the location of other people who are also participating in the challenge.

Find the JW in the image below. That’s me!

At the bottom of the screenshot, you can see that my walk around Angkor Wat was 4% completed at 0.85 miles (with 19.15 miles to go.) I thought I needed 56 days to complete the 20 mile challenge.

If you tap the little grey person icon just above the brown box that shows 4% distance, you see your literal location – like this:

You quite literally have a 360 degree view of where you’re standing (virtually, to admire the view and catch your virtual breathe.)

I also synched my Fit Bit to the Conqueror Virtual Challenge app so at around 12:30am every morning the previous days steps magically are entered into that app and I move a little further along the course route. You can also manually enter your miles right in the app.

Do Good Things

Not only are you doing good things for your body by moving more and sitting less (see how I left out that ugly exercise word there?) — you’re also helping the planet while being a virtual tourist.

At specific spots along the way you can hit the explore button and see a gallery of images. You also receive four “postcards” in your email (and on the app) to encourage you and to tell you more about the location in which you are walking.

For every 20% of the route you walk, Conqueror Virtual Challenges donates money towards planting a tree or stopping bottles from entering the ocean. By the end of the route you’ve planted five trees or stopped 50 bottles from entering the ocean.

You Win

You really are the winner with Conqueror Virtual Challenges. Each of the routes can be done solo (like me) or on a team. There’s an uplifting private Facebook group, too.

And when you finish the route? You win!

I thought it would take me 56 days to walk the 20 miles but nope, I knocked it out in 14 days during January in Michigan!

When you finish the route, you have an option to receive a medal and a t-shirt. I opted for the medal and it arrived a few days after I finished the route.

The medal is substantial. It’s 4″ x 3″ and held on a beautiful strand of fabric that reflects the colors associated with the route around Angkor Wat.

There are also two sides to the medal; here’s the back.

I’ll Keep Walking

Now that I know all about the Conqueror Virtual Challenges, I’m going to keep walking. I’m almost done with my second challenge.

Bonus – as I walk each route, the miles also total into the year-long Conquer Challenge. So all of those steps I’m walking along the three routes contribute to my goal of 175 miles.

(PSST: I have a top secret mission that’s going to push me a *very* long way towards that goal, but you didn’t hear it from me.)

I happened to find Conqueror Virtual Challenges during a year-end sale and there was a darned good deal for purchasing three of the challenges. I believe it was a bundle of get 3 challenges at 20% off plus get the Conqueror 2023 for free.

I’m excited to try other challenges…eventually. I’ve got my eye on the 26-mile Inca Trail in Peru (I’ve been to Peru,) the 124-mile Ring of Kerry in Ireland, or the 500-mile North Coast through the Scottish Highlands.

Then there’s the amazing 145-mile Shire route based on the Lord of The Rings; you virtually travel from The Shire to Mordor. There are even longer routes, too, like the 1968-mile Appalachian Trail or the 2,280-mile Route 66.

Your Turn

What are your favorite ways to move more and sit less?

10 Things I Learned From Forty Weeks of HelloFresh

I’ve been getting three meals a week for two people from HelloFresh since September 2020, and have learned a lot from forty weeks of HelloFresh.

HelloFresh is arguably the world’s most popular meal delivery. Every week you receive “meal kits” with everything you need to prepare three, four, or more meals.

FYI, this is not an advertisement, and I have not been paid to publish this post. I pay for HelloFresh for out of my own pocket, err, credit card.

1. Zest For Life

HelloFresh meals often include zesting a lemon or lime, then squeezing that fruit, and using both juice and zest in the recipe. Zest is a remarkable addition to a whole lot of things.

For example, you can add lemon zest and lemon juice to sour cream or yogurt, add a bit of salt and pepper if you please, and you’ve got a simple drizzle.

I’ve zested more in the last nine months than I have in my entire life – and it was worth it.

2. Portion Size

So many of the recipes I used to make were for four people. I’d end up with a huge quantity of food and have to eat that same stuff for days in a row. Or I’d stick it in the fridge only to find a science experiment a few months later.

With HelloFresh, I figured out portions for me. I ordered three meals for two people, giving me six meals for one person. I usually prepare a meal, then save the additional portion for lunch or dinner the next day. And bonus: some recipes often make enough for three or more smaller servings.

That also left me with only a handful of meals to take care of for the rest of the week. And even with those, I’ve learned to keep it super simple and keep those portions smaller.

3. Goodbye Food Slump

Before HelloFresh, I was in a food slump and eating the same things over and over and over. HelloFresh lit my cooking spark all over again and introduced me to flavors and techniques I’d never used (or been too lazy/scared to figure out.) In forty weeks of HelloFresh, I learned that repetition with variation is awesome!

4. Not Enough Food

I learned that I probably hadn’t been eating enough. I often felt tired and just generally worn out. With HelloFresh meals being delivered every week, I quickly felt almost perky. Almost.

Regardless, I am now eating enough food. My plate is mostly filled at every meal, and I have just enough for me to feel full. I rarely feel uncomfortably full. It’s a “just right” feeling after most HelloFresh meals.

5. Cost Is Relative

One of the biggest complaints about HelloFresh is cost, and I totally understand. For me, it worked out to be about equivalent to eating both breakfast and lunch out five times a week – which I did when I worked in an office.

I was spending around $13.00 per day, 5 days a week, for a total of $65.00 per week. Three meals for two people a week from HelloFresh runs around $69. I know that I spent more than $13 on some days, so HelloFresh worked really well for me.

Now that I work from home, I’ve cut back on caffeine and sugar, and definitely don’t eat breakfast and lunch out anymore. Heck, I have to think hard to remember the last meal I ate at a restaurant. And I think that’s a good thing: I am preparing the majority of my own meals at home and I love them.

6. Set It And Forget It

HelloFresh is truly a “set it and forget it” kind of service. You look at the twenty or more available meals each week, select your three favorites, and then forget about it. You quite literally don’t have to think or shop for what you need to prepare meals because they will inevitably show up at your doorstep.

Now, that’s not to say that delivery has been perfect. On the contrary, there was one time that my delivery just didn’t show up. It was a very sad day as I knew that I had to plan, shop, and then prepare meals for the week – something I had just gotten out of the habit of doing.

One other time, my delivery didn’t show up at the normal time. I got onto live chat with HelloFresh and they let me know that it was definitely out for delivery and would arrive by 8pm. It sure did. So that’s only two instances of delivery problems – not bad for forty weeks of HelloFresh!

7. Minimal Shopping

Consistent meal planning and shopping is a challenge for me. I can spend two hours deciding on four or five meals, another hour hand writing an alphabetical list, more time at the grocery store, time driving to and from the store, and then more time unpacking those groceries. It can be exhausting, and I’d always get additional things I really, really didn’t need.

For forty weeks of HelloFresh, I only had to do that exhausting stuff one time. Naturally, for the other meals I did have to go to the grocery story, but it was one meal, two meals at most. My ‘eye’ has changed though, so it’s easier to keep these meals in portion size and super simple because I know HelloFresh would be coming with more complex meals.

8. New Techniques

I consider myself a decent home cook; heck, I even had a cooking blog for a hot minute. And I really didn’t think I needed or could learn much from HelloFresh until I tried it and well, consider me a convert. With HelloFresh, I learned new techniques that now inform my cooking, like

  • Encrust everything. Mix up Panko breadcrumbs with your favorite chopped nuts and a little butter. goes a long way. Top chicken or salmon with mustard or mayonnaise, or whatever, and then top with that Panko mixture. Looks fancy, tastes, great, and really simple to do; no wonder restaurants use it so often.
  • Sauces, sauces, sauces. I can now whip up a yummy sauce with easy. A little liquid in a hot pan, a balsamic vinegar, some cherry or apricot jam, some sour cream, salt, pepper, and it’s yowza for your tongue.
  • Pickling onions takes very little time and really enhances a meal.

9. An Explosion Of Flavors In Forty Weeks

As I said before, my meals before HelloFresh were pretty boring. Over forty weeks with HelloFresh, I tried flavors I’d never had before and developed new favorites.

  • Check out this list of Spice Blends from Joe’s Daily. I love the Fry Seasoning, Tunisian Spice Blend, and Tuscan Heat Blend. The cool thing is that, because I know the ingredients, I can mix my own: and leave out the hot stuff like cayenne or any and all chili peppers. (Seriously; I can’t handle cayenne or any chili peppers. Even jalapeno is too much for me.)
  • I’d never had Za’atar before and now love it. It’s lovely on chicken. And the HelloFresh grilling cheese recipes uses Za’atar, too.

10. Potatoes, Carrots, and Couscous

I can’t tell you how many HelloFresh meals over the last forty weeks have included potatoes, carrots, and couscous. Of course, there are more than twenty different meals to choose from each week, but I always seem to pick the meals with potatoes, carrots, and couscous. What can I say? They’re yummy, filling, and easy to prepare.

That said, having these three ingredients in a lot of meals can get boring. Sometimes I’d change out potatoes for broccoli or cauliflower rice. But HelloFresh leans heavily on veggies that do not spoil quickly, so sometimes I’d just remind myself to make a meal with other veggies at home.

My Favorite HelloFresh Meals

Over forty weeks of receiving HelloFresh, I sure did have favorites – and could add more to the list. Actually, I had a hard time stopping…

  • Mozzarella and Herb Hicken with Roasted Carrots and Buttery Couscous
  • Chicken Gyro Couscous Bowls with Hummus, Tomato-Cucumber Salad, and Feta Sauce
  • Salmon Limone over Herbed Couscous with Zucchini and Tomato
  • Pecan Chicken Royale
  • Zucchini and Tomato Flatbreads with Lemon Ricotta, Fresh Herbs, and Chili Flakes. (I never use the Chili Flakes because I can’t stand the heat.)
  • Mediterranean Chickpea Salad Wraps with Spinach, Tomato, and Cucumber
  • Miso Apricot Chicken with Garlic Ginger Rice and Zesty Carrots
  • Creamy Dill Salmon with Roasted Potatoes and Broccoli
  • Spicy Tunisian Bulgur and Salmon Bowls with Zucchini, Carrots, Chermoula, and Creamy Lemon Sauce
  • Creamy Lemon Butter Chicken with Parmesan Zucchini Rounds and Scallion Couscous
  • Southwest Stuffed Zucchini Bowls with Pico de Gallo, Avocado Crema, and Cilantro
  • Tunisian-Spiced Meatballs with Apricot Glaze, Roasted Carrots, and Scallion Couscous
  • One-Pot Pho-Style Beef Meatball Soup with Veggie Noodles and Spiced Broth
  • Soy-Glazed Carrot and Miso Edamame Bowls with Pickled Cucumber, Sesame Dressing, and Peanuts
  • Pub-Style Shepherd’s Pie with White Cheddar Mashed Potatoes
  • Aren’t you hungry yet? Look up the recipes for more mouth-watering flavor.

11. Bonus! It’s Not Perfect

Sure, I loved my HelloFresh deliveries each week, but it’s not perfect. There was the one time my weekly delivery didn’t show up. And there’s a pile of HelloFresh boxes in my garage because they’re really good boxes and I have a hard time letting go of boxes that I might someday, somehow use. Or is that just me?

  • Those two packs of icy-something or other each week bother me. Their packaging says to put it all out with the garbage, but that just seems wrong. I have put the stuff down the drain, and that is definitely not the thing to do (though so far, cross fingers, no issues with that.)
  • There’s the fact that these weekly boxes of delicious food are coming from somewhere, and that I don’t know WHERE they’re coming from – other than some warehouse or packing facility. I so wish that I could get something like this in my local area; I’d support it in a heartbeat.
  • If you don’t clean as you go, each meal can create a mess in your kitchen. I use so many pans and bowls and utensils every.single.meal. I’ve gotten better at it, but boy – the kitchen sometimes looks like a hurricane went through (it’s a small kitchen, so a strong wind could make it look bad.)
  • Sometimes the produce goes bad *very* fast. And sometimes even the carrots and potatoes feel a little limp. Sometimes that’s because I don’t cook things right away, and sometimes they’re probably just old: both can be stored long-term and they often feel like they’re hitting that storage limit.

I do know that if you receive spoilt or otherwise unusable ingredients, you just reach out to HelloFresh customer support and you’re taken care of immediately. For example, when that box didn’t arrive, they refunded my weekly amount and gave me credit for something in the future. Their customer service is stellar.

Summary

Over the last forty weeks, HelloFresh really worked well for me. With the coming of CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) season, I will either stop HelloFresh or take it down to two meals for two people per week. I’ll be getting a huge box of fresh veggies every week from a local farm! I have no doubt that I’ll head right back to three meals per week for two people when the sixteen week CSA run ends in October.

Have you tried a home delivery meal kit? What did you love about it?

You Should Read This

In January, I talked about transcending the animal and the power of a simple smile as it relates to learning and unlearning behaviors. This month, let’s look at the words we use to talk to ourselves. One word I continuously work at eliminating from my self talk is should.

The Way You Talk

The way you talk to yourself (aka self talk) is important to your well-being. And I know you talk to yourself because everybody does.

I live alone so I’m either talking with myself or talking with my cat. Quite often I’m talking right out loud to an empty house. In my humble opinion, it’s perfectly normal to talk with yourself.

The way in which we talk with ourselves is often scripted. We learn what to say and how to think from friends and family when we’re very young. We learn as babies and toddlers. We learn in grade school and then as we move into middle and high school and try to differentiate ourselves from that home environment.

The “scripts” we learn when young are interpreted by us as the final word, as the thing that we should never be questioned. We learn:

  • You shouldn’t do that, the neighbors might notice or
  • You shouldn’t do that, it’s embarrassing to our family or
  • You shouldn’t do that or you’ll get in trouble
  • You shouldn’t wear that, someone bad might notice or
  • You shouldn’t wear that – it sends the wrong message
  • You should do this thing here
  • I think you should do this, say this, be this
  • You should care more about
  • You should go to this (event, place, etc.)
  • You should believe this (and not that)
  • It’s even in headlines like “Investigators should examine” and “X should have looked at.”

As very young children, we hear these words. And then going forward, they stay with us until we learn how to rewrite the script and take charge of our thoughts.

Should Is Debt and Obligation

The dictionary definition of should shows that it is the past tense of the verb shall. The etymology of shall goes back to Middle English, Old English, High German and was defined as ought to, must.

But the etymology point that interested me the most is from the Lithuanian skola. Depending on how it’s written, skola can mean school; however, it can also mean to owe, a debt, duty, obligation, being indebted, or to lend or borrow. That is more what I’m talking about.

Think about the energy behind the word should, the history and ancestry of the word if you will. We humans are all products of the ancestors who have come before us. Words, likewise, carry the energy from which they emerged.

When we speak, “You should care more about…” there is a LOT happening notwithstanding the energy of the person speaking those words. That person might be angry or happy or sad.  It may be a friend simply suggestion that you try something new out.

Should, however it is used, implies that you ought to, that you must, that you are obligated, and that you are indebted to the person who made the suggestion. And ultimately, should is about shame.

Rewrite The Script

Merriam-Webster defines shame as “a painful emotion caused by consciousness of guilt, shortcoming, or impropriety.” They say it is “a condition of humiliating disgrace or repute” or “something that brings censure or reproach.”

So literally every time you think “I should do….” you are shaming yourself. You are reproaching yourself, you’re making yourself feel guilty. Feeling guilty leads to feeling angry, which leads to more should, and the whole darned thing just keeps circling.

Part of your job as an evolving human is to break your circle of shame and rewrite the should script. This is ongoing inner work and it can transform your relationship with yourself, which then changes the way you interact with the world.

Three Things To Try

  • When should appears in your self talk, this article suggests replacing should with “might.” That leaves you under no obligation or debt and keeps the door open for possibility.
  • Adjust the tone of your inner voice. Practice speaking to yourself with love and patience.
  • Embrace your inner child. It may sound sappy, but it sure works. Make your adult self the knight in shining armor for your younger self. Listen to her fears with an open heart and respond authentically. When your inner child feels safe and secure, your adult self feels better, too.

I’ve definitely changed the tone of my inner voice over the years, and I have a decent relationship with my inner child. I’ve never tried replacing should with might – yet.

What about you: Do you “should” all over yourself?

Transcending The Animal

“We are animals, certainly. Anyone who forgets that we are animals is very disfocused and unlikely to obtain a higher state. There is no point to attaining a higher state unless you are in an animal body. Animals don’t need a higher state. Presumably if you’re out of a body you don’t need a higher state either. A fundamental question that used to be part of most philosophy was why are we here? Why do we exist? What is the purpose of this so-called meaningless existence where we are born, we have a few fun years and then we proceed to get old and sick and tired and worn out…

Ron Mangravite, Transformation of the Self and the Universe, part one, tape one, March 25, 1995, Athens, Georgia,

Commentary

In pursuing spirituality, in meditation, in pursuing anything with true dedication and passion, you are an animal trying to reach the heavens aka the light.

You are trying to transcend -to go beyond the range or limits- of our base animal instincts and reactions and become more “godlike.”

The animal in us hates the light. The animal wants nothing more than to “namastayinbed.” The animal wants to stay stuck in the same old routines and patterns.

For example, have you ever really thought about smiling?

Smile

If you doubt you have an animal body, take one look at your smile.

Walk on over to the  mirror, and smile at yourself.

What do you see?

You see a human with their lips stretched, the ends of those lips turning up. You may see teeth.

The eyes may be squinting, cheekbones lifting. The nostrils may flair.

This face is happy, safe, welcoming. It is a pleasant thing to see.

But it’s not for a cat.

This is hissing. It is not a friendly welcome. It’s a warning.

When a cat stretches their mouth open, ‘lips’ stretched, it’s not being friendly, it’s hissing. It’s defending it’s territory.  It’s sending a warning that you had best be careful and approach with extreme caution.

The cat will take a long time to transcend -to move beyond- hissing behavior. It may never happen.

But – given a few hundred thousand years and an awful lot of inner work – there may be a smiling cat who is actually smiling in the fashion that we humans do.

We once behaved as animals, hissing at what we did not know or understand. Some of us still do this, but in more ‘civilized ways.”

Just go google the whole “Karen” phenomenon that surged into meme popularity the last couple of years and that demonstrates “civilized” hissing. (What’s a Karen?)

Trained

No doubt you learned that a smile is warm and inviting. Do you remember when or where you learned that?

Can you think of instances where a smile is not friendly and welcoming?

What other behaviors have you learned? When did you learn them? What were the circumstances?

Thinking about just one behavior, does it benefit you today? How?

Try changing the behavior for a day. What do you think might happen if you changed or entirely removed the behavior?

How does thinking about changing the behavior make you feel?

What else does this bring up for you?

Anything else?

Transcend

It’s not that you have to have all of the answers to all of the questions today. It’s more than you learn to honor this kind of questioning, and that you question everything.

This kind of ‘work’ is done to unravel your egoic structure and transcend the animal. It is deep and profound.

It will change you from the inside out, and you will be utterly the same as you were before. In fact, most folks will think you’re the same person you always have been.

The Writual Planner and The Enchanted Map Oracle Deck

Almost every year, I pull cards from a tarot deck to get a sense of what’s ahead. I already kind of have a sense as –if you can believe it– I started working on my Mission 2022 in late October/early November. And then, well, Rona visited.

This year, I’m using the Writual Planner. It’s a combined calendar, tarot spread, and astrological planner.

Now, let me be honest. I rarely use a planner faithfully all the way through any year. Anyone else with me?

The Writual Planner

The Writual Planner (not an affiliate link) is delicious. Mine is paperback, 8.5×11″, spiral bound. I stumbled upon the site as I stumble upon all sorts of things online and, well, fell in love and bought one.

I think if I was younger, just beginning to explore spirituality and astrology and tarot, this would be perfect. But I’m older and wiser so it’s a bit too much for me. There’s no way I’ll pull a card for every day, or three for the week. Heck, I doubt I’ll I manage a spread every month!

My biggest beef is that the times are all reflected in Mountain Standard and Mountain Daylight times (GMT -6 and -7.) I’m in Eastern Standard and Eastern Daylight (GMT -4 and -5.) So if I really, really want to know what time the moon is full, I’ll have to translate time or find another calendar for the Eastern time zone.

I wish there were separate planners for separate time zones, or perhaps this used GMT instead of Mountain. I’d still have to calculate, but I know Greenwich, UK is five hours ahead of me most of the time.

Regardless, I adore that The Writual Planner is 8.5×11. That’s as big as a piece of standard printer paper and that means I can scribble all over the pages. There’s plenty of room to write notes. Let’s look closer.

Inside The Writual Planner

The monthly views are a two-page spread with sun signs, moon phases, and planetary aspects. There is a place for your tarot reading for the month, too.

Each month encourages you to list out intentions, priorities, goals, and so on. Each week also has a space to record a card pulled specifically for the week, plus a daily three-card spread.

There is a detailed astrological reference chart and space for your personal birth chart. There are suggested tarot spreads for new and full moons, plus a ‘cheat sheet’ that explains tarot card meanings.

The website offers both a hard-back and softbound Writual Planner; I’ve got the softbound. They also have candles, jewelry, stickers, and more. There’s even an online community to join and share your explorations of and through the Writual Planner.

Overall, this planner is beautifully designed. It’s the perfect gift for anyone exploring spirituality, tarot, or astrology.

My Year Ahead

So, like I said, I often begin the year with a spread to get a general feel for what’s ahead. This year, I used the Enchanted Map Oracle Cards deck designed by Colette Baron-Reid.

This is a bit different than a standard tarot deck. There is no ‘major’ or ‘minor’ arcana as such, but there are 54-cards, just like a traditional tarot deck.

The energy of 2022 is represented by Dragon’s Lair. This card asks me to pay attention to inner warnings. It encourages me to know when things are out of alignment and change course accordingly.

The card for January is Magic Stream, which reminds me that collective awareness can lead to great inspiration. It’s reminding me to let it flow – and especially to not try to force inspiration to happen.

February brings Rescue, admonishing me to ask for help from spirit and people and places and whoever whenever. It’s encouraging me to see reality as it is, and to trust spirit.

Deep Freeze is in place for March again reminding me to not push or force anything forward. I am to rest, hibernate, and wait for the flow of life to happen.

In April the card is Coming To Life where I need to get out of my own way and let spirit lead. Once again there’s a reminder here to try to not coax or push the dream forward. Lots of letting it go letting it flow this year!

May asks me to release resentments and negative self talk. The card is Goblins, and it also reminds me that fear is an illusion and that I can always choose love.

In June, I’m encouraged to review my Intention and check motiviations.

July brings the Gentle Gardener, advising me to believe in limitless possibility. It also tells me that forgiveness is my most powerful restorative tool.

Late summer brings Unexpected Visitors. So in August, I am to expect the unexpected and the synchronicity that that can bring. Here again there is a reminder to adapt to shifting conditions by flowing, not forcing. (Talk about a Pisces way of doing things!)

September is for the card Metamorphosis, suggesting that there may be some loss. But as a result of that loss, I will love who I become. Even with temporary discomfort, beauty is revealed.

The last quarter of the year starts with the card One Ring Circus that celebrates independence and boundaries – and the need to let go of control. (Sounds like flow to me.)

November is the card Details Details reminding me to look at the fine print of anything and everything. It also encourages me to accept things as they are, imperfect.

The year closes in December with Rock Bottom. This encourages me to surrender and a way will appear. It asks the question: are you willing to change.

Let’s Get Flowing

In summary, boy, I am really being guided to let it flow, right? It’s all over this spread. There’s encouragement to surrender to the way things are and really flow like the river.

This ability to flow is something I’ve been working on for awhile now. We are taught that having SMART goals and “going for it” and “just work harder not smarter” – that all of this pushing to succeed a) works and b) makes us feel better.

It didn’t work for me at ALL. I would set goals and then fail to achieve them and feel miserable.

And setting up goals, then pushing hard to achieve them (and failing) felt fake. It was drudgery, toiling, hard work instead of joyful play.

It felt like a should, like something I had to do because to do it any other way is incorrect, wrong, bad. But that’s just not true.

I love and crave freedom and flow.

Flowing is still very ambitious. This flowing still gets stuff done. This flowing is gentle, easing away at a stone, slowly turning that stone into sand, creating a pleasant river bed in which to take casual walks in the forest. Or heat up and make glass…

Anyway, flowing can include using a planner. It can mean to-do lists and checkboxes and apps to keep it all lined up and flowing.

Your Turn

What works for you? Do you use a planner for the year? Do you use tarot cards for a sense of what the new year will bring?

Up The Mountain

There’s an old Chinese proverb that goes “There are many paths to the top of the mountain, but the view is always the same.”

Image by Pexels from Pixabay

Of course there are multiple interpretations of that, and this one from Hinduism is on my mind today:

There are hundreds of paths up the mountain,
all leading in the same direction,
so it doesn’t matter which path you take.
The only one wasting time is the one
who runs around and around the mountain,
telling everyone that his or her path is wrong.

Put another way, there are many paths up the mountain and only one truth.

That truth is love.

Or, the best way to express that truth is through love in action. You know what that feels like, yet explaining ‘love’ is like trying to slap a definition on a blue sky. You can’t make someone see blue when all they see are clouds and rain.

But this is not supposed to be a long-winded essay today. It’s a check-in, a way to let you know that I am still here, walking up that mountain. It’s the same mountain I’ve been walking up for some 25 years now – that’s about the time I identify as the official start of my spiritual journey.

It’s probably been longer, but who’s counting?

  • Who’s counting a belief in reincarnation that suggests hundreds or thousands of different lives and just as many years?
  • Who’s counting this soul’s multiple simultaneous incarnations?
  • Who’s counting multiple lifetimes happening simultaneously through multiple dimensions, time, space, etc.?

There is no time, so there is no counting, and all is now.

Still Climbing

At the start of the trail, the walk is always easy. Wide, smooth, well-trodden, and downright fun. As you rise up (as good a metaphor as I can muster this morning) the path is strewn with all manner of rocks, sticks, fallen branches. It’s steep and uneven and sometimes scary. It’s one obstacle after another because everything in life is the path.

I’m discovering that I have a great need to strip away non-essentials, to once again let go and let go and let go.

I’ve spent the last few years accumulating stuff – literal things like clothes and cookbooks, but also mental stuff like Reiki, QHHT, life coaching, mindfulness, and business ideas.

And I’ve gotten so turned around on the path that I think I have 10,000,000 things do to and am tired of 9,999,999 of them. I’m tired of grasping, wishing, dreaming, tired of thinking about and tired of not doing.

I’m tired of taking on things (Reiki, QHHT, Life Coaching, Mindfulness, business, clothes, and cookbooks) and having little to show — other than a PDF certificate and a large pile of cute clothes and vintage cookbooks.

Paint The Basement

My life coach asked me what I needed to do next to move along the path. I said, “paint the basement.”

I want to focus on the here and now and on things that make a tangible difference for me.

I could get all symbolic on how painting the basement equates creating a solid foundation on which to build my future, but really, there are enough metaphors out there for me to use on another day.

Today, I’m pausing at this grand turn on the path of my life.

Sidebar

(A sidebar is a short story or graphic accompanying and presenting sidelights of a major story. It’s a deviation from the main thread or idea presented here. So you can ignore this part if you’d like.)

I’ve unfollowed a lot of people and pages and businesses on social media. Each platform seems more like a bad joke. Social media wastes time and focuses energy on wants and desires over true connections.

And yes, I know people who use social media for true connections, but the majority of it seems fake and fake and fake. But yet I don’t want to cut the social media cord completely.

Frankly, social media manipulates that deep desire to spy on people. And deep down, that’s what it’s about – jealousy about that life lifestyle or activity or possessions. And in turn, that jealousy becomes fear of missing out (FOMO.)

I’m doing my damnest to seek JOMO (joy of missing out) but there’s the whole “missing out” part of both of these acronyms that bothers me: what exactly is missing from me that needs to be found and fixed?

Keep Climbing

Of the nonsense online, one blog stands heads, fingers, knees, and toes above the others at the moment for me: Schrodinger’s Other Cat.

The posts are usually short and funky, the comments thought-provoking, and the metaphysical humor 100% on point.

It’s definitely not for everyone. But it’s a cozy little box in the corner of the interwebs for consciousness naps and meows that I thoroughly enjoy.

Lately “the cats” have asked readers to experiment with a saying from a student of A Course In Miracles (ACIM.) My experience with this saying was quite interesting, so I thought I’d pass it along.

Take this saying and try it out on anyone and everyone. Include yourself, and those you’re struggling with or have struggled with in the past:

  • Boss pissed you off? Say the saying!
  • Cut off in traffic? Say the saying!
  • Annoying relatives? Say the saying!
  • Thinking of your ex? Say the saying!
  • Nosy neighbor? Say the saying!
  • Burned your dinner? Say the saying!
  • Former frenemy in your thoughts? Say the saying!
  • Pesky pests eating your tomatoes? Say the saying!

I work at holding that person in my mind’s eye and gazing into the person’s eyes. Then I say the saying (it’s not a mantra, but, if it’s easier to remember it that way, so be it.) I wait and see how it feels.

That’s the key here — how does it feel? Most people I can do one recitation and feel some change or release. Some folks take two, three, four or more recitations. You may need to stop, collect yourself, and really get in touch with the compassionate part of yourself that loves beyond love – unconditionally.

You’ll know you’re finished saying this for the person because there will be a clear release. For me, it’s usually quite subtle like a gentle sigh or stomach muscles releasing.

Notice any thoughts that appear while you’re doing this. It could be something like “leave me alone” or “thank you.” You might say “whew!” when you’ve finished with some, and smile with others.

Feel free to change the saying around to make it work for you. For the word “Brother” I’ll often say something like “brother, sister, father, mother, source, god, goddess.” And I found that I had to repeat “all is forgiven and released” over and over for some people.

This is one way of being love in action. It is a way to walk your path up and around the mountain of your life with as much love in your heart as you can muster.

Regardless, try it out and let me know how it goes.

You are perfect

immortal spirit

brother

whole and innocent.

All is forgiven

and released.

The Tapestry of Ordinary Life

So I’m on my third, fourth, or maybe fifth time watching the entire seven-season run of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

(I live alone…Amazon Prime and I are good friends.)

The fifteenth episode of season six is called “Tapestry.” And here’s a quick synopsis because it’s important to understand the essence of this episode for all that I have to say about my life right now.

Picard’s Regrets

Main character Captain Picard is rushed to the Enterprise’s operating table where he dies because his artificial heart has stopped. He’s given a second chance at life by an omnipotent character named Q.

In their conversation, Picard admits he regrets much of his younger life because he was arrogant and cocky. This intrigues the omnipotent Q, who allows Picard to “pull on this thread” of his life to see what happens.

So Picard ‘pulls’ on a very specific thread in his life: the events that led him to have an artificial heart. He returns to his early 20s, and we see him attempting to date multiple women on one day.

More importantly, we see the events that led up to him starting a bar fight which led to his knifing, which led to the artificial heart, which has caused his ‘death.’

Picard’s Boring Life

And while it’s funny to see an aging Picard playing out that incident with his youthful friends, the part of the ‘tapestry’ I’m most interested in is when Picard is placed back onto the Enterprise. This is the fleet’s flagship, and of which he is captain – but not in this ‘new’ reality.

Instead, someone else is captain and Picard is a Lieutenant Junior Grade Astrophysics Administrator – or some goofy title like that.

He goes to the starship’s bar, Ten Forward, and asks for an employee review.

It doesn’t go well.

I Am That Picard

Picard is so very, very wrong about that quiet life. It was not dull and tedious – it only seemed that way through his eyes.

It really bothers me (and bothers plenty of other people) that this normal life is portrayed as if it’s horrible.

What the heck is wrong with a “normal” life? I am that Picard. My day-to-day life is pretty darn dreary and repetitive.

  • I wake up.
  • I have some tea.
  • I go to work.
  • I come home.
  • I feed the cats.
  • I read a book.
  • I watch yet another episode of Star Trek.
  • I have dinner with a friend.
  • I clean the litter boxes.
  • I plant some flowers.
  • I buy cute clothes at thrift stores.
  • I meditate a little here and there.

And that’s it, folks, there’s very little excitement in my normal, everyday, ordinary life.

Or is there?

Ordinary Extraordinary

My blogging friend Beth Ann Chiles writes nearly every day at It’s Just Life: Finding the Extraordinary in the Ordinary. As the title suggests, the blog covers many aspects of Beth Ann’s everyday life: family, friends, devotionals, teapots, travel, and more.

In chronicling her life, Beth Ann elevates the everyday into something that approaches art.

Or maybe it is art, I don’t know.

But I do know that she’s created a cozy spot on the internet where I always feel welcome, and where there’s probably a pot of tea nearby.

I also envy her many trips around the world – and the fact that she’s at the beach again this week.

But the thing that gets me about Beth Ann’s blog is that her “ordinary” life is not Picard’s dreaded “dull and dreary.” It’s magical.

There Are No Dull and Dreary Lives

More to the point, my life isn’t dull and dreary. There are these amazing high points:

  • Living in London just after college.
  • My first apartment in Toledo and the writing and modeling friends.
  • Life in Athens with more writing and meditation friends.
  • Living and working at the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies.
  • That amazing trip to Peru a few years ago with magical waterfall experience.

All I have to do is start making a list, and I’ve had a lot of amazing experiences.

To be sure, there have been lows, too.

  • Filing for both bankruptcy and divorce in the same year was horrible.
  • Getting fired from a job wasn’t fun either, but retrospect shows me the journey from that point to now.

We all know life isn’t about the high or the low points. Life is a sum of all of those points and finding that middle road where all is well for us.

Getting Busy

It would be easy to argue that Picard’s view of that “dull dreary” life is flawed. Through the magic of storytelling, he’s thrown into that life without the benefit of the experiences that led him to the ‘end’ of the journey. Surely there have been wonderful things happen in that Picard’s life.

Unlike that Picard, though, you and I have the ability to stop and look back and the various twists and turns that led us to here and now. Having done this recently, I am at a still point with being the “dull and dreary” Picard.

Not long ago, I wrote about how I thought that if I “that if I just put up a pretty website and got busy with business-like things, my life would change.”

Unpacking The Story

Unpacking that sentence and the story behind that “still point” for you a little more, I was obsessed and enamored with the idea of having a business.

The idea of one – not the reality. I had grandiose ideas about what running a business by myself meant and had convinced myself that being busy = business.

In my mind, I needed to be as busy as possible because surely that would make my business succeed, right?

But the more I observed this desire to have a business, the less it felt real. It didn’t have meaning and purpose and felt terribly hollow.

So I let go of that desire. It really was that easy.

In writing one morning, I asked what I really needed to do. And the answer had nothing at all to do with running a business.

Stop Forcing Success

If you want coaching, I can do that. If you want writing, I can do that. But I’m not going to run around and try to force success to happen anymore.

One other thing I’ve realized is that all of the amazing things in my life came relatively easily.

Yes, I had to work at them.

But those things came together in a way that I can only describe as magic or happenstance or fate. The less I fight with life, the more it flows. And I know that miracles of all sizes happen every day when you least expect them.

So now my life is back to a normal, ordinary, gentle hum.

Does your life hum? Do you see the magic?

Ice Cream Is Evil

We love the idea that learning a new mantra, meditation, or yoga pose will cause great change in our lives. For me, I thought that if I just put up a pretty website and got busy with business-like things, my life would change.

It didn’t happen.

The mantra, meditation, yoga pose, and ‘business-like’ things are all outward actions on the physical shape of the body, vocalization, and so on. The business-like things generated a LOT of literally paper clutter and oodles of electronic slush.

We think this seated meditation posture is correct and that sitting meditation posture is incorrect. None are correct and none are incorrect. If anything, our (my) thinking is faulty. It places hope on some external thing: mantra, meditation, pose, procedure.

The hardest work is that which we do on ourselves: that work of uncovering the lies we’ve told ourselves or the lies we’ve been led to believe.

And they’re not necessarily lies, but rather misinterpretations or “not seeing clearly.” After all, all experience is clouded by previous experience.

Evil Ice Cream

Let’s say that from a very young age, I was taught that ice cream is evil.

(Stop giggling. Just go with me on this. We can get together and have ice cream together later.)

So when I see an ice cream truck, ice cream store, or walk near the ice cream store in the grocery I have a tinge of fear.

If you see someone eating ice cream, you might fear for their well-being or perhaps their immortal soul.

Maybe you’d cross to the other side of the street, turn the other way, all to protect yourself from the very sight of ice cream.

And your self talk — that monologue inside your head – might go something like this:

  • I can’t believe anyone would eat that stuff. It’s just horrible.
  • It’s dangerous; ice cream is a killer.
  • It’s terrible for your self esteem.
  • It stunts your growth. It’s not healthy.
  • My parents say ice cream looks like cold mashed potatoes and tastes even worse; there’s no way I’d get anywhere near ice cream.
  • Ewwww, it’s so cold and wet and it smells funny.
  • I heard that ice cream causes you to shiver and have fits and if you eat it enough you die.”

Ice Cream Rebellion

But maybe you’re the rebellious type and just can’t stop yourself from thinking about ice cream. And – if you didn’t know – what you think about persists and persists…so you think about ice cream a LOT.

Perhaps you stand next to someone who just ate ice cream and didn’t suffer or you talk with someone who’s currently eating ice cream and seems to be enjoying the expereince.

This curiosity helps you discover a new perspective that you’d never considered. It’s small “enlightenment:” at least one person thinks ice cream is good.

You begin to explore ice cream. You read about ice cream. You learn about the ingredients, and about ice cream made. You discover it’s really not cold mashed potatoes. You learn there are a zillion flavors.

One brave day you try ice cream…just a little bite. It’s not so bad after all, and you wonder what all the fuss is about. And you start to question every little thing you’ve every been told about ice cream

Uncovering Lies

The process of uncovering the ‘not evilness’ of ice cream takes time. Occasionally it’s an immediate transformation, like a speeding semi-truck to your soul, but more often than not, it’s a slow, steady march of changing consciousness.

Yes, consciousness.

The thought pattern that “ice cream is evil” is interrupted when you meet someone who thinks ice cream is good. You may not like the opinion, but that one interaction is the thing that puts the crack in your thought.

It’s – as Leonard Cohen says – where the light gets in to you that ice cream is (at the very least) not evil.

Invisible Work

This work of uncovering your closed doors, your dark corners, your locked closets is invisible.

It’s not tangible. You can’t touch it or smell it. You can’t show it off to your friends like a cute new dress or pretty picture or new car. But it’s sometimes like a fresh coat of paint in a dingy room, or a slight breeze on a summer day, or a breathy whisper.

It’s quiet. It’s personal, excruciatingly personal. After all, ice cream is evil, right?

Nothing Is New

I don’t know about you, but I love diving in and learning new things: the newness titillates and delights.

I also know there’s is nothing new to learn, and Love and Rockets had it right in the 80s… there’s “No New Tale To tell.”

Even now, thirty years later, there’s still no new tale to tell. The names, faces, gadgets, and disguises have changed, but every little thing you want to explore has been done before.

Throw in concepts of alternate and collapsing timelines, multiple dimensions and realities and there’s no doubt this “new” thing has been done thousands of times before.

In fact, no matter how much I really want to be, I am not original.

Still, hear the peel of the distant bells ringing. Hear the thunder of your heart calling you home.

Walk into the class, say hello, begin again to be a beginner.

Dance the new dance that speaks you name.

Be quiet. Be wild.

Be all you, whoever that may be.

(And have that big ol’ bowl of ice cream, because summer’s almost here.)